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

IRELAND

Dublin Airport Christmas arrivals as dad Adriano from Australia is welcomed home by his son Luca (16 months) and wife Catherine from Co Antrim. Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

• A 50-year-old man was remanded in custody after gardaí charged him with the attempted murders of two young girls and a little boy in a knife attack in Dublin last month.
• Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he doesn’t want to see “politics of hate take hold in Ireland” or a situation where “migrants are blamed for all of the country’s problems”.
• A gang member who conspired to steal the getaway car that was used in the credit union robbery during which Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe was shot dead was today jailed for eight years.
• The government has banned the sale of nicotine inhaling products to people under 18 years of age.
• A Dublin-based Palestinian family re-issued a plea for the Irish Government to help them get their 26-year-old daughter out of Gaza. 
• Minister for Climate Eamon Ryan said he expects household energy prices to “fall significantly” in the first quarter, or the first half, of next year. 
• Primark apologised after an employee in its Belfast store was told she was not allowed to wear a Christmas jumper that featured the Irish language.
• A man who was arrested following the seizure of a firearm in south Dublin in the early hours of this morning has been charged in relation to the incident. 
• An advert fast food chain KFC showing two women eating an “unhealthy” quantity of fried chicken has been found to breach Irish advertising standards.

INTERNATIONAL

Police at the scene of a shooting in Prague @PolicieCZ / X @PolicieCZ / X / X

#PRAGUE A 24-year-old gunman killed more than 15 people and wounded dozens more at a Prague university in the Czech Republic’s worst shooting in decades, before authorities said the attacker was “eliminated”.

#GAZA The Israeli army said it bombed scores of targets in the Gaza Strip as diplomats pressed on with efforts to halt the fighting that Hamas says has killed 20,000 people in the Palestinian territory.

#LONDON A woman was taken away in handcuffs “covered in blood” after a four-year-old boy was killed in a knife attack in east London, a neighbour has said.

#UKRAINE The EU today paid the final tranche of a multibillion-euro support package to Ukraine to help keep its war-ravaged economy afloat this year, leaving the country without a financial lifeline from Europe as of next month.

#MILEI Argentina’s new leader Javier Milei unveiled a series of measures to deregulate the country’s struggling economy, eliminating or changing more than 300 rules via presidential decree, including on rent and labor practices.

#SUPER LEAGUE The prospects of a future European Super League have been boosted after judges said Uefa rules blocking the formation of such a competition were contrary to EU law.

PARTING SHOT

Nacreous or polar stratospheric clouds seen over Ireland this morning Met Éireann Met Éireann

Rare “rainbow” clouds were today spotted across Ireland.

The clouds have an iridescent or rainbow appearance and their presence is rare in Ireland.

The technical name for the eye-catching clouds are nacreous or polar stratospheric clouds.

Did you happen to see them this morning? Read more about these clouds and how they can be viewed in Ireland here.