Five things you need to know today

Germany, Dublin Bikes, Michael O’Reilly, Charles Haughey and Samsung

Charles Haughey: The British wanted to find a way of getting a “handle” on him.
Charles Haughey: The British wanted to find a way of getting a “handle” on him.

Germany

Seeking to burnish its "law and order" credentials, Germany's ruling CDU party has proposed more police, a ban on burkas and lower doctor-patient confidentiality. And yesterday more than 150 police conducted raids, targeting radical preachers suspected of recruiting for Islamic State.

Off your bike

The planned expansion of the Dublin Bikes rental scheme to the new DIT campus at Grangegorman has been put on hold because of a lack of money to run the service, which is already operating at a loss.

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Michael O’Reilly

With the right team behind him and an Olympic medal around his neck, boxer Michael O'Reilly could have been looking at a professional world title fight in a few years' time. But after making the biggest mistake of his life, the future looks bleak.

What is to be done about Charlie?

Secret papers just released show the British prepared a series of movie-title style documents in the 1980s with the aim of figuring out how to deal with Charles Haughey. They included: "Northern Ireland: Handling Mr Haughey", "Handling Mr Haughey II" and "Doing Business with Mr Haughey".

Samsung

For a while, Apple could do no wrong. But it was a trajectory that couldn't last. At some point the sales were bound to plateau as Apple saturated the market with its products. So now, can Samsung capitalise?

And finally...

How concerned should you be about the Nile crocodile invading Irish waters? Not very. But if the killer shrimp arrives we're all doomed.