A doll covered in mud lies on the floor of one of 200 houses destroyed by a flash flood in the village of Bat Hefer, Israel. (Ariel Schalit/AP/Press Association Images)

Here are the things we learned, loved and shared today.

THINGS WE LEARNED

#ABORTION: An Oireachtas committee has spent a second day listening to experts discuss proposed reforms to Ireland’s abortion laws. Following on from yesterday’s medical hearings, today it was the turn of the legal minds. Our liveblog followed all the testimonies and you can read what happened here.

• Oireachtas told: ‘Ireland already allows abortion of unviable pregnancies’
• Hon Judge Catherine McGuinness: Lawmakers urged to look to ‘middle ground’ on abortion issue

#PROTEST: There have been mixed reports, this evening, about a planned loyalist protest outside Leinster House this Saturday. According to one of the organisers and the Garda press office, the demonstration has been postponed but Willie Frazer told Today FM’s Matt Cooper that it was to go ahead.

#IRELAND’S PAST: A long-overdue report examining the State’s involvement with the now-infamous Magdalen Laundries is to be published within four weeks.

#HOSPITALISED: Television presenter Andrew Marr is in hospital after suffering a stroke, the BBC press office has confirmed.

#NEW YORK CITY: More than 50 people were injured in a ferry crash in New York City earlier today.

#DONATIONS: It emerged this morning that Lance Armstrong is to take a spell on Oprah’s couch for a ‘no-holds-barred’ interview later this month and US Anti-Doping’s Travis Tygart has just given the TV presenter an extra question: Did you try to donate about $250,000 to the USADA?,  a move described as “totally inappropriate” by the body’s chief.

THINGS WE LOVED

• Archive pictures, released today on the 150th anniversary of the London Underground, showing Lords, Ladies – and even the Queen – taking ridea on trains.
• Taytos and chocolate. Together, at last.
• The success of Ireland’s film industry in 2012, solidified with five BAFTA nominations. Well done to all those who got the nod from the IFTAs today as well.

THINGS WE SHARED

• A terminally ill MS patient is to learn tomorrow if she will be allowed to die with the assistance of her partner. In tonight’s column, solicitor Sharon O’Connor explains why the assisted suicide judgement will be a landmark ruling for Ireland. A must-read.
• NY Magazine has uncovered a rather odd phenomenon in America. In ‘Suds for Drugs’, Ben Paynter explains how a branded detergent has become ad hoc street currency or ‘liquid gold’, leading to repeated petty thefts. It really is a fascinating read.
• The Atlantic has taken a look at words that exist in other languages but for which English does not provide for. Our favourites? Age-otori (Japanese): To look worse after a haircut; and Backpfeifengesicht (German): A face badly in need of a fist.
• There’s strange happenings in the sky. TheJournal.ie reader Proinnsias Barrett filmed this footage of a starling murmuration over his house in Galway yesterday evening. He told us:

It is the first time in living memory that any real quantity of starling have come to roost here overnight. While the starling is common all year round in Ireland, the sheer volume of the birds at the moment must be an indication that these birds at least, are absolutely thriving in this especially mild winter.

(YouTube Credit: P Barrett)