EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, The Journal brings you the five biggest stories of the day.

1. #RESTRICTIONS: The Cabinet is meeting to discuss NPHET recommendations aimed at reducing the spread of the Omicron variant of the coronavirus. Follow the latest on our liveblog here.

2. #PHILOMENA LEE: The State has admitted the rights of two mother and baby home survivors were breached when they were not given a draft of the final report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes prior to its publication.

3. #COURTS: A man who stabbed his daughter’s partner to death whilst high on a cocktail of drugs has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

4. #COVID BRITAIN: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has downplayed suggestions he is at odds with Professor Chris Whitty over advice for the public as he warned the country is facing a “considerable wave” of the Omicron variant.

5. #BREXIT: The EU has announced proposed laws to assist the free flow of medicines from Britain into Northern Ireland, in a move it said would create momentum to resolve other disputes over Brexit’s Irish Sea border.