There's no need to ever feel left out again at the water cooler conversation. Here's a rundown of the stories currently trending in the world, the country and your backyard.

Yahoo

Annexation vote: Russia's Federation Council, the upper house of the country's parliament, has voted unanimously in favor of the annexation of Crimea. The vote comes days after the people of Crimea voted to break from the Ukraine and become part of Russia. Western leaders have called that vote illegitimate, saying it can't be considered valid as it came two weeks after Russian troops invaded the area. Full story: The Associated Press



No debris found: For a second day, searchers looking for two pieces of debris seen on days-old satellite images in the southern Indian Ocean have come up empty-handed. The debris that some believe could be from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was spotted five days ago bobbing in the waters off the southwest coast of Australia. Flight 370, with 239 passengers and crew onboard, disappeared nearly two weeks ago. Full story: The Associated Press



Making a pitch for women: At a speech in Florida Thursday, President Barack Obama called for stronger legislation guaranteeing equal pay for equal work, and suggested Congress would be far better off if it had more female members. The president was speaking at two Democratic fundraisers in Florida. Full story: The Associated Press



Google

Courtney Cash (Facebook)

Cash's niece murdered: The grandniece of music legend Johnny Cash was found murdered in her home, stuffed in a box. Courtney cash, the granddaughter of Johnny Cash's brother, Tommy, and her boyfriend were stabbed. Cash's boyfriend survived. A friend of the couple has been arrested on murder charges. Full story: CNN

Yeah, nice try: Remember that $1 billion dollar NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament bracket challenge? Well, if you were in it Thursday morning, you're pretty much out of it now following a day of tournament upsets. Ninety-five percent of the people who filled out the billion dollar bracket challenge lost Thursday after wins by Harvard, Dayton and North Dakota State took out three of the tourney's favorites. Full story: The Associated Press

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YouTube

This video, posted in 2009, has 9 million views. It’s trending again (not sure why, these things just happen). That’s one patient cat.

Continuing with the theme of “haven’t we seen this before” is one that’s worth looking at again. It’s "500 years of Female Portraits in Western Art." Is it me, or is this a little creepy?

Follow Debbie Lord on Twitter at Follow @DebbieMLord