EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you all the news you need to know as you start the day.

1. #EASING LOCKDOWN: Level 5 restrictions are to remain in place until at least 5 April, at which point they will be reviewed, the Cabinet Covid-19 sub-committee agreed last night.

2. #CLARITY: The Health Minister has sought to clarify remarks he made over the re-opening of schools in a television interview last night, and said that negotiations have concluded with teaching unions in this regard.

3. #HOMELESSNESS: A report has found that the Covid-19 pandemic has encouraged more single-occupancy rooms in homeless accommodation, and that measures taken in response could act as a “systems accelerant” for improvements.

4. #STILL MISSING: The community of Bray in Co Wicklow has rallied around the family of missing woman Esra Uyrun as they cannot travel to Ireland this year to raise awareness of her case, ten years on from her disappearance.

5. #WEATHER WATCH: A Status Orange rainfall warning is in effect for for Cork, Kerry, Tipperary and Waterford until 9pm tonight, with flooding reported in parts of Cork this morning. 

6. #COMPROMISE: Facebook has said it will lift a contentious ban on Australian news pages, after the government agreed to amend a world-first law requiring tech giants to pay media companies.

7. #EMMA CORONEL: The wife of Mexican drug kingpin and escape artist Joaquin El Chapo Guzman has been arrested at an airport in Virginia on international drug trafficking charges, the US Justice Department said.

8. #CHECKING IN: Summer bookings for Irish hotels and guesthouses are at a historic low, according to the Irish Hotels Federation, with the industry group calling for certainty around business and employee supports as a matter of urgency.

9. #6 JANUARY: Congress is set to hear from former US Capitol security officials for the first time about the massive law enforcement failures on 6 January.