EVERY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you a round-up of the day’s biggest news stories, as well as the bits and pieces you may have missed.

• Police in the US have released a photofit image of the man who was allegedly seen on the Virginia Tech campus earlier carrying a gun. People were told to stay indoors after authorities were alerted to a possible gunman on the campus where a mass shooting took place four years ago. Three children attending a camp said they thought they saw a gunman. The university remains on lockdown as police continue their investigation.
• A home budgeting service based in Rathmines which has been operating since 1963 has closed its doors. Home Payments, which offered a service which allowed customers to make bill payments through monthly or weekly installments, said that it ceased trading today in order to secure the deposits of its customers. Home Payments also offered a savings scheme.
• Nurses at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin have begun a work to rule due to overcrowding at the facility. The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation has said that Beaumont is dealing with more patients in its emergency department because of cutbacks at other hospitals. Meanwhile the HSE has revealed that it’s €208 million over budget for the first six months of the year.
• Have you had any jewellery stolen lately? Gardaí have released images of a €200,000 haul they seized during a raid on a premises in Dun Laoghaire last month. They say they believe the pieces may belong to a number of different parties.
• Happy birthday, Mr. President… Happy birthday to you. Barack Obama hits the big 5-0 today. Have a look at how he’s aged – particularly his hair – since his election campaign.
• Some of you may know him as Hightower from Police Academy, some of you may know him as Bubba Smith… The actor and ex-NFL star has been found dead in his home at the age of 66.
• The United State’s new ambassador to Afghanistan has some unusual diplomatic problems to deal with during his first days on the job… one of them being cats! Around 30 feral cats have made the embassy in Kabul their home, and there’s consternation over what to do with them.
• It was a bad day at the beach for this teen in California and he wasn’t even in the water. Seventeen-year-old Matt Mina was digging a large tunnel when the sand caved in on him, burying him six feet deep. Watch the eyewitness footage.
• Check out the world’s largest stop-motion animation shot on a beach in South Wales. The scene stretched out over 11,000 square feet and the short film was painstakingly created using single shots from a Nokia camera.
• Finally it wasn’t all just in a days work for this truck driver in China. The vehicle became stuck after the earth subsided in Langzhong, China and appeared to swallow it whole:

Pic: Photocome/Photocome/Press Association Images

Making a difference

A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

For the price of one cup of coffee each week you can make sure we can keep reliable, meaningful news open to everyone regardless of their ability to pay.

Support us Learn More