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

IRELAND

Eanna Ní Haighin from Limerick, after she won the Girls under-14 100 meters at the Community Games at Carlow IT. Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE Matt Browne / SPORTSFILE / SPORTSFILE

• Dr Tony Holohan said it’s the “right time” to ease Covid measures in schools.
• Ireland’s newest train station was opened in Dublin.
• 1,459 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Ireland.
• Permanent TSB said that “an ongoing fraud incident” has led to a “significant” volume of calls to its fraud helpline.
• Paddy Prendergast, who was full-back on the last Mayo team to be crowned All-Ireland senior football champions, has passed away at the age of 95.
• Non-EU doctors in Ireland will get more access to specialist training after a campaign to recognise their contribution.
• A male pedestrian died following a two-vehicle collision on the M7 motorway near Nass last night. 

INTERNATIONAL

A man casts his ballot in Germany's general election at a polling station in Berlin today. Xinhua News Agency / PA Images Xinhua News Agency / PA Images / PA Images

#GERMANY: Exit polls from Germany’s general election to pick a successor to outgoing chancellor Angela Merkel showed her conservative party in a dead heat with the Social Democrats.

#SWITZERLAND: Voters in Switzerland have thrown their support behind allowing same-sex couples to marry, bringing the Alpine nation in line with many other countries in Western Europe.

#ICELAND: Iceland today became the first country in Europe to have more women than men in parliament, a day after a general election that saw the left-right coalition win a clear majority.

PARTING SHOT

Drew Scanlon. Giant Bomb via AP Giant Bomb via AP

Anyone who has been on social media or shared texts with friends will likely know Drew Scanlon’s face.

His GIF, known as “Blinking Guy” or “Blinking White Guy”, is estimated to have been used more than 1.7 billion times across the internet to express disbelief or confusion. 

Scanlon has been using internet fame for good – by soliciting donations for the US National Multiple Sclerosis Society to aid with research and advocacy for the disease.

Last week, he appealed to his Twitter followers to pitch in, writing on Twitter: “If this GIF has ever brought you joy in the past, I humbly ask you to consider making a donation to the National MS Society.”

Many have chipped in, helping Scanlon raise more than $75,000. Overall, the 35-year-old has raised more than $154,000 for the organisation since 2016.

The meme was the result of a moment in 2013, when he and his co-workers at the gaming site Giant Bomb were live-streaming themselves playing video games.

One of his co-workers made an “off-colour” joke, and Scanlon reacted with what has now become his famous expression.

Additional reporting by Press Association.