EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine stories you need to know as you kick off your day.
1. #DISSENT: Fianna Fáil TD Éamon Ó Cuív has said he has a ‘momentous decision’ to make over his future with the party after he received a letter from the party whip asking him to refrain from publicly campaigning for a No vote in the Fiscal Treaty referendum. Ó Cuív is expected to announce this afternoon whether he will remain in the party or not.
2. #MISSION TO PREY: Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte is set to meet with the board of RTE this morning to discuss the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s report into the controversial Mission to Prey programme. The Minister may ask for resignations from the board, which is responsible for editorial standards in RTE. Separately, the head of the Oireachtas Communications Committee has said he wants to bring the director general of RTE before the committee to discuss the report.
3. #STABBING: A 31-year-old man who was found unconscious on the side of a road in Cork city last Friday has died from his injuries. Two men have been arrested in connection with the death of David Hamilton, who was stabbed to death. Separately, a man is due to appear in court later today in connection with the death of a man in a separate stabbing in Cork in the early hours of Sunday morning.
4. #UNDERWEAR BOMBER: The CIA has foiled an al-Qaeda plot to blow up a plane bound for America using an underwear bomb. US officials said last night that the would-be bomber, who was based in Yemen, had not yet picked a target or bought a plane ticket when the CIA seized the bomb. The foiled plot coincided with the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden.
5. #ECONOMY: Employers group IBEC has predicted the Irish economy will grow by 1 per cent this year, despite the difficulties in the economy and the eurozone. The group, which is backing the Yes campaign in the Fiscal Compact referendum, said today that ratifying the treaty could boost the country’s growth prospects.
6. #ARREST: A 33-year-old man is due to appear in court later this morning charged in relation with the shooting of a pensioner in Mayo over the weekend. 71-year-old Tom Biggins was shot at his home in the Glencorrib area of Mayo on Sunday. He died in hospital from his injuries.
7. #MENTAL HEALTH: There has been a 93 per cent increase in the number of people aged under 18 seeking help from a suicide and self-harm crisis service, according to figures released today. Pieta House said young women accounted for 70 per cent of the increase, and that this age group also had the highest instance of self-harm.
8. #ON YOUR BIKE: New York City is set to get its own public bike scheme which will see 10,000 bikes distributed around one of the busiest cities in the world, the Guardian reports. The scheme will emulate the successful Dublin Bikes by having sponsorship from a company; Citi financial group has paid $41 million to sponsor the scheme.
9. #BOX OFFICE: It’s already been out on this side of the Atlantic for more than a week but The Avengers has now smashed US box office records with the biggest opening weekend in history. The Joss Whedon-director film took in $207.4 million, shattering the previous record of $169.2 million set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II last summer. Have you seen it? Are you going to?
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say