Morten Bjerre to wave goodbye to handball
← Previous Story BACK TO BUNDESLIGA: Nikolaj Jakobsen is new Rhein Neckar Lowen head-coach! Next Story → ASOBAL: Perfect Barca – 10 games 10 victories! aalborgbjerrejakobsenMorten BjerreNikolaj Jakobsen Aalborg‘s assistant coach is quitting handball. After it has been announced that Nikolaj Jakobsen is on his way to Rhein-Neckar Loewen next season, now his assistant, Morten Bjerre, have made his decision – he will not only quit the club, but also handball. He has said that he wishes to dedicate more time to his family and have more free time. Who will succeed these two is still unknown.source: hbold.dk
A MAN IS to appear in court tomorrow in connection with the discovery of drugs in Co Kerry.Yesterday, gardaí held three simultaneous searches in Co Kerry, Roscommon and Co Cavan.At Clash Industrial Estate in Tralee, Co Kerry, they discovered a large cannabis cultivation operation.Two Vietnamese nationals were arrested and around 1,800 cannabis plants seized. The value of the drugs was €1.3 million, subject to analysis.Tomorrow, one man in his late 20s who was arrested in connection with this investigation is expected to appear before Tralee District Court. He will be charged in connection with this incident.Read: Two charged over €2 million cannabis seizures>Read: Man jumps from roof to escape as gardaí uncover cannabis operation>
“This (motion) will be precedent-setting and if we move ahead with this, then obviously if someone else steps out of line like I have, it is going to affect councillors and the mayor I think for years to come,” he concluded.“So obviously I cannot support this.”The mayor’s troubles began several weeks ago when a video surfaced that appeared to show him smoking crack.Forced to admit he once smoked crack, he apologized for his many “drunken stupors.”New allegations of misconduct and lewd remarks, disclosed this week, gave another boost to the spiralling scandal.© – AFPRead: Video shows Toronto mayor Rob Ford ‘extremely, extremely inebriated’ >Read: ‘Yes, I have smoked crack cocaine. Am I an addict? No.’ – Toronto Mayor > EMBATTLED TORONTO MAYOR Rob Ford has been stripped of a number of legislative powers as city councillors seek to limit his powers after his latest obscene outburst.In a meeting today, city councillors passed a motion in a vote by 39-3 in favour of limiting the mayor’s executive powers, effectively leaving him as the city’s chief magistrate in name only.Ford, under fire after admitting to having once used crack and allegedly abusing a prescription drug and other misconduct, yesterday drew gasps, giggles and at least one exclamation of “oh, my God” from reporters with remarks yesterday outside his office.He later apologized, but it did little to stem the swelling outrage.At a city council meeting, many councillors turned their backs on Ford when he stood to speak.One chided him for his “disgraceful language” while a former ally said flatly: “Apology not accepted.”Councillor John Fillion said the aim of the motion was to “try to contain the mayor so that he doesn’t bring down the reputation of council or of the city.”“We can’t control his behavior, but certainly we can ensure that city business carries on as usual, perhaps even better,” he said.The motion reduces the mayor’s budget and staff, and strips him of the powers to appoint committee chairs and hire or fire department heads.Mayor Rob Ford reacts at city council members in Toronto on Thursday. (Pic: CP/AP/Nathan Denette)One councillor described the move as an attempt to build a “firewall” around the disgraced mayor.During a morning debate the mayor, who has been alternately defiant and apologetic about his behavior, sat mostly quiet.He asked a few questions, including about how to manage the transition of powers and raising for the first time the possibility of his resigning.At the same time, though, he vowed to challenge any bid to oust him or limit his mayoral powers, saying he has retained a lawyer and was ready for a legal battle that could last until the next election in October 2014.“I have no other options but to challenge this in court,” he said.Ford pointed out also that he could have removed committee chairs who challenged him to resign, but did not.
