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THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION has withdrawn a European Court of Justice action against Ireland over the State’s failure to recover €13.1 billion in tax from Apple. The Commission announced this morning that it was dropping the action after Ireland confirmed that the money had been paid. Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe confirmed last month that the tech giant had deposited the money into an escrow account set up by the Government. A total of €14.3 billion was deposited into the account, made up of the €13.1 billion tax bill plus interest of €1.2 billion. The Commission found in August 2016 that Ireland had granted “undue tax benefits” to Apple, which amounted to illegal state aid as it allowed

Peter Casey has said he will be more politically correct if elected president. Peter Casey has said he will be more politically correct if elected president. PETER CASEY has responded to further criticism of his remarks about the Travelling community by saying he will be politically correct if he becomes the next Irish president. Controversy arose yesterday when the businessman told the Irish Independent’s ‘Floating Voter’ podcast that Travellers should not be recognised as an ethnic minority and did not pay “their fair share of taxes”. Speaking to The Neil Prenderville Show on RedFM, Casey revealed that he made his remarks against the advice of his campaign team. “It was a little bit like the

CANBERRA, Australia - A two year investigation by Australian Federal Police has netted a gang of four people involved in parental abductions. Astonishingly one of the four is an 83-year old man, and another is a 78-year old woman. The Australian law enforcement agency said Thursday it has arrested three men and served a Court Attendance Notice on a woman as part of a long-running investigation into people assisting the parental abduction of children across Australia. Two men from the northern New South Wales city of Grafton were scheduled to face Grafton Local Court on Thursday morning on charges related to their alleged roles in organising and financing activities that resulted in the abduction

It has been a tough week for Theresa May, who has spent the last few days in Brussels at a crunch Brexit summit with EU leaders. With just five months to go before Britain leaves the EU, the Prime Minister is facing mounting pressure over the fact she has still yet to strike an exit deal, with the potential return of a hard border in Ireland forming the major stumbling block in negotiations. While leading Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg described the move as a “poor attempt at kicking the can down the road”, pro-EU MP Nick Boles said it would be “madness”. According to the Guardian, EU leaders are ready to pursue “all avenues” in order to help the PM find a deal that would not automatically be voted down by Parliament when brought back to MPs and avoid the UK crashing out of the EU.

LIMERICK’s northside has received a big boost after a development promising up to 150 new jobs was given the green light. The multi-million euro proposals - first revealed in the Limerick Leader - will see a massive ‘Barack Obama Plaza’ style service station build on a vast site adjacent to the Coonagh Roundabout and the Clondrinagh Business Park. One hundred construction jobs and 50 permanent roles are being planned for the development, which was given the all-clear by An Bord Pleanala. This came after rival petrol stations the Petrogas Group and Topaz objected to the original grant of permission by Limerick City and County Council. Local Sinn Fein TD Maurice Quinlivan, who has held meetings

Source: SIPA USA/PA Images WAYNE ROONEY’S SENSATIONAL free-kick lifted DC United to victory over MLS champions Toronto on Wednesday. Former Manchester United and England captain Rooney scored from a stunning set-piece as DC defeated Toronto 1-0 to extend their winning streak to four games on Wednesday. Rooney curled a 35-yard free-kick past Alexander Bono in the 18th minute and that proved to be the difference at Audi Field in Washington. The 32-year-old’s memorable effort - his 10th in 18 MLS appearances - further boosted DC’s play-off chances, with the capital club four points clear of Montreal Impact in the sixth and final post-season place in the Eastern Conference after 32 rounds.

A FRENCH COURT has sentenced Poland’s former honorary consul in Monaco to life imprisonment for ordering the murder of his ex-partner’s mother, billionaire heiress Helene Pastor. Pastor, 77, and her driver, were gunned down in her car in the French city of Nice on 6 May 2014. The killings shocked the tiny principality of Monaco, where Pastor’s family had built up a huge real estate portfolio of around 4,000 apartments, providing her with an estate worth some €12 billion. Wojciech Janowski admitted after his arrest to hiring contract killers then later retracted his confession before again admitting guilt at the close of the trial on Tuesday. The gunman Samine Said Ahmed, and his accomplice Al