EVERY DAY, TheJournal.ie brings you a round-up of all the day’s main news as well as the bits and pieces that you may have missed.

• The search for missing 21-year-old James Nolan entered its third day in Bydgoszcz in Poland today as friends and family back home tried to get the engineering student’s story trending on Twitter.
• Michael O’Leary’s latest surprise move: budget airline Ryanair has offered to pay €694 million in cash for Aer Lingus.
• Gardaí in Dublin have issued an appeal for information about a Dutch man who is suspected of murdering a Belgian national in Brussels in 1999. It is believed the 39-year-old has worked in Dublin at times since then under the stage name DJ Morgandroid.
• An air ambulance operated by the Air Corps for the HSE had to make a heavy landing in Tipperary today. Nobody on board was injured and the patient in need of care was transferred to hospital by road.
• Counsel for the prosecution in the Michaela McAreavey murder trial closed its case today after almost a month of proceedings at the Mauritius court. Earlier, the nine jurors, the judge, the two accused men and their lawyers took a guided tour of the Legends hotel where the 27-year-old newly-wed was tragically killed 17 months ago.
• An appeal has been issued for information about the brutal killing of a dog in Donegal over the weekend. Rex, a two-year-old German Shepherd, was stabbed five times and his throat was slit.
• A man has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for the death of a 5-year-old girl after he set fire to her family home in Roscommon last October. John Lynch was also sentenced to eight years for assault and arson with intent to cause harm to the girl’s father, RTE reports.  The judge said he did not accept the claim by Lynch that he did not know there were people in the house at the time and that 5-year-old Mari Keane Connolly had died in horrifying circumstances.

Awwww. The Duke of Cambridge feeds a 5-year-old black rhino called Zawadi. (Image: Chris Jackson/PA Wire/Press Association Images)

• Sticking with cute animal photos, Dublin Zoo sent us these pics of their newest arrival…a baby Tapir calf born to first-time mum Rio and old-hand Marmaduke earlier this month.
• “You should be ashamed of yourself…”: The Taoiseach told off Deputy Richard Boyd-Barrett earlier today for using Dáil time to promote a protest against the €100 fee. Tonight, the Dáil debates the Sinn Féin-proposed bill to repeal the Household Charge.
• Minister for Justice Alan Shatter has published a report into Cash for Gold shops in a bit to examine any possible criminal activity taking place.
• Ryan Gosling fan or not, you will want to watch this. (Who’s not a Ryan Gosling fan? How? Why?)
• Eamon Dunphy has a sense of humour (or a horrible contract with Betfair).
• Adidas described these sneakers as “outrageous”. We would tend to agree.
• Ireland may be out but our neighbours still have a shot over at the Euros. Paul Fennessy at TheScore.ie is following England as they take on Ukraine, as well as the clash between France and Sweden. All the action, live here.
• Yesterday, TheJournal.ie reported that salacious novel Fifty Shades of Grey had overtaken Harry Potter as the fastest-selling paperback in the UK. These three ladies wanted to see what all the fuss was about:

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