The zebra crossing on Abbey Road, St John’s Wood, was turned green by Tourism Ireland to celebrate St Patrick’s Day in London, March 17, 2014. (Matt Crossick/PA Wire)

IRELAND

• St Patrick’s festivities spread across Ireland and the world today, with thousands of people attending parades – as well as famous landmarks going green and famous figures getting dressed up to honour the island of Ireland.
• A woman aged in her 20s was arrested in connection with a fatal fire at a Co Cork apartment block.
• Several flights between France and Ireland will be cancelled tomorrow due to an air traffic controller strike.
• The EU and United States have imposed sanctions following a vote in favour of Crimea rejoining Russia.
• Convicted criminal John Gilligan left Ireland last night after being discharged from hospital.
• Gardaí issued a warning after a black Toyota Landcruiser containing veterinary drugs “not fit for human consumption” was stolen in Galway.
• Do you think you’ve seen a UFO over the past couple of days? It was probably just a lenticular cloud formation (… probably).

A woman walks between armed men in riot gear who were performing identity and handbag checks on people walking near Crimea’s regional parliament in Simferopol today. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

WORLD

#CRIMEA: Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree that recognises Crimea as a sovereign state. [RTÉ]

#RIP: Fashion designer L’Wren Scott was found dead in her New York apartment.

#NORTH KOREA: The UN has said human rights violations committed by the North Korean regime are on a par with Nazism, apartheid and the Khmer Rouge.

INNOVATION

• Bill Gates says people don’t realise how many jobs will soon be lost to computers …
• TED will feed exclusive content from its 2014 summit in Vancouver into Paper, Facebook’s standalone news reader, from 17–21 March.

PARTING SHOT

Scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics revealed an exciting finding today: the first direct evidence about how rapidly the universe expanded in the microseconds after the Big Bang. After its birth, our universe grew ‘about 100 trillion trillion times in less than a blink of an eye’.

Source: Nasa.gov