Top News Stories –

Apple says tattoos can cause watch problems –
Apple has said some of the functions on its new smartwatch may not work properly when its worn over tattoos. Darker-coloured artwork and even changes in darker coloured skin types can fool the light sensors on the back of the watch. The problem is not exclusive to the Apple Watch, which performed well in independent tests. But it does show the manufacturer has not solved the sensor problem. “Permanent or temporary changes to your skin, such as some tattoos, can… impact heart rate sensor performance,” Apple said on a support page on its website. “The ink, pattern, and saturation of some tattoos can block light from the sensor, making it difficult to get reliable readings.” [BBC]
The Apple Watch range

Tesla’s $3,000 Powerwall Will Let Households Run Entirely On Solar Energy –
Tesla CEO and founder Elon Musk unveiled ‘Tesla Energy’ — a new business arm that is focused on ending our dependence on grid power and switching instead to solar energy. The first Tesla Energy product is ‘Powerwall Home Battery,’ a stationary battery that can power a household without requiring the grid. The battery is rechargeable lithium-ion — it uses Tesla’s existing battery tech — and can be fixed to a wall, removing much of the existing complexity around using a local power source. For one thing, the company’s batteries cost $3,500 for 10kWh and $3,000 for 7kWh. They are open for pre-orders in the U.S. now; the first orders will be dispatched “in late summer.” [Techcrunch.com] On March 31 2015, Musk tweeted about a new product and 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.
Elon Musk

Messenger’s Mercury trip ends with a bang, and silence –
Nasa’s Messenger mission to Mercury has reached its explosive conclusion, after 10 years in space and four in orbit. Now fully out of fuel, the spacecraft smashed into a region near Mercury’s north pole, out of sight from Earth, at about 20:00 GMT on Thursday. Mission scientists confirmed the impact minutes later, when the craft’s next possible communication pass was silent. Messenger reached Mercury in 2011 and far exceeded its primary mission plan of one year in orbit. That mission ended with an inevitable collision: Messenger slammed into our Solar System’s smallest planet at 8,750mph (14,000km/h) – 12 times quicker than the speed of sound. The impact will have completely obliterated this history-making craft. And it only happened because Mercury has no thick atmosphere to burn up incoming objects – the same reason its surface is so pock-marked by impact craters. [BBC]
Artist’s rendering of the MESSENGER spacecraft orbiting Mercury Date Source

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Biggest Trick In Action Sports History – Triple Backflip – Nitro Circus – Josh Sheehan

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Boko Haram
  • The Nigerian Army rescues a further 160 women and children from a Boko Haram camp in the Sambisa Forest. (CNN)
• Yemeni Civil War (2015)
  • Dozens of Houthi fighters are killed in clashes with Saudi Arabian forces on the border while air strikes hit the southern city of Aden. (Reuters)
• Mexican Drug War
  • Two state police officers and six other people are dead following a gunfight in the southern state of Guerrero between police and suspected kidnappers. (AP via ABC News America)

Disasters and accidents

• 2015 Nepal earthquake
  • A teenager is pulled alive out of the wreckage of a guesthouse on the outskirts of Kathmandu after five days. (Times of India)

International relations

• Seizure of Maersk Tigris
  • Iran claims that the seizure of the Maersk Tigris in the Strait of Hormuz was related to an unpaid debt. (NBC News)
  • The United States Navy says it will accompany American-flagged ships through the Strait of Hormuz. (AP via ABC News)

Law and crime

• The Chinese city of Helong reports three recent deaths along the border with North Korea with North Korean border guards accused of recent murders and thefts. (AP)
• An anti-terrorism court in Pakistan‘s Swat District sentences ten people to life imprisonment after finding them guilty of an attack on Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and two other school girls. (Pakistan Tribune)
• Death of Freddie Gray
  • The Baltimore Police Department completes its investigation into the death of Freddie Gray and hands it over to prosecutors. (New York Times)

Science

• NASA‘s MESSENGER spacecraft crashes into Mercury after surpassing its one year primary mission by three years. (NBC News)

Sport

• 2015 NFL draft
  • In American football, the 80th annual National Football League draft is held in Chicago‘s Auditorium Theater. Jameis Winston of Florida State University is drafted first by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers despite his problematic past. (New York Daily News)

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