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

IRELAND

The Green Party has essentially ruled out a FF-FG-GP coalition following a meeting with TDs today. RollingNews.ie RollingNews.ie

• The Department of Health has confirmed nine more cases of Covid-19 in the Republic of Ireland, while the first death on the island has also been confirmed. 
• Met Éireann has issued a yellow weather wind warning for 10 counties along the west and east coasts, as well as an orange weather wind warning for Donegal. 
• The Green Party has effectively ruled out joining Fine Gael and Fianna Fáíl in a coalition for now and instead has called for a national unity Government involving all elected TDs.
• Several conferences, festivals and events are set to be cancelled amid fears the coronavirus could spread further but Electric Picnic, the biggest music festival in Ireland, looks set to go ahead as promoters today announced this years line-up.
• Gardaí are appealing for the public’s help in locating a missing 72-year-old woman in Dublin. 
• Two men have been arrested and €8,500 of suspected cocaine and €31,000 in cash has been seized following a checkpoint on the M8 Motorway in Fermoy, Cork.

WORLD

Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison today. AP / PA Images AP / PA Images / PA Images

#PRISON Disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years following his New York rape conviction.

#EXTINCT Kenya’s only female white giraffe and her calf have been killed by poachers, conservationists have said, in a major blow for the rare animals found nowhere else in the world.

#IN AMERICA Joes Biden seized the key battleground state of Michigan in the Democratic presidential primary to deal a blow to rival Bernie Sanders.

Parting shot

Covid-19 – It’s all anyone can talk about as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Ireland continue to rise, day after day. 

In Italy, five weeks after the first case was confirmed, authorities have put the country into lockdown in a bid to contain the spread and hopefully see figures drop in coming weeks. 

But with more than 9,000 confirmed cases there, health authorities in Ireland are doing everything they can to avoid a similar pace of transmission evolving here. But how can Ireland stop an Italy-style spread of the virus? We take a look in the latest episode of The Explainer podcast. 

The Explainer / SoundCloud