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

IRELAND

Farmers in the midlands have raised concerns for their animals in the wake of flooding in recent days. RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

• Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has announced that the party will host a number of public rallies over the coming two weeks in a bid to “to bring the conversation about a government for change to the people”. 
• Gardaí have renewed their appeal for witnesses to a fatal collision in Cork earlier this week and are looking for a taxi driver who was in the area at the time. 
• Met Éireann has today issued a status yellow rainfall warning with a risk of snow in some parts over the next two days. 
• A co-leader of the Social Democrats has today ruled out going into a coalition government with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. 
• Gardaí arrested three men and recovered guns and ammunition following an incident in Donegal overnight. 
• Ryanair chief executive Michael O’Leary is facing criticism for claiming terrorists “will generally be males of a Muslim persuasion”.
• Customers whose washing machines were recalled by Whirlpool over fire safety concerns have expressed their frustration amid delays in their machines being repaired or replaced.

WORLD 

Tourists wearing masks in the streets of Rome. Andrea Ronchini Andrea Ronchini

#LONDON A 29-year-old homeless man has appeared in court charged with stabbing a prayer leader with a kitchen knife at a major London mosque.

#USA Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has condemned Russian efforts to interfere in the 2020 election.

#ITALY An Italian man has become the first European to die after being infected with the coronavirus, just hours after 10 towns in the country were locked down following a flurry of new cases.

Parting shot

It is two weeks to the day that Ireland voted in General Election 2020 yet we are no closer to realising what the next government will look like, but why?

In the latest episode of The Explainer podcast, our political correspondent Christina Finn, Virgin Media political correspondent Gavan Reilly, and DCU professor Gary Murphy explain what has happened in the past fortnight and how much further we have to go. 
https://soundcloud.com/the-explainer-podcast/why-dont-we-have-a-government-yet