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

IRELAND

Horses grazing before dawn on the sand dunes at Long Strand, Co. Cork, Ireland. David Creedon / Alamy Stock Photo David Creedon / Alamy Stock Photo / Alamy Stock Photo

• Ashling Murphy will be laid to rest on Tuesday in Co Offaly. The funeral mass for the 23-year-old school teacher will take place at 11.00am at St Brigid’s Church in Mount Bolus, followed by her burial at Lowertown Cemetery.
• A man has been killed in a motorcycle collision in the Southill area of Limerick city. 
• Taoiseach Micheál Martin led a commemoration ceremony to mark the 100th anniversary of the handover of Dublin Castle today.
• A recommendation is to be made for a permanent base for a small special forces detachment from the Army Ranger Wing (ARW) to be based in Cork to work in tandem with the Naval Service.
• Tanaiste Leo Varadkar has said he believes Ireland is coming to a point where it needs to “move on” from Covid-19 restrictions. 
• University Hospital Limerick (UHL) has imposed a visiting ban on all inpatient wards due to an outbreak of Covid-19.
• Health officials have reported an additional 10,753 positive PCR cases of Covid-19 in Ireland today. There were also 4,208 positive antigen tests registered through the HSE website on Saturday.
• Gardaí are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the discovery of a man’s body in “unexplained circumstances” in Co Donegal on Friday.
• There has been a “worrying” increase in methane concentration in the atmosphere, a climate researcher has said about recent data on the powerful greenhouse gas.

INTERNATIONAL

Children sled on a hill Kozakov in the Bohemia Paradise in the Czech Republic during winter impression of snowy trees. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#AUSTRALIA Novak Djokovic has been deported from Australia having lost a sensational legal battle over his coronavirus vaccination status and with his dream of clinching a record 21st Grand Slam in tatters.

#AMERICA Alec Baldwin has surrendered his mobile phone to authorities as part of the investigation into a fatal shooting on a film set last autumn.

#TEXAS Four hostages are safe and their captor is dead after a stand-off at a synagogue in Texas where the man could be heard ranting on a livestream and demanding the release of a Pakistani neuroscientist who was convicted of trying to kill US army officers in Afghanistan.

#ISRAEL Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is negotiating a plea deal in his corruption case, a person involved in the talks said. 

#TONGA The tsunami threat around the Pacific from a huge undersea volcanic eruption has begun to recede, while the extent of the damage to Tonga remains unclear.

PARTING SHOT

It was a pivotal moment in Irish history as Michael Collins and members of the Provisional Government walked into Dublin Castle on 16 January, 1922.

Today marks the centenary of that momentous day – the Ireland of today almost unrecognisable to those tense early moments of the Irish State.

But everywhere we look there are reminders of those courageous people like this tweet from the Irish Air Corps account.

Following the handover of Dublin Castle, #OTD 1922, Mr Daniel Jevens took up the role of Guard Duty.

100 years later his grandson, Mr Donal Jevens and great-grandson Lt Chris Jevens, @No3OpsWing re-enacted that exact photo!!@defenceforces#DublinCastleHandover100 pic.twitter.com/2fNcACbTK8

— Irish Air Corps (@IrishAirCorps) January 16, 2022

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