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

IRELAND

The Bank of Ireland branch at Rathmines Dublin is one the 88 banks due to close. Sasko Lazarov Sasko Lazarov

• A total of 88 Bank of Ireland branches in Ireland and a further 15 in Northern Ireland will be closed.
• The bank’s decision attracted swift political criticism. It will see banking services move to hundreds of Post Offices around the country. 
• 687 new cases of Covid-19 and one additional death were confirmed in Ireland. Here’s the key points you need to know from tonight’s NPHET briefing.
• Education Minister Norma Foley said that antigen testing has not yet been recommended for schools as the phased reopening of education got underway.
• Gordon Elliott was barred from racing horses in Britain while an investigation into a controversial image of him sitting on a dead horse takes place.
• The group behind an anti-lockdown protest in Dublin on Saturday was removed from Facebook.
• Defence minister Simon Coveney urged anyone with information of alleged abuse at the Curragh Camp to contact the gardaí.
• Dublin South-West TD Paul Murphy joined People Before Profit.
• Research found that pollution from fine airborne particles is responsible for around 725 deaths in Dublin annually.
• The number receiving the Pandemic Unemployment Payment dropped slightly to 469,000 this week.
• Aer Lingus laid off 129 Shannon staff members for three months without pay.
• The Irish Navy detained a Belgian fishing boat off the southwest coast.

WORLD

Paddle boarders are seen on the river Thames. PA PA

#FRANCE: Former president Nicolas Sarkozy was sentenced to one year in jail for corruption. The former French leader was accused of offering to help a judge obtain a senior job in Monaco in exchange for inside information on an inquiry into his campaign finances.

#MYANMAR: Civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi was issued two new criminal charges in a court appearance via video link, a month after a military coup triggered mass protests.

#SYRIA: United Nations investigators said that tens of thousands of civilians are still missing after being detained arbitrarily during 10 years of civil war in Syria.

PARTING SHOT

An artwork bearing the hallmarks of street artist Banksy appeared on the side of a UK prison overnight. PA PA

An apparent new Banksy artwork appeared on the side of Reading Prison in the UK overnight. The picture shows a prisoner escaping on a rope made of bedsheets tied to a typewriter.

The British jail famously housed Oscar Wilde between 1895 and 1897 and was immortalised in his poem the Ballad of Reading Gaol.

Banksy has yet to claim the piece but experts believe the so-called “guerrilla artist” created the work. The prison has been derelict since 2013. 

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