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

IRELAND

Horse lovers protested today outside Shannonside Foods in Co Kildare to leave messages and ribbons covering the facility entrance. The factory was the focus of an RTÉ exposé this week, with the company stating that it takes the allegations seriously and will investigate them. Eamonn Farrell Eamonn Farrell

• With Ireland electing over 180 Independents, we analysed who they are and what it means.
• And after dozens of far-right candidates stood, The Journal looked at whether they could become a political force.
• The government was criticised for ‘performative cruelty’ over Ukrainians facing homelessness when their stays in state accommodation ends.
• Tributes were paid to a teenager who lost his life in a tragic work incident in Co Cavan on Thursday.
• Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns said she was “overjoyed” to share news of her pregnancy.
• Sinn Féin’s Michelle O’Neill vowed at a unity rally that Casement Park will be ‘built on my watch’.

INTERNATIONAL

Muslim pilgrims gather at the top of the rocky hill known as the Mountain of Mercy in Saudi Arabia. Rafiq Maqbool / AP Rafiq Maqbool / AP / AP

#PEACE SUMMIT: World leaders attended a Swiss resort for a peace summit for Ukraine – some of the global honchos in attendance were Volodymyr Zelenskyy, US vice president Kamala Harris and Taoiseach Simon Harris.

#GAZA: Eight Israeli soldiers have been killed in southern Gaza in the deadliest attack on the country’s forces in months.

#SOUTH AFRICA: South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa has been re-elected for a second term after his African National Congress party struck a dramatic late coalition deal with the main opposition and other parties.

PARTING SHOT

A surprise name featured among the birthday honours list for the UK’s King Charles today.

Derek Byrne, a former assistant commissioner in An Garda Síochána, was honoured in the ceremonial awards.

Why? It turns out Byrne headed up the Cayman Islands police force after his time in Ireland from 2016-23.

He’s being awarded a King’s Police Medal for “services to policing in the Cayman Islands and in support of other British Overseas Territories”, according to local news outlet the Cayman Compass.