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

IRELAND

President Michael D Higgins speaking in New York today

• Mícheál Martin has said that he is open to the prospect of banning flights from using Irish airspace if they have been found to have violated Irish law.
• Gardaí are searching for a man in relation to the hijacking of a car in Dublin earlier today, which had a five-month old baby in the back seat.
• A man in his 50s has been arrested after gardaí seized 40kg of suspected cocaine at Dublin Port.
• A woman who was unfairly dismissed as a result of a disability by builder suppliers Chadwicks has been awarded €60,000 by the WRC.
• President Michael D Higgins has accused Israel of leaking his letter of congratulations to the newly-elected Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian.
• A report from the High Court has found that protection orders for victims of domestic violence have increased by 25% in the last five years.
• A new €2,000 fine is to be introduced for the the selling of nicotine-inhaling products, such as vapes, at children’s events.
• Solid fuel burning and emmissions from road traffic continue to be the main threats to good air quality, a report by the Environmental Protection Agency has found.

INTERNATIONAL

Smoke rises from Israeli shelling on villages in the Nabatiyeh district in southern Lebanon. 23 September 2024.

#LEBANON: Israeli airstrikes have killed 356 people in Lebanon, including 24 children since this morning, in the largest escalation between Israel and Hezbollah in months.

#UNIFIL: Defence Forces personnel currently stationed along the Lebanese-Israeli border are all “safe and accounted for”, a Defence Forces spokesperson has said.

#UKRAINE: An ex-Irish soldier who died while serving the Ukrainian military was a member of the Army Ranger Wing.

#TRUMP: A man accused of attempting to assassinate US presidential candidate Donald Trump, apparently left a note say that he intended to “kill Trump”.

#EUROVISION: Ireland has confirmed that it will enter the Eurovision in 2025, set to be held in Basel, in Switzerland.

#LAST CHANCE: US presidential candidate Donald Trump has said that he will not run for the position again if he loses the 2024 election.

PARTING SHOT

Up now @thenation: this essential piece on Israel's attacks in Lebanon from @Seamus_Malek, who filed it under incredibly difficult circumstances. Please read https://t.co/GzN5MFqgUV

— Jack Mirkinson (@jackmirkinson) September 23, 2024

Read here: ‘Israel’s Terrorist Attacks Have Unleashed Hell in Lebanon’

Filed from the Beirut suburb in which he currently lives, Irish-American-Iranian journalist Séamus Malekafzali writes about the damage that Israeli attacks are doing to Lebanon, including the use of walkie-talkies and pagers as explosives, which have targeted devices used by healthcare workers.

“For those in Lebanon, this past week has been one long, earthshaking tragedy, one that has shocked a nation that after decades of conflict has built up resiliences to events that would grind other societies to a halt.

“Israel’s attacks have made Lebanon’s citizenry terrified of the devices they hold in their hands, paranoid about the compromised systems of distribution that enter their country, and fearful of a full-scale invasion by Israel, which has shown over the past 11 months that it recognizes no boundaries in war, only yet-to-be-realized opportunities,” he writes.