NEED TO CATCH up? The Journal brings you a roundup of today’s news.

IRELAND

Several tents have been pitched in the area near the International Protection Office on Mount Street Lauren Boland Lauren Boland

• The family of Bernard Phelan, an Irish citizen who is to be released after spending more than six months imprisoned in Iran on spying charges, have said they “cannot express how relieved” they are after receiving the news about his pardon.
• Two long-time friends of the Hutch family have received combined jail sentences totalling 17-and-a-half years at the Special Criminal Court for acting as getaway drivers during the notorious Regency Hotel attack in 2016 during which Kinahan Cartel member David Byrne was murdered.
• Gardaí are investigating an incident in Dublin after footage emerged on social media last night of a protest targeting a site where international protection applicants are sleeping in tents.
• There has been another arrest made by gardaí investigating the murder of Eddie Hutch seven years ago.
•  The Irish military has launched a campaign to recruit Russian language and cultural analysts who will work with intelligence officers, The Journal has learned.
• A Derry SDLP MLA has called on the Derry senior football manager Rory Gallagher to ‘step aside’ ahead of this Sunday’s Ulster Final following domestic abuse allegations against him.
• Jameson’s parent company has announced that it has stopped exporting the whiskey to Russia as a result of the war in Ukraine.
• A report surveying a panel of young people for the Citizens’ Assembly on Drugs has called for the decriminalisation of drugs and easier access to self-injecting facilities.

INTERNATIONAL

Police fire tear gas to disperse supporters of Pakistan's former Prime Minister Imran Khan, protesting against his arrest Peshawar on Tuesday. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#JORDAN NEELY A man who kept a chokehold around the neck of an agitated fellow passenger in the New York City subway, leading to the other rider’s death, has turned himself in to authorities on a manslaughter charge that could send him to prison for 15 years.

#SPACE Astronomers said today that they have identified the “largest” cosmic explosion ever observed, a fireball 100 times the size of our Solar System that suddenly began blazing in the distant universe more than three years ago.

#PAKISTAN A court in Islamabad has granted former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan a two-week reprieve from arrest in a corruption case, granting him bail on the charges.

#UKRAINE Ukrainian officials today said that its forces had recaptured chunks of territory around the embattled city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region. 

PARTING SHOT

Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Serbia’s Eurovision contestant Luke Black warming up for tomorrow’s final in Liverpool.

Earlier today, a former RTÉ boss and head of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has said that it is always possible for countries to turn their Eurovision fortunes around, citing the UK’s success in the 2022 contest.

Noel Curran, the Director General of the EBU said he wasn’t concerned at the prospect of countries “losing heart” during unsuccessful periods at the contest where they may not qualify for the final. 

While Curran was not speaking about Ireland specifically in is answer, his response comes after our act – Wild Youth – crashed out of the competition on Tuesday night.