Every morning, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you really need to know with your bacon and eggs.
1. #BRACE YOURSELF: The first cut is the deepest: the Dail is to begin a two day debate on the planned €15 billion cuts later today – cuts which Finance Minister Brian Lenihan is warning will be front-loaded.
2. #NICE WHEELS: Two bulletproof BMWs seized from the Dundon criminal family are now being used as Garda cars, according to the annual report of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB).
3. #INDONESIA: Rescue efforts are underway as the country was hit by the triple whammy of an earthquake, volcano and tsunami. Teams are battling to reach an estimated 500 people believed to be missing since a tsunami struck small islands off the coast of Sumatra. At least 112 people are known to have been killed.
4. #CHEEKY: Dublin City Council is paying a private security firm €1,600- €1,700 a week to prevent Athlone businessman Noel O’Gara seeking parking fees from customers of a car park which he doesn’t own. The HSE, which says it owns the site, has leased it to the local council since 1974.
5. #HANDS UP: GlaxoSmithKline, the British drug giant, has agreed to pay $750 million to settle criminal and civil complaints that the company for years knowingly sold contaminated baby ointment and an ineffective antidepressant, after it was outed by a whistle-blower.
6. #MORIARTY: Dermot Desmond and Denis O’Brien are to launch a High Court action against the Moriarty Tribunal’s decision to recruit Michael McDowell to its legal team.
7. #PROPOSITION 19: The presidents of Columbia, Costa Rica and Mexico have appealed to California residents to reject Proposition 19, which would make the sale of cannabis legal. Meanwhile, George Soros has donated $1 million to the ‘yes’ side.
8. #WIKILEAKS: The US and Iraq should investigate claims of abuse and torture contained in files published on the Wikileaks website, the UN’s rights chief says.
9. #MADAM X: A mystery global pop star, who has sought a court order preventing publication of her name, age, nationality and whether she is in a relationship or has children, was left feeling “vulnerable and isolated” after a blackmailer tried to extort thousands of pounds from her in exchange for “highly sensitive” photographs that were stolen from her London home.
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