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

IRELAND 

Pictured today is Lemon & Duke pub in Dublin City centre. It is among four pubs that have won a landmark High Court case, when a judge found that an insurance policy sold by FBD covered losses the pubs sustained due to Covid-19 closures. Leah Farrell Leah Farrell

• Met Éireann issued an advisory this afternoon warning of showers of sleet and snow in eastern counties from Sunday evening as the weather turns very cold heading into next week.
•  The Chair of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes has declined an invitation from the Oireachtas Children’s Committee to appear before it.
• The High Court has ruled that four pub owners are entitled to be compensated by insurer FBD for the disruption their businesses suffered due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• A Cork Councillor spoke about shock in his community after the discovery of a woman’s body in a burning car.
• Health officials confirmed 1,047 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland and 35 more deaths. 
• Councillors will be able to transfer state lands to the Land Development Agency without a vote from councillors under a new Bill aimed at “clearing blockages” and “driving on development” of house construction.
• The Department of Education said it is to actively plan for the holding of the Leaving Cert but will also plan a “corresponding measure” that can be offered to students. 

THE WORLD

A jogger runs along the sea front in Southend-on-Sea, Essex. PA PA

#EUROPEAN UNION: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen defended her handling of the bloc’s coronavirus vaccine strategy but warned that more production and supply problems lie ahead.

#CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER: Sound of Music actor Christopher Plummer died today aged 91. 

#WISCONSIN: The US Coast Guard and several other agencies rescued 66 people stranded on ice floes in a bay on Lake Michigan.

PARTING SHOT

PA Images PA Images

Scientists from Madagascar and Germany say a newly discovered species of chameleon is a contender for the title of the world’s smallest reptile.

Frank Glaw, who was part of the international team of researchers that classified the new species and named it Brookesia nana, said the body of the male specimen appeared to be just 13.5mm long.

That is at least 1.5mm smaller than the previous record holder, another member of the Brookesia family.

Mr Glaw, a reptile expert at the Bavarian State Collection of Zoology in Munich, said the tiny male and a slightly larger female – small enough to fit on a human fingertip – were spotted on a mountainside by a local guide during a 2012 expedition.

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