A robot competes in the weightlifting at the FIRA International RoboWorldCup taking place in Bristol. The international competition includes climbing, weightlifting, football, sprinting and a marathon (Tim Ireland/PA Wire)

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

THINGS WE LEARNED

#TAXIS: Taxi services at Dublin Airport are still suspended this evening due to a dispute over parking spaces for taxi drivers. A meeting between representatives and the Dublin Airport Authority is ongoing this evening.

#SME LENDING: A report released today by the Central Bank which revealed that Ireland has one of the highest rejection rates for SME loans came under fire from the banks today. Both the Banking Federation and Bank of Ireland have reacted strongly to the report, with the latter saying it’s concerned about the perception about lending among the SMEs.

#LOCKED IN: Tony Nicklinson, the locked-in sufferer who had fought a legal battle to be allowed to end his life when he chose has died in his home. He had been refusing food and medical treatment for several days since the ruling last week.

#STABBING: Garda investigations are continuing into a fatal attack on a man in Mulhuddart in Dublin  last night. The 28-year-old man, who has been named as Gerard Burnett was seriously injured in the stabbing outside his home, and later died in hospital.

#DONEGAL BLAZE A blaze at a disused landmark hotel in Donegal was caught on camera last night. The Lough Swilly hotel in Buncrana was gutted in the fire. The hotel had been built in the 1860s.

#CORK Seven Cork beaches remained closed today following the detection of E.Coli in the area. Test results on the beaches won’t be known until tomorrow morning.

THINGS WE LOVED

• Want to see penguins getting weighed, giraffes getting measured and meerkats being sized-up? Of course you do. It was all happening at London Zoo today. Check out the slideshow and prepare to shout  ”LOOKIT”, “AH HERE” and “SQUEE” several times.
• Imagine if classic movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Star Wars and Annie Hall had used Comic Sans and WingDings as their fonts of choice? Well now you don’t have to. Check out the new ‘improved’ opening sequences in this video from Jest (via Vulture.com)

• So the Rose of Tralee is over for another year, but what were the best bits from this year’s festival? We’ve put them together for you. The highlight? Dáithí O’Shea in stilettos of course.

THINGS WE SHARED

• A reader of TheJournal.ie thought we might like this. A picture of a mobile speed camera clamped in Dublin city. Ouch.

• Do we need one of these in Ireland? A web development firm has produced a graphic showing the results of tracking the use of swear words across the United States. LA and New York were the biggest offenders (but then again those cities might just have the highest concentration of Twitter users). Have a look.
• A hashtag trending on Twitter this evening caught our eye… not because it’s funny or clever, but because of its heinous grammatical overtones. #ThingsISayToMuch has resulted in countless tweets questioning who ‘Much’ is:

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