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

IRELAND

Minister Michael Creed getting up close and personal with a pug at an ISPCA event today Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

• Paddy Jackson has said he would have “freaked out” if he knew a woman left his house in tears.
• The Supreme Court has rejected the definition of “unborn” as an unborn child in the Constitution.
• An Oireachtas committee heard how garda analysts were “belittled and disrespected when they tried to highlight inaccurate homicide figures“.
• Irish author Emma Hannigan was laid to rest today following an 11-year battle with cancer.
• Lidl is to demolish the remainder of its Fortunestown Lane store in Tallaght, while a man has been refused bail charged with handling €1,400 of stolen goods during the alleged looting of the store.
• Potato salad was recalled after listeria was detected.
• Over 1,200 vulnerable animals were seized by the ISPCA last year.
• The number of ghost estates has “decreased by 91% since 2010″.
• A Cork Chinese and a Dublin Apache Pizza were both closed over ‘rodent droppings’ in the kitchen.
• We now know who’ll be holding onto the Apple billions that are destined for Ireland.
• Sinn Féin’s Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin is to step down at end of the Dáil term.
• Irish Water says restrictions in Dublin are set to continue.

INTERNATIONAL

Theresa May greeting the Saudi Crown Prince at Downing Street today. Alberto Pezzali / Getty Images Alberto Pezzali / Getty Images / Getty Images

#FACES OF EVIL: A British newspaper has apologised for a front page published 21 years ago.

#THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC: The NME announced it would close its print edition after 66 years.

#SALISBURY: UK police said that a Russian ex-spy and his daughter were victims of attempted murder with a nerve agent.

PARTING SHOT

Merriam-Webster added 850 new words to its dictionary this year, and one will be instantly recognisable to Simpsons fans.

The word “embiggen” is now officially a word, having been first used in the 1996 episode Lisa the Iconoclast.

The word is part of the Springfield town motto: “A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man”.

Merriam-Webster / Twitter Merriam-Webster / Twitter / Twitter

We think it’s a perfectly cromulent choice.

(via TheDailyEdge)

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