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

Over 1,200 sick teddy bears, along with their minders, are checking in to University of Galway’s Teddy Bear Hospital this week. The two-day event, organised by the University’s Sláinte Society, creates an environment to help children, ranging in age from 3-8, feel more comfortable around doctors and hospitals. Aengus McMahon Aengus McMahon

IRELAND

• The ex-boyfriend of Bruna Fonseca has been given a life sentence for strangling Bruna to death in a flat in Cork on New Year’s Day in 2023.
• The director of Metrolink has said the government is likely to pay more than €30 million to buy homes in Dartmouth Square in south Dublin as part of a deal to see a judicial review withdrawn.
• A jury has found a woman guilty of the attempted murder of her eight year old daughter, in Co Clare, four years ago.
• Brian Crowley, the former independent and Fianna Fáil MEP, has died at the age of 61.
• Facebook is continuing to advertise third-party apps that enable users to create explicit, deepfake images of women and children without their consent.
• Young people in Ireland are increasingly being diagnosed with spinal cord damage caused by the recreational use of laughing gas, according to a new study of patients at Beaumont Hospital.
• A man from Galway has won the solo class of the World’s Toughest Row, completing the 4,800km journey across the Atlantic Ocean.

INTERNATIONAL

Liam Ramos pictured being detained outside his home in Minneapolis. US federal officials are struggling to contain mounting anger over the detention of this five-year-old boy during a sweeping immigration crackdown in Minneapolis. Columbia Heights Public Schools Columbia Heights Public Schools

#ICE: US Federal officials are struggling to contain mounting anger over the detention of a five-year-old boy during a sweeping immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, as businesses across the city closed in protest against ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids

#BECKHAM FEUD: If there was any doubt that the Beckham family saga had reached full soap-opera levels, allow DJ Fat Tony to confirm: yes, things were a bit awkward.

#UKRAINE: Ukrainian, US and Russian officials will hold security talks in the United Arab Emirates today, the Kremlin said, following a meeting of top US negotiators with President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on a US-drafted plan to end the Ukraine war.

#GREENLAND: US president Donald Trump had European Union leaders scrambling this week in response to his mounting threats over Greenland, only to take his foot off the accelerator at the final moment.

PARTING SHOT

Rachel, one of the contestants in series four of BBC1's The Traitors. Cody Burridge / BBC/PA Wire Cody Burridge / BBC/PA Wire / BBC/PA Wire

The Traitors UK final is on tonight, and one of the remaining contestants is from Northern Ireland

Rachel, who hails from Newry in Co Down, previously said she wants to win the game so she can use the money to go on a big holiday with her family, including her mother who has dementia.