EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you really need to know as you start your day.
1. #GREECE: The EU says Greece will have to pass a raft of controversial austerity measures before it gets the next tranche of its bailout loan. Eurozone finance ministers are meeting again today to discuss the country’s debt crisis and the details of a second bailout deal. Finance Minister Michael Noonan says he’s lobbying for any resolution to the Greek situation not to have any impact on Ireland.
2. #LIBYA: NATO has apologised for an errant air strike which Libyan officials claim killed several civilians in a residential area of Tripoli at the weekend. Al Jazeera reports that NATO blamed the incident on a “weapons systems failure”.
3. #TALKS: Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister Pat Rabbitte travel to London today for the British-Irish Council summit, which will focus on economic co-operation and energy issues.
4. #PHEW: In what the BBC is calling the biggest change for the internet in years, the international internet organisation responsible for assigning online names and numbers has voted to allow the creation of new website domain suffixes. It means that internet addresses will now be able to end with almost any word from any language.
5. #MICHAELA: The pre-trial hearing for the Michaela McAreavey murder trial gets underway today in Mauritius. The wives of the two men accused of the newly-wed’s murder claim that their husbands have been assaulted while in custody and are being framed for the murder.
6. #TUNISIA: The trial in absentia of ousted Tunisian leader Ben Ali begins today. He denies the charges, including corruption and drug trafficking. Ben Ali is not expected to be extradited from Saudi Arabia, where he fled after being forced from power on 14 January.
7. #RACE FOR THE ÁRAS: Former MEP Avril Doyle is expected to confirm her bid to win Fine Gael’s nomination for the presidential election today. Yesterday, the Labour Party chose Michael D Higgins as their election candidate.
8. #BREAKTHROUGH: An international research team led by Queen’s University in Belfast has announced a major breakthrough in the treatment of cystic fibrosis. RTÉ reports that the group says it has developed a drug which significantly improves lung function.
9. #RORY MCILROY: And here he is, the new US Open champion who set records as he blazed across Cognressional this weekend, enjoying a celebratory draught from his trophy. Check out what Twitter has been saying about McIlroy’s success and see it for yourself:
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