The Briefing - Your Thursday morning news catch up

BRIEFING TOP STORY

The Taoiseach has seen off any major backlash over his handling of Fine Gael’s nomination process for the Seanad by-election after backbenchers were told to keep their focus on economic recovery.
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IRISH NEWS

Are we a nation of arachnophobes facing into an arachnid apocalypse?
With lots of hype around house invasions and potentially lethal attacks, leading arachnologist Myles Nolan says there’s no need for panic, recent media frenzy is all just a web of lies.
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Soldiers attending the state funeral of former taoiseach Albert Reynolds had to scrounge clothing from fellow troops because many of them did not have full ceremonial uniforms required for such occasions.
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WORLD NEWS

The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has identified dozens of former members of Nazi mobile death squads who might still be alive, and is pushing the German government for an investigation.
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Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has insisted that United Nations prosecutors do not have "a shred of evidence" linking him to atrocities throughout the Bosnian war, and accused them of putting the entire Serb people on trial.
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SPORT

Dublin manager Jim Gavin has called on the GAA to review its closed season ban after his side needed special dispensation in order to play a charity match in Belfast next month.
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Basle 1 Liverpool 0
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers lamented Liverpool’s "poor defending" after the Reds became the latest big-name English scalp to be claimed by Basle, who capitalised on the Reds’ well-known vulnerability at set-pieces.
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BUSINESS

The results of an offshore sub-sea survey show that there is more gas in the Corrib gas field than originally estimated.
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VIEWPOINTS

I’M one of the small constituency disgusted at the John McNulty affair because the Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, has insulted artists in using the IMMA as a spring-board to “better things” for a political protege.
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EXAM VIRAL

Ireland is currently in the midst of water meters being installed in most households.
These musicians, however, have a message for the powers that be about where they should be installing them and it doesn't involve digging any more holes in the street
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SHOWBIZ
Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher have reportedly welcomed their first child into the world.
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TOP FEATURES
THE internet can be a dangerous distraction. It is is designed to tempt us and this is a problem if you work online.
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MOST READ RIGHT NOW ...

There are growing concerns about third-level funding after both Trinity College Dublin and UCD suffered significant drops in the latest world university rankings.