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

IRELAND

Katie Neiland enyoing the new Marina Promenade as Cork City Council had the official opening the of it today by Taoiseach Micheál Martin

• Government, business leaders and unions met to strategise Ireland’s response to US President Donal Trump’s imposition of tariffs.
• Employees in some businesses could be put on a short-time working week as early as this weekend, the Chief Executive Officer of Ibec said. 
• A cautious budget is on the cards this October with government reluctant to make any spending and taxation decisions that “create new risks”. 
• Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that the government intends to appoint a so-called ‘Housing Czar’ imminently to oversee housing policy.
• A couple from Co Antrim were jailed for inflicting what the PSNI has described as “sickening abusive injuries” on a four-week-old baby.
• Simon Harris said it was “appropriate” that a “significant sanction” be placed on party councillor Punam Rane over comments she made last year about Jewish people and Israel at a Dublin City Council meeting.
• The widow of Jason “Jay” Hennessy Sr, who was murdered in a Christmas shooting, was accused of setting an XL Bully dog on gardaí during a drugs and money laundering investigation.
• An appeal by the family of George Nkencho against the decision not to prosecute any gardaí over his fatal shooting by armed officers in Dublin over four years ago was unsuccessful.
• A 48-year-old Dublin man was sentenced to seven years in prison for hijacking a car with a 5-month-old baby in the back.
• There has been a 540% increase in the number of schools who were referred to the state’s Financial Support Services Unit, which offers guidance to school management in times of crisis, in the last two years.
• A new report revealed that only half of new fathers in Ireland avail of the paternity benefit available to them.
• Detectives from the PSNI’s Legacy Investigation Branch made an arrest in England in relation to the murder of journalist Martin O’Hagan in Co Armagh.
• A new survey from the RSA using breathalyser kiosks revealed that close to half of the people who tested their alcohol levels mistakenly believed they were under the legal limit.

INTERNATIONAL

Russell Brand pictured in September 2023. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#CHARGED: Actor and comedian Russell Brand was charged with rape, UK police said.
#GAZA: The Israeli Army announced it had launched a new ground offensive east of Gaza City to expand the security zone it has established inside the Palestinian territory.
#UKRAINE: A Russian ballistic missile strike on Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s home city killed 12 people today, including three children, authorities said.
#TARIFFS: The Chinese Government said it will slap 34% tariffs on all imports of US goods from 10 April.
#TIKTOK: Trump signs executive order to keep TikTok running in the US for another 75 days.
#INDIA: Police in India said they had arrested a US tourist who sneaked onto a highly restricted island to a tribe untouched by the modern world.

PARTING SHOT

The first look at Liam Neeson in the upcoming reboot of the Naked Gun franchise has been released. 

The Irish actor with a very particular set of skills (namely, playing in action thrillers such as Taken and The Commuter in recent decades) is set to show off a new comedy skill in his latest film. 

The movie will see Neeson play Frank Drebin Jr, the son of Leslie Nielsen’s hapless detective from the original police spoof comedies.

The teaser trailer shows the Ballymena actor taking down some bad guys with a sharpened lollipop while in disguise, before addressing a photograph of Drebin Snr. 

Take a look below: