Your Thursday lunchtime catch-up
TOP STORY
A South African appeals court has convicted Oscar Pistorius of murder, overturning a lower court’s manslaughter conviction. The double-amputee Olympian had previously been convicted on the lesser charge of manslaughter for shooting his girlfriend to death in 2013.
IRELAND
A Status Yellow weather warning has been issued by Met Éireann this morning. The Rainfall Warning for Dublin, Carlow, Kilkenny, Wexford, Wicklow, Cork, Tipperary and Waterford was issued at 6am this morning.
A mother yesterday spoke of her world being turned upside down after her son was left in a critical condition after sustaining head injuries in an assault in Australia.
A Dublin man has moved to appeal the 20-year sentence handed down to him for his part in the killing of Melanie McCarthy McNamara.
Facebook pictures posted online by “a very fine human specimen of fitness,” demolished a woman’s €60,000 damages claim in the Circuit Civil Court for personal injuries.
Nominations are now open for the new president of the Irish Farmers Association.
WORLD
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has called for a broad international front against terrorism and accused Turkey of trading oil with the so-called Islamic State group.
At least two heavily-armed attackers who opened fire on a banquet at a California social services centre for the disabled, killing 14 people and seriously wounding more than a dozen others, looked "as if they were on a mission" authorities have said.
SPORT
Only nine days to go to the UFC fight of the year, but Conor McGregor took some time out from training to continue building his profile in the US. The Dublin fighter appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live on ABC last night discussing everything from his Irish childhood to owning exotic animals.
FIFA’s corruption scandal has erupted again after two of the organisation’s vice-presidents were arrested in a pre-dawn raid of the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich on suspicion “of accepting bribes of millions of dollars”. The luxury establishment used by FIFA officials was swooped upon for the second time this year, with FIFA vice-presidents Alfredo Hawit of Honduras and Juan Angel Napout of Paraguay detained on orders issued by the Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) on behalf of the US Department of Justice.
BUSINESS
The Live Register total recorded a monthly decrease of 2,200 (-0.7%) to 330,000 last month on a seasonally adjusted basis. In unadjusted terms, there were 316,586 people signing on the Live Register in November 2015, an annual decrease of 36,061 (-10.2%), according to the latest CSO figures.
Corporate taxes continued to flood into the exchequer’s coffers last month, compounding a mystery about their source and raising doubts about whether a future government can rely on the company receipts after the election.
ANALYSIS
Turbines are key to the Government’s climate-change policy, but rural dwellers contend that they are injurious and noisy, a claim the High Court will soon consider says
LIFESTYLE
Why go to Lapland when you can have a merry old time at Winterval, asks
VIDEO
Over 100 experts, 12 international organisations and more than 120 companies were represented at Beijing’s World Robot Exhibition at the end of November. There they met robots that act just like humans like Xiaolou. The humanoid robot was made by Chinese company Tami Intelligence and it is known for its capacity to interact with people.
VIRAL
A video of a man drinking a beer on Thankgiving has gone viral - due to the inventive way he drinks it.
For all those rogue Aladdins, sleeping beauties and misunderstood princesses, a Disney dating site has been created.
TECHNOW
Uncharted 4 A Thief's End isn't out until 2016 but turn those frowns upside down because a) it's Christmas and we have no time for frowns and b) there's a multiplayer beta which is coming very soon!
Zack Snyder is stepping back into the superhero world with the ultimate mashup on screen - bringing two of the most iconic characters of all time together. Here's the latest trailer for Batman v Superman Dawn of Justice.
Virtual Reality is set to become a major new sector in the very near future, with commercially available headsets landing in early 2016. And I just got eyes on with one of the leading models, the HTC Vive.
SHOWBIZ
Over 2,500 families in the greater Dublin area will have their turkey and ham on Christmas Day this year courtesy of Mrs Brown aka Brendan O'Carroll.
MOST READ RIGHT NOW
An Irish comedian has posted a letter to ISIS on Facebook in response to their video last week listing Ireland as one of their targets.
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