Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

Irish man labeled by FBI as world’s ‘largest facilitator of child porn’

REMANDED IN CUSTODY BY IRISH HIGH COURT TODAY

 

THE FBI’S REQUEST FOR EXTRADITION TO US OF SUSPECT ALLEGEDLY INVOLVED IN DISTRIBUTION OF ABUSE IMAGES ONLINE

Eric Eoin Marques (28) arrives at the Four Courts for a High Court extradition hearing earlier today.

A 28-year-old Irishman described by an FBI special agent as “the largest facilitator of child porn on the planet,” has been further remanded in custody by the High Court today.

The US authorities are seeking the extradition of Eric Eoin Marques who is alleged to be involved in the distribution of online child pornography.

Following a brief appearance before Mr Justice Paul McDermott at the High Court this morning, Mr Marques was remanded in custody until Thursday of next week.

The court previously heard Mr Marques, who has Irish and US citizenship, was arrested on a provisional warrant that records charges of distributing and promoting child pornography on the internet.

This morning, counsel for the Attorney General Ronan Kennedy asked the court to further remand Mr Marques in custody until the full request for his extradition was received from the United States.

If the full request was not received within a certain timeframe, then Mr Marques would be released, counsel said.

Last week, Mr Justice Paul Gilligan refused to grant Mr Marques, with an address at Mountjoy Square in Dublin’s north inner city, bail until the extradition request has been determined.

The US authorities are seeking his extradition on four charges. The court heard that if convicted he faces possible sentences of up to 30 years in prison. The charges relate to images on a large number of websites described as being extremely violent, graphic and depicting the rape and torture of pre-pubescent children.

The charges were brought against Mr Marques following a year long investigation involving both the FBI and the Garda.

Mr Marques was arrested in Dublin last Thursday on foot of a provisional extradition warrant issued by a US court on July 29th.

Investigating gardai and the FBI both objected to bail being granted on the grounds including Mr Marques represented a flight risk. The court heard evidence that large sums of money had passed through his bank accounts, including large payments sent to accounts in Romania.

The court also heard that a search of Mr Marques’s computer revealed he had made inquires about how to get a visa and entry into Russia. He had no previous convictions nor had he ever come to the attention of the authorities before.

At a hearing last week, Mr Marques told the court he was born in the US but has lived in Ireland since he was five years of age. He said his father is Brazilian and his mother is Irish.

He said he had visited Romania a few times, and had friends and an ex girlfriend there whom he was helping out financially. He said he was last in Romania a few weeks ago when he withdrew €6,000 from his credit card to help a friend start a business.

He also told the court several weeks ago he searched online about Russian visas out of curiosity due to the issues surrounding former US NSA employee Edward Snowden.

Ireland’s exports to fall by €2.8bn as pharmaceutical sales decline

 

The expiry of drug patents in Ireland is partly to blame for slump in pharmaceutical sales

John Whelan, (Above) chief executive of the Irish Exporters’ Association: first six months of year were more difficult than expected for exporters.

The value of exports from the Republic is set to fall by €2.8 billion this year as earnings from pharmaceutical sales slip again, according to the latest estimates.

Industry group the Irish Exporters’ Association reported yesterday that the total value of exports in the first six months of this year was down 1.9 per cent at €88.6 billion from €90.3 billion during the same period in 2012.

Its chief executive, John Whelan, said that, barring an improvement in the Republic’s main markets in the EU, merchandise exports would fall by €5.5 billion this year overall while the value of services sold abroad would increase by €2.7 billion.

“So, in total, exports will fall by €2.8 billion or 1.6 per cent across the year,” he said.

“In these circumstances it will be hard for any overall increase in employment.”

Merchandise exports slumped by €3 billion or 6.4 per cent to €43.3 billion in the first half of the year from €46.3 billion. Services partly offset this, growing by €1.3 billion to €44 billion.
Expired patents:  The association highlighted a fall in the value of pharmaceuticals – the result of patents on a number of drugs manufactured here expiring – as the main reason for the fall in the value of goods exported from the Republic.

However, it noted that amid the general fall in manufacturing exports, the agri-food and drinks industry continued growing, adding 8 per cent to overseas sales during the first half.

