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

IRELAND

Santa and a host of characters will be at 'An Enchanted Christmas' at Fota House. See www.fotahouse.com Clare Keogh Clare Keogh

• Boy B lodged an appeal against his conviction for the murder of Ana Kriégel
• Housing Minister Eoghan Murphy faces a motion of no confidence this evening
• A CervicalCheck review found that there were missed opportunities to prevent or diagnose cancer earlier for 159 women, but that it was effective overall
• A further 24 hours were granted to question Lisa Smith about her involvement with the so-called Islamic State
• Councillors defended their approval of a white-water rafting facility at the IFSC
• 90% of sexual offences reported to gardaí in 2019 have still not been solved.

WORLD

US President Donald Trump and his wife Melania arrive at No 10 for an evening reception for Nato leaders hosted by Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Alastair Grant Alastair Grant

#ALLIED FORCES: US President Donald Trump called French President Emmanuel Macron’s criticisms of Nato “insulting” and brain dead”, at the 70th anniversary of Nato.

#LUKASZ: A porter who fought the London Bridge attacker with a pole, and continued to chase him after being seriously injured, told his story of what happened.

#US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: Kamala Harris ended her 2020 White House bid following a period of campaign turmoil and disappointing fundraising.

PARTING SHOT

On a day where there was much chat about housing, this letter to the Irish Times editor from Father Peter McVerry seemed to sum up how a lot of people feel.

Entitled ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, it begins: “I attended court with a young homeless boy who had been charged with theft of a bottle of orange, value €1.”

McVerry later appeared on RTÉ’s Drivetime, and said that the State spent 6 months attempting to prosecute the boy, but it collapsed after the Gardaí couldn’t produce the bottle of orange as evidence.