Top News Stories –

Space Panic Stations –
Crew members were evacuated from a US segment of the International Space Station when an ammonia leak was detected in the USA section of the craft forcing all the crew to evacuate the area. The six crew members put on breathing equipment and moved into the Russian segment after the alert at around 0900 GMT, closing the hatch to the US side behind them. NASA officials believe a computer problem is likely to have caused the false impression of leaking coolant.

Pub Landlord takes on Nigel Farage –
British comedian Al Murray will stand against UKIP leader Nigel Farage at the general election in May using his character the Pub Landlord as a front. Murray, who has formed the Free United Kingdom Party (FUKP), will stand for election in Thanet South in Kent but said “Let it be known that like many of the parliamentary hopefuls in the forthcoming election, I have no idea where South Thanet is. But did that stop Margaret Thatcher from saving the Falkland Islands? No.”

Samsung launches Tizen –
Samsung’s first smartphones powered by its Tizen operating system have gone on sale. The Z1 handsets are only available in India and cost 5,700 rupees ($92 or £60) and have faster boot times and longer-lasting battery life than many budget-priced rivals. All other Samsung phones use the Android operating system.

Yosemite’s Dawn Wall finally scaled –

Tommy Caldwell, 36, and Kevin Jorgeson, 30, become the first climbers to successfully scale Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan mountain’s without bolts or climbing tools. The men have been ‘free-climbing’ the Dawn Wall to the 3,000-foot summit for 17 days, using only ropes only to prevent falling.

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• A bomb destroys a transmission tower in Pagalungan leaving much of the Philippine provinces of Maguindanao and North Cotabato without power. (Rappler)

Arts and culture

• Charlie Hebdo publishes an edition as a counterpoint to the Charlie Hebdo shootings. (BBC)

Business and economy

• Caesars Entertainment Corporation operating unit will file for bankruptcy on Thursday in Chicago. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• A collision between a train and a prison transport bus near Penwell, Texas leaves at least eight prisoners and two corrections officers dead. (BBC)
• Floods devastate Mozambique and Malawi, with at least 73 deaths and over 70,000 homeless. (BBC)

International relations

• The cabinet of Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe approves a record defence budget with a plan to buy surveillance aircraft and Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II fighter jets to improve security of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea claimed by both Japan and China. (AP)
• Taiwan protests China’s new air routes near the median line of the Taiwan Strait and vows to step up surveillance of aviation activity. (Bloomberg)(Reuters)
• On the second day of his papal visit to Sri Lanka, Pope Francis canonizes Saint Joseph Vaz at a beachfront park at the Indian Ocean, and later visits the northern portion of the island for a prayer service at the Sri Lankan Shrine of Our Lady of Madhu, which was a prominent area landmark damaged in the Sri Lankan Civil War. (Catholic News Service)

Law and crime

• The U.S. state of Georgia executes Vietnam War veteran Andrew Brannan for the 1998 murder of Laurens Countysheriff’s deputy Kyle Dinkheller. (Huffington Post)
• Police charge Indianapolis Colts linebacker Josh McNary with a December 1, 2014 rape. (AP)

Politics and elections

• President of Italy Giorgio Napolitano will announce his resignation today. (Bloomberg via Business Week)
• The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency rules that anti-Muslim advertisements placed on Muni buses must be permitted because of freedom of speech. (KNTV)
• The U.S. Secret Service removes four of its highest-ranking leaders while a fifth one retires. The continuing restructuring and fallout stem from a string of public security lapses beginning with the misconduct at the 6th Summit of the Americas. The most recent stage of the restructuring began in October 2014 with the resignation of then-Director Julia Pierson.(The Washington Post via MSN)

Sports

• In rock climbing, Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson become the first climbers to free climb the Dawn Wall face of theEl Capitan cliff in Yosemite National Park in the United States, the world’s largest granite monolith. (Wall Street Journal)

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