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

IRELAND

Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government Eoghan Murphy attends a topping out ceremony for Charlemont Street Regeneration Project. RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

• Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has begun transferring his shares in Diageo to his wife in a bid to avoid any potential conflict ahead of the Budget
• Theresa May backed Ireland’s bid to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023
• Gardaí are investigating the sudden death of a man in Cork this morning
• A statement by the partner of garda whistleblower Keith Harrison contained her words, and not those of the garda officers who took it, the Charleton tribunal was told
• The chief executive of Ataxia Ireland has launched a legal challenge against the findings of a Charities Regulator report
• A cleaning project has begun at Wheatfield Prison in response to a large-scale rat infestation
• Minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty will have to pay back a government chief whip allowance of almost €16,000
• A man was arrested in connection with money that went missing from a garda station
• Over €850,000 worth of counterfeit or illegal prescription medicines was taken off the streets this year
• Birdhill in Co Tipperary was crowned Ireland’s tidiest town for 2017.

WORLD

Five human canvases model famous works of art - including Edvard Munch's The Scream and Pablo Picasso's The Seated Woman - as part of a Rise Art production. David Parry via PA Images David Parry via PA Images

#TAKE THE KNEE: A wave of protests swept across the American football industry as President Trump escalated his feud with players who kneel during their national anthem.

#GERMANY: The nationalist AfD party was hit by infighting just hours after winning its first seats in parliament, with its co-chief Frauke Petry walking out.

#JAILED: Former US congressman Anthony Weiner has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for sexting a 15-year-old girl in a case that rocked Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

PARTING SHOT

Noel Gallagher told a great story about meeting President Michael D Higgins at Bono’s house over the summer (he was hungover at the time, unsurprisingly).

Here’s a snippet of the take, via the DailyEdge.ie.

[Bono] said, “Look, the President of Ireland’s just arrived and you’re sitting next to him, so hurry up.” So I had to get showered, get up there, ‘whey, ey’, and all that.

The lunch started at three. Do you know what time it finished? Ten past four in the morning.

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