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

IRELAND

Beta Festival: Olly Dawkins with ‘Data Stories Dublin’, a model created by the Data Stories project at Maynooth University. Mark Stedman Mark Stedman

• A teacher who accused gardaí of ‘turning a blind eye’ to various issues in Co Waterford was dealt a five-year prison sentence for a campaign of ‘targeted harassment’ against the three men.
• The teenager who murdered Urantsetseg Tserendorj as she walked home from work is to remain serving his life sentence after his conviction was today upheld by the Court of Appeal. 
• The gap between the country’s most disadvantaged areas and the national average has increased across communities in the country, hinting that Ireland is becoming more unequal, a report found. 
• The Government launched a new framework that will enable public buildings to easily purchase period products and no-cost vending machines.
• Three reviews into RTÉ’s finances by consultants Grant Thornton cost almost €500,000, new documents revealed.
• Limerick hurler Pat Ryan successfully appealed a jail sentence and conviction for perjury today, seven months after he had pleaded guilty to lying during criminal proceedings against him.
• Josef Puska took the stand to give evidence in his defence against the charge that he murdered 23-year-old school teacher Ashling Murphy.
• The Government extended the time until 5 November to avail of funding from two emergency schemes for premises damaged by floods that are unable to get flood insurance.
• Gardaí arrested a man in his 20s in relation to the fatal hit-and-run which killed Carol Seery in Phibsborough in Dublin last month.
• The Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) found that An Garda Siochána discriminated against a sergeant who had suffered life changing injuries in an assault on duty.

INTERNATIONAL 

People offer flowers in the late former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's hometown of Hefei, Anhui Province as his funeral is held. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#GAZA Hundreds more foreigners fled war-torn Gaza for Egypt today as Israeli forces bombarded and fought ground battles in the besieged Palestinian territory, where thousands have been killed.

#TRUMP Donald Trump Jr told the judge in the civil fraud trial that threatens the family real estate business in New York that he had not been involved in the financial documents at the center of the prosecution.

#NUCLEAR TREATY Russia withdrew from an international treaty against testing nuclear weapons as it denied the war in Ukraine had become a “stalemate”. 

#DEATH CAP Australian police charged a woman with murder over a mushroom meal that left three people dead and a local preacher fighting for his life.

#NOW AND THEN The Beatles released their last ever song today after plenty of anticipation from fans. 

#STORM CIARÁN After battering Northern France with record winds of 200km/h that killed a lorry driver, Storm Ciarán headed north with Britain on high alert amid warnings of flooding, blackouts and major travel disruptions.

PARTING SHOT 

Aoibheann Greenan and their work ‘The Ninth Muse’ which speculates on the creative and social ramifications of brain-machine interfacing. Mark Stedman Mark Stedman

THE BETA FESTIVAL opened today for the first time and will run until 5 November.

Beta’s website describes the event as “a new festival of art and technology critically engaging with the impact of emerging technologies on society.

“Taking Ireland’s role as a central node in today’s wired world as a starting point, Beta will showcase and celebrate Ireland’s research and artistic communities through a combination of creativity, debate and experimentation.”

You can find more details here.