John Terry affair gagging order released –
The British High Court has lifted a press silencing order preventing the public from learning details about England Captain John Terry’s alleged affair with a team-mate’s girlfriend. The ‘super-injunction’ was originally granted by a High Court judge under human rights laws but was lifted today. Chelsea captain Terry claimed that exposing his alleged infidelity would be a breach of his right to a ‘private and family life’. John Terry
The car in front… still won’t slow down –
Toyota is now recalling up to 1.8 million cars across Europe following an accelerator problem. The car maker will recall eight models including the Yaris, the Corolla (the biggest selling car ever – see list below) and the RAV4 sports utility vehicle. Last week it recalled 2.3 million cars in the US with faulty pedals.
Mais oui – the G-spot does exist –
French researchers have disagreed with English researchers at King’s College London who announced on New Years Day that the G-spot is a fallacy and does not exist. But French doctors the “G-Day” conference in Paris insist the G spot – supposedly a cluster of internal nerve endings – is far from a myth. “The English study is barking up the wrong tree,” said Sylvain Mimoun, France’s best-known gynaecologist.
Dog survives 24km trip on ice –
A dog stranded on an ice floe that had drifted 24km out to sea was rescued by the crew of a research boat off the coast of Gdynia in Poland. He is being called Baltic after the ship while a search is launched for his owners.
Britain hit by “weather bomb” –
High winds and huge waves have affected north-western parts of the UK as bad weather hit power supplies and travel. The “weather bomb” brought hundreds of lightning strikes, temporarily cutting power across the Western Isles. Wind speeds of 144mph was recorded on the St Kilda islands, with gusts in excess of 80mph elsewhere.
Bully bashed by brilliance –
Louisa Manning (@xo_louisa_ox) whose letter to a former school bully who called her “manbeast” went received over 18,000 likes on Facebook has described the response as “crazy and overwhelming”. Miss Manning, a student at Oxford University, wrote the note after being invited on a date by her former tormentor when they met 10 years later in a restaurant.
Senate reports on CIA interrogations –
The UN and human rights groups have called for the prosecution of US officials involved in the CIA interrogation of al-Qaeda suspects. President Barack Obama said it was now time to move on. The summary of a classified Senate report says that the CIA carried out “brutal” interrogations of al-Qaeda suspects after the 9/11 attacks on the US and misled other officials about what it was doing.
Boston time-capsule discovered –
A time capsule thought to have been buried by Samuel Adams and Paul Revere in 1795 has been discovered in Massachusetts, USA. The container was found during repair work at the state house in Boston. See video of the day.
Broken Bono –
U2 lead singer Bono says that a crash on his bicycle last November resulted in multiple left arm fractures, a broken should and hand and a fractured eye socket. He now has a titanium elbow and fears that he may never play guitar but his band-mates have reminded him “that neither they nor western civilization are depending on this.”
Cancer due to bad luck –
A new piece of research by a team at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US has found that most types of cancer can be put down to bad luck rather than risk factors such as smoking. The research printed in the journal “Science”, showed 66% of the cancer types analysed were caused just by chance mutations rather than lifestyle.
Taking a bite out of Apple –
Miami residents Paul Orshan and Christopher Endara are suing Apple over the amount of storage space the Apple iOS 8 uses on mobile devices.They claim it uses up such a large amount that it forces owners to pay for iCloud storage. They are suing in California for millions of dollars.
Prince Andrew named in court papers –
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, has been named in Florida court papers by a woman who says she was forced to have sexual relations with the prince in London, New York and on a private Caribbean island owned by his fried Jeffrey Epstein when she was a minor. A Buckingham Palace spokeswoman said: “This relates to long-standing and ongoing civil proceedings in the United States, to which the Duke of York is not a party. As such we would not comment on the detail. However, for the avoidance of doubt, any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue”.
Who’s the daddy? –
A Cuban man convicted of spying in the US and committed to a double life sentence in 1998 has become a father a month after his release. Gerardo Hernandez, who was released last month by the US as part of a diplomatic thaw with Cuba, requested to have his wife artificially inseminated with his sperm while he was still in jail.
