NEED TO CATCH up? TheJournal.ie brings you a round-up of today’s news.

IRELAND

Holly Brady (4) and Conal Platt (4) launch Ikea'’s Let’s Play for Change campaign in in Ballymun, Dublin.

• Some private sector unions are to seek a 4% pay rise for their members in 2017.
• The government will not be opposing a Labour bill that seeks to regulate crisis pregnancy clinics.
• Twelve Irish stadia are in the running to host matches if Ireland wins its bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
• RTÉ has said it received 20 formal complaints following an appearance by Katie Hopkins on The Late Late Show.
• An Iranian man who has been on hunger strike at a direct provision centre will be granted access to the asylum process.
• Aer Lingus has launched a direct route between Dublin and Miami.
• Some loss-making Irish Rail journeys can cost the exchequer up to €550 per passenger.
• Parts of the country experience broadband speeds 36 times slower than others.
• Garda whistleblower Keith Harrison has been medically cleared to return to work after two-and-a-half years on sick leave.
• A man in his 70s has died after the bicycle he was cycling was struck by a car in Co Westmeath.
• A man has been given a suspended sentence for breaking a stranger’s nose in Copper Face Jacks nightclub.

WORLD

A 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air is displayed in the exhibit Cuba! at the American Museum of Natural History, New York. Mark Lennihan / PA Images Mark Lennihan / PA Images / PA Images

#TRUMP’S TEAM: Rudy Giuliani has emerged as the likely US Secretary of State while Ben Carson has ruled himself out of a White House role.

#GRIM DISCOVERY: Police in New York are searching for the father of a young girl who was abandoned at a bus station before her mother was found murdered.

#ROADMAP: The UK government has said that it “doesn’t recognise”a leaked memo suggesting that it has no overall plan for leaving the EU.

#EUROPEAN TOUR: US President Barack Obama arrived in Athens for the first stop of his final foreign trip.

INNOVATION

• Google and Facebook are under increasing pressure to stop the spread of fake news after Donald Trump’s presidential victory.
• How Irish mathematicians are leading the way in the science behind the perfect cup of coffee.

PARTING SHOT

On a balmy November day, these ice sculptures of Enda Kenny and Denis Naughten didn’t last long outside Leinster House. They were placed there by climate change campaigners.