Motion to help SMEs passed in Dáil
An amended motion to help SMEs and the self-employed has been passed by the Dáil this evening.
The motion was put forward by Fianna Fáil and debated during private members business over the past two evenings.
Among the proposals were increasing PRSI benefits for the self-employed, improved access to credit for the SME sector, ending the disparity in the tax treatment for the self-employed and PAYE workers, an extension to the Credit Guarantee Scheme and a Capital Gains Tax Environment that will encourage start-ups.
The motion was passed with 66 deputies voting in favour of the amended motion and 38 against.
President Higgins begins visit to Turkey
President Michael D Higgins has arrived in Turkey at the start of an official visit.
On Friday and Saturday he will attend anniversary ceremonies in Gallipoli, to commemorate the 3,400 Irish soldiers, who died there while serving in the British army in World War I.
They died over six months in 1915 in a failed attempt by the Allies, whose key members included Britain, France and the Russian Empire, to secure the approaches to Istanbul and the Black Sea.
Around 80,000 Turkish soldiers lost their lives in the campaign.
President Higgins will also visit Irish UN troops in Lebanon before returning to Dublin in a week's time.
Presbyterian Church urges No vote
The leaders of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland have urged people to vote No in the marriage referendum next month.
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland has said the change proposed in the same-sex marriage referendum denies the rights of children and the natural responsibilities of a father and a mother in nurturing them.
In a statement, the Church says a redefinition of marriage "would establish new norms within our society, the implications of which have not been fully explored".
Trader to face full extradition hearing
Navinder Singh Sarao, a trader accused by US authorities of an illegal role in the "flash crash" that briefly wiped out nearly $1 trillion in market value in May 2010, has told a London court he opposed being extradited to the United States.
The US Justice Department said yesterday it had criminally charged Mr Sarao, 36, of west London, with wire fraud, commodities fraud and manipulation.
Mr Sarao, who was yesterday arrested by British police, appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court, where District Judge Quentin Purdy said a full extradition hearing would take place in August.
French police arrest suspected church attacker
Police in France have arrested a heavily armed man who they suspect was planning an imminent attack on one or two churches.
The 24-year-old man was arrested on Sunday in Paris. His car was seized along with handguns, other weapons and bulletproof vests.
A source from the French interior ministry said the man is an Algerian national.
Turkey concerned over Mursi sentencing
Turkey is very concerned by the sentencing of ousted Egyptian President Mohammed Mursi to 20 years in prison, the country's foreign ministry said.
"The judicial ruling concerning former President Mursi ...increases the concerns regarding the future of democracy in Egypt," the ministry statement said.
Obama warns Iran over weapon deliveries
President Barack Obama has said the US government has warned Iran against delivering weapons to Yemen that could be used to threaten shipping traffic in the region.
"We've been actually very straightforward to them," Mr Obama said in a televised interview on MSNBC's Hardball.
"What we've said to them is that 'if there are weapons delivered to factions within Yemen that could threaten navigation, that's a problem.'
"And we're not sending them obscure messages - we send them very direct messages about it," Mr Obama said.
