July 4, 2012

Top News Stories –

Higgs boson: scientists 99.999% sure ‘God Particle’ has been found –
The historic announcement came in a progress report from the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator. Professor John Womersley, chief executive of the Science and technology Facilities Council, told reporters at a briefing in London: “They have discovered a particle consistent with the Higgs boson. “Discovery is the important word. That is confirmed. It’s a momentous day for science.” Scientists say it is a 5 sigma result which means they are 99.999% sure they have found a new particle. Finding the Higgs plugs a gaping hole in the Standard Model, the theory that describes all the particles, forces and interactions that make up the universe. [Daily Telegraph]
Prof Stephen Hawking said Prof Higgs deserved a Nobel Prize for his work, but admitted the discovery of the new particle had come at a cost. He said: “I had a bet with Gordon Kane of Michigan University that the Higgs particle wouldn’t be found. It seems I have just lost $100.” [Daily Telegraph]
The CMS detector at the Large Hadron Collider

Tom Cruise to file rival divorce case against Katie Holmes –
Tom Cruise will file a rival divorce case against Katie Holmes, his lawyer has said, adding that they were letting the “other side play the media until they wear everyone out”. Bret Fields told BBC Radio 1 that for the moment Cruise’s camp is content to let Holmes have the spotlight. “We are letting ‘the other side’ (Katie and her team), play the media until they wear everyone out and then we’ll have something to say,” he said.
“Tactically we can’t say where Tom will file a divorce case and if he’ll be seeking joint custody of [daughter] Suri.”
Tom Cruise with Katie Holmes in 2009

Video of the Day –

Higgs Boson: The Inside Scoop

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian uprising (2011–present):
- Syrian President Bashar al Assad accuses neighboring Turkey of supporting “terrorists” and contributing to the bloodshed in Syria. (Voice of America)
A gunman, who was facing eviction from his apartment, is believed to have seized and killed four hostages in the German city of Karlsruhebefore turning the gun on himself. (BBC)
Eleven people are killed in further unrest in Iraq, including eight people in a bombing of a Baghdad marketplace. (The Times of India)

Arts and culture

China accuses the Vatican of obstructing the development of Catholicism after the latter threatens to excommunicate new bishops ordained without papal approval. (Washington Post)
British broadcaster George Entwistle is named as the next Director-General of the BBC, beginning in autumn 2012. (BBC)
Archaeologists in Israel discover a mosaic floor depicting the biblical figure of Samson and a Hebrew inscription in an ancient synagogue in theGalilee region. (CNN)

Business and economy

Libor inter-bank interest rate:
- Bob Diamond, former CEO of Barclays, gives evidence to the Parliament of the United Kingdom‘s Treasury Select Committee on the bank’s manipulation of Libor and Euribor interest rates. (RTÉ) (BBC)
- Chancellor George Osborne accuses ministers in Gordon Brown’s government of attempting to manipulate interest rates during therecession. (The Guardian)
Standard & Poor’s raises the credit rating of the Philippines to BB+. (Reuters)

International relations

Egyptian officials deny that newly elected Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi will visit Iran to attend a conference. (The Times of Israel)

Law and crime

Two Iranian suspects held by Kenyan police reportedly confess that they planned to detonate a series of 30 bombs simultaneously acrossKenya. (Kenya Standard Media)
The Qatari-owned satellite channel, Al Jazeera, reports that traces of radioactive polonium-210 have been found in some personal effects of former PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, who died in 2004; the PLO and Arafat’s widow agree to his exhumation to investigate if he had beenpoisoned. (Huffington Post) (CNN) (YNet News)
Spain‘s national court opens a criminal investigation into last year’s listing of Bankia SA on the stock market, with former chairman Rodrigo Ratoand 32 others listed as suspects. (Wall Street Journal)

Politics and elections

Hundreds of protesters clash with police in the Ukrainian capital Kiev and the parliament speaker offers to resign over moves to boost the status of the Russian language in the country. (Al Jazeera)
The Chinese city of Shifang cancels the planned development of a copper plant after thousands of people demonstrated. (CBC)
The European Parliament rejects the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement in a session with more than 470 votes against the treaty. (CNet)
Mexican general election, 2012: Over half of the ballot boxes in the Presidential election will have to be recounted following the discovery of voting irregularities. (AP via Fox News)
Palestinians in Ramallah protest outside the offices of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas against the 1993 Oslo Peace Accordsbetween Israel and the PLO. (The Media Line)

Science and technology

CERN scientists present recent results from CMS and ATLAS experiments consistent with the existence of a Higgs boson particle. (BBC)(CERN press release)

Sport

The Scottish Premier League refuses to admit Newco Rangers, the team that emerged from the ashes of Rangers F.C. following its disintegration. (BBC)

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January 21, 2016

Top News Stories –

President Putin ‘probably’ approved Litvinenko murder –
The murder of ex-Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko in 2006 in the UK was ‘probably’ approved by President Vladimir Putin, an inquiry has found. Mr Putin is likely to have signed off the poisoning of Mr Litvinenko with polonium-210 in part due to personal “antagonism” between the pair, it said. Home Secretary Theresa May said the murder was a “blatant and unacceptable” breach of international law. But the Russian Foreign Ministry said the public inquiry was “politicised”. Litvinenko aged 43 in London in 2006, days after drinking tea poisoned with the radioactive substance. The former Russian spy – who is believed to have later worked for MI6 – had been a fierce critic of the Kremlin. [BBC]

Norwegian in underwear clings to car roof to stop thief –
A man clad only in boxer shorts stopped a thief from stealing his car in southern Norway – by clinging on to the roof in a hair-raising ride at -17C. Police say the owner was left “pretty bloody” after the car crashed into a safety barrier on a bridge. A suspect has been taken into police custody. The owner, 25, woke up in Kristiansand in the early hours of Wednesday when he heard his car engine firing up. He raced out, grabbed a car door-handle and refused to let go. The thief drove the car at up to 90km/h (56 mph), he said, but the owner managed to smash the back window with his knee and grappled with the thief before the car hit the safety barrier. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

SEAN PETTIT | Full Part 2015 from SUPER PROOF on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
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Other News Stories

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Somalia (2009–present)
- Gunmen attack the Lido or beach area in Mogadishu. (BBC)

Arts and culture

Local Tajikistan police have shaved nearly 13,000 men’s beards, closed more than 150 shops selling traditional Muslim clothing, and convinced around 1,800 women and girls to stop wearing headscarves in 2015 as part of a campaign to eradicate foreign influences in the former Soviet Republic. (Al Jazeera via MSN) (TIME)

Health

Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa
- The World Health Organisation confirms a second new case of Ebola virus in Sierra Leone. (AFP via Yahoo! News)

International relations

Burundian unrest (2015–present)
- Two former Presidents of Burundi call for the United Nations Security Council to authorise the use of peacekeeping troops in Burundi to prevent a potential civil war. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Dominic Ongwen, a former commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, appears before the International Criminal Court in a hearing to determine whether a criminal trial should go ahead. (Reuters)
The State Council of Crimea issues an arrest warrant for the leader of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People and former Soviet dissident Mustafa Dzhemilev. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
A British inquiry alleges that Russian President Vladimir Putin “probably” personally approved the FSB‘s murder of Alexander Litvinenko in November 2006 based on findings from a public enquiry. (CNN)

Politics and elections

The 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam convenes in Hanoi for eight days to select the country’s leadership for the next five years. (AP via ABC News America)

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March 19, 2016

Top News Stories –

Bruce Springsteen signs late note for schoolboy –
As excuse notes go, it is a step up from the “dog ate my homework”. But not all teachers would be impressed with a letter explaining a nine-year-old’s late arrival in class was down to being at a rock concert the night before. So Xabi Glovsky had it signed by Bruce Springsteen. He went to the concert in Los Angeles with his father, Scott, a life-long fan of the Boss. They went armed with a homemade sign. “Bruce, I will be late to school tomorrow. Please sign my note :-)” it said. At the end of the three-and-a-half-hour show, and well after Xabi’s bedtime, Springsteen sent a security guard into the crowd at the Los Angeles Sports Centre to invite father and son backstage. He asked Xabi for the name and spelling of his teacher, before whipping out pen and paper for the note. It read: “Dear Ms. Jackson, Xabi has been out very late rocking & rolling. Please excuse him if he is tardy.” [Daily Telegraph]
Bruce Springsteen

Six Nations 2016: England win Grand Slam with France victory –
England have their first Grand Slam in 13 years after holding out to secure a historic victory in Paris. First-half tries from Danny Care and Dan Cole had given them a five-point half-time lead, only for the relentless penalty precision of Maxime Machenaud to keep France within touching distance. But a third try in three matches from Anthony Watson calmed rising nerves before a brace of late penalties from Owen Farrell allowed the travelling support to sing their heroes home. It marks a remarkable turnaround for new head coach Eddie Jones, coming just six months after the humiliation of a home World Cup exit at the group stages before he took control. [BBC] See List of the Day

Video of the Day –

2084 from Taz Goldstein on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Winners of Grand Slams in the Five Nations (England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland and France) and Six Nations (Italy added in 2000) Championship

Nation	Grand Slams	Grand Slam winning seasons
England	13	1913, 1914, 1921, 1923, 1924, 1928, 1957, 1980, 1991, 1992, 1995, 2003, 2016
Wales	11	1908, 1909, 1911, 1950, 1952, 1971, 1976, 1978, 2005, 2008, 2012
France	9	1968, 1977, 1981, 1987, 1997, 1998, 2002, 2004, 2010
Scotland	3	1925, 1984, 1990
Ireland	2	1948, 2009
Italy	0

Top Twitter Trends –

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

March 2016 Istanbul bombing
- An explosion occurs in Taksim Square in Istanbul, Turkey, kills five people, including two dual nationality Israeli–Americans and one Iranian citizen, and injures several dozen others. (Sputnik International), (Al Jazeera), (Hürriyet Daily News) (AP via MuskokaRegion.com)
Syrian Civil War, Palmyra offensive (March 2016)
- Airstrikes by Syrian or Russian warplanes on ISIL‘s de-facto capital Al-Raqqah in northern Syria, leaves at least 39 people dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Airstrikes on the city of Palmyra and nearby villages are said to have killed at least 18 ISIL militants, as the Syrian Army advance on the city. (Reuters)
American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–present)
- A United States Department of Defense official says a U.S. soldier was killed in the town of Makhmur, Erbil Governorate by a rocket fired by ISIL. “It was a lucky strike by ISIS,” according to the official.(Fox News)
Sinai insurgency
- At least 13 Egyptian policemen are killed after a security checkpoint in the city of Arish, North Sinai Governorate came under attack by militants. Ambulances were reportedly subjected to heavy gunfire as they attempted to reach the wounded. The Islamic State‘s Sinai branch claimed responsibility for the attack. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

Flydubai Flight 981
- Flydubai Boeing 737-800 Flight FZ981, en route from Dubai for about four hours, crashes during landing in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, killing all 62 on board. It appears the jet crashed in poor visibility, some 50–100 meters left of the runway, during the second approach. Rostov-on-Don Airport will remain closed until at least 9:00 am Moscow time. (RT) (Airways News) (Reuters)
Nine Cuban migrants die and 18 others are rescued by the Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas cruise ship in the Gulf of Mexico, 130 miles west of Marco Island, Florida. The group had been sailing for 22 days in a 30-foot long “rustic” boat. The survivors were severely dehydrated and in poor condition. Those who had died were buried at sea. The cruise ship is taking the migrants to its next stop, the island,Cozumel, Mexico. (AP via Portland Press Herald)

International relations

Former United Nations official and head of the UN mission for the Ebola outbreak Anthony Banbury accuses the UN of “colossal mismanagement,” saying it had failed to uphold the principles for which it was established. He cited the organization’s “Orwellian admonitions and Carrollian logic” of the UN bureaucracy and minimal accountability regarding the widespread rape and sexual abuse by UN peacekeepers.(The Guardian)

Politics and elections

2015–16 protests in Brazil
- A survey conducted by Datafolha shows a majority of Brazilians now favor the impeachment or resignation of President Dilma Rousseff. The poll showed 68 percent of respondents favor Rousseff’s impeachment by Congress, while 65 percent think the president should resign. The president’s approval ratings have been hammered by Brazil’s worst recession in decades and its biggest ever corruption probe. (Reuters)

Sports

Russian speed skaters Pavel Kulizhnikov, Semion Elistratov and Ekaterina Konstantinova test positive for Meldonium and are provisionally suspended by the International Skating Union. Kulizhnikov faces a potential lifetime ban while Elistratov and Konstantinova face up to four years. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
2016 Six Nations Championship
- England national rugby union team has won the 2016 Six Nations Championship against the France national rugby union team, 31-21, their 13th win in the Grand Slam (rugby union). (The Guardian)(BBC)

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March 20, 2016

Top News Stories –

Star Wars beats Mad Max at Empire awards –
Sci-fi blockbuster Star Wars: The Force Awakens trumped Mad Max: Fury Road at this year’s Empire Awards, winning five awards to the latter’s four. The Force Awakens was named best sci-fi/fantasy and was also honoured for its visual effects, director JJ Abrams and stars John Boyega and Daisy Ridley. Fury Road was recognised for its make-up, costumes, soundtrack and production design at the central London event. But neither title took home the best film award, which went to The Revenant. Matt Damon was on hand to accept his best actor award for The Martian, while Sweden’s Alicia Vikander won best actress for The Danish Girl. [BBC]
Matt Damon

Eddie Izzard completes Sport Relief marathons challenge –
Comedian Eddie Izzard has completed his challenge in South Africa to run 27 marathons in 27 days for Sport Relief. The 54-year-old needed to run a double marathon on Sunday to complete his challenge beneath a statue of Nelson Mandela, in Pretoria. Izzard attempted a similar feat in South Africa in 2012 but had to pull out for health reasons. The comedian’s endurance feat raised more than £1.35m. The 2016 Sport Relief total stands at £56,984,007. “That was very, very tough,” Izzard told reporters as he swigged from a celebratory bottle of sparkling white wine. The 27 marathons were intended to reflect the 27 years Mr Mandela had spent in prison before becoming South Africa’s first black president. [BBC]
Eddie Izzard

Video of the Day –

If The World Were 100 People | GOOD Data

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
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9	#DiadelaFelicidad	#firstdayofspring	#NorthLondonHalf
10	#PalmSunday	#afpfc	#tweepathon

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

March 2016 Istanbul bombing
- Turkish authorities name a Turkish man with alleged ties to the Islamic State responsible for this weekend’s suicide bombing in Istanbul. (The Washington Post)

Business and economics

The United States-based Sherwin-Williams Company agrees to acquire rival U.S. paint company Valspar Corporation in an all-cash deal valued at about $9.3 billion (8.2 billion euros). (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

Thirteen are killed and 34 others injured after a bus carrying Erasmus exchange students returning from the renowned Falles fireworks festival in Valencia, crashes near Freginals, Spain. The regional government of Catalonia said in a statement that, “… according to the latest data, the ill-fated bus had students from Hungary, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Czech Republic, United Kingdom, Italy,Peru, Bulgaria, Poland, Ireland, Japan, Ukraine, Holland, Belgium, France, Palestine, Turkey, (and) Greece.” (The Independent) (Euronews) (AP via Bloomberg)
A 6.6 magnitude earthquake strikes off the eastern coast of Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia‘s Far East. Shaking was felt throughout large parts of the peninsula, but there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties. (BNO News)
An Indonesian military helicopter crash shortly after takeoff from Poso kills 13 passengers. Their mission was to try to capture Indonesia’s most wanted militant, Abu Wardah Santoso, leader of the Islamic State affiliate East Indonesia Mujahidin network. (AP)

International relations

United States–Cuban Thaw
- U.S. President Barack Obama and the First Family begin their three-day visit to Havana, Cuba, to mark the end of 54 years of tensions in Cuba–United States relations. Obama is the first sitting U.S. president to visit the country since Calvin Coolidge in 1928. (Havana Times) (Jamaica Observer)
- Before the President’s arrival, Cuban authorities arrest more than 50 Ladies in White human rights activists. The group marches after every Sunday Mass at a church in the Miramar suburb of Havana, and usually get arrested and detained for hours or days. They had hoped President Obama’s visit would change that routine. (USA Today) (Havana Times)

Law and crime

A retired Pennsylvania state trooper’s attempted robbery of a fare collection vehicle at the Pennsylvania Turnpike’s Fort Littleton toll plaza, 65 miles west of the capital Harrisburg, results in three deaths — a toll collector, a security guard, and himself. (AP via ABC News)

Politics and elections

Former Prime Minister of Denmark Anker Jørgensen (1972-1973 and 1975-1982) dies at the age of 93. (ABC)

Kazakhstani legislative election, 2016
- Voting is underway in today’s parliamentary election in the former Soviet republic. President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s Nur Otan party is expected to win easily, and retain control of the 107-seat Mazhilis, the lower house of parliament. The recent crackdown on political activists and media dims chances this election will be the first judged free and fair by Western observers. (AP via Sioux City Journal)(Townhall.com)

Laotian parliamentary election, 2016
- An election is held in Laos, with voter turnout expected to be low. The only legal party in Laos is the Lao People’s Revolutionary Party. (Vida Latina)

Republic of the Congo presidential election, 2016
- Voters in the Republic of the Congo go to the polls with current President Denis Sassou Nguesso expected to extend his 32-year rule. Telephone, internet and SMS services have been shut down in what has been called a “media blackout.” (Al Jazeera)

Beninese presidential election, 2016
- Voting for the second round of Benin’s election begins with current President Thomas Boni Yayi stepping down after completing two terms. (Townhall via Reuters)

Philippine presidential election, 2016
- The second leg of the presidential debates was held in Cebu City. AP via The Japan Times
Tanzanian general election, 2015
- A rerun of Zanzibar’s presidential election takes place amid an opposition boycott. The election originally occurred at the same time as Tanzania’s election in 2015 but was annulled because of supposed fraud. (Daily Nation)

Nigerien general election, 2016
- A run-off election begins in Niger with current President Mahamadou Issoufou highly favored to win as his main opponent Hama Amadou, who was earlier jailed, was flown out of the country for medical reasons. (Reuters)

Cape Verdean parliamentary election, 2016
- Voters in Cape Verde go to the polls for an election. (BBC)

Senegalese constitutional referendum, 2016
- A referendum is underway in Senegal where voters will vote on whether or not to reduce presidential term limits from seven to five years. Senegal’s referendum also calls for a strengthened National Assembly, better representation for Senegalese abroad, greater rights for the opposition and participation of independent candidates in elections among the 15 changes. (The Daily Star)

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March 23, 2016

Top News Stories –

Foo Fighters singer Dave Grohl backs teenage metal band in Cornwall noise row –
US rocker Dave Grohl has leapt to the defence of a teenage heavy metal band from Cornwall – after their local council said they were too loud. The Black Leaves of Envy were told they would have to stop practising in a family garage after noise complaints from neighbours. Foo Fighters frontman Grohl penned an open letter to the authority after the band reached out to him. He asked Cornwall Council to “reconsider the restrictions”. In the open letter, former Nirvana drummer Grohl says he started out practising in a garage and says music is a “wonderful, creative outlet for kids”. Grohl also penned a separate letter to the band, giving them advice on soundproofing. He advised the group to fill the garage walls with sand and cover the floor in gym mats. Band member Adam Jones, 17, said: “It’s just been surreal – I’m speechless.” “Seeing the Foo Fighters tag you in a post on Facebook was just incredible,” he said. [BBC] Grohl famously broke his leg when he fell off the stage at a gig in Gothenburg, Sweden in June 2015 but returned to finish the concert.
Dave Gohl

Formula 1 drivers warn success of sport could be jeopardised –
Formula 1 drivers have demanded change at the top of the sport, saying its decision-making process is “obsolete and ill-structured”. Grand Prix Drivers’ Association (GPDA) directors Jenson Button, Sebastian Vettel and Alex Wurz have written a letter on behalf of the drivers. It “urges the owners and stakeholders of F1 to restructure its governance”. Many issues can be traced back to F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, but the letter does not mention the 85-year-old. Some recent decisions are “disruptive”, avoid “the bigger issues” and “could jeopardise F1’s success”, it adds. Writing the letter is an extraordinary step by the drivers, which reflects the strength of their feelings on the matter.
Jenson Button

Video of the Day –

iPhone SE (parody)

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#QuartaSantaClubeSDV	#NationalPuppyDay	#NationalPuppyDay
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10	#ManInTree	#HandsOffMyBC	#FirstDates

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2016 Brussels bombings
- Belgian federal prosecutor Frederic Van Leeuw says two brothers of Belgian nationality, Khalid and Brahim el-Bakraoui, were responsible for yesterday’s suicide bombings. Khalid bombed the subway station while Ibrahim bombed the airport, he added. A third suspect, who died at the airport, is identified as Najim Laachraoui, says De Standaard. A fourth suspect seen in the airport photo, who left a massive bomb at the airport that did not detonate, is unidentified and still at large. (UPI) (Los Angeles Times) (De Standaard)
- Van Leeuw says 31 people died and 271 are injured in the bombings. (UPI)
- Referring to the Brussels bombings, Poland abandons a pledge to shelter Syrian migrants under a European Union relocation agreement. (Reuters)
Yemeni Civil War (2015–present), War on Terror
- At least 50 militants are reportedly killed in a U.S. air strike on an Al-Qaeda training camp in southern Yemen. (Reuters)

Business and economics

The U.S. Labor Department releases a long-awaited rule, the so-called persuader rule that was first proposed in 2011. The regulation requires companies to disclose when they seek advice about countering union campaigns. The final rule will apply to contracts beginning on July 1, 2016. Several business groups, such as the National Retail Federation, the Associated Builders and Contractors, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Association of Manufacturers, object because the rule limits employers’ free speech rights to counter union organizing, it could interfere with attorney-client privilege, etc. Court challenges are expected. (Reuters) (The Hill)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 North American winter
- Late March 2016 North American blizzard
  - A powerful blizzard sweeping Denver, Colorado, forces authorities to close Denver International Airport, Interstate 70, Interstate 25 and leaves more than 100,000 people without power. The Colorado Army National Guard has been deployed to help rescue those stranded by the storm. (The Denver Post)
  - Denver International Airport reopens at 7 pm (Mountain Daylight Time). Over 1,300 flights were canceled. Just a few flights are expected to arrive or depart through the night. The National Weather Service estimates that parts of Denver received 19.5 inches of snow as of 3:59 pm (MDT). (The Denver Post) (The Denver Post²)

