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

IRELAND

Ahead of the first Irish Refugee Week, young Ukrainian refugee Yeva Skalietska reads her book ‘You Don’t Know What War Is’ to students from Our Lady’s Grove Primary School in Goatstown. Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

• Two men appeared in court in connection with the murder and disappearance of Co Antrim woman Chloe Mitchell. 
• Data centres in Ireland consumed 31% more electricity in 2022 than in the previous year, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office. 
• EirGrid warned of temporary electricity supply issues in the near future due to the low availability of renewable energy and unplanned outages of a number of conventional generation units.
• Four teenagers were arrested after a car collided with two garda vehicles, resulting in the hospitalisation of two male garda members.
• A former male model was jailed for four years for raping a fellow college student.
• Michael Scott subjected his elderly aunt Chrissie Treacy to “verbal abuse and mental torture” before he caused her death by driving over her, a friend of Ms Treacy’s has told the Central Criminal Court.
• A former senior judge was appointed as the chair of the Omagh Bombing Inquiry.
• Finance Minister Michael McGrath said Budget 2024 will be “prudent” and will provide “an appropriate level of support to our society and our economy”.
• An invasive species of moth has been found in oak trees in Dublin.

INTERNATIONAL 

Debris is seen at the collapsed portion of I-95 in Philadelphia yesterday. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#ITALY Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi died today, leaving behind a trail of controversial and bizarre headlines, court rulings and comebacks.

#UKRAINE Kyiv announced Ukrainian forces had retaken three villages in the eastern region of Donetsk, the first reported gains of their new offensive.

#PHILADELPHIA US drivers began longer commutes today after an elevated section of the Interstate 95 road collapsed in Philadelphia following a fire on a fuel tanker truck.

#UK Boris Johnson accused Rishi Sunak of “talking rubbish” after Sunak claimed his predecessor asked him to overrule the vetting committee to push through his House of Lords nominations.

#AUSTRALIA A bus carrying wedding guests overturned and killed 10 people in a night-time crash as it travelled through a wine-growing area north of Sydney.

#EUROPE NATO begun the largest air force deployment exercise in Europe in the alliance’s history in a display of unity toward partners and potential threats such as Russia.

PARTING SHOT

The man climbing Lotte World Tower, the tallest skyscraper in South Korea The Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Management Headquarters / PA Images The Seoul Metropolitan Fire and Disaster Management Headquarters / PA Images / PA Images

A British man was detained after climbing more than halfway up the world’s fifth-tallest skyscraper in Seoul with only his bare hands, authorities said.

More than 90 emergency, police and other personnel were dispatched to the 123-storey, 1,820ft Lotte World Tower after the man – named in reports as free climber George King-Thompson – was spotted scaling the building this morning, the fire agency in the South Korean capital said.

The man, in his 20s, reached the 72nd floor, which is about 1,020ft high, before officials took him to a gondola lift and moved him inside the building, the statement said.

The reports said he was carrying a parachute and told police that he wanted to base-jump from the top of the building.