Your Wednesday evening catch-up

Here’s a briefing on some of the stories and issues highlighted on irishexaminer.com today.

TOP STORY - PARIS SIEGE

French president Francois Hollande said today that France is "at war" against terrorism. Speaking in a televised address, the president said he wants a "large coalition" working together against so-called ’Islamic State’ militants to destroy a group that threatens the whole world and "commits massacres" in the Middle East.

Seven people were arrested in a raid on an apartment building today where suspects in last week’s Paris attacks were holed up, officials said. Police also said two suspects in the Paris attacks have been killed.

The young Louth woman who survived the Bataclan massacre paid an emotional tribute to the “love of her life” for saving her. Katie Healy said the only reason she is alive is because her boyfriend, David Nolan, 32, from Millstreet, Co Cork, lay across her to protect her when the terrorists opened fire in the crowded venue on Friday , spraying music fans with bullets and killing 89 people.

You can see how the police raid on Saint-Denis apartment unfolded by viewing this timeline.

IRELAND

A man in his 20’s is being treated for injuries sustained in an explosion outside Youghal in Co Cork this morning. Two units of the County Fire Service responded to the scene at welding firm C and B Services in Millennium Court, Foxhole shortly before 9.30am, after an oil tank exploded as a plasma cutter was being used.

A man has gone on trial accused of raping a woman with Down Syndrome at an apartment in Dublin city centre. He is alleged to have brought her back to his flat after she became separated from her mother while out jogging in June 2013.

Here are the key elements contained in the 67 pages of A Fresh Start – The Stormont Agreement and Implementation Plan.

Scientists at University College Cork were bowled over when tests showed that their cancer-killing drug was far more powerful than expected.

WORLD

The so-called ’Islamic State’ group has said that it has killed Norwegian and Chinese captives after earlier demanding ransoms for the two men. The extremist group published two images of the men in the second-to-last page of its English-language magazine, saying they had been “executed after being abandoned by kafir nations and organisations”.

A woman who gave birth in an amusement arcade toilet before abandoning the newborn girl has been spared an immediate prison sentence. Nicola Glover (aged 30) admitted child cruelty after delivering the baby girl in a disabled toilet at Silcock’s arcade in Southport on April 16.