The Irish Times - Front Page

• State move to borrow billions will test standing of economy
  THE GOVERNMENT has begun the process of borrowing billions from world bond markets to finance the running of the State as it confirmed yesterday that it recorded the largest deficit to date in public finances in 2008.
  
  
• Israeli attacks intensify despite ceasefire pleas
  DESPITE MOUNTING criticism over the growing number of civilian casualties and intensive diplomacy to end the violence, Israeli forces yesterday continued the war against Hamas in Gaza without let-up.
  
  
• 8,000 Waterford pensions under threat from collapse
  THE PENSIONS of Waterford Wedgwood's 8,000 workers may be under threat following the collapse of the company yesterday with debts of almost €500 million.
  
  
• Child report dismissed by diocese committee
  A HIGHLY critical Catholic Church report on child protection practices in Cloyne diocese was dismissed last July by a committee of the diocese as "seriously flawed", "false" and "defamatory" of its members.
  
  
• MasterCard pays $100m to acquire Irish-based Orbiscom
  ORBISCOM, THE Irish electronic payments software company, has been acquired by credit card issuer MasterCard for approximately $100 million (€73.4 million).
  
  
• Boy (9) choked on burger in hospital, inquest told
  AN INQUEST has been told how a nine-year-old boy with cerebral palsy died five days after he choked on a chicken burger in an isolated ward room in Altnagelvin Hospital in Derry.
  
  
• Sebastian Barry novel wins Costa Prize for fiction
  HAVING ALMOST but not quite won the 2008 Man Booker prize, Sebastian Barry's novel, , was yesterday declared winner of the Costa Prize for Fiction.
  
  
• High-rise areas set out in latest draft plan
  DUBLIN CITY Council's planners are to refine and clarify their latest draft policy on high-rise development before going for public consultations later this month - subject to the council's approval.
  
  
• Search continues for missing teen at Wexford beach
  DIVERS AND drainage equipment will be used today to assist the search for the young man who went missing in the vicinity of Curracloe Beach in Co Wexford six days ago.
  
  
• Applications for asylum continue to fall as departures of illegals rise 23%
  THE NUMBER of people seeking asylum here continued to fall last year with the highest proportion of applicants now coming from Nigeria, figures just published show.
  
  
• HSE says it only 'recently' received girl's death report
  THE HEALTH Service Executive (HSE) says it has "only very recently" received a copy of an independent report into the death after four years in State care of Dublin teenager Tracey Fay.
  
  
• Apple curbs talk of CEO's ill-health by revealing recent hormonal imbalance
  APPLE HAS moved to quell speculation about the health of its chief executive Steve Jobs by announcing he has a hormone imbalance which caused him to lose weight throughout 2008.
  
  
• Report due soon on loans to Anglo directors
  The inquiry team set up to investigate the Financial Regulator's handling of the directors' loans controversy at Anglo Irish Bank is due to report its findings to the regulator's board by Friday, writes  , Finance Correspondent
  
  
• Waterford workers pin hopes on finding buyer
  SOLEMN ONE-or-two word answers tumbled from the lips of of workers who yesterday morning learned that Waterford Wedgwood had gone into receivership.
  
  
• Ryanair complains on payment deal at Aer Lingus
  RYANAIR HAS asked the Irish Takeover Panel to investigate Aer Lingus’s agreement to pay its chief executive Dermot Mannion €2.8 million should he resign following a takeover of the airline.
  
  
• Obama in all-party talks on $500bn jobs stimulus deal
  TWO WEEKS before he is sworn in as president, Barack Obama has started talks with Democrats and Republicans in Congress about a massive economic recovery plan aimed at creating more than three million jobs and saving the United States from a depression.
  
  
• Medical attention ordered for activist
  A ZIMBABWEAN judge has told state prosecutors that their case against prominent Zimbabwean human rights activist Jestina Mukoko, accused of trying to topple the government, will not be heard until she receives medical attention.
  
  
• US, France, UN, EU and Russia all urge Gaza ceasefire
  INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC efforts to address the crisis in Gaza gathered pace yesterday but, with Israel rebuffing calls for an immediate ceasefire, it remained unclear how long it would take to resolve the situation.
  
  
• Russia cuts EU gas via Ukraine as bill dispute goes on
  RUSSIA PILED pressure on Ukraine in their energy dispute yesterday, by ordering an immediate cut in gas exports through Ukraine to EU states which are already experiencing sharp falls in supply.
  
  
• O'Mahony puts his cards on the table
   The Gaelic football season started at the weekend but remains in its infancy more so than before because of the new edict prohibiting intercounty panels gathering before January 1st, writes