Ben Warren, Head Keeper of Large Carnivores, plays with tiger cub Arina – one of two five-month-old Amur tiger cubs – at Howletts Wild Animal Park near Canterbury, Kent. (Gareth Fuller/PA Wire)

HERE ARE THE things we learned, loved and shared today.

THINGS WE LEARNED:

#HORSE BURGERS: A Monaghan-based company has suspended its production of beef burgers after identifying horse DNA in a beef shipment fro Poland. Rangeland Foods in Castleblayney says it identified the DNA in a shipment received last month which it had not used as a precaution.

#HOSPITALS: Details of cuts to the budgets of some of Ireland’s busiest hospitals have been emerging today. Figures obtained by RTÉ – ahead of their official publication tomorrow – shows St James’s Hospital in Dublin losing about €9 million from its budget. The head of the HSE said this evening that the cuts were necessary in order to avoid swingeing across-the-board cuts to hospital budgets nationwide.

#GARDA CUTS: The Garda Commissioner has said he hopes threats of another round of so-called ‘blue flu’ – where Gardaí call in sick to work in protest at cutbacks – do not come to pass. Gardaí are forbidden from going on strike but are said to be considering action over closures to Garda stations. The head of the association representing Garda sergeants has this evening questioned Alan Shatter’s assertion that the closures will mean thousands of hours of extra patrols.

#EXCHEQUER RETURNS: The Irish Exchequer recorded a surplus for January 2013 – though only because of the €1.06 billion raised through the sale of some of the government’s capital notes in Bank of Ireland. Otherwise, State revenues were broadly unchanged (compared to January 2012), while spending was up slightly.

#BOMB SQUAD: An Army bomb disposal unit was called to a school in Crumlin today to deal with a viable homemade explosive device found on its grounds. The device was removed without the need for a controlled explosion and Gardaí are investigating.

#WEATHER: It’s the worst kind of alert. No, not red. No, not purple. Met Éireann has issued a yellow weather alert for the entire country, warning you to batten down any hatches you may have. Winds could peak at 130 km/h as temperatures fall to -1°C. (We hope the yellow alert doesn’t extend to the colour of any possible snowfall.)

THINGS WE LOVED:

• The chances are you’re not fluent in Italian. But if you use Chrome, or are willing to paste some answers into Google Translate, then this Silvio Berlusconi Electoral Promise Generator is definitely for you. (Cheers @LorcanRK!)
• This. Just… everything about this.
• We were thinking, ‘Surely someone on the internet has put together a collection of the funniest tweets about the power cut at the Super Bowl’. Contain your shock: someone did, and that someone was Buzzfeed. (Bonus marks to Oreo for publishing a blackout-themed ad so quickly.)

A Pakistani man walks through a flooded street on a rainy day in Peshawar. (Mohammad Sajjad/AP)

THINGS WE SHARED:

• What’s that? Oh, nothing – it’s just some frozen jeans sticking into the ground. No biggie.
• Are you smarter than a ten-(to-twelve)-year-old? Can you spot the grammatical flaw in the previous sentence? If so, this grammar and punctuation test from the Guardian should be no bother. On the other hand…
• Finally, we recommend watching this trailer for John Hughes’ genre-creating 1985 movie ‘The Breakfast Club’. Then, remember you live in 2013, and watch this:

(YouTube: dondrapersayswhat)

Making a difference

A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can make sure we can keep reliable, meaningful news open to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

Support us Learn More