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The 9 at 9 Good morning! Here are nine things you should know as you start your day…

EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you begin your day.

1. #MISSING The search is still underway for Jill Meagher, who has been missing from the suburb of Brunswick in Melbourne, Australia, since 1.30am on Saturday. Homicide detectives have been called in to work on the case after the Irish woman’s handbag was found a short distance from her home. Her brother Michael McKeon said he believed he was the last person to talk to her, as she called him on her way home to check in on their father, who had been unwell.

2. #STABBED A man in his 30s is scheduled to appear before Blanchardstown District Court at 10.30am this morning, charged in connection with the murder of Anna Finnegan (26) in Clonsilla on Friday night, 21 September. He was arrested yesterday. On Saturday, Finnegan and a 33-year-old relative, believed to be her brother, were attacked at a house at around 8.30pm. The mother-of-two was left at the entrance of the Emergency Department of James Connolly Memorial Hospital and later died from her injuries.

3. #SASKATCHEWAN CALLS AGAIN A Canadian recruitment firm is looking for 1,000 Irish workers, such as mechanics, programmers, crane operators and carpenters who are willing to live and work in Canada over the next 12 months. The country is in the middle of a labour shortage currently and Irish workers are seen to have the “desired skill sets, work ethic and cultural affinity”.

4. #PROTESTS The Iranian president Mahmound Ahmadinejad has sharply criticised the film mocking Islam that has sparked protests in the Muslim world. Speaking to CNN he said that “any action that is provocative, offends the religious thoughts and feelings of any people, we condemn”. In response to the news that a Pakistani minister had offered a bounty for killing the filmmaker of the Innocence of Muslims, he stated that he believed “this must also be resolved in a humane atmosphere”, says AFP.

5. #ADOPTION Ireland and Vietnam will sign an agreement today on adoption between the two countries. The Irish Times reports that the move will mean that adoptions can resume, after being suspended in 2009. The suspension was due to concerns about the adoptions’ legality, but since then Vietnam has complied with the Hague Convention on international adoptions.

6. #START UPS More than 2,000 entrepreneurs are starting new businesses every month in Ireland, according to the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor for 2011. The significant majority of these early-stage entrepreneurs say they expect to employ 20 or more people after five years, which Forfás manager Declan Hughes described as “encouraging”. Two-and-a-half times as many men as women describe themselves as entrepreneurs.

7. #CHINA The company that makes Apple’s iPhones has suspended production at a factory in China today following a brawl by as many as 2,000 employees at a dormitory, during which 40 people were injured. Foxconn Technology Group makes iPhones and iPads for Apple Inc. The fight started at 11pm yesterday and was brought under control at around 3am the following day.

8. #GENERAL ASSEMBLY The UN’s General Assembly will see more than 120 presidents, prime ministers and monarchs meeting this week, during which the current protests and violence in the Muslim world will be discussed, says the Associated Press. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the ministerial session tomorrow will be among the busiest ever, reflecting “the tumultuous time in which we live”.

9. #EMMYS The Emmy Awards took place in the USA last night, and the big winners were Homeland and Modern Family. British actor Damian Lewis won the Best Actor gong for his role in Homeland, while the show itself was named Best Drama. Modern Family won four awards, while Breaking Bad had a winner in Aaron Paul, who scooped Best Supporting Drama Actor. The biggest loser, however, was Mad Men, which didn’t win one statuette despite being nominated for 17 awards.

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    Mute Peter Richardson
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    Dec 15th 2013, 9:19 AM

    The Irish banks are the problem; they are not part of the solution.

    The Irish banks, when unleashed on defaulting home mortgagors, will cause pandemonium and will trigger even greater holes in their capital adequacy. The Irish banks are actually insolvent. Some buy to let lending on property is just a superficial pretence that they are back in business.

    The elephant in the room is that the Irish banks are bust, insolvent, broken, wrecked and no one wants to recognise that hard reality.

    The true extent of mortgage debt default has not yet been properly accounted for by the Banks.

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    Mute Sean O'Keeffe
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    Dec 15th 2013, 9:40 AM
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    Mute Harry Price
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    Dec 15th 2013, 10:36 AM

    one room to the other room lucky to have the house ..who do you think you are codding Mr Kenny

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    Mute Peter Richardson
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    Dec 15th 2013, 9:08 AM

    The emperor has no clothes. Today does not change our dismal economic reality. Combined public and household debt is unsustainable. The burden of debt is too great for Ireland.

    The reality is that Ireland is a failed economic state and a steadily failing economy. We can deny that reality for a while but reality will will come knocking on the door.

    Platitudes about recovering part of our sovereignty are meaningless and trite.

    The article above is a much needed reality check but people will not listen to that reality.

    The dismal legacy of he false boom years is a permanent yoke on the necs of the Irish people who, according to Enda Kenny, have only themselves to blame.

    The Banks will continue to pursue strategies which are mildly beneficial to the banks but deeply damaging to a failing economy. The mortgage impairment crisis in 2014 and 2015 will be the final nail in the coffin. There is no escaping our fate. The centre cannot hold.

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    Mute Mike Hall
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    Dec 15th 2013, 11:02 AM

    Damien is right to point out the myth that banks have much interest in the real economy of businesses, employment and production of goods and services.

    The real economy is merely a sideline that gains them entry to the real game of rent extraction in partnership with the rich, plus, recently, the marvellous public ‘insurance’ that ensures any losses are passed on to ordinary citizens or ‘socialised’.

    Globally, this ‘laissez faire’ model has been promoted thru’ deregulation over decades.

    Banks have become funds for the purchase of existing assets to be rented out at excessive profit and/or capital gains, with a banking licence tacked on.

