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

IRELAND

Vera Twomey releases a dove at a protest for medicinal cannabis outside the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin this afternoon. Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

• Broadcaster Ciara Kelly defended her colleague George Hook and insisted he is “one of the most gender blind people I’ve ever worked with“.
• Gardaí appealed for information after the disappearance of a 13-year-old girl.
• The Arnotts department store in Dublin was evacuated after a fire. 
• A prison officer’s car was petrol bombed outside his home in Cork last night.
• Ryanair customers were urged to check if the airline owes them compensation money after it announced a raft of cancellations.
• A sniffer dog called Scooby helped Revenue seize over €230,000 worth of cannabis at Dublin Airport.
• The Coast Guard began searching for a fisherman who was reported to have been swept into the sea.
• Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that workers in their 20s and 30s should have the opportunity to buy a home.

WORLD

Police and forensic officers taking part in an operation in Cavendish Road, Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, as part of the investigation into the Parsons Green bombing. Victoria Jones / PA Victoria Jones / PA / PA

#PARSONS GREEN: Police investigating the latest UK terror attack said they arrested an 18-year-old man in relation to the investigation.

#CATALAN: Over 700 Catalonian mayors have said they will not back down as the disputed region prepares to conduct an unofficial independence referendum.

#ST LOUIS: There were violent protests on the streets of Missouri after a white ex-police officer was acquitted of the murder of a black man.

PARTING SHOT

Everyone is afraid of something – be it spiders, heights, snakes and whatever you’re having yourself. There has been a lot of talk about a fear of clowns or coulrophobia to give it its fancy name since the release of IT – a big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s terrifying novel.

But there’s a cure for that fear thanks to a Dublin company which is offering free downloadable classes to people trying to reign in their coulrophobia, the DailyEdge reports.

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