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

IRELAND

A Dublin Fire Brigade recruit passing out ceremony. Conor McCabe Conor McCabe

• One further death relating to Covid-19 and 136 new cases were confirmed by health officials.
• The acting Chief Medical Officer refused to comment on reports that restrictions in Offaly and Laois but not Kildare could be lifted.  
• A HSE study on Covid-19 antibodies in the Irish population has found that 1.7% had antibodies.
• Agriculture Minister Dara Calleary has apologised “unreservedly” after attending a golf function with over 80 attendees at a hotel last night. 
• Taoiseach Micheál Martin was confronted by a schoolteacher in Cork over what she describes as “unsafe” plans for the reopening of schools. 
• A Cork Senator has called for an investigation into flooding in Skibbereen which devastated over two dozen businesses and homes due to Storm Ellen.
• The storm brought Ireland’s highest 10-minute mean wind speed for August since 1973 as it moved across the country last night.
• The government has announced that it will run school buses for secondary students at 50% capacity when schools reopen. 
• The HSE has said that in recent weeks some people have had over 40 or even up to 50 contacts per person during contact tracing. 
• Northern Ireland has introduces limits on house visits and gatherings ahead of the reopening of schools.
• The government has issued yet another statement in an attempt to clarify the numbers allowed at certain arts and culture events.
• The host of the controversial brunch event at Dublin pub Berlin D2 has defended the event. 

WORLD

A view of London with the sun setting over the London Eye. PA Images PA Images

#STEVE BANNON: Former White House advisor advisor Steve Bannon has been arrested on charges that he and three others ripped off donors to an online fundraising scheme called We Build The Wall.

#MOSCOW: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny is unconscious and in intensive care in hospital after apparently being poisoned.

#DEMOCRATS: Kamala Harris made history history last night when she accepted the Democratic nomination for vice president.

PARTING SHOT

Local officials in Florida have approved the release of 750 million mosquitoes that have been genetically modified to reduce local populations, BBC News reports. 

The aim is to reduce the number of mosquitoes that carry diseases like dengue or the Zika virus. The green-lighting of a pilot project after years of debate drew a swift outcry from environmental groups, who warned of unintended consequences.

One group condemned the plan as a public “Jurassic Park experiment”.