Derek Mangan from Dublin sells sailor’s hats on the quays during the the Tall Ships Race 2012 Festival stopover in Dublin. (Photo: Julien Behal/PA Wire)

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

THINGS WE LEARNED

#BELFAST: Seven PSNI officers were injured in clashes at a controversial loyalist parade past a Catholic church in Belfast today.

#INVESTIGATION: Gardaí have launched an inquiry into an incident early this morning in which shots were fired through the door of a house in Clara, Co Offaly.

#VENEZUELA:At least 24 people have been killed and over 80 injured in a major explosion and fire at Venezuela’s biggest oil refinery.

#NEW YORK: The nine people injured in a shooting near the Empire State building in Manhattan yesterday were all hit by police fire, according to officials today.

#TECH WARS: Samsung is to launch an appeal after being ordered by a US court to pay $1 billion to Apple following a major patent infringement battle between the two tech companies.

#ZOO ATTACK: A tiger escaped from its enclosure at a German Zoo today and killed a female zookeeper before being shot dead by the zoo’s director.

THINGS WE LOVED

• It looks like this three-year-old had a great day out at a fairy tale event in Staffordshire, England today. (Photo: Rui Vieira/PA Wire)
• Here’s what it takes to put an aerial circus show together (gulp!).
• TheJournal.ie readers have been sharing their photos from the Tall Ships festival in Dublin with us.

THINGS WE SHARED

• You don’t often get the opportunity to nose about inside the Freemasons’ Hall in Dublin. We enjoyed (and shared) these photos of the building’s incredible interior.
• Cork hurler Donal Óg Cusack, one of Ireland’s few openly gay sports stars, delivered this speech to the Foyle Pride Festival 2012 about how being gay is “half a chapter maybe in a lifetime’s story” of who a person is.
• These troops comprehensively showed how not to deploy a flash bang grenade when clearing a room during a training session:

YouTube: Lmullo1

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