Greece swimmers perform the team free routine during Synchronized Swimming Championships in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Friday Oct. 12, 2012. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili)

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

THINGS WE LEARNED

#ANIMAL RESCUE The week’s second major animal rescue has seen 56 puppies taken into the DSPCA’s care after they were discovered in a van at Dublin Port yesterday evening.

#STRIKE: As talks between Aer Lingus, DAA and Siptu over a €748 million pension deficit break down, industrial action at Ireland’s airports is starting to look more and more likely.

#GROWING: Police in England now have 340 leads in an inquiry into allegations that the late presenter Jimmy Savile sexually abused a number of young girls while working for the BBC.

#TRAGEDY: A company in Louth has been fined €25,000 for breaching health and safety rules which resulted in the death of a three-year-old boy in Drogheda in November 2009.

#BUDGET 2013: Social Protection Minister Joan Burton has promised to maintain core social welfare payments in the coming year but refused to be drawn on exactly what exactly core social welfare payments are.

#COMPENSATION: A High Court judge has called Ireland’s compensation system “outdated, ineffective and unjust”, according to RTÉ. Justice Mary Irvine’s remarks came as she was worried that a €4 million settlement would not be sufficient for Jennifer Courtney who suffered traumatic and permanent brain damage in 1987.

THINGS WE LOVED

• New Zealand is issuing a series of The Hobbit coins as legal tender next month. “I’ll see your Bilbo Baggins and raise you a Frodo,” will be heard all over Christchurch casinos.
• We are all Nobel Peace Prize winners. Hurrah! So, how are you going to spend your 0.178 cent share? Meanwhile, Gawker says it’s wack.
• Also spotted on Gawker: New Study Finds That Male Mice Housed Together Form Little Mice Boy Bands, Get All The Girl Mice Excited. Really? Well, kind of.
• Ryan Tubridy, dressing up. Again.

THINGS WE SHARED

• A new documentary series goes behind the Big Waves to examine what motivates a pro-surfer to spend his life chasing water. First up, a portrait of champion Greg Long who says “Surfing big waves just becomes part of your heart and soul and who you are.”
• There are many facts about flamingos that we did not know. Did you?
• A bossy big sister is one of the best assets a young sibling can have. They just don’t know it yet:

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