EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning coffee.
1. #SLAVES: Four members of a family of Travellers are due in court in England this morning on various charges relating to the detention of 24 people from a halting site in Bedfordshire. The 24 people were suspected of being held against their will, though the BBC reports that nine of the men discharged themselves from hospital and are refusing to help police.
2. #LIBYA: An Amnesty International report into Libya’s civil war has called on the National Transitional Council to prevent revenge attacks on Gaddafi loyalists, after uncovering human rights abuses on both sides of the dispute.
3. #COURTS: A 65-year-old woman from Co Offaly insists she still won’t allow the ESB and Eirgrid to come onto her land to install a power line – despite yesterday being jailed for the refusal. Teresa Treacy told reporters she was in good health and would be able to cope with prison. She is to remain in prison until she purges her contempt.
4. #WELFARE: Social Protection minister Joan Burton has launched details of a new drive against welfare fraud, which she hopes can save the State as much as €625m next year.
5. #CELIBACY: A former Bishop of Derry has urged the Church to reconsider the idea of celibacy among the clergy – believing priests should have the right to marry. The comments are in Edward Daly’s memoirs which are to be published next week, and of which extracts appear in many of today’s papers.
6. #NORTHERN IRELAND: Northern Ireland is set to lose some of its representation at Westminster under the terms of a proposed revision to its constituencies. A commission wants to reduce the number of MPs from 18 to 16 – with the DUP and SDLP likely to lose out, while Sinn Féin stands a chance of making relative gains. The moves could also mean a reduction of the membership at the Stormont Assembly.
7. #GUNMAN: An inquest into the death of Raoul Moat has heard that the gunman was so hungry during his time on the run from police in Northumbria last year that he ate dead mice to stay alive.
8. #LAST RESORT: Italy has kicked off talks with China, trying to secure some new investment in the country as it continues to fight off the risk of needing an EU-IMF bailout. Bloomberg reports that a government official said bonds were not central to the discussion.
9. #LATE LATE LATE SHOW: Last Friday’s edition of the Late Late Show drew an audience of 577,000 – a further decrease on the 650,000 drawn the week before, according to the Irish Independent’s Ken Sweeney. While RTÉ has insisted it is happy with the viewership, the increase will put further pressure on host Ryan Tubridy, who had blamed the poor showing two weeks ago on an Ireland soccer match.
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