    Integration with the payments system and various cross connected derivative bets ensure that any failure topples them all in a domino effect, so that governments are obliged to cover any losses they make. This construction was no accident, rather quite deliberate.

    And absolutely nothing has been done about it by the political classes. In fact, these ‘systemically’ important ‘too big to fail’ banks are now bigger than ever.

    The payments system banking of the high street needs to be separated, as it was following the 1929 crash, from the casino and ‘derivative’ bet banking operations, as a minimum.

    But it would appear that the banking lobby has already effectively bought politics and most of the public service advisers, media and mainstream academe.

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    Mute Peter Richardson
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    Dec 15th 2013, 6:23 PM

    Mike Hall, well and truly said.

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    Mute Pat St
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    Dec 17th 2013, 8:15 PM

    DEFAULT THE ONLY OPTION

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    Mute David O Brien
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    Dec 15th 2013, 9:18 AM

    So Damien you are basically saying young Irish Citizens were screwed by developers in the noughties, screwed by the Troika for the past three years, and are going to be screwed by bankers and vulture capitalists for the rest of there lives. How did we let this happen under our noses and did nothing?

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    Mute Ronan Stokes
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    Dec 15th 2013, 10:20 AM

    Welcome to Ireland David. The elite in this country screw it up time and time again. Generation after generation. Just watch reeling in the years, its the same story decade after decade. The PAYE worker foots the bill, and theres no accountability for those who screw it up.

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    Mute Tomasz Wu
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    Dec 15th 2013, 6:16 PM

    The PAYE will pay.

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    Mute FlopFlipU
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    Dec 15th 2013, 9:08 AM

    The law should be set up in away that if the borrower can’t service the loan he just has to hand back the house ,the bank made a decision when they loan the money that the value was in it ,I know it Is not a simple as it sound,s but some mechanism could be worked out ,it would make them more cautious ,it would alter the power they have and stop the big jump in value and it would also control the house selling agents that were riding the wave .

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    Mute iBob101
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    Dec 15th 2013, 9:26 AM

    Actually it is as simple as it sounds and works in places such as the US. There are several advantages to the system one of which is that banks that push up a property bubble by imprudent lending pay the cost when mortgages default and they can’t just hound the borrowers forever.

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    Mute Peter Richardson
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    Dec 15th 2013, 9:34 AM

    Foreclosure is the name of that system but now it is too late for that solution. The Irish Banks will find that they can’t get blood out of a stillness.

    It was the lending policies of the Banks which caused the massive asset bubble. Now they will try to get their pound of flesh. They will fail. The money is not there. The reality is that any home possessions will simply crystallise large losses.

    The banks will end up carrying out massive write downs but only after they have caused untold misery.

    The situation is totally unsustainable but we comfort ourselves with the delusion that we have successfully exited the bail out.

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    Mute Peter Richardson
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    Dec 15th 2013, 9:27 AM

    At least we no longer have to hear commentators describe the Irish electorate as the most intelligent and sophisticated in the world. This electorate putFianna Fáil coalitions into government three times in a row. Madness.

    A property obsessed nation followed its love affair with property like a moth to a flame.

    Property has been our destruction hastened by plentiful cheap euros.

    The Baron of Ballsbridge showed us the madness at work but he was just holding up a mirror to the rest of us.

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    Mute Sean O'Keeffe
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    Dec 15th 2013, 9:46 AM

    Ronan Lyons explains here the stimulus for a “no brainer” speculative culture.

    http://www.ronanlyons.com/2009/06/12/property-a-shining-example-of-never-a-better-time-to-save/

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    Mute Dermot Brennan
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    Dec 15th 2013, 10:03 AM

    Most newspapers want this reality hidden from us so their beloved coalition can boast about “regaining sovereignty”

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    Mute Peter Richardson
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    Dec 15th 2013, 11:05 AM

    “A Nation once again” – me hole.

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    Mute Tigerisinthezoo
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    Dec 15th 2013, 3:52 PM

    It is rather depressing reading the above and the comments. What a mess this country is. I think the saddest thing is the meek reaction of the people. Where is our fight or sense of pride? Why are we not standing up for ourselves.
    I guess the reality is that the majority are comfortable enough – in jobs and without huge debts – and not overly willing to see any real change. For the minority who are unemployed or underemployed it is a case of suck it up.
    What hope is there for young people who want to get decent employment, start a family and have a home? People are simply locked out with no opportunity. What a legacy has been left.

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    Mute Kieran O' Leary
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    Dec 15th 2013, 1:52 PM

    Where do you arrive at the figure of 52% of pay deducted in Paye/Prsi & Usc? If a Single person is on €33k, they pay €7900 in the three taxes. That works out at 23.8%. A long way off 52%

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    Mute Brehon Law
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    Dec 16th 2013, 8:49 AM

    Good analysis! Question is: what happens next? It doesn’t need an accountant to tell you Ireland is enslaved forever.
    If you haven’t seen the Oscar-winning documentary ‘Inside Job’ already I recommend you do now.
    Only the little people get hurt, only the little people. We need an Oliver Cromwell to deal with this.

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    Mute Lee Casey
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    Dec 16th 2013, 8:01 AM

    politican vs banker = golf buddies

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    Mute Mindfulirish
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    Dec 17th 2013, 4:46 PM

    Great article – a day after a TD suggest Nama are selling off greatly reduced properties to developers. Will we ever be able to stop the money junkies ie bankers, politicians, charity bosses, developers etc? They can’t wait to get their next fix. Like most junkies the price is paid for their addiction by others. It won’t stop until somebody kicks them out of their homes and their comfortable jobs.

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