A Nepalese Hindu devotee prostrates himself on the ground outside a temple as a part of performing a ritual on the first day of Madhav Narayan festival, in Sankhu, Nepal. (Niranjan Shrestha/AP)
HERE ARE THE things we learned, loved and shared today.
THINGS WE LEARNED:
#BRAZIL: The death toll following a fire in a busy Brazilian nightclub has risen to 245. The fire at the Kiss nightclub in the university town of Santa Maria broke out at about 2am local time, with many of the dead dying from asphyxiation.
#GARDA DEATH: It has emerged that the armed gang who killed Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe on Friday night held his colleague at gunpoint while they completed their robbery of a cash delivery to a credit union. Up to 100 Gardaà are now involved in the investigation into the attack in Co Louth, when Donohoe became the 86th Garda to die while on duty.
#PROMISSORY NOTES: Two cabinet ministers have insisted that talks on trying to end Ireland’s promissory note misery are continuing. Leo Varadkar and Pat Rabbitte said there was “no basis” for yesterday’s report that the ECB had rejected Ireland’s preferred option – though talks were still ongoing.
#PHONE SCAM: Significant numbers of Irish mobile phone users have been targeted in a premium number scam originating in Slovenia. Phone users receive ‘missed calls’ from a number they may mistake for an Irish one – and are stung for high call charges once they phone back.
#HOSPITALS: Opposition parties have cried foul after RTÉ obtained documents revealing that the upgrades of two hospitals – in the home towns of cabinet ministers – were ‘fast-tracked’. The works in Wexford and Kilkenny were advanced and publicly announced by ministers Brendan Howlin and Phil Hogan before the board of the HSE even knew they were being fast-tracked – with Howlin sanctioning extra funds for works in his home town.
#CONSTITUTION: The public is likely to be asked to vote on whether to lower the voting age to 16, after the Constitutional Convention voted to recommend lowering the age. They also backed proposals to allow people be nominated for a Presidential election by a public petition – but rejected proposals to cut the term of office to five years.
THINGS WE LOVED:
- You needn’t be a sports fan to enjoy this read from the Financial Times. Simon Kuper – one of the men behind the hugely popular ‘Soccernomics’ book – asks why Arsenal are so obsessed with austerity when they’re pretty much the only club who don’t need it.
- The choice of hashtag by RTÉ’s David McCullagh in this quip on Twitter earlier today…
- …and this page from Microsoft, which is actually intended as a way of showing off Internet Explorer 10. That has very little to do with its worryingly addictive, making-your-screen-look-like-a-Coldplay-video colours though.
Novak Djokovic holds his trophy after defeating Scotland’s Andy Murray in the men’s final at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne. (Rob Griffith/AP)
THINGS WE SHARED:
- This.
- Someone pointed out to us earlier that it’s 40 years to the day since what many people consider the greatest try ever scored in the history of rugby union. Again, yuo don’t need to be a rugby fan to enjoy this truly remarkable score by the Barbarians against the All Blacks.
- Finally, as the title suggested… some ice climbing. Now, technically this is mixed climbing – because it involves climbing on both rocks and ice – but it’s nonetheless some cool stuff, especially as this was shot in Donegal only this week.
(YouTube: Iain Miller)
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