Top News Stories –

F1’s Ecclestone in legal challenge over £1bn tax move –
Formula 1 tycoon Bernie Ecclestone has gone to court to challenge the basis of assessments that have left him facing a UK tax claim of more than £1bn. The 84-year-old, at the F1 helm for 40 years, wants the assessments quashed, and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) held to an earlier April 2008 agreement. The new figure is believed to cover the period from the tax year ended 5 April 1996 to tax year ending 5 April 2006. The case revolves around the Ecclestone family’s Bambino trust which was set up in Liechtenstein in 1997 for the benefit of Mr Ecclestone’s now ex-wife, Slavica, and daughters Tamara and Petra. The UK tax authorities re-opened their investigation of Bambino after a high-profile bribery case in Germany last year, said the judge. [BBC]
Bernie Ecclestone

Black Sabbath celebrate at Ivor Novello awards –
Black Sabbath have received a lifetime achievement prize at the Ivor Novello songwriting awards. Guitarist Tony Iommi picked up the trophy, confirming the heavy metal band would embark on their “final tour” next year. Ed Sheeran was named songwriter of the year, while Boy George picked up an outstanding contribution award. Clean Bandit beat Sam Smith and George Ezra to win the prize for most performed song for Rather Be. The Ivor Novello awards are voted for by songwriters, with judges this year including Gary Barlow, Guy Chambers, Nik Kershaw, Shaznay Lewis and Kim Appleby of ’80s pop group Mel & Kim.[BBC]
Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath

Video of the Day –

List of the day –

Ivor Novello Award winners and nominees –
Best song musically and lyrically

• Take Me to Church – Hozier
• Above the Clouds of Pompeii – Bear’s Den
• I Forget Where We Were – Ben Howard

Best contemporary song

• Rather Be – Clean Bandit, featuring Jess Glynne
• Every Other Freckle – alt-J
• Two Weeks – FKA Twigs

Best album

• So Long, See You Tomorrow – Bombay Bicycle Club
• Royal Blood – Royal Blood
• Present Tense – Wild Beasts

PRS for Music most performed work

• Rather Be – Clean Bandit, featuring Jess Glynne
• Stay With Me – Sam Smith
• Budapest – George Ezra

Best original film score

• ’71 – David Holmes
• Mr Turner – Gary Yershon
• The Boxtrolls – Dario Marianelli

Best television soundtrack

• The Honourable Woman – Natalie Holt and Martin Phipps
• The Mill (Series 2) – Samuel Sim
• The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: Beyond the Pale – Edmund Butt

Lifetime Achievement: Black Sabbath

Outstanding Song Collection: Albert Hammond

PRS for Music Outstanding Contribution to British Music: Boy George

PRS for Music Special International Award: Paul Williams

Songwriter of the Year: Ed Sheeran

The Ivors Classical Music Award: Judith Weir

The Ivors Inspiration Award: Manic Street Preachers

The Ivors Special Anniversary Award: Midge Ure and Bob Geldof, Band Aid

BASCA Fellowship: Annie Lennox

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
  • Islamic State fighters enter the ancient ruins of Palmyra after capturing the Syrian city of Tadmur yesterday. A hundred pro-governmentfighters are believed to have died in fighting. (Reuters)
  • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that Islamic State now controls more than half of Syria dominating 95,000 square kilometres and controls settlements in nine provinces. (News Limited)
• Al-Shabaab militants briefly take over a mosque in Kenya‘s Garissa County. (BBC)
• 2014–15 Russian military intervention in Ukraine
  • The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) claims that two Russians captured in the Ukraine have publicly admitted to being part of the GRU Russian special forces. The Donetsk People’s Republic (separatists) authorities claim these men were official policemen in the self-proclaimed republic. (AFP via Yahoo! News)

Arts and culture

• Robert Gates, the President of the Boy Scouts of America, calls on the movement to end the ban on gay adult leaders and says the movement will no longer revoke the charters of chapters that accept gay male leaders. (Yahoo News)

Health

• South Korea confirms its third case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. (Yonhap)
• Two prisoners die and 30 are hospitalised following a cholera outbreak at the Shimo la Tewa facility in Mombasa, Kenya. (The Star via AllAfrica)
• Cleanup continues from the 19 May 2015 Refugio Oil Spill at State Beach on Santa Barbara County, California coast.(ABC7.com)
• Health authorities in the United States say that 53 people in nine states have been sickened in a salmonella outbreak. California is the worst affected state with 31 cases with the other states with cases include Arizona, Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Dakota, Virginia, Washingtonand Wisconsin. (NBC News)

Law and crime

• Brazilian anti-corruption blogger Evany José Metzker is found dead after investigating a drug dealing and prostitution case. (Deutsche Weller)
• Death of Freddie Gray
  • A grand jury in the American city of Baltimore indicts six police officers relating to the death of Freddie Gray in police custody. All six officers will face charges of reckless endangerment. (AP via ABC News America), (ABC2)
• Daron Dylon Wint is arrested in the American capital of Washington D.C. in relation to the murder of four people on May 14. (NBC Washington)
• Mexican Drug War
  • Mexican police find three dismembered bodies in a search for ten missing people in Chilapa, a city occupied by vigilantes with alleged links to drug rings between May 9-14. (AP)

Sports

• Amnesty International accuses Qatar of failing to meet commitments on labor market reforms for migrant workers to be introduced before the2022 FIFA World Cup. Among other charges, Qatar uses North Korean labourers who are not paid personally but instead the money goes to their government. (AFP via Google News)

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