Your Friday lunchtime catch-up

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

TOP STORY - MALI HOTEL SIEGE

To follow the latest events on the Mali hotel siege where at least three people have been killed after gunmen stormed the hotel - reportedly two Malians and a French citizen see our live updates here.

IRELAND

A district court judge has slammed the operators of a speed camera, . after a taxi driver was detected driving over the speed limit on five separate occasions in the same spot in the space of 70 minutes.

A grieving husband spoke yesterday about his terror that other pregnant women  will die in childbirth just like his wife Sally Rowlette did nearly three years ago.

An elderly woman has been reunited with her late husband’s love letter,  penned some 60 years ago, after gardaí recovered her stolen handbag yesterday.

Tributes were last night to the young man who died following a workplace accident in Youghal  on Wednesday morning.

WORLD

Europe’s first known female suicide bomber, Hasna Aitboulahcen,  was once known as an outgoing woman who loved to wear cowboy hats and drink alcohol.

Draconian new rules going through the French and Belgian parliaments should not last past the current emergency,  Amnesty international has warned as EU ministers prepare to agree checks on all EU citizens travelling inside and outside the union.

SPORT

Odds have been slashed on a return to management for Brendan Rodgers … at Championship side Queens Park Rangers.  The former Liverpool boss is as short as 5/2 with some bookmakers, down from 14/1 previously, behind another ex-Premier League gaffer Nigel Pearson.

Arsenal’s highly-rated teen star Marcus Agyei-Tabi has become the latest player to defect from Ireland  to England.

BUSINESS

Pfizer’s talks to acquire botox-maker Allergan in a $150bn (€140.8bn) deal, the global drug industry’s largest ever,  that would see the US drug giant re-domicile in Ireland accelerated yesterday, even as the US Treasury prepared to clamp down further on such tax inversions.

A senior government official has said the Central Bank needs to “satisfy themselves they are compliant with the law” after revelations managers have been given retention payments worth 21% of their salaries at the same time as workers have faced 20% cuts.

ANALYSIS

Ask them what their view is on the gender pay gap in Ireland, which has widened from 12.6% to 14.4%,  writes Alison O’Connor

LIFESTYLE

You may have seen her in Breaking Bad, but Krysten Ritter is about to really hit  the big time in her new Netflix show, writes Ed Power

VIDEO

The Balltalk team discuss one of the greatest rugby players and sportsmen of all-time. With Robert McNamara (@whatrobdidnext), Steve Neville (@SteveNeville), Peter McNamara (@PeterMcNamara_) and Neville O’Donoghue (@bewarmers).

Video by Pauline Hallissey. Irish Examiner.

VIRAL

It’s the type of thing that makes you reevaluate your life and appreciate everything you have.  Eight-years-old is not the normal time someone finds the love of their life, but having cancer four times by the age of eight isnt exactly normal either.

A little boy’s kind gesture to a vandalised Islamic centre has gone viral. On Monday, torn-up pieces of the Qur’an and faeces  were found outside the Islamic Center of Pflugerville in Texas. Police are investigating it as a hate crime.

TECHNOW

GAMING: Professional Farmer 2016 is a totally real game, and here’s the full trailer.  You can use realistic machines to plough your fields and prepare your crops and cope with seasonal changes and real-time weather as you work towards harvest.

MOVIES: The Little Prince is an acclaimed 1943 novel by French writer and aviator Antoine de Saint-Exupéry  and it’s coming to the big screen in a ravishing animated form.

TECH: LG has decided to remove it’s recently released Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE smartwatch  from sale due to a major issue.

SHOWBIZ

David Bowie has outdone himself in the weirdness stakes with the “short film”  for his new single, Blackstar.

MOST READ RIGHT NOW

The simple and poignant graphic, showing a leaf shed from the iconic All Blacks’ silver fern, resonated with rugby fans  across the globe following the death of the former winger Jonah Lomu on Wednesday.