An Indian fisherman washes a cloth as he stands near his boat in the Arabian sea in Mumbai, India, Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

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

THINGS WE LEARNED:

#BANKERS: More than 1,200 staff at Allied Irish Banks – which is 99.8 per cent owned by the taxpayer – are being paid annual packages including salaries and pensions of six figures, new data published by Michael Noonan has revealed. The figures include 103 people earning over €200,000 a year, and ten staff whose annual packages are over €400,000.

#TRANSPORT: Public transport fares are to increase in the coming weeks, after the National Transport Authority approved an increase which can take effect from 1 December – a move that will affect prices with Dublin Bus, Bus Éireann, Irish Rail and the Luas.

#GAZA: The Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Eamon Gilmore has condemned the escalation of violence in southern Israel and Gaza, saying it could lead to the further death and suffering of innocent Israeli and Palestinian civilians. Earlier, Israel had agreed to a ceasefire while the Egyptian Prime Minister visited the city, but Hamas militants then bombed northern Gaza, killing two people.

#SPAIN: Disturbing footage of police brutality at yesterday’s anti-austerity protests in cities Spain has emerged, with one video showing a woman on a bicycle being pushed, punched and beaten by a male officer as other protesters try to intervene by pulling him away.

#PLANNING: An Bord Pleanala has refused a planning application from Siptu to redevelop the landmark Liberty Hall building in central Dublin, saying the proposed new 23-storey building would be “unacceptably dominant in the city”. Sipu has said it is “disappointed” by the decision.

A male turkey or a ‘gobbler’ is pictured on Gerry McEvoy’s turkey farm today in Sallins, Co. Kildare preparing for the Christmas season. (Mark Stedman)

THINGS WE LOVED:

• As seen in Dublin this evening: passers-by warming themselves off a bag of flaming rubbish. As you do.

Image: Michelle Hennessy (thanks Michelle!)

• There are no words for how much we love Buzzfeed’s 15 Soul-Shattering Portraits of Celebrities. Let’s put it his way: it includes  Jeff Goldblum… in repose… on a windswept moor… with a butterfly. Swoon.
• If you love the Big Bang Theory and flashmobs… well, you’re not going to believe this.
• The Rubberbandits give a masterclass in how to deal with offensive YouTube comments that centre around freemasonry. (It sounds too specific but it isn’t.)

THINGS WE SHARED:

• Is America’s failed ‘war on drugs’ finally over? Sadbh Walshe writes in the Guardian that marijuana legalisation ballots are signalling a turn in the tide of public attitudes regarding prohibition, which has achieved little over the last few decades bar expanding the prison population.
• Ashlyn Blocker, from South Georgia, is just like any other 13-year-old girl apart from one thing: she can’t feel pain. New York Times journalist Justin Heckert describes the time he spent with Ashlyn and her family, their hopes for her to live a safe and independent life, and their fears over how to protect her.

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