The Front Pages
Today’s main headlines on the front pages of the national broadsheets:
‘Bailed suspects commits fifteen murders,’ The Irish Examiner.
‘Uprorar over threat to cut the old age pension,’ The Irish Independent.
‘Taoiseach defends his handling of economy before crash,’ The Irish Times.
Bail law and practises will come under scrutiny following a report released to, and published by, Fine Gael. The statistics are broken down in The Irish Examiner between 2008 and March 2010. While the primary suspect was out on bail there was 15 murders, 47 sexual offences and 122 aggravated burglaries. Other crimes have been committed while suspects have been out on bail including car theft, murder threats and firearm possessions.
Social Welfare Minister Eamon O Cuiv is certainly not the flavour of the month in the DaÃl as he will not refuse to rule out a cut to old age pensions. The Irish Independent tells us that Mr O Cuiv thinks the government should target wealthy pensioners in the next Budget and reckons the annual €5 billion spent on pensions needs to take a hit.
In a speech at Dublin City University last night Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, admitted mistakes were made by government when he held the position of Minister of Finance before the collapse our economy, but, would not take the blame for mismanaging the nation’s finances. The Irish Times has the full story on Cowen’s defence of his Cabinet history.
Tales from the Tabs
Who pays £12 million for a car?
DJ Chris Evans, that’s who. According to The Sun, the BBC 2 radio breakfast show DJ has treated himself to a vintage Ferrari 250 GTO. Why? Well because he’s loaded. Evans has also raked in 9.5 million listeners to his show. The DJ collects vintage cars as investments and his fortune is thought to be worth in the region of £45 million.
Sambuca on your crotch and then set alight. How do you think that would feel? Yes, ouch.
That’s just what happened British plumber, Stuart Feltham, while holidaying in Crete, so he claims in The Daily Star. Marina Fanouraki, the Greek lady accused of setting fire to the holidaymaker’s private parts, admitted she threw the drink over Mr Feltham but claimed that he was exposing himself with a sexual advance. She told the judge he set fire to himself when drunkenly trying to light a cigarette. He suffered burns to his chest, genitals and stomach in the incident.
The Sports Pages
England are through to the final of the Twenty20 Cricket World Cup following their seven-wicket win in the semis last night over Sri Lanka.
The Sun has billed the final as a “mouth-watering†prospect with Australia in Barbados on Sunday. The Aussies face Pakistan in the second semi-final today.
The Daily Star has been speaking to Chelsea captain, John Terry, about his World Cup nightmare last Wednesday when the England defender thought his dream was kaput.
A collision in Chelsea training with team-mate Daniel Sturridge resulted in only bruising to Terry’s foot. It was initially feared that the central defender had damaged his metatarsal.
“My foot was caught underneath and I thought it was quite bad initially. But once I had the scan, it was just bruising and today there was no problem at all,†Terry told The Star.