Imran bowled over –
Sportsman-turned-politician Imran Khan has married his fiance, Reham, at a small wedding ceremony at his home in Islamabad, Pakistan. Khan was Pakistan’s most successful cricket captain, playing for the Pakistani cricket team from 1971 to 1992 and leading them to victory at the 1992 Cricket World Cup.
Team Wiggo launched –
Former Tour de France champion and Sky Team member Sir Bradley Wiggins launches his own cycling team to help preparations for the Rio 2016 Olympics. The four-time Olympic champion will try to break the individual world hour record as part of his build-up to Rio2016. Team Wiggins will operate independently of British Cycling but the governing body has given its backing to the team. Bradley Wiggins
App designers golden year –
Apple revealed today that app developers earned more than $10 billion in revenue in 2014, partly due to a 50 percent rise in billings. The App Store has grown to 1.4 million apps since launching in 2008, with 725,000 designed for the iPad.
Russia says drivers must not have ‘sex disorders’ –
The Russian government is tightening medical controls for drivers because the country “has too many road accidents”. Transsexual and transgender people are among those who will no longer qualify for driving licences and fetishism, exhibitionism and voyeurism are also included as “mental disorders” now barring people from driving.
Job for life but don’t turn up –
A.K. Verma, an executive engineer at the Central Public Works Department, India, was fired after last appearing for work in December 1990. Even after an inquiry found him guilty of “wilful absence from duty” in 1992, it took another 22 years and the intervention of a cabinet minister to remove him, the government said.
Blurred Lines makes $16.68m –
Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams made more than $5m (£3.26m) each from Blurred Lines, according to figures revealed during a copyright trial. Total profits for the biggest track of 2013 are $16.68m (£10.87m), with rapper TI getting a $704,000 (£459,000) share according to the Hollywood Reporter. The trio are being sued for copyright infringement by Marvin Gaye’s family, over similarities to Got to Give It Up. [BBC]
American footballers to donate brains to science –
Two American Football stars say they will donate their brains for medical research after their deaths. New York Giants punter Steve Weatherford and former Seattle Seahawks receiver Sidney Rice want to support studies into brain injuries. Many former players in the sport suffer degenerative brain disease. “There are a lot of issues that stem from brain injuries and it’s not just professional athletes. This affects everybody,” Weatherford said. Rice won the Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks last year before retiring – at the age of 27 – over fears for his long-term health after absorbing so many blows to the head. Both he and Weatherford said they hoped their commitment could persuade others to support research into brain injuries. [BBC]
Seattle Seahawks receiver Sidney Rice
Video of the Day –
NASA | Satellite Tracks Saharan Dust to Amazon in 3-D
Ben Affleck asked broadcaster to hide slave-owning ancestor –
Ben Affleck asked television producers not to reveal one of his ancestors was a slave-owner, leaked emails suggest. The actor was taking part in a US series called Finding Your Roots, where experts research a celebrity’s family history, when the discovery was made. The broadcaster, PBS, says in a statement that they didn’t censor the slave-owner details. It is “very common” to find slave-owning ancestors during research, the show’s host says. “For any guest, we always find far more stories about ancestors on their family trees than we ever possibly could use,” Prof Henry Louis Gates says in a statement sent to The Associated Press. The details of Affleck’s slave-owning family member were not included when his episode of Finding Your Roots was broadcast. [BBC] Ben Affleck
Miley Cyrus Recounts Wanting to Have Sex with Joan Jett, Inducts Her Into Rock and Roll Hall of Fame –
