EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you start your day.
1. #NOTW: It’s a scandal that threatens to keep on unfolding… Rebekah Brooks was warned News of the World staff that ‘worse’ revelations about the paper’s phone-hacking are still to be revealed, as Rupert Murdoch jets into Britain to try and save his ailing media empire. The Guardian reports that the soon-t0-shut paper may already have destroyed ‘millions’ of emails which could have been used in any criminal investigations.
2. #COLLEGE GREEN: The government plans to give College Green a dramatic redevelopment, modelled on the world’s great squares, as part of its 2016 celebrations and following the return of the Bank of Ireland premises there, the Irish Times says this morning.
3. #JUNIOR CERT: The first set of state exams are about to get a little lighter. The government’s new Literacy and Numeracy Plan will require more time to be devoted to basic literacy and numeracy – with the result that while students may still study extra subjects, from 2014 onward they can only sit exams in eight of them.
4. #COURTS: A woman has won the right to name an Irish dancing coach who abused her for seven years in the 1980s, after Michael Quigley lost a last-minute Supreme Court appeal to stop his identity from being revealed, RTÉ reports. Dana Doherty, the abuse victim who is now 41, said she was revealing her own name so that she might help others in similar situations.
5. #RACE FOR THE ÁRAS: The field for the presidential election will get smaller today when the three Fine Gael candidates face off to seek the party’s official backing. The Irish Times reports that senior leadership figures are being accused of covertly backing party newcomer Pat Cox, while the Irish Independent says Gay Mitchell wants access to an internal poll which allegedly puts him at the back of the pack.
6. #RED CARPET: Two days ago the world-famous Odeon cinema in London hosted the gala premiere of the final Harry Potter movie. Now, it’s been put for sale – by NAMA, which has struck a deal with its owner Real Estate Resolutions, according to the Irish Times.
7. #R.I.P.: Former United States first lady Betty Ford, wife of the late Gerald Ford, has died aged 93. Ford was better known for setting up the world-famous Betty Ford Center, a rehab clinic she founded after her own battles with alcoholism.
8. #OXEGEN: The first day of Ireland’s biggest music festival ended with dry weather yesterday, as the Black Eyed Peas and the Script played to tens of thousands on the main stage at Punchestown. The Arctic Monkeys, Beady Eye and the Foo Fighters are today’s headliners. Here’s our gallery of what went down yesterday.
9. #SOUTH SUDAN: Finally this morning, today marks the birth of a new country – as South Sudan formally breaks away from Sudan to become the UN’s 193rd member state. The independence comes after a referendum in January which was backed by around 99 per cent of the population. So please stand for the world’s newest national anthem, which will be aired ahead of the country’s first international soccer match against Kenya on Monday:
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say