A South African rodeo cowboy is thrown from a bull in Malmesbury on the outskirts of Cape Town, South Africa. Riders try to stay on the bull for up to eight seconds. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)

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

THINGS WE LEARNED

#DEATH: A man has been arrested in connection with the murder of a 25-year-old mother-of-two in west Dublin last night. He is also being questioned in relation to the stabbing of the victim’s 33-year-old brother.

#NOT MUCH Is what we learned after the Taoiseach’s first meeting with Pope Benedict XVI since his landmark speech about the Vatican last year. The Taoiseach made no comment to reporters outside the Pontiff’s summer residence following the meeting.

#AUSTRALIA: The Catholic Church in the Australian State of Victoria has admitted that 620 cases of criminal child abuse have been upheld in the past 16 years. The figures – submitted to a parliamentary inquiry – have been met with calls for an independent investigation.

#SEAS: It has been a busy day for Ireland’s sea-based rescue teams. A major operation was launched off the Wexford coast at 9am after a diver got into difficulty and surfaced rapidly. The 25-year-old local man was later pronounced dead at Waterford Regional Hospital.

Elsewhere, a man was rescued after he abandoned his burning yacht off the coast of Kinsale.

#OPINIONS: The electorate’s opinions of Ireland’s political parties have barely changed over the summer with minimal movement showing in the latest Red C poll for the Sunday Business Post. Fine Gael support is still at 32 per cent but Sinn Féin climbed two points to join Fianna Fáil at 18 per cent, while Labour dropped one point to 14.

#EXCITEMENT: Well, we didn’t just learn this today but there’s a few people (and animals) in Donegal and Mayo that are a bit excited about something happening tomorrow. Shane Callaghan’s Siberian Husky, Blue, in Gweedore  is just one of them.

Image: @Graceewalsh

THINGS WE LOVED

• These fifty gorgeous submissions for National Geographic’s annual photo contest, as reproduced by The Atlantic. We can’t see how they’ll pick a favourite.
• Buzzfeed’s guide to 22 things we have been doing wrong our whole lives, including peeling potatoes and eating Tic Tacs.

Visitors rest behind a beer tent during day one of Oktoberfest. One looks a little worse for wear. Image: Matthias Schrader/AP/Press Association Images

• Sticking with Oktoberfest, we love that Bavarian tradition dictates that deerskin lederhosen are the trousers of choice because they stretch to accommodate an expanding belly.

THINGS WE SHARED

• Was the last wedding you were at irony-free and without mason jars? If so, it may not have been a hipster event. If not, you were totally Instagramming and eating berries. If you’re unsure, this definitive infographic (which may be the best one we’ve ever seen) will clear things up.
• Videos and images of last night’s ‘meteor shower’, which was probably, maybe some space debris.
• Apple and Samsung’s lawyers have been fighting it out in court and now the companies’ marketing teams are getting in on the act. In its latest ad for the Galaxy S III, Samsung takes some not-so-subtle swipes at excitable Apple fans:

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