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

IRELAND

People swimming at the Forty Foot in Dublin today. Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

• The advice for teachers on how to calculate Leaving Cert marks for students has been published – but it hasn’t been widely welcomed by unions.
• A further 12 people have died from Covid-19 in Ireland, the Department of Health confirmed this evening.
• An investigation has been launched after the rear door of one of the Air Corps’ helicopters fell from the sky and landed in grounds surrounding the Moyle Park College area of Clondakin, Dublin. 
• Gardaí in Swords attended the scene this evening of a fatal crash involving a motorcycle and a truck.
• Full court sittings will resume as early as tomorrow, the Courts Service confirmed. 
• A teenager has been been arrested for fraudulently claiming Covid-19 payments, gardai have said
• The reproductive rate of Covid-19 in Ireland is around 0.45, Minister for Health Simon Harris told the Dáil this afternoon. 
• Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has warned that Ireland cannot borrow significant sums of money at cheap rates to manage the economic problems that arise as a result of Covid-19.

INTERNATIONAL

Uniformed doormen wear PPE including masks and a visor outside an entrance to Fortnum & Mason department store in Piccadilly, central London. Jonathan Brady / PA Wire/PA Images Jonathan Brady / PA Wire/PA Images / PA Wire/PA Images

#SPAT: The US has issued a wide-ranging attack on China highlighting Beijing’s ‘predatory’ economic policies, military buildup, disinformation campaigns and human rights violations.

#WHO: The World Health Organization has said that more than five million people have been infected by Covid-19 across the globe.

#UK: Boris Johnson may have had an “intimate relationship” with Jennifer Arcuri while London mayor, but will not face a criminal investigation over allegations he used his position to benefit the businesswoman, the police watchdog has said.

PARTING SHOT

Remember Jedward? The Lucan twins are surviving lockdown the only way they could – with celebrity pal Tara Reid in Los Angeles. 

John and Edward Grimes, of X Factor and later Eurovision fame, appeared in series eight of Celebrity Big Brother in 2011 where they met the US actress. 

Reid wanted the twins to join her as the US braced for the Covid-19 pandemic. 

“Right now to have them in my life here… they truly have made this experience so much better than it would it would have been for me… I got my best friends back, and we’re doing the best we can,” she said. 

Read all the details here.