LAST UPDATE | 13 Feb 2021

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

IRELAND

Icy rain, sleet and slushy snow meant hazardous driving conditions in bad weather on the Wicklow Gap today. Eamonn Farrell / RollingNews.ie Eamonn Farrell / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

• Public health officials confirmed a further 1,078 cases of Covid-19 and 66 deaths, including 41 people who died in February.
• Northern Ireland recorded 10 more deaths and 303 cases in its update this afternoon.
• The Association of Secondary Teachers Ireland (ASTI) is rejoining talks with the Department of Education of this year’s Leaving Certificate after pulling out earlier this week.
• Met Éireann issued a Status Orange wind warning for three counties tomorrow ahead of more wet and windy weather.
• The Citizens’ Assembly met to discuss the potential removal of an article on the place of “women in the home” from the Irish constitution.
• Hoteliers suggested guest limits for weddings should be based on the size of the venue.
• A house party with a large number of attendees who met the gardaí with “persistent non-engagement” was broken up in Longford yesterday evening.
• The National Union of Journalists called on the PSNI to take action against those who threaten members of the media after Sunday World journalist Patricia Devlin was targeted in graffitti.
• Gardaí warned the public to be wary of a “romance fraud” ahead of St Valentine’s Day.

THE WORLD 

The aftermath of an earthquake in Japan. PA PA

#IMPEACHMENT US senators have voted to clear Donald Trump in his impeachment trial.

#JAPAN A strong earthquake has struck off the coast of north-eastern Japan, shaking Fukushima, Miyagi and nearby areas, disrupting power to 860,000 homes. 

#THAILAND Pro-democracy protesters in Thailand scaled a massive Bangkok monument today while calling for the country to abolish its royal defamation laws.

#HUNGARY In a first for an EU country, Hungary is to start using Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19.

PARTING SHOT

St Valentine’s Day this year marks the 40th anniversary of the fire in the Stardust club in North Dublin where 48 people died.

Each year, their loved ones feel their loss again as the calendar turns to February.

Our reporter Sean Murray spoke to survivors of the fire and friends and family of those who died 40 years on from one of the worst disasters in modern Irish history.