Korean women perform during the traditional Rose Monday carnival parade in Duesseldorf, Germany, Monday, Feb. 11, 2013. The street spectacles in the carnival centres of Duesseldorf, Mainz and Cologne, watched by hundreds of thousands of people, are the highlights in Germany’s carnival season on Rose Monday.(AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

THINGS WE LEARNED:

#POPE RESIGNS: Pope Benedict XVI is to resign at the end of this month, stating that he no longer has the strength of body and mind required for the role. Benedict will be the first pope to resign his station since the 15th century, although the Archbishop of Dublin has said it is “amazing” that he continued in his role for long – such was his failing health. If you want to know how a new pope will be chosen, read this.

#DEBT COLLECTORS: The Union of Students in Ireland has today condemned the current and proposed future use of debt collectors by Irish universities seeking outstanding student debts. Both the University of Limerick and University College Dublin have employed “professional services” inn attempt to recoup outstanding funds.

#SEX WORKERS: A quarter of sex buyers in Ireland have come into contact with girls who they believe were either trafficked, controlled or underage, according to a new survey on prostitution undertaken by the Immigrant Council of Ireland. Chief executive of the Immigrant Council of Ireland, Denise Charlton, said the results showed many buyers had disposable incomes, third level educations and were in relationships – which dispelled the myth that prostitutes were only “used by people who are lonely, isolated or insecure.”

#CREDIT RATINGS: Credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has this evening improved its outlook for Ireland’s credit worthiness, following last week’s deal to scrap the promissory notes in favour of long-term government bonds – revising the country’s credit outlook, which previously stood at ‘negative’, to ‘stable’.

#HORSEMEAT: Yes, sorry, there’s more. Tesco’s frozen Every Day Value Spagetti Bolognese product has been found to contain up to 60 per cent horse DNA. The company said today that a week ago it withdrew the product from sale “as a precaution because Findus products from the same factory were reportedly at risk of containing horsemeat,” said Tesco. Test has since confirmed significant amounts of horsemeat in the product, but no bute.

#PAGE 3: Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has said he is “considering” getting rid of the controversial Page 3 from The Sun newspaper, following an online campaign. No More Page 3 is a campaigning group that is calling on the Sun editor Dominic Mohan to “drop the bare breasts” from his newspaper.

Performers from the Unidos da Tijuca samba school parade during carnival celebrations at the Sambadrome in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, early Monday, Feb. 11, 2013. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

THINGS WE LOVED:

• Valentine Day’s is on the way, and might want to “celebrate” it with your true love – but should you invest in piles of oysters and red wine on the day? Greatist.com gives the low-down on aphrodisiacs – and whether or not they work.
• Last night was the Grammys, which really just means one thing… FROCKS.
• Speaking of the Grammys, several tributes were made to signer Whitney Houston- who passed away exactly one year ago today, at the age of 48. Let’s take a minute to remember the woman and the voice. Beyoncé has nothing on her.
• Sometimes ad placements get weird and wonderful – as DailyEdge reader Maeve O’Gorman noticed this afternoon. (Image: MaeveOG)

Taylor ‘Charles Atlas’ Swift does her thing…

THINGS WE SHARED:

• What is it with Americans and zombies? (Ok, ok – some of us on this side of the water are also partial…) Well, Steven Schlozman reckons the popularity of animated corpses in popular culture comes down to good, old-fashioned American values: finding a way to get along with each other. Suuuure.
• Memories are a funny thing. They are central to our being, yet there is no mechanism for ensuring their truth. Oliver Sacks discusses the highly-subjective way in which our brains construct the narrative of our present – and past.