Enjoy your coffee break by catching up on all the morning’s top news, every morning at 10:30am on TheLiberal.ie
#1 Pistorius: Athlete Oscar Pistorius to hear his fate today, after 41 days of evidence. If convicted of murdering former girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, he may face up to 25 years in jail.
#2 Overdose: 15-year-old boy rushed to hospital in Dublin with suspected ecstasy overdose. He was taken by ambulance to St. James’ hospital. The teen was understood to be celebrating exam results in the city’s capital.
#3 Mater hospital: 150 new jobs created at the Mater Hospital in Cork. This will increase the hospital’s workforce from 100 to 250 by 2016. Most of the new jobs are post-graduate posts and include doctors, nurses and allied health professionals.
#4 Killer spiders: Over 100 black widow and funnel-web spiders, along with scorpions and tarantulas, were discovered in a property in Co Carlow. A man contacted the authorities to say that he had bought the arachnids over the internet and had been forced to vacate the house upon discovering they were potentially lethal.
#5 Airstrikes: US president Barack Obama authorizes further airstrikes against IS forces. In a live televised address, he also announced expanded strikes in Iraq as part of “a steady, relentless effort” to eliminate the IS threat.