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

A young foal is showcased at the Gallagher Dublin Horse Show in the RDS today. Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

IRELAND

• The government jet will be grounded for almost a month as it must fly to a factory abroad for a scheduled maintenance check-up, The Journal learned.
• Tickets for a sold-out Manchester United vs Leeds United match at Croke Park are being resold online for up to eight times their original price.
• Supermac’s won the latest round of a long-running legal battle with McDonald’s over trademarks with the UK Intellectual Property Office ruling that the Irish fast-food chain’s name and logo can be registered in the UK.
• The High Court ordered the suspension of a Wicklow-based GP to protect the public over concerns about her prescribing of large volumes of controlled drugs to patients.
• Hunter Biden described his father’s 2023 presidential visit to Ireland as one of the moments that made him “most proud”, saying he still watches videos of Joe Biden’s speech in Ballina, Co Mayo to lift his spirits.
• The government approved draft legislation that would make ongoing professional training a legal requirement for dentists.
• All Ireland winner Kobe McDonald arrived in Australia to begin his time with St Kilda.
• Pre-tax profits at the group which operates beauty entrepreneur Pippa O’Connor Ormond’s POCO brand last year tripled to €1.17 million.
• RTÉ announced the release date of a new season of The Traitors Ireland.

INTERNATIONAL

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L), Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (C), and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif (R) sign a trilateral defense agreement in Mecca, Saudi Arabia Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#THAILAND: A 14-year-old boy in Thailand killed his grandparents before shooting dead five more people at a school, police said.

#MECCA: Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan signed a mutual defence pact today in the holy city of Mecca, which sets out that an attack on one of the three countries constitutes an attack against all of them. 

#USA: A judge in the US ordered Meta to pay more than half a billion dollars over the state’s claims that the social media giant created a “public nuisance” and harmed children.

PARTING SHOT

MY WHOLE LIFE, I’ve believed one version of me. The high-functioning, perfectionist, multitasker, creative and personable person who knows how to read a room and whose brain never quite switches off.

The empath who feels everything deeply, with a very strong sense of justice and an inability to look away when something isn’t fair or equal. The person who would run herself into the ground fighting for a cause, and who would allow the basic things like booking a dental appointment to take a back seat.

And even though from time to time I would completely burn out, I wore that personality like a badge of honour. The phrase ”do you ever stop” has been said to me more times than I can count, and I generally would laugh and respond “no!”

And honestly, I’m not someone who spent their whole life wondering if they were different. I thought this was what life felt like for everyone. I genuinely thought that most people have 100 tabs open in their brain at any given moment. That’s just modern parenting, right? (I have since learned, apparently not!) I didn’t even consider for a second that maybe my brain was wired a little differently.

You can read Ranae von Meding’s full Voices article here.