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

IRELAND

Phoenix park was blanketed in heavy fog today. Garry Walsh Garry Walsh

• No further deaths and 242 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Ireland today.
• An internal review found five breaches of Covid-19 protocols at a contorversial retirement gathering in RTÉ last month.
• The Taoiseach said that post Brexit trade deal talks between the EU and the UK remain “very challenging”.
• Dr Tony Holohan has that he was “surprised” by air travel advice issued by the ECDC last week.
• People were urged not to be a restaurant ‘no show’ by not turning up for bookings without cancelling if they can’t make it. 
• Leo Varadkar accused Mary Lou McDonald of justifying “internal party intimidation”. 
• Trucks can be parked at Dublin Airport longterm carpark if Brexit traffic at Dublin Port overflows.
• Ireland were drawn against Portugal, Serbia, Luxembourg and Azerbaijan in World Cup qualifiers.
• The winner of the biggest lotto jackpot of 2020 made contact with the National Lottery.
• Galway’s ladies football manager hit back at LGFA suggestions that his side could have been on the pitch earlier for their All-Ireland semi-final against Cork.

WORLD

Farmer and artist Fleur Baxter with the Christmas character artworks she has created using hay bales on her farm in Carmyllie, Scotland. PA PA

#UK: A Covid-19 vaccine will be given to the elderly, carers and hospital staff in the UK from tomorrow.

#INDIA: Hundreds of people were hospitalised and at least one person died due to an unidentified illness in India’s Andhra Pradesh state.

#US: The US Supreme Court declined to take up an appeal from parents who want to prevent transgender students from using bathrooms of the gender with which they identify, rather than their sex assigned at birth.

#ROMANIA: Prime Minister Ludovic Orban resigned, a day after a disappointing showing for his liberal party in parliamentary elections.

#BOB DYLAN: Universal music bought the entire back catalogue of Bob Dylan’s songs in a purported nine-figure deal for one of the most prized rights’ collections in music history.

PARTING SHOT

A spectacular underwater roundabout is set to open in the Faroe Islands. The Eysturoyar tunnel network is around 11 kilometres long and connects the islands of Streymoy and Eysturoy.

The tunnel network and its undersea roundabout will significantly cut journey times to the Faroe Islands’ capital Torshavn from many parts of the remote North Atlantic archipelago.

Can’t see the photo? Click here.