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

IRELAND

The aftermath of a fire in Dublin last night Twitter / @DubFireBrigade Twitter / @DubFireBrigade / @DubFireBrigade

• Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the Government will take “no further steps” in the controversy over Seámus Woulfe’s position on the Supreme Court.
• A man in his 40s was arrested after drugs, alcohol and mobile phones were discovered during the largest ever seizure of contraband at an Irish prison.
• A man in his 30s was also arrested after the body of a man was discovered at a house in Co Mayo this morning.
• Health officials announced 11 more deaths and 366 cases of Covid-19.
• Cabinet abandoned plans to give gardaí new powers to fine people who gather outside to drink alcohol. It also emerged that Cabinet will make a decision next week on how to exit Level 5 restrictions in December.
• A teenager in Cork was killed in a collision involving a truck.
• It was announced that an oversight committee will be set up to assess a recommendation that a basic income scheme should be introduced for the arts and culture sector.
• A 21-year-old Dublin man was jailed for his part in the online theft of over $2 million worth of cryptocurrencies.
• Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney described new planned Israeli settlements in East Jerusalem as “clearly illegal”.
• The Taoiseach defended the government’s nomination of former Senator and ex-NAGP lobbyist Geraldine Feeney to a position on SIPO. 

INTERNATIONAL

A forestry worker fells a 43ft Sitka Spruce tree in Northumberland's Kielder Forest PA PA

#FIRE AND FURY: The New York Times reported that Donald Trump asked top aides about the possibility of striking Iran’s nuclear facilities.

#UK: Jeremy Corbyn was readmitted to Labour just weeks after being suspended for saying the scale of anti-Semitism in the party was “dramatically overstated”.

#GERMANY: Police arrested three suspects over a spectacular heist a year ago in which more than a dozen diamond-encrusted items were snatched from a museum in Dresden.

#KENYA: The world’s only known white giraffe was fitted with a GPS tracking device to help protect it from poachers.

PARTING SHOT

RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

Urban centres are a lot less busy than they normally would be because of you-know-what, but if you go into Dublin of an evening, there’s now a bit more cheer about the place.

Tonight saw the capital’s Christmas lights switched on by 11-year-old Symone, a patient at Temple Street Children’s Hospital from Co Westmeath.

It’s been an extremely challenging year for businesses in Dublin and across the country – but the return of the lights is something normal that we can appreciate is this abnormal year.