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

IRELAND

A staff member in a jewelry store in Dublin getting ready to re-open as Ireland enters Phase Two. Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie Sasko Lazarov / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

• Taoiseach Leo Varadkar today announced the next phase of the lifting of coronavirus restrictions can go ahead as planned from Monday. 
• Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe has confirmed the government’s wage subsidy scheme has been extended until the end of August. 
• More than 32,000 people have signed a petition calling for the government to end the system of Direct Provision in Ireland.
• People will be allowed to travel anywhere within their own county from Monday as part of the government’s escalated plan to ease Covid-19 restrictions.
• The policing authority has said that “concerns remain” over how the use of emergency powers by gardaí during Covid-19 restrictions have been reported.
• Health officials have confirmed a further seven patients diagnosed with Covid-19 have died and there are 28 new cases of the disease in Ireland.
• Inter-county GAA matches will start no earlier than 17 October this year while club fixtures are set to return from 31 July.
• The government deviated from the initial advice from the National Public Health Emergency Team (NPHET) over the reopening of shopping centres and the modifying of the 20km distance rule.

INTERNATIONAL

People take part in a kneeling protest for Black Lives Matter in Trafalgar Square. Kirsty O'Connor / PA Wire/PA Images Kirsty O'Connor / PA Wire/PA Images / PA Wire/PA Images

#BREXIT: EU Chief Negotiator Michel Barnier said there has been no real progress made in post-Brexit trade talks and accused the UK of backtracking on a key commitment.

#UK: The country’s human rights watchdog is to mount a statutory inquiry into the racial inequalities exposed by the coronavirus crisis.

#NEW YORK: Two US police officers have been suspended after an elderly man was left in a serious condition in hospital following an incident near protests in the New York city of Buffalo.

PARTING SHOT

Are you a yoga aficionado? Has lockdown given you a new-found enthusiasm for downward dog?

Well, according to the Greek Orthodox Church you’ve got it all wrong. 

Yoga practices are “absolutely incompatible” with the Christian faith, the church says. 

They say it’s a fundamental part of the Hindu religion – hence not just any old physical exercise. 

For more on the decision – and the history of churches opposing yoga – read this BBC piece. 

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