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

IRELAND

Green Party General Election Candidate for Dún Laoghaire, and Cllr Ossian Smyth and Green Party MEP for Dublin Ciarán Cuffe speaking to a swimmer at Martello Tower, Seapoint. RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

• The parents of a young girl who is deemed to have undergone female genital mutilation (FGM) have today been jailed after being found guilty last year following a trial.
• The Brexit Withdrawal Agreement would not have been reached without the “hard work, passions and unity” of Irish politicians and people, the EU’s chief Brexit negotiator said today. 
• An apparent error by Kerry County Council led to a woman being buried in the wrong plot alongside another woman who died early last year in Listowel’s main cemetery.
• The area Irish citizens citizens are being advised to avoid in China was expanded from one city to an entire province by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) today. 
• A woman in her 30s was charged in connection with the fatal stabbing a 33-year-old man in Co Wexford on Sunday morning. 
• Aontú party leader Peadar Tóibín withdrew his application for a High Court injunction preventing a planned televised political debate tonight.
• Psychologists from the the National Educational Psychological Service (NEPS) are to be made available to the community in Newcastle, Co Dublin following the deaths of three children on Friday.
• The cost of refurbishing a factory in Meath owned by a State agency is expected to reach more than €3 million – triple the original commitment. 

THE WORLD

#PRINCE ANDREW: A US prosecutor overseeing the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation has said that Britain’s Prince Andrew has been uncooperative in the inquiry so far.

#IMPEACHMENT: A draft of a book from former US national security adviser John Bolton appeared to undercut a key defence argument in the impeachment trial of US President Donald Trump.

#SEAMUS MALLON: Northern Ireland’s former deputy first minister Séamus Mallon was described as a “bridge builder, a leader, [and] a statesman” at his funeral mass in Co Armagh.

PARTING SHOT 

Our colleagues at the 42.ie put together this obituary for NBA legend Kobe Bryant who died in a helicopter crash yesterday. 

“Bryant used a ferocious competitiveness and uncanny shooting touch to become an NBA icon, leaving behind a legacy that has influenced the newest generation of league talent and fans worldwide.”

Anke Fleig / SVEN SIMON Anke Fleig / SVEN SIMON / SVEN SIMON