Today in photos

A dog called Shamrock is dressed in a festive costume for St Patrick's Day in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Baikal Seal Billy performs "a dip in a hot spring" as he holds a sake bottle in a basin with forefoot at a pool of Hakone-en aquarium in Hakone, west of Tokyo . And an Afghan man takes a picture of a boy with an old wooden camera in the city of Herat province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan. View a slideshow of these images and more.

Section:Gallery

Tue., March 17, 2009

A dog called Shamrock is dressed in a festive costume for St Patrick's Day in Belfast, Northern Ireland, Tuesday, March 17, 2009. Catholic Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin emphasized that the island's 4 million Catholics must pray on St. Patrick's Day for an end to Irish Republican Army dissident attacks that claimed three lives this month in the British territory of Northern Ireland.

Peter Morrison Ap
A boy watches the St Patrick's day parade in Dublin, Ireland, Tuesday, March, 17, 2009. An estimated 500,000 Irish people, immigrants and tourists lined up along a parade route in Dublin on Tuesday to celebrate St. Patrick's Day _ a national holiday dimmed this year by an economic recession and rising violence. Ireland faces its sternest economic challenges in decades. Unemployment has soared above 10 percent, the government is imposing severe tax increases and cuts to combat a budget deficit, and the national mood is struggling amid rising emigration and violence.
Revelers gather for the St. Patrick's Day Parade Tuesday, March 17, 2009 in New York. St. Patrick's Day revelers took a break from worries about the global economy to enjoy a day of shamrock-themed frivolity, dyeing city fountains green, taking icy ocean plunges and crowding sidewalks along parade routes to see and be seen.

Frank Ii Ap
A boy watches the St Patrick's day parade in Dublin, Ireland, Tuesday, March, 17, 2009. An estimated 500,000 Irish people, immigrants and tourists lined up along a parade route in Dublin on Tuesday to celebrate St. Patrick's Day _ a national holiday dimmed this year by an economic recession and rising violence. Ireland faces its sternest economic challenges in decades. Unemployment has soared above 10 percent, the government is imposing severe tax increases and cuts to combat a budget deficit, and the national mood is struggling amid rising emigration and violence.
St. Patrick's Day Parade passes St. Patrick's Cathedral Tuesday, March 17, 2009 in New York. St. Patrick's Day revelers took a break from worries about the global economy to enjoy a day of shamrock-themed frivolity, dyeing city fountains green, taking icy ocean plunges and crowding sidewalks along parade routes to see and be seen.

Frank Ii Ap
The fountain on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington is seen with green-colored water in honor of St. Patrick's Day in Washington, Tuesday, March 17, 2009. The Washington is at the rear.

Gerald Herbert Ap
A participant in the "Paddy's Day Plunge" celebrates as he comes out of the 37 degree Atlantic ocean at East End Beach, Tuesday, March 17, 2009, in Portland, Maine. About 75 people jumped into the chilly water at 5:30 in the morning to raise money for the Portland Firefighter's Children Burn Unit in the annual St. Patrick's Day swim sponsored by Ri Ra's Irish Pub.

Robert Bukaty Ap
A pyre of weapons burn , Tuesday, March 17, 2009 as they are destroyed in Nairobi, Kenya. Kenyan police on Tuesday destroyed over four thousand weapons that were used in crimes and were confiscated by the police since 2007.

Karel Prinsloo Ap
A white peacock flares out its plumage at the Giza zoo in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, March 17, 2009. White peacocks are often mistaken for albinos but are in fact a color variation of the Indian Blue peacock, and are considered rare.

Ben Curtis Ap
With facecloth on the head, male Baikal Seal Billy performs "a dip in a hot spring" as he holds a sake bottle in a basin with forefoot at a pool of Hakone-en aquarium in Hakone, west of Tokyo, Tuesday, March 17, 2009. It took some three months for six-year-old Billy to master this performance, a traditional Japanese style of soaking in a hot spring.

Itsuo Inouye Ap
Strollers walk through a sea of crocusses in the park of the castle in Husum, northern Germany, as temperatures reach nine degrees Celsius (48.2 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday, March 17, 2009. According to a legend, monks in the 15th century have planted the first crocusses here. Today some 4.5 millions of crocusses blossom here.

Heribert Proepper Ap
A rather empty train runs on the tourism tunnel Tuesday, March 17, 2009 in Shanghai, China. Communist leaders worry about rising job losses and possible unrest amid a trade slump that saw Chinese exports fall 25.7 percent in February from a year earlier. They have promised to spend heavily to create jobs and boost exports.

Eugene Hoshiko Ap
Cameroonian nuns greet each other as they arrive for rehearsal for Wednesday's Vespers ceremony with the pope, at Mary Queen of Apostles Basilica in Yaounde, Cameroon Tuesday, March 17, 2009. Pope Benedict XVI will arrive in Cameroon Tuesday afternoon on his first trip to Africa, the fastest-growing region for the Roman Catholic church.

Rebecca Blackwell Ap
Palestinian women watch a house demolition in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Beit Tsafafa, Tuesday, March 17, 2009. Since 2004, Israel has leveled more than 300 homes in Jerusalem's Arab neighborhoods, citing a lack of building permits. However, critics say the permits are virtually impossible to obtain and consider the demolitions part of a decades-old policy to limit Palestinian population growth in the disputed city.

Sebastian Scheiner Ap
An Afghan man takes a picture of a boy with an old wooden camera in the city of Herat province, west of Kabul, Afghanistan, March 17, 2009.

Fraidoon Pooyaa Ap