Policemen are silhouetted against one of the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt (Image:Hassan Ammar/AP).

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

THINGS WE LEARNED:

#ABORTION: Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has condemned anti-abortion posters erected in his constituency targeting him personally. He said the posters were “obscene and insensitive” and compared them to the “fundamentalist bullyboy” tactics used during the divisive debates on abortion in the early 1980s.

#FINUCANE: The latest review of the killing of solicitor Pat Finucane was published today with British Prime Minister David Cameron saying it revealed “shocking levels” of state collusion. In the Dáil today Enda Kenny said the government strongly disagrees with the British government’s decision not to conduct a public inquiry into the solicitor’s death.

#OCCUPY ENDA: Six students have been arrested after a sit in at the Taoiseach’s constituency office in Castlebar, Co. Mayo. The students were protesting over the three per cent rise in the qualifying income threshold for the student maintenance grant.

#REPOSSESSION: The government has agreed to close a loophole that prevents banks from seizing homes of mortgage defaulters in the latest Troika review of Ireland’s bailout programme. A group representing home owners in debt has said that if banks are given more power “they will inevitably abuse it”.

#VOMITING BUG: The HSE has asked the public to help stop the spread of the winter vomiting bug by respecting hospital visiting hours and following hand hygiene directions when visiting patients. The warning comes after 190 cases of the winter vomiting bug (norovirus) were recorded two weeks ago, while a further 115 cases were notified last week.

#SHORTAGES: Retail Excellence Ireland has warned that Christmas shoppers should not leave all of their purchases until the last minute as retailers are concerned about stock shortages leading into the final festive weekend. Furbys, tablets and Dowton Abbey box sets are all in short supply.

THINGS WE LOVED:

• We miss the Ikea monkey so we loved these squirrel monkeys investigating a Christmas stocking given to them during a media opportunity at London Zoo today (Image: Kirsty Wigglesworth/AP).
• Bog snorkelling, toe wrestling and worm charming, it’s Britain’s weirdest festivals.
• This bike is the actual spirit of Christmas and this might just be the most festive house in Ireland.

THINGS WE SHARED:

• The British Humanist Society is stocking these unusual greeting cards showing Charles Darwim getting into the festive spirit. We’re not sure he would approve.
• We were given the Ikea monkey and now Buzzfeed have pulled together all of the memes to show us how the internet responded to the stylish little chimp.
• Only a pound for one fish and six for a fiver – “very very good and very very cheap”, but it appears this lad is only offering his deal to the ladies.

(Uploaded by OnePoundFishManTV)

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