LAST UPDATE | 31 Jan 2020

EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you all the news you need to know as you start the day.

1. #GE2020: A fiery seven-way debate on Virgin Media One last night saw party leaders clash with each other – and clash with Ivan Yates – on a variety of issues.

2. #THANK YOU BREXT: Ireland will get some new MEPs tomorrow with the UK due to leave the EU tonight.

3. #UK: Tánaiste Simon Coveney has warned that there will be no post-Brexit trade deal with the UK without a “level playing field”. 

4. #SEE YOU: The UK newspapers, meanwhile, are mostly in jubilant mood today with the Daily Mail hailing a “new dawn for Britain” and the Daily Express proclaiming “yes we did it”. 

5. #CORONAVIRUS: The US has told its citizens to avoid China as the death toll rose again from the coronavirus.

6. #SENATE: Donald Trump could be acquitted in the impeachment trial as early as tonight as Republicans look set to block further witnesses.

7. #MONKSTOWN: Two Dublin schools have closed after electricity and heating failures.

8. #BONE APPETIT: Doctors discovered an 81-year-old Dublin woman suffering stomach pains had swallowed a chicken bone. 

9. #AUSTRALIA: A state of emergency has been declared in Canberra as bushfires close in.