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Irish pubs get the nod to re-open after enduring one of the longest shutdowns in Europe

Under the original lockdown easing schedule, pubs were due to re-open in August but that had been pushed back repeatedly.
Pubs that serve food, as well as restaurants and hotels, re-opened in late June under restrictions.
The new rules will put all pubs on a relatively similar footing, requiring table service and limiting group sizes.
In cases where two-meter distancing isn’t possible, customers can only stay for 105 minutes and all customers must be off the premises by 11:30 p.m.

Who is Kim Yo Jong? The North Korean leader’s little sister could be moving to bigger things, analysts say

“By letting his sister Kim Yo-jong lead the highly visible charge against the South, he is likely laying the groundwork for her elevation to a more senior position within the regime,” said Miha Hribernik, Head of Asia, Risk Insight at Verisk Maplecroft.
The younger Kim first came into the global limelight when she attended the opening ceremony of the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. This made her the first from the Kim family set foot in South Korea.

U.K. fines Commerzbank $47 million for lax money laundering controls

Britain has fined the London branch of Germany’s Commerzbank 37.8 million pounds ($47.3 million) for failing to have proper controls to prevent money laundering, the U.K.’s financial watchdog said on Wednesday.

Banks have to check the background of clients and by March 1, 2017, Commerzbank’s checks were overdue on 1,772 customers, the Financial Conduct Authority said.

IRS to send catch-up payments for missing stimulus money

As the government rushed out stimulus checks to millions of Americans this spring, some were disappointed to find the payments fell short of what they expected.
Now, the IRS is making catch-up payments. This week, it added 50,000 people who had money withheld because of their spouse’s unpaid child support to the list of people who will get catch-up payments.