IRELAND - Tens of thousands of people have marched through cities in Ireland in a massive show of anger against severe austerity measures and high costs of living. The Irish Congress of Trade Unions, which organized the rallies, claimed more than 100,000 people attended, with some 60,000 marching in Dublin. Demonstrators also protested in Cork, Galway, Limerick, Sligo and Waterford. Tough cuts were implemented to please Ireland's creditors in the wake of the country’s banking crisis. It has been relying on a joint EU-IMF loan since 2010. The “Lift the Burden” march took place despite the Irish government’s recent bank debt deal with the European Central Bank. It saw 28 billion euro worth of costly promissory notes swapped for long-term sovereign bonds.

TURKEY - 15% of Turkish top brass on trial, hundreds resign. Turkish officers are resigning en masse to avoid arrest and sentencing for conspiracy against the government. The cabinet of PM Erdogan is winning the decade-long battle with the country’s once almighty generals, journalist Andrew Finkel tells RT.

VENEZUELA - Venezuela has cut the value of its currency against the US dollar by 32%, in an effort to boost its economy. The widely expected measure ramps up the official exchange rate of the bolivar from 4.3 to 6.3 per US dollar. It was announced after Vice-President Nicolas Maduro's return from Cuba, where he said President Hugo Chavez gave him instructions on the economy. In a country that largely depends on food imports, the scarcity of dollars also led to shortages of products such as sugar and flour. The new exchange rate is expected to address this situation. But the measure is also expected to have an impact on the inflation, which has already been climbing.

NASA - US space agency Nasa has released a frightening new video showing just how close a massive asteroid will come to slamming into the Earth next week. There are just seven days left until the 150ft-wide, 130,000 ton asteroid buzzes past our planet so close its trajectory will take it inside the orbit of communications and weather satellites. It will be the nearest known flyby for an object of this size. But scientists promise the threatening space rock will come no nearer than 17,100 miles from Earth when it zips past next Friday. If it struck Earth - which it won't, scientists were quick to add - it would release the energy equivalent of 2.4 million tons of TNT and wipe out everything for 750 square miles around the impact site.

BRUSSELS, EUROPE - David Cameron appears to have secured a major victory today as leaders inched towards a deal that would secure a cut in the EU budget for the first time in its 56-year history.

UK - Diet fizzy drinks can raise the risk of diabetes by 60 per cent, startling new research has revealed. A study of more than 66,000 women found those who drank artificially sweetened drinks were more likely to develop the disease than those who indulged in regular, 'full fat' versions. The findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, fly in the face of conventional thinking that regular versions of fizzy drinks are always worse for our health.

EUROPE - Europe's leaders are poised this morning to cut the European Union's budget for the first time in its 56 year history following a major victory for David Cameron. Proposals tabled early on Friday morning for Brussels budgets for the period 2014 to 2020 would slash the EU's spending by £30 billion between 2014 and 2020 compared to current levels of spending.

EUROPE - A high-profile summit to negotiate the EU's next long-term budget was delayed by more than five hours and then got off to a shaky start on Thursday after stark differences emerged between Britain, France and other countries over the headline figures.

USA - In what may be the first full digital storm panic, federal, state and business officials worried about the snow headed for the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast have taken to Twitter to warn that a potential disaster is coming. Bank of America led the frenzy. "Winter Storm Nemo may bring 2 feet of snow to New England late Fri & Sat. Prepare now - make sure you have plenty of cash on hand." FEMA's Region One, which includes New England, raised the possibility of a blackout. "Winter storms & blizzards can knock out power. Make sure you have a plan for staying warm if power goes out http://www.ready.gov/blackouts," they wrote. They also recommended that citizens get food, blankets and salt to melt ice and snow.

SOUTH KOREA - As North Korea prepares a third nuclear test, South Korean soldiers on the world's most heavily armed border now have orders to shoot back immediately if they come under attack, a move that risks escalating any small-scale conflict.

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL - Moshe Feiglin, newly elected as an MK with the Likud party, ascended the Temple Mount on Wednesday. Feiglin visits the holy site on the nineteenth of every Hebrew month. For the first time, he did so without fear of arrest. Feiglin has formerly been detained at the site for allegedly praying or bowing, but he now enjoys parliamentary immunity. Jews are forbidden to pray or show outward signs of worship at the holy site due to fears that doing so would anger Muslims praying at the Al-Aqsa mosque on the mount. Ultimately the police will be forced to recognize the new trend of Jews putting the Temple Mount first – as MK Feiglin did.

UK - Findus has tonight admitted that it has been selling packs of its popular frozen lasagne that were 99 per cent horsemeat. The news is the first time that it has been confirmed that horsemeat contamination of products sold in the UK has spread beyond beef burgers. There are concerns that the horse meat used in the lasagne contained the drug bute, which is a known human health risk. Findus was today unable to say how long horsemeat has been used in its products.

USA - The Department of Homeland Security is set to purchase a further 21.6 million rounds of ammunition to add to the 1.6 billion bullets it has already obtained over the course of the last 10 months alone, figures which have stoked concerns that the federal agency is preparing for civil unrest. A solicitation posted yesterday on the Fed Bid website details how the bullets are required for the DHS Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Artesia, New Mexico. An approximation of how many rounds of ammunition the DHS has now secured over the last 10 months stands at around 1.625 billion. To put that in perspective, during the height of active battle operations in Iraq, US soldiers used 5.5 million rounds of ammunition a month. Extrapolating the figures, the DHS has purchased enough bullets over the last 10 months to wage a full scale war for almost 30 years.

BRUSSELS, EUROPE - What further evidence does the European Union need to declare Hezbollah an international terrorist group? The latest proof comes from Bulgaria.

BRUSSELS, EUROPE - European Union leaders are gathering for a two-day summit in Brussels to try to strike a deal on the next seven years of EU spending. The formal meeting has been delayed, apparently to allow more time for discussions on a compromise. High EU expenditure at a time of cutbacks and austerity across the continent is the main issue dividing the 27 member states. They failed to reach a compromise at a similar summit in November