NEED TO CATCH up? TheJournal.ie brings you a round-up of today’s news.

Ireland

Layla Whelan (age 7) and Conor Whelan (age 3) from Dublin pictured as they go tobogganing by the Papal Cross in Phoenix Park today. RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

• The government has done a u-turn on its plan for in-school teaching for Leaving Cert students from next week. From Monday, Leaving Cert students will revert to remote learning 5-days a week until the end of January.
• The Association of Secondary Teachers in Ireland and Teachers Union of Ireland both directed their members today not to co-operate with the Government’s plan for in-school teaching for Leaving Cert students. 
• The health service is preparing itself for a surge in Covid-19 hospitalisations over the next ten days, with an expected 400 people requiring critical care in the worst-case scenario.
• One in four positive Covid-19 cases in Ireland last week were that of the UK variant, Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan said in a letter to government on Tuesday.
• The Government is considering banning the sale of alcohol after a certain time of day.
• The HSE announced that 15,314 people have so far received the Covid-19 vaccine in the Republic of Ireland.
• RTÉ has apologised and will make a disclosure to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) after finding that its comedy sketch depicting God as a rapist breached broadcast standards. 
• Temperatures could get to as low as -4 tonight, Met Éireann warned.

WORLD 

Capitol police officers stand outside of fencing that was installed around the exterior of the Capitol grounds. Evan Vucci / PA Evan Vucci / PA / PA

#MAGA MOB: US president-elect Joe Biden has condemned Donald Trump’s behaviour and called those who stormed the US Capitol “domestic terrorists” as Democrats call for Trump’s removal from office. 

#BLOCKED: Facebook and Instagram blocked Donald Trump’s accounts “indefinitely” following yesterday’s unrest at the Capitol Buildings in Washington DC. 

#MISINFORMATION: Extreme right wing political views spread via social media through viral online conspiracy theories and misinformation over the past number of years culminated in the violence witnessed in Washington DC yesterday, experts believe 

PARTING SHOT 

There was a lot of fuss on Irish Twitter last night over Kerryman Donie O’Sullivan’s reporting from Capitol Hill for CNN.  

O’Sullivan said he was overwhelmed by the love from Ireland amidst yesterday’s madness. He is set to appear on the Late Late Show tomorrow night. 

Overwhelmed by all the love from Ireland tonight. ☘️ ❤️ https://t.co/rKCksNFxkk

— Donie O'Sullivan (@donie) January 7, 2021

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