Here's What Happened Today: Wednesday

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

IRELAND

Saoirse Healy (8) at the of launch of ‘European Maritime Days to Play’, a free public event on Friday May 23 and Saturday May 24 to celebrate Cork hosting the European Maritime Day Clare Keogh Clare Keogh

• Victims of convicted paedophile surgeon Michael Shine have expressed “cautious optimism” after Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill pledged talks on how to “best provide answers” to their questions.
• The disappearance of Kerry farmer Michael Gaine is “completely out of character” his wife Janice said in a video appeal following the reclassification of the case to a homicide investigation.
• Transgender people have spoken out about their traumatic experiences in approaches to their healthcare at the National Gender Service.
• The Government and the regulator “must ensure” that electricity suppliers offer customers price plans with a view to reducing emissions and saving money, the Climate Change Advisory Council said. 
• The Government’s Special Rapporteur on Child Protection called for an “inquiry into the inquiry” on ‘Grace’.
• Temperatures reached nearly 26 degrees in Mayo, almost breaking the highest ever temperature recorded in April.
• A BBC programme in which Gerry Adams claims he was defamed was shown to the jury in the High Court in Dublin this afternoon.
• A Dublin TD called for SUV-free zones as a major study revealed children are 82% more likely to be killed if hit by one than when hit by a regular car.
• A retired member of the Defence Forces was today jailed for sexually abusing and grooming two young girls in the 1980s.
• A Spanish prosecutor argued that a claim by alleged killer of Irish mum-of-one Kirsty Ward that she died by suicide is false.
• Three Kneecap concerts that were due to take place in Germany were cancelled amid controversy over the group’s recent commentary about Israel’s war on Gaza.

INTERNATIONAL

President Donald Trump arrives to speak on his first 100 days at Macomb County Community College yesterday. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#UKRAINE: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that the United States could give up on mediation unless Russia and Ukraine put forward “concrete proposals,” as US patience wanes on what had been an early priority for Donald Trump.
#SWEDEN: Swedish police arrested a suspect in a shooting that killed three young men at a hair salon, amid heightened nerves over gun violence in the Scandinavian nation.
#MUSHROOM MURDERS: The Australian host of a weekend family lunch went on trial charged with murdering her estranged husband’s parents and an aunt and attempting to murder an uncle with poisonous mushrooms.
#US ECONOMY: The United States’ economy has shrunk by 0.3% so far this year as Trump yesterday marked 100 days in power. He wrote on his social media platform Truth Social: “This is Biden’s Stock Market, not Trump’s.”

PARTING SHOT

Here is the moment the famous Sycamore Gap tree was cut down and fell on to Hadrian’s Wall in Northumberland.

Today, jurors were shown a two-minute and 41-second video of what prosecutors say is the hundred-year-old sycamore being chopped down.

Groundworker Daniel Graham, 39, and mechanic Adam Carruthers, 32, each deny two counts of criminal damage to the tree and the wall, overnight on 28 September, 2023.

The video was taken from Graham’s iPhone.

The damage caused when it was felled was valued at €731,494 for the tree and €1,345 to the wall, which is a Unesco World Heritage Site.

The trial continues.