EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you kick off your day.
1. #GARDAÍ: Four Garda sergeants who walked out of Alan Shatter’s speech to the AGSI conference in Sligo this week, following a mandate for their members, are to meet an assistant commissioner in Templemore today to face possible disciplinary action. Shatter has faced criticism for sanctioning the action.
2. #SNEACHTA: ‘Another day, another weather warning,’ we wrote yesterday. Lo and behold: Met Éireann has issued another ‘status yellow’ warning for Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow and Louth as the region faces the prospect of yet more snow showers. The service had briefly issued a ‘status orange’ warning, forecasting up to two inches of snow today, but that has now been withdrawn.
3. #BURGLARY: A woman in her late 50s was tied up in her home during an aggravated burglary in Co Cork last night. Three men in balaclavas – one of whom was armed – tied up the woman in Carrignavar and took a sum of cash. The woman was not injured, but is severely shaken, and Gardaí are appealing for witnesses.
4. #MEATH EAST: Counting gets underway this morning in the by-election in Meath East, where voters yesterday went to the polls to elect a new TD replacing the late Shane McEntee. Turnout was low – and expected to be in the low 30s – while the contest is thought to be a two-day battle between Fine Gael’s Helen McEntee, daughter of the late Shane, and Fianna Fáil’s Thomas Byrne.
5. #CYPRUS: Cyprus’s banks open at noon today, for the first time in almost two weeks – albeit with strict limits on the amount that people can withdraw. The banks were shut for all of last week as the country tried to seal its €10 billion EU-IMF bailout – a deal which ultimately saw the island’s second-biggest bank, Laiki, being split in two.
6. #EUROPEAN COMMISSION: The EU has asked member states to give it an extra €11.2 billion – saying the EU overspent by that amount in 2012. The Commission has said member states should have been prepared for the request, as the overspending came as a result of demands from member states to do more to create jobs. Ireland is likely to be faced with a bill of over €100 million as a result.
7. #HEALTH: Encouraging a child to gain weight could leave them with a higher risk of obesity and heart disease later in life, according to new research. The Lancet suggests that children in low and middle-income countries who experience fast weight gain after mid-childhood face significantly higher risks.
8. #MANDELA: 94-year-old Nelson Mandela has been admitted to hospital to deal with a recurrent lung infection. The former South African president was in hospital for three weeks with the problem over Christmas. It’s the second time that the former president has been in hospital this month.
9. #SMALL WORLD: Disneyland in California is to pay $8,000 (€6,250) in compensation to a wheelchair user who was stranded inside its ‘It’s a Small World’ ride for three hours. His wheelchair meant he could not be evacuated from the boat ride-style attraction when it broke down – and he was left inside, while needing to urinate, while the ride’s high-pitched theme tune played continuously for three hours.
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