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

Updated 23.07

Recruits listen intently during the Garda Reserve graduation in Templemore today. (Pic: Niall Carson/PA Wire)

IRELAND

• Bord Gáis Energy will be sold to the company behind British Gas for €1.12 billion.
• Ex-CRC chief Brian Conlon has agreed to appear before the Dáil Public Accounts Committee.
• Low-income groups were hardest hit by Budget 2014.
• Gerald Vollrath pleaded guilty to the attempted murder of his elderly mother. [RTÉ]
• The ECHR has ruled that the Special Criminal Court did not violate the human rights of a man accused of being a member of the IRA.
• A new recruitment campaign was launched by the Gardaí.
• The former headquarters of the Quinn Group was attacked last night.
• A dispute over workers pay is risking 670 jobs at a German crane manufacturer in Kerry.
• Hackney licences will be given to people in rural areas for €50 per vehicle.
• Health Minister James Reilly said the HSE bailout of €199 million is a “considerable achievement”.
• Two masked men armed with a small hatchet and a claw hammer raided a post office in Cork.
• The average rent in Dublin now over €1,000 a month.
• Ulster Bank customers faced more payments problems.
• Cork-based financial firm Assurant Solutions told 160 staff their jobs were in review.

WORLD

Thamsanqa Jantjie gesticulates at his home during an interview  in Johannesburg, South Africa. (Pic: AP Photo/Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi)

#MADIBA: The ‘fake’ deaf interpreter at Nelson Mandela’s memorial says he had ‘schizophrenic episode’ during the ceremony.

#SPAIN: The Spanish government has vowed to block plans by parties in Catalonia to hold a referendum on independence. [BBC]

#BANGLADESH: An Islamist leader was hanged in Bangladesh despite pleas from the UN for the country not to go ahead with the execution. [CNN]

INNOVATION

• Instagram launched a new private messaging service to challenge rivals such as Snapchat and WhatsApp.
• A London designer has created a running shoe concept that can be made from a 3D-printer and can repair itself overnight.
• This smart ring lets you control your phone and receive updates on your finger.

PARTING SHOT

An 85-year-old Irish man living in London has spoken to the Irish Post newspaper about spending Christmas Day alone for the past ten years. James Gray placed an ad in the newspaper to set up a pensioners group for people to celebrate Christmas together but received only one response. The respondent later told him she would be spending Christmas Day with someone else. “I am used to the loneliness, but I do not want it to be the same this year,” Gray told the paper. [The Irish Post]