LAST UPDATE | 13 May

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

IRELAND

RTÉ presenter Marty Whelan with Irish Eurovision act EMMY in Basel, Switzerland. RTÉ RTÉ

• The late garda Kevin Flatley will be laid to rest on Friday following funeral mass in County Dublin
• The CEO of the HSE Bernard Gloster has announced that he is to resign in March of next year, after being appointed just two years and three months ago
• Richard Satchwell told gardaí that his wife “flew” at him with a chisel when he was re-arrested on suspicion of her murder after her body was removed from under the stairs of their Cork home.
• A stand-off in Dublin’s Liberties has seen rising tensions over a local anti-immigration group’s opposition to the proposed use of a building for asylum seekers
• Despite efforts to stem the flow of personnel leaving the Defence Forces the exodus continues and there is a need for a rethink on pay to stop it, the President of a military representative group has said
• Parliament Street in Dublin city centre will be pedestrianised by the end of June, the local authority has announced
• Kneecap’s headline set at London’s Wide Awake festival is to go ahead as planned next week after a number of the band’s other concerts were cancelled
• Investigators believe a man who was found dead underneath a tractor on a Kerry farm may have died yesterday before he was discovered this morning
• American fast food chain Taco Bell have announced that they will open a restaurant to Ireland  

INTERNATIONAL

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Donald Trump to Riyadh. Alamy Alamy

#SWITZERLAND: The first Eurovision semi-final show is under way at the St Jakobshalle arena in the Swiss city of Basel

#TRUMP: The first day of the US President’s four-day Middle East tour has been kicked off with Donald Trump signing a nearly $142bn (€127bn) arms deal with Saudi Arabia as part of a major trade deal between the countries

#GAZA: The Israeli military is going to enter Gaza “with full force” in the coming days, according to its prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu

#MICROSOFT: Tech Giant Microsoft has started to lay off almost 3% of its global workforce today

#NEW YORK: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ former girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, has told his-sex trafficking trial she was abused and sexually exploited by him for years, a day after prosecutors showed jurors video of the music mogul beating her in a hotel in 2016

PARTING SHOT

The sides will meet at Croke Park on Week 4 of the new season. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Big news for American football fans – the Pittsburgh Steelers will meet the Minnesota Vikings at Croke Park on Sunday, 28 September, in what will be the first ever competitive NFL game to take place in Ireland.

The NFL confirmed in February that the Steelers would host a 2025 fixture at the home of Gaelic Games, and the league today pencilled in one of last season’s Super Bowl contenders as Pittsburgh’s opponents for September’s landmark occasion.

The Vikings will remain in Europe and travel to London the following week to face the Cleveland Browns at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.