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

Members of the Irish Dance Theatre production 'Mná na hÉireann' pictured outside the GPO ahead of the show's launch at the Ambassador Theatre. Andres Poveda Andres Poveda

IRELAND

• Minister Helen McEntee called for further reform of the maternity leave structures that exist in Leinster House, after the issue was brought back into focus last week over expenses paid to Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns.
• Google was fined more than €400 million by the Data Protection Commission (DPC) for breaching users’ location data.
• Children should have the option to choose a hot or cold meal under the government’s school meals programme, according to an audit of the scheme.
• Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that artificial intelligence will be a key talking point at this week’s United Nations General Assembly high-level week.
• Helen McEntee criticised the European Union’s response to Israel’s actions in Palestine today as she arrived at the UN’s headquarters in New York for the high-level week event.
• The renters’ tax credit will be increased in the budget, the Taoiseach said, as fuel excise is also being examined.
• Over 160 Irish athletes signed an open letter to the Irish men’s national football team, imploring them to boycott the upcoming Uefa Nations League fixtures against Israel.
• A Gazan student is applying for judicial review against justice minister Jim O’Callaghan after he was denied a visa to study in Ireland.
• Dissident Republican Colm Murphy “sat like a spider at the centre of the web” in the plot to bomb Omagh in 1998, a public inquiry has been told.
• A man in his 60s died following a crash involving a car and a bus in Co Waterford yesterday evening.

INTERNATIONAL

Friedrich Merz giving a televised address in Germany after his party suffered what he conceded was a disaster in two local elections.

#TRUMP: CNN, MS NOW and Politico are suing US president Donald Trump and officials in his administration for banning their reporters from the White House.

#RUSSIA: Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party won a large majority in the country’s parliamentary elections, according to results published by state media. 

#RIP: Presley Gerber, a model and the son of Cindy Crawford, has died aged 27.

#GERMANY: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has conceded that his party suffered a “disaster” in two regional elections, but vowed to remain in office as pressure on his position mounts.

#LINDSAY CLANCY: Patrick Clancy, the ex-husband of Lindsay Clancy, has opened up about his children’s killings and forgiving his ex-wife.

PARTING SHOT

Vapes versus smokes. The Taoiseach claimed earlier this month that vaping was “nearly worse” than smoking cigarettes, describing e-cigarettes as the “revenge of Big Tobacco”.

But what does the science actually say?

The Journal’s FactCheck editor Stephen McDermott examined major studies and spoke to international experts about the debate.

So, how does Micheál Martin’s claim stack up?

Read the full article here.