Scrolling through news of the Notre Dame fire on social media feeds was like watching a real-time archive of grief in the making, as people expressed their dismay and sorrow at the damage wrought, write Jose Antonio Gonzalez Zarandona and Cristina Garduño Freeman.

FOR A number of days spread over a couple of years, I’ve had reason to be lying on a hospital bed staring at the wall opposite me. Nothing life-threatening involved, but there all the same. Try as I might, I can’t remember seeing any crucifixes or religious paintings on any of the walls I’ve had to stare at.

She had a complete mental meltdown in public, went into treatment and disappeared off stage for two months, did Sheridan Smith.

I don’t know how much the Pope’s visit cost the country, but I bet it isn’t as much as my first batch of Airbnb guests have cost me, and they’re not even here yet.

Many believed nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi  had the qualities of which greatness are made. Perhaps, in hindsight, it is now clear Mammmy Suu only had the qualities of which power is made, argues Victoria White. 

USA: A young Hunter S Thompson went to Idaho to write about Ernest Hemingway and decided to take a piece of his hero home with him — a set of trophy elk antlers.

The weather is good (usually), the kids are home from school and the tennis is on the telly.

Music takes you somewhere else. It has a quality that elevates you to a higher plane.

AT 67, and with over 45 years in the industry, Oscar-winner Jeremy Irons has paid his dues. “I don’t want to work very much any more. I’ve done most things and I don’t really need to work,” states the actor, 67.

You’ll have a tough job finding much worth watching on the regular networks this evening — perhaps this double bill of repeats from Game of Thronesseason two will keep you entertained.

This time two years ago, Corkman Alan Lynch weighed almost 22 stone. He was eating unhealthily, going out every weekend, and doing minimal exercise.

Matt Padwick spent his 20s travelling the world, chasing fulfillment as an adrenaline junkie. He eventually found it through meditation at Dzogchen Beara retreat in West Cork

Elaborate, underfoot tile mosaic is composed of marble and polished agate in colourful, 1,700 sq ft stone building, says Tommy Barker.

The West has borrowed the Buddhist concept of ‘being in the moment’ and is repackaging it for a mass-consumer audience, says Suzanne Harrington. But there is a danger we are ignoring the philosophy at the heart of this ancient religion — compass.

The kingpin of the Silk Road drug cartel believed he was safely hidden online ... he wasn’t. Nina Burleigh on the rise and fall of Ross Ulbricht

WEIGHT management is a numbers game and Operation Transformation’s clinical psychologist Dr Eddie Murphy is no exception, writes Irene Feighan. 

A man who was “out of his mind with drink” grabbed a statute of Buddha and then dropped his trousers at a Chinese takeaway.

USA: South Dakota officials have cancelled a public safety campaign to raise awareness about the dangers of jerking the steering wheel on icy roads, saying it’s too risqué.

Ancient sacred Buddha relics said to have mysterious energy and healing properties are to go on public display in Cork for the first time — all thanks to a non-Buddhist.

Newly crowned Rose of Tralee Maria Walsh, representing Philadelphia, is trying to change her return flight so she can attend the Kerry v Mayo All-Ireland football semi-final on Sunday.

IF John Creedon was a weather condition, he would probably be described as a warm, westerly breeze coming in from the Atlantic. And it blows through all aspects of his world - work and play.

The unfolding debacle in Iraq has set off a furious — and drearily predictable — partisan dispute in Washington over who was more to blame: George W Bush or Barack Obama, writes Bill Powell

SRI LANKA: A British tourist is to be deported from Sri Lanka because of a tattoo of Buddha on her arm.

A British tourist is to be deported from Sri Lanka because of a tattoo of Buddha her arm.

Flatley reigned and then it poured — or was it the other way around?

Christie’s first mainland China auction raised $25m (€18.5m), with sales led by a Picasso, Patek Philippe watches and bottles of Chateau Lafite.

Thailand's Buddhist monks are under investigation following complaints sparked by a video showing some flying on a private jet.

The two brothers suspected of bombing the Boston Marathon appear to have been motivated by a radical brand of Islam but do not seem connected to any Muslim terrorist groups, US officials have said after interrogating and charging Dzhokhar Tsarnaev with crimes which could bring the death penalty.

Hundreds of people have packed a hall at Boston University to say goodbye to a Chinese graduate student who was killed by the marathon blasts two days after doing well in her qualifying exams.

Buddha statues have joined Barbie dolls and characters from The Simpsons as banned items in the conservative Muslim nation of Iran.

President Barack Obama kicked off a three-country Asian tour with a visit to Thailand, using his first post-election trek overseas to try to show he is serious about shifting the US strategic focus eastwards.

A strong earthquake struck northern Burma today, causing a bridge and a gold mine to collapse, damaging several ancient Buddhist pagodas and leaving as many as 12 people feared dead.

I WOULD really like to make use of this column space to express my horror at the international violence caused by some stupid film made by an unknown muppet in California.

Republican White House hopeful Rick Santorum was under pressure yesterday to explain why he applauded a ranting evangelical pastor in Louisiana who told non-Christians to get out of America.

AS our train from Colombo snaked up the jungled hills to Kandy, ancient capital of Sri Lanka, the rain came down and the distant mountains disappeared behind mist rising like smoke from valleys far below us.

Two valuable Buddha statues have been stolen from a museum by a gang armed with a baseball bat.

IN Cambodia, we met our son and his girlfriend, fresh from their two-day voyage on a slow boat down the Mekong from north Thailand into Laos, and cheerful despite their 20-hour bus journey to meet us at Siem Reap.

Vast crowds were gathering at Burma’s most sacred Buddhist shrine to celebrate a festival banned for more than 20 years under the former military government.

It used to be that you could wander around Croke Park at will.

TWENTY inmates pound barrel-sized drums in a Taiwanese prison courtyard until they are so drenched with sweat that colourful tattoos show through their thin cotton T-shirts.