Indian children play at dusk on the outskirts of the eastern Indian city of Bhubaneswar, India. (AP Photo/Biswaranjan Rout)

HERE ARE THE things we learned, loved and shared today as we round off the day in three easy steps.

THINGS WE LEARNED

#PUBLIC SECTOR PAY Members of the country’s largest union, SIPTU, have voted for the Haddington Road Agreement. Earlier this year they voted against Croke Park II, which effectively killed the pay deal. SIPTU vice-president Patricia King said that the result meant that the country can now begin reforming the public sector.

#RUNAWAY TEEN A British teacher, Jeremy Forrest, has been found guilty of abduction after eloping with his female pupil (15). He has been in custody since his arrest in France in September. The couple had been pursued by police after they disappeared, and were arrested after a bar owner recognised Forrest and called the authorities.

#SAVED The Sunday Business Post newspaper has been bought for €750,000 by a group of investors, which includes the former chief executive of the Irish Daily Star, Paul Cooke. He is joined by capital markets firm Key Capital in taking the paper out of examinership after the High Court approved the company’s survival plan.

#BUDGET Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has been accused of ‘manipulation’ over the EU budget. German MEP Reimer Böge said that Gilmore’s statement last night that an agreement had been made on the budget is “a rather objectionable manipulation by the presidency”. The MEP then said he was stepping down. Ireland’s Nessa Childers said that MEPs will veto the EU budget if the Irish Presidency does not respect their democratic mandate.

#KERRY Over 1,000 people attended a mass organised by school children for the murdered Jolanta Lubiene and her daughter Enrika (8). Fr Michael Fleming told TheJournal.ie that the Church of St James in Killorglin was “overflowing” with friends from the Kerry and Lithuanian communities, as well as many of Enrika’s school friends. Gardaí are still hunting for the person who murdered the pair in their home on Saturday.

#ABORTION Health Minister James Reilly has said he won’t be afraid to suspend the abortion service offered under the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill 2013. He said that the purpose of the legislation – which was introduced in the Dáil today – was to address “a very real legal vacuum that currently exists”.

Pictured (L to R) the only surviving daughter of US President John F Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy and her daughter Tatiana at the launch of the JFK Homecoming Exhibition at the National Library today. This multimedia exhibition at the National Liabary of Ireland, JFK Homecoming, marks the 50th anniversary of JFKs Irish Visit from 26 to 29 June 1963. Pic: Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland

THINGS WE LOVED

• We love a good mystery, and this truly is a strange one. Hundreds of human skeletons were found surrounding a frozen lake in Roopkund, India. But what killed them? Well, it turned out to be something very unexpected.
• Sadly, the great James Gandolfini, who played Tony Soprano in The Sopranos, died of a suspected heart attack at the age of just 51 last night. We remembered him today with seven of his best clips from The Sopranos. Here’s one:

(DexterUrkel/YouTube)

THINGS WE SHARED

• Like cooking? We love it. And we love this video of how to make beetroot hummus, thanks to food blogger Aoife McElwain and the Forkful team:

• Who do you want to kiss most on Twitter? OK, it’s basically based on who you tweet the most, but it’s a bit of craic all the same (except when the ‘person’ is a website you work for. Oops.)
• We do love a good ol’ insult from a musician, especially when it’s directed at a rival musican.

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