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

IRELAND

Deer standing in the rain in the Phoenix Park this morning. Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie Sam Boal / RollingNews.ie / RollingNews.ie

• Irish soldiers are to remain in Mali despite the withdrawal of French troops
• The Journal fact-checked a claim that Sinn Féin objected to the construction of 6,000 houses
• Met Éireann issued new weather warnings, forecasting of high winds and heavy rain
• Families of high-risk teens raised concerns over an absence of booster vaccines as the mask mandate is due to be lifted
• New data revealed that Ireland is the worst country in the EU for using renewables to generate heat
• Younger people in Ireland are less likely than older age cohorts to trust authorities to use facial recognition technology responsibly, according to new polling
• A nurse with a background in addiction studies is expected to be appointed to a national drugs committee after criticism of the group’s configuration
• The publication of a report on the garda vetting regime was delayed due to the “complexity” of the matter

INTERNATIONAL

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson at the Munich Security Conference. Alamy Alamy

#UKRAINE Warnings of an imminent Russian invasion continued to mount amid increased violence in breakaway regions.

#CANADA: More than 100 people were arrested as police broke up a truckers’ protest in Ottawa.

#FRANCE: A close associate of Jeffrey Epstein was found dead in prison.

#IONIAN SEA: Rescue efforts are underway after a fire on a ferry.

#BRAZIL: The search for survivors continued following devastating flooding.

#ATLANTIC OCEAN: Tugs are expected to reach a stricken cargo ship carrying luxury cars by Monday.

PARTING SHOT

If you haven’t already boarded the Wordle train, there is still time to start playing the addictive daily word game.

But maybe you’re looking for something new, and analogues like Nerdle, Worldle, Dungleon, Quordle, or even our homegrown Irish version Foclach haven’t tickled your fancy.

Enter Semantle: rather than figuring out the word using individual letters, you take a guess at it by finding words of semantically similar meaning. Intimidatingly infinite at first, but you’ll soon get hooked.