1. Pat Hickey taken into police custody over Olympic tickets rowPat Hickey, who has stepped aside as Olympic Council of Ireland (OCI) president temporarily, was taken into police custody in Brazil last night to give a statement in response to charges of ticket touting at the Rio de Janeiro Games.
Mr Hickey (71) was yesterday released from a Rio hospital where he was taken after falling ill following his arrest at a hotel in the city on Wednesday. After giving a statement, he was expected to be transferred to a police facility in the north of the city where he would be processed and spend the night.
2. Usain Bolt wins third consecutive Olympic gold medal over 200 metresUsain Bolt won his eighth successive sprint gold medal in Rio on Thursday night, meaning he is now only one short of the complete hat-trick - an unprecedented treble-treble, unlikely to ever be rivalled in Olympic history.
He has already won the 100m in Rio and will run in the 4x100m relay final on Saturday. He will be aiming to match his achievement of claiming gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay at both Beijing 2008 and London 2012.
3. Bank of Ireland to charge for placing cash on depositBank of Ireland is set to become the first domestic financial institution to charge customers for placing their money on deposit with the bank.
This unprecedented move comes months after the European Central Bank began charging financial institutions for depositing money with it by charging them 0.4 per cent to hold their cash overnight.
The bank, which is 14 per cent owned by the State, has informed its large corporate and institutional customers that it plans to charge them for deposits of €10 million or more from October.
It is understood that a negative interest rate of 0.1 per cent will be applied to such deposits by Ireland’s biggest bank.
4. Trump says he regrets remarks that 'caused personal pain'Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump expressed regret for some of the caustic comments he has made during his campaign that have "caused personal pain," acknowledging that he sometimes said "the wrong thing".
It was the first time that the businessman showed remorse for remarks he has made, though he did not specifically say which comments he regretted.
"Sometimes, in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don't choose the right words or say the wrong thing. I have done that, and believe it or not, I regret it," he told a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“And I do regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain. Too much is at stake for us to be consumed with these issues.”
5. 'Leprechaun economics': EU mission to audit 26 per cent GDP rise
The European Union’s statistics agency is sending a mission to Dublin next month to investigate the Irish economic growth figures for last year which prompted claims of “leprechaun economics”.
An internal Eurostat document, circulated to Government officials last month, said that while initial explanations provided by Ireland for the 26 per cent increase in GDP "look plausible", the Luxembourg-based body plans to follow up with its own verification process.
GDP is the estimated value of an economy’s total annual output.