Mr Whelan acknowledged the first six months of the year had been more difficult than expected for exporters, as the fall in merchandise sales and the contraction in services growth were both worse than anticipated.

“Stronger domestic and export growth can be achieved if additional policy action is taken to lift the investment rate in the Irish economy, and an extensive expansion of the government trade support agencies’ presence on the ground in the emerging markets,” he said.

Mr Whelan added that if the Government implements these policies in the budget, the Republic can expect a return to export growth in 2014.

The IEA is forecasting the value of overall exports could rise by €8.8 billion next year to €188.5 billion.

Galway Alcohol Forum voices support for the minimum pricing of alcohol by Irish Government

 

THE GALWAY HEALTHY CITIES ALCOHOL FORUM, GALWAY CITY COUNCIL AND THE GALWAY CITY JOINT POLICING COMMITTEE HAVE VOICED THEIR SUPPORT FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF MINIMUM PRICING FOR ALCOHOL.

The Galway Healthy Cities Alcohol Forum, Galway City Council and the Galway City Joint Policing Committee have voiced their support for the introduction of minimum pricing for alcohol.

Galway is the first city in Ireland to develop a strategy to prevent and reduce alcohol-related harm and the Galway Healthy Cities Alcohol Forum has prepared a submission requesting the Government to take urgent action to introduce minimum pricing.

Evelyn Fanning, Health Promotion, HSE West, who is chair of the Galway Healthy Cities Alcohol Forum, explained that minimum pricing sets a price below which no alcohol beverage can be sold and is based on the amount of alcohol in a product measured in units or grams.

She added that it predominantly affects the price of cheaper alcohol sold off-trade, i.e. in off licenses, shops, supermarkets and petrol stations that are licensed to sell alcohol, which is now the biggest supplier of alcohol in the country.

According to the Galway Healthy Cities Alcohol Forum, the World Health Organization (WHO) has made it clear there is “undisputable” evidence that the price of alcohol matters and that if the price of alcohol goes up, alcohol-related harm goes down as alcohol is less available.

“Evidence also suggests that harmful drinkers tend to buy alcohol that is cheaper than that bought by low-risk drinkers. Therefore, a minimum pricing policy is beneficial in that it targets the drinkers causing the most harm both to themselves and to society, while having little effect on the spending of moderate drinkers,” according to the Galway Healthy Cities Alcohol Forum.

Galway City Cllr Niall McNelis also pointed out that the tax payer is actually paying double as, in addition to the estimated €3.7 billion a year due to health, crime and public order and other costs such as workplace absenteeism and litter clean up, when alcohol is sold below cost price, the retailer is entitled to a VAT refund on the difference between the cost price and the below-cost sale price.

“In effect, this means that the Government is subsidising large retailers who can afford to sell alcohol at below-cost price,” he said.

The Galway Healthy Cities Alcohol Forum has said there is strong support from all sectors and communities in Galway City to address the issue of alcohol-related harm, and the introduction of minimum pricing is one action that will contribute to reducing the huge human and economic cost of alcohol-related harm.

College website apologises for article about one-night stands for men

 

Collegetimes.ie says controversial piece was intended to be satirical

A website for Irish third-level students has apologised to soft-drinks maker 7up after an advertisement for the firm appeared beside an article advising men how to find a woman for a one night stand.

Collegetimes.ie has also been heavily criticised on its Facebook page and on Twitter for the article, which has also received hundreds of Facebook likes.

When the article was brought to the attention of 7up, the company tweeted: “Thanks for bringing this to our attention. We by no means endorse this content and are having our ads pulled ASAP”. It has since been removed from Collegetimes.ie.

In a statement, PepsiCo, which owns 7Up, said: “7up does not condone the type of content that appeared on collegetimes.ie today. As soon as we were made aware of where our advert was placed we had it removed immediately.”

The article was written by journalist Joanna Stroinska and tells men how to pick-up a girl in a nightclub.

The article suggests that finding a one night stand is similar to betting on the dogs and the “key focus should be the candidate”.

It said prime candidates were “girls who have just been dumped, girls with low self-esteem and potential daddy issues, and slut bags”.

