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

IRELAND

Yellow vest protesters blocking the East-Link Bridge earlier this afternoon. Eamonn Farrell Eamonn Farrell

• A man received serious head injuries during an assault on a man in Dublin.
• The Port Tunnel was closed by ‘yellow vest’ protesters.
• Gardaí appealed for witnesses after an alleged sexual assault in Mayo.
• The government announced plans to begin excavations at the Tuam mother and baby home in the latter half of 2019.
• The sudden death of a woman in Donegal was investigated.
• Almost 700 people were arrested this month on suspicion of intoxicated driving, gardaí said.
• The pass rates for RSA driving test centes were revealed.
• Newly released state papers from 1986 revealed concerns over tax paid by US corporations, correspondence and briefings to Charles Haughey on the Birmingham Six and Guildford Four, and details of a meeting between Garret Fitzgerald and Margaret Thatcher.

INTERNATIONAL

The main display at the Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Expo park in Harbin, in northeast China. The main snow sculpture is 106 meters long, 32 meters high and 20 meters wide, using 40,000 cubic meters of snow. Xinhua News Agency / PA Images Xinhua News Agency / PA Images / PA Images

#EGYPT: 40 militants were killed by police after last night’s bomb attack on a tour bus.

#UNITED KINGDOM: Plans to spend £100 million on chartered ferries in the event of a no-deal Brexit were revealed.

#GATWICK: The police chief in charge of investigation drone disruption at London’s Gatwick Airport said he’s confident that there was actually a drone disrupting flights.

#UNITED STATES: Members of an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect were arrested for the kidnap of children.

#GERMANY: Flights were suspended at Hannover Airport after a man drove on to the apron.

PARTING SHOT

On this day, 29 December in 1937, Bunreacht na hÉireann came into force, replacing the 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State.

Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland