LAST UPDATE | 18 Feb 2020

EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you all the news you need to know as you start the day.

1. #GE2020: Government-formation talks are continuing today after Leo Varadkar last night announced that Fine Gael is “preparing to go into opposition”.

2. #IRA: The New IRA is planning a car bomb attack on a Sinn Féin member, the party’s vice president has warned. Michelle O’Neill said she had been advised of the threat by police in Northern Ireland.

3. #KEEP CUPS: Reusable keep cups cannot be used on trains that cross the Irish border due to a risk they could be used for poisonings or other “sinister activity”, a senior manager at the catering company that provides services for the Enterprise train said in correspondence seen by TheJournal.ie.

4. #COVID-19: A hospital director at the epicentre of China’s Covid-19 epidemic has died, state media said. Liu Zhiming is the latest medical worker to fall victim to the new coronavirus spreading across the country.

5. #SEXUAL ASSAULT: Nine Irish colleges have signed up to a new online system that allows students to anonymously report experiences of sexual assault. The system is expected to be up and running by the start of the next academic year.

6. #CLIMATE CHANGE: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has said he plans to spend $10 billion (about €9.2 billion) to help fight climate change. The world’s richest man said he will start giving grants this summer to scientists, activists and nonprofits working to protect the earth.

7. #BREXIT: David Frost, the UK’s chief Brexit negotiator, has insisted Britain must be able to set laws that suit itself when the country fully breaks away from the European Union.

8. #BOY SCOUTS: The Boy Scouts of America has filed for bankruptcy protection as it faces new legal battles over thousands of alleged sexual abuses.

9. #STAMPS: The price of stamps is set to increase on 19 March, An Post has announced. The price of a standard domestic stamp will increase from €1 to €1.10 and a standard international stamp from €1.70 to €1.80.

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