The Covid-19 vaccine booster programme opens to all remaining cohorts aged 16 and older from today.

New Australian Covid-19 cases dipped as testing slowed over a holiday weekend, but remained well over 30,000 and hospitalisations rose further in New South Wales.

The DUP has said there will be "major implications" at Stormont if Britain's foreign minister fails to swiftly set a formal deadline to end negotiations with Brussels over the Northern Ireland Protocol.

A major fire has broken out at South Africa's seat of parliament in Cape Town, sending a thick column of smoke into the sky and threatening the National Assembly building.

The United States has announced that it has excluded Ethiopia, Mali and Guinea from a US-Africa trade agreement

A man in his 20s has died following a collision in Co Longford.

An unidentified person entered North Korea from the South on New Year's Day, the military in Seoul said, a rare breach of the heavily fortified border between the neighbours.

Three people have been reported missing after a wildfire tore through several Colorado towns in the US destroying nearly 1,000 homes.

The HSE has said it expects more hospitals will have to curtail non-essential work in the coming days, because of the high number of staff absences due to Covid-19.

The Department of Health has reported 23,281 further cases of Covid-19, the highest daily figure to date, while more than 120,000 people have tested positive since Christmas Day.

Two women and a man have died and three children were injured in a two-car collision near Kells in Co Meath yesterday afternoon.

Ireland's first baby of the new year was believed to have been born at the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street in Dublin, just after the stroke of midnight.

A state funeral for Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a hero of the struggle against apartheid in South Africa, has been held at St George's Cathedral, Cape Town, where for years he preached against racial injustice.

An Egyptian vulture has been sighted in the south Roscommon area.

A 19-year-old man has died in a motorcycle crash in Dublin city.

Air travel continued to be severely disrupted in the United States today, with bad weather in parts of the country adding to the impact of a massive spike in Covid-19 infections fuelled by the Omicron variant.

Pope Francis has used his New Year's message to issue a clarion call for an end to violence against women, saying it was insulting to God.

The European Union is planning to label energy from nuclear power and natural gas as "green" sources for investment despite internal disagreement over whether they truly qualify as sustainable options.

The world ushered in 2022 with scaled-back celebrations due to new restrictions aimed at slowing soaring Covid cases - although hope remained for a better new year.

President Michael D Higgins has welcomed what he called a "significant day" for the Irish language as it achieved full status as an official language of the European Union from midnight last night.