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

IRELAND

Four-year-old Nina Brancato from Sutton, Dublin is pictured with Mary-Lou McCarthy at the launch of the new Junior Pollinator Plan in Blessington Street Basin Park today Mark Stedman / Rollingnews.ie Mark Stedman / Rollingnews.ie / Rollingnews.ie

• An appeal has been lodged against the ‘unduly lenient’ sentence handed down to Magnus Meyer Hustveit, the man who raped his girlfriend while she slept.
• ‘Pro-rape’ group Return of Kings have cancelled an Irish meet-up because they’re worried for their own safety.
• Bruce Springsteen will play Croke Park in May.
• The UN has called Ireland out on its religious schools’ “discriminatory admissions policies”.
• Does Fine Gael’s new economic plan, which involves a lot of ‘fiscal space’, really stack up?
• The owners of Dublin venues Whelan’s and the George have merged to form something of a pub empire.
• TD Peter Mathews has been diagnosed with cancer.
• A Mayo family has lost its fight to keep the centuries-old Westport House.
• If you’ve heard a dodgy claim on the campaign trails you can send it to us to have it fact-checked.
• Homeless mothers have held a protest in Ballymun, Dublin.
• An Irish national has been arrested in Thailand for ‘playing bridge’.
• A search is underway for relatives of an elderly man, who has died, so they can attend his funeral.
• Garda stations were jammed with students registering to vote.
• A new poll suggests that no-one will win the coming election, with a hung Dáil the most likely result.

WORLD

Martin Shkreli appearing before the US Congress today AP AP

#SMIRKER: Despised ex-drug CEO Martin Shkreli put on a particularly smug performance while being questioned by US politicians.

#ASSANGE: A UN panel has ruled that Julian Assange, the man behind Wikileaks, is being detained illegally according to the Swedish foreign ministry.

#GAZA: Two Israelis have been jailed for life for burning a Palestinian teen alive.

#TOP GEAR: Former Friends star Matt LeBlanc is to co-host the new version of the motoring show with Chris Evans.

#EASY DOES IT: The UK’s new 25p supermarket has had to close after it ran out of stock.

#SOMALIA: One man has been confirmed missing after an explosion ripped a hole in an airplane.

#PLAYBOY: Just how different is the new, supposedly nude-free, magazine?

INNOVATION

• Facebook looked very, very different 12 years ago – here’s all that’s changed over the years.
• What do Irish drivers want most? Night vision and remote shutdown it seems.

PARTING SHOT

We’ve three weeks ahead of us in this country of political candidates promising us the world and its baby, but that may pale in comparison to some of the stuff the American candidates are coming out with, something Jimmy Kimmel had some fun with last night.

Watch as Jesus, yes – Jesus, delivers some real quotes that the various Republican candidates have come up with during their respective campaigns: