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

Ireland

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• The National Public Health Emergency Team announced one further death and 269 new cases of Covid-19 in Ireland today.
• Health Minister Stephen Donnelly confirmed that there are no plans to change vaccination rollout plans to inoculate younger cohorts first.
• Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has spoken to the Gardaí “voluntarily” about his leaking of a confidential GP contract.
• The Irish Prison Service has been asked to review its use of handcuffs on gravely ill prisoners when escorting them to a hospital or other facilities.
• Taoiseach Micheal Martin has warned against using Brexit as a method to create dispute in Northern Ireland.
• Kilkenny County Council paid a former staff members phone bill for seven years after they retired, according to internal audits.
• Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has apologised for the IRA murder of Lord Mountbatten in 1979.
• A 33,000-year-old reindeer bone discovered in a Cork cave proves human settlement in Ireland thousands of years before previous estimates.

International

People gather at the site where a passenger train derailed in Egypt PA Images PA Images

#EGYPT 11 people have died and almost 100 injured after a passenger train derailed north of Cairo this afternoon. This is the latest of several rail accidents to hit Egypt in the last several years.

#NAVALNY A doctor for imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has said that “he could die at any moment” due to rapidly deteriorating health. 

#US – CHINA Both the US and China have reached an agreement to work together to combat climate change, just days in advance of President Joe Biden hosting a virtual summit on the issue.

#ISRAEL Israelis will no longer be expected to wear masks outdoors, due to plummeting levels of virus in the country.

Parting shot

President Michael D Higgins today celebrates his 80th birthday.

Higgins was born in Limerick on April 18 1941, and launched his national political career in 1981 when he was first elected to Dáil Eireann as a Labour Party TD.

He served in the Dáil until 2011, before being elected as President in the same year and was reelected in 2018.

He made an appearance on Friday’s Late Late Show, being interviewed from Áras an Uachtaráin by presenter Ryan Tubridy. Catch up with a clip from the show here.