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

IRELAND

Carphone Warehouse on Grafton Street, Dublin Leah Farrell Leah Farrell

• Almost 500 jobs have been lost with the closure of Carphone Warehouse’s 80 stores in the Republic of Ireland.
• Health officials have confirmed that a further 15 people have died with Covid-19 in Ireland, with 401 new cases reported.
• Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said the target to have over 82% of the population vaccinated by June remains. 
• Martin has also said that no firm decisions have been made about the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions beyond next month. 
• Fine Gael’s Maria Byrne has been elected to the Seanad on the first count. 
• The University of Limerick has sanctioned a number of students in connection with breaches of Covid-19 regulations. 
• Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has said he hopes the single-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine is recommended for use in the under-60s in Ireland.
• Dublin City Council has announced plans that would see retail units in the city  provide toilet facilities for the public this summer. 

INTERNATIONAL

A man celebrates outside the Hennepin County Government Center reacting to the trial verdict that former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all counts Xinhua News Agency / PA Images Xinhua News Agency / PA Images / PA Images

#FLOYD: President Joe Biden has said the conviction of Derek Chauvin in the killing of George Floyd “can be a giant step forward” for the US in the fight against systemic racism.

#OUSTED: A former president of the organisation that hosts the Golden Globes has been dropped from the group’s board after sending an email that called Black Lives Matter a “hate movement”.

#RUSSIA: A group of UN rights experts have expressed alarm at the deteriorating health of imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny and called for his urgent medical evacuation from Russia.

PARTING SHOT

If you’ve been anywhere on the internet or watched a single news broadcast since the weekend, you can’t but have noticed the huge controversy over something called a ‘Super League’.

But what is a ‘super league’, why is it so controversial – and is the idea cancelled after such a heavy backlash?

The suggestion of forming a Super League came from a group of 12 of Europe’s biggest clubs, but immediately caused a backlash – one example was Gary Neville’s visceral anger on Sky Sports after the news was announced.

To explain it all, The Journal has Gavin Cooney from The42 in conversation with Sinéad O’Carroll on this week’s episode of The Explainer podcast. If you’re not a football fan, don’t worry – we explain the very basics of this very hot topic. 
https://soundcloud.com/the-explainer-podcast/why-did-everyone-hit-the-roof-over-plans-for-a-football-super-league