Updated Feb 15th 2021, 8:45 AM

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

1. #VACCINATION: Over the next week some 12,000 people across the country aged 85 and over will receive their first dose of a Covid-19 vaccination, as the immunisation programme moves into its third phase.

2. #LEAK: Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has contacted the gardaí through his solicitors over the complaint made against him last year surrounding the leaking of a GP contract to a rival organisation.

3. #ABUSE: One in five women aged 18-25 have experienced intimate relationship abuse, such as emotional, physical and sexual abuse, according to a recent study from charity Women’s Aid.

4. #TRUMP: Legislators in the US are pushing for an independent commission to prevent any repeat of the insurrection, following the acquittal of former US President Donald Trump.

5. #AUCKLAND: New Zealand’s biggest city, Auckland, began a snap three-day lockdown today, forcing two million people to stay at home, as authorities scrambled to contain the nation’s first outbreak of the highly contagious UK variant.

6. #LEAVING CERT: The fate of this year’s Leaving Cert is uncertain – but sixth years deserve better, teacher Yvonne Brennan writes.

7. #MYANMAR: Myanmar’s junta deployed extra troops around the country and choked the internet as it intensified a crackdown on anti-coup protests, but defiant demonstrators again took to the streets.

8. #ROYAL BABY: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have announced they are expecting a second child, with an image taken remotely from London having been released.

9. #COVID-19: US President Joe Biden will speak at a virtual meeting of the world’s major economies on Friday to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and global vaccination distribution, according to the White House.

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