Your Friday morning news round up

The purity and potency of all the main illegal drugs is increasing in Europe drug experts have warned; Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce has called for a full investigation into a $5m payment to the FAI and a man who was paralysed in a car crash almost 25 years ago has taken his first steps. These are some of the latest and most read news stories on irishexaminer.com this morning.

Fri, 05 Jun, 2015 - 01:00

TOP STORY

DRUGS CRISIS: Rising drug potency poses greater danger

The purity and potency of all the main illegal drugs is increasing in Europe, posing heightened dangers to users, drug experts have warned.

IRELAND

FAI got €5m to halt any handball lawsuit against Fifa

Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce, from Northern Ireland, has urged football’s world governing body to conduct a full investigation into the “unprecedented and arbitrary payment” of $5m to the FAI, as a settlement after the infamous Thierry Henry handball incident in Paris in 2009.

MOST READ: Cork man takes first steps after almost 25 years

A man who was paralysed in a car crash almost 25 years ago has taken his first steps since the accident thanks to a robotic exoskeleton.

SPORT

Jimmy Barry-Murphy: Cork rebels must rise to occasion

Cork manager Jimmy Barry-Murphy is concerned by the growing tendency of his team to flop on the big occasion.

MOST READ: After 31 years, Limerick soccer returns to its spiritual home at Markets Field

When League of Ireland soccer returns to Limerick’s Markets Field after an absence of 31 years tonight, those old enough to remember the good old days of soccer in Limerick will spot the changes inside the stadium immediately.

WORLD

World’s first skull and scalp transplant

Texas doctors say they have done the world’s first partial skull and scalp transplant to help a man with a large head wound from cancer treatment.

MOST READ: Migrants ‘not fleeing persecution’

Burma says that thousands of migrants left the country to seek better jobs elsewhere, and were not fleeing persecution, a day after bringing to shore about 730 migrants, the latest arrivals in Southeast Asia’s ongoing crisis.

BUSINESS

Central Bank fines firms €27m but policing criticised

The Central Bank has doled out €27.17m worth of fines to 54 financial institutions over the past four-and-a-half years.

MOST READ: Home debt crisis remains enormous, warn experts

Central Bank figures showing a slowdown in the numbers entering so-called early arrears fails to capture the huge scale of the home debt crisis, debt experts have said.

VIEWPOINTS

ALISON O'CONNOR: Why the fourth estate in Ireland has been so afraid of one man

I would often say how worrying it was that Denis O’Brien had such control over the Irish media, writes Alison O’Connor

LIFESTYLE

Take a leaf out of JK Rowling’s book and failure can see you soar

With the Leaving Cert underway, thousands of teenagers are living in fear of messing up. Clodagh Finn says they should look to the wise words of JK Rowling who says failure and imagination were the makings of her.

EXAMVIRAL

WATCH: Cork City Marathon runner saves bird from tunnel danger

One runner in the Irish Examiner Cork City Marathon put his finishing time in danger to help out a little bird.

MOST READ: A boy born without any ears has had a pair of ears created from his ribs

A boy who was born without fully-formed ears is chuffed after surgeons created a new pair for him from his own ribs.

TECHNOW

Watch Jimmy Fallon slap Jason Statham silly

Jason Statham’s a fairly tough guy, but one slap from Jimmy Fallon’s giant rubber hand is enough to floor him.

SHOWBIZ

11 emotions we all went through watching The Truth About Your Teeth

We were left pulling all sorts of faces at the telly as we watched the The Truth About Your Teeth presented by Jasmine Harman and Dr Chris Van Tulleken.