King Charles
Britain's King Charles III will address a country in mourning on Friday following the death of his mother Queen Elizabeth, the only monarch most Britons ever knew and the "spirit of the nation" for seven decades.
King Charles received the heartfelt condolences of the public when he arrived at Buckingham Palace for the first time as the nation’s new monarch.
Charles and the Queen consort travelled to the head of state’s official residence from Balmoral to view floral tributes left in memory of his mother, and to thank the crowds for offering their sympathy.
In a touching moment Charles put his hand around his wife who appeared close to tears after the couple shook every outstretched hand and acknowledged words of sympathy from the crowds during a 15-minute walkabout at the place gates.
New UK PM
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has had his first call with Britain's new prime minister Liz Truss on Friday afternoon following her appointment on Tuesday.
Mr Martin offered his sympathies to Ms Truss after news of the death of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on Thursday.
The queen's death came just two days after inviting the new prime minister to form a government at her estate in Balmoral, Scotland after Boris Johnson formally tendered his resignation to the British monarch.
In a statement, the Department of the Taoiseach confirmed Mr Martin and Ms Truss reflected on the queen's State visit to Ireland in 2011 "and its contribution to advancing reconciliation and relations on these islands".
Tallaght funeral
The funeral of three siblings who were killed in a violent attack at their home has taken place in Dublin.
Lisa Cash (18) and her eight-year-old twin brother and sister Christy and Chelsea Cawley died in the incident in Tallaght in the early hours of Sunday.
Following the funeral mass at St Aidan’s Church in Brookfield, Tallaght, the three siblings were taken on horse-drawn carriage for burial at Bohernabreena Cemetery.
Hundreds of people attended the requiem mass on Friday morning.
Energy crisis summit
European Union nations have struggled to find common ground on ways to shield the population from dramatically increasing energy prices that threaten to plunge millions into cold and poverty over the winter as Russia chokes off natural gas supplies.
As tensions with Moscow mount over the war in Ukraine, the energy ministers of the EU’s 27 nations could not paper over differences on whether and how to impose a price cap on Russian natural gas, with ever-recalcitrant Hungary refusing to agree, saying it would go against its supply interests.
Other countries differed on whether a price cap should apply only to Russia or to other producers too.
An immediate solution had not been anticipated at Friday’s meeting, but it indicated how Moscow’s gas restrictions and threat of a full cut-off have dominated the political agenda of a rich bloc of nations struggling to ensure basic services such as heat and light.
Leaving Cert cheating
A surge in the detection of suspected cheating in this year's Leaving Cert exams has resulted in 62 students having results permanently withheld by the State Examinations Commission (SEC).
New figures provided by the SEC on Friday show that 62 exam results from the Leaving Cert/Leaving Cert Applied have been permanently with-held this year with the SEC confirming that it has provisionally withheld an additional 10 Leaving Cert results, on a without prejudice basis, pending further communication with the schools and candidates concerned.
The 62 exam results “permanently withheld” by the SEC this year “includes full results withheld, or marks withheld, from candidates found to be in breach of the SEC's examinations regulations”.
Garth Brooks gigs
It has been a long time coming with plenty of ups and downs along the way but Garth Brooks fans will finally see him take to the stage again at Dublin’s Croke Park later today.
The US country music superstar is due to play five concerts at the stadium over the course of nine days.
The 60-year-old became emotional at a press conference in Dublin on Thursday as he spoke of his excitement and nervousness ahead of opening night.
“I’ve been waiting for this my whole life,” he said, adding that he didn’t care about the poor weather forecasted and that he was “gonna dance in the rain”.
Trump lawsuit
A federal judge has dismissed Donald Trump’s lawsuit against 2016 Democratic rival Hillary Clinton and former top FBI officials, rejecting the former US president’s claims that they and others acted in concert to concoct the Russia investigation that shadowed much of his administration.
US District Judge Donald Middlebrooks said in a sharply worded ruling on Thursday in Florida that Mr Trump’s lawsuit, filed in March, contained “glaring structural deficiencies” and that many of the “characterisations of events are implausible
