Here's What Happened Today: Friday

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

IRELAND

• A woman was charged after the discovery of a bomb in car that was travelling towards Northern Ireland earlier this week.
• The US Embassy in Ireland said the Occupied Territories Bill “risks real unintended consequences” for nearly a thousand American companies and “the hundreds of thousands of Irish jobs tied to them”.
• Three people were hospitalised following a shooting in Ennis, Co Clare this morning. 
• Firefighters have made significant progress in containing the wildfire on Slievenamon in Co Tipperary, although a change in wind direction overnight has shifted the main focus of operations.
• Edenderry garda station reopened, after two gardaí became unwell on Wednesday while processing vape products.
• A nationwide hosepipe ban came into effect from today as Uisce Éireann seeks to protect water supplies following a period of warm weather and low rainfall.
• Ireland’s largest data centres used close to one billion litres of water last year, a new investigation by The Journal Investigates found.
• “No adverse findings have been determined” in a review of alleged breaches of sanctions by Aughinish Alumina in Co Limerick, the minister for enterprise said.
• An Garda Síochána is expanding its taser pilot to Limerick from tomorrow.
• The Dublin MetroLink and the Galway City ring road are among nine infrastructure projects that will be expedited using new legislation.
• A victim of marital rape has described how she had to defend her reputation against “false allegations to Tusla and the guards”.
• A Co Antrim politician staged a seven-hour, one-man sit-in at the Dunnes Stores headquarters in Dublin over a derelict building in his town that has been idle for over seven years.
• Department of Finance officials warned proposals to overhaul inheritance tax rules for people without children would come at a “significant” cost to the Exchequer and leave far fewer people liable to pay the tax.
• Irish Rail launched plans to add new tracks along Ireland’s busiest rail corridor in a bid to increase capacity and allow for more frequent train services.
• The Women’s Rights Network Northern Ireland launched legal proceedings against a west Belfast festival after the cancellation of an event it was due to hold.
• A pilot scheme was launched that will provide accessible beach mats at two beaches in Galway City.
• Free sunscreen will now be provided to members of the public from 12 parks throughout Dublin city.

INTERNATIONAL

#WEST BANK: Israel widely deployed troops in the West Bank after clashes broke out today across the occupied territory after the killing of an Israeli settler triggered violence that left two Israeli soldiers and four Palestinian villagers dead.

#TRUMP TARIFFS: Donald Trump threatened to impose “substantial” tariffs on the European Union over fines that the bloc has placed on a number of US tech giants.

#WILDFIRES: French and Spanish authorities ordered some of the largest evacuations ever as out-of-control forest fires raged near Madrid and an upscale touristy region in southwestern France, forcing over 100,000 people to flee or hole up indoors.

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#LONDON: Chris Brown pleaded guilty to affray over a “vicious and unprovoked” bottle attack at a club in central London.

PARTING SHOT

If you have wondered if there are more butterflies fluttering around this summer, you are not wrong. 

Collie Ennis, Biodiversity Officer at Trinity College Dublin, says this year seems to be a particularly good one for the colourful insects.

“It’s ideal weather for bugs in general, especially butterflies, because [in] those kinds of warm, dry spells you tend to see a lot more on the wing.”

An early hot spell in May this year also contributed to the fast growth of butterflies.

Temperatures reached record highs as a “heat dome” took hold across Western Europe.

“A lot of their caterpillars would have got a head start, pupated, turned into butterflies, and gone out in the wing,” Ennis noted.

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