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

IRELAND

Pubs unsure about reopening next week as NPHET says it's 'too early' to say it will happen. Sam Boal Sam Boal

• Health officials have confirmed that no further people have died with Covid-19 in Ireland and there are 32 new confirmed cases. 
• Opposition party leaders have questioned why Tánaiste Leo Varadkar and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney need additional staff and resources as the country faces an economic downturn.
• Taoiseach Micheál Martin has said congregated indoor settings and house parties taking place with 30 or 40 people “are presenting a problem”.
• Independent TD Michael McNamara has questioned whether there is a need for greater perspective in the coverage of Covid-19 in the Irish media.
• A 33-year-old Chilean woman kept in solitary confinement for more than a week in the female section of Mountjoy Prison after immigration officials refused to allow her into the country has been released.
• Taoiseach Micheal Martin told the Dáil that he has now seen the Garda file relating to the Agriculture Minister Barry Cowen’s drink driving offence and the allegation that he evaded a Garda checkpoint.
• Ryanair is to massively cut flights between Ireland and the UK for the months of August and September, blaming the Irish government for what it calls “suppressed demand”.
• There are now more than 10,000 charities registered in Ireland, according to the Charities Regulator annual report. 
• Two men have been arrested on suspicion of making threats to endanger an aircraft after a Ryanair flight from Krakow to Dublin was forced to divert to Stansted Airport.
• The nominations have been announced for the 2020 IFTA Academy Awards which will be held virtually in September.

INTERNATIONAL 

Fraech Ambassador to Italy, Christian Masset, right, and Italian prosecutor Michele Renzo pose next to a recovered stolen artwork by British artist Banksy Domenico Stinellis Domenico Stinellis

#BANKSY An homage to the victims of the 2015 Paris attacks by street artist Banksy has been returned to France after the stolen work was found in Italy. 

#PLAGUE A 15-year-old boy has died from the bubonic plague in Mongolia, health authorities said today, one of a handful of cases that recently emerged in the country and neighbouring China.

#5G Chinese tech giant Huawei’s equipment will be stripped from the UK’s 5G network by 2027, adding millions to the cost and delaying the delivery of the high-speed mobile network.

Parting Shot

Dozens of ducks had a close call with traffic today when  some 60 of the animals were rescued from a busy motorway near Watford, Hertfordshire. 

An RSPCA officer had to reportedly “sprint” down the busy motorway, according to the BBC, to shield the ducks and remove them. Sadly, not all of the animals survived.