Miley Cyrus isn’t one to shy away from shock factor, not even if she’s on stage to induct her idol Joan Jett at the 30th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Last night in Cleveland, Cyrus started off her speech to induct Jett and the Blackhearts into the Hall of Fame by going back in time and reminiscing: “Thank you guys so much. I’m going to start off this induction with the first time I wanted to have sex with Joan Jett. We were doing Oprah together, and I went up to Joan’s hotel room. Joan opens the door, and I come in, and Kenny Laguna is laying in bed. I don’t know what the fuck is going on. There’s towels shoved underneath all the door cracks, shower caps around all the smoke detectors. Joan is running around spraying orange-smelling cleaner to mask the smell of the pot (that’s what you guys call it)”. Miley Cyrus
25 pregnant Navy sailors airlifted from ships –
More than two dozen female sailors have been airlifted home from Royal Navy warships after becoming pregnant in the past nine years, official figures show. A total of 25 expectant women were forced to leave on emergency flights, though the actual number who have gone home because of pregnancy is thought to be higher. The figures reported in The Sun were released under the Freedom of Information Act and follow the disclosure last year that 200 women were flown home from the Iraq and Afghan conflicts after commanders were told they were pregnant. A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said the Navy operates a strict “no touching” rule at sea, even for those already in a relationship and sources said most of the women are likely to have conceived before setting sail, or while on leave. [Daily Telegraph]
Benedict Cumberbatch commissions Kick Ass 2 replica sculpture –
Benedict Cumberbatch has commissioned the celebrity artist Schoony to reproduce a sculpture that appeared in Kick Ass 2. The Imitation Game star paid £7,000 for a gold rendering of Boy Soldier by his friend, the Hertfordshire-born artist Schoony. The original artwork appeared in Hollywood blockbuster Kick Ass 2, starring Jim Carrey and Chloe Moretz, and was located in the villain’s lair. [Daily Telegraph]
Cambridge University professor of Lego proposed –
A professor of Lego could soon be in post at Cambridge University. The Lego Foundation has provided the university with £2.5m to fund a Lego Professorship of Play in Education, Development and Learning. It has also provided £1.5m to support a play research centre in the education faculty, which will be led by the Lego professor. The Lego professorship post would be “open to all those whose work falls within the general field of the title of the office”, the university said. [BBC]
Texan wrestling star Dusty Rhodes dies at 69 –
One of wrestling’s most colourful stars, Dusty Rhodes, the self-styled “American Dream”, has died aged 69. The death of Virgil Runnels, which was his real name, was announced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). His long and glittering career, which began in the late 1960s, earned him a place in the WWE Hall of Fame. “Runnels became a hero to fans around the world thanks to his work ethic, his impassioned interviews and his indomitable spirit,” said WWE. [BBC] Dusty Rhodes
Spain Princess Cristina loses title amid fraud inquiry –
King Felipe VI of Spain has removed the title “Duchess of Palma” from his sister, Princess Cristina, who is to go on trial charged with tax evasion. She was granted the title in 1997 when she married Inaki Urdangarin, a former Olympic handball player who is also accused of tax evasion. Princess Cristina had asked the king to remove her title, her lawyer said. But the royal palace said the king made the decision before seeing her request. She denies the tax fraud charges. [BBC] Princess Cristina
White woman ‘posed as black civil right leader’ in years-long deception –
The name of a local civil rights leader in the US northwest is trending worldwide after her parents told the media that she is a white woman who has been passing herself off as black for years. [BBC Trending] See Top Twitter Trends.
Rachel Dolezal, 37, has been the head of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, or NAACP, in Spokane, Washington, since January. But her parents said Ms Dolezal is of German, Czech, and Swedish descent with a smattering of Native American ancestry. Mr and Mrs Dolezal said their daughter had black siblings who were adopted and that she went to school in Mississippi, where the family were part of a mainly black community. But they said she only began to claim African descent after divorcing her husband, who was also black, in 2004. Her mother, Ruthanne, said Ms Dolezal began to “disguise herself” in 2006 or 2007. [Daily Telegraph]
Video of the Day –
Dave Grohl, Lead singer of the Foo Fighters breaks his leg in a fall on stage in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The Israel Defense Forces Advocate General has announced criminal investigations into three more incidents from Operation Protective Edge. Of the 190 incidents reported to the IDF, investigations have been completed on 105, with seven leading to criminal investigations.(YNet)
The death toll from the South Korean MERS outbreak rises to 11 with 126 people now diagnosed with the disease but the number of people inquarantine falls slightly to 3,680. Two hospitals have closed as a result of the outbreak and the Bank of Korea has lowered interest rates due to concerns about effects of the outbreak on the economy. (Yonhap), (CNN)
Google unveils surprise restructuring under Alphabet –
Google has unveiled a surprise restructuring, creating a new parent company called Alphabet Inc. Under the rebranding, Google will retain its best-known businesses, such as search, apps, YouTube and Android. Some of the newer entities, such as the investment and research divisions, the “smart-home” unit Nest, and the drone arm will be run under Alphabet. Google founder Larry Page said it would create a simpler structure for what had become a diverse group of businesses. The name Alphabet was chosen for two reasons, Mr Page said. It represents language, “the core of how we index with Google search”, and because Alpha-bet means “investment return above benchmark, which we strive to do”. [BBC]
Tom Davies, 19, becomes ‘youngest person to cycle the world’ –
A British teenager is thought to have become the youngest person to cycle around the world. Tom Davies, 19, from Battersea, England, finished an 18,000-mile journey on Sunday raising more than £50,000 for several charities. Around 100 of his family and friends welcomed him home. During the six months he was away, he had to run away from a group of monkeys, was chased by dogs in Albania and raced an emu in Australia.
A scientific study, part of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, examined huge blocks of space as distant as several billion light years away and concluded that the universe is “slowly dying” as more stars gradually go out faster than they are being replaced by light-emitting active ones. In cosmological terms, the demise of the universe -age calculated at approximately 13.8 billion years- is billions, perhaps trillions of years away. (The Guardian, via MSN)(CNN)(South African Times Live)
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‘Universal urination duration’ wins Ig Nobel prize –
A study showing that nearly all mammals take the same amount of time to urinate has been awarded one of the 2015 Ig Nobel prizes at Harvard University. These spoof Nobels for “improbable research” are in their 25th year.
The team behind the urination research, from Georgia Tech, won the physics Ig. Using high-speed video analysis, they modelled the fluid dynamics involved in urination and discovered that all mammals weighing more than 3kg empty their bladders over about 21 seconds. Run by the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research, this is a jubilantly irreverent affair. It has become world famous for recognising scientific achievements that “make people laugh, and then think”. This year’s Ig winners travelled from six continents to accept their trophies. The triumphant research included a chemical recipe to partially un-boil an egg, and the discovery that the word “huh?” occurs in every human language. [BBC] See List of the Day
Valcke’s reign at FIFA likely to be at an end –
For the second time in his career, Jerome Valcke leaves FIFA with a cloud hanging over him. Sepp Blatter’s lieutenant for the past eight years, Valcke became the highest profile figure in the corruption-plagued organization to fall during the current series of scandals when he was “released from his duties” on Thursday and it appears unlikely he will return. The Frenchman has not been formally dismissed but Blatter is standing down in February and Valcke had already suggested he would probably go at that time as well. The 54-year-old, however, is now being investigated by FIFA’s ethics committee after allegations he was involved in a plan to re-sell 2014 World Cup tickets for a lucrative profit. [Reuters] Jérôme_Valcke
Sperm banks attract customers by offering them enough cash to buy a new iPhone –
Chinese sperm banks have been saying that there is no need to sell a kidney to afford an iPhone, just your bodily fluids. Renji Hospital in Shanghai is one among several facilities offering enough money to buy an iPhone if men donate sperm. The hospital wrote in an online posting: “No need to sell your kidneys – you can easily have a 6s,” which refers to cases where people actually sold their organs to be able to afford Apple products. The advert says that if a man passes a health test and then regularly donates his sperm, he can earn enough money to purchase an iPhone. This amounts to 6,000 yuan (£610) which is enough to buy the new iPhone 6s. [Daily Telegraph]
Chemistry – Callum Ormonde (University of Western Australia) and colleagues, for inventing a chemical recipe to partially un-boil an egg.
