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

Ireland

A man walks by a Dublin Barber shop as the nation waits to hear about reopening.

• The DUP leader Arlene Foster is to step down as head of her party at the end of May and as Northern Ireland’s First Minister at the end of June. 
• The Government is likely to scrap the €9 meal this summer as Cabinet meets with NPHET ahead of an announcement tomorrow. 
• The family of Conor King has laid their son to rest on what would have been his 23rd birthday after he passed away following a fall in to a blow hole from cliffs near Garrettstown beach in West Cork over the weekend.
•  Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the largest Pfizer vaccine delivery to Ireland of 191,800 doses arrived today.
• Public Health officials have reported a further 371 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Ireland today. The National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) has also confirmed that 13 more people have died over several months with Covid-19 in Ireland.
• Three men have been arrested in raids by gardaí investigating an alleged organised crime gang involved in facilitating illegal immigration. The operation by the Garda National Immigration Bureau ran in tandem with police searches in the UK with Europol agents supporting the investigation.
• The Government will review how funding returned to the Exchequer from the National Lottery is redistributed to good causes around the country. 
• Anyone responsible for the lighting fires which engulfed parts of Killarney National Park should face the “full rigours of the law”, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has said.
• There are now fewer than 150 people with Covid-19 receiving treatment in hospital. Hospitalisation figures have been gradually reducing in recent weeks. 

International

PA PA

#GIULIANI Federal investigators in the US have executed a search warrant at Rudy Giuliani’s Manhattan residence, a law enforcement official has told the Associated Press.

#DOWNING STREET UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has denied saying that he would rather see “bodies pile high” than implement another lockdown in October.

#MANCHESTER Former Manchester United footballer Ryan Giggs has denied charges of assaulting two women and controlling or coercive behaviour.

Parting shot

Astronaut Michael Collins, who participated in the Apollo moon landing mission has died at the age of 90 following a battle with cancer. 

Collins flew the command module above the lunar surface in 1969 as his colleagues Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the surface. 

He was an advocate for science and exploration, working as the first director of the National Air and Space Museum in Washington.

He also had a very engaging and busy twitter account, his last tweet, five days ago, was for earth and spoke of looking back on the planet from space.

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