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

IRELAND

Last night saw crowds gather for events across Dublin to mark the beginning of the Chinese New Year. Arthur Carron Arthur Carron

• Met Éireann has issued a yellow weather warning for snow and ice in the west of the country tonight. 
• Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has once again ruled out going into government with Sinn Féin despite opinion polls suggesting support has grown for the party. 
• A 33-year-old man has died after an apparent stabbing incident in Co Wexford in the early hours of this morning. 
• Gardaí are awaiting further toxicology results following postmortems on three children who were found dead at a house in Newcastle, Dublin on Friday. 
• Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has earmarked a €23 million reduction in spending for the Dublin region as he told his chiefs across the country to keep their budgets in check for the year, TheJournal.ie has learned. 
• Support for Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin has jumped ahead of General Election 2020, according to a Business Post/Red C opinion poll. 
• The HSE has issued a tender valued at €1.365 billion for its new “dynamic purchasing system” for medicines across the health service.

WORLD

UK Chancellor Sajid Javid with his new Brexit coin. PA Images PA Images

#WUHAN The mayor of Wuhan said he expected a thousand more confirmed cases of people infected with the coronavirus, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

#BREXIT UK chancellor Sajid Javid has unveiled a new commemorative 50p coin to mark Britain’s departure from the EU next week.

#QUAKE Rescue teams in Turkey continued to pull survivors from collapsed buildings today, more than a day and a half after a powerful earthquake hit the country’s east, killing at least 31 people.

Parting Shot

Drug use dominated the headlines this week after Leo Varadkar awkwardly answered a question about his previous use of illegal drugs. 

But despite this making the front page of several newspapers, there were a number of other issues which also drew criticism and commentary, not least the pension age or the murder of a teenager in Drogheda. 

So as we head into a new week of campaigning and with just 13 days to go to polling day, TheJournal.ie columnist Lise Hand looks back at some of the issues that dominated last weeks election campaign.

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