EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine stories you need to know as you kick off your day.
1. #JOBSWATCH: There’s another good boost for Ireland’s burgeoning tech sector this morning, with the news that online filesharing service Dropbox is to open an international operations centre in Dublin – its first premises outside the US. It’s not known yet, however, how many jobs could be created.
2. #ROADS: One person has died, and five injured, in two separate crashes in the last 24 hours. A 42-year-old man died when the car he was driving crashed outside Tullow in Carlow yesterday afternoon, while five people were injured – three of them seriously – in a three-car accident in Mayo yesterday afternoon.
3. #BUDGET 2013: With only two days to go until the Budget, today’s papers are full of speculation and reports on what’s in and what’s out. Most papers seem agreed that child benefit payments will be lowered by €10 per child, and with a higher rate of property tax on houses worth over €1 million (the so-called ‘mansion tax’). The Irish Independent adds that the ‘mansion tax’ clause could now mean the 0.2 per cent rate of tax for other properties may be lowered.
4. #PAY: Despite the uncertainty about the Budget, only 3 per cent of employers say they intend to reduce employees’ pay next year – while almost 40 per cent say they’ll raise it. The IBEC survey also carries another warning about the prospect of the government making employers cover the first two weeks of an employee’s sick pay.
5. #STABBING: All three of the people arrested over Saturday morning’s stabbing in Rialto, in which one German man was killed and another serious injured, have been released without charge. Gardaà said files would be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
6. #RACISM: GAA authorities in Ulster say they are to investigate allegations that a player was subject to racial abuse during yesterday’s Ulster senior football club final. Crossmaglen player Aaron Cunningham, whose father is black, alleged that he had received racial abuse from the opposing Kilcoo side. Ulster GAA has promised to investigate the matter.
7. #ISRAEL: The United Nations has warned that Israeli plans to proceed with building housing settlements in Palestinian areas of Jerusalem could deal a “fatal blow” to hopes for peace in the Middle East. The EU has also warned Israel over the plans, which follow the UN’s decision to allow Palestine as a non-member observer state – which Palestinians had described as acknowledgement of their statehood.
8. #CORPORATION TAX: Watchdogs in the UK are said to be targeting Google as part of an investigation into the lower-than-expected corporate tax levels paid by major corporations in Britain. The Times says Google is now in the sights of the Revenue – news which could be important for Ireland, where Google’s European HQ receives income from many other Google global operations.
9. #OMG: Can u believe it? D SMS txt msg is 20 yrs old 2day! It was on December 3, 1992 that a British engineer working for Vodafone sent the very first text message – telling a colleague: ‘Merry Christmas’. The 160-character messaging format is now a staple of daily communications.
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