GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
1. The Israeli military has withdrawn from Gaza’s main hospital – al-Shifa in Gaza City – after a two-week raid, leaving behind a scene of ‘total destruction’ according to witnesses.
It came as tens of thousands of Israelis gathered in central Jerusalem in the largest anti-government protest since the country went to war against Hamas in October.
2. An Irish woman has died after being stabbed in New York.
The 41-year-old, who was originally from Longford, died after the incident at an Irish pub in Queens on Saturday evening.
3. Management and staff at Ireland’s recently-formed technological universities have warned that the sector is facing into dangerous headwinds, amid a significant fall in enrolments and major funding struggles.
Eoghan Dalton writes about how the new minister for Higher Education – whoever that will be – will need to get to grip with mounting problems.
4. Germany has become the biggest country in the EU to partly decriminalise marijuana use as of today - despite fierce objections from opposition politicians and medical associations.
Under the first step in the much-debated new law, adults over 18 are now allowed to carry 25g of cannabis and cultivate up to three marijuana plants at home.
The changes leave Germany with some of the most liberal cannabis laws in Europe, alongside Malta and Luxembourg, which legalised recreational use in 2021 and 2023, respectively.
5. Opus Dei has rejected claims by an Irish woman that the secretive Catholic group exploited her when she was a member during the late 1970s.
Anne Marie Allen spoke out alongside other former members against Opus Dei in a recent investigation by the Financial Times. Allen spent over five years as an unpaid assistant numerary in the Opus Dei religious group. While Opus Dei have said it is “very sorry and deeply regret that Anne Marie Allen was hurt by her time in Opus Dei”, it rejected claims of poor treatment and exploitation, adding that former members must file an official complaint.
6. Gardaí have appealed for witnesses after a man in his 60s was knocked down and killed during a collision with a car while cycling in Kildare yesterday.
The man was pronounced dead at the scene. Gardaí have appealed for anyone who saw what happened to come forward.
7. ‘I see him all the time, he’s always on my TikTok.’ With Simon Harris set to become the youngest Taoiseach Ireland has ever seen in just under two weeks’ time, we asked students what they thought of him.
The prevailing sentiment: he is one of the most visible politicians in Ireland due to his use of social media, which is how most students are aware of him.
8. Turkey’s main opposition party has claimed major election victories in local elections across the country, in a significant blow for the country’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The Turkish leader has said that Turkey is at a “turning point” after what isb eing called his worst election defeat since his party took power in 2002.
9. It’s looking like it’s going to be a wet Bank Holiday: Met Éireann says that large parts of the country will be cloudy today with showers or – gasp – longer spells of rain throughout the day.
Highest temperatures will hit 13 degrees today, but at least we’re promised sunny spells tomorrow to ease ourselves back to work.
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