Environmental and social activists from Israel and around the world gather at the Dead Sea for a protest float against the deterioration of the sea’’s condition. The float was led by the photographer Spencer Tunick to protest the disappearance of the beach where he took his famous photographs last year. (AP Photo/Dan Balilty)

HERE ARE THE things you need to know as we round off the day in three easy steps.

THINGS WE LEARNED

#SETTLEMENTS: What do Glenda Gilson, a chip shop owner and a controversial school principal all have in common? They all appear on the Revenue’s settlements list released today which disclosed over €114 million in settlements over the last three months.

#PROTESTS: Protests against an anti-Islam film that was made in the United States continued across the Arab world today as protesters took to the streets in Sudan, Tunisia, Qatar and Gaza.

#ROSCOMMON: Three men have died in a house fire in Roscommon. The men in their 20s and 30s were discovered by Gardaí this morning at St Ciaran’s Park in the town. It is not known what caused the blaze.

#ROYALS: The Royal family are to take legal action against the the publisher of a French magazine which has photos of the Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, topless on its frontpage this week.

#BAILOUT: The head of the group of eurozone finance ministers, Jean-Claude Trichet, has said that Ireland could get more favourable terms on its bailout but only after an apparently delayed deal on the country’s bank debt is agreed.

#EXPORTS: In other economic news, the latest CSO figures indicate that Irish exports were up by 6 per cent in July giving the country a trade surplus of some 12 per cent and with exports to the likes of India, China and Russia on the rise.

THINGS WE LOVED

• Our Paralympic heroes were welcomed to Farmleigh House in Dublin today for a reception hosted by the Taoiseach and there were some great photos from the event.
• We adore this slideshow of pugs. Remember pugs, not drugs.
• The latest Le Cool cover has a pretty excellent pictorial representation of all things great about the big shmoke:

See the full picture here.

THINGS WE SHARED

• These 11 weird Irish gift ideas from the internet includes an Aran onesie and some pretty inappropriate t-shirts.
• Angela Lansbury is the quintessential gentlewoman but who knew she could be this hipster.
• Finally this Friday, a San Francisco seagull stole a video camera recently. Here’s what happened:

YouTube: Nathalie Rollandin

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