EVERY DAY, TheJournal.iebrings you nine things you need to know with your morning cup of coffee.
1. #CROKE PARK AGREEMENT: Irish business representative group IBEC has called for the immediate suspension of public sector pay increments, stating it is “not credible” to sanction the payments when a €3.5 billion adjustment is needed in the upcoming budget. Minister Brendan Howlin will meet with the Committee of Public Accounts later this morning to examine the Public Service Reform Plan.
2. #ABORTION: The first private abortion clinic in Ireland, run by Marie Stopes International, will open in Belfast next week. The provision of early medical abortion will be available only within the current legal framework for instances when the life of a pregnant woman is at immediate risk and/or if there is a long term or permanent risk to her physical or mental health.
3. #GARDAí: The body of a woman in her early 40s has been discovered in a house at Summer Hill North in Cork city. The body was found at approximately 9.30pm yesterday and the scene has been preserved pending a technical examination.
4. #JOBSWATCH: The bookmaker Paddy Power will announce the creation of over 600 jobs in Dublin today. The company, which has already filled some 190 new positions since the beginning of April, said the new jobs will be created between now and the end of 2015, bringing the its total Irish workforce to 2,783.
5. #ABUSE: An official report from the Health Information and Quality Authority has expressed concern over alleged abuse by Gardaí during the return of a young person to Oberstown detention centre in Dublin, the Irish Times reports. The report also criticised the frequency with which young people were separated in the centre after incidents, sometimes for up to 35 hours.
6. #WEATHER WARNING: Met Éireann has put out a flash flooding warning today due to heavy rainfall. However, there is good news ahead, as drier weather with “just a few showers” is expected as the day progresses.
7. #SPAIN: Rating agency Standards & Poors has cut Spain’s sovereign debt rating by two notches to just above junk status, citing the deepening recession and strains from the country’s troubled banks. The downgrade could see Madrid’s borrowing costs skyrocket to untenable levels.
8. #TURKEY: Turkey has forced a Syrian passenger plane from Moscow to land in Ankara, reportedly suspecting it was carrying weapons, adding to tensions between the two neighbours. Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Turkey seized “objectionable cargo” from the the plane which it intercepted en route from Moscow to Damascus yesterday.
9. #RIO DE JANEIRO: The statue of Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro will be illuminated in green light to celebrate St Patrick’s Day next year, RTE reports. President Michael D Higgins and the Archbishop of Rio de Janeiro Orani Joao Tempesta signed an agreement last night after the President visited the world famous monument.
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