NEED TO CATCH up? The Journal brings you a round-up of today’s news.
IRELAND
INTERNATIONAL
#UKRAINE: The country’s most senior general was today removed from his post, in the biggest shake-up of Kyiv’s military leadership since Russia’s invasion almost two years ago.
#GAZA: Israel’s troops prepared to enter Rafah as prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that ‘total victory’ was still possible.
#SUNAK: Rishi Sunak refused to apologise to Brianna Ghey’s father and said it is “sad and wrong” to link his transgender joke at Prime Minister’s Questions to the murdered teenager’s case.
#EU: Four Irish MEPs were criticised for not supporting a European Parliament resolution which condemned “continuous efforts” by Russia to interfere in European democracy, and expressed alarm at alleged relations between it and Spain’s Catalan secessionists.
PARTING SHOT
A row erupted earlier today between Belfast rap group Kneecap and the British government.
The group’s funding was pulled from a UK-wide funding scheme for music artists over its stance on the UK and Northern Ireland.
Kneecap’s three members have gained acclaim for their blend of Irish and English rap about the realities of growing up in post-Troubles Belfast.
However, a spokesperson for the UK’s Trade minister Kemi Badenoch said that it didn’t “want to hand out UK taxpayers’ money to people that oppose the United Kingdom itself”.
Responding to the news, Kneecap criticised the UK government for “removing artists from funding” due to their political beliefs, slamming it as “classic coloniser stuff” from the Tory government.