  Featuring a photograph of Austrian abductor Joseph Fritzl, the article said men on the pull should not give the impression to a girl of being a Joseph Fritzl-type character.

It recommends targeting young women who are attractive but still have self-esteem issues about their looks.

It goes on to state: “When she’s in your house, don’t waste time with the nonsense of house tours or making her feel comfortable. This is an ‘in and out’ job, pun intended. Again, to ensure you don’t get a clinger make sure the sex implies as little relationship qualities as possible. Pull her hair, rip her shirt but by all means- don’t look in her eyes!”

It concludes by recommending that the man avoids giving the woman lift home and also avoids learning her surname or her mobile phone number. “The most successful one night stands leave no loose strings!”

In a statement collegetimes.ie said it “would like to publicly apologise to our advertising partner 7Up for a technical failure that allowed advertisements for the brand to appear alongside an article in our ‘It’s all about sex section’.

“We have removed the brand from the particular section and would like to make it clear that 7Up would never be associated with content of this type.

“The article ‘One Night Stand – For Men’ was written by a woman to highlight, in a satirical fashion, behaviours that occur commonly within our society. The article was based on the observations of a student. College Times never intended to offend any of our readers.”

A version of the article first appeared on the Canadian websitehttp://www.premierlife.ca.

Cork-based feminist group Feminista criticised Ms Stroinska’s article, saying it prompted “sexism and misogyny”.

Technology multinational firm Overstock to create 45 new jobs in Sligo

 

The online discount retailer Overstock.com is setting up a software development team in Sligo, creating some 45 jobs.

The US company is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was founded in 1999 and now has just under a million products listed on its site including furniture, bedding, electronics, clothing and even cars.

It employs more than 1,300 people around the world. In 2010 it was ranked as the number one US retailer for employee satisfaction in a survey commissioned by Forbes.

Overstock is listed on the NASDAQ and had sales of $1.09bn last year.

“Today’s announcement that leading on-line retailer Overstock.com is to establish a key technology group here, with the creation of more than 45 jobs in Sligo is great news for the north-west, and is a significant endorsement of both Sligo and Ireland in delivering the needs of multinational companies” said Jobs Minister Richard Bruton.

‘Overstock is an ambitious, dynamic and technology led company that is excited with the potential that Sligo and Ireland offers. The Irish development team will be involved centrally in many existing activities and will lead on several new and initiatives associated with our International expansion” said Steve Tryon, senior vice president at Overstock.

Jurassic squirrel’s secret is out after 165 million years

  

Discovery of furry animal with sharp teeth and poisonous spur provides more clues to the evolution of mammals

The small mammal with reptilian features is older than the T rex and may be one of our most ancient relatives.

The discovery of a small furry beast from the Jurassic era has given scientists fresh insights into the evolution of the first mammals on Earth. The fossilised remains of the squirrel-sized animal that plodded rather than scampered, came from rock dated to 165m years ago, when feathered dinosaurs shared the land.

Named Megaconus, or “large cusp”, after its distinctive teeth, the animal was unearthed in Inner Mongolia where it had been preserved in volcanic ash that settled in a freshwater lake. It is thought to be an early relative of mammals, and has some mammalian features, while others are more commonly seen in reptiles.

Preserved among the remnants is evidence of fur and a keratinous spur that jutted from the hind ankle and was probably used to deliver poison to predators. The bones of its middle ear were more primitive, and attached to the jaw as in reptiles. The discovery shows that animals evolved to have fur before the first true mammals emerged. The fur was primarily for insulation, but may also have served a sensory purpose.

The animal belongs to a group called the haramiyids, whose existence was previously based on the scant fossil evidence of isolated teeth. Megaconus had long, rodent-like teeth able to chew plants and munch on insects and worms.

“The teeth have been studied since the 19th century, but nobody had an idea what these animals looked like,” said Thomas Martin, a scientist on the team at the University of Bonn.

Details of the discovery are reported in the journal Nature.

Martin said the warm-blooded animal foraged at night and lived on the shores of the shallow freshwater lake where its remains were eventually recovered 165m years later.

In the same issue of the journal, another team of scientists, headed byJin Meng at the American Museum of Natural History, describe another haramiyid, but come to very different conclusions. The creature, named Arboroharamiya, was of a similar age, to Megaconus, but had long toes and fingers, suggesting it lived in the trees. Meng’s team argue that their creature was a fully-fledged mammal, and date the origin of all mammals to more than 200m years ago.

Richard Cifelli at the Oklahoma Museum of Natural History told the Guardian that more fossils were needed to clarify which team was right, and whether the animals were true mammals or more primitive forms.

But he added that the two fossils revealed the great diversity of lifestyles among the animals. Other early mammals evolved to burrow, swim and even glide from tree to tree.

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG Tuesday

Weak international demand sees Irish exports fall by 10%

  

NEW CSO FIGURES SHOW VALUE OF EXPORTS FELL BY €753 MILLION IN FEBRUARY

Weak international demand saw the value of Irish exports fall by 10 per cent in February.

New figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) indicate exports decreased by €753 million to €6.65 billion in February compared with the same period last year.

The decline was driven by a 15 per cent (€309 million) fall in exports of medical and pharmaceutical products and an 18 per cent (€286 million) drop in organic chemical exports.

The value of imports also fell in February compared with the same month last year, dropping by 2 per cent (€61 million) to €3.89 billion on the back of a 21 per cent fall-off in the import of petroleum products.

On a monthly basis, the figures for February show a seasonally adjusted increase in exports of 2.2 per cent (154 million) to €7 billion from January, while imports fell by 2 per cent (69 million) to €3.88 billion.

The combined effect resulted in an 8 per cent rise in the economy’s seasonally adjusted trade surplus to €3.13 billion.

The figures showed the EU accounted for 58 per cent (€3.85 billion) of total exports in February, while the main non-EU destination was the US which accounted for 22 per cent (€1.49 billion).

Two-thirds of the value of Irish imports in February came from the EU, with one-third coming from Britain, 9 per cent from the US and 6 per cent from China.

“In all, this is a weak start to the year, albeit one that is not unexpected given the trends evident,” NCB economist Philip O’Sullivan said.

He noted that of the nine principal export categories, only three – food, beverage and animal/ vegetable oils – recorded an annual improvement.

Officially, Ireland says children are a treasure but acts otherwise

  

In 1868 Frances Power Cobbe, an Irish writer and social reformer, wrote a paper calledCriminals, idiots, women and minors, is the classification sound? At that time, dividing the population into two groups – men and everyone else – seemed normal.

Most large public and private buildings, such as airports and hotels, still have toilet facilities for two groups. Men get their own exclusive toilets while women’s include baby changing and feeding areas and, often, facilities for wheelchair users.

Politically correct public toilets are unisex for people of all ages and mobility. Look for them next time you are out and about and you might find a few.

Women and children are still seen as a unit by most sectors of Irish society. When Leo Varadkar said childcare will be taken into account in insolvency arrangements if the cost prevents parents from making their mortgage repayments, people assumed he was referring to women. This was a fair assumption.

In Ireland, women with children work fewer hours than men with children and earn less money. Nearly 80 per cent of men with children work a 40-hour week or more, whereas only 15 per cent of women with children do. Childcare costs are not seen as essential family expenditure, they are an optional luxury.

An essential public good
Childcare services are no luxury. They are an essential public good without which no country can claim that women and men are treated as equals.

Without affordable childcare, women do not work the same number of hours per week as men. Costs are much higher here than in all other EU countries.

An OECD study found that net childcare costs for a dual-earner family in Ireland are 45 per cent of the average wage. In Sweden and Denmark, net costs are only 8 per cent of average wages.

The overall EU cost is 15 per cent of average wages. Costs of childcare for single parents in Ireland are 52 per cent of family net income in comparison with 4 per cent in Finland.

EU countries have two main models of childcare: one heavily subsidised by the State and the other paid for by parents. The models are based on whether children are seen as a resource, an expensive lifestyle choice, or a burden if the mother is single.

When children are seen as a valuable resource, taxpayers pay for childcare. When children are seen as a burden, or a choice a couple should not make unless they can afford it, parents are expected to pay for childcare with very little help from the State.

