Lunchtime briefing: Irishman in Berlin: 'People were expecting this to happen'. Catch up on the headlines

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

IRELAND

Irish citizens have been urged to check in with family at home and let them know they're safe, in the wake of the Berlin attack.

Leading homelessness campaigner Fr Peter McVerry has said the occupation of Apollo House in Dublin is an embarrassment for the Government.

The head of the Central Bank has been accused of being bullied by banks and of failing to act and stop lenders wrongly forcing customers onto more costly mortgage agreements, writes Juno McEnroe, Political Correspondent.

The HSE and childrens’ charity Barnardos are providing supports for the family and school friends of whatsapp&utm_mediuman 11-year-old boy who died by suspected suicide[/url/ in Cork City at the weekend.

Three men have been arrested over a €300,000 heroin seizure in Dublin.

WORLD 

A suspect arrested after the truck attack which killed 12 people in Berlin "comes from Pakistan" and had applied for asylum, Germany's top security official has said.

A tourist who was enjoying Berlin's Christmas market with his girlfriend when a truck ploughed into the crowds has described the "carnage" at the scene.

German chancellor Angela Merkel has said she is "shocked, shaken and deeply saddened" by the attack on a Berlin Christmas market which left at least 12 people dead.

The hunt for a gunman behind an attack on a Zurich mosque which left three people injured has been suspended by Swiss police after the discovery of a body in the area.

SPORT

Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova has been injured by a knife-wielding attacker at her home.

Ex-FIFA vice-president Alfredo Hawit Banegas and former Honduran Football Association president Rafael Callejas have been handed life bans from football by FIFA's ethics committee.

Dave Brailsford has finally revealed what was in a mystery package delivered to a French ski resort in 2011 but questions remain over his handling of the issue.

OPINION

If Obama looks back into the annals of the Cold War, he will find a fitting blueprint for the last big intelligence operation of his presidency, writes Tim Weiner.

The challenge of manufactured news is one that must be faced down for the sake of healthy democracy, writes David O’Mahony.

BUSINESS

Italy's new government is asking parliament to approve up to an additional €20bn in funding to rescue the country's troubled banks, if necessary.

The head of the Central Bank Philip Lane has hit out at banks for taking too many customers off tracker mortgages.

LIFESTYLE

After spending the last few weeks focusing on loved ones, the January sales are a chance for shoppers to think about their own wishlist, writes Grainne McGuinness.

SHOWBIZ

So while we await Camila’s next project and whatever’s left for the remainder of Fifth Harmony, we take a look back over some of pop’s most shocking splits.

VIRAL

Some things are just too pure for this world, and this photograph of a bystander gasping as she watched a woman proposing to her girlfriend is one of those things.

The latest Irish Examiner quiz is here! How many can you answer?

VIDEO - OUR CHOICE

Just in case you missed your local school variety show and would like to catch up on a song-filled nativity story, Scoil Iósaif Na Giúise Firmount National School in Donoughmore, Co Cork, has a special treat for you!

TECHNOW

GAMING: Nintendo has a new console set for release in 2017 called the Switch. So far the only confirmed reports we have come from a teaser video which looks like this.

MOVIES/TV: With a the New Year just around the bend we decided to round up our favourite films of 2016.

TECH: It appears that Vine isn’t quite as dead as we thought. It turns out the app will return in the new year as a function of Twitter.

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