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

IRELAND

The last sunrise of 2018 over Dublin Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

• The government has been criticised for spending almost €88 million a year on rental properties, despite owning a number of vacant properties.
• Labour Leader Brendan Howlin has said that his party would “actively support” SDLP politicians in Northern Ireland who do not feel comfortable with a potential Fianna Fáil alliance. 
• Gardaí are investigating after a teenager was allegedly stabbed at a fast food premises in Limerick.
• Irish passport applications from people in Britain and Northern Ireland continues to rise. 
• Health Minister Simon Harris has paid tribute to Dr Rhona Mahony as she steps down as Master of the National Maternity Hospital.
• Gardaí are appealing for the public’s help in tracing the whereabouts of a missing 53-year-old Dublin woman. 

INTERNATIONAL

Emergency Situations employees working at the scene of a collapsed apartment building in Magnitogorsk, Russia. Maxim Shmakov / PA Images Maxim Shmakov / PA Images / PA Images

#LONDON STABBING: Dozens of people have been arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in London after a man was stabbed in the early hours of this morning.

#LION ATTACK: A Lion has killed a young American woman who had just started working at the facility where it was kept.

#PRESIDENTIAL BID: US Senator Elizabeth Warren has announced she is forming an “exploratory committee” for a possible presidential bid in 2020 against incumbent Donald Trump. 

PARTING SHOT

Finally, fireworks explode over Sydney Harbour on 1 January 2019. Happy New Year from all of us here at TheJournal.ie!