EVERY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you a roundup of the day’s big stories – plus any bits and pieces you may have missed…

• A 20-year-old woman who is eight months pregnant has gone missing. Gardaí are appealing for help finding Milica Paun, who was last seen near her home in Blanchardstown, Dublin last Tuesday.
• Taoiseach Enda Kenny has insisted the Government has “nothing to fear” from an EU referendum, as talks got under way in Brussels to agree a new European treaty. Meanwhile (and perhaps in an effort to liven things up) one EU commissioner suggested on Twitter that she was “wearing Chanel No 5 and nothing else”.
• Wales soccer manager Gary Speed may not have intended to take his own life, an inquest into his death has found. Speed was found hanged at his home last November.
• Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has collected a peace award for his work in ending the terror campaign of Basque independence group ETA.
• You probably saw this video of Meath horse trainer Peter Casey being, ah, most frank and forthright when asked how he would celebrate a win at the weekend. Well, Casey gave plenty more detail to Newstalk’s Tom Dunne this morning. It seems his night went to plan.
• Ireland may re-open a “modest” embassy in the Vatican in the future if we’re feeling flush, according to Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore.

How about this weather? Meerkats huddle together in the rain at a zoo in Bangkok, Thailand (Sakchai Lalit/AP/Press Association Images)

• An Afghan woman has been strangled to death, apparently for giving birth to a daughter rather than the son her husband wanted.
• The Government is well into negotiations on how to reduce Ireland’s giant bill for Anglo Irish Bank debt, it has emerged.
• Ever heard of ‘deep brain stimulation’? Well, it could be on its way to Ireland.
• What does it mean to be Irish? Well, Twitter users have been giving their best on the #irishthings hashtag – and we’ve collected 25 of the finest examples. You’re welcome.
• Dozens of people have died as temperatures plunged to sub-zero levels in eastern Europe – dropping to -23C in some areas.
• “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop to look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Twenty-six years after Ferris Bueller’s day off, Matthew Broderick is at it again. Check the video here.
• Flames, barbed wire, carrying giant wooden crosses – it’s been pretty much a normal day at TheJournal.ie offices. But for some reason the photographers went to the Tough Guy event in England instead, so we’ve got a slideshow.
• And finally – this girl can say any word backwards, almost instantly. Sound weird? Well, it is: