This morning.

The World anti-doping agency has voted unanimously to ban Russia from international sport for four years for doping offences.

Russia now have 21 days to appeal the sentence, which would see the country banned from participating at next summer’s Olympics in Tokyo and the Qatar World Cup of 20

Russia banned from Tokyo Olympics and football World Cup (The Guardian)

Kindhearted Dubliners began hanging the jackets up earlier this week as part of the #warmforwinter appeal.

The initiative drew universal praise on social media with many hailing it as a “brilliant” idea.

But footage emerged on Saturday evening of a man, believed to be working for Dublin City Council, gathering up the jackets and taking them off the bridge.

Onlookers ‘outraged’ at removal of coats for the homeless from Ha’penny Bridge (DublinLive)

Rollingnews

Previously: ‘Need A Coat? Take One. Want To Help? Leave One’

What is this? a meteor shower streaming toward us from a point source in the sky? Well, yes – in a way. To wit:

When the Earth crosses a stream of Sun-orbiting meteors, these meteors appear to come from the direction of the stream — with the directional point called the radiant.  An example occurs every mid-December for the Geminids meteor shower, as apparent in the featured image.  Recorded near the shower’s peak in 2013, the featured skyscape captures Gemini’s shooting stars in a four-hour composite from the dark skies of the Las Campanas Observatory in Chile. In the foreground the 2.5-meter du Pont Telescope is visible as well as the 1-meter SWOPE telescope. The skies beyond the meteors are highlighted by Jupiter, seen as the bright spot near the image center, the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy, seen vertically on the image left, and the pinkish Orion Nebula on the far left. Dust swept up from the orbit of active asteroid 3200 Phaethon, Gemini’s meteors enter the atmosphere traveling at about 22 kilometers per second. The 2019 Geminid meteor shower peaks again this coming weekend.

(Image: Yuri Beletsky (Carnegie Las Campanas Observatory, TWAN)

apod

Saturday night/Sunday morning.

Beach Road, Pattaya, Thailand.

Police were called to a bar at 3.30am where ‘just arrived’ 46-year-old Irish tourist ‘Bart O’Gready’ was lying in the street semi-conscious with bloodied wounds to his face.

J Doe writes:

Now the gentleman in question may have had drink taken (as you can see in the video above), however that being said, apparently he witnessed very young ladies dancing nude and he made a complaint.. then was attacked by up to 10 staff…

Gulp.

Pattaya: No wonder tourists aren’t coming – pack of ten attack “just arrived” Irishman (Thai Visa Nation)

Irish tourist attacked in Pattaya (Bangkok Post)

US President Donald Trump is set to impose more tariffs on Chinese-made products – causing headaches for toy sellers this Christmas

Now Donald believes there’s a war
On Christmas, he’s winning, therefore
He has saved the day
But toy sellers say
Their business ain’t safe anymore

John Moynes

Getty

Broadsheet.ie