IN 1980, a discussion took place on the Late Late show on the lack of women in the media. Nell McCafferty, a panellist on the programme, listed off the names of male presenters who dominated the airwaves throughout the day and concluded that:“Women do not exist on radio. We are an invisible species.”Thirty-three years later the names listed by Nell have changed but the radio presenters are still predominantly male. The absence of any research on women in the media and the desire to see the extent of the problem led me to conduct a series of surveys which monitored the presenters and guests on a selection of current affairs programmes across the three national stations: RTE, Newstalk and Today FM.The first of these surveys was carried out in September 2010, followed by a second one covering the period from 1-7 March 2012. The most recent one which was carried out from 14-18 October 2013.The aims were to ascertain accurate figures for female representation on the airwaves and to make comparisons between them. Women’s presence in panels, interviews and reports were monitored for all three surveys. The results are outlined below:Little movement over three decadesThe figures show little movement over the three year period with the average participation of women in RTE growing from 18.5 per cent to 22.3 per cent in three years. The average for Newstalk went from 16 per cent in 2010 to 25 per cent in 2012 with no change in the most recent figures. The only programme monitored on Today FM was The Last Word and this came in at under 20 per cent in all three surveys.The most recent figures for RTE show a ratio of between 1:4 and 1:5 female-to-male voices in current affairs, with a 1:7 ratio for the Late Debate presented by Audrey Carville. The average ratio in Newstalk is 1:5 with Pat Kenny’s programme scoring highest for female participation with a 1:3 ratio. The Last Word went from a ratio of 1:7 (2010) 1:6 (2012) and 1:5 (2013).As I reviewed the figures another pattern emerged. Friday is the day when men are most dominant on the airwaves. In 2010 Morning Ireland interviewed their highest number for the week on Friday 17 September with a ratio 14 men: one woman. That same day Drivetime interviewed 17 men and one woman. The Right Hook had five men and no woman.On Friday 2 March 2012 Morning Ireland had 11 men and one woman while on that same day Pat Kenny had his highest number of male guests with nine men and two women.On Thursday 1 March there was no female guest on the News at One, presented by Seán O Rourke, while on Friday he interviewed 11 men and one woman. Drivetime had a 12:1 ratio on that day and there was no woman at all on The Right Hook.Morning Ireland interviewed the highest number of males for the week on Friday 18 October 2013 with a ratio of 16:6. Tuesday 15 October was Budget day and Drivetime interviewed a total of 24 men as against only seven women.Expert opinion = male opinion?While there was good gender balance in the studio for budget analysis this was lost when debate went outside the studio and expert opinion was sought. Drivetime’s figure for Friday 18 October was 16:6. Pat Kenny, on his Newstalk programme had 10 men and 1 one woman while on that same day Matt Cooper had a ratio of 13:1.This pattern of male voices being most dominant on a Friday also applies to presenters. As Rachel English and Áine Lawlor are now co-presenting they are not on air every day. For the most recent monitoring, Rachel English was co-presenter for just one day on Monday 4 October with an all male team presenting for the rest of the week.Áine Lawlor was the presenter of News at One on Monday and Tuesday but was replaced by Richard Crowley for the rest of the week. Mary Wilson was at the helm for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday but was replaced by Philip Boucher Hayes on Thursday and Friday. Consequently there were no females presenting current affairs on the last day of the survey, Friday 18 October.The other channels fared little better for females presenting. RTE 2 had no female presenter until Friday 18 October when Jenny Green presented an evening programme. The only female presenter on Today FM was Louise Duffy who had a 5am slot with no female presenting on Newstalk on their weekday schedule.Italy’s national broadcaster tackles gender inequalityIn light of the lack of progress for the last 33 years the problem needs to be urgently addressed. A recent Guardian article highlighted Anna Maria Tarantula’s proposals as head of the National Broadcaster in Italy (RAI) on this issue.She has confronted the problem at her station and explained her reasons for boycotting the recent Miss Italia contest in favour of reflecting the many other roles women have in Italian society. In the article Tarantola outlines her “equality focused approach”. The RAI adopted a “set of guidelines on gender last month” with the aim of “boosting the number of female experts who are brought on to shows.”Our national broadcaster needs to develop a similar policy and training for presenters, producers and research staff must be put in place to ensure that women are heard and represented on the airwaves. Irish Radio is not reflecting the needs of 51 per cent of Irish society and therefore is failing society as a whole. We cannot wait for another 33 years hoping that the culture might change.There is a moral imperative for changeThe results of the 2010 and 2012 surveys became part of a National Women’s Council (NWCI) submission to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) on fairness and accountability in news and current affairs.This, in turn, led to a meeting between the BAI and the NWCI which was encouraging in that the BAI gave a commitment to meet with senior broadcasting personnel, with a view to encouraging movement on greater equality for women on the airwaves.Aidan White, General Secretary of the International Federation of Journalists (1987-2011) said:“Fair gender portrayal is a professional and ethical aspiration, similar to respect for accuracy fairness and honesty.”There is a moral imperative for management to address the issue of gender balance in current affairs so that “fair” gender representation becomes a reality.Lucy Keaveney is a retired teacher with a passion for current affairs. After retirement, she became a founder member of the Countess Markievicz School which was established in 2011 in honour of Ireland’s first female cabinet minister.
