Top News Stories –
Nepal hit by 7.9 magnitude earthquake –
More than 718 people across a swath of four countries were killed on Saturday – the majority in Nepal – following the worst earthquake in the country’s recent history. The quake, which was measured at 7.9 on the Richter Scale, destroyed historic buildings in the capital Kathmandu, including the capital’s 19th Century Dharahara Tower landmark, where more than 50 people are missing in the rubble. Many of them were scaling the 200 feet structure for the best view of the city when the earthquake struck. The city’s historic Darbar Square and many temples were also damaged. Officials said 688 people were confirmed dead in Nepal. Another 20 were killed in India, six in Tibet and two in Bangladesh. Two Chinese citizens died at the Nepal-China border. Given the scale of the destruction, the death toll is almost certain to rise, said Laxmi Dhakal, Home Ministry official. [Daily Telegraph]
Nepal
3-Olympian Bruce Jenner makes transgender history by identifying as a woman –
Olympic gold medalist and reality TV star Bruce Jenner said on Friday that he identifies as a woman, becoming the most high-profile American to come out as transgender. The 65-year-old Jenner made the declaration in a wide-ranging interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer, nearly 40 years after his record-breaking Olympic gold-medal win in the decathlon that gave him the unofficial title of “World’s Greatest Athlete.” At the outset of the taped interview, Sawyer asked “Are you a woman?” and Jenner responded, “Yes, for all intents and purposes I am a woman.” [Reuters]
Bruce Jenner
Couple plan to be oldest newlyweds –
Two elderly lovebirds from East Sussex, England are set to become the world’s oldest newlyweds when they tie the knot in June.
George Kirby, who is 102, finally proposed to 91-year-old Doreen Luckie after they had lived together for 25 years. [BBC]
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30 Funniest Opening Lines in Books 11-20 (From Shortlist.com)
| Title | Author | Opening Line | |
| 21 | Paint Zero | Jonathan Maberry | “When you have to kill the same terrorist twice in one week, then there’s either something wrong with your skills or something wrong with your world. And there’s nothing wrong with my skills.” |
| 22 | Sideways Stories From A Wayside School | Louis Sachar | “We’re going to tell you about three of the children in Mrs. Jewls’s class, on the thirtieth story of Wayside School. But before we get to them, there is something you ought to know. Wayside School was accidentally built sideways. It was supposed to be only one story high, with thirty classrooms all in a row. Instead, it is thirty stories high, with one classroom on each story. The builder said he was very sorry.” |
| 23 | The Day Of The Triffids | John Wyndham | “When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.” |
| 24 | Middlesex | Jeffrey Eugenides | “I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.” |
| 25 | The Long Dark Tea-time Of The Soul | Douglas Adams | “It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression ‘As pretty as an airport.'” |
| 26 | Choke | Chuck Palahniuk | “If you’re going to read this, don’t bother.” |
| 27 | The Princess Bride | William Goldman | “This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.” |
| 28 | Matilda | Roald Dahl | “It’s a funny thing about mothers and fathers. Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful.” |
| 29 | The Metamorphosis And Other Stories | Franz Kafka | “As Gregor Samsa awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into a gigantic insect.” |
| 30 | Charlotte’s Web | E.B. White | “‘Where’s Papa going with that axe?’ said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast.” |
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Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War
- Islamist rebels including the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front claim to have captured most of the town of Jisr al-Shughur in the Idlib Governorate. (BBC)
- Arts and culture
- Gallipoli Landing 100th anniversary
- Attendances at services to commemorate Anzac Day break attendance records in Australia and New Zealand. (TV NZ), (BBC)
- Business and Economy
- Ferdinand Piëch, grandson of the inventor of the Volkswagen Beetle and chairman of Volkswagen for more than 20 years, steps down from that post under trade union pressure. (Reuters)
- Disasters and accidents
- 2015 Nepal earthquake
- A strong 7.9 earthquake strikes between the Nepalese capital Kathmandu and the regional headquarter city of Pokhara. The Government of Nepal declares a state of emergency with 1500 dead. A number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites are destroyed, including the historicDharahara tower. Deaths are also recorded in India, Bangladesh and the Chinese province of Tibet. (AP), (Reuters via ABC News Australia), (BBC), (CNN)
- The Italian Navy rescues 274 migrants from a ship off the Libyan coast while 300 migrants rescued on Friday arrive on Friday. (AP via US News)
- International relations
- The New York Times reports that Russian hackers read President of the United States unclassified emails indicating that the breach of the White House‘s computer system was more extensive than previously revealed. (New York Times)
- Law and crime
- Death of Freddie Gray
- Twelve people are arrested in the American city of Baltimore as protests against the death of Freddie Gray in police custody turn violent.(Baltimore Sun)
- Politics and elections
- Togolese presidential election, 2015
- Voters in Togo go to the polls amid political unrest. (AP via Yahoo! News)
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