GOOD MORNING.

Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.

US strikes on Syria and Iraq

1. Syria has pushed back against US attacks on its soil, saying US occupation of Syrian territory “cannot continue”.

The US military launched an air assault on dozens of sites in Iraq and Syria used by Iranian-backed militias and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds force.

The attack was a move in retaliation for the drone strike that killed three US troops in Jordan last weekend. 

Northern Ireland Assembly

2. The Northern Ireland Assembly is on the brink of returning to Stormont, with Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill set to become First Minister.

Northern Ireland’s political parties will appoint members to ministerial roles using a method called the d’Hondt system.

How does the system work — and who might come away with a role?

Gaza

3. Israel hit the crowded border town of Rafah in the early hours of this morning, where hundreds of thousands of people have fled to while escaping conflict further north.

Rafah, which has a border crossing with Egypt, formerly had a population of 200,000 but is now holding more than half of Gaza’s total population of over two million, according to the World Health Organisation.

Gaza’s health ministry said more than 100 people were killed overnight and an AFP journalist reported hearing powerful explosions shortly after midnight.

Brianna Ghey murderers sentenced

4. Scarlett Jenkinson and Eddie Ratcliffe have each been given a life sentence at Manchester Crown Court and ordered to serve a minimum term of 22 and 20 years respectively before parole for the murder of teenager Brianna Ghey.

The killers, both 15 at the time, had been found guilty of the “disturbing” plan to murder Brianna, 16, in a “frenzied and ferocious” knife attack.

Knife attack in Paris

5. Three people have been injured in a knife attack at the Gare de Lyon railway station in Paris.

A suspect has been arrested, according to police.

One person suffered serious injuries, while the other two received more minor wounds.

Homeless shelter

6. Gardaí and Tusla have been contacted by a local authority over concerns raised about the housing of three convicted sex offenders in a homeless hostel in the south of the country, two of whom have been deemed by the courts to be at a high risk of reoffending.

It’s on foot of a letter, understood to have been signed by a group of the shelter’s residents, which alleges that they have felt threatened over the placement of the convicted sex offenders in the facility. The letter has been circulated to local representatives in the area.

The letter, seen by The Journal, accused management of the hostel of “showing complete disregard to the safety” of victims of abuse who happen to reside in the shelter.

Sophie Toscan Du Plantier

7. Sophie Toscan Du Plantier’s son said he now has “peace again” following the passing of Ian Bailey.

Bailey, the chief suspect for the murder of Sophie Toscan du Plantier, died last month.

Sophie’s son, Pierre-Louis Baudey-Vignaud, told RTÉ’s The Late Late Show: “I’ve been fighting for 27 years, and it’s game over. Finally, it’s game over, there is no happy end but it’s game over.”

School meals

8. Concerns have been raised with the Department of Social Protection that children with Coeliac Disease, of which there are over 22,000 in Ireland, are not being “catered for” by the state’s School Meals Programme.

The programme provides funding towards food services to 1,700 schools in Ireland, attended by over 300,000 children. It is being rolled out to hundreds more schools this year.

Gill Brennan, the head of Advocacy for the Coeliac Society of Ireland told The Journal that the organisation was “surprised” when parents of children with Coeliac Disease contacted to the organisation about their children not being catered for under the programme.

Student housing

9. Vulture funds now own more student accommodation in Dublin than DCU, UCD and Trinity College combined, with 7,538 beds compared to 5,602.

The situation is the same in Cork where investment funds own at least 3,099 student accommodation beds compared to the 1,530 beds owned by University College Cork.