Beckham the dog cools down with the help of Firefighter Phil Stanley and Barry Comerford (10) of Scoil Colm, Crumlin, at the launch of Dublin Fire Brigade’s Halloween Safety Campaign. (Photo: Jason Clarke Photography)

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

THINGS WE LEARNED:

#BANK DEBT: Francois Hollande has joined Angela Merkel in describing Ireland’s bailout as a “special case” – saying a review of our bailout terms should take into account the fact that Ireland was muscled into a bailout without the chance to burn bondholders. The comments came after Enda Kenny met with Hollande in Paris.

#COURTS: A 16-year-old boy has been jailed for three years, with another three years suspended, after being convicted of raping a 15-year-old girl at a teenage house party in Dublin last year. The Rape Crisis Network has said the conviction underlines the vulnerability of young people to sexual assualt in a drink-fuelled culture.

#FINES: A new legal reform announced by the government today will allow people who incur fines in court to pay them back in instalments over a 12-month period. The move means, however, that people who fail to pay the fine could have court orders to have the fine docked from their earnings afterwards.

#ITALY: Seven members of a national emergency committee have been jailed for six years each, after a court found that they were indirectly responsible for the deaths of 309 people in an earthquake in 2009. The court in L’Aquila found that the panel did not give adequate warning about the possibility of a major quake, following a series of earlier minor ones.

#BBC: The editor of BBC’s Newsnight, Peter Rippon, has “stepped aside” while an internal investigation is carried out into why the BBC shelved a Newsnight programme which would have raised allegations of sexual abuse against Jimmy Savile. Rippon wrote a blog last month to explain why the programme was pulled – but today the BBC board said his explanation was “inaccurate or incomplete in some parts”.

#CYCLING: World cycling’s governing body UCI has formally accepted the charges against Lance Armstrong brought by the US’s Anti-Doping Agency – banning the Texan from the sport for life, and stripping him of his seven Tour de France titles. “Lance Armstrong has no place in cycling,” said UCI president Pat McQuaid. Here’s Armstrong’s new record.

THINGS WE LOVED:

• The idea of having an inflatable bridge like this one – which is being proposed as a permanent feature over the Seine – across the Liffey. (How long would it last?)
• This meteor shower. Enough said.
• This beautifully soothing and relaxing video shot in County Mayo last week by Conor Walsh. It shows salmon trying to swim up the Clydagh river, and it’s lovely.

Coloured sheets hang on a clothesline in Onna, a day after a powerful earthquake struck the Abruzzo region in central Italy in April 2009, killing 309 people. Today, seven members of a national committee were jailed for six years for failing to issue public warnings about the possibility of a major earthquake near L’Aquila. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

THINGS WE SHARED:

• You’ve been warned. This is a video from a guy showing you how to pick up girls at the gym. Obvious gag is obvious.
• It’s a Monday night, and you may be feeling poor or overfed after the weekend. So why not share your evening with 18 women who seem delighted with their salad? (Thanks, @jenoconnell!)
• You can do it, little guy! This newborn baby panda has been learning to take its first steps at the San Diego Zoo. (Yes, the same zoo where the baby panda was born in Anchorman… we’ve been there.)

(YouTube/SDZoo)

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