Cats sleep on a street sign in Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district today. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

THINGS WE LEARNED

#MAGDALENE The Government is working on a ‘comprehensive package’ following the McAleese report into Magdalene Laundries, which it will announce in the Dáil on Tuesday, Minister Alan Shatter said today. The Justice for Magdalenes group has called for a “fair, non-adversarial and transparent compensation package”, including compensation of €100,000 and pensions, healthcare, counselling, housing services and advice.

#CONSTITUTION The delegates at the Constitutional Convention have voted overwhelmingly for altering the ‘women in the home’ clause in the constitution. Today, 98 per cent said they supported a proposal to alter the article to make it gender neutral and acknowledge the important role of other carers in the home.

#PISTORIUS Oscar Pistorius has received “overwhelming support from his fans”, his agent said today. New reports – though unconfirmed by police – say that a bloody baseball bat was found in his home, but there is no evidence yet if it was used to assault Reeva Steenkamp. Pistorius’s family say the Olympic athlete mistook Steenkamp for an intruder, shooting her.

#GARDAÍ Minister Alan Shatter has said that he is ‘as angry as’ the Garda Síochána over the financial state the force finds itself in. In an interview today, he called on the garda representative bodies to enter the Croke Park extension talks, saying he thinks it is unfair they exited the process at an early stage. The Garda Representative body called his comments “smoke and mirrors”.

#NIGERIA Gunman have abducted seven workers during an attack on a construction site in Northern Nigeria. Two Lebanese, an Italian and a Greek have been confirmed by their governments to be among those seized in the attack in the town of Jama’are in Bauchi State.

#DEATHS Two people have died tragically in house fires this weekend. A 70-year-old man died in a fire at a home in Ballymacarbery, Co Waterford on Friday, while a 36-year-old woman died in a house fire in Passage West in Cork in the early hours of this morning.

A Howth sunset photo sent in by an anonymous reader.

THINGS WE LOVED

• Why are some people musical, and others of a scientific bent? Scientists have been taking brain scans at Massachusetts General Hospital to create the first map of the human brain. Here’s what it could tell us.
• What was your first kiss like? And was it behind a shed, at a teenage disco, or in your friend’s front room? Here’s a look at the world of first kisses in Ireland…
• How could we not love this?

(Wriggles & Robins/Vimeo)

THINGS WE SHARED

• Who doesn’t love Daniel O’Donnell? Here’s 12 ways you can have more of him in your life. Wonderful.
• These gifs of photoshopped celebs are mesmerising – and a disturbing look into how Photoshopped photographs betray reality.
• These chimpanzees were caged for 30 years before finally being released to a sanctuary. Just look at that hug at 1:27!

(britches1985/YouTube)

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