Friday’s top stories: Heavy snowfalls and ice in many counties; mourners hear homeless woman was excellent nurse

Heavy snowfalls and ice in many counties with weather warnings in place

Ireland woke to snow on Friday morning, with a status yellow weather warning in several counties amid heavy snowfalls and ice.

March, to quote the well-known weather proverb, is coming in like a lion as the season of Spring begins.

Dublin, Louth, Meath and Wicklow have a status yellow warning valid from 3am on Friday morning to 3am on Saturday morning, but some of that rain will fall as sleet and snow.

News from around the World

Putin threatens West with nuclear war: Vladimir Putin has said that western support for Ukraine risks triggering a global war, in his most explicit threat to use nuclear weapons since he ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago.

Business Interview

Aimee Connolly, owner of Sculpted by Aimee, in her store on Grafton Street, Dublin. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw/The Irish Times

Sculpted boss Aimee Connolly: ‘I have been surrounded by girl power for as long as I know’: The luxury of a high street presence is one reserved increasingly for big multinational chains and a select few with deep pockets. Headlines about rising commercial vacancy rates and companies closing up physical stores have grown ever more prevalent since the pandemic.

Opinion

Justine McCarthy: Catherine Martin’s colleagues should praise her honesty:
Diarmaid Ferriter: Does the electorate know what it is voting for in the referendums?:

Top Sports news

Daniel Wiffen’s Olympic ambitions: ‘I feel like I can say every day that I want gold’: When the photoshoot is over and Daniel Wiffen walks into the room, the first striking impression is his physique. Spidery lean lower limbs, impossibly thin waist, then this terrific upper torso which seems to sprout up in almost freakish proportion to the rest of his body.

Picture of the Day

Injured Palestinians receive medical treatment in Al-Shifa Hospital after Israeli forces opened fire on Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid trucks, killing more than 100. Photograph: Getty

Life & Style

Emer McLysaght: The Government has made a dog’s dinner of the whole referendum thing, no?: I was wearing my school uniform the first time I voted. Eighteen and a half, no doubt sweating in a double layer of 15 denier maroon tights – visible leg skin or socks of any description were reputation enders – and in the middle of my Leaving Cert.