NEED TO CATCH up? TheJournal.ie brings you a roundup of today’s news.

(Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland)

IRELAND

• Poet Seamus Heaney died today at the age of 74.
• The President led tributes to Heaney, while readers shared their favourite poems.
• An Irish television producer has been detained by police in Egypt.
• Runaway solicitor Michael Lynn has been arrested in Brazil.
• An investigation has been launched after a Mountjoy prisoner died.
• A man has been charged over a €90,000 meth seizure in Carlow.
• The birth rate has dropped by 9 per cent – but marriages are increasing.
• A man shot in Clondalkin last night has died.
• There has been an increase in tourist numbers visiting Ireland this summer.
• Electric Picnic has kicked off in Stradbally.

INTERNATIONAL

Morsi supporters march to the presidential palace in Cairo. (AP Photo/Mostafa Darwish)

#INTERVENTION: The US Government says 1,429 people were killed in the chemical weapons attack in Syria last week.

#EGYPT: Thousands of supporters of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi have taken to the streets. [BBC]

#SPYING: A breakdown of US intelligence’s multi-billion dollar “black budget” was released by Edward Snowden to a US newspaper. [Washington Post]

#BAN: A Californian court has upheld a ban on “gay therapy“.

INNOVATION

• NASA is funding six futuristic space exploration tech ideas. [Mashable]
• The PC boom is officially over, and smartphones and tablets are taking over. [The Guardian]
• The Syrian hackers behind recent high-profile attacks have warned of ‘many surprises‘ to come.

PARTING SHOT

Are list-based articles (“22 Pictures of Miley Cyrus’ Open Mouth.” “37 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith in Pit Bulls”) changing the way we think – and the way we consume news? In this thoughtful piece for The New Yorker, Dublin-based writer Mark O’Connell writes 10 paragraphs about why lists are a crutch, a necessity, and probably bad for us. [The New Yorker]