’12 million affected in Pakistan as torrential rain forecast’ reads the headline in this morning’s Irish Times, as the death toll continues to rise in the worst disaster in the state’s history.
“We’re forecasting widespread rains in the country, especially in the flood-affected areas,†said Qamar-uz –Zaman Chaudry, the director general of country’s meteorological department. According to Pakistani officials, more than 650,000 houses have been destroyed and approximately 1,600 people have been killed.
‘Hospital faces axe from crippled HSE’ is the lead story in the Irish Independent this morning, with the paper reporting that the closure of an entire hospital, 1,000 redundancies and axing of key services are among plans to cut costs in the West of Ireland region.
According to sources mentioned in the paper, Roscommon County Hospital is the most likely to close down, or at least face downsizing from its 24-hour a day, seven-day service. Services are also likely to be cut at Letterkenny General Hospital after a HSE report found that HSE West cannot realistically break even by the end of the year without immediate action.
‘Most jail terms last year were for minor offences’ is the headline on the front of today’s Irish Examiner, who report that over half of people jailed last year were penalised for road offences and non-payment of fines.
The annual report of the Irish Prison Services (IPS), which was published yesterday revealed that there were was a 90% increase in the number of committals for non-payment of fines last year compared to 2008 – a figure which had already increased by nearly 90% from 2007.
The Penal Reform Trust have branded the figures as ‘shocking’, in light of critical prisoner levels and a massively over-burdened prison system in this country.
