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

IRELAND

Windsurfers in the water off Bull Island nature reserve in Dublin this morning. Sam Boal / RN Sam Boal / RN / RN

• Public health officials confirmed an additional 16,428 cases of Covid-19 in Ireland, with 22 deaths notified in the past week. 
• The first vaccination clinics for medically vulnerable children between 5-11 took place today, as hospitals prepare for a “pressure point” of admissions in the coming weeks.
• Ambulance crews were last night ordered to avoid bringing patients to Wexford General Hospital after the hospital’s emergency department was overrun with patients.
• The Department of Foreign Affairs says staff working there “let our guard down” after a photo emerged showing an apparent breach of Covid-19 guidelines.
• Just over 200 organ transplants were carried out in Ireland in 2021, the HSE  confirmed.
• The Taoiseach said he believes the mood inside Fianna Fáil has “settled down”, following months of unease among some backbenchers about his leadership.
• House prices in Ireland have risen by almost 8% in the last 12 months, as significant regional price differences have begun to emerge.
• An elephant gifted to former President Patrick Hillery in 1979 caused a diplomatic row between Ireland and Tanzania, detailed in new documents released to the National Archives.

WORLD

In Germany's Duisburg zoo, African elephant Saiwa eats a fir tree in her outdoor enclosure. The trees are the unsold stock of Christmas tree sellers. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#OMICRON The world hit a record number of Covid infections in a week, as the WHO warned that Omicron poses a “very high” risk and could yet overwhelm healthcare systems.

#VIRGINIA GIUFFRE: Britain’s Prince Andrew’s lawyer has called for the civil sexual assault case against the royal in the US to be stopped because his accuser is “actually domiciled in Australia”.

#GHISLAINE MAXWELL: Jurors deliberating the fate of British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell at her sex trafficking trial were told they would have to work through the new year’s holiday after they inquired about that possibility – the latest sign that a verdict was not near in the month-long trial.

#UKRAINE: US president Joe Biden is to offer President Vladimir Putin a “diplomatic path” out of tensions around Ukraine but remains “gravely” concerned by Russian troop movements. 

PARTING SHOT

If you haven’t seen it already, and are in need of something to lighten the mood, a darkly comic document was released to the National Archives under the 30-year rule from the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Unknown officials in the Department created what appears to be a list of responses to common questions they may be fielding on the phone as the world watched in anticipation of the Gulf War. You can read it here.