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

IRELAND

Artist Ann Lambe making finishing touches to mural depicting old buildings, such as the Red Abbey in Cork, to encourage people to be mindful of measures to encourage more nesting by swifts. Swift numbers have declined by 40% in the past 15 years due to loss of habitat and upgrading old buildings

• Gardaí launched a human trafficking investigation after 14 people were found in a refrigerated trailer at Rosslare Port in Co Wexford.
• A psychiatrist disputed a former Fianna Fáil TD’s evidence to a State inquiry that he provided treatment to child sex abuser Bill Kenneally.
• A building in Carlow town earmarked for 50 male international protection applicants will now house families instead. The 15-room Capuchin Friary on Dublin Street is the latest site of a protest over the housing of men in emergency accommodation.
• A fourth person was arrested as part of the investigations surrounding the deaths of two men following the incident at a restaurant in Blanchardstown on Christmas Eve.
• A murder investigation was launched after a man was shot multiple times in Belfast last night.
• A young Donegal man was charged with causing his girlfriend’s death in a tragic road crash. Charlotte Kelly, from Letterkenny, died after the car in which she was a passenger crashed on 1 May, 2022.
• Minister Eamon Ryan said there are “irrefutable” points in the genocide case South Africa has taken against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). 
• The average time to travel 10 kilometers in Dublin increased by one minute last year, leading it to become the second slowest city in the world.
• Waterford was placed number 30 in a New York Times list of ‘52 Places to Go’ this year.
• Dublin Airport unveiled plans to overhaul its food and drink services in both terminals.

INTERNATIONAL

Pride march in Athens in June 2023 Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#POST OFFICE: British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced his government will introduce legislation to ensure subpostmasters who were wrongfully convicted because of the Horizon scandal are “exonerated and compensated”. 

#LGBT: Greece’s Prime Minister announced the country will legalise marriage and adoption by same-sex couples, but gave no timeframe on the taboo issue in the staunchly Orthodox Christian state.

#GANG VIOLENCE: Ecuador’s president gave orders yesterday to “neutralize” criminal gangs after gunmen stormed and opened fire in a TV studio, as bandits threatened random executions on a second day of terror in the country.

#GENOCIDE: Preliminary hearings of the case South Africa has submitted to the International Court of Justice in which it accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza will be held this Thursday and Friday. You can read more about the case and what to expect this week here.

PARTING SHOT

Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Four of the six candidates for Ireland’s entry to this year’s Eurovision Song Contest have now been announced.

Erica Cody, Ailsha, JyellowL and Isabella Kearney are among the hopefuls that will compete in the Eurosong contest to be held on 26 January during a special edition of The Late Late Show.

The staple of the Irish and European calendar is set to take place in Sweden on 11 May this year, after Eurovision 2023 saw Loreen win the contest for the second time. 

You can listen to all four entries so far here.