Here's What Happened Today: Thursday

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

IRELAND

BirdWatch Ireland today published the 73 most important areas for seabirds in Ireland. Pictured at the report launch are, from left, Antonia Javier Santamria, Daneil Tomas Santamaria and Monica Alessandra Santamaria. Mark Stedman Mark Stedman

• The mother of a young girl who was killed in a collision in Co Donegal yesterday evening died in hospital from injuries she sustained in the same crash.
• Content moderators were asked to think like paedophiles while they trained Meta AI tools as part of their work for an Irish outsourcing company, The Journal Investigates learned.
• Four men appeared before a court in West Cork charged in connection with the seizure of €31 million worth of cocaine in Courtmacsherry in west Cork on Tuesday.
• Gardaí arrested a man in his 50s as part of their continued investigations into the death of a pensioner last summer in Co Tipperary.
• A United Ireland would cost €3bn in the first year, but any financial burdens would disappear within a decade, according to a new report from Dublin City University.
• A woman in her 70s died following a collision between a car and a truck this morning in Co Meath.
• The defamation case taken by Ryan Casey, the partner of murdered school teacher Ashling Murphy, against the BBC following comments made about his victim impact statement on a live broadcast was settled, the High Court heard this morning.
• A 34-year-old woman was arrested on suspicion of murder after a man died from the injuries he sustained in a house fire in Co Antrim.
• Taoiseach Micheál Martin said he does not agree with his Fianna Fáil colleague Billy Kelleher’s criticism of Eamon Ryan’s appointment to a new housing role in the European Union. 
• An Coimisiún Pleanála objected to plans by Conor McGregor to construct a sprawling ‘historic stately home’-style house in Co Kildare.
• Republican Marian Price took legal action against Disney for defamation after its show Say Nothing depicted her killing Jean McConville.
• Tánaiste Simon Harris was accused of “gaslighting” in relation to comments he made recently on the number of empty council-owned homes across Ireland.

INTERNATIONAL

Diogo Jota. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#RIP: Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota died in a car accident in Spain, at the age of 28.
#US: Trump secured a major political victory as Congress narrowly passed his flagship tax and spending bill, cementing his radical second-term agenda and boosting funds for his anti-immigration drive.
#UKRAINE: Trump and Putin have spoken by phone today after a top US defence official ordered a halt to arms shipments to Ukraine.
#EXTREME HEAT: Wildfires across Europe caused by ongoing heatwaves have caused a number of evacuations, injuries and deaths as temperatures continue to exceed 40C in several regions.
#UK: There was little sympathy on UK front pages for embattled Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves after she appeared to cry in the Commons yesterday.
#RIP: Michael Madsen, who starred in a number of Quentin Tarantino films including Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs, has died aged 67.

PARTING SHOT

Group Captain John 'Paddy' Hemingway pictured last July. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

A portrait of the last Battle of Britain pilot, John “Paddy” Hemingway, has been handed over at the National Museum of Ireland.

Group Captain Hemingway, originally from Dublin, was the final surviving member of “The Few”, who took to the skies in 1940 to defend the UK against Luftwaffe attacks in what became a pivotal moment of the Second World War.

He died in March this year, at the age of 105.

His portrait will find a permanent home at Collins Barracks in Dublin.