Updated 9.31pm

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

Father Alec Reid who passed away today aged 82. (Image Credit: Graham Hughes/Photocall Ireland)

IRELAND

• Father Alec Reid, the priest who was filmed administering the last rites to two British soldiers who were killed at an IRA funeral in 1988, passed away.
• ESB unions issued a threat of strike action pending a meeting with company bosses next week.
• 24 organisations providing services on behalf of the HSE were confirmed to be in breach of remuneration and pay policy.
• Transport Minister Leo Varadkar said that the government has too much control over the Dáil.
• A student who was falsely accused of dodging a taxi fare was granted a stay on court costs awarded against him.
• The government pledged to address a ‘serious gap in the law’ on hit-and-run incidents.
• Tom Gilmartin, a key witness from the Mahon Tribunal, died.
• A 36-year-old woman was killed in a single car collision in Cork.
• The three women rescued from 30 years of captivity in London are doing “remarkably well“.
• A body of a man was found in a car park in Bray, raising concerns about homelessness in the town.
• Police in Derry dealt with an “elaborate hoax” involving three suspicious devices.
• One of the largest fishing vessels in the world was detained by the Irish Naval Service.
• A former Cork lord mayor was found guilty of sexually assaulting a teenage girl. [RTÉ]

INTERNATIONAL

The eternal flame flickers in the early morning light at the grave of John F. Kennedy. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

#UNITED STATES: Today marked the fifty years since the assassination of President John F Kennedy. Here’s the moment it was announced on CBS News in 1963.

#JAPAN: €53 million worth of cocaine washed up on a beach south of Tokyo.

#SOUTH AFRICA: Media defied a government warning and published pictures of the President’s private home, which had been revamped using taxpayers money.

#LATVIA: At least 48 people died in a shopping centre collapse. [BBC]

INNOVATION

• LG admitted to collecting data from smart TVs.
• Google Chairman Eric Schmidt said that government censorship could end in a decade.
• Three nanosatellites were released from the International Space Station. [NASA]
• China unveiled a new stealth combat drone.

PARTING SHOT

Today not only marks the fiftieth anniversary of JFK’s death, but also that of author CS Lewis, who passed away just one hour before JFK’s assassination. Here’s a clip from the 2005 film remake of the author most famous work, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe from The Chronicles of Narnia.

Originally published 9.30pm

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