Updated at 11.17pm

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

Enda Kenny and Peter Mathews after the big switch-on of the Leinster House Christmas Tree. Insert your own jibe here re: ‘singing from the same hymn sheet’ [Niall Carson/PA Wire]

IRELAND

• It was claimed the CRC paid the Mater €660,000 to oversee a ‘phantom’ pension fund
• The Mater Hospital later rejected those claims
• A new Garda recruitment campaign was announced
• Plans for a national address by the Taoiseach were announced
• Enda Kenny also ruled out any restoration of the social welfare Christmas bonus
• A man injected himself in the groin on the Luas
• There was a bomb alert in Coolock
• It was revealed €16 million has been spent on policing Corrib protests
• Two men appeared in court over diesel laundering
• A man was stabbed in Dublin city centre
• A vigil was held in support of illegal migrants
• Ryanair said it would appeal a ruling that its calender ads are discriminatory
• And it was all smiles at the turning on of the Leinster House Christmas tree lights

WORLD

[AP Photo]

#SOUTH AFRICA: Nelson Mandela’s body was taken on a solemn journey through Pretoria [above].

#SOUTH AFRICA: It emerged the sign language interpreter at yesterday’s service was a ‘fake’

#KIEV: Ukrainian security forces failed to retake City Hall from opposition protesters

#VATICAN: Pope Francis was named as Time Magazine Person of the Year

INNOVATION

• 111,111… That’s the number of new Xbox One consoles sold by Microsoft in its first 18 days
• Led Zeppelin announced their first ever deal with a streaming service: Spotify [The Guardian]
• And, want to know Ireland’s top Youtube videos of 2013?

PARTING SHOT

The notion of the famous ‘London Fog’ is one that’s persisted in the popular consciousness for centuries. No period drama set in the British capital is complete, it seems, without a dry-ice machine turned all the way up to eleven; the phrase has also lent its name to a raincoat and an alcoholic drink. In truth, however, London experiences rainfall amounts on a par with plenty of other cities in the UK and Ireland. It’s also a lot wetter in, for instance, New York.

However, today it appears London didn’t get the memo…

This incredible image was taken by the Met Police helicopter [Met Police via Twitter]

Originally posted at 9.45pm