International relations

European migrant crisis
- Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, announce they are withdrawing from the so-called hotspots on the Greek islands because of the new EU-Turkey deal. UNHCR’s Melissa Fleming says, “Under the new provisions, these sites (hotspots) have now become detention facilities.” MSF’s Marie Elisabeth Ingres says, “We will not allow our assistance to be instrumentalized (sic) for a mass expulsion operation, and we refuse to be part of a system that has no regard for the humanitarian or protection needs of asylum seekers and migrants.” (Vox Media)(New Europe)

Law and crime

Passengers are evacuated from the south domestic terminal at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the U.S. state of Georgia after a suspicious package is found. The package is declared safe by a bomb squad. (AP via News24)
The Supreme Court of the United States, which currently has just eight justices, today heard the case brought by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh (Zubik v. Burwell, which includes similar ones by other religious organizations) that challenges the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provision that employer-paid health insurance plans provide women with access to contraceptives at no additional out-of-pocket cost, and challenges the federal government accommodation offered in 2014 that would have a third-party provide the coverage with costs paid by the federal government. The plaintiffs state that both are unconstitutional because they violate the free exercise of religion. The decision is expected in June. If the result is a split decision (4-4), there would be no national precedent and each case’s final decision would be the one made in court before the case was forwarded to the Supreme Court. In the group of cases presented today, all but one appeals court upheld the government mandate. (Reuters)(USA Today) (NPR)

Politics and elections

Nigerien general election, 2016
- Nigerien President Mahamadou Issoufou wins re-election in a second round of voting, receiving 92 percent of the vote in an election that was boycotted by the opposition. (Al Jazeera)
Senegalese constitutional referendum, 2016
- Voters in Senegal approve a series of constitutional reforms, which include a reduction of presidential terms from seven to five years, with 63 percent of the vote. (BBC)
United States presidential election, 2016
- Tuesday, March 22 primaries/caucuses
  - Front runners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump each won the Democratic and Republican primary in Arizona, respectively. (BBC)
  - Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz each won their party’s votes in Idaho and Utah (BBC)
  - The early results for Tuesday’s GOP caucus in American Samoa — nine uncommitted. The Democratic caucus was held on March 1, 2016, with Hillary Clinton getting eight delegates and Bernie Sanders three. (caffeinatedthoughts.com) (The Green Papers)

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March 24, 2016

Top News Stories –

Johan Cruyff: Barcelona and Holland legend dies aged 68 –
Johan Cruyff, the man credited with helping reinvent modern soccer, has died aged 68. The former player and manager of Spanish giants Barcelona and the Netherlands’ most successful club Ajax, had been battling lung cancer. ne of the world’s greatest ever footballers, Cruyff’s Dutch team finished runners up in the 1974 World Cup playing a revolutionary style of soccer that was dubbed “total football.” A statement on his official website read: “On March 24 2016 Johan Cruyff died peacefully in Barcelona, surrounded by his family after a hard fought battle with cancer. [CNN] See List of the Day
Johan Cruyff

Video of the Day –

What If The World Went Vegetarian? – ASAP Science

List of the Day –

Johann Cruyff senior career record (from Wikipedia)

Senior career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1964–1973	Ajax	240	(190)
1973–1978	Barcelona	143	(48)
1979	Los Angeles Aztecs	23	(13)
1980–1981	Washington Diplomats	30	(12)
1981	Levante	10	(2)
1981–1983	Ajax	36	(14)
1983–1984	Feyenoord	33	(11)
Total		514	(290)
National team
1966–1977	Netherlands	48	(33)
Teams managed
1985–1988	Ajax
1988–1996	Barcelona
2009–2013	Catalonia

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#10YearsOfHannahMontana	#10YearsOfHannahMontana	#10YearsOfHannahMontana
2	#NuncaMas	#EasterWeekend	#pharmacy24
3	#24HOURStoMindofMine	#90sABook	#Karadzic
4	#FeriadoSrTwitteiroSdv	#HappyBirthdayJackJohnson	#EasterWeekend
5	#EasterWeekend	#CANCELPURPOSETOUR	North Carolina
6	#Anlatmakİstediğim	#24HOURStoMindofMine	#WhatJesusDidFor3Days
7	#SientoQue	#IfIWerePresident	#StillYes
8	#FelizJuevesSanto	#Ghomeshi	Dave Grohl
9	#الزهارين_قادم…	#Karadzic	#WearAHatDay
10	#اول_لاعب_حبيته	Johan Cruyff	Adam Johnson

Other News Stories –

Business and economics

Starboard Value LP, an activist hedge fund, begins a proxy contest to oust the entire board of directors of internet pioneer Yahoo. (Reuters)
Lebanese daily newspaper As-Safir (“The Ambassador” in Arabic) is to cease print and online operations after over 40 years, citing falling revenues and Lebanon’s political environment and sectarian problems as reasons for its closure. The newspaper has close ties to Hezbollah. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
- Australian infrastructure and transport minister Darren Chester says in a statement that debris recovered this month in Mozambique was highly likely to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.(Reuters)

Law and crime

England international footballer Adam Johnson is sentenced to six years in prison for child grooming and child sexual activity. (BBC)
Judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia find former President of the Republika Srpska Radovan Karadžić guilty of committing genocide and crimes against humanity in Bosniaduring the Bosnian War and is sentenced to 40 years in prison. Karadžić is found to be “criminally responsible” for the Srebrenica massacre. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty) (The Guardian)
In Toronto, Jian Ghomeshi is aquitted on all charges of sexual assault and choking. The judge found the claimants had “lied, had been manipulative and hid pertinent information” from the court and this created reasonable doubt. Protests against due process emerged immediately afterwards. (National Post)
In New York, an appeals court upheld a lower court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit trying to keep Ted Cruz of the ballot in the U.S. Presidential contest on the ground of his Canadian birth. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Myanmar general election, 2015
- Myanmar’s parliament approves Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and 17 other nominees to positions in the incoming government’s cabinet. Which ministry each will head was not announced. (Bloomberg)
- Amnesty International urges Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party make release of political prisoners, and rescinding laws that made incarceration possible, a top priority when they take office next Friday, April 1, 2016. Amnesty International adds it knows of almost 100 political prisoners still behind bars, with hundreds of others in detention. AI’s Jasmine Heiss says, “The incoming government must take bold steps to show that human rights abuses are a problem of the past.” (AP via The Washington Post) (USA Tday) (Amnesty International)
New Zealand flag debate
- New Zealanders vote to retain the current flag over the proposed design in the nation’s flag referendum. More than 2 million people vote in the referendum. (NZ Herald) (Radio New Zealand) (The Guardian)
Republic of the Congo presidential election, 2016
- Current President of the Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso is reelected with 60 percent of the vote amid tight security and a communications blackout. Opposition leaders say that they will not accept the outcome. (Al Jazeera)

Sport

Dutch iconic professional footballer and manager Johan Cruyff dies from lung cancer at the age of 68. (CNN)
Six Russian athletes are to be stripped of the medals they won at World and European championships in 2010 and 2011 and the 2012 Summer Olympics following a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. The athletes affected are Sergei Balukin, Valeriy Borchin, Vladimir Kanaikin, Olga Kaniskina, Yulia Zaripova and Sergey Kirdyapkin. The ruling means Kirdyapkin is set to lose his gold medal won at the 2012 Olympics. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

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March 25, 2016

Top News Stories –

Grand Theft Auto deer causes chaos in game world –
An indestructible, teleporting deer is causing chaos in a version of the Grand Theft Auto (GTA) V game. Artist Brent Watanabe has programmed the virtual deer to wander around the large San Andreas game world. In its first few days of wandering, the deer has been caught in a gangland gun battle, invaded a military base and been chased by the police. More than 200,000 people have tuned in to watch the deer via a video stream on the Twitch site. [BBC]
CGI deer in Grand Theft Auto

Microsoft chatbot is taught to swear on Twitter –
A chatbot developed by Microsoft has gone rogue on Twitter, swearing and making racist remarks and inflammatory political statements. The experimental AI, which learns from conversations, was designed to interact with 18-24-year-olds. Just 24 hours after artificial intelligence Tay was unleashed, Microsoft appeared to be editing some of its more inflammatory comments. The software firm said it was “making some adjustments”. “The AI chatbot Tay is a machine learning project, designed for human engagement. As it learns, some of its responses are inappropriate and indicative of the types of interactions some people are having with it. We’re making some adjustments to Tay,” the firm said in a statement. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Eye of India from Benn Berkeley on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#ViernesSanto	#FlashbackFriday	#CruzSexScandal
2	#SextaDaPaixaoDetreSdv	#GoodFriday	#1YearWithoutZayn
3	#GoodFriday	#NewMusicFriday	#MindOfMine
4	#CruzSexScandal	#1YearWithoutZayn	#NUT16
5	#1YearWithoutZayn	#MyChildhoodHadAlotOf	Asad Shah
6	#EresOnAnahiVEVO	Beverly Cleary	Slime Season 3
7	#BenimYarınlaraMesajım	#Elite8	#GoodFriday
8	#MuhsinYazıcıoğlu	#ViernesSanto	#LeadersDebate
9	#MindOfMine	#3YearsOfTheWay	#3YearsOfTheWay
10	#AUSvPAK	#RITAGH	#PrayForNigeria

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Aftermath of the 2016 Brussels bombings
- Six suspects are arrested in the Brussels Schaerbeek district. (BBC) (CNN)
- Belgian officials confirm 24-year-old suicide bomber Najim Laachraoui, who also used the pseudonym Soufiane Kayawas, was suspected of being the bomb-maker who supplied suicide vests for theNovember 13, 2015, Paris attacks. (NBC News)
Boko Haram insurgency
- The Nigerian Army claims to have rescued more than 800 hostages from Boko Haram while performing a “clearance operation” in the Northeastern part of Nigeria with fighting killing 22 insurgents. (Al Jazeera)
Military intervention against ISIL
- The Pentagon announces the death of Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant finance minister and deputy leader, Abu Ala al-Afri. (CNN)
Syrian Civil War
- Palmyra offensive (March 2016)
  - The Syrian Army and allies make major advances near Palmyra against ISIL as the group start pulling out its equipment from the town. (BBC) (NYTimes)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Iskandariya suicide bombing
  - At least 30 people are killed in a suicide attack on a football stadium south of Baghdad, Iraq. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for attack. (FOX News)
Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
- 2016 Aden car bombing
  - At least 22 people are killed following three suicide bombings in the Yemeni port city of Aden. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for the bombings. (BBC)
War in Donbass
- The body of Ukrainian lawyer Yurij Grabovsky, who defended two ex-Russian soldiers charged in Eastern Ukraine with terrorism and waging an aggressive war against the country, is found on the grounds of a former farming collective in Zhashkiv, Ukraine. Grabovsky went missing from Kiev on March 9. Information from one of two men being held in this case led police to the remains. (Reuters) (Jurist)

Disasters and accidents

Callaway train crash
- The evacuation order for the 200-person town of Callaway, Minnesota, which was emptied after a Canadian Pacific train crashed with a propane truck, is lifted. None of the train cars were carrying hazardous materials. (Valley News Live) (KMSP-TV)
Twelve Portuguese nationals, who were residents of Fribourg, Switzerland, are killed in a head-on collision between their minibus and a truck, on a highway 300 kilometers (185 miles) south of Paris, France. The only survivor from the bus is the driver; the two Italian occupants of the truck are slightly injured. (Post-Bulletin)
An air ambulance helicopter crashes in Iran‘s southern Fars Province, killing everyone on board. The official Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) put the death toll at 10. (Reuters)

International relations

Japan–Russia relations, NATO–Russia relations
- Russia announces it will deploy state-of-the art missile defense systems to the far eastern Kuril Islands where they and Japan have rival territorial claims dating to the end of the Second World War. Russian Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu also says that Russia will form new defence units in the country’s Western Military District in response to NATO’s recent deployment of forces to member statesnear its border. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Law and crime

A United States federal district judge rules unconstitutional a provision in an Alabama state law that requires doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a local hospital. A Florida law enacted today contains a comparable provision to Alabama’s. The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments a few weeks ago on the constitutionality of similar abortion restrictions in Texas. (Reuters) (Alabama Media Group) (AP via Bristol Herald Courier)

Science and technology

Netflix acknowledges it’s been slowing its video transmission on wireless mobile carriers around the world, including Verizon and AT&T, for five years to “protect consumers from exceeding mobile data caps.” Last week, these carriers were accused of this. The company told The Wall Street Journal that T-Mobile or Sprint users weren’t affected because, “historically those two companies have had more consumer-friendly policies.” In May, Netflix plans to shift some of that control to viewers themselves. (C|net) (PC Magazine)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

March 27, 2016

Top News Stories –

Syria civil war: Assad hails Palmyra recapture from IS –
President Bashar al-Assad has hailed the recapture of Palmyra from so-called Islamic State (IS) as an “important achievement” in the “war on terrorism”. A monitoring group has backed the Syrian government’s claim that the city was recaptured overnight by the army. Military sources say the Syrian army now has “full control”. It had been gaining ground for several days, supported by Russian air strikes. President Assad said this showed the success of the army’s strategy. His comments, to a group of visiting French parliamentarians, were carried on state TV. IS seized the Unesco World Heritage site and modern town in May 2015. When IS seized the city it destroyed archaeological sites, drawing global outrage. Two 2,000-year-old temples, an arch and funerary towers were left in ruins. The jihadist group, which has also demolished several pre-Islamic sites in neighbouring Iraq, believes that such structures are idolatrous. [BBC]
Temple of Bel in 2011

Cat accidentally sent 260 miles away survives eight days in the post –
A Siamese cat had a very lucky escape when its owners accidentally posted her 260 miles away to West Sussex. Cupcake’s owners were sending some DVDs to a buyer in Worthing but failed to spot their pet was asleep in the cardboard box. The feline spent eight days in the post but miraculously survived the traumatic journey from Falmouth in Cornwall. “Imagine how surprised the recipient was when, along with the anticipated DVDs, an elegant Siamese cat emerged from the box,” explained the Grove Lodge Veterinary Group, who helped track down Cupcake’s owner. “This person was somewhat startled as they were not expecting to receive a free cat along with their order of DVDs.” The stunned buyer contacted the RSPCA who collected the cat and brought her to Grove Lodge for a health check. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Glas from Aeon Video on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#IndvsAus	#6YearsOfVictorious	#GetWeirdTourLondon
2	Felices Pascuas	Happy Easter	#BoatRace2016
3	#FelizDomingo	#GoodPlacesToHideAnEgg	#IndvsAus
4	#HistoriaTristeEnTresPalabras	Kevin Stallings	British Summer Time
5	#DiaMundialDelTeatro	#11YearsOfGreys	#clocksgoforward
6	Feliz Páscoa	#IndvsAus	#11YearsOfGreys
7	#كلمه_ل_الرجيم	Jim Harrison	Watership Down
8	Happy Easter	#ResurrectionSunday	#6YearsOfVictorious
9	#11YearsOfGreys	Felices Pascuas	#TrumpTributeBands
10	#27MartDünyaTiyatroGünü	#BernieMadeMeWhite	#askjack

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Palmyra offensive (March 2016)
  - The Syrian Army takes full control of Palmyra after heavy fighting with ISIL forces, according to a Syrian military source. (Sky News)
2016 Lahore suicide bombing
- A suicide bomber from a Pakistani Taliban faction kills at least 60 people and injures 300 others at a park in Lahore, Pakistan, and the group claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it intentionally targeted Christians celebrating on Easter Sunday. An official says the explosion took place close to Gulshan-e-Iqbal Park’s children’s rides. (CNN) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera) (AP)

Arts and culture

Thousands of people in Dublin, Ireland, attend the Irish government’s commemoration of the 1916 Easter Rising against British rule. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

At least 12 Algerian Army soldiers are killed in a military helicopter crash near the town of Reggane, in Algeria‘s southern Adrar Province. (Reuters)

International relations

Senkaku Islands dispute, China–Japan relations
- As part of its wider military build up along the Yaeyama Islands archipelago in the East China Sea, Japan activates, on Monday, a new radar station on the island of Yonaguni, that is close to the disputedSenkaku Islands. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Israel’s Supreme Court blocks the government’s plan, signed last December by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with the U.S. Noble Energy and the Israeli Delek Group companies, to develop Israel’s offshore gas deposits. The court found the so-called “stability clause,” that would prevent Israel from making significant regulatory changes for the next 10 years, undemocratically restricts the Knesset’s power. The government has one year to come up with an alternative arrangement or the plan will be canceled. (AP) (Ynetnews) (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Myanmar general election, 2015
- Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, Myanmar’s military chief, pledges to work with the new civilian government that takes over the Southeast Asian country next week, after 54 years of direct or indirect rule by the military. (AP)

2014–16 Venezuelan protests
- According to a new poll, two-thirds of Venezuelans think President Nicolás Maduro should end his presidency this year or be removed via a recall referendum amid a worsening economic crisis. In the event of a referendum, 52.1 percent of Venezuelans would vote to remove him from office, up from 44.5 percent in January, according to the poll. (Reuters)
2015–16 protests in Moldova
- Thousands of people rally in the streets of Chișinău, the capital of Moldova, demanding reunification with Romania. The rally is meant to mark the 98th anniversary since the former Romanian province ofBessarabia was unified with the Kingdom of Romania on March 27, 1918. The protesters say unification with Romania is the way for corruption-ridden Moldova to move forward and join the European Union. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Aftermath of the 2016 Brussels bombings
- Police in Brussels, Belgium forcibly break up an apparent far-right demonstration with water cannons after they joined a crowd of people paying tribute to the victims of the bombings. The demonstrators claim to have marched against terrorism but police intervened when the demonstrators confronted Muslim women and made Nazi salutes. (Euronews) (BBC)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

March 28, 2016

Top News Stories –

Harrison Ford auctions Han Solo Star Wars jacket in honour of daughter with epilepsy –
Harrison Ford is auctioning his Star Wars: The Force Awakens jacket for charity. The 73-year-old actor – who reprised his role as Han Solo in the latest installment of the sci-fi franchise – donated the iconic garment which he wore in his first scene in the 2015 movie to raise money for epilepsy research. The signed garment will benefit the NYU Langone Center and FACES (Finding A Cure for Epilepsy and Seizures), with bidding starting at $18,000 on ifOnly. But the actor – whose 26-year-old daughter Georgia suffers from the condition – joked the director of the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at the New York clinic, Dr. Orrin Devinsky, had taken a shine to the jacket. [Daily Mirror] In February 2016 the production company behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens was being prosecuted over a filming incident in which Harrison Ford broke his leg.
Harrison Ford

FBI finds method to hack gunman’s iPhone without Apple’s help –
The FBI has managed to unlock the iPhone of the San Bernardino gunman without Apple’s help, ending a court case, the US justice department says. Apple had been resisting a court order issued last month requiring the firm to write new software to allow officials to access Syed Rizwan Farook’s phone. But officials on Monday said that it had been accessed independently and asked for the order to be withdrawn. Responding to the move, Apple said: “From the beginning, we objected to the FBI’s demand that Apple build a backdoor into the iPhone because we believed it was wrong and would set a dangerous precedent. As a result of the government’s dismissal, neither of these occurred. This case should never have been brought.” [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

We’ve hit peak lens flare. Here’s how it started.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SegundaQSonoDTremuraSdv	#MondayMotivation	#StormKatie
2	#MeGustariaQue	#MusicMonday	#HappyBirthdayZoe
3	#FelizLunes	#My5WordRomanceNovel	#election66
4	#سربوت_يصور_طا�…	#HappyBirthdayLadyGaga	#EasterMonday
5	#JustinPagaPauDoMcGui	#ThingsThatDidntBreakMe	#GetWeirdTourLondon
6	#secretsMW	#DyngusDay	#TheNightManager
7	#اختار_مغرد_وت�…	Jon Lovitz	#BoatRace2016
8	#HappyBirthdayLadyGaga	#instagramupdate	#My5WordRomanceNovel
9	#My5WordRomanceNovel	#EasterEggRoll	#ontopictalkshow
10	#insanlık	#Happy3YearsOnVineMatt	#Thirteen

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- Taliban fighters fire explosives at Afghanistan’s Parliament while it is in session. Members of Parliament said no one was wounded while a Taliban spokesperson claims it caused heavy casualities. (Al Jazeera)
War in Somalia (2009–present)
- At least 115 Al-Shabaab militants are killed and a further 110 are captured following heavy fighting with pro-government forces in the Galmudug region of Somalia, according to the regional government. There has been no independent confirmation of this claim. (BBC)
Aftermath of the Brussels bombings
- Belgian prosecutors release Faycal C., a man charged in connection with last week’s deadly Brussels bombings. The prosecutor’s office says the evidence which led to his arrest has not been backed up by the ongoing investigation. (Reuters)
2016 Lahore suicide bombing
- Pakistan officials tell Reuters its forces will launch a paramilitary crackdown on Islamist militants in Punjab. Sunday’s attack was Taliban-affiliated Jamaat-ul-Ahrar’s fifth bombing since December. (Reuters)

Business and economics

Stamford, Connecticut’s, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide says the $15 billion offer from China’s Anbang Insurance Group is “reasonably likely” to win out over the $13.6 billion cash-and-stock offerU.S.-based Marriott International submitted last week. (AP) (Reuters) (UPI) (The Washington Post)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season
- The United Kingdom‘s Met Office warns of major travel disruption due to heavy rain, flooding and “damaging” high winds as Storm Katie moves in from the Atlantic Ocean bringing winds of up to 75mph.(Sky News)
The Alaska village of Nelson Lagoon is coated in volcanic ash after an especially vigorous and ongoing eruption of Mount Pavlof. (Alaska Dispatch News)
- Alaska Airlines cancels 41 flights to and from six cities across the state, Barrow, Bethel, Fairbanks, Kotzebue, Nome, and Prudhoe Bay, due to Pavlof’s “massive ash cloud.” The carrier announces flights will remain grounded pending Tuesday’s assessment of flying conditions. (KTUU-TV)

International Relations

Senkaku Islands dispute, China–Japan relations
- As part of its wider military build up along the Japanese archipelagos in the East China Sea, Japan activates a new radar station on the island of Yonaguni that is close to the disputed Senkaku Islands.(Reuters)

