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

Dr Richard Haass arrives at the Stormont Hotel in Belfast this morning for the final hothouse political negotiations in Northern Ireland – a last-ditch bid to find agreement on contentious issues left over from the peace process. Image: Paul Faith/PA Wire.

IRELAND

• A final day of political negotiations aimed at finding agreement on contentious issues in Northern Ireland’s peace process, chaired by former US diplomat Richard Haas, are expected to stretch on into the night [RTÉ]
• Power was returned to homes across the country after the ‘worst storm impact in 16 years’, according to the ESB – which affected more than 100,000 customers.
• Michael Schumacher remains ‘fighting for his life’ after a serious skiing accident in the French Alps.
• A new Red C poll of Irish adults found that just 27 per cent of Irish people would support further austerity measures, even in order to save the euro currency.
• The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs welcomed the “interest and initiative” by retailers which have voluntarily adopted a new code regarding children’s clothing.
• Two people were hospitalised with stab wounds, and several others received medical treatment, after a violent incident in Newtownabbey in Co Antrim.
• An Bord Pleanála granted the Irish Jewish Museum and reinstated synagogue in Portobello, Co Dublin, permission to expand.
• A 30-year-old man appeared in court charged with possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life following a stand-off in Sligo on Saturday during which shots were fired at Gardaí. [RTÉ]
• One lucky Co Kerry man is kicking 2014 off in style after picking up his €250,000 Lotto winnings.
• A father with terminal lung cancer has joined with the HSE in its fight against tobacco with this poignant video testimony.

WORLD

The cover of an Ireland v Germany football programme. The scarce programme was for Ireland’s match against Germany on October 17, 1936 which was held at Dalymount Park. It’s estimated that it will go for €400-600 under the hammer at Whyte’s History, Literature & Collectibles Auction in Dublin on 8 March 2014. Image: Niall Carson/PA Wire

#WWII: Germany has urged Japan to deal ‘honestly’ with its its actions during World War II after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visited a controversial war shrine.

#DRC: Forty people who took part in an uprising in Democratic Republic of Congo today have been killed, and armed youths have kidnapped several reporters.

#BURMA: Reformist president Thein Sein has granted pardons to political prisoners in an apparent effort to fulfil his pledge to free all political prisoners by the end of this year.

#RUSSIA: The International Olympic Committee is confident that the Games in Sochi in Russia will be ‘safe and secure’ after at least 31 people were killed in two separate attacks in Volgograd in the space of 24 hours.

INNOVATION

• Christmas is over and boredom may be beginning to set in, so here are a few free games to help you pass the time…
• The internet has changed our lives in many ways – but does that include the clothes you choose to put on your back? It just might, with online retailers claiming that the once failsafe option for a girl’s night out – the little black dress – is now being eclipsed by bright cloths and prints… as the bold colours look better in social media snaps. [The Guardian]

PARTING SHOT

• This amazing optical illusion of a watchful T-Rex has left many people scratching their heads… Can you figure it out before the big reveal at the end? [h/t entertainment.ie]

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