EACH WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you five things you need to know before you head out the door.
1. #FITZPATRICK: The former chairman and chief executive of Anglo Irish Bank Seán FitzPatrick appeared before the Courts of Criminal Justice in Dublin today charged in connection with alleged financial irregularities at the bank.
Fitzpatrick faced 16 charges in connection with a breach of section 60 of the Companies Act. He was granted bail and remanded to appear again on 8 October in court one of the Criminal Courts of Justice at 10.30am, the same day that fellow former Anglo executives, Willie McAteer and Pat Whelan, are due to appear before the court.
2. #JOBSWATCH: State-owned Permanent TSB is to lay off around 250 staff after confirming plans to close 16 of its branches as part of an internal reorganisation.
The bank has said it will lose the equivalent of 250 full-time staff – meaning the number of personnel actually cut could be higher than 250 if the redundancies include staff currently sharing part-time roles. Permanent TSB plans to launch a voluntary severance scheme whereby employees would offered three weeks’ pay per year of service on top of their statutory entitlements.
3. #PHONE HACKING: Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service is to bring charges against former News of the World editors Rebekah Brooks and Andy Coulson.
Brooks resigned as head of News International last in year in the wake of the phone hacking scandal that forced the tabloid’s closure; Coulson worked as editor of the title from 2003 to 2007 and most recently served as the press advisor to British Prime Minister David Cameron. Six other people, including private investigator Glen Mulcaire, were also named in the CPS charges.
4. #PROPERTY: Property prices slid backwards again in June following the first increase in almost five years being recorded in May, newly released figures from the Central Statistics Office show.
Residential property prices fell by 1.1 per cent in the month of June, compared to the 0.2 per cent increase recorded in May – with prices in the capital falling to 56 per cent below their highest levels of early 2007.
5. #SYRIA: Syria’s second city has seen fresh heavy violence today, with reporters of fighter jets bombing parts of the area. This is the first time that the planes have been used on Aleppo, according to BBC correspondent Ian Pannell.
Yesterday, reports emerged that Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi warned that his government could use chemical and biological weapons if attacks by foreign forces. In a later effort to damped down the remarks, Makdissi said that the regime would never use such weapons against its own citizens.
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