Zayn Malik solo track taken down after angry response from One Direction’s Louis Tomlinson –
A song featuring Zayn Malik without the rest of One Direction has been taken down, less than a day after it was shared on Twitter. Producer Naughty Boy posted a link to the track early on Tuesday, with the words “let the music do the talking”. It came less than a week after Zayn confirmed he was quitting 1D. Earlier on, the band’s Louis Tomlinson accused Naughty Boy of being “inconsiderate” to fans after he retweeted a video about Zayn. [BBC] Louis’ tweet
Top Gear: Richard Hammond and James May no longer work for the BBC –
James May and Richard Hammond are out of contract with the BBC from midnight, after declining to sign new deals to present the next series of Top Gear. The pair are now free agents, meaning rival broadcasters can approach them with job offers. Hammond has tweeted that he is “not ready for retirement”. May does not seem in a great hurry to find new employment, he is making a shepherds pie. [Daily Telegraph]
Google Maps launches PacMan on real streets –
Google has launched an April Fool’s Day version of Google Maps that allows users to play the classic arcade game Pac-Man on real streets. Google Map users can access the Pac-Man version by clicking on the icon in the bottom corner of the screen and then using their keyboard to play the game. The game is accessible on desktop computers and on the Google Maps app. It allows users to play the famous game around the world’s most recognisable streets or your own neighbourhood. At some famous locations, such as the area around the Taj Mahal and the Arc de Triomphe, Google has added a Pac-Man marker that also launches the game because the areas appear perfectly matched to the original Pac-Man layout. [Daily Telegraph]
Elon Musk’s $1bn tweet: news of secret product line sees Tesla shares soar –
Elon Musk, the billionaire technology entrepreneur, has announced a “major” new Tesla product line that is “not a car”, in a cryptic tweet which has left millions guessing. The CEO’s news sparked the hashtag #TeslaNewProductGuesses, with guesses ranging from a time machine to a real-life Iron Man suit. Shares in the electric car jumped to nearly 4 percent in just 10 minutes – adding a staggering $900 million (£600 million) to the company’s market cap in just 115 characters. The tweet went out to his 1.9 million followers and had thousands of retweets within an hour. [Daily Telegraph] Elon Musk
Video of the Day –
David Beckham and James Corden’s New Underwear Line
Baftas 2016: The Revenant rules at Baftas –
Wilderness drama The Revenant, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, has dominated this year’s Baftas. It was named best film while DiCaprio won best actor and Alejandro G Inarritu best director. Apocalyptic action movie Mad Max: Fury Road took four awards: for make-up and hair, editing, costumes and production design. Brie Larson won the best leading actress award for her role as a kidnapped mother in Room. Director Lenny Abrahamson, who picked up the award on her behalf, called her “one of the best actors of her generation.” [BBC] Leonardo_DiCaprio
Kanye West REALLY wants $1 billion from Mark Zuckerberg –
Kanye West has publicly asked Mark Zuckerberg to invest $1bn (£700m) into Kanye West ideas. He take his money, when he’s a need. Yeah, he’s a trifling friend indeed. In a series of tweets Kanye begs the co-founder of Facebook for help because he doesn’t have “enough resources” to create what he “really can”. It comes after he claimed to have a personal debt of $53m (£36m). Yes, that’s FIFTY THREE MILLION DOLLARS. It’s all because Kanye thinks he can make the world a better place. He also thinks tech companies in San Francisco should donate money to him rather than African school children. [BBC Newsbeat]
Kanye West begging tweets
Video of the Day –
Simon’s Cat Logic – Love
List of the Day –
Winners of the BAFTA Film Awards 2016
Best film
Winner: The Revenant
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Carol
Spotlight
Outstanding British film
Winner: Brooklyn
45 Years
Amy
The Danish Girl
Ex Machina
The Lobster
Actor
Winner: Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
Bryan Cranston – Trumbo
Matt Damon – The Martian
Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl
Actress
Winner: Brie Larson – Room
Cate Blanchett – Carol
Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn
Maggie Smith – The Lady in the Van
Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
Supporting actor
Winner: Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
Christian Bale – The Big Short
Benicio del Toro – Sicario
Idris Elba – Beasts of No Nation
Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight
Supporting actress
Winner: Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs
Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara – Carol
Alicia Vikander – Ex Machina
Julie Walters – Brooklyn
Director
Winner: Alejandro G Inarritu – The Revenant
Todd Haynes – Carol
Adam McKay – The Big Short
Ridley Scott – The Martian
Steven Spielberg – Bridge of Spies
Adapted screenplay
Winner: The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
Room
Steve Jobs
Original screenplay
Winner: Spotlight
Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
The Hateful Eight
Inside Out
Animated film
Winner: Inside Out
Minions
Shaun the Sheep Movie
Documentary
Winner: Amy
Cartel Land
He Named Me Malala
Listen to Me Marlon
Sherpa
Foreign film
Winner: Wild Tales
The Assassin
Force Majeure
Theeb
Timbuktu
Cinematography
