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

IRELAND

It's that time of year again TedFest, the annual Fr Ted fan convention on the island of Inishmore gets underway off the coast of Co Galway. Gareth Chaney Gareth Chaney

• It emerged hundreds of people working for Concern Worldwide will lose their jobs amid cuts in aid funding.
• A Garda has pleaded guilty at the Central Criminal Court to inciting two other men to rape a woman and to impersonating her online.
• The sister of Robin Wilkin has said she feels overwhelmed by the lack of remorse shown by her brother’s “cold, calculating” murderers and by the way they dumped his body over Ireland’s tallest cliffs “as if his life was worthless”.
• A convicted rapist who threatened to kill three female Sunday World journalists will be sentenced later this year.
• The High Court allowed Debenhams to appeal against a Labour Court ruling last April that granted workers four weeks’ compensation.
• There were calls for promoter MCD and the 3Arena venue to cancel an upcoming concert that will feature a musician who signed an Israeli bomb last year.
• A ‘devasted’ Sharlene Mawdsley withdrew from the 400m at the European Indoors Championship.
• Celebrity architect Dermot Bannon has to dramatically scale back house extension and revamp plans by broadcaster Máiréad Ronan if she is to secure the green light for an extended family home in Dunmore East.

INTERNATIONAL

The aftermath of a Russian rocket attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine. AP AP

#WAR IN UKRAINE: Donald Trump threatened to implement new “large scale” sanctions on Moscow following a major Russian missile and drone attack on Ukrainian energy infrastructure in the early hours of this morning.
#EUROPE’S FUTURE: Poland prime minister Donald Tusk announced that his country must pursue nuclear weapons for protection.
#EXECUTIONS:The US are to carry out first firing squad execution since 2010.
#EUROSTAR: It suspended its services between London and Paris after the discovery of an unexploded World War Two bomb near tracks in the French capital.

PARTING SHOT

With International Women’s Day taking place tomorrow, the Central Statistics Office released some eye-opening statistics about women in the jobs market.

It found that the number of women working has more than doubled since 1998 – while those reporting their role as “engaged in home duties” has decreased by 60% in since 2010.