EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things we really think you ought to know with your morning cup of coffee.
1. #BODY The body of a woman in her sixties has been found at her home in Castleknock. Gardaí say they are investigating all the circumstances surrounding her death and a post mortem has been carried out. Meanwhile RTÉ is reporting this morning that the man arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing in Tallaght at the weekend was a homeless man who is still being detained at Tallaght Garda Station.
2. #SICK BENEFITS Thousands of people who were receiving sick benefits when they were in fact fit to work have been cut off, according to a report in today’s Irish Independent. The benefits were cut for more than 11,000 people after over 40,000 were assessed by doctors working for the Department of Social Protection. A further 13,000 who didn’t show up for their appointments were also cut off.
3. #LIBYA Between 40,000 and 50,000 people who were imprisoned by the Gaddafi regime since February are missing, reports The Telegraph. There are fears than many of those imprisoned were killed in mass executions while more may have been trapped in underground military bunkers. Evidence of mass executions have already been uncovered, with the discovery of 50 bodies at a warehouse in Tripoli.
4. #AL-MEGRAHI A CNN reporter has tracked down the Lockerbie bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi at his home in Tripoli, finding him in a coma and “near death”. Al-Megrahi was freed from a Scottish prison in 2009 on health grounds. It had been claimed that he only had months to live.
5. #BANKS AIB and Bank of Ireland are unlikely to meet their lending targets this year, according to the latest report from the Credit Review Office, led by John Trethowan. The report says that businesses are reluctant to apply for loans in the current climate. However the Small Firms Association has said that the failure to meet the target of lending €3 billion each is “unacceptable” and that banks must improve their efforts to communicate with customers.
6. #BACK TO SCHOOL Many schools are welcoming students back into classrooms this morning, and the Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton is defending the way her department has handled the backlog of the back-to-school allowance applications for clothing and footwear. Claims are still being processed and it could be October before some families receive their money.
7. #BACHMANN US Republican presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann has said that she wants the 100,000 jobs created by American companies in Ireland “back in the United States”. Citing Ireland’s low corporate tax rate, she said that the US is sending companies abroad in search of lower taxes.
8. #KILLARNEY Killarney has been declared the cleanest town in Ireland by the Irish Business Against Litter League, according to RTÉ, while Dublin has has its worst result in years. Irish Business Against Litter surveyed 53 areas across the country, and found that two-thirds of places examined are in line with European levels when it comes to being litter-free.
9. #HOMELESS WORLD CUP Scotland has won the Homeless World Cup in Paris. The team beat Mexico 4-3 in the final at the Stade de Liberte. The Scottish Daily Record reports that the eight-man team was coached by former Rangers defender Ally Dawson. More than 60 teams took part in the tournament.
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