Ouch: A man photographs a statue entitled ‘Pentateuque’ by French artist Fabien Merelle at an art exhibition in Singapore today (Photo: AP Photo/Wong May-E)

THINGS WE LEARNED

#ANGLO: A trial date of January 2014 has been set for Seán Fitzpatrick, Willie McAteer and Patrick Whelan, former executives at Anglo Irish Bank who are charged with offences under the Companies Act. Around 24 million documents have to be considered before the trial can begin.

#EU: British Prime Minister David Cameron has promised to hold a referendum by 2017 asking British people whether they want to be in or out of the European Union.

#JOBS: Bad news for Irish business today: a liquidator has been appointed to formal wear rental chain Blacktie, which has eleven branches around the country. The company blamed a downturn in the market and increased operation costs for the liquidation.

#KPMG: Accountancy firm KPMG has warned its staff to be “vigilant around the pervasiveness of social media” and to notify management of any “inappropriate coverage of KPMG on the internet – just weeks after a video of a girl repeatedly referring to the company went viral.

#TAXIS: A Fianna Fáil Senator has said that he will not choose a taxi which is driven by a foreign driver because they often don’t know “one end of the street from the other”.

#HILLARY: In her last formal testimony on Capitol Hill as America’s top diplomat, Hillary Clinton has vowed to strengthen US embassy security after the deadly attack on the American consulate in Libya on 11 September. Here’s what she had to say about the attack.

THINGS WE LOVED

• This old postcard from the mid-1770s shows Dublin’s College Green when it actually was green:

(Image: National Library of Ireland/Flickr)

• James Franco’s poem to commemorate Barack Obama’s second inauguration was – well, special (The Guardian called it “truly awful” but we’re trying to be nice). Read it here. Judge for yourself.

THINGS WE SHARED

• You may have to be a particular type of nerd to appreciate the full genius of this @Trekandthecity Twitter account. As the name suggests, it mixes the plots of Star Trek episodes with musings from Sex and the City. Genius. Sample tweets:

(H/T @stephenkinsella)

• These photos of celebrities before they went bald – including Woody Harrelson, Stanley Tucci and Vin Diesel – is by turns hilarious and terrifying. Larry David wins though. Who knew he had that head of hair?
• Pope John Paul II had game – literally. This video from 1987, which has been doing the rounds over the past day, shows His Holiness on a visit to California where he practices his baseball swing in an indoor batting cage. Is it really him? We’re not 100% convinced – but see what you think:

(Video: Bob Cullinan/YouTube)

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