Your Friday lunchtime catch-up

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

TOP STORIES

A school principal has asked Education Minister Jan O’Sullivan to make an exception for talented asylum seeker student Anna Kern, who scored the highest Leaving Cert points of any pupil at her school, but annual fees of €25,000 threaten her ambition to attend college here.

Meanwhile, the student grants system SUSI says it has received reports of fraudulent emails being received by some people claiming that their applications have been suspended.

In day four of our special report on rural Ireland we visit Ballydehob, Co. Cork. From Danno to fests, this village has history, writes Michael Clifford

SPORT

Footballer of the year James O’Donoghue is a long shot to be fit for Kerry’s All-Ireland semi final against Tyrone on Sunday week - but his fellow attacker Mikey Geaney’s season is already over, manager Eamonn Fitzmaurice revealed last night.

in other GAA news, Croke Park has waged war on a flock of pigeons that have been camping out on the pitch during games.

WORLD

A holiday company has apologised after hotel staff in Turkey staged an apparent mock terrorist “attack” to entertain guests.

Seven people have been charged after a cache of weapons including automatic rifles and machine pistols was recovered in the largest seizure of its kind in the UK.

BUSINESS

The cost of renting is approaching record levels even as the cost of paying down a mortgage tumbles, official figures published yesterday show.

Cork has all the attributes to position itself as the world’s premier location for biotech startups, with the IndieBio accelerator programme having set the foundation for success.

ANALYSIS

A number of politicians have faced personal and hateful abuse, with the public discourse seeming to revel in and help swell this growing animosity, writes Theresa Reidy

LIFESTYLE

Robert McNamara is a card carrying member of the bald brothers fraternity. But his struggle with losing his hair at a young age took him through various stages of denial until he was finally liberated.

VIDEO

Four blue sharks circled a boat in Cork harbour for two hours yesterday. See the video here.

Twitter lifted its character limit for direct messages between users, saying it would help make the private side of Twitter "more powerful and fun."

VIRAL

Irish Rail has been showing a rarely-seen romantic side this morning, helping a couple along their final commute as singletons before their wedding next week.

Things didn’t go so well for American tourist Maggie Doheny when she tried out Gaelic Football for the first time. Check out the video here.

TECHNOW

Dying Light is an immensely enjoyable game which people seem to have quite forgotten about. It’s massive, gorgeous and lets you parkour the sh*t out of zombies. What’s not to love?

Did you see Ride Along and think ’I’d really like to see another similar movie with the same two fellow?’ Well this one is for you!

At a major Unpacked event yesterday, Samsung revealed the details on their new suite of products, including the Galaxy Note 5 and the much-leaked Galaxy S6 Edge+.

SHOWBIZ

Kerry Katona’s husband George Kay has been arrested for robbery. He was reportedly held on suspicion of conspiracy to commit robbery after thousands of pounds worth of jewels were allegedly stolen in a car-jacking.

MOST READ RIGHT NOW

Not to send you into a meltdown or anything but octopuses are basically ‘aliens’ – according to scientists.