GOOD MORNING!

Here’s a rundown of the news you need to catch up on at the start of the weekend.

1. #UKRAINE: Pro-Russian separatist leaders in two disputed regions in Ukraine have announced a ‘general mobilisation’ this morning as tensions ratchet up. Both sides have accused each other of fresh attacks in recent hours.

2. #EUNICE: Thousands of homes, farms and businesses were still without power last night in the aftermath of the storm.

3. #TRIBUNAL: Two new claims have been lodged with the CervicalCheck Tribunal, bringing the total number of cases lodged to 19.

4. #FACTCHECK: Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s claim that Sinn Féin has objected to the construction of 6,000 new homes across the country is misleading.

5. #MALI: The Irish Defence Forces have no immediate plans to withdraw troops from war-torn Mali following the announcement by France that it will bring its troops home.

6. #VETTING: An inter-departmental group charged with reviewing the reform and extension of the garda vetting regime has missed a deadline to report to justice minister Helen McEntee.

7. #TRUCKERS: More than 100 people have been arrested after Canadian police cracked down on anti-Covid restrictions protests in the country’s capital city, Ottawa.

8. #TRUMP: Some 15 boxes of White House records that were stored at former president Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence after he left office contained items marked as classified national security information, according to the US National Archives. The matter has been referred to the country’s Justice Department.

9. #OPINION: It’s not without its flaws but the Government’s new multi-billion-euro retrofitting scheme lays out practical measures that will benefit households by reducing energy bills in the medium to long term, write Dr Wendy Rowan and Dr Stephen McCarthy.