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

Members of the Burke Family, L-R: Ammi, Isaac and Martina pictured recording a message for their followers after a High Court action in the Four Courts involving their sibling, Enoch Burke. irishphotodesk.ie irishphotodesk.ie

IRELAND

• Wexford County Council is turning to the Aqua Dam in a bid to prevent further flooding in the county
• The government is set to implement a total ban on the use of scramblers in public places. 
• The default position will be that victim counselling notes will not be disclosed in sexual offence trials, according to Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan.
• A man from Co Derry has died after falling five floors from his apartment in central London.
• The chair of the Oireachtas Media Committee has said it is “incredibly worrying” and “incredibly disappointing” that X refused to appear before it today to discuss online regulation and safety.
• The FAI has submitted a preliminary bid dossier to Uefa to host the Women’s Champions League Final in 2029.
• The Supreme Court has partially upheld a significant High Court decision in favour of climate action in the case of a proposed wind farm in Co Laois.

INTERNATIONAL

Families and relatives carry the body of Hamada Al-Habil during his funeral in Gaza after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike during an official ceasefire Alamy Alamy

#NORWAY The son of Norway’s future queen today admitted a life of excess, blaming it on an “extreme need for recognition”, but denied raping a woman at his parents’ royal estate in 2018.

#EPSTEIN FILES Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein asked an exotic dancer for a threesome at the late paedophile’s Florida home, legal letters claim.

#LIBYA Libyan prosecutors are investigating the killing of Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, son of slain ruler Muammar Gaddafi, in the city of Zintan.

PARTING SHOT (literally)

Catherine Connolly TONY MAXWELL TONY MAXWELL

It was a whistlestop tour for President Catherine Connolly today around Belfast City as she paid her first official visit to Northern Ireland since taking up office in November.

After her meeting with the Stormont leaders, Connolly visited Queen’s University, where she met with basketball players from the cross-community charity PeacePlayers.

While there, she once again showed off her sporting skills, scoring not one but two hoops (one of which was done while facing backwards).