A dancer is suspended mid-air by a crane during her performance in Singapore’s Night Festival. Image: AP Photo/Wong Maye-E.

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

THINGS WE LEARNED

#WATER CHARGES: They haven’t gone away. A leaked EU report revealed that Irish households will be hit by the first charges for metered water usage in January 2014. That’s not the “end of 2014″ that Phil Hogan envisaged, is it?

#INVESTIGATION: A post-mortem is still being carried out on the body of a woman found in Dundalk, Co Louth. Garda are not yet calling it murder – but certainly she appears to have sustained injuries in an attack, says RTÉ.

#PARALYMPICS: A shot of cheer and goodwill comes in the form of the Paralympics opening ceremony, starting at 8.30pm in London. The eminent Stephen Hawking will have a special role in the show.

#USA: Mitt Romney is the Republican Party’s nominee for the US presidential race. We know who definitely isn’t: the two people who were ejected from the Republican National Convention in Florida yesterday for alleged racist comments.

#ISAAC: The hurricane called Isaac has “stalled” over Louisiana, comes the news from the States, dumping torrential rain on the Gulf coast. New Orleans has just declared a curfew from dusk. These research students taking wind speed measurements there today have hopefully headed indoors:

Image: AP Photo/Eric Gay

THINGS WE LOVED

• This isn’t just another cute baby video – this is THE cute baby video of the week. Bit early to declare the winner already? You won’t think so when you see these twin girls look at each other in excitement when their daddy starts to play a tune…

via Brovadere/Youtube

• This explanation of what the media calls ‘silly season’ was on The Guardian yesterday but we had to share this nugget with you: in Germany, they call it ‘summerhole’; in Holland, they call it ‘cucumber time’. (Hat-tip to Justin Bowers for loving it too.)
• If you tweeted your way through the Rose of Tralee or the Late Late Toy Show, you’ll enjoy this affirmation as a major new survey explains why using social media while watching TV has taken off.

THINGS WE SHARED

• Everybody Hates Chris actor Terry Crews has been Old Spice’s main ad man for a while now. But his new Muscle Music performance beats all.

via Old Spice/Joker 10487/Youtube

• Ever wanted to become a Disney princess? Not this way you didn’t. Reddit sent this blog post (from DesignTaxi) about a cosmetic surgery company around the world today. What have they done to The Little Mermaid?

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