LAST UPDATE | 2 Feb 2021

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

1. #DEBUNKED: Staff at a number of hospitals around the country have criticised videos on anti-Covid-19 social media pages which suggest that hospitals are secretly ‘empty’, describing them as wrong and misleading.

2. #BREXIT DANGER: Police are to hold talks later today with partner agencies after physical Brexit checks at Belfast and Larne ports were suspended amid safety concerns.

3. #LEAVING CERT RESULTS: Students who sat written Leaving Cert exams last year are due to get their results today, with over 40% of grades expected to be higher than the Calculated Grades.

4. #MYANMAR: The US has threatened sanctions against Myanmar, as generals remain in firm control and elected politicians are being detained in “open-air detention centre”.

5. #CALCULATED GRADES: The Government has paid Polymetrika over €200,000 for work on the Calculated Grades system, and continued payments after controversy surrounded the flaws in the coding that lead to thousands of Leaving Cert students receiving the incorrect grades.

6. #GAS: Minister for Transport, Environment and Climate Eamon Ryan is to seek Cabinet approval to introduce legislation to ban oil and gas exploration, RTÉ reports.

7. #ECO-NOMICS: The world is being put at “extreme risk” by the failure of economics to take account of the rapid depletion of the natural world, according to a landmark review conducted on behalf of the UK Treasury. [The Guardian]

8. #PERTH: An out-of-control wildfire burning northeast of the Australian west coast city of Perth has destroyed an estimated 30 homes and is threatening more.

9. #ICONIC SINGER: It’s been revealed that US singer Tony Bennett was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016, but kept his condition quiet as he continued to work and tour.