This article was originally published on 25 June 2013. TEN YEARS AGO this summer I embarked on a road-trip dedicated to Nelson Mandela.I went to the house in Soweto where he and Winnie lived in the 1950s; the Indian restaurant in Johannesburg where he dined as a young lawyer; the cell where he was incarcerated on Robben Island. When I heard there was a museum dedicated to him in Umtata, I hopped on a bus there, arriving at an empty station in the middle of the night. My travelling companion was a copy of his autobiography Long Walk to Freedom.Over three weeks in South Africa, I encountered great warmth and humour. Staying with a family in a township, I was given a basin of water to wash with each day. “Here is your jacuzzi,” the young man who delivered it would announce, chuckling.I witnessed some efforts being made by the authorities to improve the lot of the poor: by, for example, providing shack-dwellers in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, with proper homes. But I also got depressed when I visited an uncle of mine, who then had an apartment near Durban. His friends and neighbours were exclusively white. One of them was a policeman who told jokes about killing kaffirs, a pejorative term for black people. Another was so ill-informed he didn’t know that Rhodesia was now called Zimbabwe (a country right beside South Africa).It was shocking to see how mentalities forged by racial stratification persisted. No sooner had I entered one particular taxi than the coloured driver exclaimed “This used to be a wonderful country; then the blacks took over”. Was this the “rainbow nation” Mandela had celebrated so eloquently?Deep AdmirationI retain a deep admiration for Mandela; anyone who was imprisoned for taking on an odious regime merits respect from people of conscience everywhere. Yet I no longer revere him the way I used to. That is because he abandoned principles that were at the very core of the liberation struggle to which he devoted most of his life.Mandela took part in the 1955 Congress of the People in Kliptown (part of Soweto). The Freedom Charter agreed at that gathering stated that the banks, minerals and industry of South Africa would be nationalised once apartheid was vanquished.Both the spirit and the letter of the charter were broken by Mandela following his release. One of his worst U-turns was to embrace the owners of the mines, who had quite literally treated the indigenous population as slaves. In 1994, Mandela went so far as to submit the African National Congress’ economic programme to Harry Oppenheimer for his approval. Oppenheimer had been the chairman of De Beers and Anglo-American, two mining firms that had provided crucial economic support for apartheid.I have no doubt that Mandela was put under enormous pressure by the world’s leading politicians and businessmen to behave in the way they wanted. By his own admission, the ripping up of the commitment to nationalise South Africa’s mines was the result of his trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Almost certainly, South Africa was threatened with losing investors if Mandela went about putting the Freedom Charter into effect.MuggedRepresentatives of the European Union effectively mugged his people.As president, Mandela oversaw the conclusion of a “free trade agreement” with the EU. It was grotesquely unjust. South Africa was required to remove taxes levied on 81 per cent of food and other agricultural goods from the Union. As most of these goods benefit from generous subsidies, there was no way that South African farmers could be expected to compete with them.Of course, Mandela could not be blamed for the endurance of racist attitudes. Nonetheless, he and other senior figures in the ANC helped usher in a slightly modified form of apartheid. The wealthy white were allowed hold on to their cricket clubs and other privileges, provided they allowed a few black entrepreneurs – epitomised by Mandela’s one-time confidant Cyril Ramaphosa – to join their ranks. The vast majority of the population was, by contrast, condemned to poverty. Unemployment almost doubled between 1995 and 2000.Mandela turned his back on other beliefs, too. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in 1992, he argued that “the trade in weapons of death will have to be reduced to an absolute minimum”. Two years later he was asked by John Major, then Britain’s prime minister, to consider buying a large consignment of weapons from the UK. Tony Blair followed up on his predecessor’s overture when he visited South Africa in 1999. The pressure paid off: a multi-billion dollar deal was clinched that year; its chief beneficiaries were the arms firms BAE Systems and Saab.Rekindle the spiritI am ashamed of the way journalists have covered Mandela’s declining health, affording no privacy to his loved-ones. The focus on Mandela is symptomatic of a more profound problem. He did not topple white rule single-handedly – nor did he ever claim to. Lavishing him with praise carries the risk of ignoring the countless others who have suffered.Perhaps the most fitting tribute to Mandela is to rekindle the ideals of the Freedom Charter. Triumphing over inequality requires constant dedication; unforgivably, some of his comrades in the ANC forgot this message as soon as their fortunes grew.The struggle did not end when Mandela was released from prison. It cannot end with his death. In one form or another, it must continue. And it will.David Cronin is a journalist living in Brussels. His blog can be viewed here. This article was first published by New Europe.Read: Prayers for Mandela as country urged to ‘let him go’>Read: Outraged South Africans condemn Mandela ‘exploitation’ after photocall>
MANDATE REPRESENTATIVES WHO attended at Labour Court hearing aimed at resolving the industrial dispute at Marks & Spencer are to recommend the union’s members accept the proposals set out today.Management and unions at the retailer attended today’s hearing after the LRC intervened in the dispute on Wednesday. A day-long work stoppage planned for yesterday was called off.The majority of the 17 M&S stores around the country were closed on Saturday as a result of the row, which centres on changes to the company’s pension scheme.According to a statement from Mandate: Mandate represents over 2,000 M&S workers across the country. They are to be balloted on today’s recommendation next week.Read: Four ‘unprofitable’ M&S stores to close with the loss of 180 jobs > Read: Marks & Spencer staff to strike next Saturday > “The Labour Court Recommendation deals with the central concern expressed by the unions that they were unable to deal with the company’s proposals due to the lack of access to financial information.“The Recommendation puts in place a process of engagement in the event of this information becoming available.”
This morning, he tweeted that he has been offered a new job, as well as changing his Twitter profile to reference the incident. According to The Mirror, the pub’s landlord stands by their decision, saying:When Jim, as head chef, informed me that he would not be working on Christmas Day, and other Sundays in the near future, I was left with little choice but to end our arrangement. I had been quite clear with him when he started here that Sundays are our busiest days of the week, and that all our chefs have to work that day.Jim however, is standing by his comments.The pub should probably consider starting a new Twitter account.Here’s what happened when everyone on Twitter watched Elf together>Everyone please stop posting your bank card details on Twitter> A SERIES OF tweets went viral last night, when a disgruntled chef took to his former employer’s account to vent about getting fired.The account, belonging to The Plough pub in Oxforshire, posted about the fact that their chef had been fired because ‘he wanted to have a weekend off this month and Christmas Day this year for family commitments.’The tweets, which remain posted, are thought to have been written by Jim Knight, who tweeted from his own account that he had not ‘hacked’ anyone, as the pub account had been created by him in the first place.He also said that there was nothing that would make him miss his daughter’s first Christmas.