Winner: The Revenant
Bridge of Spies
Carol
Mad Max: Fury Road
Sicario
Costume design
Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road
Brooklyn
Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
Editing
Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
The Martian
The Revenant
Make-up and hair
Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road
Brooklyn
Carol
The Danish Girl
The Revenant
Music
Winner: The Hateful Eight
Bridge of Spies
The Revenant
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Production design
Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road
Bridge of Spies
Carol
The Martian
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Sound
Winner: The Revenant
Bridge of Spies
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Special effects
Winner: Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Ant-Man
Ex Machina
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
British short animation
Winner: Edmond
Manoman
Prologue
British short film
Winner: Operator
Elephant
Mining Poems or Odes
Over
Samuel-613
Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer
The United Nations reports that civilian casualties reached a record level in 2015; at least 3,545 non-combatants were killed and 7,457 injured. (Reuters)
Oscars 2016: Leonardo DiCaprio finally wins Academy Award –
Leonardo DiCaprio has finally won his first Oscar for survival epic The Revenant, after six nominations. He was named best actor at the 88th Academy Awards, with Brie Larson named best actress for Room. Spotlight took home the best picture Oscar with Mad Max: Fury Road picking up the most awards of the night, with six accolades. Mark Rylance won the best supporting actor Oscar, with fellow Briton Sam Smith winning best original song. The ceremony had been boycotted by some Hollywood figures protesting about the lack of ethnic diversity among this year’s nominees, as all 20 nominees in the best acting or supporting acting categories are white. Host Chris Rock addressed the controversy head on as he launched the ceremony, and it was a theme that was returned to several times during the night. Rock commented he had “counted at least 15 black people” in the montage that opened the ceremony, before welcoming people to the “white People’s Choice awards”. Among the winners for Mad Max: Fury Road – nominated for 10 Oscars including best director for George Miller – was British designer Jenny Beavan, for best costume design. The Revenant won three of the 12 awards for which it was nominated. Alejandro Inarritu also won best director and Emmanuel Lubezki won his third Oscar for cinematography in a row, having won in 2015 for Birdman and 2014 for Gravity. [BBC] See List of the Day Leonardo_DiCaprio
French cleaners scrub off street art –
Citizens of Reims in northern France have lost a brand new artwork commissioned for the town, after the anti-graffiti squad scrubbed it off. The town hall commissioned a street art mural by the country’s top graffiti artist, C215, showing a sulking boy slumped against a wall. But there was a slight hitch – the town’s cleaning department were not told not to remove it. C215, whose real name is Christian Guemy, seemed quite relaxed about it. The artist told AFP news agency what surprised him was that it was cleaned up by the same city that commissioned him. The town hall had apologised, he said. [BBC]
Video of the Day –
Fastest robot to solve a Rubik’s Cube – Guinness World Records
List of the Day –
Full list of winners at the 88th Academy Awards
Best picture
Winner: Spotlight
The Big Short
Bridge of Spies
Brooklyn
Mad Max: Fury Road
The Martian
The Revenant
Room
Best actor
Winner: Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
Bryan Cranston – Trumbo
Matt Damon – The Martian
Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs
Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl
Best actress
Winner: Brie Larson – Room
Cate Blanchett – Carol
Jennifer Lawrence – Joy
Charlotte Rampling – 45 Years
Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn
Best supporting actor
Winner: Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies
Christian Bale – The Big Short
Tom Hardy – The Revenant
Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight
Sylvester Stallone – Creed
Best supporting actress
Winner: Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight
Rooney Mara – Carol
Rachel McAdams – Spotlight
Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs
Best director
Winner: Alejandro Inarritu – The Revenant
Lenny Abrahamson – Room
Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
Adam McKay – The Big Short
George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
Best adapted screenplay
Winner: The Big Short
Brooklyn
Carol
The Martian
Room
Best original screenplay
Winner: Spotlight
Bridge of Spies
Ex Machina
Inside Out
Straight Outta Compton
Best animated film
Winner: Inside Out
Anomalisa
Boy and the World
Shaun the Sheep Movie
When Marnie Was There
Best foreign language film
Winner: Son of Saul – Hungary
Embrace of the Serpent – Colombia
Mustang – France
Theeb – Jordan
A War – Denmark
Best animated short
Winner: Bear Story
Prologue
Sanjay’s Super Team
We Can’t Live without Cosmos
World of Tomorrow
Best cinematography
Winner: The Revenant
Carol
The Hateful Eight
Mad Max: Fury Road
Sicario
Best costume design
Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road
Carol
Cinderella
The Danish Girl
The Revenant
Best documentary feature
Winner: Amy
Cartel Land
The Look of Silence
What Happened, Miss Simone?
Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom
Best documentary short
Winner: A Girl in the River: The Price of Forgiveness
Body Team 12
Chau, Beyond the Lines
Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah
Last Day of Freedom
Best editing
Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road
The Big Short
The Revenant
Spotlight
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best live action short
Winner: Stutterer
Ave Maria
Day One
Everything Will Be Okay (Alles Wird Gut)
Shok
Best make-up and hair
Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road
The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
The Revenant
Best original score
Winner: The Hateful Eight, Ennio Morricone
Bridge of Spies
Carol
Sicario
Star Wars: The Force Awakens
Best original song
Winner: Writing’s on the Wall, Sam Smith – Spectre
Earned It, The Weeknd – Fifty Shades of Grey
Manta Ray, J Ralph & Antony – Racing Extinction
Simple Song #3, Sumi Jo – Youth
Til It Happens To You, Lady Gaga – The Hunting Ground
Thirty-six people are believed to have died at a coal mine where a methane gas leak triggered three explosions and the collapse of the mine in Vorkuta, Russia. (NDTV)
South Korean opposition lawmakers’ anti-terrorism bill filibuster, which stops all other legislative business, extends its world record to 115 hours Sunday afternoon, easily besting Canada’s 58-hour session in 2011. The major issue is giving South Korea’s intelligence agency powers to monitor private communications. This parliamentary session is set to end March 11, with elections on April 13. (Reuters)
Swiss citizens vote on four referenda, including one, proposed by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party, that would automatically expel foreigners who commit two minor crimes. Current law calls for deportation of non-citizens convicted of murder or sexual violence. (BBC)(AFP via The Guardian)
Star Wars beats Mad Max at Empire awards –
Sci-fi blockbuster Star Wars: The Force Awakens trumped Mad Max: Fury Road at this year’s Empire Awards, winning five awards to the latter’s four. The Force Awakens was named best sci-fi/fantasy and was also honoured for its visual effects, director JJ Abrams and stars John Boyega and Daisy Ridley. Fury Road was recognised for its make-up, costumes, soundtrack and production design at the central London event. But neither title took home the best film award, which went to The Revenant. Matt Damon was on hand to accept his best actor award for The Martian, while Sweden’s Alicia Vikander won best actress for The Danish Girl. [BBC] Matt Damon
Eddie Izzard completes Sport Relief marathons challenge –
Comedian Eddie Izzard has completed his challenge in South Africa to run 27 marathons in 27 days for Sport Relief. The 54-year-old needed to run a double marathon on Sunday to complete his challenge beneath a statue of Nelson Mandela, in Pretoria. Izzard attempted a similar feat in South Africa in 2012 but had to pull out for health reasons. The comedian’s endurance feat raised more than £1.35m. The 2016 Sport Relief total stands at £56,984,007. “That was very, very tough,” Izzard told reporters as he swigged from a celebratory bottle of sparkling white wine. The 27 marathons were intended to reflect the 27 years Mr Mandela had spent in prison before becoming South Africa’s first black president. [BBC] Eddie Izzard
Before the President’s arrival, Cuban authorities arrest more than 50 Ladies in Whitehuman rights activists. The group marches after every Sunday Mass at a church in the Miramarsuburb of Havana, and usually get arrested and detained for hours or days. They had hoped President Obama’s visit would change that routine. (USA Today)(Havana Times)
Voting is underway in today’s parliamentary election in the former Soviet republic. PresidentNursultan Nazarbayev’sNur Otan party is expected to win easily, and retain control of the 107-seat Mazhilis, the lower house of parliament. The recent crackdown on political activists and media dims chances this election will be the first judged free and fair by Western observers. (AP via Sioux City Journal)(Townhall.com)
A rerun of Zanzibar’s presidential election takes place amid an opposition boycott. The election originally occurred at the same time as Tanzania’s election in 2015 but was annulled because of supposed fraud. (Daily Nation)
A run-off election begins in Niger with current PresidentMahamadou Issoufou highly favored to win as his main opponent Hama Amadou, who was earlier jailed, was flown out of the country for medical reasons. (Reuters)
A referendum is underway in Senegal where voters will vote on whether or not to reduce presidential term limits from seven to five years. Senegal’s referendum also calls for a strengthened National Assembly, better representation for Senegalese abroad, greater rights for the opposition and participation of independent candidates in elections among the 15 changes. (The Daily Star)
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Louis’ tweet
Elon Musk
