All eyes on the ECB and how Fifa may have overplayed its hand for this World Cup

The European Central Bank rarely takes markets by surprise when it comes to interest rate hikes . In recent years, the increase (or decrease) itself hasn’t been the most important thing on the Thursdays when such announcements come. Indeed, so well signposted are the bank’s decisions that the real news has come in the press conference after the announcement, when president Christine Lagarde or her predecessors have given traders and mortgage holders little tidbits to work off. Given that history, it will be worth watching what reaction, if any, there will be to the widely expected 0.25 percentage points hike today. Assuming it comes, this will be the first rate hike in almost two years and another hike seems likely in the autumn. Joe Brennan goes through what to watch for today, and what may come next. We’ll be following the ECB’s decision live throughout the day on irishtimes.com The World Cup finally kicks off tonight but the real story of the tournament may be off the pitch. In Net Results, Emmet Ryan looks at how Fifa has taken a high-risk bet on using smartphones for tickets , how such a highwire act may not work out. Staying with the World Cup, Cantillon asks if Fifa has finally bitten off more than it can chew with thousands of tickets still unsold, while also assessing why relatively few small AIB shareholders took up the bank’s offer to buy them out in its latest “odd lot” offering. Index-linked income tax thresholds, measures to address business costs and changes to Capital Gains Tax are among the measures being called for by Chartered Accounts Ireland (CAI) in its pre-Budget submission. Emmet Malone has the story . What should a person do if they are worried about difficulties administering the will they are witnessing? This is the latest question in Ask The Lawyer. Nobody likes being interrupted at work , but how big a problem is it really? Margaret E Ward looks at the problem in World of Work. Food Cloud has grown from humble beginnings into an international aid partner. Ciara O’Brien looks at how the company has used tech to power its growth . The number of new electric cars registered in May more than doubled when compared the same month last year as diesel continued to decline in popularity, new data from the Central Statistics Office shows. Colin Gleeson reports.