The Paraiso School of Samba takes part in the Notting Hill Carnival, London today. (Lewis Whyld/PA Wire)

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

THINGS WE LEARNED

#JOBS: Ireland’s largest privately-owned freight company College Freight (operating as Target Freight) is to close, with the loss of 390 jobs across its Irish and UK operations, RTÉ reports.

#MELBOURNE: A 31-year-old man has been charged in connection with an incident in Melbourne, Australia in which two Irish backpackers were seriously injured at the weekend. Both men remain in critical condition.

#SYRIA: UN chief Ban Ki-Moon has expressed his shock at reports this weekend of a new massacre in Syria. Earlier, Associated Press photographer Muhammed Muheisen travelled to the Syrian rebel headquarters in Marea to find out more about their lives and their cause, photographing this portrait series.

#CAR CLUB: Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar is pressing ahead with new legislation which will allow commuters to rent cars on a pay-as-you-go basis under a scheme similar to Dublin Bikes.

#INM: Leslie Buckley has been voted the chairman of Independent News and Media, the Irish Independent reports. Buckley lost the vote for re-election to the INM board just over a year ago while he was a representative of Denis O’Brien on the board.

A reveller at the Notting Hill Carnival in London tries to engage a police officer in the celebrations today. (Sang Tan/AP/PA)

THINGS WE LOVED

• Is this the best GAA fan flag so far this summer?
• Pyrotechnician David Banks unexpectedly, but fittingly, celebrated his 50th birthday recently with an exploding cake.
• You don’t want to mess with this scissor-kicking kitten/feline Chuck Norris:

YouTube: PetSteem

THINGS WE SHARED

• It might be hard to tell, given recent weather, but summer is drawing to a close. And what better time to take a look back over the history of swimwear courtesy of this infographic by Backyard Ocean posted on the Cool Infographics blog.
• The production of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie remake has been delayed for ‘restructuring’ work. Excerpts from the leaked script would suggest that some serious restructuring is required before the film’s release.
• Ever wondered how Sweet Home Alabama would look if played by two Tesla coils? Here you go (via The Daily What):

YouTube: crazeman5522

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