In theory, Ireland espouses the notion of child as treasure; in practice the cost of childcare and lack of State-funded affordable services says otherwise.
Large mortgages
Prime Time featured childcare last week. The programme consisted of a trivial chat about costs with parents in the audience paying the equivalent of large mortgages every month (€1,100) to have two children minded on a part-time basis. Political ideologies behind different models were not debated.

The programme did not even define what childcare is and panellists and audience confused babysitting and the Free Pre-School Year (FPSY) for three to four year olds with childcare.

Childcare is a professional service for children from 0 to five years with after-
school facilities, so that all parents can work full-time if they want to. The FPSY scheme is not childcare. It is designed to prepare children for learning and consists of three hours, five days a week.

Although great for the child, FPSY can add to the childcare challenges of working parents as they have to drop children off in the morning and pick them up at lunchtime, thus disrupting the normal working day. Few workplaces, whether public or private, are this flexible.

The role of women
Low supplies of affordable childcare services reinforce the role of women as carers. The OECD 2012 report, Closing the Gender Gap: Act Now , notes that “if childcare eats up one wage and there is little or no financial gain in going out to work, parents (most often mothers) are less likely to seek a job”.

Ireland’s childcare model is unsustainable. Unless the Government decides to provide or heavily subsidise affordable high quality childcare, it is only a matter of time before women refuse to have any children or have only one child.

This will create huge social problems not least of which will be who will mind the mostly male (85 per cent) TDs in their old age.

Five obese Irish children referred to hospital every day

1-IN-4 PRIMARY PUPILS IS OVERWEIGHT IN IRELAND

   

Five children are now referred to Temple Street Hospital every day because they are obese.

As the only children’s hospital with an intervention programme for overweight young people, Temple Street has a nine-month waiting list.

The launch of the Irish Nutrition and Dietetic Institute’s (INDI) inaugural Nourish Children Week at the Mansion House in Dublin was told that parents have little or no services to turn to in their community if their children are overweight or obese.

Richelle Flanagan, dietician and president of the INDI, said: “Seventy-three per cent of the country does not have access to a childhood obesity prevention programme for children at risk of becoming obese and 88pc of the country does not have access to a group intervention programme.”

weaning

She said that around one in four – 30,000 – primary school children in Ireland today are overweight or obese.

“Six per cent of three years olds are already obese,” she said.

Ms Flanagan said that a number of factors are contributing to these rates. She pointed out that weaning of babies is happening earlier, at four months, when it shouldn’t be happening until six months. Also, a lot of high-fat foods are introduced quite early in the diet, she said.

“You can see that obesity has increased 1pc a year since the 1990s,” she said.

“Children who start out obese in life are likely to be obese adults as well.

“It’s a vicious cycle that we want stopped earlier. The earlier the better in terms of prevention,” she said.

Fiona Ward, lead dietician on Temple Street’s W82G0 successful childhood obesity treatment programme, said that children referred to the programme generally eat a diet high in fat and high in sugar. “In comparison to their peers, they are gaining weight at an alarming rate from a very young age.

“Most children will gain weight at the rate of about 2kg to 4kg per annum. These kids are gaining weight of about 1kg per month, which lends to a weight gain of 10kg to 12kg per annum,” she said.

A total of 312 children aged from 18 months up to 16 years were referred to the Temple Street programme over the past five years. A total of 370 have been assessed.

However, 25pc of families refuse to participate in treatment. Some of the reasons are that it might be too far for them to attend every week.

Some families struggle with the diagnosis of obesity and choose to ignore it. Others elect to try to treat the child at home, Ms Ward said.

Of the children they see: “About 40pc of them have high cholesterol. About 30pc are already reporting problems with knee pain, back pain, and these kids are all under the age of 16,” she said.

Dr Sinead Murphy, consultant paediatrician at Temple Street Children’s Hospital, urged that there should be weight and height surveillance checks at various stages of childhood. She also urged that the Department of Education should reinstate physical education as a core curriculum subject.

The INDI said that there are no dedicated clinics for obese children at Our Lady’s Hospital, Crumlin, but just limited access through endocrinology and other specialties.

Meanwhile, obese children are seen by a dietician at the National Children’s Hospital in Tallaght but the waiting list is over a year.

