NEED TO CATCH up? The Journal brings you a round-up of today’s news.

IRELAND

Russian vessel 531 off the coast of Ireland in international waters Defence Forces Defence Forces

• Northern Ireland First Minister Paul Givan has announced his resignation. 
• The charges against all defendants in the ‘Golfgate’ trial have been dismissed by Judge Mary Fahy in Galway District Court. 
• The Cabinet sub-committee on economic recovery will meet next week to discuss the rising cost of living in Ireland.
• A man charged over random attacks on a woman and two men in Dublin’s St Stephen’s Green has been remanded in custody.
• Met Éireann has issued a Status Yellow snow/ice warning for Donegal, Leitrim and Sligo from tomorrow afternoon until night.
• The fees for the 2022 Leaving and Junior Cert exams have been waived.
• One of the greatest threats to national security is caused by a loss of highly skilled Defence Forces experts because of inadequate pay and inferior conditions, a military analysis has found. 
• Public health officials today reported an additional 6,061 positive PCR cases of Covid-19 in Ireland today.

INTERNATIONAL

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in the cab of a construction digger during a visit to Talbot Gateway in Blackpool Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#DOWNING STREET: Boris Johnson’s leadership has been further thrown into crisis by the resignation of two key aides as Chancellor Rishi Sunak criticised the British Prime Minister during a broadcast from No 10.

#ISIS: US President Joe Biden has said that the leader of the Islamic State group has been “taken off the battlefield” by US forces in Syria.

#MOROCCO: Rescue workers in northern Morocco are frantically digging for a second straight day to reach a five-year-old boy trapped in a 32-metre deep well.

PARTING SHOT

Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast has received six nominations in this year’s Baftas shortlist.

And for Best Film, the nominees are 👇

🎞️ BELFAST
🎞️ DON'T LOOK UP
🎞️ DUNE
🎞️ LICORICE PIZZA
🎞️ THE POWER OF THE DOG #EEBAFTAs pic.twitter.com/tEXjbsHQlY

— BAFTA (@BAFTA) February 3, 2022