TWO PEOPLE HAVE died on Ireland’s roads in crashes in Tipperary and Kilkenny.A man in his late 60s has died after the car he was driving was involved in a collision with a tractor on a Tipperary road this evening.The man, who was the sole occupant of the car, was fatally injured in the crash, which happened at around 5pm at Thomastown. He was pronounced dead at the scene and his body was removed to South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel. The driver of the tractor was uninjured.A technical examination of the scene is currently being carried out by Garda Forensic Collision Investigators and the road remains closed.Meanwhile a woman in her early 60s was fatally injured when the car she was driving hit a railway bridge near Paulstown in Kilkenny at around 4pm today.The woman, who was the sole occupant of the car, was taken to St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny where she was pronounced dead. A forensic examination of the scene has been carried out by investigators.Gardaí have called on any witnesses to the crash to contact Tipperary Garda Station on 062 80670, Thomastown Garda Sation on 056 774150, or the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111.
ALL THIS TALK of popes has got us thinking about who the best pope ever was.While there are quite a few to choose from, we don’t have to look too far back to find our favourite, and we’ve found 9 reasons why he’s the favourite.Presenting Pope John Paul II and the way he might look at you…1. There was the time he met the Italia 90 Irish football teamYouTube/Dzg189Is he doing a “pull my finger” on Charlie O’Leary? (©INPHO)2. There was the time he wore Bono’s glasses3. There was the time he played peek-a-boo4. There was the time he waved at this bird(AP Photo/Massimo Sambucetti, File)And the time he told this bird to feck off…“Feck off bird” (The Funniest Faces)5. There was the time he came to IrelandYouTube/BridgeTooFar2PA Archive/Press Association Images PA/PA Archive/Press Association Images6. The time he was a goalkeeperWhen Pope John Paul II was just regular old Karol Wojtyla in Poland, he was a big fan of the beautiful game.He played in goals in school and at university and it’s reported that he supported Fulham and Liverpool, but that Polish team Cracovia Cracow were the real holders of his heart.The Pope had a special world for Irish goalie Packie Bonner when the Italia 90 team met him in Rome“Still got it” (GIULIO BROGLIO/AP/Press Association Images)7. There was the time he almost got a standing ovation for sneezingYouTube/Discovery8. There was the time he kissed this baby, even though it was trying to steal his watchAP Photo/Massimo Sambucetti, File9. And there was the time he met with his would-be assassin Mehmet Ali AgcaIn his prison cell in 1983…(AP Photo/Arturo Mari, File)Mehmet Ali Agca show and wounded the Pope in St Peter’s Square in Rome in 1981, hitting him four times.The gunman’s hand aiming the pistol can be seen to the left of the photo (AP Photo)Of course Pope John Paul II was not without his critics. His response to clerical sex abuse, his views on homosexuality, marriage, contraception, attitudes towards women in the Church are among the criticisms of him during his time as Pope from 1979 until his death in 2005.Pope John Paul II beatified before more than a million people in Rome> Meet the men who could succeed Pope Benedict>Happy Birthday Judy Blume… here’s why you are a legend>
AUSTRALIA PREPARED TO resume its search for possible plane wreckage floating in a remote and stormy section of the Indian Ocean, as the vast international hunt for a missing passenger jet entered its 13th day.Surveillance aircraft on Thursday searched for a pair of floating objects captured by satellite imagery, which Australia and Malaysia guardedly called a “credible” lead in the baffling mystery surrounding missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.The Australian-led search was due to restart at first light, as a Norwegian merchant ship arrived in the target area about 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) southwest of Perth, after warnings of poor weather conditions and limited visibility.Four aircraft suspended their search at nightfall Thursday without any sighting of the possible debris after scouring a 23,000-square-kilometre (8,900-square-mile) area where the grainy images were snapped, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.Two planes came from Australia, one from New Zealand and one was a US aircraft, while another merchant ship was en route to join Norway’s Hoegh St Petersburg merchant ship.The Australian navy’s HMAS Success was also headed for the area, and Britain sent a naval survey ship, HMS Echo.Australia said the satellite-captured objects — the largest was estimated at 24 metres (79 feet) across — raised hopes of a breakthrough in the Malaysian plane’s mysterious disappearance as relatives of the 239 people aboard braced for another emotional roller-coaster.