A glass a day of beetroot juice helps to lower blood pressure by as much as 7%

  

• Say’s researchers 
  The effect is produced by beetroot’s naturally high levels of nitrate
• High concentrations of nitrate are also found in celery and cabbage 

Drinking beetroot juice every day could help to lower blood pressure, say researchers.

They found a dose of eight ounces – around one cup – may help people with high blood pressure, cutting their readings by about 7 per cent.

Tests suggest the effect is produced by beetroot’s naturally high levels of nitrate.

High concentrations of nitrate are also found in celery, cabbage and other leafy green vegetables such as spinach and some lettuce.

Eating high-nitrate foods triggers a series of chemical reactions in the blood, which can increase oxygen in areas of the body which are specifically lacking supply.

The beetroot juice used in the study contained about 0.2g of dietary nitrate, levels found in a large bowl of lettuce or two beetroots.

Amrita Ahluwalia, lead author of the study and a professor of vascular pharmacology at The Barts and The London Medical School, said: ‘We were surprised by how little nitrate was needed to see such a large effect.

‘Our hope is that increasing one’s intake of vegetables with a high dietary nitrate content, such as green leafy vegetables or beetroot, might be a lifestyle approach that one could easily employ to improve cardiovascular health.’

Beetroot juice is found in most health food shops and usually costs around £2 a bottle.

An estimated 16million people in the UK have high blood pressure, including a third who do not know they have it, and it is a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure.

Changes in lifestyle, such as cutting down salt and alcohol and taking more exercise, may control blood pressure and there are a number of drug treatments available.

A high blood pressure reading is one that exceeds 140/90 mm Hg. The first figure, the systolic pressure, corresponds to the ‘surge’ that occurs with each heart beat.

The latest study recruited eight women and seven men with systolic pressure between 140 and 159 mm Hg who were not taking blood pressure drugs.

The participants drank 250ml of beetroot juice or water containing a low amount of nitrate, and had their blood pressure monitored for 24 hours, says a report in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension.

Compared with those drinking water, people having beetroot juice cut their systolic pressure by about 10 mm Hg.

The effect was most pronounced three to six hours after drinking the juice but still present even 24 hours later.

Previous research has shown beetroot increases stamina, and can boost blood supply to vital areas of the brain.

Donegal schools struggling with a funding crisis & debt

  

Schools are struggling with debt and there is now a funding crisis here, claims Donegal TD.

More and more primary schools across Donegal are falling into unmanageable debt, it has been claimed.

Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Education, Charlie McConalogue says teachers and parents from different schools county wide have contacted him to express their concerns about the deepening financial problems at their schools.

He says the problem is a result of a series of cuts introduced by the Education Minister Ruairí Quinn over the past two years.

McConalogue called on the Government to immediately address what has become a funding crisis at primary school level in the North West region. According to Deputy McConalogue, the scrapping of the Minor Works Grant last year has hit local schools particularly hard.

“Teachers and parents attached to a number of different schools have contacted me to express their concerns about the deepening financial problems at their school. The loss of the minor works grant has pushed many schools over the edge.

“This grant was worth between €5,000 and €12,000 to primary schools and its loss has had a significant impact on the financial health of primary schools right across Donegal. Many schools depended on this cash injection to carry out small but necessary works to the facilities that the pupils use every day. The grant was particularly valuable in light of other significant cuts to resources, including cuts to the capitation grant and the scrapping of the summer works scheme. Abolishing the minor works grant on top of everything else has pushed many schools over the edge.

“I am calling on the Government to reinstate the minor works grant before the next academic year. The Fine Gael TDs in this constituency have a duty to explain to the Minister the problems that this cut has caused to our local schools. I am asking them ensure that these problems are addressed as a matter of priority in order to maintain the high standard of education that our local schools provide.

“The Government cannot continue to stand over a situation where public primary schools are unable to cope with an ever growing black hole in their finances. We can already see that this is putting enormous pressure on staff, boards of management and on parents who are often expected to help raise the additional extra funds to keep the school’s doors open. If this is not addressed urgently, there is no doubt that pupils will suffer as a result,” Deputy McConalogue said.