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There’s a 10,000% increase in searches for an unusual type of porn this week –
This week sees a whopping 10,000 per cent increase in searches for one particular type of porn. And it’s, erm, unusual. But whatever, each to their own. You may already be aware that this Thursday, March 17, is St. Patrick’s Day. While many revellers (Irish or not) mark the day with a pint of the black stuff, a huge portion of people are staying at home for some time alone with Leprechaun porn. Pornhub have revealed searches for Leprechaun erotica increased by a staggering 10,000 per cent on St. Patrick’s Day last year. And that’s not all folks. The number of people searching for the word Irish on the adult film site increased by 600 per cent, while searches for St Patrick’s Day-theme porn increased by 6,000 per cent. Online traffic on Pornhub from Ireland on St Patrick’s Day is on average 5 per cent higher than usual. [The Metro]

Ben Nevis gains a metre thanks to GPS height measurement –
Ben Nevis, Britain’s tallest mountain, is a little bit bigger than we thought. The Ordnance Survey (OS), has re-measured the Scottish peak and its official height is now put at 1,345m – a metre taller than before. The actual difference from the last official measurement in 1949 is much less – but enough for the height to be rounded up rather than down.
The change comes from the precision that can now be achieved with modern technologies such as GPS. OS, Britain’s official mapping agency, has already begun issuing maps with the new height. The official measuring point atop Ben Nevis is one of those squat concrete pillars familiar to hill-walkers all over the country. It sits on a cairn, and it was when this pile of stones was restored recently that OS experts took the opportunity to check the mountain’s exact height. It is more than 60 years since this was last done, and back then, it took a team three weeks to complete the job after hauling heavy gear up Ben Nevis and nearby peaks. [BBC]
Ben Nevis

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Anything VINE Can Do, YOUTUBE Does Better (ft. Thomas Sanders)

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Iraqi Civil War, Syrian Civil War
  • The United States Secretary of State John Kerry says ISIL has committed genocide against Christians, Yazidis and Shias in areas it controls in Syria and Iraq. (BBC)
  • The Islamic State reports commander Hassan Aboud has died of wounds sustained about two weeks ago in a battle near Aleppo, Syria. He was injured when a vehicle he was in struck a roadside bombnear Khanaser. (The New York Times)
• Papua conflict
  • Three construction workers are shot dead in Jayapura, Papua, by a supposed armed group, according to Indonesian police. (Radio New Zealand)

Arts and culture

• Radar scans at the tomb of Tutankhamun, Pharaoh of Ancient Egypt, reveal two chambers adjoining the tomb, raising prospect of finding the resting place of Queen Nefertiti. (The Guardian)
• The Vatican is replacing Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S., with French-born Archbishop Christophe Pierre, currently the Apostolic Nuncio to Mexico. Viganò, who is 75, the statuatory retirement age, arranged the 2015 meeting between (not pre-briefed) Pope Francis and controversial Kentucky clerk Kim Davis, who refused to follow her state’s law on same-sex marriage.(New York Daily News via ChristianNews.net)

Business and economics

• Tribune Publishing, an American company whose Southern California media holdings include the Los Angeles Times and The San Diego Union-Tribune, wins an auction for bankrupt newspapers, Orange County Register, published in Santa Ana, and The Press-Enterprise, headquartered in Riverside, for $56 million, subject to judicial approval. A federal bankruptcy court hearing is scheduled for Monday. TheU.S. Justice Department has warned that a Tribune purchase could violate antitrust laws. (AP via U.S. News & World Report) (Los Angeles Times)

Disasters and accidents

• At least 16 Palestinian pilgrims are killed when the bus they were traveling to Saudi Arabia on overturns in southern Jordan. (Voice of America)

International relations

• The People’s Republic of China expresses its opposition to unilateral sanctions against North Korea in the wake of the imposition of new sanctions by the United States on the country in response to its recent nuclear and rocket tests. (Reuters)
• Syrian Civil War
  • Kurdish parties in northern Syria declare the establishment of a federal system in areas they control. The move was criticized by the government of Syria. (BBC)
• Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
  • Admiral John Richardson says the United States has seen Chinese activity around Scarborough Shoal, which China seized from the Philippines nearly four years ago, in the northern part of the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea. An international court ruling on a case brought by the Philippines against China over its South China Sea claims is expected within a month. (Reuters)

Law and Crime

• Judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia announce that they will soon deliver their verdict against radical Serb leader Vojislav Šešelj, suspected of crimes against humanitycommitted during the Breakup of Yugoslavia, despite him being sent back to Serbia for medical reasons. Šešelj has vowed not to return to court. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Politics and elections

• 2015–16 protests in Brazil
  • Clashes erupt outside the presidential palace in Brazil‘s capital Brasília between anti-Workers’ Party protesters and supporters of ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, where he was due to be sworn in asPresident of Brazil Dilma Rousseff‘s chief of staff. Hundreds of anti-government protesters calling for Rousseff’s impeachment and Lula’s arrest also blocked the central Paulista Avenue in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city and economic hub. (Reuters)
• A Brazilian federal judge blocks the appointment of ex-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as chief of staff, arguing that the appointment would derail a federal judicial investigation against him. The government said it would appeal against the decision. (BBC)
• Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016
  • The hacker group Anonymous follows through on its threat and releases candidate Donald Trump’s personal information (unverified) including his Social Security number, his phone numbers, his agent and his legal representatives. (AOL) (USA Today) (Daily Mirror)
• United States presidential election, 2016, Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016
  • Bernie Sanders concedes the Missouri primary to Hillary Clinton, who led by 1,531 votes, 0.002 percent of those counted. Sanders says he will not ask for a recount, an option he had because the result is under the state’s requirement, 0.005 percent — one-half of one percent. The Republican contest is too close to call as Donald Trump leads Ted Cruz by a similar 0.002 percent. (AP via MSN.com)

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