Law and crime

A three-year-old girl is decapitated in an apparently random killing by a man with a cleaver in Taipei, Taiwan. The man was arrested shortly afterwards. (The Guardian)
The United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. is on lockdown following reports of shots fired at the Capitol Visitor Center. The White House, in what appears to be an unrelated incident, was briefly locked down this afternoon. (CNN)
- Police lift the lockdown. An armed man was shot by police, is in police custody, and is undergoing surgery at MedStar Washington Hospital Center. A female bystander suffers what appears to be a minor injury. (The Washington Post)
FBI–Apple encryption dispute
- Federal prosecutors announce the case against Apple Inc., concerning encrypted data on an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters, has been dropped since the FBI has found a means to access the data without compromising any information on the phone. (Los Angeles Times) (Los Angeles Times²)
A U.S. federal district court, in a case filed by retailer Wal-Mart Stores. Inc., strikes down a Puerto Rican tax increase for on-island companies, with more than $2.75 billion in revenues that buy goods from off-island “related parties,” because the levy clearly discriminates against interstate commerce. (Reuters)
The United States Secret Service, responding to an online petition demanding Quicken Loans Arena revoke its ban on open carrying of firearms, says only law enforcement officers will be allowed to haveguns inside the Republican National Convention to be held in the Cleveland, Ohio, arena on July 18–21, 2016. (USA Today)
The American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal file a federal lawsuit against a new North Carolina law that bars transgender people from choosing bathrooms consistent with their gender identity, arguing the measure is discriminatory and threatens individuals’ personal safety. (Reuters)
Ferguson unrest
- A Missouri court strikes down parts of a law, meant to address concerns raised after the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, that limit cities’ ability to profit from traffic tickets and court fines. The judge wrote the law unconstitutionally targeted St. Louis-area municipalities with caps on revenues from traffic fines that were lower than other cities in the state. (AP)

Politics and elections

Thousands of protestors rally in front of the Parliament of Pakistan in Islamabad in support of Mumtaz Qadri, the killer of reformist Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer in 2011 who was subsequently executed last February. The Pakistan Army was called in to control the situation. (BBC) (Al Jazeera)
Governor Nathan Deal, of the American state of Georgia, vetoes a religious liberties bill that would have protected people whose religious beliefs don’t include same-sex marriage. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution) (The Washington Post) (ESPN)
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signs an order banning all non-essential travel to North Carolina, i.e., travel not necessary for the enforcement of New York state law, public health, and/or safety, following the state’s passage of a law blocking local governments from passing anti-discrimination ordinances. (CBS News)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

March 29, 2016

Top News Stories –

Chocolate shortage sparks violence at Easter family fun day in Skegness –
A volunteer at an Easter family fun day in Skegness was attacked by a visitor who became enraged when organisers ran out of chocolate eggs. Families paid £5 to attend Church Farm Museum’s “Easter Eggstravaganza”, which was raising funds for Bury-based charity Annabelle’s Challenge for Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. The fee included access to the site, billed as Lincolnshire’s only open air farming museum, along with a falconry display, an Easter bonnet competition, and an egg hunt. Families were also given an Easter egg – until supplies ran out. “We were handing them out and there were some people who got aggressive when we said we had run out of eggs. “A lady with her large family was aggressive and she grabbed my volunteer by the scarf round her neck, she pulled her across the counter and demanded her money back. [Daily Telegraph]

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#TercaQTedioDTremuraSdv	#StayStrongKehlani	#peopleMW
2	#FelizMartes	#TravelTuesday	San Bernardino
3	#StayStrongKehlani	#VietnamVeteransDay	#libraries
4	#السعوديه_الام…	Controlla	#charitytuesday
5	#ÉpocaBoaEra	Wentworth Miller	#backtowork
6	#ToneDownForWhat	Angela Yee	#DiscoverADebut
7	#EsDeIntensos	#EgyptAir	#StayStrongKehlani
8	FOR OUR GIRLS	Columbus Short	Wentworth Miller
9	#PeroNoTeRifas	#ThingsIWantSiriToSay	#NCSYesLive
10	#EgyptAir	#WomenOfCourage	Kyrie

Other News Stories –

Armed attacks and conflicts

2016 Brussels bombings
- Belgium officials lower the official death toll from 35 to 32, with nearly 100 still hospitalized. (UPI)
- Brussels Zaventem International Airport CEO Arnaud Feist says the airport will reopen at less than a quarter capacity Wednesday, as ongoing tests determine which flights can resume. It could take months for the airport to return to full capacity, Feist added. (UPI)

Business and economics

The U.S. Supreme Court’s even split among the current eight justices turns down a group of California teachers’ challenge to agency fees public sector unions representing government employees charge employees for collective bargaining costs, whether or not they choose to join the union. Twenty-four other states and the District of Columbia have a similar provision. The ninth circuit federal appellate court ruling in the union’s favor stands. Employees challenging the law may bring the appeal again, once the vacancy on the nation’s highest court is filled. (Boston Herald)
The U.S. National Labor Relations Board files an official complaint against a California warehouse after finding evidence it violated workers’ rights to organize. The allegations of wrongdoing submitted by a worker group against California Cartage Company, LLC, which serves Amazon.com, Inc., Lowe’s Companies. Inc., New Balance, and Sears Holdings Corp., will be heard by an NLRB administrative law judgein June 2016. None of the retailers were named in the NLRB complaint. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

Alaska Airlines cancels additional flights, due to the ongoing eruption of Mount Pavlof on the Alaska Peninsula. (Alaska Dispatch News)
2016 Aero Teknic MU-2 crash
- Seven people die in a plane crash on the Magdalen Islands in the Canadian province of Quebec. Former minister Jean Lapierre was one of the people on board the plane. (CBC), (CTV News)
A United States Air Force F-16 crashes during takeoff from Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. The pilot ejected safely and was recovered by coalition forces, according to a U.S. military statement. (Reuters)

Health and medicine

Terminix, in the U.S. District Court in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, admits it “knowingly” applied fumigants including methyl bromide, which the EPA banned for residential use in 1984, at a resort in St. John that seriously sickened a family of four, and agrees to pay $10 million in fines and restitution. (NBC News) (NBC News²)
New research, published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, finds women who have endometriosis, the abnormal growth of uterine tissue outside the uterus, may face a 60 percent higher risk of developing heart disease than women without the disorder. The potential risk was especially high for women 40 or younger. At least 10 percent of women of reproductive age suffer from endometriosis (endo) says Dr. Stacey Missmer of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, who co-authored the study. (UPI) (NBC News)

International relations

Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute
- A United Nations commission rules in favour of Argentina to expand its maritime territory in the South Atlantic Ocean by 35% to include the Falkland Islands and beyond despite Argentina and the United Kingdom still having an unresolved dispute over the islands. (The Guardian)
Turkey–United States relations
- The United States State Department and the Pentagon order families of U.S. diplomats and military personnel to leave posts in southern Turkey due to “increased threats from terrorist groups” in the country. This order comes two days before Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s arrival in the U.S. for security meetings. (AP via New York Post)
Iran and weapons of mass destruction
- Reuters reports the United States and its European allies have notified the UN that Iran’s launching of nuclear-capable missiles violated United Nations Security Council resolution 2231 which endorsed the Iran deal, i.e., the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), last year. (Reuters)

Law and crime

The Indonesian foreign ministry says 10 Indonesian nationals are being held hostage after their tug boat and coal barge was hijacked in Philippine waters. Islamist militant group, Abu Sayyaf is demanding a ransom. (AP)
EgyptAir Flight 181
- A hijacked EgyptAir flight lands in Cyprus. All hostages have been released, and the hijacker has no evident ties to any terrorist organizations. (The Guardian)
Corey Lewandowski, campaign manager for U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump, is charged with battery for allegedly grabbing former Breitbart News journalist Michelle Fields on March 8. (New York Times) (The Palm Beach Post)
Transgender rights in the United States
- Dozens of chief executive officers of major U.S. technology, biotech, and financial companies urge North Carolina to repeal a new state law forcing transgender people to use rest-rooms and changing-rooms according to the gender on their birth-certificate.(AP via WBT)
- North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper (D) says he will not defend the new state law in court. This year, Cooper is the state Democratic Party’s candidate for governor. Republican Senate Leader Phil Berger says the attorney general should resign if he will not defend the law. (AP)
- The NC Values Coalition, which worked to get Charlotte‘s nondiscrimination ordinance overturned by the state legislature, says hundreds of North Carolina businesses support the new state law, though fear retaliation if they make that support public. The coalition did list 17 businesses willing to be identified as supporting the new law. (AP)
Obamacare constitutional challenges, Zubik v. Burwell
- In a move designed to head off a 4-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court directs lawyers for the Obama administration, and for the religious groups who challenge it, to submit written briefs on a possible remedy to the case: whether coverage could be provided through the group’s insurance companies without any actual notice to the government. A 4-4 decision would not set a national precedent, and would let stand the preceding decision in each case. In these seven cases, the appeals court in six upheld the government mandate. (NBC News)
Samuel Moreno Rojas, the former mayor of the Colombian capital Bogota, is jailed for 18 years for taking bribes to award ambulance contracts. (AP via Town Hall)
El Salvador declares a state of emergency in seven prisons and transfers 299 prisoners in a crackdown on gang violence. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

2015–16 protests in Brazil
- A legal request has been filed to impeach Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff for obstructing justice and fiscal accounting tricks, the second impeachment request against her. In response to the request,Minister of Tourism Henrique Eduardo Alves turned in a resignation letter while the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party is expected to hold a party vote on whether or not to leave Rousseff’s coalition government. (Al Jazeera)
- The Brazilian Democratic Movement Party, the country’s largest party, decides unanimously to leave President Rousseff’s governing coalition. While Rousseff will remain in office, it’s likely she could be impeached in a matter of months, which would make Vice President Michel Temer president. (Reuters)
- Chief of staff Jaques Wagner says President Rousseff will announce a new governing coalition before the end of the week. The President has an opportunity to form a new coalition for her remaining two years and nine months in office, Wagner added. (Reuters²)
Tanzanian general election, 2015
- The Millennium Challenge Corporation, a United States foreign aid agency, pulls $472m of funding for a Tanzanian electricity project after concluding that the election held in Zanzibar “was neither inclusive nor representative”. Zanzibar, a semi-autonomous part of Tanzania, held a rerun of its election that was boycotted by the opposition after it was previously annulled because of supposed fraud. (BBC)
In the United States, the Tennessee state Senate will vote on a bill, which narrowly passed the House last year, to declare the Holy Bible the official book of Tennessee. Governor Bill Haslam (R) was among those who opposed the bill in 2015. (AP) (Chattanooga Times Free Press)
United States presidential election, 2016, Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016
- Candidate Donald Trump says he will no longer honor his pledge to support the eventual Republican Party pick for president because, “I have been treated very unfairly.” (AP) (Fox News)
- At the CNN Town Hall in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, candidates Ted Cruz and John Kasich also back away from earlier pledges to support the eventual Republican nominee. (CNN) (UPI)
2014–16 Venezuelan protests
- Two police officers are killed and four others are wounded in the western Venezuelan city of San Cristóbal after they were run over by a bus driven by young men protesting a hike in public transport fares, according to government officials and Reuters witnesses. (Reuters)

Science and technology

U.S. Federal Communications Commissioner Michael O’Rielly says, during a speech at the American Action Forum, that Netflix‘s admission last week that it has been intentionally slowing its video streaming transmission on some wireless mobile carriers for five years “deeply disturbing” which might warrant an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission and/or Congress. (UPI)

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March 30, 2016

Top News Stories –

Europe’s largest floating solar farm to open –
The biggest floating solar farm in Europe is being constructed on a reservoir. More than 23,000 solar photovoltaic panels are being laid on the surface of the Queen Elizabeth II reservoir near Walton-on-Thames, Surrey. The farm, which will be the size of eight football pitches, is expected to generate 5.8 million kilowatt hours of electricity in a year. The energy will be used to part power a nearby water treatment works. Thames Water said construction of the solar farm, which is about eight miles (13 km) from Heathrow airport, will be completed by the end of March. The floating pontoon will be 57,500 sq m in size. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

The Largest Floating Solar Farm In Europe

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- Blasts and gunfire are reported in Tripoli. (Reuters)
Naxalite–Maoist insurgency
- At least seven Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel are killed in an IED attack on their vehicle in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh‘s Dantewada district. Naxalite insurgents are suspected to have been behind the attack. (International Business Times)

Business and economy

Taiwanese electronics company Foxconn agrees to buy 60% of the Japanese Sharp Corporation for 389 billion yen ($3.5 billion). (Bloomberg)

Disasters and accidents

Thailand and neighbouring countries suffer from the worst drought in decades as an El Niño-induced water shortage reduces reservoirs to critical levels. (Al Jazeera)
At least nine people are injured in severe storms that spawned multiple tornado touchdowns in northeastern Oklahoma and sections of the Southwestern United States. One patient is in critical condition; the others suffered serious injuries, according to the Emergency Medical Services Authority. Parts of Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas are also impacted. A flash flood watch has been issued through Thursday evening. Two (2) to 4 inches of rain is expected, with perhaps 6 inches in some locations. (AP)

Health and medicine

A new study by researchers at McGill University and the University of California, Los Angeles, finds that each additional month a woman has paid maternity leave is associated with decreased infant mortalityby more than 10 percent. Researchers noted that paid maternity leave reduces stress because of the guarantee of income and job security, increases the chances for breastfeeding and other infant care, and allows a mother to seek more medical attention for herself. (UPI) (PLOS Medicine)
The United States Food and Drug Administration announces it has relaxed its official requirements regarding the use of the abortion drug Mifeprex (RU-486). The current guidelines were based on 1990s medical evidence. Changes include reducing the number of physician visits required by abortion-seeking women, reducing drug dosage, and allowing women to take the drug for three weeks longer — now a total of 70 days. (UPI)
Air pollution in Mexico City
- Mexico City, facing the capital’s worst air-quality crisis in over a decade, issues a temporary order that all cars remain idle one day a week. Today, authorities report a pollution index of 108 (bad) after low readings during Holy Week. Vehicles will also be forced from the roads one Saturday a month. The measure will begin next Tuesday, April 5, and run until Thursday, June 30, 2016. Starting July 1, improved technology will be in place at smog-check centers where all vehicles must be tested every six months. (AP via Fox News)

International relations

The Wallenberg family files an application to formally declare Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg (born in 1912) to be dead. Wallenberg saved the lives of thousands of Jews in World War II only to disappear at the hands of the Soviet forces. (Times of Israel)
Russia–Ukraine relations
- The Ukrainian parliament votes to ban all Russian films released after January 1, 2014, saying the move is aimed at improving “national security”; more than 430 Russian films and TV series fall under the new measures. Last month, the State Committee in Television and Radio-broadcasting in Ukraine removed 15 Russian TV channels from being broadcast in Ukraine. (RT)
U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, at the upcoming Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C., will announce a three-way deal with the United States and Euratom, the European Union nuclear agency, to turn nuclear waste into medical isotopes to help fight cancer. (Bloomberg)

Law and crime

A Bangladesh Court issues an arrest warrant, the second one so far, for former Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and 27 opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party members over political violence, mostly petrol-bomb attacks, that occurred during anti-government protests last year that killed at least 120 people. (Al Jazeera)
EgyptAir Flight 181
- A Larnaca, Cyprus, court orders that 59-year-old Seif Eddin Mustafa, who was arrested by Cypriot police yesterday, remain in local police custody for eight days to assist Cyprus’s own investigation. Mustafa faces charges of hijacking, illegal possession of explosives, kidnapping, and threats to commit violence. It’s unclear if Mustafa had any explosives; the bomb belt he wore was fake, and officials are waiting for testing results on unidentified liquids found among his possessions. (AP via The Daily Courier)
- Egypt General Prosecutor Nabil Sadek formally requests Mustafa’s extradition from Cyprus. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

United States presidential election, 2016:
- The National Border Patrol Council (NBPC), which organizes some 16,500 border patrol agents, endorses Donald Trump for President of the United States, NBPC’s first-ever endorsement in a presidential election. (CNN)
Myanmar general election, 2015
- In Myanmar’s capital Naypyidaw, Htin Kyaw is sworn in by House Speaker Mahn Win Khaing Than as the first civilian president in 54 years. Htin Kyaw, a close aide to Aung San Suu Kyi, takes power from former general Thein Sein. (Daily Mail)
The government of Pakistan warns that it will push to clear the Islamist protests occurring in Islamabad. Protests have broken out in the capital and other cities ever since Mumtaz Qadri was executed last February for his role in killing Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer in 2011 because he opposed Pakistan’s blasphemy laws. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- The United Nations-backed Libyan Presidential Council arrives in Tripoli despite warnings by hardliners opposed to any unity government that they will attempt to keep them out of the city. (The Guardian)
The opposition controlled National Assembly of Venezuela passes an amnesty bill that could potentially free over 70 opposition leaders and activists jailed during protests last year, including prominent leaderLeopoldo López. (BBC)
- Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro vows to veto this amnesty bill. The opposition can override the veto since it holds a supermajority in the National Assembly. Maduro can also send the bill to theSupreme Tribunal to determine its constitutionality. (UPI)
- The opposition plans to generate a recall referendum that would ask voters if President Maduro should be removed from office. The Constitution states a recall referendum can be held once the president has served half of his six-year term (Maduro became President on April 19, 2013) and at least 20 percent of registered voters sign the petition. (UPI²)

Sports

Two Russian cyclists, former world champion Anastasia Chulkova and Pavel Yakushevskiy, test positive for meldonium. (AP)
Three-time Kentucky Derby winning jockey Calvin Borel announces his retirement. (Louisville Courier-Journal)

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March 31, 2016

Top News Stories –

Ronnie Corbett, best known for The Two Ronnies, dies aged 85 –
Entertainer Ronnie Corbett, best known for BBC comedy sketch show The Two Ronnies, has died aged 85. His publicist said: “Ronnie Corbett CBE, one of the nation’s best-loved entertainers, passed away this morning, surrounded by his loving family. “They have asked that their privacy is respected at this very sad time.” Corbett was one of the UK’s best-loved comedians and along with Ronnie Barker, their double act was one of the most successful of the 1970s and ’80s. [BBC] See Video and List of the Day
Ronnie Corbett in 2010

Video of the Day –

The Two Ronnies. Four Candles

List of the Day –

Ronnie Corbett’s best jokes

A man was marooned on a desert island. One day a beautiful woman arrives in a wet suit. ‘When did you last have a smoke?’ she asks. ‘Five years ago.’ So she gets out a cigar and he smokes it. She unzips her wet suit a bit and says, ‘When did you last have a drink?’ He said, ‘Five years ago.’ So she gets out a bottle of Scotch and he has a drink. Then she unzips her wet suit a bit more and says, ‘And when was the last time you played around?’ He looks at her in amazement and says: ‘You’re not telling me you’ve got a set of golf clubs in there?’
A cement mixer collided with a prison van on the Kingston by-pass. Motorists are asked to be on the look-out for 16 hardened criminals.
We will be talking to an out of work contortionist who says he can no longer make ends meet.
There was a fire at the main Inland Revenue office in London today, but it was put out before any serious good was done.
All those who believe in psychokinesis raise my right hand.
For some time, my wife’s had this ridiculous idea that I’m playing too much golf. Actually, it came to a head at about 11.30 last night. She suddenly shouted at me: “Golf, golf, golf. All you ever think about is bloody golf!”. And I’ll be honest, it frightened the life out of me. I mean, you don’t expect to meet somebody on the 14th green at that time of night.
This is a message for seven honeymoon couples in a hotel in Peebles: Breakfast was served three days ago.
French wine growers fear that this year’s vintage may be entirely spoiled due to the grape treaders’ sit-in.
West Mercia police announced tonight that they wish to interview a man wearing high heels and frilly knickers, but the chief constable said they must wear their normal uniforms.
It was revealed in a government survey published today that the prime minister is doing the work of two men, Laurel and Hardy.
We’ll be talking to a car designer who’s crossed a Toyota with Quasimodo and come up with the Hatchback of Notre Dame.
After a series of crimes in the Glasgow area, Chief Inspector McTavish has announced that he is looking for a man with one eye. If he doesn’t find him, he’s going to use both eyes.
We’ve just heard that in the English Channel, a ship carrying red paint has collided with a ship carrying purple paint. It is believed that both crews have been marooned.
A grandfather has gone missing after eating four cans of baked beans, two cauliflowers and a jar of gherkins. His family have made an emotional appeal for him not to come home for at least a fortnight.
Today is our anniversary. It’s just 12 years ago today when she said “I do”. It certainly surprised me, because I didn’t think she did.
That was the night when I leapt onto the dancefloor and did my rather racy impression of John Travolta. I suppose it must have been the animal in me. Well, I had a ferret down my trousers.
This new controller thinks I am the funniest man in Britain. He’s been told to stay in bed and take things easy for a while.
I remember that day clearly, because it was the one day there wasn’t a sale at Allied Carpets.
This joke dates back to 256 BC which, as scholars of ancient Egypt will know, was the year of the famous wildcat strike by the amalgamated union of eunuchs and allied sopranos, in a dispute over severance pay.
Since the last joke, I’d like to thank all those of you who have written in with suggestions about what I can do with my act, one or two of you with diagrams.
Offers of work have been flooding in. Last week I was invited to go on a round-the-world cruise. By the chairman of the Flat Earth Society.
This week I was asked to do a very important after-dinner speech. I said: “Do you want me to be funny?” They said: “No, just be yourself.”

