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

A diver dressed as Santa Claus surfaces after swimming in the Coral Garden tank at the South East Asia Aquarium of Resorts World Sentosa, a popular tourist attraction in Singapore. The performance was part of the aquarium’s Christmas celebrations. Pic: AP Photo/Wong Maye-E

IRELAND

• The weather is causing some travel disruption while thousands of homes have been without power today.
• US diplomat Richard Haass has gone home for Christmas without the parties in Northern Ireland reaching an agreement on three contentious issues.
• Revelations about the pay of senior executives at St Vincent’s Hospital have several members of the Public Accounts Committee very angry.
• A man in his 60s has died in a road crash in Tipperary.
• Ryanair has come to the rescue of a mother of sick twins who faced being stranded in London for Christmas.
• There will be no decision on possible income tax cuts until closer to the Budget next year.
• It’s not been a good Christmas for retailers so far.
• Bono and Glen Hansard have been entertaining the masses on Grafton Street this evening.
• Santa is cleared for flying through Irish airspace and landing on our shores later tonight. Here’s how and why you can track him.

WORLD

#GAZA: The Israeli military have carried out an air strike on the Gaza Strip in response to the shooting a civilian along the border fence.

#SOUTH SUDAN: The UN says it has found a mass grave with 75 bodies in the increasingly violent and unstable African country.

#UK: Alan Turing, the code-breaker who helped the Allies defeat the Nazis in World War II, has been given a posthumous pardon.

#CHINA: A woman in her 60s gave birth to twins following IVF treatment.

INNOVATION

• A quarter of a million Windows computers have been hit by what’s known as ransomware where users’ data is scrambled and a fee is demanded to unencrypt it. [BBC]

PARTING SHOT(S)

As it’s Christmas we’ve got two lovely treats for you tonight…

• Here’s what Dublin is going to look like tomorrow according to these eerie pictures from Remy Connolly.
• And here are 39 photos from 2013 that will take your breath away

Happy Christmas!