EVERY MORNING, including Christmas morning, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you start your day.
1. #FIRES: A family in Tallaght, Co Dublin has been hospitalised after a fire broke out in their house overnight. RTÉ reports that the emergency services tackled three separate fires in Dublin and Louth last night.
2. #LOCATED: Missing teenager Naomi Whittington has been located safe and well, according to gardaí.
3. #VATICAN: The Pope has criticised the commercialisation of Christmas in his Christmas Eve homily. The Pontiff said the message of Christ’s birth is being obscured by consumerism and superficial glitter, the Guardian reports.
4. #PEACE: Meanwhile, in his Christmas message Northern Ireland’s First Minister Peter Robinson has pledged to build on peace and stability in the North, saying: “This year we saw for ourselves that evil criminals want to shatter peace. They will not win.”
5. #NORTH KOREA: North Korean state television has shown footage of the uncle of heir apparent Kim Jong Un wearing a military uniform with a general’s insignia, suggesting he will play a major role in the passing of power to Kim Jong Il’s son, according to the AP.
6. #US ELECTION: US Presidential hopefuls Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry have missed out on a place on the GOP ballot in the state of Virginia after each failing to submit enough supporting signatures to qualify.
7. #DARFUR: The Sudanese army claims to have killed the leader of Darfur’s main rebel group, Kahlil Ibrahim of the Justice and Equality Movement, the BBC reports.
8. #CUBA: Cuba is releasing 2,900 prisoners in what President Raul Castro described as a “demonstration of the generosity and strength of the revolution”. Eighty-six foreign nationals are among those being released, but the US has voiced its criticism over the continuing detention of its citizen Alan Gross, who was not on the list of those being released.
9. #SHOW STOPPER: And for some festive cheer this frosty morn, check out the angel who stole the show at her school nativity play (from 45 seconds in):
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