The General Secretary of the Teachers' Union of Ireland (TUI) has said he expects State exams to go ahead this year.

Two crucial run-off elections will be held in Georgia in the United States today that will decide which party wins control of the US Senate.

Record-breaking sumo champion Hakuho has tested positive for Covid-19 just days before the New Year tournament, the Japan Sumo Association has said.

More than two-thirds of the 15 million coronavirus vaccines shipped within the United States have gone unused, US health officials said.

New figures show that national house price inflation surged to 6.3% in 2020, the fastest rate of growth in almost three years.

The HSE's National Director of Acute Operations has said he has never seen a threat of this scale growing this quickly and Covid-19 projections look more concerning now than during the first wave.

The New York Stock Exchange said it no longer intends to delist three Chinese telecom giants that have been targeted by US President Donald Trump's outgoing administration, in a shock reversal of an announcement made only last week.

A specialist in infectious diseases has said the new lockdown in England may not be enough to tackle the new coronavirus variant.

The Department of Health has been notified of an additional 6,110 confirmed cases of Covid-19, while six further deaths have been recorded.

Schools are to remain closed in Northern Ireland for an unspecified period with "extended period of remote learning". It follows an emergency meeting of the Stormont Executive to tackle the spread of the coronavirus.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has announced a national lockdown for England. In a televised address, he said that hospitals are under more pressure than at any time since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Chief Executive of the HSE has said that work is under way to cease non-urgent care in public hospitals to cope with rising Covid-19 admissions, as the number in intensive care has increased to 70.

Here are five things we learned from tonight's NPHET briefing at the Department of Health.

A particularly cold spell is due to hit the country with overnight temperatures to drop as low as -7C this week.

Around 4,500 student nurses are set to receive a new Pandemic Placement Grant worth €100 per week when they are on hospital placements following allegations of exploitation during the Covid-19 pandemic.

RTÉ has said it received 3,500 emails and 1,250 calls about a Waterford Whispers sketch in the New Year's Eve countdown programme on RTÉ One.

Irish teenager Nora Quoirin died by "misadventure" after disappearing in the Malaysian jungle on a family holiday and no one else was involved, a coroner has ruled.

The Government is considering a proposal to close schools for the rest of January.

The late Irish poet Eavan Boland has been announced as posthumous winner of the 2020 Costa Poetry Award for her final collection, The Historians.

The EU medicines watchdog has said it will continue its discussions about authorising the Moderna coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday.