Top News Stories –

American Airlines planes grounded by iPad app error –
A faulty app caused American Airlines to ground dozens of its jets on Tuesday. The glitch caused iPad software, used by the planes’ pilots and co-pilots to view flight plans, to stop working. The firm’s cockpits went “paperless” in 2013 to save its staff having to lug heavy paperwork on board. AA estimated the move would save it more than $1.2m (£422,770) in fuel every year. The company said that it was still investigating the cause of the problem. “Some American Airlines flights experienced an issue with a software application on pilot iPads yesterday evening,” a spokesman told the BBC. “In some cases, the flight had to return to the gate to access a wi-fi connection to fix the issue. [BBC]

Ed Miliband tells Russell Brand he’s ‘wrong’ on politics –
Ed Miliband has challenged Russell Brand over his view that voting is “pointless” in a video interview conducted by the campaigning comedian.
Taken to task by Brand about public disillusionment with politics, the Labour leader replied: “You implied… no change happened. That’s just wrong.” Prime Minister David Cameron called Mr Miliband’s meeting with Brand a “joke”. But Mr Miliband said the interview was a way to engage with millions of people not usually interested in politics. [BBC] See Video of the Day.

© @RustyRockets/Twitter

Russian spacecraft Progress M-27M ‘out of control’ –
A Russian spacecraft delivering supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) is out of control and will fall back to Earth, officials say. The unmanned cargo ship was launched from Kazakhstan on Tuesday, but contact was lost with it soon afterwards. Russia’s space agency says Progress M-27M is now orbiting in an uncontrolled spin. It cannot reach the ISS and is likely to break up on re-entering Earth’s atmosphere. [BBC]

How one tweet wiped $8bn off Twitter’s value –
Twitter was due to announce its earnings for the first quarter of the year after close of trading on the New York Stock Exchange, where the company is listed. Announcing results after the markets close gives investors a chance to digest the news, sleep on it, and then start trading again the next day. Except it turns out that somebody thought it would be a good idea to release this information early, on the technology-led Nasdaq-run investor relations page for Twitter. Initially it seemed no-one really noticed the error, until a well-placed tweet highlighted the mistake and revealed Twitter’s disappointing results. The markets were still trading, and Twitter had not had the chance to formally present its results in a statement that would have bathed them in a more flattering light. At one point in the final hours of trading, the stock had lost more than $8bn (£5bn), or 25% of its opening price. Selerity is a tech start-up […] that automatically scans all sorts of documents, press releases, and social media online and looks for anything that could prove useful to investors. Selerity then tweeted its source, adding to Twitter’s embarrassment by making it clear that the results had been neither leaked or hacked.
Selerity tweet © @Selerity/Twitter

Video of the Day –

Russell Brand meets Ed Milliband (Leader of the UK Labour Party) –

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Yemeni Civil War (2015)
  • An Iranian Red Crescent plane is blocked by bombing of Sanaa International Airport‘s runway by Saudi Arabian F-15 fighters, which unsuccessfully intercepted and issued warnings to the plane to turn back. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

• 2015 Nepal earthquake
  • The death toll for the earthquake reaches 6,100 as the first food aid reaches Nepal. This includes 6000+ people in Nepal, 19 people on Mount Everest, 76 in India, 25 in China, and 4 in Bangladesh. (AP via Daily Mail)
  • Thousands of people are fleeing Kathmandu due to uncertainty over food supply. (Xinhua)
• Fire fighters in Ukraine try to stop a large forest fire from reaching the site of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. (Euronews)

International relations

• Australia–Indonesia relations
  • Australia withdraws its ambassador after eight people including Brazilian Rodrigo Gularte, an Indonesian, four Nigerians, and two AustraliansAndrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran are executed. (BBC), (ABC News Australia)

Law and crime

• Governor of California Jerry Brown orders greenhouse gases emissions reduced to the most ambitious U.S. state effort level to combat climate change.(Bloomberg.com)(LA Times)(WSJ)(NYT)

Politics and elections

• Succession to the Saudi Arabian throne
  • Crown Prince Muqrin is replaced by his nephew. (Huffington Post)
• 2016 United States Presidential election
  • Nominally independent Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont announces that he will be seeking the Democratic Party nomination in the US Presidential election. (AP via Yahoo! News)

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