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

IRELAND

Construction workers on a building site in Kildare this week as level 5 restrictions eased. Eamonn Farrell / RN Eamonn Farrell / RN / RN

• The NIAC recommended that the Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine should only be given to those aged 60 and over only.
• Philomena Lee is among a number of women taking legal action against findings in the final report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes.
• The HSE said it is important that pregnant women protect themselves against Covid-19 after reports of more stillbirths linked to the virus.
• The positivity rate of Covid-19 tests carried out at two Dublin walk-in test centres that first opened on Saturday is just under 6%.
• The number of people receiving a Pandemic Unemployment Payment this week has decreased by 15,776 compared to last week.
• Loyalist concerns that the peace process has only delivered for the nationalist community in Northern Ireland must be both listened to and challenged, DUP leader Arlene Foster said.
• A man whose dog was stolen by a hammer-wielding masked man was reunited with his beloved Rocco after the pet was brought home by gardaí following a social media campaign.
• An Irish artist was criticised for adding smiles to colourised images of people who were killed during Cambodia’s Khmer Rouge genocide in the late 1970s.

WORLD

John Witts enjoys a drink at the reopening of the Figure of Eight pub, in Birmingham, as England eased some of its lockdown restrictions. PA PA

#REOPENING: People queued for an early-morning shopping fix as non-essential stores reopened in the latest relaxation of England’s coronavirus lockdown regulations today.

#PARIS: An unidentified attacker has shot dead a man and badly injured a woman outside a Paris hospital before fleeing the scene on a motorbike.

#WOOF WEEK: US President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden’s dog Major will get professional help adjusting to the White House after two biting incidents last month.

PARTING SHOT 

The first episode of the new series of RTÉ’s Reeling in the Years drew in over half a million viewers last night.

The highly-anticipated episode, featuring some not-so-fond memories of the EU-IMF bailout of Ireland and 2010′s austerity budget, was watched last night by an average audience of 515,000 viewers.

If you missed it, you can catch up here.