The gunman in the Texas school massacre barged "unobstructed" through an unlocked door, then killed 19 children and two teachers before a tactical team stormed in and killed him, police have said.

The biggest gun lobby in the US, the National Rifle Association, is pressing ahead with preparations for its annual gathering in Houston, just 450km from the scene of the country's worst school shooting in a decade.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of carrying out a "genocide" in the eastern region of Donbas, where the city of Severodonetsk is suffering an onslaught of Russian shelling.

Researchers have successfully sequenced the human genome - DNA blueprint - of a man who died in Pompeii after the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD.

Japan has announced it will reopen to tourists from 98 countries and regions starting 10 June, ending a two-year pandemic closure, but travellers will only be allowed in with tour groups.

UK band Depeche Mode have announced that their keyboard player Andy Fletcher has died at the age of 60.

In Texas, eighteen-year-olds cannot buy beer in pubs or restaurants, they cannot rent cars, but they can buy assault rifles and over $2,000 worth of ammunition, writes Washington Correspondent Sean Whelan.

After six weeks of evidence and details of violent altercations between the pair, closing arguments are due in the US defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.

The husband of a teacher killed in this week's mass shooting at a Texas primary school has died from a heart attack, family members have said.

Ireland has secured an order of vaccines against monkeypox which is expected to be delivered "very shortly", according to the Health Service Executive.

Naturally-occurring radioactive gas radon is linked to 350 new cancer cases every year and the EPA has urged homeowners to test for it.

In Hostomel outside Kyiv, Roscommon man Aidan Geraghty stands over a crater blown into a secondary school's astroturf pitch.

New research has found that 62% of people feel they will have to cut back on food spending over the coming year in response to sharp price rises, while 53% of people worry they will be unable to pay higher energy bills.

Toronto police have shot and killed a man who was walking down a street carrying a gun in a city neighbourhood yesterday afternoon, an incident that prompted five nearby schools to be placed under precautionary lockdowns, city officials said.

More than 3,000 tonnes of Kinder products have been withdrawn from the market over salmonella fears leaving a dent of tens of millions of euros, a company official told France's Le Parisien daily.

Actor Kevin Spacey has been charged with four counts of sexual assault against three men, the UK's Crown Prosecution Service has said.

The Environmental Protection Agency has warned that the number of homes in Ireland at risk from radon, a cancer-causing gas linked to 350 new lung cancers each year, is significantly higher than previously thought.

Minister of State for Special Education Josepha Madigan has said the creation of special education centres to cater for children with autism and other intellectual disabilities who cannot secure a school place remains an option.

Northern Ireland will see further cases of monkeypox, the chief medical officer Michael McBride has predicted.

The massacre at an elementary school that killed 19 children and two teachers in Texas this week has once again spurred calls for Congress to act to stem US gun violence, including from Democratic Senator Chris Murphy and President Joe Biden.