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

IRELAND

Crowds in Killarney as 3,500 people are being conferred with Irish citizenship this week Valerie O'Sullivan Valerie O'Sullivan

• A Drogheda criminal who was accused of murdering teenager Keane Mulready-Woods, pleaded guilty at the Special Criminal Court to the lesser charge of facilitating the 17-year-old’s murder in 2020.
• Bitterly cold conditions are expected throughout this week, according to Met Éireann.
• The Taoiseach said he is “not surprised” twice as many people from Northern Ireland would vote to remain in the UK rather than for Irish unity.
• The Special Criminal Court has heard that former Sinn Féin councillor Jonathan Dowdall told gardaí that he felt under threat from “the Hutches” and that he also felt in fear of “the Kinahans” as he was charged with the murder of a cartel member.
• Paschal Donohoe was reelected as chair of the Eurogroup.
• The Northern Ireland Assembly will be recalled on Wednesday in a bid to put pressure on the DUP to end its boycott of powersharing.
• A woman has been arrested in connection with an incident in which a young boy was attacked by a dog in Co Wexford last month.
• The High Court ordered Twitter to provide two journalists with details about certain accounts that published allegedly malicious and defamatory posts about them in a case taken against the tech company and the former Sunday Independent columnist, Eoghan Harris. 
• Pat Hickey officially resigned from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) due to health reasons.
• A man who “acted as a vigilante” and attacked a “blameless” stranger after reading false claims on social media pleaded guilty to a number of charges in court.
• Billie Eilish was announced to headline Electric Picnic as the first ten acts have been announced for the line-up. 
•  

THE WORLD

A Ukrainian serviceman flies a drone during an operation against Russian positions at an undisclosed location in the Donetsk region. Roman Chop / AP Roman Chop / AP / AP

#UKRAINE Russian president Vladimir Putin tried to boost Russian morale by driving across a bridge to Crimea that a truck bomb damaged in October.

#BRUSSELS The trial of 10 men accused over the suicide bombings at Brussels airport and a subway station – the deadliest peacetime attack in Belgium – began under high security.

#CHINA With protests in China against its Zero Covid policy, human rights lawyer Teng Biao examines whether it signals the start of a new resistance. 

PARTING SHOT

The latest investigation from Noteworthy, a cross-border project looking at the fishing industry, found that human trafficking of migrant fishers continues despite the passing of several years since the issue was first exposed in Ireland. 

In this podcast, Maria Delaney of Noteworthy and Geela Garcia in the Philippines tell The Journal’s Susan Daly about the work they’ve done on the six-month project.