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

IRELAND

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• The death of veteran broadcaster Marian Finucane was announced this evening.
• Tributes paid to Marian Finucane describe her death as an enormous loss to broadcasting.
• Health Minister Simon Harris has slammed protesters who staged an anti-abortion demonstration outside the National Maternity Hospital. 
• Last year was the worst on record for hospital overcrowding in Ireland. 
• The cost of buying a home in Ireland has flatlined, with the average price for a house around €267,000 nationally. 
• Talks to restore power-sharing at Stormont resumed, with a snap election expected if a deal is not reached by 13 January. 
• The General Secretary of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation said a HSE recruitment freeze is in place and the contradictory government position on the situation is “rubbish” and “spin”.
• A five-year-old girl is being hailed a hero after using FaceTime to raise the alarm after her mother collapsed on the floor having suffered a stroke. 

INTERNATIONAL

#AUSTRALIA: A state of emergency has been declared in New South Wales and prime minister Scott Morrison has been criticised for his government’s response to the wildfires. 

#JAKARTA: At least 30 people have died and thousands were forced to flee as severe flooding and landslides hit Indonesia’s capital.

#USA: US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has postponed a trip to Ukraine, the country at the heart of impeachment proceedings against President Donald Trump, after an attack on the American embassy in Iraq.

PARTING SHOT

Before becoming a broadcaster with RTÉ, Marian Finucane studied architecture. At the age of 19, she was part of a student occupation of 45 Saint Stephen’s Green, Dublin where they were carrying out work to restore the partially demolished building.

This footage from RTÉ Archives shows Finucane being interviewed for the Wednesday Report which was broadcast on 14 January 1970. Watch here.