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Soaked to the bone and sleeping in a tent at racecourse? Must be Oxegen... Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland
Daily Fix

The Daily Fix: Thursday

In today’s Fix: NOTW closes amidst phone hacking investigation; Leinster House blocks premium line calls; and what should you not miss at Oxegen 2011?

EVERY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you a round-up of the day’s news, as well as the bits and pieces you may have missed.

  • The News of the World will publish one final issue this Sunday before closing down, according to its owners. The paper had come under increasing pressure this week as allegations of phone hacking widened, the British prime minister announced a public inquiry into the allegations, and advertisers pulled their ads from the paper over the claims. The Guardian reports this evening that former NOTW editor Andy Coulson has been told by police that he will be arrested tomorrow as part of the investigation.
  • Here’s a slideshow of some of the widening number of suspected hacking victims.
  • One person has been killed and 13 injured after a Dutch sports stadium partially collapsed today.
  • It’s bad news for TDs, but good news for taxpayers: premium rate calls are to be blocked from Leinster House phones.
  • A second auction of distressed Irish properties took place in Dublin city today, with many going for more than the reserve price. Some went for as much €70,000 above the reserve.
  • GlaxoSmithKline has told workers at its Dungarvan base that 130 jobs are being cut from the facility over the next four years.
  • A new EU directive means that visitors to Ireland from other member states can be prosecuted for driving offences committed here. MEP Phil Prendergast said the measure would help tackle the issue of Northern Irish drivers who break traffic laws in the Republic.

Not your average garden gnome… A giant bronze sculpture is lifted into position in Harrogate, England, today ahead of next week’s Great Yorkshire Show. (Photo: Anna Gowthorpe/PA Wire)

  • Roscommon TD Denis Naughten has lost the Fine Gael party whip after voting against the government in the Dáil last night on cuts to emergency services at Roscommon Hospital. The hospital’s emergency department is due to close as of 8am Monday.
  • Golfer Graeme McDowell has presented Rory McIlroy with this gift to commemorate the pair’s US Open wins.
  • The High Court ruled today that the Joint Labour Committee system of setting the rates of pay for low-wage workers is unconstitutional. SIPTU described the ruling as “devastating”. John Grace, the chairman of the fast-food service group which brought the legal challenge, said “JLCs were totally arbitrary, unfair and are no unconstitutional.”
  • “It’s like how you would imagine the Wild West during the gold rush. Really primitive, really desperate”: Documentary filmmaker Frank Poulsen describes conditions inside the ‘mobile phone mines’ in today’s column.
  • Former TD and MEP Avril Doyle has pulled out of the contest for Fine Gael’s presidential nomination. Doyle said her decision was “in the best interest of the Fine Gael party”.
  • Thousands of Oxegen 2011 revellers began streaming into the campsites today ahead of this year’s festival. The weather was characteristically awful. This Facebook page has exposed why the festival is so regularly washed out: “God hates Oxegen.” If you’re heading down tomorrow or over the weekend, check our TheJournal.ie‘s guide to getting there – and what not to bring. Get set for the weekend with this list of experts’ musical must-sees at Oxegen 2011.
  • And as the premier of the final Harry Potter series instalment screens this evening in London, here’s the trailer for the last film…

…and the first:

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