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

IRELAND

Competitor Freya McNab U13 from Sharon Taylor school in Scotland stretches at the 2025 World Irish Dance Championships (Oireachtas Rince na Cruinne), taking place at the Dublin Convention Centre from April 13–20. Over 4,000 competitors from across the globe will compete in more than 50 events.

• “Outstanding”, “incredible” and “epic” – fellow golfers and political leaders across Ireland have rushed to hail Rory McIlroy following his play-off victory in the Masters last night.
• The emerging preferred route for Luas Cork has been launched today by Taoiseach Micheál Martin and is open to public consultation for the next eight weeks.
• Businessman, Fine Gael politician and former Bord Gáis chief executive John Mullins has died at the age of 57.
• Twenty-six landlords, companies, or investment firms paid local property tax for ownership of more than 500 houses or apartments last year.
• The EU’s retaliatory tariffs on US goods worth €21 billion will be on hold until 14 July to give time for negotiations with Washington DC, as the Taoiseach says that he hopes pharmaceuticals from part of the talks.
• The Minister for Justice has said he has been given “no indication” from gardaí that missing Kerry farmer Michael Gaine was murdered.
• A senior garda has warned that numbers in the force could fall to 12,000 members in two years despite Government assurances that there will be more than 14,000 gardaí.  
• The completion of the Rent Pressure Zones (RPZs) review is “imminent”, according to Taoiseach Micheál Martin who reiterated that the government will protect renters. 

INTERNATIONAL

French President Emmanuel Macron, second right, IMA director Jack Lang, right, Palestinian film director Rashid Masharawi, left, French Culture minister Rachida Dati and Hani al-Hayek, center, the Palestinian Authority's minister for heritage and tourism listen as they visit the exhibition Treasures rescued from Gaza. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#BLUE ORIGIN: Pop star Katy Perry, Jeff Bezos’s fiancée Lauren Sanchez and TV presenter Gayle King are among the all-female group that have returned from touching the edge of space.

#SUMY: European leaders, as well as US President Donald Trump, have condemned Russia’s attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy that has left 34 people dead.

#NEW YORK: A small plane carrying six people crashed in New York state on Saturday, authorities said, with local reports indicating that there were no survivors.

PARTING SHOT

COME ON. DID you really think he was going to do it any other way? 

Once upon a time we thought the only way Rory McIlroy would win a major was by sprinting away from the field and leaving no room for drama, but that was back when Rory McIlroy was merely a golfer, rather than An Experience. 

And so, of course, he won the Masters with an Experience Like No Other. 

You can read Gavin Cooney of The 42′s piece on McIlroy’s historic win here.