Oakland Athletics’ Brandon Moss gets a shaving cream pie to the face as he conducts an interview after his game winning two-run home run against the Los Angeles Angels during a baseball game. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

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

THINGS WE LEARNED

#ABORTION: Draft legislation to deal with the X case is expected to be published this evening. Taoiseach Enda Kenny told the Dáil earlier today that he was hopeful that the heads of the Protection of Maternal Life Bill 2013 would be published before the day was out, and that it would give “no new rights” to women in Ireland but would give “legal clarity and certainty”.

#JOBSWATCH: Glanbia has today announced the construction of a new dairy facility at Belview, leading to 76 direct jobs being created. Up to 450 construction jobs will also come online during the development of the new facility, with as many as 1,530 indirect jobs also being created.

#INVESTIGATION: An investigation is under way after a body was discovered at the back of a house at Fawnagowan in Tipperary town at approximatey 2pm today. Separately, a five-year-old boy has died in tragic circumstances following an accident at his home near White’s Cross just outside Cork city.

#GARDAÍ: New crime figures from the CSO have shown that sexual offences, robbery and burglary have all increased significantly over the past five years. At the same time homicides have dropped by more than half. The news came as Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan rubbished claims by the GRA that crime figures were being altered and that crimes were not being registered correctly. In some good news for the force, Minister Shatter announced 18 promotions, including four new Chief Superintendents and 14 new Superintendents.

#BUS ÉIREANN: SIPTU is to ballot for strike action among its over 900 members who work at Bus Éireann after management at the travel firm committed to implementing a number of changes to pay and conditions. Changes to overtime and premium payments along with longer working hours for office staff and reductions in annual leave will mean that some staff will work longer for less pay as Bus Éireann targets €20 million in savings including €9 million from changes to pay and conditions.

#APRIL JONES: The man accused of abducting and murdering five-year-old Welsh girl April Jones appeared in court today as the prosecution’s case was set out. Mark Bridger, 47, is also charged with unlawfully disposing of and concealing her body with intent to pervert the course of justice. Jones has been missing from her home in the village of Machynlleth since 1 October last year. The trial heard that the missing girl’s blood was found at the suspect’s home during police searches and that bone fragments were also discovered. Bridger has pleaded “not guilty” to all charges.

#CANNABIS: Gardaí have seized cannabis worth an estimated €750,000 after stopping a vehicle on Dublin’s Victoria Quay. A man in his late 30s was arrested at the scene and is being questioned at the Bridewell Garda station, where he can be held for up to 7 days.

THINGS WE LOVED

• It appears that even male Rhinos aren’t exempt from a bit of, eh, performance anxiety. And he had been doing oh so well…

(ram sita/YouTube)

• NASA astronaut Catherine ‘Cady’ Coleman has logged more than 4,330 hours in space. In this interview with CNN, she offers a rare insight into what it’s like.
• Who needs extra boot space when you can just shrink wrap the entire top half of your car. This was the scene earlier today when a South Korean vehicle fully loaded with goods and products brought back from North Korea’s Kaesong industrial complex arrived at customs. Whether it got through or not we’ll never know.

(AP Photo/Lee Jin-man)

THINGS WE SHARED

• Sinn Féin’s Martin McGuinness made an unfortunate slip of the tongue today when he confused the acronyms IFA and IRA to much laughter in the Northern Assembly.

(Hugh O’Connell/YouTube)

• DailyEdge.ie have come up with a list of the nine heinous lies that Irish people tell every day, as illustrated by animals. Number nine is below the pic.

“I have read and agreed to the terms and conditions.” – Image: JML78/Flickr/Creative Commons

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