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015–present)
- Israeli security forces arrest 16 Palestinian suspects on the West Bank. (Jerusalem Post)
War in Somalia
- A suicide bomber in Somalia’s Puntland region detonates while hugging Saeed Ali, the treasurer of Galkayo, killing him and several police officers guarding him. Islamic militant group Al-Shabaab claims responsibility. (International Business Times) (Reuters)
PKK rebellion, Turkey–ISIL conflict
- A car bomb, targeting an armored vehicle transporting police personnel, explodes close to a bus terminal in the Bağlar district of Diyarbakır, Turkey, killing at least seven police officers and wounding 27 more people, including 13 officers, according to a joint statement by Turkish officials and the police. The attack comes one day before Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu’s scheduled visit to the city. There has been no claim of responsibility. CNN points out both Kurdish rebels and ISIL militants have claimed similar recent incidents. (Al Jazeera) (CNN) (AP) (Arab News)
Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports a drone attack, “most likely operated by the US-led coalition,” kills Abu al-Hija, a high-ranking Tunisian ISIL commander, near the Islamic State’s de factoSyrian capital Raqqa. (Al Arabiya)

Business and economics

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission files an anti-trust suit against Endo Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and several other drug companies for using pay-for-delay settlements to block consumers’ access to lower-costgeneric versions of pain medications, Opana ER and Lidoderm. (StreetInsider.com)
A consortium led by China’s Anbang Insurance Group announces it will walk away from its $14 billion takeover bid for Starwood Hotels. This restores Marriott International as the highest bidder ($13.6 billion).(CNBC) (Bloomberg)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Kolkata overpass collapse
- At least 21 people are killed, 70 injured and up to 150 people are feared trapped after a half-built overpass collapses in the Indian city of Kolkata. (Indian Express) (NBC News)

International relations

2016 Nuclear Security Summit
- More than 50 heads of state as well as representatives from international organizations attend the annual Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C., with the notable exception of Russia, which declined to attend. The main agenda of the two-day gathering is the discussion of North Korea and the threat it poses with its nuclear weapons and the possibility of ISIS extremists getting a nuclear weapon. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Law and crime

Yugoslav Wars
- Former Deputy Prime Minister of Serbia and nationalist politician, Vojislav Šešelj, is acquitted of all nine charges of committing atrocities in Bosnia and Croatia during the early 1990s by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. (The Guardian)
A U.S. official announces that The Pentagon plans to transfer about a dozen inmates from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to at least two countries that have agreed to take them, in the latest move inBarack Obama’s final push to close the facility. The official declined to name the countries ready to take them in. (The Guardian)
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
- A Malaysian court dismisses Malaysia Airlines’s bid to throw out a lawsuit filed by relatives of three people who went missing on Flight 370. The company argued that the disappearance of MH370 on March 8, 2014, occurred before the company came into existence as Malaysia Airlines Berhad (MAB) on September 1, 2015, and therefore has no liability to relatives. The court ruled MAB’s liability would be determined in a trial. (UPI) (Malay Mail)
A 37-year-old Virginia State Police trooper taking part in a police training mission is killed by a gunman inside the Greyhound bus station in Richmond, Virginia. Two officers standing nearby return fire and fatally strike the suspect. Two civilian women are injured. (WTVR) (NBC News)

Politics and elections

Vietnam elects Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân chairwoman of the National Assembly. Ngân, who won 95.5 percent of the votes, is the first woman to lead Vietnam’s legislature. In January, she was re-elected to the powerful Politburo at the Communist Party Congress. (AP)
The Constitutional Court of South Africa delivered a unanimous judgement that President Jacob Zuma and the National Assembly failed to uphold the country’s constitution by ignoring the findings of the Public Protector regarding public expenditure on Zuma’s private homestead. (Daily Maverick)
United States presidential election, 2016, Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016
- Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court upholds the previous court ruling that dismissed the case against Ted Cruz which challenged his eligibility to appear on the state’s GOP primary ballot, and serve as president. (ABC News)
- Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida forcibly reject, as has the White House, candidate Donald Trump’s suggestion that the U.S. military be withdrawn from Japan and South Korea with nuclear weapons replacing them. A small minority in South Korea, such as the think tank Sejong Institute, agree with Trump on this issue, but this is not mainstream policy. (CNN) (Vox Media)
  - Another Trump statement, “South Korea is a money machine but they pay us peanuts,” is greeted with “howls of inaccuracy” from the South Korean Foreign Ministry and the White House. U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert says “Seoul pays for 55% of all non-personnel costs.” (CNN)
Venezuela’s National Assembly, responding to last month’s Central Bank of Venezuela report that the country experienced a 180.9 percent inflation increase in 2015, passes legislation, The Law of Bonds for Food and Medicine for Retirees and Pensioners, that could make it easier for pensioners and retirees to pay for food and medicine. The approved bill has been forwarded for President Nicolás Maduro’ssignature. (UPI)
Italy‘s Minister of Economic Development, Federica Guidi, resigns amid allegations that she passed along confidential information to her boyfriend that helped his business interests. (AP via Fox News)
Brazil protests
- Brazil’s Supreme Court voted 8-2 to take over the corruption investigation of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. Silva alleges Judge Sérgio Moro unfairly targets him. The court also overruled Moro’s decision to release the recording of Silva’s call with President Dilma Rousseff, since it is the only court that can authorize a wiretap on presidential conversations. The full court is still to rule on the injunction that prevents Silva from taking office as the President’s Chief of Staff. (AP via ABC news) (Reuters)
- Today, thousands of demonstrators gathered in more than 20 states in support of Silva and Rousseff. (Reuters²) (AP via ABC news)
- Brazil sports minister George Hilton resigns and will be replaced on an interim basis by Ricardo Leyser, a senior official in the ministry. Leyser, 45, has worked in the sports ministry since 2003, and has been heavily involved with the Olympic Games, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, August 5-21, 2016. (The Rio Times) (insidethegames)

Science and technology

Astronomers’ study reveals the surface of exoplanet 55 Cancri e has a 2500°C liquid face, constantly facing its star 55 Cancri, while the other side is relatively colder and solid. (Discovery via ABC News)

Sport

Five U.S. women’s national soccer team players file federal wage discrimination complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF). In the filing, the players cite 2015 USSF figures which show they were paid nearly four times less than men’s players despite generating nearly $20 million more revenue. A U.S. Soccer statement says, “… we are disappointed about this action.” (The Washington Post) (ESPN)

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April 1, 2016

Top News Stories –

Hello! Magazine apologises for ‘fabricated’ Clooney interview –
Hello! Magazine has apologised for running an “exclusive” interview with George Clooney that the actor says was completely fabricated. The UK-based magazine said it purchased the interview from an entertainment news agency called Famous, which they have worked with in the past. Hello! said it thought the article was accurate and has removed the piece from its website. Mr Clooney said the interview never took place. He said in a statement: “The problem is that I have not given an interview to Hello Magazine and the quotes attributed to me are not accurate. In my experience, being misquoted is not unusual but to have an ‘exclusive interview’ completely fabricated is something new. And a very disturbing trend.” [BBC]
George Clooney

Video of the Day –

Introducing the self-driving bicycle in the Netherlands – (only available on April 1st!)

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports airstrikes on the village of Deir al-Asafir, Rif Dimashq Governorate, have killed at least 30 people and left dozens more injured. (The Telegraph)
War in Donbass
- International monitors from the OSCE report that fighting has intensified in Eastern Ukraine as a second year of a shaky truce begins. The worst of the fighting is located between government-controlledAvdiivka and separatist-controlled Yasynuvata. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
War in Somalia (2009–present)
- A U.S. drone strike reportedly kills a key Al-Shabaab leader, Hassan Ali Dhoore, and two other militants, near the town of Jilib, Somalia, according to several U.S. officials. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

In a second day of severe weather, at least seven people are injured as tornadoes sweep across the Midwestern and Southern part of the United States, with more severe weather expected. (Al Jazeera)

Health and medicine

Health authorities in Fiji are urging people to observe strict personal hygiene as the country goes through a massive outbreak of conjunctivitis. In the past 14 days alone the number of cases of the virus in one district of Suva have jumped from 700 to 5000 cases. (Radio New Zealand)

International relations

North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- North Korea fires another ballistic missile off its east coast, according to South Korean officials. This occurred while world leaders are attending the annual Nuclear Security Summit in Washington, D.C., where North Korea is on the agenda for discussion. (The Guardian) (Yonhap)

Politics and elections

Moldovan presidential election, 2016, 2015–16 protests in Moldova
- The Parliament of Moldova announces that the country will hold a Presidential election on October 30. A court in early March ruled in favor of having a direct national election to choose a president rather than a vote in parliament, a concession to protesters who have been demonstrating for months against the political elite. This will be the first time since 2001 that the public will choose their country’s president directly. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
2015–16 protests in Brazil
- President Dilma Rousseff loses another key member of the country’s 2016 Summer Olympics organization. Colonel Adilson Moreira of the National Public Security Force, who was in charge of organizing security, in an email to his colleagues reportedly criticizes the President and other senior officials, saying he is ashamed of the country’s being led by an “unscrupulous group.” Brazilian officials, who earlier received Sports Minister George Hilton’s resignation, say the planning for the Olympic Games will not be affected. (BBC) (International Business Times)

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April 2, 2016

Top News Stories –

Scientists ‘find cancer’s Achilles heel’ –
Scientists believe they have discovered a way to “steer” the immune system to kill cancers. Researchers at University College, London have developed a way of finding unique markings within a tumour – its “Achilles heel” – allowing the body to target the disease. But the personalised method, reported in Science journal, would be expensive and has not yet been tried in patients. Experts said the idea made sense but could be more complicated in reality. However, the researchers, whose work was funded by Cancer Research UK, believe their discovery could form the backbone of new treatments and hope to test it in patients within two years. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Operator from Yann Heckmann on Vimeo.

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Armenian–Azerbaijani border conflict
- 2016 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes
  - Armenia and Azerbaijan exchange gunfire for the third successive day after an escalation of a dispute over the boundaries between Azerbaijan and the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. (RT)
Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that the Al-Nusra Front as well as other insurgents have captured the village of Tel el-Ais in a strategic position overlooking the highway between Aleppoand Damascus. (AP)
- The official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reports a mass grave, containing the bodies of beheaded women and children, has been found in the former ISIL-controlled city of Palmyra, recently retaken by the Syrian government. (The Independent)
Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- Two security guards are killed while repelling an ISIL attack on the Bayda oil field, near the town of Marada, Libya. (Reuters)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Hīt offensive (2016)
  - Iraqi security forces free a large number of prisoners from an underground ISIL-operated jail in the city of Hīt. Malallah al-Obeidi, a local official in the Al Anbar Governorate, put the number of freed prisoners at around 1,500, saying most of them were civilians. (AFP via Al Arabiya)
PKK rebellion (2015–present)
- A bombing kills at least five Turkish soldiers and one special forces police officer in the southeastern city of Nusaybin, near the Syria–Turkey border. (BBC)

Arts and culture

Archaeologists claim to have discovered a probable Viking settlement in North America on Newfoundland‘s Point Rosee. (AFP via ABC Australia)
Hong Kong terrestrial television provider Asia Television ceases all broadcasts at midnight, following a 2015 decision by the Hong Kong Government not to renew its television license. (Fortune.com)

Disasters and accidents

In the United States, a Lancair IV plane crashes into a car stopped along a highway, 50 miles north of San Diego, California, killing car passenger Antoinette “Toni” Frances Isbelle, a member of the WFTDA’sSan Diego Starlettes roller derby team. Five others, including the pilot, are hospitalized. (The San Diego Union Tribune) (New York Daily News)

International relations

European migrant crisis, Austria–Italy relations
- Austria plans to deploy soldiers on its border with Italy to stem an expected increase in migrants trying to get to northern Europe, according to Austrian Defence Minister Hans Peter Doskozil. “As the EU’s external borders are not yet effectively protected, Austria will soon ramp up strict border controls. That means massive border controls on the Brenner Pass, and with soldiers,” Doskozil told German daily newspaper Die Welt. (Reuters)
Burundian unrest (2015–present)
- The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts a resolution setting the stage for the deployment of UN Police to Burundi, where political unrest that has lasted nearly a year killed over 400 people and displaced tens of thousands. The resolution asks Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to present options within 15 days for the deployment of UN police in order to monitor the security situation, promote respect for human rights and advance the rule of law. (Al Jazeera)
NATO–Russia relations
- The United States Air Force sends 12 F-15C Eagles and 350 personnel to Iceland and the Netherlands to deter further Russian aggression in Europe. (CNN)
Greek government-debt crisis
- Greece demands an explanation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) after an apparent leaked transcript suggested the IMF may threaten to pull out of the country’s bailout as a tactic to force European lenders to offer more debt relief. Whistleblowing site WikiLeaks published what it said was the transcript of a March 19 conference call of three senior IMF officials discussing tactics to apply pressure on Greece, Germany and the EU to reach a deal in April. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Indian women’s rights activists are barred by angry villagers and local authorities from entering Shani Shingnapur temple despite a court ruling guaranteeing access. Breaking with a centuries-old tradition, the high court in Mumbai ruled women have a fundamental right to enter Hindu temples across the state of Maharashtra, and the government has the responsibility to protect their rights. Bhumata Ranragini Brigade leader Trupti Desai and 25 other supporters were detained by police. All India Mahila Congress President Shobha Oza and Delhi Commission for Women chairwoman Swati Maliwal called the actions of locals and authorities “completely shameful.” (UPI)

Politics and elections

United States presidential election, 2016, Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016
- The Republican National Committeeman for North Dakota, Curly Haugland, says that the likelihood for outsiders such as Donald Trump to get state electoral votes are slim as the party honor its own elders. (Politico)
Trần Đại Quang is sworn in as the President of Vietnam. (Reuters via The Star)
The Saudi-owned news channel Al Arabiya shuts its offices in Beirut, Lebanon and dismisses 27 employees in a sudden move reflecting tensions between Saudi Arabia and Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran. Saudi Arabia interpreted Lebanon’s lack of public solidarity as a sign that it had become beholden to Hezbollah. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
The Governor of the U.S. territory of Guam Eddie Calvo announces his intention to hold a plebiscite to decide the future political status of the island. Calvo said he hopes to start a successful “education campaign” on the issue before filing a petition to start a referendum. If the plebiscite does take place, voters on Guam would be asked to select which political status they would prefer; independence, statehood, or free association However, the possible vote would be non-binding as any change in political status would require an act of Congress in Washington, D.C.. Guam is currently on the United Nations list of Non-Self-Governing Territories in need of decolonization. (Radio New Zealand)
Aftermath of the 2016 Brussels bombings
- Police in Brussels, Belgium arrest multiple right-wing and anti-racist protesters, with riot squads engaged in a tense confrontation with local youths in the district of Sint-Jans-Molenbeek. A standoff grew when far-right protesters faced a counter-demonstration, despite protests being banned by local authorities who were fearful of last Sunday’s event, in which police forcefully dispersed a right-wing protest with water cannons. (Reuters)

Sport

2016 World Figure Skating Championships
- Spanish figure skater Javier Fernández defends his world title after making a stunning comeback from behind Japanese figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu, who was ahead by 12 points, to win gold. (The Guardian)
2015–16 NBA season
- In basketball, the visiting Boston Celtics defeat the Golden State Warriors, snapping the Warrior’s 14-month, 54-game home win streak which leaves the San Antonio Spurs with the only undefeated home record this season. (Basketball-Reference.com) (SBNation) (ESPN)
2016 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Tournament
- In the U.S. men’s national college basketball tournament semifinals in Houston‘s NRG Stadium, the Villanova Wildcats thrash the Oklahoma Sooners 95–51, the most lopsided result in men’s Final Four history; and in a battle between Atlantic Coast Conference members, the North Carolina Tar Heels defeat the Syracuse Orange 83–66. The title game on April 4 pits the Wildcats, 1985 champions, and the five-time champion Tar Heels. (NBC Sports) (Toronto Sun)

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April 3, 2016

April 3, 2015

Top News Stories –

World Twenty20: West Indies beat England to claim second title –
Carlos Brathwaite hit the first four balls of the final over for six as West Indies stunned England to win the World Twenty20. West Indies, who were 11-3 in pursuit of England’s 155-9, needed 19 off the final over to win and did it in style. Marlon Samuels’ 85 not out kept them in contention before Brathwaite’s match-winning blitz off Ben Stokes. Joe Root scored 54 for England but nothing could stop the Windies joining their women as World T20 champions. In the process, the West Indies also became the first two-time winners of the men’s World Twenty20. [BBC]

Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite’s tax havens –
A huge leak of confidential documents has revealed how the rich and powerful use tax havens to hide their wealth. Eleven million documents were leaked from one of the world’s most secretive companies, Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. They show how Mossack Fonseca has helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax. The company says it has operated beyond reproach for 40 years and has never been charged with criminal wrong-doing. The documents show links to 72 current or former heads of state in the data, including dictators accused of looting their own countries. Gerard Ryle, director of the ICIJ, said the documents covered the day-to-day business at Mossack Fonseca over the past 40 years. “I think the leak will prove to be probably the biggest blow the offshore world has ever taken because of the extent of the documents,” he said. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

How to hide a billion dollars | The Panama Papers

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
- 2016 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes
  - Azerbaijan calls a unilateral ceasefire in its fight with ethnic Armenians one day after 30 soldiers died. The Associated Press reports rebel forces reject Azerbaijan’s claims, saying they see no sign the government has stopped fighting. (AP), (BBC) (NPR)
Syrian Civil War
- Battle of al-Qaryatayn (March–April 2016)
  - The Syrian Army retakes control of al-Qaryatayn, Homs Governorate, after driving out ISIL militants. (Reuters)
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports the al-Nusra Front‘s spokesperson Abu Firas al-Suri was among 20 militants killed in a suspected Russian airstrike on a village near the city of Idlib in northwestern Syria. (Reuters)
Moro attacks on Sabah, Moro Conflict
- Four Sarawakian Malaysians are kidnapped off the coast of Sabah by suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf, a group linked to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. (The New York Times)
Military intervention against ISIL, Iraq Civil War
- The United States military reports a drone attack killed ISIL rocket expert Jasim Khadijah. The unmanned airstrike also killed other IS militants and destroyed at least one makeshift drone. Khadijah, a former Iraqi officer, is believed responsible for the March attack that killed a U.S. Marine in northern Iraq. (UPI) (Daily Mail)
- Iraqi forces capture the northern part of the ISIL held town of Hīt, west of Baghdad. (AP)
An attacker throws a grenade and fires shots outside a sports hall in the small town of Zubin Potok in northern Kosovo, just hours before Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić was due to hold an election rally there. “A hand grenade exploded outside the sports hall but there are no injuries,” Besim Hoti, a Kosovo police commander in the area, told Reuters. (Reuters)

Business and economics

Aftermath of the 2016 Brussels bombings
- Two weeks after the deadly suicide bombings, Brussels Zaventem International Airport will reopen today with three symbolic flights to Faro, Athens, and Turin. On Thursday, the airport had said it was “technically ready” to resume partial services, but the opening was held up because police unions threatened to strike unless additional security checks were introduced. (AsiaOne) (The Jewish Press)
Panama Papers
- A leak of 11.5 million documents from law firm Mossack Fonseca reveals details of shell companies used by 12 current or former world leaders including President of Russia Vladimir Putin whose aides allegedly shuffled billions of dollars. (ABC News via 9MSN)
- The documents, 2.6 terabytes of information, were obtained more than a year ago from an anonymous source by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. Journalists from more than 80 countries have been working with this data. The documents expose holdings of 12 current and former world leaders, and 128 more politicians and public officials worldwide. The national leaders named includePakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif; Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, and Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson. (The Guardian)(USA Today)
The Health Information Trust Alliance, a nonprofit industry group, warns that hospitals in the United States must prepare for more ransomware attacks. A review late last year of some 30 mid-sized U.S. hospitals found 52 percent were infected with malicious software. This week, an attack on MedStar Health forced the largest healthcare provider in the Washington, D.C. area, to shut down much of its computer network. (Reuters).

Disasters and accidents

2016 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa flood
- At least 45 people are killed and another 34 hospitalized following heavy rains and flash floods in the northwestern Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. (Dawn) (AP)
A 6.9 magnitude earthquake occurs off the coast of Vanuatu with a tsunami warning issued. (USGS)
2016 Chester, Pennsylvania train derailment
- Two people are killed and 35 injured when a United States Amtrak passenger train on the Palmetto route traveling from New York City to Savannah, Georgia, with 341 passengers and seven crew on board, derails in Chester, Pennsylvania, after striking a backhoe that was on the track. Local media reports the deceased are veteran Amtrak workers. Area hospitals are treating the injured; none in life-threatening condition. (CNN) (NBC Philadelphia) (BBC) (Reuters)
At least 18 people are injured following a collision between two trains at Plymouth railway station in the city of Plymouth, Devon. The crash has caused significant disruption to rail services in South West England. (Sky News)

International relations

India–Saudi Arabia relations
- In Riyadh, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman sign five agreements, including plans to increase investments, and to cooperate in intelligence sharing. (AP)
European migrant crisis
- Czech Minister of the Interior Milan Chovanec says that authorities in Prague will send a group of 25 Iraqi Christians back to Iraq after they tried to move to Germany rather than staying in the Czech Republic. The refugees were on their way to Germany via bus before being stopped at the border. Czech authorities agreed to a request by the German police to take the people back. Chovanec said the 25 Iraqis abused Czech generosity and should go back to Iraq within seven days. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
- Last month’s agreement between the European Union and Turkey will be implemented Monday as migrants currently on Greek islands will be returned to the Turkish mainland. (AP)
Japan–Philippines relations
- A Japanese Navy submarine makes a port call in the Philippines, the first in fifteen years, in a show of growing military cooperation amid tension triggered by China‘s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea. It was escorted into the former U.S. Naval Base at Subic Bay by two Japanese destroyers on a tour of Southeast Asia. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Guillaume Pepy, France’s national railway company president, announces armed train marshals, in civilian dress, will be patrolling some passenger trains. (AP)

Politics and elections

The Parliament of South Africa announces it will debate a motion to impeach President Jacob Zuma this coming Tuesday. This comes after Zuma is facing mounting pressure when the Constitutional Courtruled that Zuma violated the constitution by using state funds to renovate his mansion. Yesterday, anti-apartheid veteran Ahmed Kathrada joined opposition leaders in calling for Zuma’s resignation. (Al Jazeera)
Police forcibly break up a protest in Malé, Maldives, with tear gas and pepper spray and detain multiple journalists. The demonstration was against government moves to introduce a new law to criminalize defamation. (BBC)
Abortion in Poland
- Thousands of people attended a pro-choice rally outside Parliament of Poland in Warsaw after Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the ruling Law and Justice party, backed a call by Polish Catholic bishops for a full ban on abortion. (Euronews via Reuters)
Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi sacks Prime Minister and Vice President of Yemen Khaled Mahfoudh Bahah. Hadi named top general Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar as his new Vice President and appointed Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr, a former official in Saleh‘s General People’s Congress as the new Prime Minister. (Reuters)

Science and technology

The Associated Press reports a government-sponsored committee of 27 companies/trade associations, set up by the U.S. FAA in February, on Friday submitted recommendations that could clear the way forcommercial drone flights over populated areas, and help speed the introduction of package delivery drones. (AP)

