A boy at a huge bonfire on the Shankhill Road in Belfast as Orange Order members celebrated 12 July. (Photo: Niall Carson/PA Wire)

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

THINGS WE LEARNED

#MICHAELA: The two men accused of the murder of Michaela McAreavey have been found not guilty by a jury in Mauritius. The McAreavey and Harte families have said there are “no words [to] describe the sense of devastation and desolation now felt by both families” over the verdict.

#BAILOUT: Ireland is meeting all the targets of the bailout according to the latest review by the Troika.

#REILLY: Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has expressed his confidence in James Reilly after the Health Minister gave a personal statement to the Dáil about why he appeared on a list of debt defaulters.

#SERVITUDE: A husband and wife who are both members of a Traveller family have been jailed in England for forcing homeless men to work in conditions of virtual slavery.

#AVALANCHE: Nine climbers are reported to have been killed in an avalanche that struck at a ski resort in the French Alps in the early hours of this morning.

#SHUFFLIN’: Fianna Fáil’s only backbench TD, Éamon Ó Cuív, has been brought back onto the party’s front bench – along with all the rest of the party’s TDs – in a reshuffle announced this evening.

THINGS WE LOVED

• A 25-year-old marine biologist has been taking these stunning photographs of sea creatures in the Arctic for the past five years.  ”I”m trying to act like the Discovery Channel, but as a single unit,” he told Wired. Impressive.
• If you have ever laughed at a cartoon in the New Yorker then read this funny and cartoon-filled piece by the cartoon editor of the magazine. Dare you not to laugh at least once.
• It’s not unusual to send a letter to a newspaper to correct a fact – unless the letter in question is five feet long and written by a class of 11-year-olds. Students at a school in the US sent this giant letter in to the Washington Post to correct an error in an article about the Titanic. The Post has very graciously said that it will run a correction.

(Photo via RonCharles/Twitter)

THINGS WE SHARED

• What’s better than seeing one person wearing a Bill Cosby-style jumper? Eleven different celebrities wearing Bill Cosby jumpers, of course.
• Following on from last night’s CV disaster involving Nicolas Cage, here’s a nomination for the best – and possibly most bizarre –  cover letter of all time. Sample line: “”I am honourable: I am the son of a librarian and a Capricorn”.
• Favourite ad of the day:

(Video: Carlsberg Ireland/YouTube)

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