EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you a round of all the day’s main news as well as the bits and pieces you may have missed.

• Just two days after it was announced, the government appears to have rowed back on its proposal to cut disability allowance for young people, saying the measure has been “paused” and will now be reviewed by the Department of Social Protection.
• If you’re still trying to get your head around what Budget 2012 means for you check out this handy infographic and use our Budget Calculator 2012 to see how your income will be affected.
• The eurozone is gearing up for a crucial two-days in Brussels which start tomorrow as leaders meet to discuss ways to address the debt crisis. Already, a Franco-German letter is proposing big changes in the single currency area while the Taoiseach has said changes could come into effect without a treaty change which would require a referendum here in Ireland.
• Bank of Ireland has said it is to make €1.5 billion available for mortgages next year which may come as good news for potential house-buyers after the government announced schemes aimed at getting people back into the housing market yesterday.
• Students at Trinity College Dublin have banned the Daily Mail from its campus shops after the paper published an inaccurate story about the missing student Caolan Mulrooney whose body has since been found.
• In Russia, former president Mikhail Gorbachev has called for the weekend’s parliamentary vote to be annulled amid growing protests over the reported election fraud carried out as Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party triumphed in the election, albeit with a reduced majority.
• To lighten the mood here’s a man with a mullet whistling an old Ray Charles classic:

• A bullish Bashar Assad has said that Syria does not kill its own people and that he doesn’t feel guilty for the death of a reported 4,000 people since an anti-government uprising got underway earlier this year.
• A man imprisoned for a number of rapes carried out 27 years ago has been exonerated by a US court. Thomas Haynesworth had already been released on parole but had been pushing for exoneration for the crimes he did not commit.
• Now that’s what I call austerity: schoolchildren in Spain are being rationed toilet paper as the education ministry makes cuts across the board as part of a drive to reduce Spain’s overall deficit which has led to high unemployment and some fears it could be next for a bailout.
• An Indonesian police officer who became a viral video sensation has been sacked amid claims he hadn’t shown up for work over the past two months as he tried to turn his success from a video with over three million hits on YouTube into a career.
• The Ivory Tower in Cork has been ordered to close by the Food Safety Authority. The restaurant of chef Seamus O’Connell is one of six served with a closure order last month.
• Al Pacino is coming to Dublin next year and its for a totally ‘Wilde’ reason. Find out more here.
• Finally in sport, Giovanni Trapattoni has been named the Phillips Sports Manager of the Year for 2011 while in rugby Leo Varadkar has floated the possibility of Ireland bidding to host the Rugby World Cup in the future.

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