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

IRELAND

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar pictured with Roberta Metsola President of the European Parliament in Government Buildings today RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

• A former British soldier found guilty of killing Aidan McAnespie in Northern Ireland more than 30 years ago has been given a three-year suspended sentence. 
• A 32-year-old man has appeared in court charged in relation to the murder of Natalie McNally at her home late last year.
• Northern Ireland Secretary Chris Heaton-Harris has said he intends to establish an independent statutory inquiry into the 1998 Omagh bombing.
• AIB is set to hike interest rates on all mortgage types by 0.5% following announcements by the European Central Bank earlier today.
• There is currently “no line of sight” for the Government to provide accommodation for asylum seekers.
• Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said that scenes of some protests in recent weeks “aren’t acceptable” and “is not the Irish way”. 
• Tánaiste Micheál Martin has said that there needs to be an “honest debate” about how far the Government goes to deal with historical wrongs by the State.
• A military court has sentenced an army recruit who falsely imprisoned and assaulted another trainee soldier at a military barracks in Limerick two years ago to seven days detention followed by a discharge from the Defence Forces.
• Dublin City Council has granted planning permission for the demolition of the building that housed the former Anglo-Irish Bank HQ on St Stephen’s Green.
• Cloud computing giant Salesforce is to cut around 200 jobs in Ireland.  

INTERNATIONAL

President Joe Biden speaks of unity and bipartisanship during the 70th annual National Prayer Breakfast at the US Capitol Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#RAAB: UK civil servants who were allegedly bullied by Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab have “suffered mental health crises”, according to a union leader. 

#SHELL: Oil giant Shell posted a net profit of $42.3 billion (€38.46 billion) last year, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine sent oil and gas prices soaring.

#BANKNOTES: Australia has announced that it will remove images of the British monarch from its banknotes.

PARTING SHOT

The moment Punxsutawney Phil came out and chose one of two scrolls. Screengrab / Fox News Screengrab / Fox News / Fox News

The age-old tradition of allowing a chosen groundhog to predict the end of winter has continued in the US state of Pennsylvania.

The ceremony, made famous thanks to the 1993 Bill Murray film Groundhog Day, sees  the rodent Punxsutawney Phil emerge from his burrow and choose one of two scrolls to decide the upcoming weather.

One has a sunnier outlook, the other less so. 

And unfortunately Phil has opted for the scroll providing locals with six more weeks of winter.