Indian Hindu devotees smeared with colors sing at the Nandagram temple, famous for Lord Krishna and his brother Balram, during Lathmar holy festival, in Nandgaon, India (Manish Swarup/AP).

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

THINGS WE LEARNED

#CLOYNE: A priest in the Diocese of Cloyne has been dismissed from the clerical state over allegations of child sexual abuse. A canonical penal trial upheld a number of complaints against the Roman Catholic priest of sexual abuse of minors.

#CYPRUS: The house of representatives in Cyprus is to vote on nine pieces of legislation prepared to protect the country’s financial services system and avoid a run on banks when they open next week. Proposals in the bills include the creation of a investment solidarity fund which would bundle state assets, including gas reserves.

#FLOODS: Parts of the country were plagued by floods today with roads in Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford closed. Met Éireann has kept its rainfall warning in place for Munster, Connacht and Leinster as it does not expect the heavy rains to abate until Saturday night.

#DAFFODIL DAY: Collections for Daffodil Day are down more than 50 per cent on last year with terrible weather conditions around the country hindering the fundraising. If this continues, it will make it unlikely that the Irish Cancer Society will reach its ambitious target of €3.4million.

#ISRAEL: Israel’s Prime Minister has apologised to Turkey for a deadly 2010 flotilla raid and announced a full resumption of diplomatic ties as well as compensation for the families of those killed. The breakthrough, which ends a nearly three-year bitter diplomatic rift, was engineered by US President Barack Obama at the tail end of a historic three-day visit to the Holy Land.

Cars drive through a tunnel of blooming cherry blossoms in Tokyo (Koji Sasahara/AP).

THINGS WE LOVED

• This little boy and his pet chick Biscuit enjoying a daffodil. There’s just too much cuteness.
• These photos of manic Beatles fans. We’re not sure we’ve ever been that excited about anything…
• This video of a Rube Goldberg machine that was made last week to celebrate the opening of YouTube Space Tokyo.

(megwin/YouTube)

THINGS WE SHARED

• Did you buy a daffodil today? There’s still time if you didn’t, and here are 11 shockingly cute reasons you should.
• It may not feel like it to day but it IS spring. Sit back and watch this badass Russian annihilate these snowmen. Take that winter!

(scottdw/YouTube)

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