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

IRELAND

Megan Fisher, Jess Hession, Sinead Jenkins and Katie Hurley from KIldare enjoy the pilot music festival in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. Leon Farrell / RollingNews.ie Leon Farrell / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

• Taoiseach Micheál Martin has urged people to ‘be vigilant’ ahead of an expected wave of Covid-19 infections driven by the Delta variant. 
• 448 new cases of the coronavirus were confirmed in the Republic of Ireland, with 460 in Northern Ireland, the highest in the north for almost five months.
• The HSE has said there “may not be enough to meet the demand” for Johnson & Johnson vaccines for the 18-34 year olds who have signed up to receive it. 
• New figures released today show that 48% of adults, 1.8 million people, are fully vaccinated from Covid-19 with a further 20% partially vaccinated. 
• As UK ministers claim the Protocol will damage peace in Northern Ireland, the Taoiseach called on the UK government to display a “generosity of spirit”. 
• Some 3,500 people are attending a pilot concert in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham in Dublin.

WORLD

A road is covered by mud and debris following heavy rain in Atami city Satoru Watanabe / AP Satoru Watanabe / AP / AP

#JAPAN: Two bodies have been found after a huge landslide at a resort town in central Japan swept away homes following days of heavy rain, with around 20 people still missing. 

#WILDFIRES: Military aircraft is being sent in to help evacuate towns in western Canada following an intense heatwave. About 700 are feared dead and a new national temperature record of 49.6 degrees has been set. 

#HURRICANE ELSA: The first hurricane of the Atlantic season is racing towards Haiti and the Dominican Republic where it threatens to unleash flooding and landslides before taking aim at Cuba and Florida.

PARTING SHOT

A rupture in an undersea gas pipeline in the Gulf of Mexico has sent flames boiling to the surface of the water as people compare the shocking footage to an ‘Eye of Fire’ or the ‘Gates of Hell’. 

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