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

IRELAND

Major upgrades were announced to Ireland's busiest rail line - to be completed during the quietest period of the year. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

• Police arrested three people following the launch of a murder investigation in Co Down
• The funeral of Marguerita Sheridan is set to take place on Sunday in Limerick
• Childline was contacted by more than 800 children this Christmas
• OECD found that Irish teenagers smoke less, drink less and exercise more than their European counterparts
• Ireland’s busiest section of rail line will be closed for ‘full renewal’ of tracks until 6 January
• The number of secondary pupils given Irish exemptions has almost doubled since before the pandemic
• A Leinster House usher who died after being hit by a lorry in Castleknock named locally
• Heavy rainfall and a potential cold snap is on the horizon
• We’ll have a new President in the Áras next year — here are some names that might be running
• Government is concerned by environmental risk posed by oil-smuggling ‘shadow fleet’ in Atlantic
• The painstaking work to conserve one of the oldest paper documents on island of Ireland has begun

INTERNATIONAL

Image from local media following Israeli airstrikes on an airport in Yemen.

#YEMEN: Two people were killed following Israeli strikes on a Yemen airport

#ESTLINK 2: Finland and Estonia investigate sudden failure of undersea power cable on Christmas Day

#SLOVAKIA: Russian president Putin said Slovakia has offered to host peace talks between Ukraine and Russia

#GAZA: Five Palestinian journalists were killed following an Israeli airstrike in Gaza

#AZERBAIJAN: Experts suggested that Russian air defence may have been responsible for Azerbaijan Airlines crash

PARTING SHOT

St Stephen’s Day. A day for movies and leftovers.

Today we asked which classic Christmas film was your favourite… and the results are in:

We, as always, had some interesting debates in the comments today about the films – but one stuck out as a user asked how could we forget another classic, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

They were dead on, according to some other users.