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

IRELAND

The Chinese Community in Dublin celebrated the Chinese New Year - The Year of the Rooster Sam Boal Sam Boal

• The US Embassy in Dublin has confirmed that Donald Trump’s executive order of a 90-day ban on people from seven Muslim countries entering the US is in operation at Dublin and Shannon Airport.
• The Taoiseach has ruled out going into government with Sinn Féin following comments he made earlier this week which raised questions about a possible coalition.
• Mary Mitchell O’Connor has said that while criticism comes with the role of being Jobs Minister some of the commentary about her performance has been hurtful.
• Charlie Flanagan says that the Irish government is doing ”everything it possibly can” to get Ibrahim Halawa released from jail and returned to Ireland.
• A woman who twice threatened gardaí with blood-filled syringes while she was suffering from drug-induced hallucinations has avoided jail.
• A US immigration attorney has warned undocumented Irish to ‘remain silent or you’ll be gone very quickly‘.
• New garda rules encourage speaking up as ‘harassment of whistleblowers continues‘.
• Meet the team taking chronic rough sleepers off the streets of Dublin and giving them their own home.

INTERNATIONAL 

Protesters assemble at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York Craig Ruttle Craig Ruttle

#UK: Actor Sir John Hurt, who could move audiences to tears in The Elephant Man, terrify them in Alien, and spoof that very same scene in Spaceballs, has died. He was 77.

#REFUGEES: Refugees en route to the United States have been detained at airports after President Donald Trump signed an executive order barring all refugees from entering the US for three months.

#TURKEY: British Prime Minister Theresa May has signed a €117m fighter jet deal with Turkey.

#HAWAII: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is dropping lawsuits seeking to buy out native Hawaiians who own small pieces of land within his sprawling estate on the island of Kauai.

#BANGLADESH: A railway employee was hit and killed by a train after saving a mother and daughter from being run over, an official said Saturday.

PARTING SHOT 

PA Wire / PA Images PA Wire / PA Images / PA Images

People are playing tribute this morning to the late actor John Hurt, who has passed away at the age of 77 following a battle with pancreatic cancer.

Here in Ireland, Hurt was somewhat of an honorary Irishman, having spent many years living in both Co. Wicklow and Ballintubbert, Co. Laois.

Such was his affinity for the country that he was genuinely disappointed to learn that he didn’t have Irish blood when he appeared on the BBC series Who Do You Think You Are?