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

IRELAND

Horses and riders return from an early morning exercise at dawn, on the Curragh Plains in Co Kildare. Eamonn Farrell Eamonn Farrell

• The Government has announced a €200 energy credit and 20% off public transport fares as part of its package to tackle the high cost of living
• Sinn Féin and other opposition parties said the measures won’t go far enough#
• Russia’s ambassador to Ireland criticised the new report into the Defence Forces, saying it portrays Russia as a “bogeyman”
• The HSE updated its online advice for boosted close contacts of confirmed Covid cases to fall in line with what was advised by public health experts last month
• Guidelines on masks are not likely to change in the immediate future, but PCR testing policies may open up to all age groups again, the HSE’s Colm Henry said
• Pat Kenny called on a Dublin local authority to refuse planning permission to redevelopment plans for Bullock Harbour near Dalkey “on multiple grounds”
• The new US Ambassador to Ireland presented her credentials to President Michael D Higgins in a ceremony at Áras an Uachtaráin.

WORLD

Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a joint press conference with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Warsaw. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#UKRAINE: Britain said that Russia needs to withdraw troops from its border with Ukraine to ease tensions between Moscow and the West, during a tense press conference between British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

#PARTY PRESSURE: Boris Johnson refuted claims that broke lockdown laws and must go if he deliberately lied to Parliament, made by former British prime minister John Major has said as he struck out at the “brazen excuses” issued over ‘partygate’.

In another blow to Johnson, Cressida Dick resigned as Met Police Commissioner after coming under pressure from London Mayor Sadiq Khan over “racism, sexism, homophobia, bullying, discrimination, and misogyny that still exists” in the force.

#ISRAEL-PALESTINE: The former Attorney General of Israel Michael Benyair has written in The Journal today that he concurs with Amnesty’s conclusion that Israel is an apartheid regime. 

PARTING SHOT

David Fennell adjusts a model bus on a Dublin street model, at Brickxfest for Lego enthusiasts at Tayto Park. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Great news – Lego is opening its first Irish store on Grafton Street this summer.

The Danish company that invented what is arguably the best toy in history will be setting up shop in the heart of Dublin – which will include 3D Lego models inspired by Irish culture and free build challenges and events each month.

Good news for fans of ‘Dublin Bricks’ - which sells kits to build mini versions of iconic Dublin pubs, telefón boxes, and the ‘lady on the rock’ (all sold out at the moment, of course).