NEED TO CATCH up? TheJournal.ie brings you a round-up of the news this Christmas Eve.

IRELAND

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•  The latest popularity poll puts the government’s satisfaction rate at 51%
• Tusla’s CEO said it was unfair to say that the agency was responsible for the infamous copy and paste error in the Maurice McCabe scandal
• A 30-year-old Lithuanian man has been missing for four days
• An 18-year-old man was shot in both ankles in Belfast last night
• Almost half of Irish people said that they’d like to attend a Mass by Pope Francis
• Leo Varadkar said his low-point of 2017 was the resignation of Frances Fitzgerald
• Crowds gathered in Dublin for the Christmas Busk, which raises money for the homeless
• Christmas luck: Someone has won last night’s €5.4 million Lotto jackpot after buying a ticket at Dublin Airport.

WORLD 

A mince pie, a glass of sherry and a carrot by a fireplace. PA Images PA Images

#PYONGYANG: North Korea slammed new UN sanctions imposed over its missile tests as an “act of war”.

#PHILIPPINES: At least 37 people are believed to have died in a fire that tore through a shopping mall in the southern Philippine city of Davao.

#MARCH ELECTION: Thousands of Russians have endorsed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to run against current President Vladimir Putin in Russia’s election next year.

PARTING SHOT

Volunteers at a Colorado base answer phone calls from children around the world asking where Santa is and when he will deliver presents to their homes. Brennan Linsley via PA Images Brennan Linsley via PA Images

Every Christmas Eve for the past 62 years, hundreds of volunteers at an Air Force One base in Colorado answer calls from children wanting to know where Santa is on his journey around the world.

The toll-free telephone number for ‘NORAD Tracks Santa’ is 877-446-6723, or you can track Santa’s whereabouts yourself using NORAD’s Santa map.

From all of us here at TheJournal.ie, have a Happy Christmas, agus athbhliain faoi mhaise daoibh go léir.