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

IRELAND

The 20th anniversary edition of the Dublin International Film Festival includes vampire comedy horror 'Let the Wrong One In', featuring Mary Murray and Eoin Duffy. Leon Farrell Leon Farrell

• Plans for Russian military exercises off the Irish coast would have been “absolutely routine”, Irish Aviation Authority officials told an Oireachtas committee
• Northern Ireland’s agriculture minister Edwin Poots has ordered a halt to Brexit agri-food checks at NI ports from midnight – prompting Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney to say that this would be a breach of international law
• The Dáil was told that many cancer patients find themselves at the “sharp end of our two-tier health system”, incurring inpatient and parking charges
• Advocates are calling on the government to implement a new Oireachtas committee recommendation and maintain the State pension age at 66
• Estimates about excess deaths caused by delays in Irish Emergency Departments may be “significantly underestimated”, emergency doctors said
• The Taoiseach is to bring a proposal to Cabinet to form a citizens’ assembly on biodiversity - and the current threat to animal and plant life – “shortly”.

WORLD

The sun sets behind St Sophia's Cathedral in Kyiv today. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#UKRAINE: US President Joe Biden is sending around 2,000 US troops to fortify NATO forces in eastern Europe in response to rising tensions over Ukraine.

#BOJO CONTROVERSY: Boris Johnson has refused to withdraw his contentious claim that Labour leader Keir Starmer failed to prosecute Jimmy Savile – as some Tory MPs continue to openly criticise the British Prime Minister for his comments.

#THE VIEW: US actress Whoopi Goldberg has been suspended from the talk show she hosts for two weeks after saying that the Nazi genocide of six million Jews “was not about race”.

PARTING SHOT

There are some brilliant films lined up as part of the Dublin Film Festival this year, which is back with a bang with in-person showings. 

The “spell-binding” An Cailín Ciúin, an as Gaeilge portrait of an Irish childhood; and the one-shot, one-night in Belfast thriller Nightride, are just some of the brilliant films on offer.

Read about what else is on here on The Journal, or browse through the DIFF site here.