An Indian member of a band performs during a religious procession ahead of Diwali, the Hindu festival of light, in Allahabad, India, Monday, Nov. 12, 2012. Diwali, or Deepavali, the annual Hindu Festival of Light, will be celebrated on Nov. 13. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)

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

THINGS WE LEARNED:

#HUMAN RIGHTS: Ireland is to serve a three-year term on the UN Human Rights Council, having been elected today for the first time. During its bid to become a member, Ireland received 127 recommendations from other UN member states on how to improve its human rights record.

#PLANE CRASH: Two investigations into the light aircraft crash which killed two men near Birr in Co Offaly yesterday began today, with both Gardaí and the Department of Transport’s Air Accident Investigation Unit (AAIU) examining the circumstances of the crash in which an instructor and a trainee pilot died.

#DAVID BLACK: A new dissident republican organisation calling itself ‘The IRA’ has claimed responsibility for the murder of prison officer, David Black. According to a statement issued by the group and seen by the Belfast newspaper The Irish News, the killing was carried out because of “torture and degradation” of dissident prisoners and in “direct response” to tensions at Maghaberry jail.

#RATINGS AGENCIES: Italian prosecutor Michele Ruggiero has filed charges of market manipulation against Standard & Poor’s and Fitch ratings agencies today over downgrades of Italy’s credit rating that helped fuel the euro debt crisis.

#INDUSTRIAL ACTION: Aer Lingus has described as “most regrettable” a decision by Siptu to continue with plans for industrial action at the airline on 19November. The company says it is in the process of activating its ‘disruptions handling plan’ to minimise disruption to customers.

Chester Zoo’s first ever Baby Giant Otter Pups born in September take their first swimming lessons from mum Icana and dad Xingu. Picture date: Monday November 12, 2012. (Peter Byrne/PA Wire)

THINGS WE LOVED:

• Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney didn’t get the result he was looking for last week – but at least he still has his friends and supporters. Actually scratch that last one; his supporters are dropping like flies. See his Facebook fans ‘unliking’ in real time. Ouch.
• Did you watch Love/Hate last night? Are you still a bit shook? DailyEdge.ie has collected the night in diggers, kegs and tweets (warning: minor spoiler alert).
• The moment when gay rights campaigners in Minnesota were told that a law banning same-sex marriage was defeated – for the first time in US history (the best bit is from 2.32 on).

Uploaded by Dale Carpenter

THINGS WE SHARED:

• David Petraeus resigned as head of the CIA on Friday after admitting he had been involved in an extramarital affair. While his reported behaviour was – of course – less than ideal, is it really the reason he left his post? The Guardian Michael Wolff thinks there’s a whole lot more to the story. Meanwhile, The Atlantic has a timeline of the affair.
• After three days of testimony, child witnesses of a massacre involving two villages in Kandahar province in Afghanistan have completed their harrowing stories of the bloody night when their loved ones died. US Staff Sgt Robert Bales is accused of slipping away from his base to attack the villages, killing 16 people including nine children in March 2012. The incident caused such angry riots and the US temporarily halted operations in the country.
• Researchers at the Large Hadron Collider have, for the first time, detected one of the rarest particle decays seen in nature – which has all but debunked a popular theory known as supersymmetry, the BBC reports.

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