Gaza war: Israel ordered to halt military offensive in Rafah by ICJ

Hello and welcome to the Student Hub email digest. In this edition, the ICJ has ordered Israel to halt military operations in Rafah; Justine McCarthy asks did Israel expect a country which has endured occupation and violence to stand idly by; The Seanad has been told that ‘intimidatory’ protesters over immigration include ex-campaigners on Covid; The 2FM exodus; Joe Canning on the consequences of another hiding for Tipperary hurlers; a UL student wins the 2024 Mary Mulvihill Award for a ‘beautifully illustrated essay’ on the intelligence of fungi; We have a review of Dublin food truck takeaway Sumi’s Kitchen and an article about Temu, the cut-price Chinese competitor to Amazon.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to halt its military offensive in Rafah and open the border crossing there for humanitarian assistance.

Did Israel expect a country which has endured occupation and violence to stand idly by? Wednesday was a breezy day. A gentle wind had been ruffling the leaves on the silver birches since early morning. It tap-danced across clotheslines and worked the sea into a froth of suds. Over the rooftops of State offices, the national flag was puffed up as though inflated with pride.

‘Intimidatory’ protesters over immigration include ex-campaigners on Covid, Seanad told: Legislation introduced three years ago to protect politicians from demonstrations outside their homes by anti-vaccination campaigners during the Covid pandemic will be considered by the Oireachtas Justice Committee for dealing with anti-immigrant pickets.

Joe Canning: The consequences of another hiding for Tipperary don’t bear thinking about: About midday last Sunday I arrived in Thurles and went for a drive around the town, just to soak up the atmosphere. I’m not sure what I expected to see but all I saw were red jerseys. When the game started all you could see in the ground were red jerseys ...

‘Beautifully illustrated essay’ on intelligence of fungi by UL student wins 2024 Mary Mulvihill Award: Entry from Evanna Winters explores ‘wood wide web’, the subterranean fungal network that extends beneath forest floor.

First Doireann Garrihy, now the 2 Johnnies and Jennifer Zamparelli: why are so many stars leaving 2FM? Will the last person to leave 2FM please turn out the lights?

Sumi’s Kitchen takeaway review: food truck serving great Indian street food draws a crowd in Dublin 4: Pankaj and Samruddhi Adurkar opened Sumi’s kitchen in September 2023, trading from their food truck in the parking lot of Ryan’s pub in Beggar’s Bush in Dublin 4.

The trouble with Temu, the cut-price Chinese competitor to Amazon: A pair of trainers for the price of a sandwich; a Dyson-dupe hair straightener for a fraction of the real thing – just about everything you can think of buying, and random, bizarre things you couldn’t even imagine exist, are for sale via Temu, the ecommerce app that is taking over the online shopping world. With millions of bargains, it promises buyers can “shop like a billionaire”.

Are we making ourselves anxious, or is the world making us that way? “If we could stop caring about our future and stop remembering our past, we might have a better chance of not being anxious,” says Samir Chopra, a “philosophical counsellor” who analyses the modern condition in a new book.

UCD president criticises ‘messages of hatred and violence’ following pro-Palestine protest on campus: UCD president Prof Orla Feely has written to students and staff to express dismay at what she described as “messages of hatred and violence that are entirely unacceptable”.