Top News Stories –

Silk Road drug website founder Ross Ulbricht jailed –
The founder of online illegal drug marketplace the Silk Road has been sentenced to life in prison in the US. Federal prosecutors said Ross Ulbricht’s website, hosted on the hidden “dark web”, sold more than $200m (£131m) worth of drugs anonymously. The 31-year-old was found guilty in New York of charges including conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking. The site was shut down in 2013 after police arrested Ulbricht. In February he was convicted of operating the site for nearly three years from 2011. [BBC]

Sepp Blatter wins FIFA President election –
Under-fire Sepp Blatter has been voted in for four more years as Fifa president – but only after his rival inflicted a ”bloody nose” on him.
More than a third of FIFA’s 209 associations voted for Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan as significant numbers turned against Mr Blatter following the crisis that has struck the world governing body this week. The Swiss bureaucrat, 79, won the first round by 133 votes to 73, but he failed to gain a two-thirds majority, and Prince Ali, the 39-year-old Sandhurst graduate, then withdrew from the contest rather than force a second round of voting.
Sepp Blatter at the 2014 FIFA Tournament Announcement in 2007

Sepp Blatter will be ousted from Fifa, declares FA Chairman Greg Dyke –
Greg Dyke declared the fight to oust Sepp Blatter as Fifa president had only just begun after watching him defy the worst crisis in the world governing body’s history to sweep to a fifth term in office on Friday. Dyke, the FA chairman, said: “This is not over by any means. To quote the Attorney General, this is the beginning of the process not the end. I’d be very surprised if Mr Blatter was still in this job in two years’ time.”
Confirming the FA would consider joining any Uefa-led World Cup walkout, he added: “There would be no point pulling England out if everyone else stays in. But if you could pull Uefa out, that might have an impact.”
Greg Dyke

Video of the Day –

MIT cheetah robot lands the running jump

List of the day –

Presidents of FIFA

Presidency	President		Date of Birth	Date of Death	Took office	Left office	Years Active	Nationality
1		Robert Guérin	June 28, 1876	March 19, 1952	1904	1906	2	France
2		Daniel Burley Woolfall	June 15, 1852	October 24, 1918	1906	1918	12	England
3		Jules Rimet	October 14, 1873	October 16, 1956	1921	1954	33	France
4		Rodolphe Seeldrayers	December 16, 1876	October 7, 1955	1954	1955	1	Belgium
5		Arthur Drewry	March 3, 1891	March 25, 1961	1955	1961	6	England
6		Stanley Rous	April 25, 1895	July 18, 1986	1961	1974	13	England
7		João Havelange	May 8, 1916	Living	1974	1998	24	Brazil
8		Sepp Blatter	March 10, 1936	Living	8 June 1998	Incumbent	Present	Switzerlan

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
  • Singapore says the Islamist group plans to take the conflict into Southeast Asia. (Straits Times)
  • Dammam Mosque bomb blast:Islamic State claims responsibility for a car bomb in the parking lot of the Imam Hussain Mosque situated inDammam, Saudi Arabia, during Friday prayers, with at least four people killed and dozens injured. Authorities state that the mosque itself was not hit. (The Express Tribune), (CNN)
• Balochistan conflict
  • Gunmen in Pakistan‘s Balochistan province attack two buses killing at least 19 people. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

• A volcano erupts on the Japanese island of Kuchinoerabu-jima prompting the evacuation of all residents and the diversion of all flights. (Kyodo viaJapan Times), (GMA Network)
• 2015 Texas–Oklahoma flood and tornado outbreak
  • Dozens of people are rescued in the US state of Texas. The death toll from floods in Texas and Oklahoma has reached 24 dead with 13 missing with another 15 people dead from tornadoes in northern Mexico and Texas. (NBC News)
  • The Governor of Texas Greg Abbott asks for a Presidential declaration of a disaster to obtain United States Government assistance for the worst affected areas of the state. (AP)
• 2015 Indian heat wave
  • The official death toll from the Indian heat wave passes 1,800 making it the deadliest heatwave in more than two decades. (AFP via Yahoo! News)

Health

• The number of cases in an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome in South Korea rises to 12. (Yonhap News)

International relations

• 2015 Rohingya refugee crisis
  • Thailand will allow the United States to fly surveillance planes through their airspace, allowing the United States to identify boats carrying refugees. (ITV)
• Irish Naval Service patrol vessel LÉ Eithne rescues 300 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya. (BBC)
• The United States officially removes Cuba from its list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. (NBC News)
• War in Donbass
  • The President of France François Hollande and the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel call on the President of Russia Vladimir Putin to implement measures agreed on the Minsk ceasefire. (Reuters)
  • Russia blacklists dozens of European Union officials from entering the country. (AFP via France 24)

Law and crime

• Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht is given a life sentence after being convicted for narcotics trafficking. (The Verge)
• American television actor Dustin Diamond is convicted of two misdemeanor charges stemming from a stabbing at a Wisconsin bar last year but acquitted on felony charges. (AP)

Politics and elections

• Muhammadu Buhari is sworn in as the President of Nigeria following a recent election. (AP)
• Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016
  • Former Governor of Maryland Martin O’Malley will announce his candidacy for President of the United States at 10:00 am on May 30. (USA Today)

Sports

• Sepp Blatter is elected to a fifth term as president of FIFA after Prince Ali bin Hussein withdraws his candidacy before a second round of voting could take place. The first round of voting had ended with Blatter falling seven votes short of the 2/3 majority needed to win. (ESPN), (CNN)

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