EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you start your day.
1. #WELFARE: The government has said it is on track to exceed its targets for cracking down on social welfare fraud. The Department of Social Protection estimates it has reached €536 million in control savings after reviewing 746,000 cases.
2. #EUROZONE: The White House has said that the ongoing progress in solving the eurozone debt crisis is a “good thing” but that work remains to be done. The intervention was the first official reaction from the US government to the Brussels meeting of EU leaders.
3. #ABUSE: The Minister for Children has described the case of a man who was jailed for life for the rape and abuse of his four daughters as “barbaric”. The man, who has not been identified, was jailed for life at the Central Criminal Court in Castlebar, Co Mayo yesterday for the rape, torture and abuse of his daughters over an 18 year period.
4. #ROADS: Two people died in a road traffic accident in Mayo last night. A 40-year-old female driver and a 14-year-old front seat passenger were both pronounced dead at the scene of the single vehicle accident in Ballina.
5. #ANGLO: Gardaí are continuing to question Seán Fitzpatrick, the former head of Anglo Irish Bank, in Bray Garda Station this morning. Fitzpatrick was arrested yesterday as part of the ongoing garda investigation into alleged financial irregularities at the bank.
6. #SYRIA: At least 41 people, including several children, were killed by Syrian security forces yesterday according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The United Nations estimates that at least 4,000 civilians have been killed in Syria in the past nine months
7. #PROTEST: Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to take to the streets of Moscow today calling for fair elections. The protesters are calling for the annulment of last week’s disputed parliamentary election, reports the New York Times.
8. #WEBBED UP: Almost 80 per cent of all households in Ireland have access to the internet, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office.
9. #X FACTOR: The X Factor website has seen a drop of almost 40 per cent of visitors compared with 2010. The Guardian suggests that fans have been turned off by a ‘less than inspiring’ new judging panel and wannabe stars this year.
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