The Taliban said they had captured the last pocket of resistance in Afghanistan, the Panjshir Valley, as the top US diplomat flies to Qatar to try to handle the aftermath of the chaotic US withdrawal.

All clean plastic packaging waste including soft plastic can now be placed in Irish household recycling bins.

Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said today's further easing of restrictions has been made possible due to what he called "our world class vaccination programme, which is now suppressing the Delta wave."

A recruitment campaign requesting members of the public to provide homes for separated children seeking international protection in Ireland has been launched by Tusla.

One-year-old Israeli twin girls, who were born conjoined at the back of their heads, can make eye contact for the first time after undergoing rare separation surgery in a clinic in the city of Beersheba.

The latest Covid-19 restrictions in New Zealand are to be eased but will remain in place in Auckland, according to Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern as the country battles a Delta variant outbreak.

Six Palestinians have escaped from a high-security Israeli prison, police said, including a former commander of Fatah's Al-Asqa Martyrs' Brigades.

Guinean special forces have seized power in a coup, arresting the president and imposing an indefinite curfew in the west African country.

The World Cup qualifier between Brazil and Argentina in Sao Paulo was called off amid extraordinary scenes as officials stormed on to the pitch over an alleged coronavirus breach by the visitors' England-based players.

The Department of Foreign Affairs will release a file of documents later today relating to proposed appointment of former minister Katherine Zappone as a UN special envoy for the Government.

Libyan authorities have released Saadi Gaddafi, a son of the former leader Muammar Gaddafi who was ousted and killed during a 2011 uprising.

Monitoring and enforcement, including the use of sanctions, are among the measures needed to combat racism in Ireland, according to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission.

Last week, the Taoiseach announced plans to lift most of Ireland's Covid-19 restrictions in the next two months. From Monday, a number of restrictions will ease, with the majority to be lifted next month.

Girls Aloud singer and actress Sarah Harding has died at the age of 39 after a battle with cancer.

The Department of Health has confirmed 1,180 new cases of Covid-19. There are 362 people in hospital, down one from yesterday, with 59 in ICU, up seven.

Gardaí have said they have "significantly disrupted" the IT infrastructure of the cyber crime group which targeted the HSE earlier this year.

Pol Ó Dochartaigh, Deputy President of NUI Galway and Chair of the CAO, has said the "hard reality" is some students will not be successful in securing their first choice.

Meath caused one of the great football shocks to win a first ever senior All-Ireland football title, and deny Dublin the five-in-a-row in the process.

Gardaí are investigating all the circumstances surrounding the death of a man in Kilbarrack, north Dublin.

Taliban fighters advanced deep into the last holdout province of Panjshir today, as the top US general warned Afghanistan faces a wider civil war that would offer fertile ground for a resurgence of terrorism.