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

IRELAND

Fota Wildlife Park unveiled three meerkat babies born 19 September to mother Biggy and father Snaggle. Darragh Kane Darragh Kane

• Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that he believes “it will be possible for us to come out of here tomorrow with a unified stance as a European Union” regarding the conflict in Gaza while on a trip to Brussels. 
• The Government and Sinn Féin have faced off yet again over housing the Dáil, with Pearse Doherty and Tánaiste Micheál Martin trading barbs over housing targets and policies.
• Forty-four scrambler bikes and off-road vehicles were seized by gardaí in Limerick. 
• Visitor charges at one of the country’s most famous tourist attractions remain a major bone of contention with tourists and locals complaining about having to pay steep fees to park their cars and visit the Cliffs of Moher.
• An interpreter who translated Jozef Puska’s alleged admission to the murder of Ashling Murphy said the accused man was emotional, spoke with a “trembling” voice and appeared in “very low spirits… even desperate” after the confession.
• Johnny Sexton marked his retirement from rugby with an emotional statement saying he believes Andy Farrell’s team were able to inspire the nation in recent years.
• An American woman who claims that recordings of her being sexually abused appeared on video sharing sites associated with PornHub said she wants to bring a damages action before the Irish Courts.
• A Stardust nightclub survivor told an inquest jury of spending the last 42 years being reminded every day of seeing a girl on fire in the burning building and no one being able to help her.
• The Government and the European Investment Bank (EIB) Group reached an agreement that “paves the way for Government-backed, low-interest home energy upgrade loans”. 

INTERNATIONAL 

A woman walks through floodwater after Hurricane Otis ripped through Acapulco, Mexico. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#GAZA Hamas released a list of almost 7,000 names of Gazans it said had been killed in Israeli strikes after the US president cast doubt on its toll figures.

#MASS SHOOTING Joe Biden condemned the “senseless and tragic” mass shooting in Maine which killed 18 people and he called on rival Republicans to back a ban on high-powered weapons.

#MEXICO Hurricane Otis killed at least 27 people as it lashed the beach resort town of Acapulco on Mexico’s Pacific coast as a scale-topping Category 5 storm, officials have said.

#TORIES UK MP Crispin Blunt was suspended by the Conservative Party after being arrested on suspicion of rape and the possession of controlled substances.

#BEATLES Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr said they will be releasing a new Beatles song at the beginning of November.  

PARTING SHOT 

DCU politics professor Donnacha Ó Beacháin has written about Irish-Israeli diplomatic tensions for our Voices section today. The article begins… 

THIS WEEK, THE Israeli ambassador to Ireland accused President Michael D. Higgins of spreading misinformation about Israel when he said the country was committing war crimes in Palestine. Her remarks attracted substantial criticism from across the political spectrum in Ireland. 

This was followed by a tweet posted by the deputy ambassador in Dublin, which claimed Ireland was responsible for funding Hamas’s ‘tunnels of terror’. Following a backlash, the post was quickly deleted with the explanation that the ‘text and wording were wrong’.

You can read Donnacha’s full article here.