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

Waves crash over the wall in Blackrock. (Pic: Pat Shaughnessy)

IRELAND

• Two women in their 20s have died in a house fire in Donegal.
• Bad weather meant many coastal areas took a battering with flooding and road closures.
• An Irishman has been jailed in Australia for a car crash which killed two Irish backpackers.
• Pat Cox has defended the Limerick City of Culture project amid controversy.
• Margaret Thatcher considered redrawing the NI border to move Catholics into the Republic.
• AIB has resolved an issue which meant some customers didn’t receive salaries today.
• The IDA had its best year for creating jobs in more than a decade.
• Sinn Féin has told Unionists to make up their mind about the Haass proposals.
• NAMA raised €5.8 billion in 2013 - the vast majority of it from selling off property.
• Four more hospitals are to become smoke-free zones.

INTERNATIONAL

Rob Ford (Pic: The Canadian Press/Chris Young)

#PEACE TALKS: Warring parties in South Sudan have begun negotiations today to end almost three weeks of fierce conflict which has left thousands of people dead and taken the country to the brink of civil war.

#GERMANY: One person has died and eight others have been injured after a World War II-era bomb exploded in a town near Bonn in Germany.

#OH, CANADA: Mayor of Toronto Rob Ford, who was stripped of most of his powers after admitting he had smoked crack, has launched his bid for re-election – and is already the frontrunner.

INNOVATION

• An American lawyer is suing Facebook for allegedly using data from private messages to target ads.
• One of the biggest gadget shows in the world, the International Consumer Electronics Show, is set to open in Las Vegas with all the new and shiny products for the year ahead. From 3D printing to curved televisions, The Guardian has a run down of what to expect. [The Guardian]

PARTING SHOT

Unlike so many countries in Europe during World War II, Denmark didn’t just try to save its Jewish population but actively defended them. Were they just better people? Or was it something else? A new book looks to explain how a small country tried to fight back; and Michael Ignatieff has written a review of it published in the New Statesmen which is well worth a read. [New Statesman]