Updated 8.25 pm

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

Ireland

The Dun Laoghaire Christmas Festival getting underway with a fireworks display. Photocall Ireland Photocall Ireland

• The New Beginning mortgage support group has apologised after details of more than 1,500 customers were accidentally sent to an investment firm.
• A young man was left with serious head injuries after a late night attack on Dublin’s Camden St.
• The UAE ambassador to Ireland was recalled after it emerged three workers at the embassy were paid less than €2 an hour. 
  
• The partially restored Christmas bonus payments are to be paid out this week.
• Fianna Fáil says the Government is framing the next general election as a FG/SF choice, and they’re not happy about it.
• Heavy fog hindered the helicopter rescue of heart attack victim in the Dublin mountains.
• The Central Bank wants to cap the amount you can save in a credit union at €50,000.
• The sexual assault of a 24-year-old woman in Omagh is being investigated.

International

Pope Francis talks with journalists on board a flight to Rome. AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

#SARKO: France’s Former President Nicolas Sarkozy easily won the leadership of his party, putting him in pole position for a return to the presidential palace.

#FERGUSON: The policeman who shot dead an unarmed black teenager in the St Louis suburb of Ferguson has resigned.

#SOAKED IN BLOOD: The US Supreme Court is set to rule on the case of a rapper who was jailed for posting lyrics on Facebook threatening to kill ex-wife.

Innovation

• Why do Android updates take so long to be released? It’s complicated…
  
• Our weekly round-up of the Weird Wild Web features a bloody video game, a coding Taoiseach and the #1 porn video of all time.

 Parting Shot

A sinkhole that appeared in the Chinese city of Jinjiang swallowed a car and its two occupants as after other commuters drove over and round it.