“We now have a credible lead,” Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said during Malaysia’s daily briefing on the crisis.“There remains much work to be done to deploy the assets.”The objects would have drifted for four days, making them a “logistical nightmare” to locate, said Australian Defence Minister David Johnston.“We are in a most isolated part of the world. In fact it probably doesn’t get, if I can be so bold, more isolated,” Johnston told Sky News Australia.He was later quoted as saying it could take “two or three days” before any firm conclusions are made.AngerRelatives of Chinese passengers on board MH370 vented their fury in their first meeting in Beijing with Malaysian government officials, almost two weeks after the aircraft vanished.The event began in angry fashion, with family members yelling at the group of political representatives and senior military officials to stand up when they were being introduced, rather than nodding while sitting down.“You have wasted so much time,” shouted one anguished relative, his voice quivering.Chinese citizens make up 153 of those on board Malaysia Airlines flight 370 — two-thirds of the total — and the meeting took place at a hotel where their loved ones have been waiting for news.© – AFP 2014 Read: Objects in Indian Ocean could be missing Malaysian Airlines plane
16-year-old Greta Thunberg met with Obama and chided senators, saying they’re not trying hard enough to fight climate change WHITE HOUSE PRESS secretary Jay Carney said that some of the details emerging from the trial of former Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell were “unsettling.”Carney said, however, that President Barack Obama would not take a position on the trial while it is ongoing.“The President does not and cannot take a position on an ongoing trial, so I won’t as well,” Carney said, responding to a question from Fox News’ Ed Henry.“Certainly, the things that you hear and read about this case are unsettling,” Carney said, adding that Obama is “aware” of the proceedings.Entering its fifth week today, the Gosnell trial earned major attention at the end of last week amid criticism that the mainstream press was ignoring the news.Gosnell is charged with killing a female patient and seven babies while performing late-term abortions. Some of the details are gruesome, from Gosnell allegedly “snipping” the spinal cords of babies to keeping jars of their feet.Last year, Obama offered a statement on the killing of Florida teenager Trayvon Martin, noting that he was wary of “impairing” the ongoing legal process.- Brett LoGiuratoComments are disabled as legal proceedings are active.Read: US doctor charged with killing seven babies > China could be the biggest loser from the Saudi Arabia oil attack See how smoggy downtown LA was the day before Trump is expected to demolish California’s attempts to tackle auto emissions 10 things in tech you need to know today 
OVER HALF OF Irish hotels saw an increase in turnover in 2012, according to a new report on the industry.The survey by AIB, in association with the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) indicates that couples are helping hotels get back on track with an increase in romantic getaways and wedding related business.The number of over 55s and Irish tourists also increased last year, contributing to 54 per cent of hotels seeing an increase in their turnover while just 26 per cent said it decreased.Hoteliers are more positive about their own business than the economy at large with 67 per cent expecting the tourism industry to improve within the next three years while 71 per cent expect their own business to see growth.Some 55 per cent say they will upgrade and refurbish their properties over the next three years and 85 per cent have introduced special offers to draw more visitors to their hotel.The survey showed that online bookings now account for 56 per cent of all bookings with just 31 per cent of bookings made over the phone now.On the finance side, 42 per cent of hotels have not sought finance from their banks in the past 12 months. Of those who did seek finance, 59 per cent required a change to the terms of their existing finance or to renew it with just 12 per cent seeking a new loan.Commenting on the report, CEO of the IHF, Tim Fenn, said the report shows that the outlook for the hotels sector is “more upbeat compared to last year” but that “significant challenges” remain in terms of high operating costs like local authority rates.Read: Irish tourists spend more staying abroad than in Ireland>Read: Publicans feel ‘neglected’ by government>
