Top News Stories –

Prince Dies at 57: Iconic Musical Genius Found Dead in Paisley Park –
Prince died today  at age 57 at his Paisley Park home and studio in Minneapolis, his publicist confirmed to the Associated Press. TMZ first reported the news. According to a press release sent from the Carver County Sheriff’s Department this afternoon, deputies arrived at Paisley Park at 9:43 a.m. and found Prince unresponsive in the elevator. After CPR attempts were unsuccessful, he was pronounced dead at 10:07 a.m. The cause of death has not yet been determined, and Carver County with assistance from Hennepin County Sheriffs and the Midwest Medical Examiner’s Office are investigating. Prince was hospitalized last week after his plane for was forced to make an emergency landing in Moline, Ill. Released a few hours later, a rep told TMZ that he had been battling a bad case of the flu. One of the most iconic musicians in music history, Prince’s extensive career grew out of the music scene of his native Minneapolis, where he lived his entire life. His 1978 debut album For You and self-titled second LP, released in October 1979, kicked off an incredibly prolific run of albums that included 1999, Purple Rain, Around The World In A Day, Sign O The Times and Batman, among others, throughout the 1980s at a clip of nearly one per year, evolving with each release. [Billboard]
Prince in 2008

Queen’s 90th birthday: Beacons lit amid UK celebrations –
The Queen has lit the first of more than 900 beacons lighting up across the UK and overseas as part of her 90th birthday celebrations. Prince Philip, the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall then joined the monarch at a private dinner in Windsor Castle. Earlier, cheering crowds lined the streets in Windsor as the Queen took part in a walkabout. At the lighting of the beacon in Windsor, the Prince of Wales, referring to his mother, said: “I find it very hard to believe that you’ve reached your 90th year and I suddenly realised the other day that I have known you since you were 22 years old. “But this, ladies and gentleman, is a very special occasion and this beacon that her majesty is about to light will also represent – as it lights other beacons across the nation – the love and affection with which you are held throughout this country and the Commonwealth. [BBC]

Solar plane slowly soaring from Hawaii to California –
A solar plane on an around-the-world journey has reached the point of no return over the Pacific Ocean after departing Hawaii, and now it’s California or bust. The plane was cruising over the cold northern Pacific late Thursday at about 20,000 feet with a nearly-full battery as night descended, according to the website that’s documenting the journey of Solar Impulse 2. After some uncertainty about winds, the plane took off from Hawaii and was on course to land in Mountain View, California, in about three days. The crew that helped it take off was clearing out of its Hawaiian hangar and headed for the mainland for the weekend arrival. Pilot Bertrand Piccard is flying this leg of the journey. [AP]

Video of the Day –

Alone in Paris from Mathieu Stern on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Prince Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

• One Nite Alone… Live! (2002)
• One Nite Alone… The Aftershow: It Ain’t Over! (2002)
• C-Note (2004)
• Indigo Nights (2008)

Remix albums

• Rave In2 the Joy Fantastic (2001)

Compilation albums

• The Hits 1 (1993)
• The Hits 2 (1993)
• The Hits/The B-Sides (1993)
• Girl 6 (1996)
• The Very Best of Prince (2001)
• Ultimate Prince (2006)

The New Power Generation albums

• Goldnigga (1993)
• Exodus (1995)
• Newpower Soul (1998)

The NPG Orchestra albums

• Kamasutra (1998)

Madhouse albums

• 8 (1987)
• 16 (1987)

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Sudanese nomadic conflicts, Ethnic violence in South Sudan
  • The Ethiopian Army crosses the border into South Sudan with the latter’s approval in search of more than 100 children who were kidnapped and spirited across the border in a surprise attack by unknown assailants that also killed 208 people a few days ago. (Al Jazeera)
• Northern Mali conflict
  • Ansar Dine, an Islamic extremist group claims responsibility for kidnapping three International Committee of the Red Cross staffers this weekend in Abeïbara in northeastern Mali. (AP)
• Amnesty International says the Nigerian Army killed 350 members of the Islamic Movement and secretly buried them in mass graves in the city of Zaria in Kaduna State. (The Guardian)

Arts and culture

• Elizabeth II, queen regnant of the United Kingdom and Head of the Commonwealth of Nations, celebrates her 90th birthday. (BBC)
• Bongbong Marcos admits that his family is blocking the release of their alleged ill-gotten wealth, which included masterpiece paintings accumulated during the reign of his father, Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. (ABS-CBN News)
• The Bunyadi, a London pop-up restaurant where diners will be encouraged to eat in the nude, has a reservation waiting list of more than 13,000 people for its June opening. The restaurant will operate for three months. (UPI)
• Musician Prince dies at his home at Paisley Park in the Minneapolis suburb of Chanhassen, Minnesota. (News Limited)

Business and economy

• Volkswagen emissions scandal
  • Volkswagen reaches a deal with the United States government that includes vehicle buybacks and cash compensation. (AP via Fox News)
• The Vatican suspends PricewaterhouseCoopers’ audit of its finances over questions whether proper procedures were followed when the December 2015 contract, reportedly worth $3 million, was enacted. Analysts say this move exposes the rift between the church’s old guard and supporters of financial reform, and raises questions about the Catholic Church’s commitment to cleaning up its finances. (Reuters)(The Guardian) (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

• More than 100 are feared dead in an early summer heatwave in India which has forced the closure of schools. (Reuters)
• At least 24 people are killed, 136 others injured, and eight workers still missing from yesterday’s blast at the major Clorados 3 petrochemical plant of Petroquimica Mexicana de Vinilo. Nineteen people remain hospitalized, with 13 in serious condition. The plant is run by Mexichem under agreement with Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the national petrochemical company, in Coatzacoalcos, Veracruz, Mexico, on the country’s southern Gulf of Mexico coast. Pemex had an earlier fire at the same facility in February 2016 that killed one worker; also that month, an offshore Pemex Gulf platform fire killed two and injured eight.(Reuters) (AP)
• At least two people are killed after an oceanfront stretch of an elevated bike lane in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, collapses when it was hit by a strong wave. Two other people were rescued alive, while another may be missing. The bike lane was among the projects built in preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympics. No Olympic event will be held on the path. (AP) (AP² via CBS News) (Hindustan Times)

International relations

• Australia-Philippines relations, Philippines-United States relations, Philippine presidential election, 2016
  • Presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte said that Australia and the United States should go ahead and cut their ties with the Philippines if he was elected president, following critical comments of their ambassadors on his rape remarks. (Rappler)
• Gulf Cooperation Council Summit
  • United States President Barack Obama, at the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit in Saudi Arabia, says the United States will continue to deter and confront aggression against Gulf Arab states; joins others in warning the fragile cease-fire in Syria is on the verge of collapse; pledges vigilance about Iran’s destabilizing activities in the Middle East; wants Gulf allies to offer more democratic reforms and improve human rights; and, says the U.S. and its Gulf partners should wait to see whether Iraq can resolve its political crisis before committing more financial aid which is impeding the fight against ISIL. (AP)(Reuters)
• Syrian peace process
  • Staffan de Mistura, U.N. envoy to Syria, says there has been “real but modest” progress in the country’s humanitarian situation, despite the shaken ceasefire. Aid convoys have reached 560,000 people in hard-to-reach and besieged areas; six areas still remain off limits. Yesterday, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent medically evacuated 515 people from four communities—Zabadani, Madaya, Kfarya, and Foua—besieged by government and rebel groups. (AP)
• United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union
  • U.S. President Barack Obama, in an op-ed in London’s Daily Telegraph, urges Britons to keep the U.K. in the European Union. Tomorrow, Obama is scheduled to have lunch with Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth, who celebrated her 90th birthday today. He then will hold talks with Prime Minister David Cameron. (Reuters) (Bloomberg) (The Daily Telegraph)
• Philippines-United Kingdom relations, Philippines-United States relations
  • The United States and the United Kingdom issue travel alerts for their citizens to avoid the Sulu Archipelago in the southwestern Philippines where a wave of kidnappings by Abu Sayyaf militants has occurred. (AP)

Law and crime

• Crime in El Salvador
  • The government of El Salvador unveils and deploys a new heavily armed special forces unit to fight criminal gangs in rural areas of the country. Officials say it will target gang leaders who left the cities because of a government crackdown. (BBC)
• Six high ranking Pakistan Army officers, including a lieutenant-general and major-general, are sacked by Chief of Army Staff Raheel Sharif amid corruption allegations within the army. Sharif said corruption had to be uprooted to fight terrorism. (BBC)

Politics and elections

• Philippine general election, 2016
  • Philippine presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte says he shot a fellow law student at San Beda College. The victim, Octavio Goco, who was also a Lex Talionis fraternity brother of Duterte, survived the assault. Duerte was not allowed to participate in his graduation ceremony. (Rappler) (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
• Russia–Ukraine relations
  • Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signs legislation banning all Russian films made after January 1, 2014. The legislation also bans movies produced by Russia after 1991 if they “glorify the work of government bodies” of Russia, citing such movies to be a threat to national security. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
• 2016 Macedonian protests
  • The European Union cancels mediation talks on resolving the political crisis in Macedonia after that country’s main political opposition, led by Zoran Zaev, declined to take part. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
• Chadian presidential election, 2016
  • The incumbent President of Chad Idriss Deby is reelected for a fifth term amid allegations of fraud. (Voice of America)

Science and technology

• Solar Impulse 2, a plane powered only by the sun, takes off from Kalaeloa, Hawaii, USA, on the ninth leg of its around-the-world journey. This portion of the trip will cover 2,542 nautical miles and, in about three days, is scheduled to touch down in Mountain View, California. The journey originated in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, on March 9, 2015, and, after another 8,130 nmi, will complete the circle when it lands in Abu Dhabi. (AP)

Sport

• 2016 Summer Olympics
  • The Olympic flame is lit outside the Temple of Hera in Olympia, Greece, by Greek actress Katerina Lehou. Brazilian volleyball legend Giovane Gávio starts the relay that will reach the capital Brasilia on May 3 for transport throughout the South American country by 12,000 torchbearers, arriving at Maracanã Stadium in Rio de Janeiro on August 5. (AP via WMAR-TV)
• Zika virus outbreak
  • Some Miami Marlins and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball players, who are scheduled to play a two-game series the end of May in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to honor Pirates Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, are concerned about being exposed to the Zika virus. About 400 cases have been confirmed in the Commonwealth. (AP via ESPN) (The Sporting News) (Yahoo! Sports)

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