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

IRELAND

A live demonstration at the Cork Carnival of Science, which took place today. Clare Keogh Clare Keogh

• AFTER MONTHS OF a slow drip of information from the Government, tonight is the night that a decision is expected to be made on how Ireland’s rental system will be overhauled in relation to Rent Pressure Zones
• Twenty-eight schools are to undergo “major energy and decarbonisation retrofit works” this summer, the Minister for Education Helen McEntee has announced 
• Gardaí showed off one of their new water cannon trucks today alongside some new body armour for public order policing and a new, stronger kind of incapacitant spray
• The Department of Transport spent almost €600,000 on works to revamp the front entrance and a small plaza at its headquarters on Leeson Lane in Dublin
• Opposition parties have requested a free “vote of conscience” on a motion calling on the Government to stop the Central Bank from facilitating the sale of Israeli State Bonds
• The High Court has dismissed objectors’ judicial review challenge against the green light for a 579ft-high eight-turbine wind farm for lands in south-east Clare
• Garda Commissioner Drew Harris has said the force may look into acquiring a full-time cadaver dog in future to avoid being reliant on other police forces when searching for bodies
• Wicklow County Council has expressed concern over a report which claims that the closure of the Greystones-Bray cliff walk has cost the local economy millions of euros in lost revenue
• Locals blocked two service vehicles from entering Castletown House estate in Co Kildare this morning in a tense but peaceful stand-off against the Office of Public Works (OPW)

INTERNATIONAL

A protester is arrested in Los Angeles. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#LOS ANGELES: The city of LA is on edge after violent clashes between demonstrators and security forces over immigration raids

#GAZA: A group of activists, including Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg, have docked in Ashdod Port, in south Israel, after troops took control of a Gaza-bound aid boat in the early hours of this morning

#RIP: Frederick Forsyth, the author of The Day of The Jackal, has died at the age of 86

#IT ENDS WITH US: A judge has dismissed the lawsuit filed by actor and director Justin Baldoni against his It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively after she sued him for sexual harassment and retaliation

PARTING SHOT

The 2MASS1612 system consisting of a disk made of dust particles University of Galway University of Galway

A University of Galway researcher has led a groundbreaking study that discovered the site of a planet in formation, a finding that could help physicists understand how our solar system was built.

The work was conducted by an international team of researchers from Ireland, the UK, Germany, Australia, USA, Netherlands, Italy, Chile, France and Japan.

It concluded that the new planet is a giant gas planet multiple times the mass of Jupiter.

Read more about it here.