Every morning, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you really need to know with your morning coffee.
1. #GE11: A dramatic first day of counting revealed an historic victory for Fine Gael – with Enda Kenny now set to be Ireland’s next taoiseach.
Labour emerged as the second-largest party, with a Fine Gael- Labour coalition now being the most likely outcome. However it was a devastating day for Fianna Fáil, with the party experiencing the poorest outcome of any general election. It was a black day for the Greens too – the party lost all of its seats.
Counting resumes at 9am this morning, with nine counts remaining and 53 seats left to fill.
See - The Hot List: Guide to constituencies to watch on day two of counting >
2. #LIBYA: The United Nations Security Council has unanimously voted to refer Col Muammar Gaddafi to the International Criminal Court for possible crimes against humanity.
The UN also voted to impose military and financial sanctions against Gaddafi and his regime, passing travel bans and orders to freeze the assets of the leader and his family, reports the Washington Post. ”This gross violation of human rights will not be tolerated”, said the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.
3. #LIBYA: A boat believed to be carrying six Irish nationals evacuated from Libya is expected to arrive in Greece this morning.
Yesterday, five Irish nationals and two non-Irish children were evacuated from the country on the government jet. They arrived safely at Dublin’s Baldonnel airport.
4. #NEW ZEALAND: The death toll from last week’s earthquake in Christchurch has risen to 146, RTÉ reports.
More than 200 people remain missing since the disaster struck last Tuesday, including one Irishman.
5.#BANKS: The European Central Bank is expected to tell the new government that it will have to resume recapitalisation of AIB, Bank of Ireland and EBS.
The Sunday Business Post reports the parties have indicated that they want to view the results of bank stress tests, due at the end of March, before injecting more funds.
6. #DRUGS: One woman has been arrested following a drugs seizure by gardaí searching guest accommodation in the north inner city area of Dublin yesterday evening. Cannabis with an estimated street value of €300,000 was confiscated.
7. #CHINA: The business networking site LinkedIn has resumed service in China after being blocked by the country’s authorities.
A user had reportedly created a forum calling for a “Jasmine Revolution” similar to that occurring in the Middle East, reports the BBC. Last week a number of demonstrations calling for democracy took place across the country.
8. #AFGHANISTAN: Afghan government investigators have claimed that 65 civilians – including 50 women and children – were killed in a Nato operation last week, reports the BBC.
Officials as high up as President Hamid Karzai say that indiscriminate Nato firepower killed 29 children, 20 women and 16 unarmed men in a remote mountainous district. However, Nato has denied the allegations calling them Taliban propaganda.
9. #MCFADDEN: Former Westlife singer Brian McFadden has been forced to explain his controversial new song – saying it is about his fiancée and not about date rape.
McFadden said that the song was inspired by when his wife-to-be Delta Goodrem “has a drink and she’s dancing” – saying that it’s “cute”, the Sunday Independent reports. He said that the song is tongue-in-cheek and does not promote taking advantage of intoxicated women. “Yes, it is dumb lyrics with a dumb beat… when did I ever claim to be John Lennon?” he added.
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