Ministers finalising plans

A terminally ill woman who took a High Court action over the misreporting of her smear test slides has settled her case. The settlement was reached a day after the HSE and a hospital apologised to the 40-year-old woman after it was acknowledged the reporting of her smear test "fell below a reasonable standard" and had "devastating consequences" for the woman who could die at any time.

The EU's chief Brexit negotiator Maroš Šefčovič has told member states that there was no deal yet on the Northern Ireland Protocol, but that things could move "quickly" in the coming days. Mr Šefčovič briefed 27 EU ambassadors in Brussels this afternoon following his lunch with the British foreign secretary James Cleverly. An EU diplomat briefed on the meeting said: "The notion was very clear: there is no deal yet.

Eighteen migrants have been found dead in an abandoned truck, Bulgaria's interior ministry has said, as the Balkan nation struggles with an increase in illicit border crossings. The vehicle "was illegally transporting around 40 migrants hidden under some wood", the ministry said. "Eighteen of them have died." After locals alerted the police, the truck was located near the village of Lokorsko, 20 kilometres northeast of Bulgaria's capital Sofia.