The 5 at 5: Friday

EVERY WEEKDAY EVENING, The Journal brings you the five biggest stories of the day.

1. #TRAVEL BAN: THe EU has told member states that they should suspend all air travel betweeen their nations and countries that have been linked to the new Covid-19 variant.

2. #NEW VARIANT: What is the new variant that has people so worried? Read our explainer here.

3. #BROTHEL KEEPING: A man has been arrested for crimes related to brothel-keeping in a garda two joint days of action operation on human trafficking, part of a pan-European initiative.

4. #PENNEYS HUN: Penneys is to  to create 700 new jobs as part of a €250 million investment in stores in Ireland.

5. #PRICEY: A bridge or tunnel between Scotland and Northern Ireland would cost hundreds of billions of pounds, according to research commissioned by Boris Johnson.