[ 1. Dublin gangs may use foreign contract killersOpens in new window ]
Feuding gangs in Dublin may be planning to pay foreign contract killers to come to Ireland to murder several of their rivals at once, senior Garda sources believe.
The killing of Noel Kirwan just before Christmas was the latest in a series of so-called "soft target" murders, in which people are killed simply because they are close to key players in the Kinahan-Hutch feud.
Gardaí are now fearful that while those soft target attacks are set to continue, efforts are also being made to carry out much more high-impact killings.
[ http://iti.ms/2ikaf0UOpens in new window ]
[ 2. State papers: Thatcher told FitzGerald to take all Northern nationalists southOpens in new window ]
Margaret Thatcher told Dr Garret FitzGerald he was welcome to take all Northern nationalists south of the Border during a frank exchange between the two leaders 30 years ago.
Three conversations between the taoiseach and British prime minister in 1986 have been released under the 30-year rule.
One of them was a phone conversation and the other two were face-to-face meetings. The main focus in all of them was the progress, or lack of it, being made under the Anglo-Irish Agreement signed in November 1985.
[ http://iti.ms/2ietTgXOpens in new window ]
[ 3. Syrian ceasefire appears to hold as general ‘calm continues’Opens in new window ]
A ceasefire deal between Syrian government forces and rebels that took effect at midnight held early on Friday, after initial isolated clashes and gunfire, a monitoring group and a rebel official said.
The truce was violated almost immediately after it came into effect as the warring sides clashed in the northwest of the country.
However, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said hours later that the general “calm continues”.
[ http://iti.ms/2ikdjtKOpens in new window ]
[ 4. Record number refused car insurance quotes in 2015Opens in new window ]
Nearly 1,200 people were refused a quote for car insurance by three or more insurers last year, by far the highest number of multiple refusals on record.
Data released to The Irish Times by Insurance Ireland shows 1,164 people seeking cover for their vehicles were dealt with under the Declined Cases Agreement in 2015.
The agreement states that anyone denied a quote by three separate firms must be offered cover on the fourth attempt, and applications are dealt with by a committee comprising representatives of insurance companies.
[ http://iti.ms/2ieCe41Opens in new window ]
It was the year of Brexit, the Panama papers and Ivan Yates leaving Newstalk.
But our number one most-read is not one of these. Nor is it the perennial budget story.
No, it is – ironically in the centenary year of 1916 – a story about how the BBC is preparing for the death of Queen Elizabeth.
See the full list here: