Top News Stories –

Zoella turns 25 and Lady Gaga hits 29 –
Zoe Sugg gets a surprise cake party for her 25th birthday and tops the UK Twitter trend chart with #HappyBirthdayZoe. She shares her birthday with Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, better known as Lady Gaga who is 29 today.

Zoella birthday party
Lady Gaga

Eiffel Tower goes dark in symbolic move for Earth Hour
The Eiffel Tower has gone dark briefly to mark Earth Hour, the campaign to raise awareness about climate change.The five-minute dark-out on Saturday night was a symbolic gesture in the City of Light. Cities around the world also marked the event, with other landmarks like the Kremlin and the Empire State Building going dark.France has been preparing for months to host an international climate conference in Paris at the end of the year, pressing nations to set attainable goals for reducing greenhouse gases and mobilizing international finances to fight climate change. [Daily Mail]

Andreas Lubitz planned spectacular gesture that would go down in history, claims ex-girlfriend –
Airbus crash pilot Andreas Lubitz had been planning a spectacular gesture to make everyone “remember” who he was, it has been claimed. An ex-girlfriend of the Germanwings pilot who crashed his plane in the French Alps, killing all 149 others on board, described him as “tormented” and able to hide secrets. Maria, 26 (not her real name), told Bild newspaper that when she heard about the crash she remembered that he had said he was going do something “that would change the system” and “make everyone remember” him. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Southpaw Trailer

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2015 military intervention in Yemen
  • Saudi airstrikes continue in Yemen for the third successive day while ground fighting occurs in Aden. Saudi Arabiaclaims to be in full control of Yemen’s airspace. (Al-Jazeera)
  • Saudi planes evacuate a United Nations mission from the Yemeni capital Sanaa. (Al-Arabiyah)
• War in Somalia (2009–present)
  • The death toll from the March 27 hotel siege in Mogadishu rises to 20. (CNN)

Disasters and accidents

• Germanwings Flight 9525
  • According to an interview with Germany’s Bild newspaper, the former girlfriend of co-pilot Andreas Lubitz was told by him that “One day I’m going to do something that will change the whole system, and everyone will know my name and remember.” (BBC)
  • A mourning religious service is held at Digne-les-Bains in the French Alps near the site of the downed passenger jet.(Guardian)

Law and crime

• The Congolese bar owner whom Amanda Knox falsely accused of killing Meredith Kercher criticises a lack of justice in the surprise decision by Italy to quash her conviction yesterday, citing diplomatic pressure coupled with Knox’s wealth and status as American, as opposed to his being African. (Guardian)

Politics and elections

• Nigerian general election, 2015
  • Voters in Nigeria go to the polls for a general election. Gunmen kill at least 15 voters including an opposition house of assembly candidate for Dukku in Gombe. (CNN), (Reuters via MSN)
• New South Wales state election, 2015
  • Voters in the Australian state of New South Wales go to the polls for a state election with the Liberal-National Coalition led by Mike Baird retaining government. (ABC News Australia), (The Daily Telegraph via The Courier Mail)

Sport

• In association football, Russia, recovering after Friday’s abandoned Euro 2016 qualifier in Montenegro, press for UEFAto award them victory. Among the injured were goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev, knocked out of the game in the first minute, concussed and nursing a neck injury after a flare struck him in the head; Dmitri Kombarov, struck by another object; Alan Dzagoev, struck by projectiles while being treated for another injury. (The Guardian)

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