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

IRELAND

Alan Browne, Callum Robinson and James McClean share a selfie ahead of McClean's last appearance for Ireland against New Zealand. RYAN BYRNE / INPHO RYAN BYRNE / INPHO / INPHO

• Taoiseach Leo Varadkar this evening met with representatives from Arab and Islamic States to discuss the conflict in the Middle East.
• Tánaiste Micheál Martin said it is “beyond him” why someone would “attack” the Department of Foreign Affairs after paint was thrown on the building over the weekend. 
• Minister Jack Chambers wrote to Garda Commissioner Drew Harris in September raising concern at reduced traffic enforcement activity by gardaí, which the Minister suggested risked undermining other measures by the state to improve road safety.
• Significant reforms to the country’s unemployed benefit scheme have been granted Cabinet approval, paving the way for the creation of a sliding scale system designed to “soften” the financial loss that workers face when they suddenly lose their job.
• Five-time All-Ireland winning Limerick hurler Kyle Hayes “kicked and punched” a man who was lying defenceless on a street, after becoming “upset” that the man had spoken to two women in a nightclub he was socialising in, a court heard today.
• The Government published a major document in the next phase of revamping the Irish Defence Forces.
• The Government also signed off on an additional €4 billion in spending on a range of departments and agencies, including close to €1 billion on health spending.
• Former Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams is waiting to see if he has won the first round of a High Court damages fight with three victims of bombings on the UK mainland.
• The Government approved plans to advance the construction of the Adare Bypass in Co Limerick ahead of the Ryder Cup in 2027.
• The Government was today told at a Joint Committee that it needs to “urgently scale-up Ireland’s humanitarian funding” to Sudan and must “increase focus on Sudan at EU level”.

INTERNATIONAL

Journalists and family members gather by Lebanese Red Cross ambulances carrying the bodies of the journalists Alamy Alamy

#GAZA Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said a truce agreement with Israel is in sight, raising hopes that dozens of people taken hostage in the 7 October attacks could be released from war-torn Gaza.

#LEBANON The Israeli bombardment of south Lebanon today killed eight people, official media said, including two journalists from Beirut-based Al-Mayadeen television in ongoing violence at the Lebanon-Israel border.

#WALES Police searching for four teenagers who have been missing in Wales after going camping have found their bodies inside a crashed car.

#TOP GEAR Hit motoring show Top Gear will be rested for the “foreseeable future”, the BBC announced, following a crash during filming last year in which host Andrew ‘Freddie’ Flintoff was seriously injured.

PARTING SHOT

File image of Downing Street with now edited Instagram caption Alamy Alamy

Downing Street was accused of failing to understand the North after mistakenly adding an Irish flag to a social media post celebrating the region.

The post on Instagram shows photographs of a showcase of the region’s culture during an event at 10 Downing Street attended by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The initial post included an Irish flag emoticon.

It is understood that the flag was included in error and was quickly deleted.

Ulster Unionist Party leader Doug Beattie said the incident is the latest which shows that Westminster “doesn’t understand” Northern Ireland.

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