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

IRELAND

Arts Event at Elizabeth Fort for Cork World Book Fest. Clare Keogh Clare Keogh

• Taoiseach Simon Harris said that Ireland will not be a “loophole” for other countries “migration challenges”.
• A man in his twenties was killed in a collision between a quad bike and a tractor in Co Galway. 
• Enterprise Minister Peter Burke said the Government has enough votes to pass Ireland’s joining the EU migration pact. 
• HSE chief Bernard Gloster said that the emergency department at UHL is now safe since the death of Aoife Johnston. 
• Mary Lou McDonald defended Sinn Fein’s stance on “open borders”.
• People in Newtown in Co Wicklow once again marched through the town in protest over plans to house asylum seekers at a disused site nearby.
• A man was arrested in Tyrone for allegedly threatening people while wielding two machetes. 
• Support for Fianna Fáil slumped to a two-year low as independents made gains. 
• A FactCheck by The Journal found that Simon Harris falsely claimed that sinn Féin had proposed to spend €500 million less that the Government on health. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in Saudi Arabia where the Israeli war on Gaza is on the agenda. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#GAZA Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said that the United States is the only country that can stop Israel’s planned invasion of Rafa city in Gaza. 

#UKRAINE Russian drones struck the Black Sea city of Mykolaiv, setting a hotel on fire and damaging energy infrastructure, the local Ukrainian governor has said.

#ITALY Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has said she will stand in the upcoming European Parliament elections, a move apparently calculated to boost her far-right party, although she would be forced to resign immediately.

#USA US President Joe Biden poked fun at himself but took sharp aim at his election rival Donald Trump last night at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, as protesters outside demonstrated against the conflict in Gaza.

PARTING SHOT

Voices

WE TRY AND live simply but the world is complex.

It has always been this way.

It is early autumn and I am standing in the sheep shed of our farm. Before me stand twelve sheep. They are, to be precise, twelve hoggets, the name we give to maiden females. These twelve ladies are mine. I have bought them from my parents with the money I earned from my words, from my books.

I am a shepherd for the first time in my life. I am in the twilight of my youth and the budding of my middle age. I am older than Christ when he died and the same age as Buddha when he attained enlightenment. Both figures have walked beside me for so many years now. They have been part of my continuance. In ways I think that counts for some good, though I’m no sage.

You can read the rest of John O’Connell’s Voices article here.