Top News Stories –

Judges sacked for watching porn in office –
Three judges have been sacked for viewing pornographic material via their official IT accounts, the Judicial Conduct Investigations Office has said.
The pornography was not illegal in content, a spokesman added. However the Lord Chancellor and the Lord Chief Justice concluded it was an “inexcusable misuse” of their official accounts and “wholly unacceptable conduct for a judicial office holder”. District Judge Timothy Bowles, Immigration Judge Warren Grant and Deputy District Judge and Recorder Peter Bullock have been removed from office. [BBC]

Swiss plan for Europe’s tallest skyscraper… in ski-resort –
Plans are being drawn up to build the tallest skyscraper in Europe at a remote spa resort high in the Swiss Alps. The proposed 1,250-feet high building would tower over London’s Shard, which measures a mere 1,015 feet. Developers want to build it on the outskirts of Vals, a tiny spa town of just 1,000 people, nestled 4,000 feet up in the Swiss Alps. It is a proposed luxury hotel, aimed at guests from the Middle East and Asia. The proposed tower will reportedly contain around 100 suites, with the cheapest priced at around 1,000 Swiss francs (£675) a night, and the most expensive at an eye-watering 25,000 Swiss francs (£16,000). [Daily Telegraph] See List of the Day.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party has won a surprise victory in Israel’s election. Exit polls had forecast a dead heat but with almost all votes counted, results give Likud a clear lead over its main rival, the centre-left Zionist Union. The outcome gives Mr Netanyahu a strong chance of forming a right-wing coalition government. It puts the incumbent on course to clinch a fourth term and become Israel’s longest-serving prime minster. [BBC]
Benjamin Netanyahu

Never slip on ice again with glass shard shoes –
Slipping on ice need never happen again after scientists invented a new type of rubber sole for shoes which allows the wearer to walk easily, even up treacherous slopes. Canadian researchers have developed a new material which contains microscopic glass fibres which act as tiny spikes, gripping the ground in even the most nerve-jangling icy weather. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Leonard in Slow Motion from Peter Livolsi on Vimeo.

List of the day –

The tallest building in Europe since 1869 –

Name	City	Years as tallest	Metres	Feet	Floors
Mercury City Tower	Moscow	2012–present	338.8	1,112	75
The Shard	London	2012 (30.03-31.10)	310	1,015	87
City of Capitals	Moscow	2009–2012	301.6	989	77
Naberezhnaya Tower C	Moscow	2007–2009	268.4	881	59
Triumph-Palace	Moscow	2005–2007	264.1	867	57
Commerzbank Tower	Frankfurt	1997–2005	259	849	56
Messeturm	Frankfurt	1990–1997	257	843	55
Moscow State University	Moscow	1953–1990	240	787	42
Kotelnicheskaya Embankment Building	Moscow	1952–1953	176	577	32
Terrazza Martini Tower	Genoa	1940–1952	108	354	31
Royal Liver Building	Liverpool	1911–1940	98	322	13
Midland Grand Hotel	London	1869-1911	80	263	9

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• American health insurer Premera Blue Cross announces that it was the victim of a cyberattack that exposed bank account numbers and other personal data of 11 million customers on May 5, 2014. (Reuters)
• In Peshawar, an unknown assailant shoots and kills Pakistani lawyer Samiullah Afridi, who had defended Dr. Shakil Afridi (in regards to assisting CIA agents hunt al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden), with two Pakistan militant groups,Jundullah and Jamaatul Ahrar, both claiming responsibility. (Huffington Post)

Disasters and accidents

• A Dutch military helicopter serving as part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Mali crashes near Gao, killing two people. (BBC)

International relations

• Philippines v. China
  • The Philippines submits to The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration a 3,000-page document containing additional volumes of arguments, evidence, and maps seeking to nullify China’s sweeping claim over the resource-rich South China Sea. (GMA News)

Law and crime

• In Australia, the New South Wales Police charge the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Adelaide, Philip Wilson, withallegedly covering up a child sexual abuse crime commited by another priest, James Fletcher, in the 1970s. (ABC)
• According to the U.S. Secret Service, a white substance mailed in an envelope to the White House and received March 16, 2015, at the White House Mail Screening Facility, tests a “presumptive positive” for cyanide. (Reuters via MSN)

Politics and elections

• Israeli legislative election, 2015:
  • The Likud party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, wins the most seats in the Knesset, winning 29 out of 120 seats. If asked by the President to form a government, Netanyahu will become the first Prime Minister to serve a fourth term. (The New York Times)(The Times of Israel)(AP via Fox News)
• Following a congressional and possible criminal investigation surrounding the redecoration of his office and the use of donors’ private aircraft at taxpayers’ expense, U.S. Representative Aaron Schock (R-IL) resigns effective March 31, 2015. (Peoria Journal Star)

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