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

IRELAND

Source: Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland

Swimmers enjoy the hottest day of the year so far in Seapoint, Co Dublin. 

• The Government condemned last night's Israeli attack in Gaza
• SF and FF said the Dáil should return to address the Gaza conflict
• There was an explosion in a manhole in Dublin
• A one-day strike at Irish Rail was announced
• Dana's brother was cleared of sex abuse charges
• The body of a newborn baby was found in Cork
• A viable bomb was discovered in Longford
• There was bad news for Enda from Germany
• Richard Bruton was sent out to defend Ireland's pride
• And, finally... no Garth Brooks concert took place. 

WORLD

AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

Reptile Manager Paula Swanson applies a mud and clay mixture to "Mary", a Galapagos tortoise at the Phoenix Zoo. The mixture cools and protects the tortoise's skin from the sun. 

#GAZA Israel rejected a ceasefire proposal put forward by the US

#OUTBREAK Nigeria's government confirmed a case of Ebola

#PLANE CRASH France's President confirmed there had been no survivors of the Air Algerie plane crash in Mali

INNOVATION

• This is impressive... A thong (flip-flop) company in Australia crowdfunded $10,000 in ONE hour.
• No plans for the weekend? You could always build your own homemade drone [BBC]
• Is Donald Rumsfeld an alien wizard? Well, no... But someone in the US Congress claimed he was on Wikipedia [Guardian]

PARTING SHOT

How much would Mary Poppins have been paid?... About $7.25 an hour if she was working in the US today --- perhaps a little unfair considering all those magical powers.

Kristin Bell, of Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Veronica Mars fame, portrays the famous nanny in this new video for Funny or Die, aimed at highlighting the plight of underpaid workers in the States...
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/c2deb9a5e8/mary-poppins-quits-with-kristen-bell

(Don't know where they found they found those two kids --- dead ringers for the originals. CGI?)

First posted at 9pm