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

IRELAND

Juliette Galvin and Síofra Herlihy of Team Technic Titans, overall winner of Cork's First LEGO League.

• A man was arrested and three people were taken to hospital following a stabbing incident in the Stoneybatter area of Dublin.
• Fine Gael Senator Martin Conway resigned from the parliamentary party following his arrest for public intoxication at the end of last month.
• A man appeared in court charged with the murder of his father in Dublin.
• Taoiseach Micheál Martin defended giving incorrect housing figures to the public in the run-up to the election, saying that the government had believed that they would deliver near the 40,000 target of completed builds by the end of the final quarter.
• Gardaí arrested a man in Ballymun, Dublin, who is suspected of robbing a shop while brandishing a knife. 
• The Taoiseach said more generators were needed to support infrastructure resilience and that the weather warning system would be reviewed.
• A commitment by the previous government to ban outright the use of rape survivors’ counselling notes as evidence in trials is likely to be rolled back, The Journal understands. 

INTERNATIONAL

People carry the coffin of Prince Karim Al-Hussaini, the Aga Khan IV and 49th hereditary imam of the Shiite Ismaili Muslims, to be buried at the Aga Khan mausoleum in Aswan, Egypt PA PA

#PALESTINE: Israeli forces withdrew from the key road that bisects the Gaza Strip while in the West Bank, occupation forces shot dead a 23-year-old pregnant woman during raids.

#EGYPT: The Aga Khan IV was laid to rest at a private ceremony in Aswan, Egypt. 

#CHINA: Emergency teams in the Sichuan province of south-western China were battling against time to locate 28 people missing after a rain-triggered landslide killed one person and buried homes.

#UK: A Labour MP who was sacked as a minister by Keir Starmer over comments made in a WhatsApp group said he regrets the “badly misjudged” remarks.

PARTING SHOT

AT THE OUTSET of 2025, the chances of anyone spending much of their time thinking about Boyzone for basically any reason were pretty slim.

This being Ireland, we all have some idea of what the four surviving members of Ireland’s first boyband are up to these days. Those who spend a lot of time listening to the radio will know that Keith Duffy has made a real success out of selling tyres.

Those who spend a lot of time on Instagram might know that Shane Lynch still loves his cars and posts regularly about his hardcore Christian faith. Ronan Keating recently helped to reclaim St Stephen’s Day in the name of Rockshore. Nobody knows much about Mikey Graham, but then nobody ever really did. 

Does it come as a surprise, then, that No Matter What- the three-part Sky documentary about the group – has been received with such interest and acclaim? Perhaps not.

Read Carl Kinsella’s full article here.