METRO Friday, October 23, 2009 D METRO will be back on the streets on Tuesday. Dont forget to put your clocks back an hour at 1am on Sunday, and have a nice weekend! bank holiday Woman dies after stabbing incident A STABBING in Tullamore, Co Offaly, last night left a woman dead and a man thought to be her partner seriously injured. Garda were alerted following a dispute involving a couple who live in an apartment off High Street in the town. The man was taken to hospital, while Garda sealed off the apartment. A major investigation is underway. MENU the Home Digest 4 Guilty Pleasures Celebrity gossip 6 World Digest 10 Letters 12 MetroLife Arts and entertainment 14-15 60 Second Interview Singer Imelda May 16 TV 16-17 Classifieds 19-20 Sport 21-24 Help keep Dublin clean and tidy for everyone by taking your Metro with you and recycling it burglar left id at scene of crime A HEROIN addict who burgled a house was caught because he left his wallet behind. Stephen McCullagh, 30, of Ruthland Avenue, Crumlin, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to trespass, attempted theft and handling stolen property in March 2008. The court heard that at the time of his arrest, he told garda a motorbike he had stolen was not his and that he was going to return it if a reward was offered. McCullagh was jailed for two years. Clowns of all shapes and sizes have gathered for the 14th International Clown Convention in Mexico City. Hundreds of clowns from all over Latin America turned up for the comic event Picture: AP put on a happy face Bail-out firms told to cut payTHE US government is set to order bailed-out firms to cut the pay of top executives. The Treasury will tell firms that took billions of dollars of taxpayers money to cut base salaries to their top 25 bosses by around 90 per cent, with overall packages, including bonuses, down by half. A formal announcement of the plan is expected soon. The head of the panel that oversees the $700billion (468bn) bail-out to companies said the reports of a huge clampdown on executive pay were real. President Barack Obamas senior aide David Axlerod called some executive pay packets offensive. He said: They have to understand that a year ago a lot of these institutions were teetering on the brink and the government and taxpayers came to their defence. The decision to cut pay follows the passing of legislation in February giving the Treasury the power to oversee pay at bailed-out companies. Doran: Stand-off By COLM KELPE More unions join fightback on wage cutsTHE stand-off between Government and unions over pay cuts worsened yesterday as more than 100,000 frontline public sector workers revealed plans to vote on industrial action. Four unions representing nurses, firefighters, ambulance drivers and prison officers will ballot on strikes to prepare for ac- tion if the Government slashes wages by 1.3billion. The 24/7 Frontline Service Alliance warned it will be ready to disrupt vital services before the December Budget. If the Government disregards the need to maintain frontline services at present levels and acknowledge that members of the Alliance have already contribut- ed their share to restoring the public finances with cuts in take home pay of up to 12 per cent industrial action will be undertaken before the end of November, it said. Liam Doran, Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) chief, insisted the thousands of workers were not determined to strike. We dont want war on the streets but equally our members are telling us that we are paying our share, he said. Two unions, the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (AGSI) and the Garda Representa- tive Association (GRA), are legally barred from balloting for strikes but warned they will take other action. All six unions in the alliance have thrown their weight behind the Con- gress day of protest and nationwide demonstrations on November 6. It will follow the campaign with a march to Leinster House on November 11 and a canvass of TDs on November 14 and 15. Mr Doran added: We dont want confrontation, the country doesnt need confrontation but the Govern- ment is going to have to come to the table willing to drop the threat of pay cuts and look at alterna- tives. The INO warned 1,000 nurses are needed to support the swine flu vaccination programme and health chiefs will deploy these from other areas. Designer shopping: Bags will cost a little extra call for eco levy on paper bags Environmentalists have called for the successful plastic bag levy to be extended to cover supposedly eco-friendlier paper carriers. Friends of the Irish Environment claim the production of paper bags was increasing pollution and should be hit by a 15 cent tax per bag. Tony Lowes, FIE director, has written to Environment Minister John Gormley calling for the levy to be extended and said it was not as simple as plastic being from fossil fuels and paper being bio-degradable. He said the paper is the main problem as its production uses an enormous amount of water. Captive audience: Pearl Jams Eddie Vedder artists hit out at uS torture tunes REM, Pearl Jam and Billy Bragg are among the musicians demanding that the US government release details of music they claim was used as torture at Guantnamo Bay. Former detainees at the centre have alleged that songs from AC/DC, Britney Spears and Sesame Street were played at an ear-splitting level to break terrorist suspects. A Freedom of Information request was lodged on behalf of campaigners by the National Security Archive. Thomas Blanton, director of the archive, said: At Guantnamo, a jukebox was turned into an instrument of torture. TODAy: A misty start, clearing later with sunny spells. 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