Twenty-one people have tested positive for coronavirus onboard a cruise ship off the coast of California.
The Grand Princess is currently under orders to keep its distance from shore - but plans are being put in place to bring it to a non-commercial port.
At home, 22 cases have been confirmed on the island of Ireland after five more were diagnosed in the Republic and one more in the North yesterday.
The country’s Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan has said the risk of contracting the virus in Ireland still remains low.
***
Protesters are due to take to the streets of Dublin today opposing the formation of a government involving Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael.
A coalition of groups will join the march, insisting that the public signalled their desire for change in the General Election.
People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith has called on the public to voice its support for a government of the left.
She is warning that a grand coalition involving Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil is becoming increasingly likely.
***
The US President Donald Trump has appointed a new Special Envoy for Northern Ireland.
Mick Mulvaney will leave his role as acting Chief of Staff to take up the position, which has been vacant since President Trump came to power.
Republican Congressman Mark Meadows will now become Chief of Staff after recently announcing that he was not seeking re-election to the House of Representatives.
The first Special Envoy to Northern Ireland, Senator George Mitchell was appointed in 1995.
***
US police believe an Irishwoman killed three members of her own family before taking her own life.
It’s after four bodies were discovered in Reno, Nevada on Wednesday.
Reno Police have now identified Kerry woman Joan Huber as the suspect in an apparent murder-suicide.
They believe the 53-year-old shot her husband and their two teenage sons with a firearm.
***
A man in his 30's who was questioned about the abduction of Quinn Industrial Holdings director, Kevin Lunney, has been released without charge.
He was one of four people arrested on both sides of the border on Thursday.
Three other people - two men, aged 23 and 61, and a 61-year-old woman - who were arrested in Fermanagh as part of the investigation were released without charge yesterday.
Gardaí say a file is now being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
