EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you the five stories you need to know before you head out the door.

1. #RICHARD HAASS Talks in Northern Ireland chaired by former diplomat Richard Haass between parties and negotiators on violence, parades and flags ended without agreement today, leading to Taoiseach Enda Kenny and UK Prime Minister David Cameron uniting in ‘disappointment’ at the result.

2. #ROADS The number of people who died on Ireland’s roads this year has risen for the first time in eight years. Figures show that there were 189 traffic fatalities, up from 160 last year. Exactly half were drivers.

3. #ATTACK One man was hospitalised and two others sustained injuries after they were attacked by a masked gang armed with sledgehammers and baseball bats at a house in Derry last night.

4. #SCHUMACHER Michael Schumacher remains in a coma today, and his manager said that a person dressed as a priest, but who was allegedly a journalist, tried to get near him in the hospital. There has been a ‘slight improvement’ in Schumacher’s condition after a two-hour operation.

5. #RUSSIA President Vladimir Putin has warned that ‘terrorists’ responsible for the recent bombings face ‘total destruction’. In his New Year’s address, he said that the country will “toughly and consistently continue to fight” against the perpetrators.