Here's What Happened Today: Saturday

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

IRELAND

Sandagsuren Yadamsuren with Enkhmaa Dashsambuu from Mongolia at the Festival Of Nations in Mountjoy Square park, Dublin. Source: RollingNews.ie

• A 21-year-old man is in a critical condition in hospital after he was assaulted in Navan, Co Meath in the early hours of the morning.
• The government has spent more than €25 million on reports from consultancy firms about the National Broadband Plan.
• OPW staff emails show the internal tensions over a decision to ban visitor books due to GDPR concerns. 
• Cockroaches, mould and aggressive staff are just some of the issues people living in homeless emergency accommodation in Ireland say they face. 
• The parents of a teenager who died after he took a substance at a music festival in Cork hope that his death will raise awareness of the risks of taking drugs.
• Minister for Education Joe McHugh told six schools in Dublin to provide more critically needed special education places.
• There have been fresh calls for a change in An Garda Síochána’s entry requirements to allow prospective recruits with dyslexia join the force with just one language.
• The Heritage Council has not ruled out the Church of Scientology’s involvement in National Heritage Week next year.

THE WORLD 

People jump in the sea at Cullercoats Bay in North Tyneside. Source: Owen Humphreys/PA Images

#G7: Leaders of the G7 countries met southern France today, with the burning Amazon rainforest, falling stock markets and divisions over trade and Brexit providing the backdrop to proceedings.

#E-CIGARETTE: A US patient has died after developing severe lung disease linked to the use of e-cigarettes, officials in the state of Illinois said yesterday.

#THE AMAZON: Brazil’s government has authorised the deployment of Brazil’s armed forces to help combat ongoing fires in the Amazon rainforest.

PARTING SHOT 

The New York Times reports today that an astronaut who accessed the personal bank account of her estranged spouse from the International Space Station (ISS) is reportedly being investigated by NASA in what is being termed the first instance of space crime. 

Mark Sundahl, the director of the Global Space Law Center at Cleveland State University, told the New York Times he was not aware of any previous allegation of a crime committed in space.https://t.co/p5iqIFb7qB

— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) August 24, 2019