EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you a round-up of all the day’s main news as well as the bits and pieces you may have missed.

• The Taoiseach has said there will be no decision before March on whether or not Ireland will need to hold a referendum on the EU treaty changes that were drafted in Brussels last week. Those changes have not been enough to satisfy the markets today.
• Met Éireann has warned that stormy conditions are set to hit the country this evening and tomorrow with winds of up to 130kph forecasted in some areas.
• The much-delayed and long-awaited integrated transport ticket for Dublin has been launched today. The Leap card is available now to use on Dublin Bus, Luas, DART and Commuter Rail Services.
• Kevin Cardiff is a step closer to a job with the European Court of Auditors as MEPs from the European People’s Party are set to support his nomination in Strasbourg tomorrow. But it is not the final hurdle for the Secretary General of the Department of Finance.
• A man has died after he was hit by a truck in Co Cork this afternoon. The man in his late 20s was pronounced dead at the scene and gardaí are appealing for witnesses.
• New details in the hacking scandal that has rocked the UK establishment have cast doubt over some of the biggest claims. It now transpires that journalists at the now defunct News of The World are unlikely to have deleted messages on the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.
• For our video tonight, we dip into the archives for this remarkable clip from the Late Late Show in 1997 where Gay Byrne speaks at length with a woman whose daughter had just died after she was chosen at random from hundreds of postal quiz entries:

(YouTube: duckwrangler)

• Half of small and medium-sized businesses in Ireland who sought loans from the banks in the past three months were turned down according to new figures released today.
• What does the average family in Ireland look like these days? To no great surprise it appears the traditional model of a married couple is in decline.
• The Galway Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals has urgently sought the return of five dogs stolen from its animal sanctuary over the weekend. If you’ve seen these pooches, get in touch with them.
• Here’s one way to deal with troublesome commuters on your train. After one passenger refused to pay the fare, the viral sensation known as the ‘Big Man’ took matters into his own hands and chucked him off. Check out the video.
• Watch out Putin? Russia’s third-richest man plans to challenge Vladimir Putin in Russia’s presidential election next year amid growing unrest over parliamentary elections over a week ago. Mikhail Prokhorov says it is “the most serious decision” he has ever made.
• Not content with being the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama helped set a new world record but guess what it was for…
• Tallafornia has not even aired properly and already its creating quite the buzz. The TV3 ‘reality’ show was trending worldwide on Twitter last night as over 450,000 people tuned into a preview.
• Finally, we take things seriously here at TheJournal.ie which is why every Monday we ask the important questions that need asking. Today, we want to know, do you store cups upside down or not?

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