Updated 11.01pm

NEED TO CATCH up? TheJournal.ie brings you a round-up of today’s news…

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin places ash on students’ foreheads in University College Dublin this morning. (Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)

IRELAND

• The number of people on the Live Register fell below 400,000 for the first time since 2009.
• However, the government was accused of using Gateway and JobBridge to massage this figure.
• At least six TDs will formally launch a network of independent candidates running in May’s local elections it was revealed.
• ESB Group of Unions threatened the company’s CEO with legal action.
• A thirteenth person was arrested in a organise crime crackdown.
• A man was found with gunshot wounds to his legs in Finglas.
• A court ruled that Progressive Credit Union will takeover Howth Sutton Credit Union.
• Paddy McKillen paid back his Anglo loans.
• A report found that Limerick prison is still ‘chronically overcrowded’.
• Councillor Ken O’Flynn, who offered to spend the night in a halting site, accused a Travellers group of “playing politics”.
• The post mortem on one of the first white-tailed eagles to be bred in Ireland found it had died after being shot.
• Bord Gáis announced another price increase.

INTERNATIONAL

Russian soldiers guard a pier where two Ukrainian naval vessels are moored, in Sevastopol. (Image Credit: Ivan Sekretarev/AP/Press Association Images)

#UKRAINE: The EU offered the country €11 billion in aid.

#CRIMEA: The UN envoy is leaving the region after he was threatened by armed men.

#EGYPT: Irish Nobel Peace Laureate Mairead Maguire was deported.

#SOUTH AFRICA: Oscar Pistorius fired a shot at a restaurant weeks before fatally shooting his girlfriend, a court heard.

#ISRAEL: A ship carrying weapons was seized as it headed towards Gaza. [BBC News]

INNOVATION

• Yahoo announced that it will axe the option to access its services using a Facebook or Google login.
• A report said that Japan is expected to impose taxes and regulations on Bitcoin this week
• Google launched indoor maps in India. [TNW]
• China used drones to clear smog at airports. [Gizmodo]

PARTING SHOT

A GoPro camera strapped to the bill of a Pelican has caught an up-close-and-personal video of the bird learning how to fly. (H/T Business Insider)

(Video Credit: GoPro/YouTube)

Originally published 9pm

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