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

IRELAND

Flowers laid outside the Dáil in Dublin today in memory of Ashling Murphy. Rollingnews.ie Rollingnews.ie

• Schools have been asked to observe a minute’s silence in memory of Ashling Murphy, who will be laid to rest tomorrow. 
• Gardaí issued a description of a man they are seeking information about in Tullamore as they urged the public to stop sharing unverified speculation from WhatsApp and social media.  
• Health officials reported 6,329 positive PCR cases of Covid-19 in Ireland and 4,810 additional positive antigen tests registered through the HSE website.
• The HSE issued a warning about unregulated crisis pregnancy services which present themselves as unbiased but have an anti-abortion stance.
• A WHO Special Envoy said that the world is coming into a “turning point” with Covid-19, but that it will not be plain sailing in the weeks ahead.
• Organisers of an online vigil in memory of Ashling Murphy have described how a man crashed the Zoom event and exposed himself and appeared to masturbate.
• Independent TD Verona Murphy criticised scenes at Wexford County Council after a standing ovation was provided for the local authority’s embattled chief executive. 
• The Foreign Affairs Minister ordered an investigation into a gathering of his officials in June 2020.
• A statement by former Minister of State Lucinda Creighton about Lisa Smith’s bid to have ISIS membership charges against her dismissed was “a blatant contempt of court”, her defence lawyers told the Special Criminal Court.

INTERNATIONAL

The full moon captured behind the Balmoral Clock in Edinburgh, Scotland this evening. PA PA

#TONGA: The Pacific island nation of Tonga remains virtually cut off from the rest of the world after a massive volcanic blast that crippled communications and stalled emergency relief efforts.

#NO 10: UK ministers are setting out a flurry of policies, under the title Operation Red Meat, which are designed to revive Boris Johnson’s fortunes as he faces continuing anger over “partygate” allegations.

#RICH: The world’s ten wealthiest men doubled their fortunes during the first two years of the coronavirus pandemic as poverty and inequality soared.

#TENNIS: Novak Djokovic arrived in his native Serbia after he was deported from Australia and prevented from defending his Australian Open tennis title. 

PARTING SHOT

Tonga, the Pacific Island nation that suffered a volcano explosion at the weekend, remains virtually cut off from the rest of the world as a result of a film of ash and downed phone and internet lines.

The BBC’s visual journalism team have pulled together available satellite images of the eruption and outlined its impacts around the world over the past couple of days. 

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