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

IRELAND

• Pope Francis is set to visit Ireland in 2018.
• 24 people were arrested as part of a major garda operation targeting drug dealing in the Carlow/Kilkenny region.
• A man arrested in connection with a stabbing and acid attack on a woman in Limerick was released without charge, a file will be sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
• Four men who launched a boat on the River Shannon, which later overturned and led to one of their deaths, had been drinking and taking drugs, the Marine Casualty Investigation Board (MCIB) has found.
• A convicted rapist was removed from court during his sentence hearing after he repeatedly interrupted proceedings and called his victim, a grandmother in her 50s, a “filthy prostitute”.
• A Dublin man who pleaded guilty to IRA membership and was arrested in the run-up to Prince Charles’ visit to Ireland had explosive device components in his locker at Maynooth University, the Special Criminal Court heard.
• The Environmental Protection Agency is calling on people in high radon areas to test their homes for radon, after one house was found to have over 24 times the acceptable level – the equivalent of getting 17 chest X-rays every day.
• Shane Ross defended his record as tourism minister, saying the record numbers speak for themselves.
• A youth admitted attacking gardaí after he stole live exotic animals which had been part of a wildlife exhibition at a library in Dublin.
• A 30-year-old man was arrested after an attempted armed robbery at a post office in north county Dublin.

WORLD

A woman signs a book of condolences for Cuba's late leader Fidel Castro in Havana, Cuba. Natacha Pisarenko AP / Press Association Images Natacha Pisarenko AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

#US: An attacker who ran over and stabbed a number of people at Ohio State University was shot dead.

#UK: Barry Bennell, the paedophile coach at the centre of an abuse scandal that has rocked English football, was taken to hospital by police responding to a “fear for welfare incident”.

#SYRIA: Syrian rebels have lost all of the northern neighbourhoods of their stronghold in eastern Aleppo as the army pushes an offensive to retake the battered city, according to an on-site monitor.

INNOVATION

• Paddy Power-Betfair and Topaz are among the latest companies to be prosecuted by the office of the Data Protection Commissioner for breaking e-marketing regulations through unsolicited spam emails and text messages.
• Facebook has launched a scheme to bring internet access to underserved locations in India (BBC News).

PARTING SHOT

A man who had to flee his home in Aleppo with his daughter in his arms filmed the devastating impact the ongoing Syrian war has had on the city.

Can’t watch the video? Click here. 

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