EVERY DAY TheJournal.ie brings you a roundup of the day’s main news – plus any bits and pieces you may have missed.

• AIB has announced this evening that it will cut the rate applied to variable rates mortgages by 0.25 per cent. In a statement, the bank said it had made the decision to implement the interest rate cut “following the meeting between  AIB, members of the Government and the Economic Management Council”.
• The online farming network Farmbud says it is to create up to 100 new jobs over the next three years. The new positions will include part-time and full-time staff in sales, administration and project development positions.
• A worker at the Mr Binman plant in Limerick has been hospitalised with serious injuries. The company confirmed that a person has been taken to hospital following an incident at the company’s depot in Luddenmore, Grange in Kilmallock.
• The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eamon Gilmore, has defended his actions in dealing with the 14 Irish activists who are being held by Israeli authorities after they tried to break the blockage of the Gaza Strip. Gilmore told the Dáil today that he had conveyed his dissatisfaction to Israeli authorities about the way the Irish citizens are being held and treated.
• The Government is considering banning fast-food restaurants from areas near schools, after a report revealed one in four Irish children is overweight.
• Seven men have been charged with running a ‘clickjacking’ scam that made them an alleged €10million in profits – and infected four million computers in 100 countries. The scheme worked by diverting users looking for iTunes and other popular sites, and taking them to fake web pages.
• A 22-year-old man appeared at Buncrana District Court this morning, charged in relation to the deaths of eight people in relation to the fatal road collision that occurred at Clonmany in Donegal on 11 July 2010. The two-car crash was the worst road accident ever seen in Ireland. Shaun Kelly, of Hill Road, Buncrana, was remanded on bail to appear before the court again on 8 December, UTV reports.
• The annual rate of inflation has increased to 2.8 per cent after the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.3 per cent in October, according to recent figures released by the CSO.
• As it is the last day of President Mary McAleese’s time in office, we have taken a look back at the highlights of her two-term presidency.

Megan Long (11) holds a card her class at St Audeon’s school made for President Mary McAleese outside the Society of St Vincent de Paul in Christchurch in Dublin where she opened 18 long term supported accommodation units in a refurbished wing of the Back Lane hostel. Photo: Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland

• Greece has named its new prime minister: former European Central Bank vice president Lucas Papademos was today confirmed as the man to lead a unity government. The 64-year-old former vice president of the ECB will lead a coalition backed by the governing Socialists and the opposition conservatives that is expected to operate until early elections in February.
• The cost of Italian borrowing fell today but still remains dangerously close to the 7 per cent level considered unsustainable in the long-term. On Tuesday, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi pledged to step down once parliament passed a new budget to meet European Union stipulations - however who will succeed him is far from clear.
• The latest mystery to rise out of Europe (kind of) – just who has been stealing Germany’s grapes? Thieves have been raiding lucrative southern German vineyards, managing to make off with a small fortune in fruit. Vineyard owners have taken to patrolling their land at night to protect their produce – and it’s takingits toll: one vineyard owner said the pilfering was hurting him “not just financially, but also emotionally”.
• Planning a cinema trip this weekend? TheJournal.ie brings you snippets from three new releases to help you decide where to put your money…

Finally, imagine this happening to you as you plucked up the courage to catch a wave…

Uploaded by bqnbarb13 via YouTube

Making a difference

A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can make sure we can keep reliable, meaningful news open to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

Support us Learn More