EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you up to speed with the five things you should know as you head out the door.
1. #MORTGAGE ARREARS: Another series of new figures have shown how Ireland’s mortgage arrears problem is growing. Central Bank data shows 95,554 mortgages are over 90 days behind on their payments – the equivalent of one in eight primary residences – as over 3,000 more homes fell into arrears in the first quarter of 2013.
2. #CARDINAL: A US Catholic Cardinal has said Enda Kenny’s comments on the abortion bill – describing himself as “a Taoiseach who happens to be a Catholic” – do not make sense. “One cannot, as a Catholic politician, excuse oneself from the question of abortion,” Raymond Leo Burke told the Irish Catholic.
3. #BAILOUT LOANS: European finance ministers have officially signed up to a deal which will see Ireland given roughly seven years more to repay each of its European bailout loans. The deal reduces the amount of cash Ireland will have to scrape together in the coming years, but will marginally increase the overall cost of the bailout plan.
4. #BRAZIL: Brazil’s president Dilma Rousseff has called a cabinet meeting as the protests in the country continue to escalate. Over a million people took part in demonstrations last night against the amount that the country is spending hosting this year’s Confederations Cup, next year’s FIFA World Cup and 2016′s Olympic Games. This video helps to explain why so many people are on the streets.
5. #GOING MENTHOL: The European Union’s 27 health ministers have reached a deal which would ban the sale of menthol cigarettes in the EU. The deal – which also needs the approval of MEPs before it can become law – is likely to kick in around 2016 or 2017. Member states stopped short of also banning slim and electronic cigarettes, however.
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