EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you start your day.
1. #NOTW The families of the victims of the 7/7 bombings in London have been told that their phones may have been hacked by the News of the World. MPs will debate the issue in the Commons today while a number of the paper’s advertisers have indicated that they’re considering their position. Ford has suspending advertising in the News of the World.
2. #QUANGOS The board of the National Consumer Agency is facing the chop and the NCA is to be merged with the Competition Authority. The scrapping of the board is expected to save €170,000. The new Consumer and Competition Authority will do without a CEO or a board, reports RTÉ, and it will report directly to Minister Richard Bruton.
3. #DROUGHT Aid agencies are warning of famine in East Africa due to a combination of severe drought, conflict and rising food prices. As many as 12 million people are affected. Trócaire says Kenya, Somalia and Ethiopia are facing a “humanitarian crisis which is getting worse by the day”. It says the drought is the worst in sixty years.
4. #TROIKA Officials from the EU, the ECB and the IMF are all in Dublin today for the latest review of Ireland’s bailout loans. It’s reported that the EU and the member states will make at least €9 billion from the interest charged on the loans. Finance Minister Michael Noonan says the government will be looking to renegotiate the terms of the bailout in order to make adjustments to the way December’s budget is drafted. Meanwhile Portugal could be facing a second bailout after Moody’s rating agency downgraded it’s debt to junk status yesterday.
5. #THREESOME A bag of chips and the promise of a threesome is all a Cork man had in mind with in the early hours of 5 September 2010 when he was approached by two women. However, the man was lured to a house by the pair who stole €920 from him. He was the second man the women had targeted that night. One of the women, Mary Williamson, has pleaded guilty to demanding money with menaces, and to robbery.
6. #ROSCOMMON Thousands of people are expected to take part in a protest in Dublin city today against the planned closure of Roscommon emergency department. Yesterday the HSE confirmed that the department will close at 8am on Monday morning and will be replaced by an urgent care unit, and an out-of-hours GP service. A single protester chained himself to a bridge in Athlone yesterday, but the Roscommon Hospital Action Committee distanced itself from his actions.
7. #SHAMROCK ROVERS The Shamrock Rovers’ supporters groups have decided to cancel any buses travelling to the Brandywell for an away game against Derry City, citing fear for the safety of fans, bus drivers and the vehicles. The groups are calling on Derry City FC to address the problem of “clearly premeditated attacks” in the recent past.
8. #DAY OUT Fancy a day out today? A trip to Dublin Castle, the Rock of Cashel or Newgrange perhaps? For today, and the first Wednesday of every month for the rest of the year all of the historic sites managed by the Office of Public Works are free to access. Choose your destination here.
9. #IT’S A ZONKEY…. or you may prefer to call it a Dobra. Either way, one has been born at a Zoo in south-east China. The rare foal is a cross between a female zebra and a male donkey. Other possible names include zebonkey, zebrass and zedonk:
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