10 METRO Thursday, December 3, 2009 D DELIVERING CLEANER AIR Ban on Bituminous Coal and the Smokeless Fuel Allowance The marketing, sale and distribution of bituminous (smoky) coal is banned in the following towns and cities, which has led to improvements in air quality for these areas. Arklow Drogheda Kilkenny Sligo Town Bray Dublin Leixlip Tralee Celbridge Dundalk Limerick City Waterford City Cork City Galway City Naas Wexford Town Local authorities carry out inspections on fuel retailers to ensure compliance with the ban. Fuel retailers who breach the ban are liable for prosecution. Complaints about the sale of unauthorised materials or smoky emissions should be made to your local authority. SMOKELESS FUEL ALLOWANCE The Smokeless Fuel Allowance is an allowance paid by the Department of Social and Family Affairs to low-income households to help them meet the extra costs of using smokeless or low smoke fuels in these parts of the country. The amount paid is 3.90 each week for 32 weeks per year. WHO CAN APPLY? If you live within the areas mentioned above, you may qualify for the Smokeless Fuel Allowance if you are already receiving a Fuel Allowance under the National Fuel Scheme or you are in receipt of Illness Benefit, Occupational Injury Benefit, Jobseekers Benefit, Jobseekers Allowance for at least 3 months or Family Income Supplement. In order to qualify you must live alone or only with: A qualified adult and/or children. A child may be regarded as a dependant until he or she reaches the age of 18 or 22 if he/she is in full-time education (except for Illness Benefit, Occupational Injury Benefit, Jobseekers Benefit, short-term Jobseekers Allowance or Supplementary Welfare Allowance); Other people getting a social welfare or health board payment; A person who provides full-time care and attention for an incapacitated person. Only one Smokeless Fuel Allowance will be paid to a household. WHO CANNOT APPLY? You will not qualify for a Smokeless Fuel Allowance if: Your heating needs are met under a deed transferring property; You and members of your household have a combined income of more than 100 per week or savings/investments of 58,000 or more above the appropriate maximum benefit/assistance rate. HOW TO APPLY The Smokeless Fuel Allowance will automatically be included with your Fuel Allowance if you are already getting an allowance under the National Fuel Scheme. If you are in receipt of Illness Benefit, Jobseekers Benefit or short-term Jobseekers Allowance you will get a claim form automatically and if you qualify, the allowance will be included in your weekly payment. If you are getting Family Income Supplement, you will get a claim form automatically and if you qualify, you can collect your allowance, using your social services card, at your local Post Office. www.environ.ie Google puts limit on free online news By Fred AttewillGOOGLE is restricting the number of news stories its users can read, following pressure from media organisations. The company is allowing newspaper publishers to limit the number of articles that can be read on their subscription websites to five a day. After that, web users are directed to a payment screen. The move follows criticism that Goog- le has profited from having links to on- line news pages. Users can get unre- stricted access to subscription-only news websites under the search-engine com- panys First Click Free program. Previously, each click would be treat- ed as free, said Googles senior business product manager, Josh Cohen Weve updated the programme so publishers can limit users to no more than five pages per day without register- ing or subscribing. Another idea being considered is for users to be asked to pay for the whole news story after getting the headline and first few paragraphs for free. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch an- nounced in August that he plans to charge internet users for looking at sto- ries on his websites for The Sun, The Times, The Sunday Times and the News Of The World. Regional newspaper publisher John- ston Press is testing a system in the UK in which web users pay 5 to view its local news content for three months. Climb down: Google has bowed to pressure from media organisations Murder charge: Knox WOMEN police officers involved in the Meredith Kercher murder case had it in for suspect Amanda Knox, a court in Italy heard yesterday. They clashed with Knox just because she had condoms and a vibrator in her beauty case, said her lawyer, Luciano Ghirga. Some 36 officers had gathered for Knoxs final questioning at the police station, he added. All those people signed the charge sheet and there was just one poor Amanda, said Mr Ghirga. He pleaded with the jury to give [Knox] her life back and then cried as he thanked the judge and jury for listening to his summing up. Knox, 22, is charged alongside ex-boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito, 25, with murdering and sexually assaulting British student Meredith, 21, in November 2007. Women police had it in for Amanda Knox index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html28.html29.html30.html31.html32.html33.html34.html35.html