EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you should know with your morning coffee.
1. #VOLCANO: Aer Lingus and Ryanair have cancelled several flights to and from Scotland due to the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud. A total of 12 flights have been cancelled from Cork, Shannon and Dublin to Scotland until at least midday. Meanwhile in the UK, British Airways, Dutch airline KLM and Easyjet flights have also been disrupted.
2. #OBAMA: The US President Barack Obama arrived in Britain last night for a state visit following his whistle-stop tour of Ireland yesterday. He has left a broadly positive atmosphere behind him – with today’s papers citing his assertion that the “best days are still ahead” for Ireland, as well as Obama’s cúpla focal: “Is féidir linn”.
3. #CRASH: Gardaí have launched an investigation into a crash on the Celbridge to Leixlip road in Co Kildare yesterday in which a 16-year-old girl was killed, the Irish Examiner reports. They are appealing for witnesses to contact at Celbridge Garda Station: 01 6012370.
4. #DIAGEO: Diageo Ireland may impose “significant” job losses in Ireland, the Irish Times reports this morning. An announcement of company’s plans for its 1,800 workers in the country is expected as early as next week.
5. #SHANNON: A British Airways flight was forced to land at Shannon early this morning due to a technical fault. There were 236 passengers on board, who stayed in Shannon overnight, RTÉ reports.
6. #LIBYA: NATO has carried out the ‘heaviest strikes’ in its Libyan campaign so far, bombarding a base in Tripoli last night which it said had been involved in “conducting attacks against civilians”, the Telegraph reports. At least three people died and 150 were injured in the attack, Libyan officials said.
7. #AFRICA: There have been calls for investigation into clerical abuse by Catholic Irish priests in Africa, following allegations against clerics in countries like Kenya and South Africa contained in a Prime Time Investigates programme aired last night.
8. #PALESTINIAN STATE: The Palestinians have expressed hope that they will gain UN recognition after US President Barack Obama announced that no UN vote would ever create a Palestinian state. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Bejamin Netanyahu has reiterated that Israel would not withdraw to the border that existed before 1967, RTÉ reports.
9. #TIGER SCARE: Police in England were left red-faced after they scrambled helicopters and ordered tranquilizers to hunt what they feared was an escaped wild animal in Southampton – after several residents called to say they had seen a white tiger in a field near a golf course. A tongue-in-cheek recorded message posted to the force’s media line confined however that after “a brief stalk through the Hedge End savannah … it became obvious that the tiger was a stuffed, life-sized toy,” reports the AP.
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