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

IRELAND

President Michael D Higgins attended the memorial service of trade unionist and socialist activist Manus O’Riordan, in Glasnevin, Dublin today.

• Glenisk resumed producing milk at its Offaly plant after it was badly damaged by fire earlier this week.
• 1,586 new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed in Ireland.
• Protesters gathered in Dublin to demonstrate against the highly restrictive abortion law introduced in Texas.
• The UK’s truck driver crisis could ‘spillover’ to Ireland as skills shortage bites.
• A kayaker was rescued off west Cork after high swells.
• Gardaí investigating organised crime seized €130,380 worth of cash and arrested two people.
• A last-minute delay to a report into peat alternatives was labelled “very concerning”.
• Three people were hospitalised after a car hit a tree in Longford. 

INTERNATIONAL

Bob Daemmrich / ZUMA Press Wire Bob Daemmrich / ZUMA Press Wire / ZUMA Press Wire

#PHILIPPINES: President Rodrigo Duterte says he is backing out of an announced plan to run for vice president in next year’s elections and will retire from politics after his term ends.

#AFGHANISTAN: Children are dying of starvation in Afghanistan, local and international sources said today, following warnings that a million youngsters there could face life-threatening malnutrition by the end of the year.

#FRANCE: A former policeman suspected of being the serial killer behind some of France’s oldest unsolved cases has been found dead after 35 years of dodging arrest, just as police were closing in on his identity.

PARTING SHOT

Hello, Mercury!

This splendid view of part of Mercury's northern hemisphere was captured by @ESA_MTM about 10 mins after #MercuryFlyby close approach, from a distance of 2420km. https://t.co/jjGKrsQXDH#ExploreFarther pic.twitter.com/EMhMJ5tKiN

— Bepi (@ESA_Bepi) October 2, 2021

A joint European-Japanese spacecraft has had its first glimpse of Mercury as it swung by the solar system’s innermost planet while on a mission to deliver two probes into orbit in 2025.

The BepiColombo mission made the first of six flybys of Mercury, using the planet’s gravity to slow the spacecraft down.

After swooping past Mercury at altitudes of under 125 miles, the spacecraft took a low resolution black-and-white photo with one of its monitoring cameras before moving off again.

The captured image shows the Northern Hemisphere and Mercury’s characteristic pock-marked features, among them the 100-mile-wide Lermontov crater.