EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you a roundup of the day’s main news – plus any bits and pieces you may have missed.

• Ireland is to sign the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) agreement tomorrow: a controversial international treaty which promises a major international crackdown on the trade of counterfeit goods and illegal internet filesharing. Critics of the treaty have condemned the potential impact it could pose for freedom of expression.
• Visitors have been urged to stay away from Connolly Hospital in Blanchardstown, Dublin, where a number of wards have been affected by a new outbreak of the winter vomiting bug.
• Writing in TheJournal.ie this evening, Fergal Browne discusses the financial funds that profiteer from troubled nations’ debts – and outlines the ugly truth about where the Anglo payment may have gone.
• This evening the innovation minister Seán Sherlock circulated a briefing note on copyright protection to all members of the Dáil and the  Oireactas: read it in full here. Sherlock, who is preparing a controversial new Statutory Instrument dealing with online copyright protection, said earlier today that he is open to holding a Dáil debate on the issue.
• Mobile phone network O2 has said that Irish customers were not involved in a data leak which saw the mobile numbers of some UK users revealed online. An O2 spokesman toldTheJournal.ie today that the leak did not affect this country, as the company used “completely different systems” in Ireland and the UK.
• Three people have been arrested over last week’s killing of 43-year-old Ger McMahon in Limerick, bringing to six the total number of people detained so far over the murder.
• Gardaí have issued a warning to motorist to take car on the roads, as driving conditions are set to deteriorate throughout today and into tomorrow.

Chinese folk artists dressed in traditional costumes perform a cultural dance on a stage at the Longtan Park’s temple fair during the Chinese New Year celebrations in Beijing, China, Wednesday, 25 January, 2012. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

• Scotland’s first Minister Alex Salmond has formally outlined his proposal for a referendum on full Scottish independence from the United Kingdom. He told members of the Scottish Assembly that the ballot may also contain an option where the public could vote for ‘devo max’ – a system where Scotland remains part of the UK, but takes on a greater financial independence.
• The Minister for Health Dr James Reilly has unveiled ambitious new plans for the Special Delivery Unit, saying that elective surgery waiting lists are to be cut to nine months by 2013.
• The UK’s Office of Fair Trading has warned Snickers over celebrities “tweet-vertising”, saying that online ads that are not clear about tweets being a part of a paid-for promotion are “deceptive”. So, yes, that means that Katie Price probably doesn’t have a genuine interest in Chinese monetary policy.
• Orson Welles’ classic 1941 film ‘Citizen Kane’ is to be shown at Hearst Castle, the elaborate California estate built by William Randolph Hearst - the newspaper magnate who (much to his displeasure) inspired the movie.
• Feeling a bit stressed? This may be the most relaxing video you come across today: divers fishing underneath the iced-over Lake Saarijärvi in Vaala, Finland.

To mark the first year anniversary of Egypt’s revolution, Amnesty International have released a video to highlight how security forces have routinely been deployed to suppress demonstrations taking place across the country. In this video, Ahmed Harara, 31, explains how he lost the sight in both eyes during two separate demonstrations in the past 12 months:

Uploaded by AmnestyInternational

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