Today’s headlines: VAT could soon be reduced to 9 percent; The Russian oligarch’s company received millions in compensation from the Irish state

Here are this morning’s top stories on Independent.ie.

Fuel costs are rising for consumers: VAT could soon be reduced to 9 per cent after Martin reaches EU deal

Harried consumers have been given a boost after the government reached a deal with the EU VAT on fuel could soon be reduced to 9 percent.

UVF is said to be behind the van bomb hoax that pushed Coveney off the stage

the UVF is suspected of being behind a loyalist hoax bombing at an event attended by Secretary of State Simon Coveney yesterday.

‘I’ve got a month to save my home while she just walks around’: Prosecutors vent their anger at the slowness of the investigation into Catriona Carey

Gardaí is now checking 39 complaints against former Irish ice hockey player Catriona Carey after other people raised allegations of fraud in relation to their asset management company.

The Russian oligarch’s company has received millions from the Irish state to compensate for the underutilized toll road

A toll road consortium in which a The sanctioned Russian oligarch received more than 40 million euros from the state to compensate for less than expected traffic levels.

Demands that the “butcher of Mariupol” be tried for war crimes in the siege

At 3 00 people are said to have died in a bomb attack on a theater in Mariupol in the worst single atrocity in a European war in more than a quarter century.

Cancer patients facing delays of at least two weeks in treatment due to Covid surge

Cancer patients who contract Covid-19 are endure a delay of at least two weeks before restarting their chemotherapy or radiation therapysaid a specialist.

Hundreds of high-risk patients have received the landmark Covid drug

More than 450 “high priority” Covid-19 patients have a breakthrough antibody drug to reduce the risk of hospitalization as Ireland scrambles to live with the virus.

A small team of experts will not give up hope that the decades-old mystery of missing Annie, Deirdre and Jo Jo will be solved

THE men assembled before dawn and introduced themselves. They wore hiking boots and were armed with maps, a drone, walkie-talkies and packed lunches. There was two professors (one a geophysicist, the other an expert in taphonomy – what happens to people after death), a scientist, a former FBI agent and a world famous dog handler among them. No one had youth on their side – the oldest was approaching 70.