EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you need to know with your morning cup of coffee
1. #EU BUDGET: The European Union’s budget for the next seven years will see spending of around €960 billion under a broad framework that has been put to leaders in Brussels this morning. As EU leaders, including Enda Kenny, worked through the night to thrash out the specifics it now appears as if there will be a real-terms cut in EU spending for the first time in its history.
2. #PROM NOTES: As the coalition government basks in the glory of praise and a few positive newspaper headlines this morning, the deal on the IBRC promissory notes will mean that the next Budget might not be as harsh as anticipated with an extra €1 billion available as as result of yesterday’s deal. Though officials at the Department of Finance cautioned that it’s still too early to say how it will effect the final budget arithmetic.
3. #HORSE MEAT: The horse meat scandal took another twist last night as the Food Standards Agency in the UK confirmed that tests on frozen beef lasagne found that in fact it is, in some cases, horse lasagne with 60 to 100 per cent equine DNA found in some products produced by Findus. The Food Safety Authority here is investigating whether the potentially tainted Findus products are sold in Ireland but in the meantime is advising that consumers avoid eating Findus frozen beef lasagne.
4. #CLIMATE CHANGE: A bill setting out specific targets for Ireland on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, including a 95 per cent reduction on the levels of fossil fuels used in 1990 by 2050, will be put before the Dáil this morning. Independent TD Catherine Murphy is introducing her Energy Security and Climate Change Bill 2012 as a private members motion.
5. #SEND IT HOME: Irish emigrants sent more than €560 million back home in 2011 according World Bank figures, the Irish Times reports this morning. The sharp increase in money being sent home is indicative of the high levels of emigration in recent years but the figures also show that foreign workers based in Ireland send home far more with €1.8 billion flowing out of the country in 2011.
6. #MANHUNT: Police in Los Angeles are undertaking a large manhunt of a former colleague who is suspected of killing three people in the last few days. Christopher Dorner is alleged to have shot dead a policeman yesterday and is also wanted in connection with the deaths of a couple last weekend. Dorner is said to have implicated himself in a manifesto in which he threatened LA police employees, BBC News reports.
7. #TUNISIA: More unrest is expected in Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab Spring, later today as a general strike gets under way following the killing of a leftist opposition leader this week which sparked violent clases. The death of Chokri Belaid, a vocal critic of the new Islamic-dominated regime in Tunisia, has caused outrage and sparked a political crisis.
8. #ROADS: A teenager is one of two people injured after two cars collided in Castleblaney in Co Monaghan yesterday evening. The crash happened at Maghernakill at around 6.30pm last night leaving a man in his late teens in a critical condition and a second man with minor injuries.
9. #TOY DUCK: If you read your Evening Fix (and we hope you do) then you’ll know from Tuesday’s edition that a man was suing the Smyths toy shop alleging he was defamed when wrongly accused of shoplifting a toy duck over five years ago. Now the papers report this morning that the case was dismissed in the High Court yesterday with the judge saying there was no proof of malice in the words alleged to have been spoken to the claimant David Mongan.
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