Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

The €9.5 million sale of Irish Life investment properties in Cork and Limerick includes two Patrick Street Cork units set for increased profile from next year, when the Capitol Cinema retail site is completed, bringing a strong anchor (Zara? H&M?) to this end of Patrick Street.

A man has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a Spanish visitor in the toilets of a McDonald's restaurant in Cork city.

A former Cork city teacher who quit the profession to pursue a writing career has been awarded the 2015 Bryan McMahon Short Story Award from Listowel Writers Week.

Gardaí got a warrant to search a house at Fairhill in Cork where they found a stash of heroin with a street value of €1,000.

Kieran O’Mahony’s first vinyl album, in 1983, was the debut of music’s most enduring compilation.

A man accused of hijacking a jeep at Cork Airport by threatening the occupants at knifepoint was brought before Cork District Court today.

THE mother of Cork miracle twins, Hassan and Hussein Benhaffaf, has said her biggest dream is to see her toddlers walk hand-in-hand as they prepare for their prosthetic legs this year.

A NINE-year-old boy with a rare neurological disorder which renders him unable to speak has reportedly seen his condition dramatically improve following radical stem cell treatment in Dusseldorf in Germany.

THE mother of conjoined twins Hassan and Hussein Benhaffhaf, who returned home this weekend, has joked that she hopes Cork City Hall “will be big enough for everyone” as celebrations continue following the boys’ speedy recovery.

AS gleeful as the turkey who survives Christmas, bargain hunters yesterday picked and pecked their way through racks of retail reductions, greedy to gobble up any festive leftovers as end-of-year sales kicked off.

A SALSA dancing class ended in a daze for one of the dancers who claimed she was injured when her dance instructor caught her on the hop and jerked her suddenly backwards.

IT was a case of midnight blue making an elegant afternoon impact as the Evian Ladies Day brought a sea of glitz and glamour to the Fáilte Ireland Dublin Horse Show yesterday.