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

IRELAND

Wind turbines on a wind free day on the Bog of Allen in County Offaly. Eamonn Farrell Eamonn Farrell

• Gardaí seized 120 kilos of cocaine as well as a light aircraft following an operation targeting organised crime in Ireland.
• The HSE is to issue advice on vaccination to groups who are most at risk of contracting monkeypox in the coming weeks.
• The siblings who died in a drowning incident in Ballybunion Beach were named locally as Desmond Byrne, aged 50 and his sister Muriel Eriksson, aged 62.
• A four-year-old girl died after sustaining injuries in an incident at a caravan park in Enniscrone, Co Sligo, this afternoon.
• Taoiseach Micheál Martin accused Sinn Féin of “revisionist history” over comments its deputy leader Michelle O’Neill made about the Troubles.
• Plans are in motion to have up to 30% of Ireland’s maritime territory designated as marine protected areas by 2030.
• Pinergy is to hike its electricity prices by nearly 20% from 5 September.
• Hot weather is set to return next week with Met Éireann saying temperatures are set to rise higher as the week progresses.

INTERNATIONAL

The Panama-flagged Navistar leaves the Odessa Port for Ireland with 33,000 tonnes of corn. ABACA / PA Images ABACA / PA Images / PA Images

#GAZA A senior militant from Islamic Jihad was among more than 15 people killed in Israeli air strikes on the Gaza Strip today, prompting the militant group to warn Israel has “started a war”.

#SULPHUR DIOXIDE Noxious gases from an Icelandic volcano threaten to pollute the air of a nearby village and risk spreading to the capital Reykjavik, the Icelandic Meteorological Office said today.

#GRAIN SHIPMENT Turkey’s defence ministry said that three more ships loaded with grain have sailed from Ukraine under a UN-backed deal lifting Russia’s blockade of the Black Sea.

#US Two people were killed and two more were in critical condition after a lightning strike near the White House, police in the US capital said.

#LEADERSHIP BATTLE Tory leadership contender Rishi Sunak proudly told party members he had been working to divert funding from “deprived urban areas” towards prosperous towns.

PARTING SHOT

Great pleasure to release these white-tailed eagle chicks in Kerry today.

A real tribute to @npwsBioData

Wonderful to see these magnificent birds back in the wild. pic.twitter.com/crAAX6ypc9

— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) August 5, 2022

Taoiseach Micheál Martin released four white-tailed sea eagle chicks in Kerry today as part of a long-term initiative to re-establish a population of the once-extinct native bird.

The eagle chicks arrived in Kerry airport on 1 July this year and the release in Tarbert, Co Kerry, today is part of the 2022 phase of this biodiversity initiative.

The Taoiseach said he has followed the project for a number of years and that watching the eagles take to the skies for the first time is something that will long in the memory. 

“It is wonderful to see the development since the first introduction of chicks a number of years ago. These white-tailed eagles are magnificent birds which will play a key role in a functioning ecosystem, after having been driven to extinction in the 19th Century as a result of human actions,” he said.

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