EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you begin your day.
1. #MOORE STREET: Dublin City councillors have backed a report calling for the preservation of the site at Moore Street where the leaders of the 1916 Easter Rising made their final surrender. Members last night approved the report recommending that four houses at numbers 14 to 17 Moore Street be saved from demolition or redevelopment, as well as preserving nearby lanes used by the rebels as they fled the GPO.
2. #SAVITA: The second day of the inquest into the death of Savita Halappanavar, who died of suspected septicaemia after suffering from a miscarriage at Galway University Hospital last October, will take place today. Yesterday, Dr Katherine Astbury said in a statement read to court that she had been legally obliged to refuse a termination because there was no evidence of a risk to Savita’s life or health at that stage, but denied making any reference to Ireland being “a Catholic country”.
3. #THATCHER: Preparations are under way for the funeral of late former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, who passed away yesterday from a stroke at the age of 87. The ceremonial funeral will include a gun carriage, military procession and service at St Paul’s Cathedral.
4. #AIR QUALITY: Heritage body An Taisce has claimed that poor air quality contributes to 3,400 premature deaths every year in Ireland – costing the country up to €6.3 billion per year in lost days at work and education, as well as direct health costs.
5. #NORTH KOREA: Pyongyang has told foreign citizens living in South Korea to begin preparing for an evacuation of the country – further raising the prospect of an armed conflict between the two countries. State-run news agency KCNA said: “The situation on the Korean peninsula is heading for a thermo-nuclear war. In the event of war, we don’t want foreigners living in South Korea to get hurt.”
6. #BOOKS: Irish author Kevin Barry has been shortlisted for the International Impac Dublin Literary Award for this debut novel City of Bohane. Barry is the only Irish writer to make this year’s shortlist, which sees 10 writers included annually for the chance to win a cool €100,000.
7. #DAIRY: The Irish Dairy Board, the country’s largest exporter of dairy products, says its profits for 2012 rose by almost 11 per cent to €42.1 million. Profit-before-tax for last year was up 5.8 per cent (16.3 million) on 2011, RTÉ reports.
8. #GUN CONTROL: US President Barack Obama is increasing his efforts to curb gun-related violence in Connecticut – the state where 20 children and six adults were killed at a school last December, the Guardian reports. Calling the Newtown massacre “the toughest day of [his] presidency”, Obama called on Americans to put pressure on Congress to pass tighter gun control legislation.
9. #SPYING: A report prompted by the illegal surveillance of Megaupload boss Kim Dotcom by a New Zealand intelligence agency has revealed that 88 residents were also monitored by state officials. Prime minister John Key said the report into the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) was “sobering reading” and revealed long-standing problems with the agency’s practices and culture.
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