Thousands of Irish language activists attended a rally in Belfast calling for the introduction of an Irish language act. The demonstration was organised by An Dream Dearg; a spokesperson said that no future political settlement aimed at resurrecting Stormont’s institutions would be tenable in the absence of such legislation. In other news, DUP leader Arlene Foster was criticised for describing Sinn Féin’s Northern leader Michelle O’Neill as “blonde”; later a Sinn Féin councillor came under fire for branding People Before Profit MLA, and West Belfast general election candidate Gerry Carroll a “Brit” for indicating he would take his seat at Westminster should he be elected on 8 June.  You can catch this writer’s take on the situation here: Beyond Brits and blondes, what’s the real scandal?

Taoiseach Enda Kenny resigned as leader of Fine Gael, but will continue in his role as Irish PM until the Dáil chooses his successor after a party leadership contest. Two candidates are confirmed: Housing Minister Simon Coveney and Social Protection Minister Leo Varadkar, with the latter reported to be favourite. The leader will be elected through an electoral college system which affords different weighting to votes made by branches of the party: 65% is allocated to members of the parliamentary party; 25% to unelected party members; 10% to county councillors. The winner will be announced on 2 June.

The Conservatives, Labour and Lib Dems launched their respective general election manifestos. Theresa May called on voters to strengthen her hand to allow a hard Brexit, and ditched the party’s 2015 pledge not to raise National Insurance or income tax. Other “difficult but necessary” measures include switching the “triple lock” on pensions to a double lock and cutting net migration to below 100,000. Labour said they would keep the “triple lock” as the party set out its plans to take the energy industry, railways, buses and Royal Mail under public control; to scrap tuition fees and reverse a series of benefits cuts. At the centre of the Lib Dems’ manifesto is a pledge to hold a fresh referendum on Brexit, and to build 300,000 homes a year by 2022.

US President Donald Trump denied trying to influence an FBI investigation into Russian influence on his election by sacking the FBI Director James Comey. Mr Trump said “The entire thing has been a witch hunt… Director Comey was very unpopular with most people.” Later it emerged that Mr Trump told Russian officials in the Oval Office that sacking Mr Comey had relieved “great pressure” on him; he described Mr Comey as “crazy, a real nut job.” This weekend Mr Trump began his first foreign trip as President with a visit to Saudi Arabia. You can read Northern Slant writer Steve McGookin’s analysis here: With friends like these…

In Iran the moderate President Hassan Rouhani won re-election with 57% of the vote; he said voters reject extremism and want more links with the outside world. A high voter turnout of 70% is thought to have helped Mr Rouhani in an election since described as the “revenge of the moderates”. Mr Rouhani promised an outward-looking vision for the country and openly attacked the conservative-dominated judiciary and security services. His own powers, however, are limited by those of the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, who has the final say on many crucial and strategic issues.