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

IRELAND

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar takes part in annual 'Who'll Blink First'? competition in Swords, Dublin. Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

• Taoiseach Leo Varadkar strongly hinted that Maria Bailey will be taken off the ticket for the next general election, stating that the “democratic will of the constituency should be respected.
• Eighteen people were injured following a collision involving a bus and a truck in Co Monaghan.
• Irish students on study abroad programmes in Hong Kong were asked to return home by Irish universities after violent pro-democracy protests spilled over onto university campuses.
• Three people were arrested in relation to the abduction and kidnap of Quinn Industrial Holdings director Kevin Lunney.
• A man who harassed six female writers and journalists by sending them hundreds of abusive emails online has been jailed for three years.
• The Court of Appeal overturned an “unduly rigid” and “unworkable” High Court decision that Irish citizenship applicants must have “unbroken” residence in the State in the year before they apply. 
• The National Transport Authority was accused of “gross mismanagement” of its budget after it emerged it’s paying agency staff double what it is paying its own full-time staff.

THE WORLD 

Mysticete by Topla Design/Catherine Garre, one of the artworks at Lumiere Durham, the UK's largest light festival. PA Wire / PA Images PA Wire / PA Images / PA Images

#ITALY: The Italian government declared a state of emergency in the flood-ravaged city of Venice. 

#UNITED STATES: One person died and several people were injured during a shooting at Saugus High School, Santa Clarita, California. 

#TURKEY: Authorities barred the wife of a former British army officer who founded the White Helmets volunteer group from leaving Turkey, pending the investigation into his death.

PARTING SHOT

What a load of MacClunkey!

Read The Guardian’s Ben Child’s take on this addition to a classic scene from space opera Star Wars.