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

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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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