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

IRELAND

Cara Darmody, after meeting Bernard Gloster CEO HSE in Catherine Street, Limerick Brendan Gleeson Brendan Gleeson

• Lawyers for Conor McGregor withdrew their application to introduce new evidence as part of his appeal against a civil jury finding that he raped a woman in a Dublin hotel in 2018
• Tánaiste Simon Harris suggested a future college fee reduction is still on the cards, as the government faces backlash for scrapping the temporary €1,000 subsidy that was available for the last three years
• In Northern Ireland, a man has been charged with murder and child destruction following the death of of 27-year-old Sarah Montgomery in Donaghadee in Co Down on Saturday
• Two men were arrested by gardaí after they were allegedly caught bringing a huge quantity of cocaine ashore in west Cork following a high speed sea chase
• Former Derry football manager Rory Gallagher has launched a High Court case against the GAA’s President Jarlath Burns and Ard Stiúrthóir Tom Ryan
• A couple in their 80s who were found dead near the stairs of their terraced home in Glounthaune, Co Cork last night were named locally as Michael and Ann O’Sullivan
• Former Irish Olympic swimming coach George Gibney was arrested in Florida on an international arrest warrant for the alleged sexual abuse of children. 
• Joe Duffy has not been ruled out as a left-wing unity candidate for president, as People Before Profit TD Paul Murphy refused to answer today when asked if Duffy is being considered. 

INTERNATIONAL

President Trump inspects cages where people arrested by ICE will be held in Florida Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#GAZA: Over one hundred NGOs operating in Gaza called for immediate action to end the Israeli distribution scheme, including the US-backed controversial aid organisation, and to revert to existing UN-led coordination mechanisms.

#LUCY LETBY: Three people who were part of the senior leadership team at the hospital where killer nurse Lucy Letby worked were arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

#USA: Donald Trump visited a newly built detention camp in the Florida Everglades where people arrested in raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents will be sent.

#UKRAINE A Ukrainian drone struck a Russian industrial plant 1,200km from Ukraine, a local official said, after Kyiv prioritised the weapon’s development and Russia pounded Ukraine with a record number of drones last month.

PARTING SHOT

IS THERE INTELLIGENT life out there? That was the question posed in the 2008 film, ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’.

Here, an alien has arrived on Earth on a mission to save the planet… from humans. The visitor, called Klaatu, explains the predicament concisely: “This planet is dying. The human race is killing it.

“If the Earth dies, you die. If you (humanity) die, the Earth survives”.

The logic is impeccable.

You can read John Gibbons’ full Voices article here.