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evening fix

Here's What Happened Today: Friday

Here’s what made the headlines today.

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

IRELAND

6514 Leo Varadkar_90561433 Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Minister for Health Simon Harris speaking to the media after they met the HSE’s Winter Plan Oversight Group Leah Farrell Leah Farrell

  • Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said he is reluctant to use the term “vulture fund” when describing the firms that have bought up thousands of Irish homeowner’s mortgages.
  • Gardaí have revealed that a motorcyclist caught driving at almost twice the speed limit in a 100km/h zone was among hundreds of drivers found speeding yesterday.
  • Gardaí are appealing for witnesses following two separate incidents of serious assault in Co Donegal. 
  • Good weather and low levels of flu are keeping pressure off the health system, but that’s expected to change in the coming weeks, according to the HSE. 
  • A woman has lost her High Court challenge over the manner in which Tusla, the Child and Family Agency removed a child she was fostering from her care.
  • Former Irish president Mary Robinson has said she is “dismayed” at some of the media comments about her visit with a Dubai princess who was feared missing. 
  • As of the end of November, the NTA had received 1,163 complaints about taxis
  • Newly released 1988 State papers reveal that former Taoiseach Charles Haughey and former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher clashed over an IRA clergyman.

INTERNATIONAL

Government Shutdown The Capitol is seen on a rainy morning in Washington, day seven of a partial government shutdown. J. Scott Applewhite J. Scott Applewhite

#CAIRO: A roadside bomb which exploded near the pyramids in the Egyptian capital Cairo has killed two people.

#AUSTRALIA: An Australian town has recorded temperatures of 49.3 Celsius as the country sizzles in a record-breaking heatwave. 

#SHUTDOWN: US president Donald Trump has threatened to seal the US-Mexico border “entirely” if Congress does not approve billions of dollars in funding for a wall.

PARTING SHOT

Gardaí have today tweeted a stunning photo of Mount Errigal in Co Donegal at dawn on Christmas Day.