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

IRELAND

People relaxing in Stephen's Green, enjoying a break in the sunshine as the weather takes a turn for the better. RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

• The Government confirmed that it will charter a flight to the Middle East to evacuate Irish citizens amid the intensifying conflict in the region.
• Irish soldiers based in South lebanon have reported small arms fire and some shelling as Israeli troops launched an incursion last night, sources have said. 
• Members of the Opposition called for Government to consider introducing targeted energy supports for Irish households in response to rising oil prices.
• Taoiseach Micheál Martin said the planned evictions of 36 households in Co Wexford came before the government’s new rental rules were implemented.
• A scoping exercise to examine the Michael Shine sex abuse case has officially begun today, after decades of campaigning by victims.
• Ireland is to move forward with deploying its first defence attachés to embassies in the US, Britain and France. 
• Gardaí launched an investigation into a hit-and-run in Co Kerry that left a man in a critical condition in hospital.
• A 42-year-old man will be jailed for life after pleading guilty to the murder of Stephen Ring, whose body lay undiscovered in a Wexford quarry for almost two weeks.
• Former European Commissioner Phil Hogan received government backing to enter a contest for a senior job in the United Nations. 
• Dublin Airport experienced its wettest February on record last month.
• The Labour Party selected its candidate for the upcoming Dublin Central by-election, with almost all parties now having selected runners.
• Dozens of newly qualified paramedics have been left in limbo after being informed they will not automatically receive permanent contracts with the National Ambulance Service.
• A serial car thief who stole a car from a tourist and drove it dangerously around Dublin city centre in the middle of the day was jailed for nine years for multiple driving offences.
• The Taoiseach was urged to “pick up the phone” and call someone in the social media company X amid criticisms that he made a “minimalistic” effort to get the media platform to appear before an Oireachtas committee.
• The State has paid a serving detective €270,000 in a settlement arising out of his three-year suspension for giving a loan of a bicycle to an elderly farmer near his home.

INTERNATIONAL

Photo shows a scene following an airstrike near the Ferdowsi square in central Tehran. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo

#IRAN: Donald Trump insisted Israel did not pressure the US into launching strikes against Iran and said that “if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand”.

#SCHOOL STRIKE: Thousands of mourners gathered in the Iranian city of Minab this afternoon for the funerals of victims of an alleged air strike on a girls’ school in Iran.

#US: A man whose teenage son shot dead four people at a US high school was found guilty of murder and manslaughter in a rare case of a parent charged over a shooting carried out by their child.

#LONDON: Award-winning rapper Ghetts was jailed for 12 years for killing a student in a hit-and-run while speeding and over the drink-drive limit.

PARTING SHOT

Blue skies and colourful murals in the Digital Hub in Dublin' Liberties. Eamonn Farrell Eamonn Farrell

After weeks of getting pelted by rain, the country reached the promised land of blue skies today.

Met Éireann’s satellite radar shows Ireland has very little to no cloud cover across the country – and the forecast indicates it may last for a few days yet.

And while today’s sunshine may be reversed tomorrow with the return of some cloud, there’ll be sunny spells too, with temperatures reaching up to 14 degrees.