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

IRELAND

Coláiste Pobal Setanta students at the launch of Stand Up Awareness Week, as part of advocacy group Belong To's national anti-LGBTQ+ bullying campaign. Damien Eagers / Julien Behal Photography Damien Eagers / Julien Behal Photography / Julien Behal Photography

• A High Court jury heard allegations that MMA fighter Conor McGregor sexually assaulted a woman who then had to have a tampon that was embedded in her vagina removed with a forceps.
• The final Cabinet meeting before the Dáil is dissolved turned sour as the main coalition leaders blocked a Green proposal.
• That mood continued from the Opposition benches, as the Government was told it’s ‘kowtowing’ to the US on Occupied Territories Bill.
• The Government finalised disbanding the Road Safety Authority following ‘deteriorating fatality and serious injury trends on Irish roads’.
• A young Dublin woman died from a blood clot shortly after she had spent almost 44 hours sitting in an overcrowded emergency department, .
• It emerged Gerard Hutch used his plan to stand in the Irish General election in an application for bail in a Spanish court, it has emerged.
• Former rugby international Brendan Mullin was found guilty of stealing hundreds of thousands of euro from Bank of Ireland Private Bank when he was its managing director a decade ago.
• Three people were arrested in connection with an investigation into an organised crime burglary gang in Dublin suspected of targeting the north west with almost 30 break-ins.

INTERNATIONAL

Not quite a baked Alaska: Artist Upali Dias holds two sculptures of Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION: Voting is in full swing as America chooses its next president. You can follow live updates here.
#EU:Former Finance Minister Michael McGrath took questions in front of over 140 MEPs who wanted to test his credentials as the next potential European Commissioner for Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law.
#MIDDLE EAST:Israel’s leader Benjamin Netanyahu fired his defence minister Yoav Gallant following increasingly public differences over the ongoing war in Gaza.

PARTING SHOT

You likely saw the images from Dublin city centre last week: hundreds of people lining O’Connell Street on Halloween night, all eagerly awaiting a promised parade. But it soon became clear there was no parade and these people had been duped by online misinformation.

The Journal’s FactCheck Editor Stephen McDermott joined The Explainer pod to examine how this happened, and how the rise of ‘AI slop’ has created a breeding ground for this type of content. You can listen here.