Pedestrians walk along the lake Ammersee in Herrsching, southern Germany (Matthias Schrader/AP).

HERE ARE THE things we learned, loved and shared today.

THINGS WE LEARNED:

#SOCIAL WELFARE: Labour chairman Colm Keaveney voted against the government on the Respite Care Grant cut in the Dáil earlier today. However the Social Welfare Bill still passed as a whole with 93 votes to 53. Meanwhile Sinn Féin has said it will take legal advice after TD Pádraig Mac Lochlainn was stopped from entering the Dáil as he tried to vote on the bill this afternoon.

#ERIN GALLAGHER: The sister of schoolgirl Erin Gallagher, who died by suicide in October, was found dead at a house in Ballybofey, Co Donegal last night. Gardaí said they are treating the incident last night as a “personal tragedy”. The HSE this afternoon said it is liaising with the Gallagher family and is working closely with the school.

#ARRESTS: Two men were arrested last night following an armed robbery at a supermarket in Clarehall, Dublin 17. The men had threatened and tied up staff members and left with an undisclosed amount of cash.

#SHANNON: The European Court of Human Rights has, for the first time ever, held a European state to account for its involvement in the CIA’s detention and rendition programme saying today that Macedonia is responsible for the unlawful detention of a German national. It has emerged that the plane used by the CIA to transfer the man landed at Shannon Airporton its way to pick him up in Macedonia.

#SYRIA: NATO has said that the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is approaching collapse, and that he should take steps to begin talks on political transition. The news came as a new bomb attack killed 16 people in a government-held town outside Damascus.

#PREGNANCY: A procedure performed by robotic surgery has helped a Cork mother have a second successful birth, Cork University Maternity Hospital said today. Anne O’Mahoney became the first woman in Ireland to achieve a second full term pregnancy after the surgery, giving birth to a baby girl called Zoey.

THINGS WE LOVED:

• Look what George Lucas gave to all of his employees. What a guy. (via Reddit)
• Shoog, Burger and Turbo – just some of the bizarre names people gave their babies in 2012. The world has gone mad.
• This story from the Arnold Palmer Hospital of a four-year-old who was diagnosed with a brain tumour on Christmas Day. You’ll weep.

(Uploaded by ArnoldPalmerHospital)

THINGS WE SHARED:

• Remember as a child wishing you had a Star Trek food replicator or could, even just once, use the Holodeck? Well maybe now you can…
• Finally, a new Facebook feature you’ll actually like. Get your 2012 Year in Review and let the nostalgia wash over you.
• We’re not actually sure how we feel about this. The two people conducting the survey seem to be a bit too into it.

(Uploaded by Stuart Edge)

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