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

IRELAND

Genevieve Owens and Tara Hewitt Murphy arriving on site for the Electric Picnic. Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland Sasko Lazarov / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

• A former Garda is being investigated after it was revealed a paramilitary may have been sent texts relating to arrests
• A woman turned up to a Mayo school with a knife and threatened the principal
• Irish peacekeepers were on high alert in the Golan Heights
• A stolen car was stopped after crashing in both Louth and Down
• The head of UTV said comments he made about housewives were “taken out of context”
• Irish Rail management and staff were set to negotiate to avert strikes on All-Ireland final weekend
• Electric Picnic got underway, but the weather doesn’t look great
• An Australian newspaper refused to carry an ad for an event featuring Mary McAleese
• Hospital food was criticised by a Labour TD as “not good enough”

INTERNATIONAL

Captured Ukrainian border guards sit in a garage at the Novoazovsk border crossing point, in eastern Ukraine. AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

#UKRAINE: The death toll in Ukraine has risen to 2,600 and the west is turning up the pressure on Russia.

#ISLAMIC STATE: The Islamic State has released another beheading video. The video reportedly shows a group of Kurdish men in orange jumpsuits.

#TERROR THREAT: The UK has upped its terror threat from “substantial” to “severe”, in reaction to the unrest in Syria and Iraq.

#ICELAND: Iceland closed, then reopened, their airspace after an eruption next the volcano Bardarbunga.

INNOVATION

• So long, teenage years. Microsoft is shutting down MSN Messenger. 
• Facebook is giving its mobile search a much-needed overhaul.

PARTING SHOT

If you’re home this weekend instead of in Stradbally, why not binge watch all of the year’s best TV? That way, when your friends come back from seeing Outkast, you’ll know more about US comedy and drama. Vox.com has the skinny.