EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you start your day.
1. #GARDAÍ: Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has warned of further garda station closures due to budget constraints. Thirty-one stations have already been earmarked for closure this year.
2. #FEES: Third-level students are set to vote today on whether to abandon or maintain the Union of Students in Ireland’s position on opposing all forms of tuition fees and student contributions. The secret ballot is being taken at the USI’s national congress in Ballinasloe and the results are expected tomorrow.
3. #OAKLAND: Seven people have died and three others injured in shootings at a Christian university in Oakland, California yesterday. Police have arrested a former student and are holding him as their main suspect for the attacks. They said the man gave himself up at a local shopping centre.
4. #HEALTH: The HSE is continuing to investigate the deaths of six patients at a Donegal nursing home. The patients died over the past two weeks and the cause of their deaths is being investigated and HIQA officials are expected at the facility today.
5. #MORTGAGES: Karl Deeter of Irish Mortgage Brokers has said that people who are intentionally delaying their mortgage payments in the hope of getting a better deal from their lender are adding to the pressure on people who are genuinely struggling to make loan repayments. The Irish Times says Deeter claims that up to a quarter of people in mortgage arrears are ‘strategically’ withholding payment, though the Free Legal Advice Centre says it is impossible to gauge how many people fall into this category.
6. #RUSSIA: At least a dozen people have died after a fire engulfed a market warehouse in Moscow. The BBC reports that the property was being used to house market vendors and Russian authorities say the victims are migrant workers from former Soviet states.
7. #SEPARATED: A new service has been launched which aims to help children to spend time with separated parents from whom they live apart. The Child Contact Centre service is being provided by the charity Barnardos and the one-parent family support service One Family.
8. #COLOMBIA: FARC rebels have released at least ten police and military hostages who were held captive for the past decade. The men were flown from a designated meeting point in the jungle on a borrowed Brazilian helicopter and were reunited with their families before undergoing medical checks. Colombian leaders have called on FARC to release the hundreds of civilian hostages it continues to hold.
9. #WHAT NEXT?: An inventive Dutch company has developed a ‘flying car’ which they say has carried out several successful test flights, according to Euronews, and which can hit 185 kph on land or in the air. Check out the PAL-V gyrocopter in action:
(Video uploaded by TelegraphTV)
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