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

IRELAND

The Liffey Sweeper working to clear plastic and rubbish along the river Liffey in Dublin this afternoon. Sam Boal / RN Sam Boal / RN / RN

• An 18-year-old male was charged with child abduction and other offences by the PSNI, in relation to the Child Rescue alert issued by An Garda Síochána yesterday.
• Dublin is no longer among the host cities for the forthcoming European Championship.
• Four people were arrested after gardaí removed a number of workers from a former Debenhams store in Dublin last night.
• Ireland’s health products regulator reported some blood clotting events associated with the AstraZeneca vaccine in patients who received the Covid-19 jab here.
• The third crewed mission to the International Space Station by Elon Musk’s private SpaceX company that lifted off from the Kennedy Space Centre this morning is carrying with it a computer experiment by two Irish schoolgirls.
• Celebrity doctor Christian Jessen told the High Court in Belfast that he didn’t want to cause Arlene Foster “any distress” when he tweeted an unsubstantiated rumour of an extra-marital affair.
• Radio phone-in presenters Adrian Kennedy and Jeremy Dixon are to leave Dublin radio station 98FM. 

WORLD

French police arrested three people after a female police employee was stabbed to death at her workplace southwest of Paris by a suspected Islamist extremist from Tunisia who was then shot dead by the security forces. AP / PA Images AP / PA Images / PA Images

#PRESIDENTIAL VISIT: US President Joe Biden will travel to the UK and Belgium in June, the White House has confirmed.

#HUNGER STRIKE: Imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny said he is ending his hunger strike after getting medical attention and being warned by his doctors that continuing it would be life-threatening.

#BATTLE OF BRITAIN: Boris Johnson’s former aide Dominic Cummings has been blamed for the leaking of text messages between the Prime Minister and the businessman James Dyson. But Cummings has released a blog-post statement this evening, strongly rebuking those accusations.

PARTING SHOT 

If you’re still asking what is a ‘super league’ and why is it so controversial then this week’s episode of The Explainer has you covered (even if you don’t know the first thing about soccer).

Gavin Cooney from The42 is in conversation with Sinéad O’Carroll, explaining the ins and outs of the Super League that was.

https://soundcloud.com/the-explainer-podcast/why-did-everyone-hit-the-roof-over-plans-for-a-football-super-league/s-n2w2JgtbKsU