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

IRELAND

A wax figure of Sinéad O'Connor launched today at Dublin's Wax Museum. Leah Farrell Leah Farrell

• Taxi driver Raymond Shorten received an additional 17 years in prison for the separate rapes of two young women, just days after receiving a separate 13-year sentence for the rape of a child.
• Garda Commissioner Drew Harris said online threats against individual gardaí are being investigated.
• Searches for a young boy missing at the Cliffs of Moher resumed after bad weather subsided.
• It was announced that the first measures of the transport plan to restrict cars in Dublin will come into force next month.
• The Circuit Court to be granted powers to order companies to identify people who post defamatory comments online.
• A sixth person was found guilty of murdering Thomas Dooley in a Co Kerry graveyard in 2022.
• RTÉ said it would resume broadcasting news bulletins in Northern Ireland after a clash over Olympic TV rights.
• Singer CMAT was nominated for Mercury Prize for Album of the Year.

INTERNATIONAL

A rider rears up on his horse surrounded by a cheering crowd during the traditional 'Jaleo', or horse festival, at the Sant Jaume Festival in the Balearic Islands, Spain. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#THE US: Kamala Harris blasted the “despicable” burning of the US flag at an anti-Netanyahu protest in Washington.

#WAR IN GAZA: Palestinian freelance photographer Omar Ashtawy spoke to us about his work covering the death and destruction in Gaza.

#THE EU: Ursula von der Leyen formally wrote to the Irish government asking for two names – male and female – for the European Commissioner role. But the government insists it’s only sending Michael McGrath.

#OLYMPICS: Ireland’s Rugby 7s will face back-to-back champions Fiji in the Olympic quarter-final.

PARTING SHOT

“But regardless of the likeness, O’Connor’s fans will surely remember the singer very differently than the wax figure now on display in Dublin. And not just because she never hung out with Darth Vader.”

The Journal’s Carl Kinsella went along to the unveiling at Dublin’s Wax Museum of a figure that “looks like it looks like Sinéad O’Connor”. Have a read here.