Top News Stories –
BBC Comic Relief raises £78 million –
A record-breaking £78million was raised for Comic Relief by the end of Red Nose Day 2015. The total was revealed during the live television spectacular on BBC One. The charity also revealed that more than a billion pounds has been raised for Comic Relief since the charity was set up 30 years ago. Comic Relief founder Richard Curtis said he was “enormously proud” of the charity’s achievements. Rowan Atkinson brought back Mr Bean. Dawn French starred in one-off Vicar of Dibley special. Bond stars Daniel Craig and Roger Moore teamed up for a special 007 sketch, while Professor Stephen Hawking appeared in Little Britain. Victoria Wood triumphed in the celebrity Bake-Off. Star-studded sketch saw Liam Gallagher named a national treasure. [BBC]
Putin missing mystery magnifests –
The mystery over the whereabouts of Vladimir Putin deepened on Saturday as Russian state media broadcast – then retracted – reports that he had hosted an official visit from the President of Kyrgyzstan. Mr Putin has remained hidden from public view for nine days. Levels of fear and uncertainty in Moscow have been rising as rumours fly over what could be behind Putin’s lengthy disappearance.The Kremlin has repeatedly denied that there is anything amiss with the Russian leader, batting away suggestions that he is ill, dead, victim of a palace coup or in Switzerland to be by his girlfriend’s side as she gives birth. [Daily Telegraph]
Vladimir Putin
Massive cyclone hits island of Vanuatu –
Dozens are feared dead after a ferocious tropical cyclone suddenly switched direction and smashed through the Pacific nation of Vanuatu, causing landslides, flooding and sea surges and widespread destruction. Cyclone Pam, one of the worst recorded in the southern hemisphere, is believed to have destroyed entire villages as it swept across the Pacific archipelago with winds of more than 200 miles an hour. Aid workers warned of “complete annihilation” in Port Vila, the capital, where some observers estimated 90 per cent of houses had been destroyed. “It felt like the world was going to end,” Alice Clements, from Unicef, told ABC News. [Daily Telegraph]
Video of the Day –
List of the day –
Money raised by Comic Relief as of 13/03/2105
| Year | Amount |
|---|---|
| 1988 | £15,000,000 |
| 1989 | £26,900,000 |
| 1991 | £20,000,000 |
| 1993 | £18,000,000 |
| 1995 | £22,000,000 |
| 1997 | £27,000,000 |
| 1999 | £35,000,000 |
| 2001 | £55,000,000 |
| 2003 | £61,600,000 |
| 2005 | £65,000,000 |
| 2007 | £67,700,000 |
| 2009 | £82,300,000 |
| 2011 | £104,436,278 |
| 2013 | £100,331,808 |
| 2015 | £78,082,988 |
| Total | £1,047,083,706 |
| Source: Past Red Nose Days | |
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Disasters and accidents
- The United Nations will send emergency aid to Vanuatu with at least four people officially dead and reports of dozens more dead after Cyclone Pam hit yesterday. (Reuters via Daily Mail)(AP)
- At least 51 people die after a bus crash in the province of Santa Catarina in southern Brazil. (AFP via Yahoo! News),(Reuters via Daily Mail)
- International relations
- Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi visits Sri Lanka‘s Jaffna District to hand over 27,000 homes to Tamil survivors of the Sri Lankan Civil War. (Al-Jazeera)
- After an armed band removed his personal security guards, the Vice President of Sierra Leone, Samuel Sam-Sumana, goes into hiding after applying for asylum at the United States embassy in Freetown. (AAP via SBS)(AP)
- Guyana rejects the latest objections raised by neighboring Venezuela over the granting to ExxonMobil Corp. of an oil and gas concession in Caribbean waters claimed by both nations. (Miami Herald)
- Politics and elections
- The cancellation of several of Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s scheduled meetings leads to widespread social media speculations regarding the reason for his public absence. (The New York Times)
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