NEED TO CATCH up? TheJournal.ie brings you a round-up of today’s news.

IRELAND

Joe Dunne / Photocall Ireland! Joe Dunne / Photocall Ireland! / Photocall Ireland!

• Here’s how Russia‘s ban on (most) EU food imports will affect Ireland.
• Why the big drop in complaints to SIPO? Two words: Michael. Lowry.
• Austerity is driving down (some) consumer prices.
• Swimmers have been warned to avoid the water at six Dublin beaches.
• Google has removed links to Gerry ‘The Monk‘ Hutch’s Wikipedia page.
• Denis O’Brien has sold off €4.7 million worth of shares in Aer Lingus. 
• A woman has died and six people were injured in a crash in Galway.

INTERNATIONAL

AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

#ESCALATION: US President Barack Obama is reported to be considering air strikes against extremists in northern Iraq.

#ON TRIAL: Oscar Pistorius has been described as a ‘deceitful witness’ whose version of events was ‘absolutely devoid of any truth’ at the summing up of his murder trial.

#WAR CRIMES: Two Khmer Rouge leaders have been found guilty of crimes against humanity, three and a half decades after the regime’s genocidal rule in Cambodia.

INNOVATION

• How well do you know internet slang? Do you know your smh from your tbh? Take this quiz from the Guardian and see how you do. [Guardian] 
• It’s slot machine science: From the carpets to the lighting to the layout of the tables, here’s how casinos get you to spend more money. [Vox]

PARTING SHOT

Alan Welner / AP Photo Alan Welner / AP Photo / AP Photo

Forty years ago today, 24-year-old Philippe Petit walked across a tightrope suspended between the World Trade Centre’s Twin Towers. In this interview today with The Telegraph, Petit describes how he had spent six and a half years building up to it, the drama of getting to the top of the towers, and how happy he felt to finally get to do it. “There were a few miracles,” he says. “The gods were with me”.  [Telegraph]

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