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Sisters Aoife (6) and Tara Clark (5) from Harold's Cross have a laugh while attending various Heritage Week events in Merrion Square, Dublin today. Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland
Daily Fix

The Daily Fix: Saturday

In your Saturday Fix: Gardaí probe Tallaght murder; what Gay Mitchell is doing about his clemency appeal letters; a blow for Al Qaeda and a solution for how to spend your Saturday night and Sunday afternoon.

EVERY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you a round-up of all the day’s main news as well as the bits and pieces that you may have missed.

  • Gardaí are investigating the murder of a man in Tallaght, south Dublin in the early hours of this morning. A 23-year-old man was stabbed to death outside an apartment complex in the Cushlawn Dale estate.
  • The subway is shutdown and New York is partly evacuated, as Hurricane Irene hits land in the United States. It’s already claimed one victim, a man in North Carolina has died.
  • In a significant blow to Al Qaeda, the terrorist group’s number two has been killed in Pakistan. Atiyah Abd al-Rahman was a close confidante of Osama bin Laden, who himself was killed earlier this year.
  • A Fianna Fáil senator has insisted that signs still displayed on his old constituency office are not misleading despite them advertising that he is a TD. Thomas Byrne “believes there’s plenty of people around who wish I was still a TD and the office was still open”.
  • The popular over-the-counter painkiller Nurofen has been recalled from wholesalers in Ireland amid concerns raised in the wake of the discovery of anti-psychotic drugs in packets of the painkillers in the UK.
  • A Cork man has been airlifted home after he was involved in a bus crash in Cambodia last month. The 29-year-old unnamed man was seriously injured in the crash but is described as being in a “comfortable” condition this evening.
  • TheJournal.ie understands that Gay Mitchell’s presidential campaign team is working to release letters he wrote appealing for clemency for prisoners on death row. But it’s not clear if all of the letters can be released, as he may not have them.
  • The housing crisis could be worse than imagined and the government’s policies are helping some people more than others. A charity worker for St Vincent de Paul has given TheJournal.ie his view on who the real victims of the recession are.
  • Ireland experienced the worst average house price fall in the world last year, according to new figures. It’s in sharp contrast to Hong Kong where house prices rose by nearly 20 per cent. We’re asking, would you buy a house here in the current market?
  • A senior union official has admitted that staff he represents at ESB are spoilt and also said that the trade union movement “made sure that the gap between that those who have and those who haven’t in society grew” over the past 30 years. Watch Brendan Ogle’s comments here.
  • In Libya, there is growing concern for the humanitarian needs of the people of Tripoli. It follows a series of grim reports from correspondents working in the city who have visited the destroyed former Gaddafi stronghold of Abu Salim.
  • It has emerged that only a sixth of the ambulances and other medical vehicles purchased by the HSE in the last 20 months have been put to use.
  • Heard about the Cuban man with two extra fingers and two extra toes? It’s not uncommon apparently but his digits are almost perfect.
  • Sinéad O’Connor is no stranger to controversy but what will she be up to on the Late Late show next Friday? She’s got history when it comes to controversial TV appearances.
  • Stuck for something to do tonight? Worry not, tonight is one of the biggest nights in the Irish astronomy calendar with the annual Astronomy Ireland ‘Star-B-Q’ taking place in Roundwood, Co. Wicklow. All the details here.
  • And if you’re thinking about how to spend your Sunday, well worry not again as there’s still plenty to do around the country as part of Heritage Week.
  • A busy day of sport. All the Premier League results and how the matches unfolded are here whilst we were minute-by-minute as Ireland were beaten by England in their World Cup warm-up game at the Aviva.
  • And finally why does this guy think that everybody in Ireland looks a bit like Ron Weasley? Here’s one American’s entirely stereotypical view of our land on a recent visit to Dublin: