Female liliger cub Kiara, a hybrid between a lion and a ligress, plays at the Novosibirsk Zoo, in Novosibirsk, eastern Sibiria. Kiara is the first female liliger born over a month ago at the Novosibirsk Zoo. Kiara’s mother, Zita, stopped producing milk almost immediately after giving birth, so Zoo employees placed Kiara in a separate facility and feed her with a special milk mix. The cub plays with a house cat which also provides motherly warmth. (AP Photo /Ilnar Salakhiev)

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

THINGS WE LEARNED

#REFERENDUM: The wording of the children’s rights referendum has been published today and proposes to place the best interests of the child as “the paramount consideration” in custody cases. The wording has been broadly welcomed ahead of the 10 November vote.

#HOUSEHOLD CHARGE: Local councils do not appear to have the authority to link student grants to payment of the household charge with such plans abandoned by South Tipperary County Council today.

#ALLOWANCES: The controversy over the government’s failure to meet its savings target on public service allowances – details of which you can read here – led to much criticism of Taoiseach Enda Kenny in the Dáil today.

#NO CONFIDENCE: The debate on a motion of no confidence in Health Minister James Reilly is continuing in the Dáil this evening before a vote is called at 9pm. You can follow proceedings here.

#JOBSWATCH: The US financial services company Northern Trust has announced that it is to create 400 new jobs over the next five years in Limerick. It was a welcome announcement on a day in which figures revealed that employment has fallen by 1.8 per cent or by about 33,400 people in a year.

#SPENCE: The funerals of the Ulster rugby player Nevin Spence, his father Noel and his brother Graham have taken place in Co Down today. The three tragically died when they tried to rescue each other from a slurry tank at the weekend.

THINGS WE LOVED

• Actress Whoopi Goldberg was in Dublin today to receive an award from the Trinity College Philosophical Society and Trinity News was tweeting away about the visit.
• We loved Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s confidence about the result in Sunday’s All Ireland Final between Mayo and Donegal.
• And Enda was a busy man today as he announced some jobs in an online payments firm and probably didn’t tell this man about the size of the Angry Bird he once killed:

(Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland)

THINGS WE SHARED

• These pictures of people having the bejaysus scared out of them at the Nightmares Fear Factory in Canada will give you a chuckle.
• These words about the iPhone 5 in a series of reviews that have been doing the rounds.
• The latest trailer for the long-awaited movie ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ has been released today and it’s definitely worth a look:

YouTube: trotteville

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