GOOD MORNING. Here’s everything you need to know as the weekend gets underway.

Kerry Babies

1. A man arrested on Thursday as part of the garda investigation into the discovery of the body of a newborn baby almost 40 years ago was released without charge in the early hours of this morning. 

A woman also arrested on Thursday as part of the investigation was also released last night. A file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).

Murder charge

2.  A man has been charged with the murder of Alesia Nazarova, who died following a house fire in Portadown, Co Armagh on Tuesday.

The PSNI confirmed that a 25-year-old man has been charged with murder, attempted murder, arson with intent to endanger life and theft. He is due to appear at Lisburn Magistrates Court later today. 

Biden’s Ireland visit

3. Gardaí have been informed that no further leave or rest days will be granted for 10 to 15 April in order to facilitate US President Joe Biden’s visit to Ireland, TheJournal.ie has learned.

It is understood that a notice has been circulated to all gardaí that leave and rest days will be cancelled for the period of Biden’s visit. Any gardaí who have already been granted leave will still be able to take it.

Hotel Rwanda hero to be released

4. Paul Rusesbagina, whose efforts to save people during the 1994 Rwandan genocide were portrayed in hit Hollywood film Hotel Rwanda, has been freed from prison after more than 900 days behind bars.

Rusesabagina has been a critic of the Rwandan government. He was released late last night and will return to the United States after the Kigali government commuted his 25-year sentence on terrorism charges.

Spy charges

5. The US Justice Department has unveiled spying charges against a Russian who, under a Brazilian alias, studied at a Washington university and then tried to join the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The Justice Department’s indictment of Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov suggests it will try to contest his extradition to Russia from Brazil, where he is currently jailed on identity fraud charges.

Fatal collision

6. A woman in her early 80s died following a collision between a car and a van on the R319, west of Achill Sound, Co Mayo, yesterday evening.

The woman was the driver and sole occupant of the car. The occupants of the van were not seriously injured.

Murder trial

7. A man accused of the murder of mother-of-two, Lisa Thompson, in Dublin and a woman charged with impeding his arrest have been sent forward for trial to the Central Criminal Court.

A concerned neighbour raised the alarm after discovering the 52-year-old youth worker who suffered stab injuries at her house in Sandyhill Gardens, Ballymun, on 10 May 2022.

Graham Dwyer

8. Graham Dwyer has failed in his bid to overturn his conviction for murdering vulnerable child care worker Elaine O’Hara, almost eight years to the day after he was found guilty by unanimous jury verdict.

President of the Court of Appeal Justice George Birmingham yesterday delivered the judgement of the three-judge court, dismissing all grounds of appeal including a claim by Dwyer’s lawyers that the use of call data records at his trial should lead to a retrial.

Inter founder dies

9. Gordon Moore, a pioneer in the microprocessor industry and a cofounder of Intel has died at the age of 94.

Moore was a huge presence in the technological transformation of the modern age, helping companies bring evermore powerful chips to smaller and smaller computers.