EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning cup of coffee.
1. #PROPERTY TAX: A government minister has suggested that people who paid large amounts of stamp duty during the property boom could be exempt from the property tax when it is introduced. The Irish Times reports that junior finance minister Brian Hayes has said that while he did not want to pre-empt the report of a review group examining the new tax, an exemption could be possible for those who paid “extraordinary, extortionate” figures when buying their house.
2. #KEVIN REYNOLDS: The priest who was libelled by RTÉ has said that he does not wish to see any of the State broadcaster’s staff sacked in the wake of the controversy over the Prime Time Investigates programme that defamed him. Fr Kevin Reynolds has told the Irish Independent he has “no grievances” over the affair as the Irish Times reports that RTÉ faces a €200,000 fine from the Broadcasting Authority over a breach of fairness.
3. #AVALANCHE: An avalanche in a remote Himalayan glacier has reportedly killed 130 Pakistani soldiers. An army official has said that that the snow hit a battalion headquarters in Gayari on the remote Siachen glacier just before 6am this morning local time. Siachen is on the northern tip of the disputed Kashmir region with more soldiers having died there from the harsh weather than combat.
4. #FLANNERY: The liberal priest who is under investigation by the Vatican for his views has received the support of a number of other priests, one of whom is quoted in today’s papers as saying that liberal priests are subject to ‘FBI-like attention’ from the Catholic Church authorities in Rome. Fr Adrian Egan said his comments in support of Tony Flannery, who confirmed to TheJournal.ie yesterday that he was under investigation, were in a personal capacity.
5. #JET CRASH: The US Navy fighter jet which crashed into a residential area of Virginia has injured at least seven people with three residents of the retirement complex are still unaccounted for, Reuters reports. The F-18 crashed into the building yesterday with both crew members ejecting from the fighter jet before it hit the buildings and sent a fireball into the sky.
6. #TWITTER: If you’ve ever tweeted about an iPad or your latest diet then chances are you’ve been tweeted back being offered a free iPad or the best diet in the world. It’s the result 0f what’s known as a spambot and now Twitter has filed a lawsuit against five websites that allegedly help distribute spam across the micro blogging site. As well as using technology to prevent spam, the company said it was “adding another weapon to our arsenal: the law.”
7. #TWEETING TDS: Fine Gael chairman Charlie Flanagan has played down a tweet in which he asked “Has Joan Burton a government deathwish ?” in the face of criticism from a fellow government backbencher. Labour’s Colm Keaveney took to Twitter himself to say that Flanagan’s words were “unfortunate” but Flanagan has said the whole issue, which makes some of today’s papers, is a “storm in a teacup”.
8. #CORRUPTION: Meanwhile, Flanagan has told TheJournal.ie that he wants a permanent anti-corruption commission established in Ireland following the publication of the Mahon Tribunal report. He’s suggested that judge Alan Mahon could chair the commission and said that transparency in current alleged corruption investigations was “wholly inadequate”.
9. #BITING: You may have heard of the old journalistic aphorism that if a dog bites a man it is not news but if a man bites a dog it is. But what about when a man bites a policeman? Or two for that matter. A court in Sheffield has heard how a company director allegedly assaulted two police officers and bit them after drinking champagne and smoking cannabis on his first visit to the home of a woman he met online, the Sheffield Star reports.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say