POLICE IN LONDON investigating the violent murder of Lee Rigby on Tuesday have arrested three further suspects.Detectives from the Counter Terrorism Command and specialist firearms officers were involved in the operation which saw the three men, aged 21, 24 and 28, detained yesterday evening between 6pm and 6.30pm on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.The 24-year-old and 28-year-old were arrested at a residential address in southeast London. The third suspect was arrested in the street at Charlton Lane, SE7. A Taser gun was used on two of the men but they did not require medical treatment in hospital.Police are currently searching four addresses in the area.There have now been six arrests in relation to the killing of the 25-year-old in Woolwich. Michael Adebolajo, 28, and Michael Adebowale, 22 remain under armed guard in hospital after being shot by police at the scene. They are said to be in a stable condition.The 29-year-old questioned after giving an interview to BBC News on Friday has been bailed to return pending further enquiries.The Metropolitan Police Service has asked anyone who filmed or took photos as events unfolded on John Wilson Street to send it to them. They also advised witnesses not to delete any footage or material they may have.Reports in the UK today carry images of Adebolajo in court in the Kenyan city of Mombasa in November 2010. The Mail on Sunday claimed he had been detained with others on suspicion of planning to fight for a terror group. The men were thought to have been heading to Somalia to join the Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents. MI5 has been criticised for missing key clues about the killers. It has also been suggested that the intelligence agency tried to recruit the killer to spy for them.Increased attacks As London comes to terms with the vicious and brutal killing outside the Royal Artillery Barracks, an inter-faith group has reported a large spike in anti-Muslim incidents.“It’s a hugely worrying development,” director Fiyaz Mughal told AFP, saying the organisation had been informed of 162 incidents in the past 48 hours, compared to a daily average of four to six.They were mainly verbal attacks on women wearing the Islamic headscarf in the street, he said, but there were also online attacks and some violence.A number of people have been charged over malicious comments made on social networking sites.-Additional reporting by AFPMore: Betting shop employee killed in south London – reportsRead: Murder of London soldier raises fears of ‘lone wolf’ attacksRelated: Spy agency MI5 ‘approached’ suspect soldier killer, says childhood friend
A young Indian boy cools himself off with water being distributed by the municipality in a local slum on a hot summer day in New Delhi, India. (Kevin Frayer/AP)HERE ARE THE things we learned, loved and shared today as we round off the day in three easy steps.THINGS WE LEARNED: #NO CONFIDENCE: The Dáil is beginning a two-day debate this evening on a motion of no confidence in justice minister Alan Shatter. Kicking off the debate, Fianna Fáil’s Niall Collins cited not only the recent penalty points controversy, but also Garda station closures and the banking veto in the insolvency system. Earlier, Enda Kenny once again said he had full confidence in Shatter – saying the difference between Shatter’s encounter with the Gardaí and that of Mick Wallace was that Shatter hadn’t committed a crime and Wallace had. Shatter also found an unlikely friend on the independent benches…#HADDINGTON ROAD: One of Ireland’s biggest public unions has recommended that its members vote in favour of the ‘Haddington Road’ pay deal. The INMO, representing nurses and midwives, had been one of the staunchest critics of the original Croke Park 2 proposals. Its general secretary Liam Doran said the offer was the best available.#PAY: The average weekly wage for a Irish worker stood at €696.59 in the first quarter of this year, the CSO says – up slightly from the last quarter of 2012. The same figures showed a drop of 1.3 per cent in the numbers employed in the public service; the average wage in public administration is now €938.99 a week.#TOBACCO: Ireland is to become only the second country in the world to enforce new mandatory plain packages for cigarettes. Ireland will follow Australia’s lead in demanding that cigarettes be sold in bland packaging and carrying even bigger health warnings than they do right now.#ATTACK: Gardaí investigating the stabbing of a solicitor in Dublin two years ago have arrested a man in his 30s. The man was detained in the city centre this morning after a vicious assault on a 44-year-old woman in her home at Donaghmede Park in 2011. The victim suffered serious injuries in the stabbing but has since recovered.