LAST UPDATE | 4 hrs ago

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

IRELAND

Marking the launch of the programme for Dublin Book Festival 2024 Author Michelle Darmody reads to Roisin (2), Doireann (8) and Tadgh Doyle (6) in the National Botanic Gardens at the launch of this year's Dublin Book Festival programme. Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

• A man and a woman have appeared before a court in Wexford charged in relation to the killing of Stephen Ring.
• A judge at a sentencing hearing of a 26-year-old man who pleaded guilty to raping his cousin has warned that early consumption of pornography led the accused to view his young relative as the “human equivalent of a blow up sex doll.”
• Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has said she “deeply regrets” the statement she made praising senator Niall Ó Donnghaile following his resignation. 
• A hospital has issued an apology over the death of a Mayo woman who died a few hours after laboratory staff failed to escalate abnormal blood test results.
• A 46-year-old woman has pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the death of a 50 year old mother of two who worked as a special needs assistance at a school in Cork.
• Residents of a small Cork Harbour town have appealed for help from the State to deal with the loud round the clock noise from an unwelcome alleged drug trafficking ship.
• Far right activist and election candidate Derek Blighe has withdrawn his appeal to a conviction for theft at a shop helping Ukrainian refugees in Cork.
• Three men accused of attacking a woman who was severely injured after she was allegedly held at a flat in Dublin have been refused bail.

INTERNATIONAL

Rescue workers search for victims at a destroyed building hit in an Israeli airstrike, in the southern port city of Sidon, Lebanon. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#LEBANON: A rocket has hit the headquarters of the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon which the battalion believe was fired by militant group Hezbollah or its affiliates.

#SOUTHPORT: The teenager accused of the fatal stabbing of three girls at a dance class in Southport has been charged with production of a deadly poison and a terror offence.

#SLAVERY REPARATIONS: Tory leadership candidate Robert Jenrick said that former British colonies owe a “debt of gratitude” and should be thanking Britain for the legacy of empire – not asking for slavery reparations. 

#CNN: CNN has issued an apology to its viewers after a guest on the panel of its show NewsNight told broadcaster Mehdi Hasan, who was also a guest on the show, that he hoped his “beeper doesn’t go off.”

PARTING SHOT 

AS THE LEAGUE of Ireland season draws towards its nerve-shredding final day, Gav and Sinead discuss the boom in popularity of domestic football.

Why have crowds increased so significantly this decade? And can the rising numbers be leveraged into that most elusive and long-desired of things: a thriving football industry in Ireland. 

You can listen to the podcast here, or wherever you get your podcasts.