EVERY EVENING, TheJournal.ie brings you a round-up of the main news stories, as well as the bits and pieces you may have missed throughout the day.

• It’s hardly any surprise that today’s headlines remain dominated by events in Japan – where it has emerged that tens of thousands of people could remain unaccounted for, given that around 9,500 are missing from one town alone. Most of today’s news has been concerned with the nuclear power plant at Fukushima, where an explosion occurred this morning. Though the blast did not damage the nuclear reactor, radioactive emissions increased significant and some leaks were detected. Prime minister Naoto Kan called the event “an unparalleled disaster“.
• There’s not much better news elsewhere – in New York, 13 people were killed when the bus they were travelling on was struck by a tractor-trailer, which flung the bus onto its side. Its roof was then sliced off by a massive signpost.
• Gardaí in Co Louth are seeking public assistance in tracing the whereabouts of four children who haven’t been seen for two days. The Eaton children – Chloe, Jessica, Jon and Megan – are all under 12 years old.
• Joan Burton has denied having any major dispute with her party leader Eamon Gilmore over her appointment to the Department of Social Protection, saying she was merely happy to have been included at all. She said, however, that she felt she was qualified to do most of the jobs that would have been available in cabinet.
• Gardaí are also looking for help in identifying the victim in a Roscommon road accident, after they were unable to identify a pedestrian killed on the N4 overnight.The victim in yesterday’s shooting in Portstewart, Co Derry, has been named as 51-year-old Marion Millican. It is thought the motive for her death may have been domestic.
• Charlie Sheen is hitting the road… to do a ‘comedy’ tour (at least, that’s what Ticketmaster calls it anyway) called ‘The Violent Torpedo of Truth’. In a video launching the tour, Sheen said anyone who didn’t go would suffer from ‘Sheen-is envy’.
• In the Six Nations Championship, a brave but sometimes careless Ireland fell to a six-point defeat in Cardiff, with Wales running out winners by 19 points to 13 – courtesy of a try that came off a somewhat dubious Welsh lineout. Earlier, in rome, Italy recorded a one-point victory over France in a thrilling upset.
• In the FA Cup quarter-finals, an under-strength Manchester United side ran out 2-0 winners over a disappointing Arsenal, while Bolton beat Birmingham 3-2 at St Andrew’s to book a semi-final berth of their own.
• Here’s something you might not have caught today: this boxer (or possibly a mixed martial artist?) got a little too up-close-and-personal with his opponent, and got his just desserts a few seconds later.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGQmgh9AS6w