EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know with your morning coffee.
1. #BUDGET 2012: Proposals to cut disability allowance for young people may be scrapped after backbenchers in both Fine Gael and Labour lashed out against the suggestion. The plans would mean new applicants for disability benefit would not be entitled until their usual weekly benefit until they turned 18 – and people aged 16 and 17 would instead have an allowance paid to their parent or carer each month. Last night Michael Noonan admitted that the issue was “worth looking at again”.
2. #BUDGET 2012: While most of the measures proposed in the budget will go into effect in the new year, some applied apply from the stroke of midnight following the Budget announcement. Check out our quick blow-by-blow guide as to what’s already been put in place.
3. #GUN ATTACK: Two men have been injured in gun attack in Bluebell area of Dublin. The pair, aged in their 20s and 40s, were brought to St James’ Hospital, however their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. Gardaí are investigating the incident.
4. #LISBON: The Lisbon Treaty could be altered without a referendum being held by any EU member state, the Irish Times reports this morning. The European Council President, Herman Van Rompuy, is seeking to enact changes by amending protocol 12 of the EU treaties instead of putting the proposals to a vote.
5. #JOBSWATCH: Emirates airlines has today announced the creation of 25 new jobs in Ireland and the opening of its first office in Dublin. The new recruits – who will work in sales, reservations, ticketing, finance, airport operations and cargo – will be based in the new office and at Dublin Airport’s Terminal 2.
6. #FRACKING: A moratorium on fracking has been put in place in Northern Ireland following concerns about the environmental and health effects of the practice, reports The Irish News. The controversial practice involves the removal of natural gas from shale rock.
7. #GAY RIGHTS: The US has publicly declared that ‘gay rights are human rights’ and has vowed to fight discrimination against gay men and women aboard using foreign aid and diplomacy, according to the BBC. Britain recently took a similar stance over the treatment of gay people by foreign countries, threatening to cut off aid to countries with anti-gay laws.
8. #GREECE: We may have just endured a harsh Budget but we’re not alone: a new austerity budget was also passed by Athens yesterday, where a new raft of tax hikes and spending cuts were outlined, reports Al Jazeera. Hundreds of angry protesters clashed with police outside parliament.
9. #iPAD: Oh no it’s not. China has told Apple that it can’t use the name ‘iPad’ any more – because someone else got there first.
Apple lost the trademark dispute after a Chinese court ruled that the Proview Technology Shenzhen Company had lawfully registered the iPad name in 2000 for use in China and other countries, reports Market Watch.
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