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

IRELAND

Workers putting up Christmas lights just off Grafton Street in Dublin today. Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

• Former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Seán FitzPatrick died aged 73.
• 3,578 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Ireland.
• A man who escaped from a prison in Cavan last month was caught by gardaí.
• Gardaí are set to seek charges on further suspects in the Kevin Lunney abduction case.
• The hospitality industry collectively called for ‘stronger sanctions’ against businesses that flout Covid rules.
• The Tánaiste said the EU would have “no option” but to respond to the UK triggering Article 16 of the Northern Ireland Protocol.
• A drunk bus passenger left on a motorway after violent behaviour was fatally injured a short time later, an inquest heard.

INTERNATIONAL

Children playing in a flooded part of Chennai, India, following heavy rainfall. Sri Loganathan / ZUMA Press Wire) Sri Loganathan / ZUMA Press Wire) / ZUMA Press Wire)

#UK: Mandatory Covid-19 vaccines are to be introduced for frontline NHS and social care workers in England from 1 April next year, UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid announced.

#SINGAPORE: Singapore from next month stop paying coronavirus medical bills of those who are unvaccinated by choice, officials have said, as a fierce outbreak put the city-state’s healthcare system under strain.

#MIX-UP: Two California couples gave birth to each others’ babies after a mix-up at a fertility clinic and spent months raising children that were not theirs before swapping the infants, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles.

PARTING SHOT

ok, I found most the reporting on the 'post a pet plant a tree' story incredibly shallow/lazy, so I went on a bit of a deep dive, and boy is the truth as dumb, wacky, a pathetic as you'd expect. Follow a long if you want!

— Patrick Marlborough (@Cormac_McCafe) November 9, 2021

If you’re on Instagram, you’ve probably seen countless pet photos in recent days thanks to a trend claiming that a tree would be planted for every pet photo shared on the platform.

Journalist Patrick Marlborough has investigated the origin of the viral craze and (surprise, surprise) all is not as it seems.