EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning cup of coffee.
1. #OVERCHARGED: AIB has issued an apology to about 11,500 customers it overcharged in relation to insurance options on their credit cards. The bank has said it will issue €3.1 million worth of refunds in the coming days.
2. #PRISONS: The Prison Officers Association has warned that overcrowding in prisons is a serious problem as it deals with multiple attacks on its members every week. Only yesterday, a prison officer at Cloverhill had his face and hands slashed with a razor blade by an inmate.
3. #SYRIA: The Secretary General of the UN Ban Ki-moon has condemned the Syrian government, stating President Bashar Assad is in contravention of his commitments to withdraw troops from populated areas. There were mixed reports from Hama yesterday as activists claimed 70 people were killed in an attack on a house, while State media said 16 people died in a blast at a home being used by “armed terrorist groups” as a bomb factory.
4. #FISCAL COMPACT: Sinn Féin has accused the Governor of the Central Bank of “taking liberties with his role” after Patrick Honohan advocated a Yes vote in the upcoming referendum on whether the Fiscal Compact treaty should be ratified. Spokesperson Padraig MacLochlainn said he should be more considerate of his position as a public servant and concentrate on his own job.
5. #ASSET SALE: Finance Minister Michael Noonan revealed yesterday that a higher proportion (than the one third already agreed with the Troika) of the proceeds from the sale of State assets will be used to support jobs and economic growth. He would not be drawn on a figure but citing remarks made by Enda Kenny, the Irish Times reports that Ireland may be able to use up to 50 per cent of the profits for domestic investment.
6. #WATERFORD: A 38-year-old woman is to appear in court today in connection with the death of Joe O’Brien. She is the third person to be arrested in relation to the discovery of the 60-year-old’s body at an apartment in Waterford city on Monday night.
7. #DRUG TOURISTS: A Netherlands court is to decide today whether a planned ban on tourists visiting cannabis cafés can be implemented. Authorities are worried that lenient rules are leading to drug tourists and foreign dealers selling illegally back home but café owners argue that the move is discriminatory against foreigners.
8. #SECRET SEX: Usually in the job of protecting the US President, the Secret Service has provided yet another headache for Barack Obama as the prostitution investigation has been expanded. The agency wants to probe whether employees hired strippers and prostitutes while preparing for a State visit to El Salvador, reports the Washington Post.
9. #INSPIRING: During her keynote speech at a United Nations conference yesterday, Cork teenager Joanne O’Riordan told a 200-strong audience that “technology is the limb she never had” and challenged those attending the Girls in Technology meeting to build a robot that would “improve her life”. Read her inspirational speech, in full, here.
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