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

IRELAND

Image from Naas, Co Kildare today. Eamonn Farrell / RollingNews.ie Eamonn Farrell / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

• A further 4,570 cases of Covid-19 were reported in Ireland.  
• The Cabinet sub-committee on Covid-19 met amid “a grim” situation in hospitals across the country, and growing concern about the rapid spread of Covid-19 across communities.
• A public inquiry will be held in Northern Ireland to investigate mother and baby homes, Magdalene laundries and workhouses in the region.
• A man in his 70s died in a car crash in Co Tipperary.
• A €2.30 flat-rate fare is being introduced for Dublin public transport travel taken over a period of 90 minutes.
• The government’s plan for how the health service will respond to the challenging winter period was criticised as “inadequate” by an organisation representing doctors in Ireland.
• The Irish Congress of Trade Unions told politicians that the government must bring forward plans to link unemployment benefits to previous pay levels and scrap the old flat-rate Jobseeker’s Benefits system.

INTERNATIONAL

Steve Bannon arriving at the FBI Washington Field Office today. AP / PA Images AP / PA Images / PA Images

#UNITED KINGDOM: The UK’s terrorism threat level was raised to ‘severe’, meaning an attack is deemed highly likely, following yesterday’s deadly explosion at a Liverpool hospital.  

#TRUMP: Steve Bannon, former US president Donald Trump’s long-time advisor, turned himself into the FBI to face charges of contempt of Congress after refusing to testify on the 6 January Capitol assault.

#RESTRICTIONS: Austria announced a lockdown for people not vaccinated against Covid-19.

PARTING SHOT 

“Anybody under 60 in our world is likely to have a world that is less liveable, in which you’re facing terrible fires, terrible floods, terrible droughts, and millions of people having to leave their homes and anybody under 30 is sure to live in that world.”

Former president Mary Robinson spoke about her fears around climate change earlier today on RTÉ radio.

She also spoke last week to criticise leaders for not being in “crisis mode”. 

Her comments today were based on the calculations from Climate Action Tracker that says new pledges put forward by countries on cutting emissions means the world is on track for a global temperature rise of 2.4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says the world is currently at a 1.1 degree rise in global temperature.

You can read more about what increased temperatures mean for Ireland here if you want some context on the situation from an Irish perspective.