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

IRELAND

Over 1,000 competitors stormed across Dún Laoghaire Harbour on Saturday for Red Bull Urban Sprint, tackling 16 obstacles over a 1.7KM course set against the backdrop of Dublin Bay. Red Bull Content Pool / Szymon Lazewski/INPHO Red Bull Content Pool / Szymon Lazewski/INPHO / Szymon Lazewski/INPHO

• A Ukrainian travel agent and her husband were apprehended at Dublin Airport after they tried to smuggle €340,000 out of Ireland for a transnational criminal organisation, a court heard.
• A motorcyclist aged in his 60s was killed this afternoon in a road traffic collision in Co Waterford, gardaí have said.
• The Central Bank paid €616,000 for a sculpture at its new headquarters at Dublin’s North Wall Quay in 2022 – more than double the initial price tag mooted for the piece.
• Former Shamrock Rovers player and businessman Eamon Farrell has been remembered at his funeral mass by his son, actor Colin Farrell, as a gem of a father who was adored by the family.
• A man has died following a collision with a car while he was on a ride-on lawnmower.
• Police in the North have shut down rumours circulating online that a male had died following a “large altercation” on a beach in Co Down yesterday.
• Enterprise Minister Peter Burke is “determined” to bring the short-term let legislation to Cabinet next week in a bid to free up housing stock.

INTERNATIONAL

Keir Starmer speaks during a visit to meet British Steel workers in Appleby Village Hall near Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#TARIFFS: The Trump Administration has exempted smartphones, computers and other electronics from its punishing “reciprocal” tariffs – lessening the cost impact on American consumers for a host of popular high-tech products.

#HASHEM ABEDI: Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi has attacked three prison guards with hot cooking oil, the UK’s Prison Officers’ Association (POA) has said.

#TALKS: Iran’s top diplomat arrived in Oman on Saturday and began laying the groundwork for high-stakes nuclear talks with the United States that are unfolding under the threat of military action.

PARTING SHOT

Bees pictured in Co Armagh in January. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

HAVE YOU NOTICED an increase in the number of bees in the last number of weeks? Well, you’re not alone – many people have reported a seeming resurge in wildlife such as bees and butterflies.

Trinity College’s Biodiversity Officer, Collie Ennis, said that although evidence of an increase in numbers is anecdotal at best, it does appear to be the case.

“Obviously, it’s not hard and fast science, but it’s certainly very, very encouraging to see so many people coming to the same conclusion that they’ve noticed a lot more pollinators and butterflies and insects,” Ennis told The Journal. “I certainly have.”