7 is the magic number. Catch up with all of the day’s top news, every night at 7pm on TheLiberal.ie
#1 Water charges demonstration: Mass protest against water charges in Dublin today.
Tens of thousand of protesters brought Dublin City centre to a virtual standstill this afternoon. The crowds made their way down O’Connell St. towards the Dail before returning back the same way to hold speeches in front of the GPO.
People were carrying placards and chanting slogans like ‘water is a human right.’
#2 Islamic State: Local Iraqi officials ask for American troops to be deployed on the ground in the Anbar region, west of Baghdad.
Officials say that they are ‘outnumbered’ by IS forces in the area, and that the situation is ‘very bad.’
This is a significant development in the course of the conflict, as up to this point, Iraq has flatly refused to ask for US military assistance. However, the relentless advance of the extremist organization has caught many by surprise.
Elsewhere, IS troops are tightening their hold on the border city of Kobani. Kurdish fighters are desperately trying to hold them off, but even with the aid of coalition airstrikes, the Kurds’ predicament appears to be hopeless.
#3 Ebola: Three more people put in isolation in Madrid, Spain, over Ebola concerns.
This brings the number of people currently under observation to 16.
Teresa Romero, the nurse who is the first person to contract Ebola outside of Africa, remains in a serious but stable condition.
#4 US ambassador: Kevin O’Malley, the new US ambassador to Ireland, says that ‘he is the luckiest man in the United States.
Speaking on Irish television, O’Malley also said that it is a ‘thrill for him to be back in the land of his ancestors, where his grandfather left for Chicago about a century ago.’
#5 Rates hike: County Limerick retailer says that a huge jump of about 270% in the business rate will compromise jobs locally.
Catherine Regan, of Regan’s Central in Pallasgreen said that after her premises were reevaluated, the amount they will have to pay in business rate for 2015 will go up from €7200 to over €26,000.
#6 Auto-correct faux pas: While congratulating Malala Yousafzai via Twitter on her accolade of receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, model Naomi Campbell appeared to fall foul of the autocorrect feature, typing ‘Malaria’ instead. She repeated the same mistake on Instagram later.
#7 Carjacking: Suspect carjacker fighting for life in hospital after car he had just stolen collided head on with another vehicle.
The occupants of the other car, a woman and her young son, are recovering in hospital.