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Tánaiste and Minister for Finance Brian Cowen with Taoiseach Bertie Ahern: latest Irish Times/TNS mrbi poll shows satisfaction with the Government has dropped by 15 per cent since the general election

Dramatic drop in support for FF since election
Fianna Fáil has suffered a big drop in support since the general election and satisfaction with the Taoiseach and the Government is also down significantly, according to the findings of the latest Irish Times /TNS mrbi poll.
New surveillance powers considered
The Government is considering new legislation which would allow gardaí plant bugging devices in the homes and vehicles of known gangland criminals, Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan has said.
Priests fear altar wine may tip them over driving limit
Concerns have been expressed that priests celebrating more than one Mass in a day could soon find themselves over the legal limit for drink driving.

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World

Met chief rejects call to resign over guilty verdict
Britain: Sir Ian Blair vowed yesterday to stay on as Britain's top police officer, despite sustained calls for his resignation, after his force was found guilty of "catastrophic" failings that led to the shooting dead of Jean Charles de Menezes. p
Clinton would beat Giuliani easily, poll finds
US: Hillary Clinton would comfortably defeat Republican frontrunner Rudy Giuliani if the presidential election were held today, winning in almost every region of the United States, including the traditionally conservative south, according to a poll by the non-partisan Pew Research Centre. p
Most children in abduction saga are not orphans
Chad: The mystery surrounding the alleged abduction of 103 African children by French charity workers deepened yesterday as relief agencies confirmed most of the children were not orphans as claimed by the charity at the centre of the scandal. p
Hiroshima bomb pilot Paul Tibbets dies aged 92
US: The pilot of the aircraft which dropped the world's first atomic bomb used in warfare, Paul Tibbets, died yesterday aged 92. p

Finance

House prices down 3.6% since January, index shows
House prices fell for the seventh month in a row in September and have now dropped by 3.6 per cent since the start of the year, according to the latest edition of the Permanent TSB/ESRI house price index. Laura Slattery reports. p
Baileys make plans to run firm if they are debarred
Developer brothers Tom and Michael Bailey, whose €22.17 million tax settlement last year is the largest on record, are making plans to retain management control over their business empire if they are disqualified as company directors. Arthur Beesley and Mary Carolan report. p
World markets slide on US loan worries
Irish investors were not immune from a fresh bout of jitters on global stock markets yesterday, as concerns that a host of big US and European financial institutions are nursing serious problems relating to the troubled American mortgage market created a new wave of turbulence, writes Laura Slattery . p
Consultant who lost €770,000 is jailed
An investment consultant, described in court as a "Walter Mitty" character, who lost €770,000 of his clients' money, was sentenced to three years in jail by Judge Raymond Groarke at the Circuit Criminal Court in Castlebar, Co Mayo yesterday. p

Ireland

Dunlop claims AIB invited developer
Mahon tribunal: Cork developer Owen O'Callaghan was invited to become involved in the Quarryvale project by Allied Irish Banks, the tribunal was told yesterday. p
Census reveals youths caring for relatives
More than 5,000 school-age children aged 15 years or older are caring for relatives who are unable to look after themselves, official figures show. p
UK minister hints at common border security system
The Republic and the United Kingdom may need to consider operating a common border security system in coming years, a British home office minister suggested last night. p
Halloween marked by arson and violence
While Halloween mayhem was relatively restrained in Dublin, with a "mere" 900 calls to fire and ambulance crews throughout Wednesday night, emergency services across the Republic and the North had to contend with serious incidents of arson, violence and intimidation. p
Cowen changed rule for ministers but not garda
Minister for Justice Brian Cowen made a further change to legislation going through the Dáil this week to benefit two other former ministers with pension difficulties, Fine Gael's Sean Barrett and Fianna Fáil's Frank Fahey, it has emerged. p
Tributes paid at removal of Anthony Clare
The removal of Prof Anthony Clare, the eminent psychiatrist who died suddenly last Sunday, took place to his parish church in Lucan, Dublin, yesterday. p
Labour loses vote on Bill for civil unions
Today's Ireland allowed people get on with their lives in whatever way they wished, Kathleen Lynch (Lab, Cork North Central) said during the resumed debate on civil partnerships. p
Livingstones sue State over murder inquiry
An action for damages by former Revenue tax inspector James Livingstone and his children against the State, arising from the conduct of the Garda investigation into the still unsolved murder of Mr Livingstone's wife in 1992, may run for eight weeks, the High Court heard yesterday. p

Sport

Padraig pulls off unlikely recovery
Golf Volvo Masters You figure there are times when the vagaries of golf would be enough to drive a sane man demented, but Padraig Harrington somehow found a way not only to retain his sanity but to actually use the capriciousness of the Valderrama course to his advantage in the first round of the Volvo Masters yesterday. p
Owen rejects move talk
English Premier League Michael Owen has pledged his future to Newcastle United and dismissed any idea he could move to Manchester City or back to Liverpool. "I believe action speaks louder than words, I'm still here and still loving my time here," said Owen, who denied he had been offered a new contract by Newcastle. p
Hingis goes out under a cloud
Tennis News Switzerland's Martina Hingis, five times a grand slam winner and the youngest number one in modern tennis, revealed yesterday she had tested positive for cocaine during this year's Wimbledon and was retiring immediately. p