Sport

ICC Women’s World Twenty20, 2016 ICC Women’s World Twenty20
- West Indies women’s national cricket team beat defending champions Australia women’s national cricket team by 8 wickets the final in Kolkata. (ICC)
2016 ICC World Twenty20
- Defending champions The West Indies beat England by 4 wickets in the final in Kolkata. (BBC)
2016 NCAA Women’s Division I Basketball Tournament
- The 2016 United States women’s college basketball national championship will be decided when two former Big East Conference foes meet at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis at 8:30 p.m. EDT, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. Connecticut topped Oregon State 80–51, and Syracuse claimed an 80–59 win over Washington in Sunday’s semifinals. Syracuse (30–7, 13–3 ACC) will be making its first appearance in the NCAA title game. UConn (37–0, 18–0 American), a 10-time national champion and defending champion for the fourth straight season, has won every title game it has played in.(ESPN) (ESPN²)

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April 4, 2016

Top News Stories –

National Poo Museum opens doors on Isle of Wight –
A museum dedicated to excrement, with examples from the animal and human world, has opened to the public. The exhibition at the Isle of Wight Zoo features faeces from animals such as elks and lions as well as a human baby. The National Poo Museum has been created by members of the artist collective Eccleston George. “Poo is all around us and inside us, but we ignore it,” said co-curator Daniel Roberts. Twenty illuminated resin spheres show off the different types of faeces with facts hidden behind toilet lids on the museum walls. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Blue Origin -Flight Three: Pushing the Envelope

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Armed conflicts

Boko Haram insurgency
- Nigeria‘s army says it has arrested Khalid al-Barnawi, a leader of the Boko Haram splinter group Ansaru. (Reuters)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- More than 20 people have been killed in attacks targeting Shiite militias and government forces. (Reuters)

Business and economy

Alaska Airlines announces plans to acquire Virgin America for $4 billion. (Street Insider)
The U.S. Treasury Department announces new regulations to curb tax-avoiding corporate inversions, i.e., where U.S. companies slash their tax bills by claiming a new tax home overseas, though their core operations and management remain in the United States. The pending $160 billion merger of Pfizer Inc. and Allergan, Plc could be cancelled under these new rules. (CNN Money) (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa flood
- At least 63 people are killed and over 30 are injured as flash floods ravage Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Azad Kashmir and other parts of northwest Pakistan. (Al Jazeera)
Five people are killed when a tourist helicopter crashes in the American town of Sevierville, Tennessee. (Fox News)

Health and medicine

Mexico City authorities declare a pollution alert after smog rose to 1.5 times acceptable limits the day before implementation of the City’s new, temporary air quality program that will keep one-fifth of the city’s cars at home every weekday. (AP)

International relations

China–Vietnam relations
- Vietnam seizes a Chinese fishing vessel for intruding in its waters and tows the vessel to the port of Hai Phong. (AP)
European migrant crisis
- Greece starts deporting migrants to Turkey. (BBC)
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, Armenia–Azerbaijan relations
- Armenia will recognize the independence of the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh Republic from Azerbaijan if military actions there continue, according to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan. Azerbaijan has resorted to an “unprecedented provocation along the entire perimeter of the contact line” with Nagorno-Karabakh, Sargsyan told a meeting with ambassadors from member states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, referring to the latest flare-up of the conflict. (Reuters)
North Korea and weapons of mass destruction, North Korea–United States relations
- North Korea threatens a genocide against the United States of America. (News.com.au)

Law and crime

South Korea announces plans to crack down on illegal immigrants. (Yonhap)
The United States Supreme Court unanimously rules the one person, one vote requirement may be satisfied by drawing election districts based on the total population of a place, turning down a legal effort to reinterpret the rule that it be based only on the number of people eligible to vote. (The Washington Post) (The Atlantic)
- The Supreme Court decided two cases where businesses appealed the previous rulings, finding for the plaintiffs in both. The Court upheld a more than $150 million class action judgment on Walmart’streatment of workers in Pennsylvania, and upheld a $203 million judgment against Wells Fargo over allegations the bank imposed excessive overdraft fees. (Reuters via CNBC)

Politics and elections

Panama Papers
- Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson refuses to resign after leaked “Panama Papers” tax documents showed he and his wife used an offshore firm to allegedly hide million-dollar investments. “I have not considered quitting because of this matter nor am I going to quit because of this matter,” Gunnlaugsson told Icelandic television Channel 2. (AFP via Times Live)
The President of Kyrgyzstan Almazbek Atambayev signs a presidential decree officially recognizing March 17, March 24, and April 7 as public holidays for Kyrgyzstan. The dates are meant to commemorate the days of Kyrgyzstan’s massive anti-government revolts. On March 17, 2002, during anti-government protests in the Aksy District, police killed four protesters, while March 24 and April 7 commemorate theTulip Revolution of 2006 and the Second Kyrgyz Revolution of 2010, respectively. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Republic of the Congo presidential election, 2016
- Fighting erupts between unknown assailants and police in the southern part of Brazzaville, capital of the Republic of the Congo, after a disputed Presidential election that brought Denis Sassou Nguessoback to power for a third term. The reason for the clashes is not immediately clear but they have taken place in districts where support for the opposition is strong. The government blames the violence on the Ninjas, a militant group active during the Second Republic of the Congo Civil War. (Al Jazeera) (BBC)
Mehbooba Mufti, leader of the Peoples Democratic Party, becomes Jammu and Kashmir’s first female Chief Minister. (The Guardian)
United Nations Secretary-General selection, 2016
- Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark is running for Secretary-General of the United Nations, to succeed Ban Ki-moon whose second term expires at the end of this year. Clark, who is the first non-European and fourth woman among the eight announced candidates, was prime minister for nine years (1999–2008) and has been Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme since April 2009. The United Nations Trusteeship Council will begin preliminary meetings with candidates next week in New York City. (The Guardian) (AP via The Washington Post)

Sport

Basketball
- 2016 NCAA Men’s Division I Basketball Championship Game
  - In American college basketball, the Villanova Wildcats defeat the North Carolina Tar Heels 77–74. (NBC Sports)
- The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame announces its 2016 induction class, consisting of 10 individuals who will formally enter the Hall on September 9. Zelmo Beaty, Allen Iverson, Shaquille O’Neal, Cumberland Posey, Sheryl Swoopes, and Yao Ming will be inducted as players, Tom Izzo and John McLendon as coaches, Jerry Reinsdorf as a contributor, and Darell Garretson as a referee. (Hall of Fame press release)

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April 5, 2016

Top News Stories –

Panama Papers: Iceland PM Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson resigns –
Iceland’s prime minister has resigned – the first major casualty of the leaked Panama Papers that have shone a spotlight on offshore finance. The leaks, from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, showed Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson owned an offshore company with his wife but had not declared it when he entered parliament. He is accused of concealing millions of dollars’ worth of family assets. Mr Gunnlaugsson says he sold his shares to his wife, and denies any wrongdoing. He is one of dozens of high-profile global figures mentioned in the 11.5 million leaked financial and legal records, which were first published on Sunday. [BBC]
Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson

Doncaster Rovers fans angry at 1D star Louis Tomlinson’s competition win –
Doncaster Rovers fans have reacted angrily to One Direction star Louis Tomlinson and his grandfather winning a competition to design the football club’s new away kit. The club revealed the ‘Story Of My Life’ singer was behind the design on Monday after the poll had closed. In the wake of the announcement some fans have criticised the club and questioned the credibility of the vote. Doncaster Rovers say the voting process “was all was fair and above board”. Writing on Twitter one fan said: “I wonder if the vote was rigged or that shirt actually won??? #drfc.” [BBC]
Louis Tomlinson

Video of the Day –

Golf Trick Shots | Dude Perfect

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Al-Nusra Front militants shoot down a Syrian Arab Air Force Sukhoi Su-22 fighter jet and capture its pilot in the northern Aleppo Governorate. (The Telegraph)
PKK rebellion (2015–present)
- The Turkish military say it carried out air strikes in northern Iraq against targets belonging to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, hitting weapon stores and shelters. (Al Jazeera)

Business and economics

In American football, Twitter wins the bidding contest over Amazon, Verizon, and others, for streaming rights to 10 of 16 National Football League (NFL) regular season Thursday Night Football Games, ones that will also be telecast by either CBS or NBC. The league streamed one game last year with Yahoo!. Verizon, meanwhile, already owns the mobile rights to all NFL games which are available to subscribers via a mobile app; the 10 NFL games on Twitter will be free. (Re/code) (ESPN) (NFL.com)
Tax inversion
- Pfizer Inc. decides to terminate its $160 billion merger with Allergan, Plc as officials in Washington crack down on corporate inversions. Pfizer will need to pay a $400 million fee to Allergan for expenses relating to the deal. (Bloomberg)

Health and medicine

India’s health ministry orders government agencies to enforce a new rule for larger health warnings that cover 85 percent of a cigarette pack‘s surface, up from 20 percent now. India‘s biggest cigarette makerITC Ltd., part-owned by British American Tobacco, and Godfrey Phillips India Ltd., a partner of U.S.-based Philip Morris International, shut factories on Friday in protest. (Reuters)

International relations

China–North Korea relations
- China’s Ministry of Commerce says that it is restricting trade with North Korea, in line with the recent sanctions approved by the United Nations Security Council last March. China will be banning the export of jet fuel and import of gold, some coal and “rare earth metals” used in high-tech goods. (BBC)
North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- South Korea has determined North Korea is capable of mounting a nuclear warhead on its medium-range Rodong-1 ballistic missile, which could reach all of South Korea and most of Japan, according to a senior government official. (The New York Times)
Panama Papers
- France places Panama back on its list of countries that do not cooperate in catching tax evaders. “France has decided to put Panama back on the list of uncooperative countries, with all the consequences that will have for those who have transactions” with the Central American state, Finance Minister Michel Sapin, told Parliament on Tuesday. (AFP via Al Jazeera)
Mexico–United States relations
- Due to concerns about an increasingly anti-Mexican climate across the border, Mexico unexpectedly changes two of its top officials responsible for U.S. relations. Foreign Minister Claudia Ruiz Massieutold local media, “We have been warning that our citizens have begun to feel a more hostile climate. This (anti-Mexican) rhetoric has made it clear that we have to act in a different way so that this tendency being generated doesn’t damage the bilateral relationship.” (Reuters)

Law and crime

The International Criminal Court terminates the case against Kenya‘s Deputy President William Ruto and ends his trial, saying there is insufficient evidence he was involved in deadly violence that erupted after his country’s 2007 presidential election. (Al Jazeera)
The Military junta of Thailand gives the Royal Thai Armed Forces broad police-like powers. The military is now allowed to prevent or suppress over 27 types of offenses. The move created an outcry from human rights organizations and prompted the United States to express its concern over the growing influence of the military in the country. (The Guardian)
LGBT rights in the United States
- Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant approves a new law that allows religious groups and private businesses to deny services to gay and transgender people. (AP via The Washington Post)

Politics and elections

Panama Papers
- Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson temporarily steps down amid allegations his family attempted to hide millions in an offshore account. (The Guardian)
- The Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif sets an independent judicial commission to investigate allegations of graft against his family following documents leaked as part of the Panama papers showed his sons owned several offshore accounts. (AP via ABC News America)
- Philippine general election, 2016
  - Imee Marcos (daughter of Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos and sister of vice presidential candidate Bongbong Marcos), her three sons, and JV Ejercito (son of Manila mayorial candidate Joseph Estrada) are among hundreds of Filipino celebrities and politicians implicated for laundering money in tax havens. (GMA News), (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
United States presidential election, 2016
- Voters in the U.S. state of Wisconsin go to the polls for a primary election with Ted Cruz winning the Republican Party contest and Bernie Sanders winning the Democratic Party primary. (ABC News America), (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
Queensland term length referendum, 2016
- The results of a referendum last month in the Australian state of Queensland with voters agreeing to plans for a four year fixed parliamentary term. (AAP via Yahoo! News)
The South African Parliament debates a minority motion to impeach President Jacob Zuma following last week’s Constitutional Court judgment that Zuma had violated the constitution in a spending scandal involving the president’s private home. The African National Congress has a 249 – 151 majority, making this motion’s chance of gaining a two-thirds majority unlikely. (AP via The Washington Post)(Reuters)
- The motion failed by 243 votes to 133. (News24)
2015–16 protests in Brazil
- Marco Aurélio Mello, a Supreme Federal Court judge orders Brazil‘s Chamber of Deputies to start impeachment proceedings against Vice President Michel Temer over charges he helped doctor budget accounting as part of President Dilma Rousseff‘s administration. (Reuters)
Peruvian general election, 2016
- Peruvians protest in five cities, including the capital Lima, against the presidential candidacy of Keiko Fujimori, daughter of imprisoned ex-president Alberto Fujimori, who exactly 24 years ago this day carried out a coup by shutting down Congress and taking over the courts with the support of the military. Keiko Fujimori is the front runner in Sunday’s April 10, 2016, election. Yesterday, Fujimori committed to respect democratic liberties and the rule of law, and to work against corruption, which some opponents have rejected. The Organization of American States says the election could lack credibility unless two recently-disqualified candidates are allowed to run. (NBC News) (AP via The Washington Post) (Prensa Latina)

Sports

2016 NCAA Women’s Division I Basketball Championship Game
- In women’s college basketball, the Connecticut Huskies top the Syracuse Orange to cap a perfect season (38-0) with the program’s fourth straight national championship, and in all four, UConn’s senior center Breanna Stewart wins the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. (CNN) (ESPN)

2015–16 Rangers F.C. season
- Rangers F.C., the association football club with the most domestic league titles in the world, earn promotion to the Scottish Premiership, returning to the nation’s top division for the first time since their triple relegation for financial reasons in 2012. (BBC Sport)

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April 6, 2016

Top News Stories –

Samsung patents design for ‘smart’ augmented reality contact lenses –
Samsung has filed a patent on ‘smart’ contact lenses, which can project images straight into the users’ eyes. Wearing the lenses would allow users to experience ‘augmented’ reality, with computer-generated images superimposed over the real world. As Samsung blog SamMobile reveals, the South Korean patent shows a drawing of the lens, which is fitted with a miniscule display, camera and antenna. It’s also fitted with a number of sensors that can detect eye movement and blinking, which is how users would control the display. Since the device is so small, it’s designed to connect to a smartphone for processing power. According to the patent application, written in Korean and translated by SamMobile, the contact lenses would provide much better image quality than existing smart glasses, as well as being far less bulky and intrusive. [The Independent]
Samsung Contact Lens patent image

US university in Scalia law school acronym blunder –
Officials at a US university were left red-faced after their decision to rename a law school after late Supreme Court judge Antonin Scalia prompted hilarity over its unfortunate acronym. George Mason University in Virginia said its law school would be called the Antonin Scalia School of Law. The eagle-eyed immediately took to Twitter to point out that the acronym would be ASSoL. The university has since renamed it as the Antonin Scalia Law School. [BBC]

Beyonce sues over ‘Feyonce’ label –
Singer Beyonce is suing a US company to stop it from selling merchandise branded “Feyonce”. Texas firm Feyonce Inc sells clothing, and other items such as mugs with the label, on its website. The pop star claims the label is too near to her own trademarked name and confuses customers and fans and damages her reputation. The singer also claims in court papers filed in Manhattan that the company has ignored her requests to stop. Beyonce’s complaint accuses the San Antonio company, and three individuals, of “brazenly” selling the Feyonce-labelled merchandise. [BBC]
Beyonce_Knowles

Video of the Day –

50 ft Flamethrower in 4K Slow Motion – The Slow Mo Guys

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#QuartaSrTwitteiroNoSdv	#WednesdayWisdom	unavailable
2	#شقيق_بلقيس_يه�…	#NationalWalkingDay	unavailable
3	#FelizMiercoles	#1lineWed	unavailable
4	#WednesdayWisdom	#IAmNotThePresidentBecause	unavailable
5	#AEstaHoraNecesito	#ConfusingCompliment	unavailable
6	#SoyFanDe	#indieamnesty	unavailable
7	#YooSiJin	Hump Day	unavailable
8	エレン先生	Timberwolves	unavailable
9	#QuedateConQuien	#ElderlyMovies	unavailable
10	#名前の最後がンの�…	Janet Jackson	unavailable

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Aleppo offensive (April 2016)
  - The Syrian Army and its allies launch an offensive south of Aleppo. (Jerusalem Post)

Business and Economics

Hedge fund impresario Bill Ackman faces skeptical questioning from investors after his Pershing Square fund loses big on both Herbalife and Valeant Pharmaceuticals. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 South Pacific cyclone season
- Cyclone Zena, now a category 3 storm, heads for Fiji, where a tropical depression already dumped up to 12 inches of rain on the western and northern parts of Fiji’s largest and most populous island, Viti Levu, triggering major flash flooding that’s killed at least two people. The archipelago is still recovering from category 5 Cyclone Winston that killed 44 people in February. (Weather.com) (Television New Zealand)
2016 Ethiopia flood
- Deadly floods hit Ethiopia, leaving at least 28 people dead as seasonal rains come early to the country. The majority of these deaths occurred in the city of Jijiga while elsewhere, heavy downpours of rain were reported with more floods expected in the next few days. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, in a majority vote, ordered an “indefinite” halt in the war crimes trial of Croatian Serb rebel leader Goran Hadžić, who is terminally ill with brain cancer and declared “unfit to stand trial.” Hadžić was charged with 14 war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the 1991–95 war in Croatia. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
The President of Russia Vladimir Putin announces the creation of a new National Guard, which he said would fight terrorism and organized crime. However, some critics claim the creation of the National Guard is linked to the upcoming legislative election this September with them saying that Putin fears unrest, something Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov denies. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Dutch Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement referendum, 2016
- Voters in the Netherlands go to the polls for a non-binding referendum on approval of the Ukraine–European Union Association Agreement. (EU Observer)
  - The results, while not official yet, show voters solidly rejecting the approval of the Association Agreement with 61.1 percent and turnout reaching over the 30 percent threshold for the referendum to be valid. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- The self-declared National Salvation government, one of the rival governments of Libya, resigns and gives up power to the UN-backed Libyan Presidential Council in Tripoli. (The Guardian)
Beninese businessman Patrice Talon is sworn in as the new President of Benin. (Euronews via Reuters)

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April 7, 2016

Top News Stories –

Modern men lack Y chromosome genes from Neanderthals, researchers say –
Although it’s widely known that modern humans carry traces of Neanderthal DNA, a new international study led by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine suggests that Neanderthal Y-chromosome genes disappeared from the human genome long ago. The Y chromosome is one of two human sex chromosomes. Unlike the X chromosome, the Y chromosome is passed exclusively from father to son. This is the first study to examine a Neanderthal Y chromosome, Fernando Mendez, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar at Stanford said. Previous studies sequenced DNA from the fossils of Neanderthal women or from mitochondrial DNA, which is passed to children of either sex from their mother. “We’ve never observed the Neanderthal Y chromosome DNA in any human sample ever tested,” Bustamante said. “That doesn’t prove it’s totally extinct, but it likely is.” [phys.org]

NASA ‘cuts space station video’ immediately after bizarre UFO hovers above Earth –
A space enthusiast has come across what could be an astonishing visit from aliens. An unnamed alien hunter recorded the UFO while watching the live feed from the International Space Station earlier this week. However, the mysterious video of the giant UFO took a strange turn after the ISS video feed suddenly went dead for nearly an hour just as the bizarre flying object came into view. The “clearly defined UFO” appeared emerging above the horizon of Earth before it “disappeared completely from sight”. The enthusiast said the speed of the object “had to be in the tens of thousands of miles per hour.” He described the bizarre sighting on Tuesday as “unquestionably real and present” and raised suspicisions after “NASA cut the live feed for nearly an hour” just as the UFO vanished. [Daily Express] See Video of the Day

Video of the Day –

‘Millennium Falcon-type UFO’ spotted in NASA’s live International Space Station feed

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#WorldHealthDay	#NationalBeerDay	unavailable
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4	#QuintaSDVcomChalanco	Bomani Jones	unavailable
5	#RogueOne	#HillarySoQualified	unavailable
6	#البنت_القصيره	#IdolFinale	unavailable
7	#BeijarNosNaoBeija	Bill Clinton	unavailable
8	#نفسك_تاخد_سيل�…	#WEDay	unavailable
9	#ALDUB38thWeeksary	#FrozenFour	unavailable
10	#HillarySoQualified	#DadBrand	unavailable

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- According to Syrian state television, ISIL militants kidnapped over 300 staff members from a cement factory outside of the city of Al-Dumayr earlier this week and no contact with them has been made since. (Al Jazeera)
Military intervention against ISIL
- Turkish Armed Forces shell ISIL positions hours after projectiles hit Turkey‘s Kilis Province. (Hurriyet)

Arts and culture

American Idol (season 15)
- Trent Harmon is declared as the last winner of the American singing competition series, American Idol, which concluded after 15 seasons. (E! Online)

Business and economy

Australian mining and materials company Arrium goes into voluntary administration with 7,000 jobs under threat in Australia, including 1,000 at the Whyalla Steelworks in South Australia. (ABC News)
Bloomberg News reports Verizon Communications plans a bid for Yahoo Inc.’s Web business, including Yahoo Japan Corp., next week. Google, Time Inc., and private equity funds Bain and TPG are considering bidding for Yahoo’s core business. AT&T Inc., Comcast, and Microsoft Corp. reportedly aren’t interested. (Reuters) (Bloomberg News)

Disasters and accidents

Another earthquake measuring at 6.7 strikes off the northwest of Vanuatu, the third earthquake in the same region this week. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center says the earthquake poses no tsunami threat. (Radio New Zealand)

Law and crime

Attacks on secularists in Bangladesh
- Attackers in Bangladesh wielding machetes kill Nazimuddin Samad, a liberal blogger. (Reuters)
- Students from Jagannath University in Dhaka, where Nazimuddin Samad studied, protest the killing and tell reporters that police inaction over previous killings contributed to the death of Samad. (BBC)
Panama Papers
- The government of Panama announces that it is creating an “international panel” to help improve transparency in its offshore financial industry. The move follows the leak of millions of documents from law firm Mossack Fonseca, showing it helped some clients evade tax and avoid sanctions. (BBC)
Colombia‘s Constitutional Court votes in favor of same-sex marriage, in a 6-3 decision. (ABC News) (The Advocate)
Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union sue Indiana stating the U.S. state’s new abortion law is unconstitutional because it bans the procedure if sought because of genetic abnormalities. (CBS News with AP) (Reuters)

