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

IRELAND

Dáithí Ó Sé and Kathryn Thomas steer the ship at the launch of the 2025 Rose of Tralee as they meet this year’s 32 International Roses at MV Cill Airne, North Wall, Dublin. Andres Poveda Andres Poveda

• Former president Mary Robinson issued a stark warning that governments failing to act decisively to stop the humanitarian crisis in Gaza are “increasingly complicit” in the suffering of Palestinians in the region.
• Fine Gael councillor Baby Pereppadan did not declare his 50% shareholding in a recruitment agency that has been accused of charging migrant nurses unlawful fees.
• Sinn Féin leader Mary Mary Lou McDonald has written to Tánaiste Simon Harris urging him to meet the parents of child who died after waiting years for scoliosis surgery. 
• A community in Co Down is “shaken and upset deeply” by the attack on a priest and the death of a man at the weekend, Bishop Alan McGuckian has said.
• Twelve food businesses were served closure orders in July, including Lidl and a coffee dock storage unit in Emerald Park, which were both closed due to the presence of rodent droppings.
• A Status Yellow thunderstorm warning will be in effect from 3pm until 9pm on Wednesday in counties Clare, Limerick and Kerry.
• Gardaí launched an investigation into a suspected feud incident in rural Limerick in which a gang of men attacked a pub in the hunt for a man from an opposing faction.
• Three goat’s cheese products sold in Supervalu have been recalled by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland due to the possible presence of Listeria monocytogenes.
• ‘Cowboy steaks’, avocados and a birthday cake were among the items hand-delivered to Republican prisoners in the country’s highest-security jail.
• The Garda’s new surveillance plane has been fitted out with high-tech kit in Austria in the last week, The Journal learned.
• The Japanese company behind the Sylvanian Families toy line dropped its US lawsuit against a young Kildare woman whose soap-opera-style videos of the cutesy figurines became an online phenomenon.
• Businessman Gareth Sheridan is seeking to become the youngest-ever Irish presidential candidate during this year’s election, and claims to have secured support to make that possible. But how, exactly, did he earn his millions? And what does his company do?

INTERNATIONAL

Displaced Palestinians wait to get food in the west of Gaza City. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#GAZA: Marion McKeone met an NHS nurse working in Gaza, who details the suffering and starvation they now witness under Israel’s ongoing blockade.
#WILDFIRES: Two people died and thousands fled their homes as wildfires rage across southern Europe.
#POPE LEO: Madonna made a heartfelt appeal to Pope Leo XIV, urging him to visit Gaza “before it’s too late” amid the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
#UKRAINE: EU leaders reaffirmed Ukraine’s right to “choose its own destiny” just days before US President Donald Trump is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska.
#WATER SHORTAGE: The UK Government has advised people to delete old pictures and emails amid a “nationally significant” water shortfall in England, as data centres require vast amounts of water.

PARTING SHOT

The annual Perseid meteor shower pictured in 2016. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

Ireland’s night skies will light up this evening as the annual Perseid meteor shower reaches its peak, offering one of the most dazzling natural spectacles of the year.

Stargazers can expect dozens of bright meteors streaking overhead every hour, even with a full Moon in the mix.

Conditions should be largely favourable for viewing, according to Met Éireann, with clear spells in many areas overnight and just the odd shower.

Some cloud will build in the south towards dawn, with patchy drizzle, mist and fog possible, but temperatures will stay mild at 13 to 16 degrees with light breezes.