GOOD EVENING. HERE’S a round up of today’s top stories.

IRELAND 

Former Fine Gael leader and Taoiseach Leo Varadkar leaving Áras An Uachtaráin after he resign his position. Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

• Leo Varadkar resigned as as Taoiseach. The former Fine Gael leader tendered his resignation in writing to President Michael D Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin this evening.
• A recycling company was fined €60,000 for breaches of health and safety following the death of an employee in Dublin four years ago.
• Before leaving the job, Varadkar said said he hopes the negative perceptions of him among some unionists will be reassessed in the future.
• Micheál Martin said that data obtained through High Court proceedings he brought against Google relating to fake cryptocurrency adverts is being “forensically analysed”. 
• It was revealed that a residential rehab facility that was converted to a Covid-19 isolation unit during the pandemic will not be returned to its intended use after no funding was allocated for its re-establishment in the budget.
• Over 15 years after innocent rugby player Shane Geoghegan was shot dead in a case of mistaken identity, the Limerick gangster who ordered the hit, John Dundon, was today allocated a new legal team and will have his appeal against his murder conviction heard this month “come what may”.
• The Stardust Inquest jury were told that they cannot make any determination on an unborn baby being the 49th victim of the fire.
• Incoming Taoiseach Simon Harris is expected to press pause on extending paid sick leave next year, in a move criticised today by Opposition politicians as “anti-worker”.
• Gardaí issued an alert for information after a man allegedly robbed a premises at gunpoint in Limerick City this morning.
• Gardaí issued an alert for information after a man allegedly robbed a premises at gunpoint in Limerick City this morning.
• An Irish woman who was killed in New York was remembered as a “shining light” during her funeral mass.
• A Garda accused of endangering life during an incident where three men died in a collision in Dublin will face trial before a Circuit Court judge and jury.
• Gardaí are investigating after after an asylum seeker was assaulted in Dublin 8 on Sunday.
• A man was arrested in connection with an investigation into a fire at a vacant building in Ballybrack last year.

WORLD 

Ambassador Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez, right, and Alain Pellet, left, a lawyer representing Nicaragua at the International Court of Justice today. Alamy Alamy

#GERMANY: Preliminary hearings opened at the International Court of Justice in a case that seeks an end to German aid to Israel, based on claims that Berlin is enabling acts of genocide and breaches of international humanitarian law in conflict in Gaza.

#UNITED STATES: Jonathan Majors has been ordered to complete a year-long counselling programme but avoided jail time Monday for assaulting his ex-girlfriend in a high-profile case that derailed the once-promising star’s career.

#ISRAEL: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a date has been set for an offensive in the city of Rafah, which Israel says is one of the last Hamas strongholds in Gaza.

PARTING SHOT

A total solar eclipse was visible across North America this evening. Photogrpaher Luke Martin caught it in San Saba County, Texas:

Luke Martin Luke Martin

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