Politics and elections

The National Assembly of Vietnam approves Nguyễn Xuân Phúc as the country’s new prime minister, succeeding Nguyễn Tấn Dũng. (Reuters) (Shanghai Daily)
Hashim Thaçi is sworn in as the new President of Kosovo. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
South Sudanese Civil War
- Former Vice President and opposition leader Riek Machar says he will return to the capital Juba on April 18 to form a transitional government with President Salva Kiir Mayardit in the hopes of bringing peace to South Sudan after their acrimonious split ignited more than two years of war. (Al Jazeera)
Aung San Suu Kyi, now the State Counsellor of Myanmar, says she will press for the release of political prisoners and student activists in the country, hinting that a mass amnesty may be imminent, a week after her government took power. (The Guardian)
United States presidential election, 2016, Donald Trump endorsements
- Former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani endorses Donald Trump for U.S. President, predicting Trump will get more than 50% of the statewide vote. (CBS News)
Panama Papers
- United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron admits he benefited from a Panama-based offshore trust, Blairmore Holdings Inc., set up by his late father. Cameron says he divested himself of his shares, for £31,500 (US$44,300), before becoming prime minister in 2010. (The Guardian) (AP via The Washington Post)
- Jürgen Mossack, co-founder of the Mossack Fonseca law firm, resigns from an honorary, unpaid post on the National Council of Foreign Relations, which advises Panama’s government on foreign policy. (The New York Times)

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April 8, 2016

Top News Stories –

Springsteen cancels North Carolina concert over bathroom bill –
Rock star Bruce Springsteen on Friday canceled a concert scheduled for this weekend in North Carolina to protest a new state law restricting bathroom use by transgender individuals, as country music stars decried similar legislation proposed in Tennessee. Springsteen said in an online statement that the North Carolina law was “an attempt by people who cannot stand the progress our country has made in recognizing the human rights of all of our citizens to overturn that progress.” Tickets for the concert that was to be presented on Sunday in Greensboro, North Carolina, would be refunded, according to Springsteen’s website. PayPal Holdings Inc (PYPL.O) cited the discriminatory nature of the law when it canceled on Tuesday a new operations center that was to employ 400 workers in Charlotte. [Reuters] In March Springsteen signed a late note for a schoolboy who came to one of his concerts
Bruce Springsteen

SpaceX reusable rocket lands on ocean platform –
The US aerospace company SpaceX has successfully landed a resusable rocket on an ocean platform, after four previous attempts failed. Mission controllers cheered as the Falcon 9 rocket remained upright on the platform off Florida. It was returning from delivering an inflatable habitat into space for Nasa. The inflatable room will attach to the International Space Station (ISS) for a two-year test and become the first such habitat to for humans in orbit. It is due to reach the ISS around 09:00 GMT on Sunday along with other freight aboard the Dragon capsule. Built by Nevada company Bigelow Aerospace, the habitat is intended to pave the way towards the use of such rooms for long space trips, including to Mars. [BBC] See Video of the Day

Video of the Day –

SpaceX lands rocket at sea, makes history –

	Worldwide	USA	UK (London)
1	#SextaDetremuraSdv	#FlashbackFriday	#FridayFeeling
2	#سعادتي_هي	Josh Pastner	#AskZac
3	#resigncameron	#NewMusicFriday	#resigncameron
4	#8AnosAtrás	#resigncameron	#FlashbackFriday
5	#BuenViernes	#ColorofSurveillance	#dontstreamanddrive
6	#EsDePobres	#OpeningDayDET	#NewMusicFriday
7	#AmaneciConGanasDe	Sanders Over the Edge	#SLFLLondon2
8	#ALDUBProblemaNiLola	Vatican	Danny DeVito
9	#FridayFeeling	#FridayFeeling	#LadiesDay
10	#جسر_الملك_سلمان	#lovesick7days	#IAMW16

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Sinai insurgency
- At least seven people are killed, including five Egyptian Army soldiers, a military officer and a civilian woman in two separate blasts in Egypt‘s Sinai Peninsula. ISIL’s Sinai branch claimed responsibility for the attacks on several websites. (Reuters)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Hīt offensive (2016)
  - The Iraqi Army recaptures the western town of Hīt, Al Anbar Governorate, after driving out hundreds of ISIL militants. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War
- Damascus offensive (April 2016)
  - ISIL militants reportedly execute 175 workers who were captured earlier this week at a cement factory situated to the east of Damascus. (RT) (Daily Mail)
2016 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes
- An ethnic Armenian soldier dies in overnight clashes. (News Armenia)

Arts and culture

Pope Francis issues Amoris Laetitia or the Joy of Love, a document on the Roman Catholic approach to love, sex, marriage and family life. (AP)
- In the 256-page document, the Pope encourages the clergy to embrace sinners as well as saints, opens the door a bit for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, and stresses that Catholics, with their own informed consciences guided by the light of the Gospel, address tricky moral questions in their life, and not only be guided by dogmatic rules from above. Francis also asserts the right to a natural deathwithout aggressive treatment; firmly rejects the death penalty; and reiterates the Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage. (AP²) (The Washington Post) (Vatican)
North Carolina bathroom bill
- Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band cancels their Sunday night concert in Greensboro, North Carolina, to protest the state’s controversial “bathroom bill.” (Rolling Stone)

Business and economics

Both Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide and Marriott International shareholders approve Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood, which will create the world’s largest hotelier. The deal has cleared the pre-merger antitrust reviews in the United States and Canada; approvals from the European Union and China is pending. Last week, Anbang Insurance Group topped Marriott’s bid, then withdrew their offer three days later. (Reuters) (UPI)

Disasters and accidents

At least 50 people are reportedly injured following a head-on collision between two commuter trains in San José, Costa Rica. (WRAL)
Three people are killed, and there was one survivor, following the crash of a small plane headed to Angoon in Southeast Alaska, United States. (KTUU-TV)

International relations

North Korea–South Korea relations, North Korean defectors
- A group of 13 North Koreans working at a restaurant in an unidentified country defect en masse to South Korea, according to Seoul‘s Ministry of Unification. (USA Today)
Egypt–Saudi Arabia relations
- King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud announces, during his trip to Cairo, that a bridge crossing the Red Sea will be built, linking Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi says the bridge will be named after the Saudi monarch. A Saudi–Egypt Causeway project has been in the works for years. (BBC)
Syria–United States relations
- Syria releases American freelance photographer Kevin Patrick Dawes who was kidnapped in 2012. (Washington Post)
NATO–Russia relations
- NATO announces it will hold a meeting of the NATO–Russia Council at the ambassadorial level at NATO headquarters in Brussels in the next two weeks after a two-year break since NATO cut all practical cooperation with Russia in 2014. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Egypt–Italy relations, Murder of Giulio Regeni
- Italy recalls its ambassador to Egypt for consultations in protest over the lack of progress in a probe into the fate of murdered Cambridge University student Giulio Regeni. “We want only one thing, the truth about what happened to Giulio,” Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Friday. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
China-Russia relations
- Russia postpones a transfer of missile engines to China. There is concern the technology could be passed on to a third country, such as North Korea. China is not a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime, a voluntary, informal partnership between 34 countries to prevent proliferation of missile delivery systems that could carry weapons of mass destruction. (UPI)
Bangladesh–United States relations
- U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner condemns Wednesday’s “barbaric murder” of Nazimuddin Samad, and says federal officials are considering granting refuge to a select number ofBangladeshi writers who are under “imminent danger” because of their critical views of radical Islamists. (UPI)

Law and crime

At least two people are reported dead following a shooting at Lackland Air Force Base, in the U.S. state of Texas. (CNBC)
Aftermath of the November 2015 Paris attacks
- Mohamed Abrini, wanted in connection with the 2015 Paris attacks, is arrested in Belgium. (Reuters via Ynet)
Panama Papers
- El Salvador officials seize documents and equipment during a raid of the local offices of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. Attorney General Douglas Melendez says authorities interviewed seven employees, and confiscated 20 computers and some documents. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

The French occupy movement known as Nuit debout enters its ninth day, “March 40,” spreading across dozens of French cities and to Belgium, Germany, and Spain. (The Guardian)
Djiboutian presidential election, 2016
- Voters in Djibouti go to the polls for the first round of voting in a presidential election with current President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh winning a fourth term in office. (BBC), (AFP via Daily Mail)
A Myanmar court releases 69 jailed student activists in the first wave of amnesty for the country’s political prisoners, with more releases expected. This comes after State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi vowed to push for the release of all the political prisoners in Myanmar. (Al Jazeera)
The Prime Minister of Madagascar Jean Ravelonarivo and his cabinet resign from office with no explanation given. (The Guardian)
Macedonian opposition leader Zoran Zaev pledges to boycott the early Macedonian parliamentary elections, saying it is due to a lack of government reforms. (Business Insider)
LGBT rights in the United States
- A group of United States mayors forms “Mayors Against Discrimination” in the wake of recent discriminatory laws enacted in North Carolina and Mississippi against LBGT individuals. The founding members are city leaders from Honolulu, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, Oakland, San Francisco, Sante Fe, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington, D.C. (AP) (Huffington Post) (Mayor Edward Murray)
United States presidential election, 2016
- The Colorado Republican Party continues choosing its delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Ted Cruz has swept all of the delegates available so far. The process which began last Saturday (April 2, 2016) will conclude tomorrow. (Washington Post)

Science and technology

SpaceX CRS-8
- SpaceX launches a NASA cargo run to the International Space Station, and in a spaceflight first, successfully lands its reusable main-stage booster on an autonomous spaceport drone ship. (The Verge)(Reuters)

Sport

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko says they will not open up a formal investigation into the doping scandals that were reported by the World Anti-Doping Agency last November, where it documented Russian athletes systematically taking banned performance-enhancing drugs with state support. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

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April 10, 2016

Top News Stories –

Danny Willett wins the 2016 Masters –
While Jordan Spieth attempted to make history today, Danny Willett stole the spotlight. With a final-round, 5-under-par 67, Willett became the first Englishman in 20 years to win the Masters Tournament. Willett, 28, finished at 5-under-par 283. He defeated Spieth and Lee Westwood (69) by three shots. Spieth bogeyed Nos. 10 and 11. Then, he hit his tee shot at the par-3 12th into the bank, his ball rolling back into the water. Spieth then chunked his third shot into the water and his fifth into the back bunker. He got up and down from there for a quadruple-bogey 7. With Spieth’s meltdown, Willett birdied Nos. 14 to move to 4-under. He rolled in a seven-foot birdie putt at No. 16 to get to 5-under. Then, he saved par at No. 17 after hitting his second shot just off the green. Willett made par at No. 18 to finish with a 3-under-par 33 total on the back nine. He joins Nick Faldo as the only two Englishmen to ever win the Masters. [Augusta.com]
Danny Willett

Video of the Day –

2CELLOS – Whole Lotta Love vs. Beethoven 5th Symphony

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide	USA
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Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- The Taliban, in a statement claiming responsibility for yesterday’s rocket attacks into Kabul, Afghanistan, says the intended target was U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, who was in the capital to help defuse a crisis within the unity government. Kerry had departed less than an hour earlier. No casualties have been reported. (CNN)

Business and economics

Developers announce their intention to build a new tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates to surpass the Burj Khalifa as the tallest structure in the world. The project is expected to be roughly $1bn (£710m) and scheduled to be completed for the Dubai Expo trade fair in 2020. (BBC)
The International Monetary Fund encourages the move toward negative interest rates because “they help deliver additional monetary stimulus and easier financial conditions.” (Reuters).

Disasters and accidents

Kollam temple fire
- A fire occurs at a Hindu temple in the Kollam district of the Indian state of Kerala. At least 102 people have been killed and hundreds injured. (Indian Express) (Times of India) (inquisitr), (BBC)
2016 Afghanistan earthquake
- A 6.6 magnitude earthquake occurs in northern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border with tremors felt in north India. (BBC) (USGS)

International relations

Iran–United States relations
- The Foreign Minister of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif says that the country’s missile program would not be up for discussion. This comes as United States Secretary of State John Kerry said last Thursday that the United States and its allies would only address Iran’s concerns in the region if it makes it clear to all involved that it was prepared to cease provocative ballistic missile launches and tests. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

Panama Papers
- German Justice Minister Heiko Maas, during a newspaper interview, appeals to media to hand over “Panama Papers” data that will help governments around the globe that already have startedinvestigating possible financial wrongdoing by the world’s rich and powerful. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Peruvian general election, 2016
- Voters in Peru go to the polls for a general election with Keiko Fujimori and Pedro Kuczynski going through to the second round. (Telesur) (AP via Journal Times)
- Suspected Shining Path rebels kill three people, two of them Peruvian Army soldiers and the other a driver, in an attack on a vehicle carrying election materials in the remote areas of the country. (BBC)
Chadian presidential election, 2016
- Voters in Chad go to the polls for the first round of voting in a presidential election with incumbent President Idriss Déby favoured to win a fifth term. (Reuters)
Comorian presidential election, 2016
- Voting begins for the second round of an election in the Comoros with a tight race expected between three candidates. They are current Vice President Mohamed Ali Soilihi, who won the first round, former coup leader Azali Assoumani and Governor of Grande Comore Mouigni Baraka. (Al Jazeera)
The Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk resigns from office in a televised address. Yatsenyuk said his resignation is to be immediately followed by the formation of a new government. Volodymyr Groysman has taken role as Acting Prime Minister. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
European migrant crisis
- Macedonian police fire tear gas at refugees as they attempted to break through a fence at the Greece-Macedonia border near Idomeni, sparking clashes that injured 200 people. (Al Jazeera)
Panama Papers
- British Prime Minister David Cameron releases his tax records in an effort to remove discussion about his personal wealth from the current political discourse. His initial reluctance to admit he had benefited from his late father’s offshore Panama Papers holdings still seems to be affecting the upcoming European Union referendum. Unfortunately for the PM, the main Sunday newspapers in the U.K. tell of a gift of 200,000 pounds ($282,500) from his mother in 2011, suggesting it may have been a way of avoiding inheritance tax. (Reuters)
- Several thousand people protest in Valletta, Malta, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Joseph Muscat because the leaked Panama Papers connect his Chief of Staff, Keith Schembri, and Health and Energy Minister, Konrad Mizzi, to offshore accounts. (Reuters)

Science and technology

The World Wildlife Fund reports global populations of tigers, an endangered species, are up about 20 percent over the past six years. This increase in tiger numbers, after declining for a century, was primarily in India, Russia, Nepal, and Bhutan. The third Asian Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation starts Monday in New Delhi, India. (Newsweek)

Sport

Masters Tournament
- In golf, Danny Willett of England wins the 2016 Masters Tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club. (The Telegraph)
NBA 2015-16 season
- The Golden State Warriors, with today’s win at San Antonio, tie the 1995–96 Chicago Bulls NBA regular season record with their 72nd win this season. The Warriors can still break the record; on Wednesday, they host the Memphis Grizzlies in their final regular season game. (NBC News) (NBA)

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April 11, 2016

Top News Stories –

Bryan Adams cancels Mississippi concert over new religious law –
Bryan Adams has cancelled a concert in Mississippi over the US state’s new controversial religious liberty law. The law, which allows some private businesses and religious groups to refuse service to gay people, was passed last week. The singer issued a statement saying he could not “in good conscience” perform in the state. He added he found it “incomprehensible that LGBT citizens are being discriminated against”. He was due to play the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi on Thursday. Adams’s cancellation comes after Bruce Springsteen cancelled a show in North Carolina last week because of a new law in that state. [BBC]
Bryan Adams

Video of the Day –

Game of Thrones Season 6: Trailer #2

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide	USA
#FelizLunes	#NationalPetDay
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#My2WordNightmare	#BBMAs
#ALDUBSummerLOVE	#LoveMySchoolDay
#DiaMundialDelParkinson	#FelizLunes

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2016 Stavropol bombings
- At least three suicide bombers attack a police station in Stavropol, Russia. (Sputnik News)
Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
- Clashes and air strikes are reported in Yemen despite a fragile truce between the government and Houthis taking effect. However, the truce appears to be largely holding as members from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement are granted unhindered access to give humanitarian aid and personnel across the country. (BBC)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- A suicide bomber kills 12 new police recruits in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. The Taliban claims responsibility for the attack. (BBC)
War in Somalia (2009–present)
- At least five people are killed and seven are wounded following a car bomb attack near a government building in Somalia‘s capital, Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for the attack. (BBC)

Business and economics

2008 financial crisis
- Goldman Sachs agrees to pay $5.06 billion to settle allegations that it sold packages of shoddy mortgages prior to the global financial crisis.. The U.S. Justice Department settlement includes a $2.385 billion civil penalty, and $1.8 billion for distressed borrowers and communities affected by the housing crisis. (The Washington Post) (UPI)

Disasters and accidents

2014–16 El Niño event
- A severe heat wave grips Malaysia as much of Southeast Asia struggles with unusually hot and dry weather created by the El Niño season. Temperatures in Malaysia soared above 37°C, prompting more than 250 schools to close. (Al Jazeera)

International relations

G7 foreign ministers meeting
- John Kerry, along with the other Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers, laid wreaths at Japan’s Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum to the victims of the 1945 U.S. nuclear attack. Kerry is the firstSecretary of State to visit the memorial. Then-U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi was previously the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the memorial, in 2008. The Hiroshimaforeign ministers meeting is part of the preparations for the 42nd G7 summit the end of next month at Japan’s Kashiko Island, Shima, Mie Prefecture. (Reuters) (Channel NewsAsia)
Houthi insurgency in Yemen, Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
- Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the United Nations special envoy for Yemen, says he welcomes the tentative truce that started at midnight Yemen time. The truce opens unhindered access for relief aid to all of Yemen. Peace talks are set to start later this month. (Reuters)
North Korea–South Korea relations, North Korean defectors
- South Korea announces that a colonel from North Korea‘s military spy agency defected to the south last year. Senior-level defections are rare, most being low level operatives. (AP)
European migrant crisis
- The Italian Coast Guard rescues 1,850 in the Strait of Sicily. (AFP via Daily Star)

Law and crime

CIA Director John Brennan, in an exclusive interview to air on NBC News tonight, says the United States intelligence agency will not use harsh, enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, even if ordered by a future president. Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have discussed using waterboarding if elected. (The Hill via MSN.com) (NBC News)
Kollam temple fire
- Five workers from the company that supplied fireworks to the Puttingal Temple have been detained by Indian police with the death toll rising to 106. (CNN)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015–present)
- Israeli security forces arrest 18 Palestinians on the West Bank for alleged terrorism related offences. (Jerusalem Post)

Politics and elections

Hundreds of arrests are reported in the U.S. capitol in response to the Democracy Spring protests. (CNN) (Democracy Spring)

The Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Temir Sariyev announces he will resign from his post. This comes after several Parliament members accused Sariyev and his cabinet of corruption. The Kyrgyz presidential press service said President Almazbek Atambayev accepted his resignation. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Darfurian status referendum, 2016
- Voting for a referendum begins in Darfur, Sudan. Voters will be asked during the three-day referendum to decide on the permanent administrative status of the region. The choices are for the creation of a Darfur Region composed of the States of Darfur, or the retention of the status quo states system. Darfur is currently divided into five states. Voters will decide this week whether the area should go back to being one region, as it was until 1994. However, there are fears of voter apathy and if the referendum will be credible. (Al Jazeera)
The President of the Georgian breakaway state of South Ossetia Leonid Tibilov announces his plan to hold a referendum on whether to become part of Russia or to keep its de facto independence before August of this year. This comes after South Ossetia signed various agreements further integrating the region with Russia. (TASS)
2015–16 protests in Brazil
- A committee of Brazil‘s Chamber of Deputies votes 38-27 to recommend the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, who faces charges of breaking budget laws to support her re-election in 2014.(Reuters)

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April 12, 2016

Top News Stories –

Prof Hawking backs interstellar travel project –
Stephen Hawking is backing a project to send tiny spacecraft to another star system within a generation. They would travel trillions of miles; far further than any previous craft.
A $100m (£70m) research programme to develop the computer chip-sized “starships” was launched by the billionaire Yuri Milner, supported by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. “If we are to survive as a species we must ultimately spread out to the stars,” he said. “Astronomers believe that there is a reasonable chance of an Earth-like planet orbiting one of the stars [in] the Alpha Centauri system. But we will know more in the next two decades from ground based and space based telescopes. “Technological developments in the last two decades and the future make it possible in principle within a generation.” [BBC]
Stephen Hawking in 1999

Entertainer and producer David Gest found dead –
Entertainer, producer and reality television star David Gest has died in a London hotel aged 62, a statement from his friend says. Gest, who is a former husband of singer Liza Minnelli, died at the Four Seasons hotel in Canary Wharf. His friend and ex-bodyguard Imad Handi confirmed the news in a statement. American Gest was best known in the UK for his appearances on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! and Celebrity Big Brother. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

ShapeShifter from CHRLX on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide	USA
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#FelizMartes	Hokie Gajan
#NationalGrilledCheeseDay	#TravelTuesday
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#ALDUBSummerAdventure	#FreeConeDay
#EstariaNecesitando	#IUday
#NoEsLoMismo	#ILoveHashtaggingBecause
#MiMejorMomento	#SocialTools16
#متي_كانت_اخر_ض…	Rachel Dolezal
Bertín Osborne	Stairway to Heaven

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- The Taliban announces its annual spring offensive to be named “Operation Omari“. (Voice of America)
PKK rebellion (2015–present)
- A car bomb attack on a Turkish gendarmerie in the town of Hani kills at least two people and injures 50. (Reuters)
Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- A Russian Air Force Mi-28 attack helicopter crashes near the Syrian city of Homs, killing two pilots. (BBC)
Operation Barkhane
- A French Army soldier is killed and three others are injured after their convoy hit a landmine in northern Mali. (AP via ABC News)
War in Somalia
- U.S. officials say unmanned airstrikes in southern Somalia killed about a dozen suspected militants from the al Qaeda-linked group al Shabaab on Monday and Tuesday. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

A painting, Judith Beheading Holofernes, believed to be from Italian painter Caravaggio, is discovered in an attic in the French city of Toulouse. (The Guardian)

Business and economics

Reuters reports that it has seen a draft memorandum generated by the International Monetary Fund that describes the debt owed by Greece to its European partners as “highly unsustainable.” (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

A massive fire occurs in a textile factory in the Mumbai suburb of Bhiwandi in India‘s Maharashtra state. Fifty people are feared trapped. (IBN Live)
A Pakistani police officer accidentally detonates a grenade in an anti-terrorism court in Karachi, injuring himself and a court assistant. The officer was attempting to demonstrate a grenade detonator to a judge and said the grenade was defused before pulling the pin. (The Guardian)

International relations

Cross-Strait relations
- Taiwan accuses China of “extrajudicial abduction” after 45 Taiwanese acquitted of fraud in Kenya were forcibly deported to China. (BBC News) (The New York Times) (Los Angeles Times) (Voice of America)
North Korea–South Korea relations, North Korean defectors
- North Korea accuses South Korea of kidnapping its citizens and demands their immediate return after Seoul‘s Ministry of Unification said 13 of them had defected to South Korea from China, where they worked in a Pyongyang-operated restaurant. China says that the 13 people, a male manager and 12 young female employees, had legitimate passports and had freely exited China. (The Straits Times)
Iran–Italy relations
- During a visit to Iran, Prime Minister of Italy Matteo Renzi signs various bilateral agreements to enhance relations between the two countries, including plans for cooperation between the Italian electricity and gas company Enel and the National Iranian Oil Company. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Bolivia–Russia relations
- Russia and Bolivia meet to discuss how Russian defense firms can help the South American nation’s long-term rearmament plan. (UPI)

Law and crime

Australian 60 Minutes reporter Tara Brown and her crew are reportedly facing kidnapping charges in Lebanon following a bungled child recovery attempt. (Courier Mail)
2016 Brussels bombings
- Belgium federal prosecutors say two more men have been charged with terrorist offenses linked to last month’s Brussels bombing. Also, three people connected to the last year’s Paris attacks are in custody. (Reuters)
North Carolina House Bill 2
- North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signs Executive Order 73 that addresses some, but not all, troublesome provisions in House Bill 2 that caused businesses, traveling recording stars, etc., to stay clear of the state. The order does expand the state’s anti-discrimination employment policy to include LBGT protection, but reiterates that people use the marked facility consistent with “… their biological sex.” The American Civil Liberties Union says the order, “… fall(s) far short of correcting the damage done … (and that)… transgender people are still explicitly targeted by being forced to use the wrong restroom.” Equality North Carolina says, “… the order doubles down on the Governor’s support for some of the most problematic provisions of HB2.” (NPR) (WSOC) (WNCN)
Panama Papers
- Authorities in Panama raid law firm Mossack Fonseca, the source of the data leaked about offshore companies. (AFP via The Rappler)
Bad Aibling rail accident
- A German train controller, who was operating the tracks where two trains collided on February 9 near the town of Bad Aibling, Bavaria, is arrested on possible manslaughter charges. Prosecutors say the controller had been playing a game on his mobile phone, which led to his making signalling errors. The crash resulted in 11 deaths and 85 injuries, 24 serious. (UPI)

Politics and elections

Hundreds of people take to the streets of Handwara, Jammu and Kashmir after Indian Army soldiers shot dead at least two people during a protest against an alleged case of sexual harrasment by an army soldier against a young woman. (Al Jazeera)
United States presidential election, 2016
- Paul Ryan, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, rules out seeking or accepting the Republican Party nomination in 2016. (Fox News)
Brazil impeachment process, 2016
- President Dilma Rousseff, speaking with teachers and students, says Vice President Michel Temer and Chamber of Deputies Speaker Eduardo Cunha are jointly plotting her downfall. The two men are in line to succeed her if she is impeached. (AP via The Washington Post)
- In a 13-minute audio tape he released Monday, Vice President Temer outlines his administration in the event that President Rousseff is impeached. Temer says he unintentionally sent the tape to lawmakers through an instant messenger app. (Bloomberg) (AP via The Washington Post)

Science and technology

A British brain scan study of Lysergic acid diethylamide shows LSD may be useful in treating mental disorders such as major depressive disorder. (BBC)(Nature)
British cosmologist Stephen Hawking and Russian venture capitalist and physicist Yuri Milner announce ” Breaktrough Starshot,” a $100 million effort to plan a trip to the sun’s closest stellar neighbor, Alpha Centauri, via developing nanotechnology that would put the craft within the star system roughly 20 years after leaving Earth. (UPI)

Sport

In rugby union, Allister Coetzee is named as the new coach of the South Africa national rugby team. (IOL)

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April 13, 2016

Top News Stories –

Russian warplanes ‘aggressively’ pass US missile destroyer –
Two Russian planes flew close to a US guided missile destroyer almost a dozen times, American officials have said. The Sukhoi SU-24 warplanes, in international waters in the Baltic Sea, had no visible weaponry and the ship took no action. One official called the events on Monday and Tuesday “one of the most aggressive acts in recent memory”. The commander of the missile destroyer, the USS Donald Cook, described the flights as a “simulated attack”. The passes were “unsafe, potentially provocative” and “could have caused an accident,” officials said in a release. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

French Horn Rebellion – Foolin’ Around (Official Video) from Ariel Fisher on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide	USA
#DiaDoBeijo	#MambaDay
#MambaDay	#WednesdayWisdom
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#ALDUBTheRequest	#verizonstrike
#الشعب_ضد_الغا�…	Supporting Bernie Sanders
#CaravanaDelPueblo	#MyAdviceToTrump
#شي_حلو_من_خمس_�…	#WHScienceFair
#SDVQuartaComChalanco	Hump Day

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Donbass
- The Ukrainian Army says eight of its soldiers were wounded in fighting against Russian-backed separatists in the east of the country during the previous 24 hours. A military spokesman said there had been 29 shelling incidents around Mariupol. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Moro Conflict
- Battle of Tipo-Tipo
  - ISIL claims responsibility for clashes between militants linked to the group and the Philippine Army that claimed 23 lives. (Reuters via Trust)

Business and economics

Peabody Energy, the largest privately-owned producer of coal in the world headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, files for bankruptcy court protection due to high debts and a drop in world prices. (Reuters)(ABC News Australia)

Disasters and accidents

At least 15 people are killed and 20 injured following a road accident in the Pakistani city of Faisalabad. (Samaa)
2016 Myanmar earthquake
- A magnitude 6.9 earthquake strikes Myanmar 396 kilometers (246 miles) north of the capital, Naypyidaw, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. (AP via CBS News)
The government of Malawi declares a state of emergency across the country over worsening food shortages caused by a severe drought that is affecting much of Southern Africa with about 2.8 million Malawians, or 20% of the population, facing food insecurity. (Al Jazeera)
2014–16 El Niño event
- Indian officials report, with 24 deaths today, the heatwave in the eastern state of Odisha has killed 135 people. Temperatures of 105.5 degrees Fahrenheit were recorded yesterday at 19 locations across the state. Meteorologists say the heat, an after-effect of El Niño, has delayed the traditional April rains. (UPI)
A Britten-Norman Islander light aircraft crashes in the Papua New Guinea town of Kiunga resulting in the deaths of all twelve people on board. (ABC News Australia)

Health

Zika virus outbreak (2015–present)
- The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that the Zika virus causes birth defects like microcephaly. (Fox News)

International relations

Russia–United States relations, Cold War II
- Two unarmed Russian Air Force Sukhoi Su-24 jets flew simulated attacks on United States Navy destroyer USS Donald Cook in the Baltic Sea on Tuesday, according to a U.S. official, who described it as one of the most aggressive interactions in recent memory. A Russian Kamov Ka-27 naval helicopter also made seven passes around the USS Donald Cook, taking pictures of the warship. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Recognition of same-sex unions in China
- A judge rules against a gay couple in China’s first same-sex marriage case. (AP)
November 2015 Paris attacks
- Three people arrested yesterday in connection with last year’s attacks in Paris are released without charge. (AFP/Reuters via ABC News)
LGBT rights in the United States
- Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards signs an anti-discrimination order protecting the rights of gay and transgender people that rescinds one his immediate predecessor, Bobby Jindal, signed that sought to limit same-sex marriage rights and the ability of transgender people to choose which public restrooms they may use. (Reuters via Huffington Post)

Politics and elections

South Korean legislative election, 2016
- Voters in South Korea go to the polls for a legislative election with the ruling Saenuri Party losing seats in a surprise setback. (AP) (Bloomberg)
- The opposition Minjoo Party of Korea wins the most seats in the Parliament. (BBC)
Syrian parliamentary election, 2016
- Voters in mostly government controlled areas of Syria will head to the polls to elect 250 members to the People’s Council of Syria. (RT) (TeleSUR)
2015–16 protests in Brazil
- The Progressive Party announces it is leaving President Dilma Rousseff’s coalition government and that its 47 politicians would support her impeachment. (Al Jazeera)
Papua conflict
- Massive demonstrations in support of the Free Papua Movement take place in various cities in the Indonesian provinces of Papua and West Papua. The demonstrations voice support for the Liberation Movement to become a full member of the Melanesian Spearhead Group. (Radio New Zealand)
A number of people were injured in clashes between police and several thousand protestors in Skopje, Macedonia, with demonstrators breaking into President Gjorge Ivanov‘s offices. (RT)

Sport

The World Anti-Doping Agency advises that WADA-accredited laboratories are currently conducting studies on meldonium excretion rates since existing data is lacking. Meldonium became a banned substance on January 1, 2016. A large number of athletes, including grand-slam tennis champion Maria Sharapova, had taken the medication in the past, and have tested positive this year. The new data will address how long meldonium stays in the body and determine if athletes were provided a reasonable amount of time to adhere to the new restrictions prior to testing. The drug was used by many Soviet-bloc athletes since the 80s. (Reuters) (WADA)
2015-16 NBA season
- In basketball, the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors team sets a new NBA record for regular season wins with 73 wins this season. The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls previously held the record with 72. (Washington Post)
- Kobe Bryant plays his last game in the NBA for the Los Angeles Lakers. He sets a new points record for a final match scoring 60 against the Utah Jazz. (Washington Post)

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April 14, 2016

Top News Stories –

US basketball star Kobe Bryant shines in final game –
One of basketball’s biggest stars, Kobe Bryant, has retired from the sport after a career spanning two decades with a stunning final performance. He scored 60 points to help the LA Lakers make a dramatic comeback against the Utah Jazz in Los Angeles. Bryant, 37, spent his entire career with the Lakers, winning five NBA titles and recording the third highest total number of points in the sport. Tickets for his final match changed hands for up to $27,500 (£19,315). Bryant scored 23 points in the fourth quarter to help his team overcome a 15-point deficit to win the game. [BBC]
Kobe Bryant

Video of the Day –

French Horn Rebellion – Foolin’ Around (Official Video) from Ariel Fisher on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide	USA
#QuintaComOClubeSDV	#DemocraticWhores
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#وش_كانوا_اهلك_…	#MilwaukeeDay
#LetMeCheerYouUpBy	Ghost in the Shell
#مش_مرتبط_ليه	#FightFor15
#DemocraticWhores	#NFLScheduleRelease
#三大欲はこんなもん	#1YearOfHandwritten
#1YearOfHandwritten	#demdebate
#خرافات_مشت_عليك	#DPLAfest
#اوصف_نفسك_بتو�…	#IvyPark

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Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- Taliban militants kill eight people, including a police commander, in an ambush in northern Afghanistan. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- A Palestinian wielding an ax attacks an Israeli soldier near Hebron and is shot dead while two 12-year-old Palestinians in Jerusalem are arrested by Israeli Police with three knives concealed in their coats on suspicion of planning to carry out a stabbing attack. (The Times of Israel)

Arts and culture

Authorities in Ukraine recover four Dutch Golden Age paintings stolen from a museum in the Netherlands a decade ago. (AP via Seattle Times)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Kumamoto earthquake
- A magnitude 6.4 earthquake strikes near Kumamoto, Japan, collapsing several buildings killing at least four people and injuring 400. However, no tsunami warning was issued and local nuclear power plants reported no problems. (Reuters), (CNN), (Japan Today)
At least 18 people are killed after a 80-tonne crane collapses on a temporary structure during a thunderstorm in the city of Dongguan, China. (The Times of India)

International relations

North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- North Korea deploys one or two intermediate-range ballistic missiles on its east coast, possibly preparing for launch on or around Friday, the anniversary of the birth of the country’s founder Kim Il-sung, according to South Korea’s Yonhap news agency. (Euronews via Reuters)

Law and crime

The People’s Republic of China announces that it will prosecute 357 people for the illegal sale of vaccines. (BBC)
The U.S. company Microsoft has sued the United States, alleging that it has been prevented from disclosing warrants to the company’s customers in violation of the company’s constitutional rights. (NYT)

Politics and elections

The Verkhovna Rada appoints Volodmyr Groysman as the Prime Minister of Ukraine, replacing Arseny Yatseniuk. (Reuters)
Authorities in Jammu and Kashmir impose a curfew around the capital of Srinagar, Handwara, and neighbouring villages as protests turn violent. People began to protest last Tuesday when allegations were circulated by residents in Handwara that an Indian Army soldier tried to sexually assault a teenage schoolgirl. (Al Jazeera)
Hong Kong’s June 4th Museum, the first museum dedicated to the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, is to close down. Organizers say they believe they are being targeted for political reasons. It comes at a time when concerns are growing in Hong Kong that Beijing is tightening its grip on the city. (The Guardian)
Thousands of opposition supporters rally in Harare, Zimbabwe, against President Robert Mugabe and the deteriorating economy. The rally was banned by the police, however, it went ahead after a ruling by the High Court sanctioned the protest. (BBC)

Sports

In basketball, the WNBA draft is held in Uncasville, Connecticut. The top pick is Connecticut’s Breanna Stewart, followed by her college teammates Moriah Jefferson and Morgan Tuck. This marks the first time in any major North American sports draft that a single school produced the top three selections. (ESPN)

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April 15, 2016

Top News Stories –

New Zealand stages first Pastafarian wedding on pirate boat –
The light-hearted Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster has staged its first legally recognised wedding. Toby Ricketts and Marianna Fenn tied the “noodle knot” in the New Zealand South Island town of Akaroa. The happy couple say that guidelines of the Pastafarian religion stipulate that wedding celebrants must be pirates. Members of the church profess the belief that the world was created by an airborne spaghetti and meatballs-based being and humans evolved from pirates. New Zealand officials last month designated the religion as an officially-recognised faith, allowing Wellington-based Pastafarian Karen Martyn the legal right to conduct marriages. She carried out her inaugural wedding as an ordained “ministeroni” on Saturday. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

While You Were Away from Ben Mallaby on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide	USA
#SextaDetremuraSdv	#FlashbackFriday
#DiaMundialDelArte	#UnbreakableKimmySchmidt
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#ALDUBMonthsaryPlans	#6YearsSinceNiallsAudition
#BuyHairOniTunes	#DayofSilence
#DemDebate	#ISOJ

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- A battle rages in the Kunduz Province of Afghanistan as the Taliban launches its spring offensive to capture the city of Kunduz. According to a Taliban spokesperson, several outposts already fell to them but this could not be verified immediately while a police chief says that the security forces were keeping “the situation under control”. (Al Jazeera)
PKK rebellion (2015–present)
- At least four Turkish Army soldiers are killed and two others are wounded after a roadside bomb hit their vehicle in the southeast Mardin Province. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

Human rights abuse victims during the regime of Ferdinand Marcos stake a claim on auction proceeds from Imelda Marcos‘ art collection, which includes pieces by Michelangelo, Monet, Van Gogh, andPicasso. (Rappler)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Kumamoto earthquake
- The death toll from yesterday’s earthquake rises to nine with eight dead in the town of Mashiki. Eight hundred people have been injured including over 50 seriously injured. (AP)
At least two people are killed and five missing after a building collapses in Tenerife in the Canary Islands. (France 24)
A tornado hits the Uruguayan town of Dolores resulting in at least four deaths and seven injuries. (AP via Star Tribune)
A Malayan tiger attacks and kills a 38-year-old American zookeeper at the Palm Beach Zoo in Florida. (Reuters)

International relations

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea, Philippine general election, 2016
- Presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte says he will set aside the Philippine claim on the Spratly islands and forge better economic relations with China. (Rappler)
North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- South Korea‘s Yonhap news agency reports that North Korea tried to launch a BM25 Musudan intermediate-range ballistic missile but was unsuccessful. (Reuters)
- Chinese state media condemn the action saying that saber-rattling will “lead the country to nowhere”. (The Guardian)
Russia–United States relations
- John Kerry informs Russia that under the rules of engagement the plane that flew over the USS Donald Cook on April 13th could have been shot down. (AFP via MSN)
Poland–Russia relations, NATO–Russia relations
- Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski, during a visit to Slovakia for talks on the future of NATO, says Russia is more dangerous than the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). “By all evidence, Russia’s activity is a sort of existential threat because this activity can destroy countries,” Waszczykowski told reporters in Bratislava. He described ISIL as a very serious threat but said “it is not an existential threat for Europe”. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

Authorities in Rwanda jail former politician Léon Mugesera for life. Mugesera was known for describing Tutsis as “cockroaches” and called for their extermination in a speech in 1992 and is said to be a precursor to the Rwandan genocide. (BBC)
Two firefighters are shot, one fatally and the other is in critical condition, during a welfare check in Temple Hills, Maryland. (AP)

Politics and elections

The New York Post, a daily newspaper controlled by media magnate Rupert Murdoch, makes a u-turn and endorses Donald Trump for President of the United States. (Washington Post) (New York Post)
Philippine presidential election, 2016
- Presidential candidate Miriam Defensor Santiago, who lags in surveys, accuses pollsters of fabricating results by excluding her name in opinion polls.(GMA News) (Inquirer) (The Manila Bulletin)
Impeachment process against Dilma Rousseff
- The Supreme Federal Court of Brazil rejects a bid by the Attorney General to suspend a vote in the parliament to begin impeachment procedures against the President Dilma Rousseff. (Reuters)
- Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies begins debating the impeachment of the President. (AP)
Aftermath of the 2016 Brussels bombings
- Belgian Minister of Transportation Jacqueline Galant resigns in the wake of the recent bombings that shook Brussels last March. Galant resigned amid accusations her ministry ignored EU criticism of security at Belgium’s airports. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Riot police violently break up an anti-Sisi protest in Cairo, Egypt. In the first sign of public discontent with President Sisi’s rule, hundreds of people gathered and shouted slogans calling for his overthrow. (Al Jazeera)
Leaders of the Czech Republic choose “Czechia” as the one-word alternative name of their country to make it easier for companies, politicians and sportsmen to use on products, name tags and sporting jerseys. However, this change must still win cabinet approval before the foreign ministry can lodge the name with the United Nations for it to become the country’s official short name. (The Guardian)

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April 16, 2016

Top News Stories –

Ecuador earthquake of 7.8 magnitude kills dozens –
A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake in Ecuador has killed at least 77 people and injured more than 500, Vice-President Jorge Glas says. The quake, Ecuador’s largest since 1979, hit at 18:58 on Saturday (23:58 GMT) near the northern town of Muisne. Widespread severe damage is reported, with a bridge destroyed as far south as Guayaquil about 300km (190 miles) away. President Rafael Correa, who is flying back from a trip to Italy, has decreed a state of emergency. He said: “This is a very painful test. I ask the country to be calm and united… Let’s be strong; we will overcome this.” He added: “Roads and hospitals can be rebuilt; you cannot recover lost lives. That’s what hurts the most.” [BBC]

Army approves 22 women as infantry, armor officers –
The Army approved requests from 22 women to become the first female infantry and armor unit officers, opening leadership and ground combat positions previously only available to men. The Army said throughout the coming weeks 13 women will enter the armor branch and nine others will enter infantry as second lieutenants. They will be the first females to serve in the traditionally all-male front-line combat branches since the U.S. Department of Defense opened all combat roles in the U.S. Armed Forces to women. [UPI]

Prince rushed to hospital after emergency plane landing –
Prince has been rushed to hospital after his plane made an emergency landing.According to TMZ, the singer’s private jet was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Illinois.It happened just hours after he’d performed on stage in Atlanta. Prince was immediately taken from the plane in an ambulance and treated at a nearby hospital.He was released after a few hours. [BBC]
Prince in 2008

Video of the Day –

Stephen Hawking’s Starshot, explained

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide	USA
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Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- According to a police chief, at least 40 Taliban fighters are killed after launching an offensive against Afghan security forces to seize the strategic northern city of Kunduz while four security force personnel are also killed. (Al Jazeera)
War in Somalia (2009–present)
- AMISOM soldiers kill four Somali civilians in the town of Bulla Marer, southwest of Mogadishu. The AU Mission said scared soldiers opened fire when the car the civilians were driving failed to stop at a roadblock. (BBC)
Moro conflict
- Philippine officials report four Indonesian sailors were kidnapped last night off the Philippines’ southernmost town of Sitangkai, Tawi-Tawi, near Malaysia’s Sabah state. Seven gunmen in a blue speedboatattacked two Indonesian-flagged tugboats. Six other sailors, including one who was shot, were not taken by ISIL-linked Abu Sayyaf militants. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War
- Syrian government airstrikes, and rockets from Islamist insurgents, hit many neighborhoods in Aleppo. Fatalities are reported on both sides of the city. This continued fighting threatens the truce and peace talks being held in Geneva, Switzerland. UN envoy Staffan de Mistura says he will meet the government delegation Monday, and will sit down with the main opposition High Negotiations Committee later in the week. (Reuters) (AFP via Thanh Niên)
Ethiopia claims that members of South Sudan‘s Murle people have killed 140 people and abducted 39 children. (BBC)
German police report an apparent deliberate explosion at a Sikh temple in Essen while a wedding was being celebrated, has injured three people, one in serious condition. Police say there is no indication this was a terrorist incident. (AP)

Arts and culture

The United States Army approves 22 soldiers requests to become the service’s first female infantry and armor unit officers. Thirteen women will enter the armor branch, and nine others will enter infantry assecond lieutenants. (UPI)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Kumamoto earthquakes
- A second earthquake hits southern Japan with a magnitude of 7.1 killing at least 32 people with the death toll from both earthquakes rising to 42. The new quake traps even more people. In Kumamoto a landslide occurs as well as a bridge collapse. (AFP via Yahoo! News) (AP) (AP via Yahoo! News)
- A new aftershock with a magnitude of 5.4 hits southern Kyushu island. A Japanese spokesman says 1,500 people have been injured, 80 seriously, since Thursday. (AP) (USA Today)
- Japan‘s Mount Aso in the Kumamoto Prefecture erupts sending ash about 100 meters (300 feet) into the air. The Japan Meteorological Agency kept its alert level at 2 on a scale of 5 for Aso following the eruption. It is unclear if the eruption is related to Saturday’s Kumamoto quake. (The Japan Times)
- Saturday’s earthquake forces Sony to close its plant in the Kumamoto Prefecture. Toyota, Honda, and Nissan also stop work at several plants in the region. (UPI)
A helicopter crashes near Baltimore–Washington International Airport in Baltimore, Maryland. However, no fatalities are reported. (Reuters via Euronews)
Five people are dead and five are in hospital after taking ecstasy at an Argentine version of the Time Warp Festival featuring electronic music acts. (Reuters via Yahoo!)
The death toll rises to seven from Thursday’s building collapse in the Canary Islands’ southern coastal town of Los Cristianos on the island of Tenerife. (AP)
2016 Ecuador earthquake
- A magnitude 7.8 earthquake strikes off the coast of Ecuador, near the town of Muisne. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center issues a tsunami alert for coastal areas of Ecuador and Colombia. At least 42 people are reported dead with deaths reported in the cities of Manta, Guayaquil and Portoviejo. (BNO News), (USGS) (Reuters via NBC News), (AP via Fox News)
- A state of emergency is declared in six provinces. (BBC)
- Later, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center announces the threat has largely passed. The United States Geological Survey reports the 7.8 magnitude quake was preceded, 11 minutes earlier, by a 4.8 earthquake. Production at the 110,000 barrel-per-day Esmeraldas refinery is suspended as a precautionary measure. (The Straits Times)

