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

IRELAND

Candles being lit by members of a large crowd outside Dail Eireann in Dublin this afternoon, as the National Women's Council of Ireland hold a vigil for Ashling Murphy, who was fatally assaulted in Tullamore earlier this week. Sam Boal Sam Boal

• Vigils in memory of Ashling Murphy, who was killed in Tullamore on Wednesday, are being held around the country this evening. 
• Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said he is hopeful that advice from NPHET will be that restrictions can be eased at the end of January.
• The winners of this year’s BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition have been announced.
• Health officials have reported an additional 17,065 cases of Covid-19 in Ireland today.
• Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney has admitted he was made aware of the lockdown-breaking champagne party at his department on the night it happened.
• Drugs Minister Frank Feighan has asked to meet with a group of nurses specialising in addiction following criticism over the group’s recent removal from the committee overseeing drugs policy.
• 229,657 people were listed on the Live Register and the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, an increase of 5.8% in December, according to the latest figures from Central Statistics Office.
• Almost three-quarters of patients in hospital with Covid-19 at the moment are not receiving oxygen therapy, a new review examining data from nine hospitals has found. 
• House prices nationally are expected to rise by 5% in 2022, according to a new report by the Society of Chartered Surveyors Ireland (SCSI).

INTERNATIONAL

A winter view of the Cathedral of the Nativity of Christ in Bratsk, 460km north of Irkutsk, Russia. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#AUSTRALIA: Novak Djokovic’s efforts to avoid deportation from Australia are to be transferred to the country’s Federal Court as his immigration case took a further legal twist. 

#BRITAIN: Downing Street has apologised to Buckingham Palace after it emerged parties were held in Number 10 the day before the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral last year.

#UKRAINE US intelligence officials have determined a Russian effort is under way to create a pretext for its troops to further invade Ukraine, and Moscow has already prepositioned operatives to conduct “a false-flag operation” in eastern Ukraine, according to the White House.

#SRI LANKA Conservationists and veterinarians are warning that plastic waste in an open landfill in eastern Sri Lanka is killing elephants in the region, after two more were found dead over the weekend.

#DENMARK Searches are continuing for an Irish man missing in Denmark since 5 December. Missing People Denmark has arranged another search for Burns in Aarhus, Denmark’s second largest city, beginning at 11AM tomorrow.

PARTING SHOT

Occasionally The Journal’s polls are close run affairs – just a percentage point or two either way but today’s poll was anything but.

We asked about whether people were going to buy a ticket for Saturday’s must win draw and the answer was definitive.

It appears to be all about the dreams of a life free of cash worries at least, so tomorrow, ticket in hand, it looks likely that most of our readers will be hoping for a ’22 windfall.

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