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

IRELAND

Nigerian-Irish poet and playwright FeliSpeaks, performing the live debut of their new poem, 'HUMAN?', at the 2023 Research Summit in Cork today. Clare Keogh Clare Keogh

• A major analysis showed how the Irish disinformation ecosystem has been ‘co-opted by far-right actors’. 
• The report coincided with Jacinda Ardern, the former prime minister of New Zealand, telling a Dublin conference that more needs to be done to combat extremist content online.
• European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness announced that she will not be a candidate for election to the European Parliament in the next elections in June 2024.
• Gardaí investigating the gangland murder of a man in Finglas this weekend are examining if a row between the victim and a local criminal was the catalyst for the shooting.
• Two people were sent forward for trial charged with murder after the body of a man was found off Sliabh Liag cliffs in Co Donegal in July.
• A woman was stabbed in an apparent random incident in Dublin city centre last week, The Journal learned.  
• Hundreds of thousands of people will this week receive payments under the first tranche of cost-of-living support payments agreed in the Budget.
• Gardaí launched an investigation after paint was thrown on the facade of the Department of Foreign Affairs at the weekend.
• The second murder trial of James Kilroy, who admits killing his wife Valerie at their rural Co Mayo home, has collapsed after a key defence witness became unavailable to give evidence. 
• A man who raped his partner the night she returned home from hospital having just miscarried their child has been jailed for 11-and-a-half years. 
• A jury was sworn in to hear a trial of three men, including five-time All-Ireland winning Limerick hurler Kyle Hayes, who are charged with violent disorder and assault causing harm to a man at a nightclub in Limerick city. 
• European parliament elections could see Ireland’s Midlands-North West constituency gain an additional seat after a recommendation by the Electoral Commission.

INTERNATIONAL

Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized an Israeli-linked cargo ship in the southern Red Sea and took its 25 crew members hostage. The move raised fears that regional tensions heightened by the war are spilling into the seas. AP AP

#GAZA Mike Ryan, the head of the World Health Organisation’s health emergencies programme said that a ceasefire would be “the best medicine for the children of Gaza”, as the Qatari prime minister revealed that only “minor” practical details remain unresolved over a deal to release hostages. 

#UK Boris Johnson was “bamboozled” by the graphs and data presented to him during the pandemic and was sometimes a “broken” man, the UK Covid-19 Inquiry heard today. 

#ARGENTINA Who is Javier Milei, the chainsaw-wielding outsider who is Argentina’s new president?

#OPENAI Co-founder of OpenAI, Sam Altman, is joining Microsoft following his shock sacking from the company whose ChatGPT chatbot has led the rapid rise of artificial intelligence technology.

PARTING SHOT

Bloody Sunday Bridge has been officially named by Lord Mayor of Dublin Daithí de Róiste at a Dublin City Council ceremony today. Fennell Photography Fennell Photography

A bridge near Croke Park has been renamed to commemorate Bloody Sunday in 1920, when 14 people were killed by British soldiers during a Gaelic Football match.

The bridge on Russell Street in the shadow of Croke Park was today renamed Bloody Sunday Bridge. 

On the morning of 21 November, 1920, an assassination unit led by Micheal Collins and known as ‘The Squad’ mounted an operation which resulted in the deaths of 14 people suspected of being British intelligence officers.

Later that afternoon, as Dublin played Tipperary in a challenge match at Croke Park, the Royal Irish Constabulary stormed into Croke Park and opened fire on the crowd.

Fourteen people died in the shooting, including three children. Around 100 others were also injured in the 1920 shooting in Croke Park.

The commemorative plaque outside 69 Blessington Street, the home of ten year old Jerome O’Leary, the youngest of the three children killed on Bloody Sunday 1920.

Lord Mayor of Dublin Daithí de Róiste also unveiled a commemorative plaque outside 69 Blessington Street, the home of ten-year-old Jerome O’Leary, the youngest of those children killed in the shooting.

Jerome was sitting on the wall at the canal end, lifted up by his father to watch the match, when he was shot from the bridge.

The decision to name Bloody Sunday Bridge and to erect the plaque in Blessington Street was made by the Dublin City Council Commemorations & Naming Committee.