A view of St Peter’s Square in Vatican City today as Pope Francis conferred the sacrament of confirmation on people, including 2 children from Ireland. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

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

THINGS WE LEARNED

#ABORTION: Government parties have played down the significance of secret recordings in which two Labour TDs discussed their stance on abortion legislation. Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney said the tapes were ‘”trying to sow division” and described the recording as a “sting operation to catch people out”.

#BANGLADESH: A woman has been pulled alive from the rubble of the garment factory which collapsed in Bangladesh, after fighting to survive for more than 4 days. At least 375 people were killed in the collapse of the eight-storey building and hopes are fading of finding more survivors.

#PLUS ÇA CHANGE: Iceland has re-elected the two political parties once blamed for the worst financial meltdown in the nation’s history and who were voted out of power in 2009. Here’s how they managed to make a huge turnaround in just four years.

#ARRESTS: Four people have been arrested after an armed robbery on a cash-in-transit van at a Dublin shopping centre in which an undisclosed sum of money was taken. The four – two men and two women – are currently being questioned at Garda stations on the south side of the city.

#ITALY: Two police officers and one bystander were injured in a shooting outside government buildings in Rome today, just as the country’s new coalition was being sworn in to office. A man in a suit and tie opened fire at close range off Rome’s main shopping street before being tackled to the ground by police.

#FOUND: A new documentary claims to have found a US soldier who was lost in Vietnam in 1968 – and may have turned up in a rural village 44 years later after being left behind.

THINGS WE LOVED

Thousands of runners throng the starting line at the Madrid Marathon today (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)

• Well, horse. How’s about ye. What part of the parish are you from? Here’s slang from seven Irish counties, helpfully translated.
• The famous battleground site of Wounded Knee in the United States, where the American army and Native Americans fought a bloody battle, is up for sale. The BBC has this intriguing look at the site, and asks whether it should be turned into a landmark or left alone.

THINGS WE SHARED

• Having a tough day? Could be worse: here’s 29 ways your life could be a million times worse.
• Are you a fan of Iron Man? How big a fan? This guy made a replica of the Iron Man suit and it’s ridiculously impressive.
• “The cosmetics were challenging. I mean, you wouldn’t believe how long it takes to put these ears on in the morning. I don’t know how he walks around with these things”. At last night’s annual White House Correspondents’ Dinner, the audience got to see this pre-filmed skit by Stephen Spielberg, who outlined his plans to follow up Lincoln with an epic drama about the current US president – and features Barack Obama playing Daniel Day-Lewis, playing Barack Obama. Seriously:

(Video: whitehouse/YouTube)

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