#AUSTERITY: Joan Burton no longer believes in austerity. The social protection minister has put her name to a letter in today’s Guardian where signatories argue that Europe must now move onto the “next stage”, as austerity measures have already been brought as far as possible.Californian Jack Wiegand waves from the cockpit of his Mooney M20 single-engine plane prior to taking off for Kobe, Japan, in the next leg of his attempt to be the youngest pilot to fly around the world. Wiegand, 20, has flown across North America, the Atlantic, Europe, the Middle East and South Asia. (AP Photo/Bullit Marquez)THINGS WE LOVED: This incredible photograph from the Women’s Museum of Ireland. It’s a young Irish doctor called Patricia Horne, crossing the Ananambra river in Nigeria in the 1950s. A talk on Patricia’s adventures in Nigeria will be given at the History Festival of Ireland next month.Most of us are probably a little uneasy about drones – unmanned planes which have become synonymous with bombings in some less fortunate parts of the world. Well, here’s a useful application for them in South Africa: one music festival is using drones to deliver beer to people who order it on their smartphones.This video makes us want chocolate, and also a purple carpet. But mostly chocolate. (YouTube: CadburyIRE)THINGS WE SHARED:In case you ever wondered just how developed Europe was, relative to some other parts of the world: here’s a map visualising the world’s busiest flight paths.If you’re going to heckle a comedian, just don’t make it Jimmy Carr.Ever wonder what it’s like actually being inside a tornado? Wonder no more. Sleep tight…
(YouTube: Brandon Ivey)
THE MASTER OF Holles Street Maternity Hospital, Doctor Rhona Mahony, said she ‘learned a lot’ from the controversy about her salary last year.It was reported that Mahony received an alleged privately funded €45,000 top-up to her €236,000 salary.She said that the money came from professional fees from private hospitals.Rhona Mahony has been the Master of the National Maternity Hospital since the start of 2012.At the time of the controversy last year, Mahony said she was ‘personally vilified’.Speaking about the experience on RTÉ Radio 1, she said that “It’s not pleasant” but added “it’s not all bad, you learn a lot”.Would I give back the experience? Actually no I think I learned a huge amount about myself, about how the system works. You also learn you have some great friends. “My job is to run Holles St, my job is not to get distracted about things that actually maybe don’t directly affect patient services”.Children Dr Mahony said she believes that childbirth is one of the main reasons that women don’t progress in the workplace.The elephant in the room is childbirth and we go to great lengths to ignore this as a contributing factor as to why women don’t progress in their careers.She also told ‘Sunday with Miriam’, “What we really need to do is start supporting young families much more.“I think people need much more permission. Men need permission to stay home and bring up children.We need to stop saying to women ‘Do you feel guilty? Do you feel guilty because you work?’“And you’re thinking well actually I work really hard and I think I do an important job. So I’m not sure I do feel guilty, thank you.”The interview will be broadcast tomorrow morning on RTÉ Radio 1 at 10am.Read: Holles Street Master breaks silence on top-ups, says she was personally vilified>
According to the latest issue of the journal Biology of Reproduction, researchers have found a way to successfully produce baby mice using genetic material from two fathers. Those crazy scientists!But don’t fret, ladies! We still need you to do all the hard, child-bearing stuff… for now. The first step to bringing this wacky sitcom scenario to fruition is to take genetic material from a male mouse embryo and manipulate it into the eggs of a female mouse. The female mouse was then allowed to naturally mate with available male mouse studs. The female carriers later gave birth to both male and female mice that caried genetic contributions from two fathers. (It’s, of course, much more complicated than that–a PDF with some way too technical details available here.)This achievement of two-father offspring could be a valuable tool in preserving endangered species, improving livestock breeds, and even open the door to the possibility of same-sex couples having their own genetic children. Also, that Arnold Schwarzenegger pregnant man movie is one step closer to being true now. Congrats, science.
According to new numbers from scientists, NASA’s Kepler observatory has identified some 1,235 transiting planet candidates since in launch in March 2009. Most intriguing in these new numbers are the 54 planets that fall within the the “habitable zone,” putting them the proper distance from their stars to offer liquid water. Fifteen of the candidates have been confirmed as planets by terrestrial telescopesThe above image features the stars for the transiting planets on the top row. Our sun is on the row below, with the planets following after that.AdChoices广告