Hundreds of Santa Clauses wait to start at the annual St. Nicholas Run in Michendorf about 45 kilometers (28 miles) west of Berlin, Germany, on Sunday, Dec. 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

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

THINGS WE LEARNED:

#PROMISSORY NOTE: The Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte has said Ireland will not pay the €3.1 billion promissory note for the former Anglo Irish Bank, now known as the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation (IBRC), when it is due in March 2013.

#MANDELA: Nelson Mandela is “comfortable”, the South African government said today after the former president spent the night in hospital, for medical tests described as “consistent with his age”. The 94-year-old iconic leader was admitted to hospital on Saturday.

#CHARGED: Three men have been charged with terrorism offences by police in Derry following their arrest the night before the arrival of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to the region.

Meanwhile, three teenage boys have been charged with public order offences by police in Northern Ireland in relation to unrest in Belfast.

#ITALY: Italian Prime Ministe Mario Monti is stepping down, the president’s office announced today – just hours after the man he replaced, Silvio Berlusconi, said he would run again for head of government.

#RIP: British astronomer and broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore has passed away at the age of 89 following a short illness. A family statement said Moore passed away at his West Sussex home “in the company of close friends and carers and his cat Ptolemy”.

Sir Patrick Moore at his home in West Sussex. (Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA Wire)

THINGS WE LOVED:

• The 27 most perfectly timed photos of the year, via Buzzfeed.
• Wagon, geebag, strap… all timeless insults. Check out the Daily Edge’s wonderful collection of classic Irish terms of abuse for more.
• This hamster should be a role model to us all. Hang in there guys!

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THINGS WE SHARED:

• Author of The Double Helix James Watson has revealed to the Observer that when he showed the manuscript to friends and colleagues it provoked such hostility that the book was almost never published. Watson’s account of the discovery of the structure of DNA is now considered one of the greatest books written about science in the last century.
• Guatemala shut down its international adoption programme in January 2008 amid mounting evidence of serious corruption and child trafficking – leaving 4,000 Americans and the children they were trying legally adopt in limbo. Five years on, one couple tell of the heartbreak the five year delay has caused them, as the boy they call their son – now aged six – remains in an orphanage.

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