Updated 11.02pm

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

Melissa Reid (right) and Michaella McColllum Connolly (back) arrive for the court hearing in Lima, Peru this afternoon. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro)

IRELAND

• Michaella McCollum Connolly has been sentenced to six years in jail in Peru.
• The Government wants unemployment down to 10 per cent by 2016.
• Gardaí are investigating two complaints of alleged illegal activity at NAMA.
• An index has revealed how much money Ireland’s top 100 charities receive.
• A religious ministry which helps drug addicts has defended itself ahead of an RTE investigation.
• A man was arrested after threatening gardaí in Dublin with a fake gun.
• The Rape Crisis Network is against the Government lowering the age of consent.
• Over eight million tourists visited Ireland this year.
• The HSE will announce its saving and spending plan for 2014 tomorrow morning.
• Eamon Gilmore has condemned the man who set himself on fire in a Belfast shop.
• People are still joining credit unions but fewer are actually taking out loans.
• Hector Ó hEochagáin is leaving his 2FM breakfast show.

INTERNATIONAL

(AP Photo/L’Osservatore Romano)

#PERSUASION: Russia has promised to cut the cost of gas for Ukraine and buy €11 billion worth of bonds from it – but only if Ukraine shelves a pact with the EU.

#SYRIA: A British surgeon who volunteered in a hospital in Syria has died while being held in detention, his family confirmed today.

#WHISTLEBLOWER: Fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden has said he will help Brazil investigate US spying on its soil if he is granted political asylum in the country.

#BIRTHDAY BOY: Pope Francis celebrated his 77th birthday today by inviting four homeless people to have breakfast with him.

INNOVATION

• In a weirdly futuristic-sounding move, British car company McLaren is working on replacing windscreen wipers with sound waves.
• Twitter is testing out a new feature which shows users tweets sent in their local area.
• Unsurprisingly, Minecraft and Candy Crush Saga were the most popular apps in the Apple App Store this year. [Guardian]

PARTING SHOT

How would the world’s media report the apocalypse? BuzzFeed has put together its best guess and it’s devastatingly accurate. We like the Washington Post’s “Are zombies bad for economic growth?” [BuzzFeed]

Originally published 8.50pm