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

IRISH

President Michael D Higgins with Olympic medal winning rowers Gary and Paul O’Donovan at a reception for Skibbereen Rowing Club at Áras an Uachtaráin today. Also pictured are Higgins' dogs. Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

• A man in his 50s was taken to hospital after being injured in an aggravated burglary at a farm in Co Offaly.
• Gardaí renewed their appeal to the public for help tracing the whereabouts of Ronnie Wilde, a teenager who has been missing from Co Meath since 9 October.
• A murderer who was arrested in Dublin for being drunk and disorderly and later released, despite being wanted by police in Northern Ireland, was arrested again in Armagh.
• A makeshift memorial to Irish people who died in wars was damaged in Co Sligo.
• A gymnastics event due to take place at the National Indoor Arena in Dublin was cancelled due to technical issues.
• Comedian and writer Aisling Bea wrote a powerful article about her father’s suicide.
• Stephen Fry said he was “enchanted” after it emerged earlier this year that comments he made about God were reportedly being investigated by gardaí.

WORLD

A man dressed as a devil at a pro-Catalan language demonstration in Perpignan, France today Emilio Morenatti / AP/Press Association Images Emilio Morenatti / AP/Press Association Images / AP/Press Association Images

#US: Carter Page, a former Navy officer and investment banker who advised Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on foreign policy, admitted meeting Russian government officials in 2016.

#CATALONIA: It could take three months for ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont and four of his ex-ministers to be returned to Spain under a European arrest warrant, Belgian authorities said.

#ZIMBABWE: A US journalist charged with attempting to overthrow President Robert Mugabe, on account of an alleged tweet that described the ageing leader as “selfish and sick”, was remanded in custody.

#US: Netflix cut ties with House of Cards star Kevin Spacey over spiralling sexual assault accusations against the actor.

PARTING SHOT

Comedian Jo Brand has been praised for comments she made while hosting BBC quiz show Have I Got News For You last night.

Speaking about the headline ‘Tory MP takes his personal trainer to the cinema’, team captain Ian Hislop said: “Some of this is not high level crime, is it, compared to say Putin or Trump?”

Brand interjected, telling him: “If I could only say that, as the only representative of the female gender here today, I know it’s not high level but it doesn’t have to be high level for women to feel under siege in somewhere like the House of Commons.

“And actually for women, if you’re constantly being harassed, even in a small way, that builds up and that wears you down,” Brand said, to much applause.

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