Every morning, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you really need to know with your first coffee of the day.
1. #ROYAL VISIT: It’s the final day of the royal visit, which will see Queen Elizabeth travel to Cork and Cashel today. Among the very important people who’ll be turning out to meet her are the 17-month-old Benhaffaf twins, Hussein and Hassan, and their parents.
2. #REAL IRA: Three people have been arrested over a hoax bomb threat which was intended to cause chaos during the Queen’s visit to Kildare yesterday, the Belfast Telegraph reports. Meanwhile, twelve who were involved in protests at Connolly Station yesterday have been charged with various offences and will appear in court again next month.
3. #NAMA: NAMA plans to start lending to home buyers and commercial property investors – and will offer them incentives to protect against future negative equity, the Irish Times reveals.
4. #PASSPORTS: Travellers have been warned not to book their holidays unless their passports are valid, following an unprecedented rise in the number of applications, the Irish Times reports. Requests for passports are running 13 per cent higher than last year when there were delays of up to five weeks in processing applications.
5. #CATASTROPHIC: That’s the verdict on the Irish Nationwide results, which are out today, showing losses of €3.3 billion for 2010 – its last full year as an independent institution before it merged with Anglo.
6. #MIRACLE: A 23-year-old man with paraplegia has been able to stand independently again following stimulation of his spinal cord, the Lancet reports. He can voluntarily move his toes, hips, knees and ankles and also walk on a treadmill while being supported.
7. #STRAUSS-KAHN: The former IMF chief Dominique Strauss Kahn is getting out of Rikers Island today after being granted bail, subject to strict conditions, last night.
8. #CORPORATION TAX: The government is exploring other changes that could be made to the corporation tax rate to satisfy French interests, the Examiner reports. Finance Minister Michael Noonan has said the government has offered to engage constructively in discussions on other issues – such as a common EU-wide tax base on which cross-border companies could calculate their tax liability.
9. #ORGY: A division of one of the largest insurance companies in the world, Munich Re, came up with an unorthodox reward for its top sales staff: a giant orgy in Budapest. A German business newspaper said the prostitutes had worn colour-coded arm-bands designating their availability, and the women had their arms stamped after each service rendered, the BBC reports. Women wearing white bands were “saved” for the top performers – that’s sales performers.
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