Romania were once a force to be reckoned with in rugby but it will be very difficult for them to spring a surprise against Ireland today, writes Donal Lenihan

With gay marriage being legalised recently in Ireland and the US, two Russian men decided to see what it would be like if they held hands around Moscow.

Donegal brother and sister Chloe and Sam Magee settled for badminton bronze in the mixed doubles event at the European Games on Saturday.

The Ukrainian woman with Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov when he was gunned down told Russia media yesterday that she did not see his killer, as conflicting reports emerged about the availability of surveillance footage showing the slaying.

The IAAF ethics commission is investigating “grave allegations” made by a German television documentary.

Champions League Group E

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini does not think Yaya Toure will have a problem returning to CSKA Moscow this season.

Army troops have penetrated deep inside a rebel-controlled city in eastern Ukraine in what could prove a breakthrough development in the four-month-long conflict, the Ukrainian government said today.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has laid out what he called overwhelming evidence of Russian complicity in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and called rebels’ behaviour "grotesque".

Rebels have recovered the black boxes from downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and will hand them over to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, a rebel leader said yesterday.

US and European leaders have called for international investigators to be given full access to the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash site after rebels in eastern Ukraine took control of the recovered bodies.

Ukraine has accused Russia of helping separatist rebels destroy evidence at the crash site of a Malaysia Airlines plane shot down in rebel-held territory – a charge the rebels deny.

THE howling of wolves has been heard in Denmark. The species became extinct there in 1813 but, two centuries later, footprints have been found in Jutland. According to the Timber Wolf Information Network, at least four individuals visited the country recently.

The Dublin-headquartered prospector Karelian Diamond Resources has conditionally raised another £550,000 (€600,000), via a share placing.

A potential 15m to 20m ounces of gold reserves exist along the border corridor linking counties Longford and Down, according to mineral exploration firm Conroy Gold and Natural Resources.

CSKA Moscow coach Leonid Slutsky refused to apologise to racial abuse victim Yaya Toure ahead of his side’s latest Champions League clash with Manchester City.

CSKA Moscow continue to insist the racial abuse suffered by Manchester City’s Yaya Toure in the Russian capital a fortnight ago was exaggerated.

Captain Vincent Kompany (thigh) is again missing as Manchester City travel to CSKA Moscow in Champions League Group D.

Britain's Mo Farah admits he has thought about trying to break the world record in the 1,500 metres.

Despite incurring a number of late injuries, Irish coach Jon Skurr, insists his side is ready for this weekend’s Women’s Sevens World Cup in Moscow.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has said National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden is in the transit zone of a Moscow airport and will not be extradited to the United States.

Russia’s foreign minister has rejected American demands to extradite National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, who has apparently stopped in Moscow while trying to evade US justice.

Dublin is to benefit from a jobs boost today, with the creation of 25 new jobs.

As the lone surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing lay in hospital under heavy guard, the American Civil Liberties Union and a federal public defender raised concerns about investigators’ plan to question Dzhokhar Tsarnaev without reading him his rights.

A Good Day To Die Hard (15A) arrives to mark the 25th anniversary of the original Die Hard (1988), and while Die Hard 4.0 nudged John McClane (Bruce Willis) into James Bond territory, it remained good, clean, trashy fun, not least when Willis launched a stolen cab at a helicopter.

The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, said she is “too focused” on her present workload to make any plans for her future career.

Three members of the punk band Pussy Riot have each been sentenced to two years in prison on hooliganism charges following a trial that has drawn international outrage as an emblem of Russia’s intolerance of dissent.

Organisers of protests in more than three dozen cities around the world are hoping thousands will turn out in raucous support of Pussy Riot, the Russian punk band convicted of hooliganism in Moscow.

One of Ireland’s prime Olympic medal hopes, boxer Paddy Barnes, has been left stunned by the latest world rankings which have resulted in him falling off the list just weeks before the Games begin in London.

Perhaps it was coincidence, perhaps not, but Giovanni Trapattoni last night responded to Aiden McGeady’s suggestion Ireland’s players are jaded by giving his men a day off.

The experience of new boys Louis Saha and Ryan Nelsen could prove vital in helping Tottenham Hotspur lift their first league title in 51 years, according to assistant manager Kevin Bond.

George Clooney’s quip about the Kerry actor’s manhood sees the Irishman join a long line of well-endowed leading men, says Ed Power

Tens of thousands demonstrators rallied in the Russian capital today in another massive protest against election fraud, signalling a growing outrage with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s 12-year rule.

PRE-TAX profits at Cork-based international engineering group, Kentech, more than doubled last year to $16.8 million (€12.4m).

STORES worldwide were gripped yesterday by the now familiar scene of gadget geeks scrambling for Apple’s latest smartphone.

AN overloaded motor boat crashed into a docked barge on the Moscow River in pre-dawn darkness yesterday, killing nine of the 16 people on board, officials said.

More than 100 people, many of them children, were feared drowned today after an overloaded Russian cruise ship sank on the Volga river.

A top Olympian feared Irish athletes competing in the boycotted 1980 Moscow Games would stage an IRA-inspired demonstration.

Amy Winehouse has been paid £1m (€1.17m) for a two-hour performance in Russia.

Dublin: Deals worth more than €9m were won by Irish companies following their recent trade mission to Russia.

At least five people were killed and 20 injured today when a car exploded near the central market of a major city in Russia’s restive North Caucasus region, officials said.

More than 200 commercial pilots working for Chinese airlines faked their CVs, it was reported today.

China’s Henan province has ordered its namesake airline to change its name after it suffered China’s worst civil aviation disaster in nearly six years, saying that the accident had tarnished the province’s reputation.