Top News Stories –
George Clooney wants 12-seater cinema at his country estate by the Thames –
George Clooney wants to add a 12-seater home cinema and luxurious swimming pool to his 17th century country estate in Sonning-on-Thames, plans submitted on Friday revealed. A new pool house, pergola and hot tub will be built onto the back of the existing riverside boat house, allowing George and his new wife Amal to luxuriate by the estuaries of the River Thames. Plans have been submitted to South Oxfordshire District Council’s planning department to extend an annexe of Clooney’s countryside mansion in Sonning Eye, Berkshire. [Daily Telegraph]
George Clooney
Facebook completes first drone flight above UK, Mark Zuckerberg confirms –
Solar powered drones which provide internet access to rural and remote areas have been trialled in UK for first time by Facebook. They “have a wingspan greater than a Boeing 737 but will weigh less than a car”, according to the social network’s chief Mark Zuckerberg. The drones, developed by Somerset-based company Ascenta which Facebook bought last March, will beam down laser-guided internet signals to those below. Solar panels attached to the wings of the drones mean that they will be able to keep going at altitudes of 60,000 ft for months at a time.
Mark Zuckerberg
Dermot O’Leary quits the X Factor –
After eight years, Dermot O’Leary has announced through Twitter he is stepping down as presenter of the long-running talent show, and is now joint favourite to replace Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear – bookmakers William Hill currently has O’Leary joint with Jodie Kidd as the 4/1 favourite. O’Leary recently danced continuously for 24 hours to raise money for Comic Relief.
Dermot O’Leary
Italy court clears Knox and Sollecito –
Italy’s top appeals court has overturned the convictions of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of UK student Meredith Kercher.
The decision is the final ruling in the long-running case. The pair were found guilty in 2009, then freed in 2011 after the convictions were overturned. Their convictions were reinstated by another court last year. Ms Kercher was found dead in 2007 in a flat she shared with Ms Knox.
The couple had always maintained their innocence and the decision by the Court of Cassation puts an end to their long legal battle. [BBC]
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List of the day –
Top ten spelling mistakes jobseekers make on their CVs – (research by jobs search engine Adzuna)
1) Responsibility
2) Liaise
3) University
4) Experience
5) Speciality
6) Communication
7) Achievement
8) Management
9) Environment
10) Successful
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Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2015 military intervention in Yemen
- A Middle Eastern coalition led by Saudi Arabian army and Egyptian navy attacks positions in Yemen for the second successive day, resulting in at least ten deaths in Saada Governorate. Saudi Arabia declares that it will enforce a “no-fly zone“. (CNN)
- War in Somalia
- Disasters and accidents
- A stampede at a Hindu festival in Langalbandh, Bangladesh, kills at least ten people with dozens more injured. (Bangla News), (AP)
- Power returns to Amsterdam after a 5-hour blackout that caused the closure of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and disrupted public transport networks throughout the Netherlands. (Reuters via Daily Mail)
- Germanwings Flight 9525
- Investigators, searching one of the two residences of Andreas Lubitz, find a ripped-up doctor’s note granting Lubitz medical leave—deeming him unfit for work—for a period including the day of the crash. (CNN)
- In imitation of current U.S. policy, Lufthansa, together with other German airlines announce plans to mandate that two people (either two pilots or a pilot and a flight attendant) must be inside the cockpit at all times. (CNN)
- Law and crime
- A jury in the U.S. state of California votes to dismiss a sexual discrimination case brought by Ellen Pao against Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The judge then sends them back for further deliberations of one claim. (Los Angeles Times)
- Italy‘s highest court acquits American Amanda Knox and Italian Raffaele Sollecito of the murder of Briton Meredith Kercher. (BBC)
- Politics and elections
- U.S. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D–Nevada) announces he will not seek re-election to the United States Senateand intends to retire at the end of his term in January 2017. (CNN)
- Science and technology
- Soyuz TMA-16M
- Soyuz TMA-16M launches carrying three crew members to the International Space Station. Russian cosmonautMikhail Korniyenko and American astronaut Scott Kelly begin a special year-long mission to test the effects of long-term habitation on the human body under conditions of micro gravity and radiation. (AFP via Yahoo News)
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