Top News Stories –

Terry Pratchett, author of Discworld novels dies –
Sir Terry Pratchett, fantasy author and creator of the Discworld series, has died aged 66, eight years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. “The world has lost one of its brightest, sharpest minds,” said Larry Finlay of his publishers Transworld.The author died at home, surrounded by his family, “with his cat sleeping on his bed”, he added. Sir Terry wrote more than 70 books during his career and completed his final book last summer. His death was announced on his Twitter account with a tweet composed in capital letters – which was how the author portrayed the character of Death in his novels – read: “AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.” [BBC]

Terry Pratchett

Spider that can give men four-hour erections found in Tesco bananas –
A mother was scared stiff after opening a bunch of supermarket bananas and finding rare spiders whose bite can give a man a painful four-hour erection. Maria Layton, 43, spotted the arachnids after opening the bag of yellow fruit she bought from Tesco. She found the bananas, shipped from Costa Rica, were infested with eggs from the Brazilian Wandering Spider – the most deadly in the world. [Daily Telegraph]
The Brazilian Wandering Spider

Rumours are swirling in Moscow over the health of Vladimir Putin after the Russian president disappeared from view and put off a foreign visit.
Mr Putin has not been seen in public for a week and an official in Kazakhstan told reporters that he postponed a visit to the central Asian country on Wednesday because he had fallen ill. He will also not appear at an annual meeting of high-ranking officers from the Federal Security Service on Thursday, which he has attended in past years. Reporters last saw the president when he met Matteo Renzi, the Italian prime minister, on March 5.
Vladimir Putin

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Business and economy

• The United Steelworkers Union and Royal Dutch Shell negotiate a contract to end of a six-week strike that began February 1 that has affected twelve U.S. refineries. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• 2014–15 South Pacific cyclone season
  • Vanuatu prepares for Tropical Cyclone Pam which is predicted to reach Category 5 on the Australian tropical cyclone intensity scale. (ABC Australia via Weatherzone)
• 2014–15 Australian region cyclone season
  • Tropical Cyclone Olwyn intensifies with the potential to reach Category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale before making landfall in Western Australia‘s Pilbara region on March 13. (Perth Now)

Law and crime

• Ferguson unrest
  • An unknown gunman shoots two policemen in front of the Ferguson city police headquarters in the U.S. state ofMissouri. (AP)

Science and technology

• CERN‘s Large Hadron Collider, which went into shutdown for upgrades to increase beam energy, will resume operation later this month with the hope of creating more Higgs boson particles. (ZD Net)

Sports

• FIFA expels Zimbabwe Football Association from qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup for failing to pay former head coach José Claudinei arrears. (FIFA)

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