International relations

European migrant crisis
- Pope Francis arrives on the Greek island of Lesbos. Francis is expected to visit the Moria detention facility, where he will have lunch with some of the 3,060 men, women, and children there. (The Washington Post)
- Pope Francis offers refuge to a dozen Syrian Muslims, three families with six children, who faced deportation from Lesbos. The refugees accompanied the Pope on his return trip to Rome. (The Guardian)
Iran–European Union relations
- EU Foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini holds the highest-level talks between the EU and Iran in decades to mark a new phase in relations between the two. Both sides are keen to focus on trade, energy and the environment as possible areas of cooperation. (BBC)
The United States announces that it will transfer nine Yemeni detainees from the Guantanamo Bay detention camp to Saudi Arabia. (CNN) (AP)
Russia–United States relations, Cold War II
- A United States Air Force Boeing RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft was intercepted and threatened by a Russian Sukhoi Su-27 fighter jet in international airspace over the Baltic Sea on Thursday (April 14), according to the United States European Command (EUCOM). (Fox News)

Law and crime

General Salvador Cienfuegos Zepeda, Mexico‘s Secretary of National Defence, apologises for an incident in which two soldiers and a policewoman torture a woman. (AFP via France 24)

Politics and elections

Iraq’s Parliament cancels its third session in a week to discuss political reforms as some MPs dispute the legitimacy of speaker Salim al-Jabouri to chair the meeting. Also, protesters gathered in the streets ofBaghdad to protest the growing political deadlock in the country. (Al Jazeera)
Macedonian parliamentary election, 2016
- As protesters continue to take to the streets of Skopje, Macedonia, lawmakers confirmed that a snap election will take place on June 5 despite the protesters being angry at President Gjorge Ivanov’sdecision to halt investigations into more than 50 public figures, including top politicians embroiled in a wire-tapping scandal. Zoran Zaev, the main opposition leader, vowed to boycott the election. (The Guardian)
Veteran President of the Republic of the Congo Denis Sassou Nguesso is sworn in for another term after a contentious election. (AFP via Daily Mail)

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April 17, 2016

Top News Stories –

Messi scores 500th career goal –
Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has scored his 500th career goal. The Argentine forward netted in the 63rd minute of Sunday’s Liga clash with Valencia to bring up the landmark. Messi, who was making his 525th appearance for Barca, has now scored an incredible 450 goals for the Liga champions, while he has a total of 50 for Argentina from his 107 caps for the national team. [Goal.com] In January Messi won the Ballon d’Or award for the world’s best player for the fifth time.
Lionel Messi

Apple recovered one tonne of gold by recycling iPhones last year –
Apple has revealed it reclaimed almost one metric tonne of gold by recycling its own products in 2015. At current prices, that’s equivalent to around £28 million worth of gold. The figure was revealed in Apple’s recently-released Environmental Responsibility Report, which details the results of the company’s eco-friendly efforts in the last financial year. As well as the gold, Apple recovered three tonnes of silver (worth around £1.1 million at current prices), and over 1,300 tonnes of copper. These valuable materials were reclaimed through the Apple Renew scheme, which lets customers hand in their worn-out Apple devices in exchange for money off future Apple purchases. [The Independent]

Video of the Day –

How To Hide You’re Out Of Shape

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide	USA
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#FelizDomingo	#NotAMeeting
#الابتعاث_افسد…	#EcuadorEarthquake
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#DomingoDetremuraSdv	Ecuador
#TagueirosPelaInternetJust…	#IWillCallYouDaddyIf
Ecuador	#SundayFunday

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Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- Heavy fighting continues in the north of Afghanistan as Taliban fighters intensify their attacks in several districts around Kunduz in their bid to retake the city. According to a police chief, militants overnight attacked several police checkpoints in the southwest outskirts of the city while government forces repelled a major attack to the east of Kunduz. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Ecuador earthquake
- The death toll from Saturday night’s earthquake in Ecuador rises to 262 with more than 2,500 people injured. (AP via Fox News) (BBC) (AFP/Reuters via ABC News Australia) (AP² via Miami Herald)
A bus carrying members of the Bharati Gananatya opera troupe crashes into a gorge in India‘s Odisha state resulting in 25 people killed and 11 injured. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
A drone collides at London’s Heathrow Airport with an Airbus A320 carrying 132 passengers and five crew, with no injuries reported. (Sydney Morning Herald)

International relations

Members of OPEC meet in Doha, Qatar, amid uncertainty in the markets and the outcome of the meeting. Since 2014, the price of oil has dropped dramatically. Analysts hope that an agreement to freeze output will reassure global energy markets that the recent recovery in prices is sustainable. (Al Jazeera)
Israel–Syria relations
- The Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu vows that the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, recognized as part of Syria, will forever stay in the country’s hands and called on the international community to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the area. (BBC)
- The Syrian Foreign Ministry condemns the Israeli cabinet meeting held on occupied Syrian-territory and, in letters to both the Security Council and the Secretary-General of the United Nations, calls on the U.N. to condemn Israel’s action. (The Daily Star)
Russia-United States relations
- A Russian Su-27 jet intercepts a United States Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance plane while in international airspace over the Baltic Sea. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says, “We condemn this kind of behavior. It is reckless. It is provocative. It is dangerous.” (AFP via The Strait Times)

Law and crime

Human rights in Myanmar
- The President of Myanmar Htin Kyaw pardons 83 political prisoners. A total of 282 people accused of political crimes have been released or had charges dropped since the new National League for Democracy government gained power on April 1. (Reuters) (Deutsche Welle,)

Politics and elections

Philippine presidential election, 2016
- Presidential frontrunner Rodrigo Duterte jokes about an Australian woman being raped and murdered in Davao City. (Rappler) (ABC News Australia) (Sydney Morning Herald) (BBC News)
Italian oil drilling referendum, 2016
- The Italian referendum proposes repealing the law that allows oil drilling concessions extracting Hydrocarbon within 12 nautical miles of the Italian coast to be prolonged until the exhaustion of the useful life of the fields. (Euronews)
Aftermath of the 2016 Brussels bombings
- At least 7,000 people take to the streets of Brussels, Belgium, in a march “against terror and hate.” However, turnout was less than half of what was hoped for by organizers. (BBC)
Protests continue in Skopje, Republic of Macedonia, against President Gjorge Ivanov‘s decision to suspend an investigation into the alleged corruption of a number of politicians. (The Sofia Globe)
Impeachment process against Dilma Rousseff
- Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies votes overwhelmingly (367-137) in favor of impeachment procedures against President Dilma Rousseff. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)

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April 18, 2016

Top News Stories –

Depp’s wife Amber Heard avoids Australia dog-smuggling conviction –
Actress Amber Heard has avoided a conviction for illegally taking her dogs into Australia. Ms Heard, married to actor Johnny Depp, had pleaded guilty in court to making a false statement on her immigration card about the couple’s Yorkshire terriers. But the Queensland judge gave her a one-month good behaviour bond with no conviction recorded. If she breaks the bond she must pay A$1,000 ($770; £540). The authorities also released an unusual video apology from the couple. In the video, which was shown in court and made public by the Department of Agriculture, the couple expressed remorse and advised travellers to respect Australian quarantine laws. [BBC] See Video of the Day
Amber Heard

Three-day working week ‘optimal for over-40s’ –
Workers aged over 40 perform at their best if they work three days a week, according to economic researchers. Their research analysed the work habits and brain test results of about 3,000 men and 3,500 women aged over 40 in Australia. Their calculations suggest a part-time job keeps the brain stimulated, while avoiding exhaustion and stress. The researchers said this needed to be taken into consideration as many countries raise their retirement age. [BBC]

YouTube live-streams in virtual reality and adds 3D sound –
YouTube is introducing live-streamed 360-degree videos on its service. The Google-owned platform said select concerts from California’s Coachella festival would be the first to use the virtual reality facility. In addition, it announced videos on its service could now be enhanced with “spatial audio”, which simulates the effect of sounds coming from different directions and distances. One expert said the innovation could greatly enhance VR experiences. The announcements were timed to coincide with the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference in Las Vegas, where several new virtual reality products are being launched. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard: Australian biosecurity

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#AliİsmailKorkmaz	#IFeelOldWhen
#houstonflood	#RAWLondon
#BostonMarathon	#asugsvsummit
#NoALaDroga	#FightForFamilies

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Syrian rebels launch new offensives against government forces in the country’s Latakia Governorate and Hama Governorate. Several rebel groups earlier announced they were launching a new battle against government forces in response to claimed violations of the cease-fire agreement, further putting a strain on the Syrian peace process. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
- Rockets fired by ISIL from northern Syria hit the Turkish town of Kilis killing four people, most of them children. (BBC)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015–present)
- 2016 Jerusalem bombing
  - A bomb explosion in Jerusalem set two buses on fire and injured 21 people with ball bearing and nails. Israeli police say they believe the incident was a suicide bombing but no group has claimed responsibility. (Euronews) (Ynetnews)
Ethnic violence in South Sudan, Sudanese nomadic conflicts
- According to the government of Ethiopia, the death toll from a raid carried out by attackers from South Sudan has risen to 208 from a figure of 140 a day earlier, with 108 children being kidnapped in the process. Ethiopian forces killed 60 of the attackers and says it would cross the border into South Sudan to pursue the assailants if necessary. (Al Jazeera)

Arts and culture

Pulitzer Prizes
- The Associated Press wins the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for documenting the use of slave labor in Southeast Asia to supply seafood to American tables. (AP)
- Lin-Manuel Miranda wins the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the musical Hamilton based on the life of American founding father Alexander Hamilton. (Buzzfeed)

Business and economics

The meeting in Doha, Qatar, of the world’s top oil producers, from both OPEC and non-OPEC countries, fails to agree on an output freeze. Oil analysts say the failure was due to Iran’s non-participation, andSaudi Arabia linking its cooperation to Iran’s inclusion. Oil prices drop in early Asian trading and on the New York Mercantile Exchange. (AFP via Bangkok Post) (CNBC) (Oilprice.com)
A member of the board of the Bundesbank in Germany says that the European Central Bank ought to crack down on the political practice, in EU’s member state, by which banks that are no longer viable are nonetheless kept in business, as so-called Zombie banks. (Reuters)
Cuba-United States relations
- Carnival Cruise Lines says it will postpone its first cruise in 50 years from the United States to Havana, if Cuba does not waive its rule and allow Cuban-Americans passengers. Current Cuban law does not allow those born on the island to return by sea. (UPI) (AP via CNBC)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Kumamoto earthquakes
- The Japanese Red Cross says that 250,000 people have been asked to leave their homes due to further tremors. (BBC)
2016 Ecuador earthquake
- Aid starts to flow in after an earthquake kills over 270 people in Ecuador. (AP via Fox News), (BBC)
European migrant crisis
- More than 400 migrants, mostly from Somalia, drown in the Mediterranean Sea while traveling from Egypt to Italy. (The Telegraph)
Violent storms cause floods across Uruguay with seven people killed and more than 2,000 left homeless. Four of those were killed by a tornado that struck Dolores. Four million people in the Chilean capital ofSantiago were left without tap water as heavy rains triggered landslides. This led to the fouling of the city’s water supply. (Al Jazeera)
2016 Houston floods
- Heavy rain of more than 1 foot (0.30 m) causes major flooding in Houston, Texas, affecting 1,000 homes, causing five deaths and causing power outages for over 100,000 residents. (CNN), (USA Today), (Time)
- Texas Governor Greg Abbott declares nine counties in the southeastern part of the state disaster areas. (UPI)

International relations

Australia–Philippines relations, Philippine presidential election, 2016
- Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Amanda Gorely criticizes Philippine presidential frontrunner Rodrigo Duterte regarding his remarks about the rape of an Australian citizen. (Rappler), (The New York Times)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- During a visit to Baghdad, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter announces that the United States will be sending more troops to the country to help in the fight against ISIL. The U.S. also plans to giveKurdish Peshmerga forces, which are fighting ISIL on the ground, more than $400m (£280m; €350m) in assistance. (BBC)

Law and crime

War in Donbass, Russia–Ukraine relations
- A Ukrainian court sentences two Russian nationals to 14 years in prison each on charges of fighting alongside Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Moscow contends that the two Russians were no longer employed by the state when they were captured. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Politics and elections

Philippine general election, 2016
- Bongbong Marcos, the son of dictator Ferdinand Marcos and top vice presidential candidate, defends Duterte’s remarks about rape. (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Italian oil drilling referendum, 2016
- The referendum fails to exceed the 50% turnout level necessary to make the results binding; turnout was recorded at 31.2%. (Reuters)
Next Australian federal election
- Australia looks likely to hold a double dissolution election on July 2 after the Senate rejects legislation to bring back the Australian Building and Construction Commission for a second time. (ABC News Australia)
2016 Macedonian protests
- Protests against President Gjorge Ivanov continue in Skopje, the capital of Macedonia, after his decision to pardon politicians involved in a scandal. (The Seattle Times)

Sports

More than 30,000 runners participate in the 120th running of the Boston Marathon. Two Ethiopian runners win. Adriana Haslett and Patrick Downes, survivors of the 2013 bombing who each lost a leg in the blast, were in the field.(The Boston Globe) (NPR)

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April 21, 2016

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

For You (1978)
Prince (1979)
Dirty Mind (1980)
Controversy (1981)
1999 (1982)
Purple Rain (1984)
Around the World in a Day (1985)
Parade (1986)
Sign o’ the Times (1987)
Lovesexy (1988)
Batman (1989)
Graffiti Bridge (1990)
Diamonds and Pearls (1991)
(Love Symbol Album) (1992)
Come (1994)
The Black Album (1994)
The Gold Experience (1995)
Chaos and Disorder (1996)
Emancipation (1996)
Crystal Ball (1998)
The Truth (1998)
The Vault: Old Friends 4 Sale (1999)
Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic (1999)
The Rainbow Children (2001)
One Nite Alone… (2002)
Xpectation (2003)
N.E.W.S (2003)
Musicology (2004)
The Chocolate Invasion (2004)
The Slaughterhouse (2004)
3121 (2006)
Planet Earth (2007)
Lotusflow3r (2009)
MPLSound (2009)
20Ten (2010)
Plectrumelectrum (2014)
Art Official Age (2014)
HITnRUN Phase One (2015)
HITnRUN Phase Two (2015)

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)

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Worldwide	USA
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Selamat Hari Kartini	#420Celebs
#SaveTheEarthIn4Words	Prince

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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April 23, 2016

Top News Stories –

William Shakespeare 400: Prince Charles takes to stage to speak Bard’s most famous line –
Prince Charles bravely went up against Britain’s finest actors to make his acting debut with what is possibly Shakespeare’s most famous line. The Prince of Wales became the Prince of Denmark as he joined acting royalty on stage to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, uttering: “To be or not to be. That is the question.” Charles made a shock appearance as Hamlet alongside Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen, Benedict Cumberbatch and David Tennant in a star-studded televised gala performance in the Bard’s birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon. Charles, who had been watching Shakespeare Live! at the town’s riverside Royal Shakespeare Theatre show with the Duchess of Cornwall, was heard to speak from the wings, asking: “Might I have a word … ” Then followed the opening lines to what is one of Shakespeare’s best-known soliloquies: “To be or not to be, that is the question.” [Daily Mirror]

Manager at exotic pet shop paid a prostitute with a MONKEY worth $2,500 that he swiped from the store owned by his wife –
An Oregon man was arrested after he allegedly tipped a prostitute with an exotic monkey, valued at $2,500, that he took from his own pet store. Nathan Allen McClain, 36, is accused of tipping a prostitute with an exotic primate and paying her with money from the Zany Zoo Pet Store fund, which included a donation jar with money, in exchange for a sexual encounter, according to Eugene detectives. The unidentified woman, who police tracked down at a local hotel, had the Galago primate in her possession and told authorities she received it as a tip from a client, whom she identified as McClain. The woman was cooperative, and provided a statement to detectives, along with the animal. [Daily Mail]

Video of the Day –

BALANCE from Tim Sessler on Vimeo.

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in North-West Pakistan
- The Pakistani Taliban claims the killing of a Sikh lawmaker, Soran Singh. (The New York Times)
Syrian Civil War
- ISIL claims to have shot down a Syrian Arab Air Force MiG-23, southeast of Damascus, and captured its pilot. Amaq News Agency, which supports ISIL, gave the pilot’s name as Azzam Eid, from Hama. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says it was not clear whether the plane had been shot down or crashed because of mechanical failure. (Daily Mail) (Times of Israel)
- Syrian government airstrikes kill 25 people, mostly civilians, in attacks on rebel-held areas near the capital Damascus. (NY Times)
Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen
- Yemeni government forces along with Popular Resistance militia kill dozens of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula fighters in clashes in southern Yemen. A drone strike kills two others further north, nearMa’rib. (Reuters)
Iraqi Civil War
- Two separate car bombs kill at least 12 people in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad. The Islamic State claims responsibility for the blast at the security checkpoint in a northern district that killed nine and injured 28 others. Three people are killed and 11 injured at the second bombing in southern Baghdad that targeted an army convoy; no group has claimed responsibility. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

The continuing influence of English dramatist William Shakespeare is celebrated on the 400th anniversary of his death in Stratford-upon-Avon. (Time)
Spain commemorates the 400th anniversary of the death of its most famous author Miguel de Cervantes. (AFP via France 24)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 South Pacific cyclone season
- Samoan authorities prepared for Severe Tropical Cyclone Amos which is forecast to make landfall later tonight. (Weather Zone)
A Russian oil tanker catches fire in the Caspian Sea, killing at least one crew member. A total of 10 crew members were evacuated from the ship, which was in the territorial waters of Turkmenistan when the fire broke out. It was unclear what caused the blaze. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
2016 Ecuador earthquake
- The death toll from the earthquake passes 650 with over 50 people missing. It is now the deadliest earthquake in South America this century. (AP via ABC News)

International relations

North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- North Korea is reported to have launched a submarine-launched ballistic missile for the first time. (Reuters)
Russia–United States relations
- President of Russia Vladimir Putin accuses the United States of reneging on a 16-year-old deal that called for reducing Russia’s and the United States’ stockpiles of weapons-grade plutonium. He accusedWashington of trying to preserve its ability to turn some of its plutonium stockpile back into a form usable for nuclear weapons. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Syrian peace process
- Reuters reports the Friday afternoon truce between Kurdish Asayish forces and pro-Syrian government forces, declared following a three-day outbreak of violence that killed at least 26 people, is holding.(Reuters)
European migrant crisis
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Council President Donald Tusk, and European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans meet with Syrian refugees at a camp in the southeasternTurkish town of Nizip prior to talks with a delegation led by Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu. Davutoğlu stresses the importance of implementation of European Union visa liberalization for Turkish citizens in assuring the success of Europe’s migrant readmission agreement with his country. Tusk announces that the EU will spend 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) this summer on projects to improve the lives of Syrian migrants. (Hürriyet Daily News) (Reuters) (Journal of Turkish Weekly)
North Korea-United States relations
- Foreign Minister Ri Su-yong says North Korea is ready to halt nuclear tests if the United States suspends its annual military exercises with South Korea. (AP via Time)

Law and crime

Attacks on secularists in Bangladesh
- Professor Rezaul Karim Siddique is killed in the Bangladeshi city of Rajshahi in an ISIL attack. (Hindustan Times) (AFP via Yahoo!)
Böhmermann affair
- During a rally in support of German comedian Jan Böhmermann, outside the Turkish embassy in Berlin, Bruno Kramm, head of the Berlin branch of Germany’s Pirate Party, is arrested for “insulting a representative of a foreign state” by quoting a line from the comic’s satirical poem about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. (RT)
Panama Papers
- Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif bows to opposition demands that he ask Pakistan’s chief justice to set up an independent commission to investigate offshore accounts linked to his family. Sharif said he would accept the commission’s findings and even resign if called upon. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
- European Union finance ministers approve a series of measures to tackle tax-evading methods that were exposed by the Panama Papers. (The Guardian)
United States Federal agents are combing three states for 32 cases of commercial grade explosives, about 500 pounds of 2½ to 5 inch aerial shells, stolen from a CSX train traveling from Chicago, Illinois, through Ohio that arrived in Detroit, Michigan, on Wednesday. (CBS News) (Detroit Free Press)

Politics and elections

Philippine presidential election, 2016
- Human rights activists, lawyers, labor rights groups and other advocates endorse Leni Robredo for vice president. (Rappler)
South Sudanese Civil War
- Rebel leader Riek Machar misses an international deadline to return to the capital Juba to take the post of Vice President. Machar was offered the position by President Salva Kiir Mayardit in the hopes of putting an end to the civil war but has repeatedly delayed his return. (Al Jazeera)
Thousands of people protest in the German city of Hanover against the proposed Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership deal. They say the deal would drive down wages, and weaken environmental protection and labour rights. (BBC)
Darfurian status referendum, 2016
- According to the Sudanese electoral commission, more than 97% of voters in Darfur choose to remain as five states rather than form a single region. However, The vote was held amid ongoing insecurity and many of Sudan’s 2.5 million displaced people were not registered to vote, with the U.S. State Department warning that the referendum could not be considered credible “under current rules and conditions”. (BBC)
Congo President Denis Sassou Nguesso names former opposition leader Clément Mouamba as prime minister. (Reuters)

Science and Technology

Solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse 2 lands in Mountain View, California after a 62-hour flight across the Pacific Ocean from Hawaii. (NBC News) (BBC)

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The 2010s

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