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

IRELAND

Staff opening the doors pictured at the reopening of Brown Thomas on Grafton Street Dublin today. RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

• The Cabinet approved an advance purchase agreement of the Covid-19 vaccine produced by Moderna. 
• Irish retail workers at Arcadia Group-owned outlets found out about their company’s financial difficulties through the media, according to the trade union that represents them.
• Health officials confirmed 18 further deaths from Covid-19 in Ireland and 269 new cases. 
• Mary Lou McDonald said she won’t ask Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley to step down as chairperson of the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee over his tweet about two IRA attacks on the British army. 
• The number of deaths linked to Covid-19 has surpassed 1,000 in Northern Ireland. 
• Social Democrats TD Holly Cairns invited the board member from Greyhound Racing Ireland who wrote online that she was “an ignorant little girl” to a broadcast debate about the industry. 
• Met Éireann forecast a “significant change” in the weather pattern from tonight, with a noticeably colder and more wintry spell ahead.

THE WORLD 

Arctic Fox, Flo, investigates a stocking of treats in her enclosure as part of a Christmas enrichment programme at the wildlife conservation charity Wildwood Trust in Herne Bay, Kent. PA PA

#CHINA: A probe sent to return lunar rocks to Earth for the first time since the 1970s landed on the moon, the government announced, adding to a string of increasingly bold space missions by Beijing.

#UNITED KINGDOM: MPs backed the new system of coronavirus tiers for England as Prime Minister Boris Johnson survived the threat of a significant revolt from Conservative rebels to pass the restrictions.

#GERMANY: Four people were killed after a car drove at high speed into a pedestrian zone in the German city of Trier.

PARTING SHOT 

Actor Elliot Page announced today he is transgender. 

Formerly known as Ellen Page, Elliot posted on Instagram today to his social media followers:

“I love that I am trans. And I love that I am queer. And the more I hold myself close and fully embrace who I am, the more I dream, the more my heart grows and the more I thrive.

“To all the trans people who deal with harassment, self-loathing, abuse, and the threat of violence every day: I see you, I love you, and I will do everything I can to change this world for the better.”

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— Elliot Page (@TheElliotPage) December 1, 2020