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

IRELAND

Personnel on duty from the 43rd Infantry Group UNDOF in Syria RollingNews.ie / Defence Forces RollingNews.ie / Defence Forces / Defence Forces

• Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has admitted that homelessness “could very possibly” increase following the decision to lift the eviction ban. 
• The HSE purchased ten times more ventilators than were necessary and was “seriously misleading” the Department of Health and Department of Public Expenditure in relation to its spending during the pandemic, according to the Comptroller and Auditor General.
• A number of members of the Burke family were forcibly removed from a courtroom by gardaí today after repeatedly interrupting a judgment being read out at the Court of Appeal. 
• The Defence Forces are withdrawing from the UN peacekeeping mission on the Golan Heights in Syria. 
• The government has granted yet another 12-month extension to the Commission of Inquiry into the Grace case, meaning the inquiry will now take five times longer than originally intended. 
• Stephen Silver who, is on trial accused of murdering a garda with his own gun, expressed “no regret or sympathy for the deceased” during garda interviews, a psychiatrist has told the Central Criminal Court.
• The government has approved plans to instruct the Dublin Airport Authority to purchase non-kinetic counter drone technologies. 
• Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that he hopes Ireland can avoid the “culture wars” seen in other countries surrounding transgender people.

INTERNATIONAL

Veiled Iranian school girls attend the first day of opening ceremony of the new school year with presence of Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi. ABACA / PA Images ABACA / PA Images / PA Images

#UKRAINE Kyiv has vowed  to take revenge against Russia, holding the Kremlin responsible for a captured soldier being riddled with bullets in a viral video after speaking a pro-Ukrainian slogan.

#IRAN The country’s government has said it has made arrests over a spate of mystery poisonings of schoolgirls that has affected more than 5,000 pupils since late November. 

#MIGRANTS The UK Government has unveiled controversial plans to stop migrants crossing the English Channel illegally on small boats, acknowledging it is stretching international law.

#KIDNAP Two out of four US citizens kidnapped in crime-plagued northeastern Mexico were found dead today, prompting a vow by Washington to ensure that the perpetrators are brought to justice.

PARTING SHOT 

Bumblebees learn to solve puzzles by watching more experienced peers, new research has found. PA PA

Research from Queen Mary University of London have found that bees learn to solve puzzles by watching more experienced peers.

Experts trained bees to open a puzzle box containing a sugar reward.

These bees then passed on the knowledge to others in their colonies.

The researchers said their findings, published in the journal Plos Biology, provide “strong evidence” that learning by observing peers can drive behaviour in bumblebees.