Physics – Patricia Yang (Georgia Institute of Technology, US) and colleagues, for testing the biological principle that nearly all mammals empty their bladders in about 21 seconds (plus or minus 13 seconds).
Literature – Mark Dingemanse (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, The Netherlands) and colleagues, for discovering that the word “huh?” (or its equivalent) seems to exist in every human language – and for not being quite sure why.
Management – Gennaro Bernile (Singapore Management University) and colleagues, for discovering that many business leaders developed in childhood a fondness for risk-taking, when they experienced natural disasters (such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and wildfires) that – for them – had no dire personal consequences.
Economics – The Bangkok Metropolitan Police (Thailand) for offering to pay policemen extra cash if the policemen refuse to take bribes.
Medicine – joint award: Hajime Kimata (Kimata Hajime Clinic, Japan) and also Jaroslava Durdiaková (Comenius University, Slovakia) and her collagues, for experiments to study the biomedical benefits or biomedical consequences of intense kissing (and other intimate, interpersonal activities).
Mathematics – Elisabeth Oberzaucher and Karl Grammer (University of Vienna, Austria) for trying to use mathematical techniques to determine whether and how Moulay Ismael the Bloodthirsty, the Sharifian Emperor of Morocco, managed, during the years from 1697 through 1727, to father 888 children.
Biology – Bruno Grossi (University of Chile) and colleagues, for observing that when you attach a weighted stick to the rear end of a chicken, the chicken then walks in a manner similar to that in which dinosaurs are thought to have walked.
Diagnostic medicine – Diallah Karim (Stoke Mandeville Hospital, UK) and colleagues, for determining that acute appendicitis can be accurately diagnosed by the amount of pain evident when the patient is driven over speed bumps.
Physiology and entomology – Awarded jointly to two individuals: Justin Schmidt (Southwest Biological Institute, US) for painstakingly creating the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, which rates the relative pain people feel when stung by various insects; and to Michael L. Smith (Cornell University, US), for carefully arranging for honey bees to sting him repeatedly on 25 different locations on his body, to learn which locations are the least painful (the skull, middle toe tip, and upper arm). and which are the most painful (the nostril, upper lip, and penis shaft).
Arab Coalition warplanes bomb Yemen‘s capital Sanaa targeting a high-profile Houthi leader’s house. At least nine civilians are killed in the attack. (Reuters)
American Airlines halts flights for 90 minutes at its major hubs in Chicago, Dallas, and Miami because of a computer glitch. The incident produces a cascading effect of delays throughout all US airlines. (UPI)
Brazil’sSupreme Court issues a decision that bans corporate money in elections. This ruling comes as a major investigation is underway in the country on a campaign financing bribery and corruption scandal. (Singapore Today Online), (AP via Fox News)
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Russia may nuke asteroids –
The European Commission funded Russian scientists to develop plans to save the world from rogue asteroids by blowing them up with nuclear weapons. Scientists from the Russia’s top space research institute teamed up with missile and rocket engineers to look at ways of sending a warhead into space under a European Commission funded program called NEOShield. “Work was distributed among various participants from different countries and organisations, and work on deflecting dangerous space objects with nuclear explosions was conducted by Russia” between 2012 and 2015, the Central Scientific Research Institute of Machine Building, part of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said in a press release on Saturday. [Daily Telegraph]
The winners for the Critics’ Choice Awards 2016
BEST PICTURE: Spotlight
BEST ACTOR: Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
BEST ACTRESS: Brie Larson – Room
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Sylvester Stallone – Creed
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS: Jacob Tremblay – Room
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE: Spotlight
BEST DIRECTOR: George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Charles Randolph and Adam McKay – The Big Short
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: The Revenant – Emmanuel Lubezki
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Mad Max: Fury Road – Colin Gibson
BEST EDITING: Mad Max: Fury Road – Margaret Sixel
BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Mad Max: Fury Road – Jenny Beavan
BEST HAIR & MAKEUP: Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Inside Out
BEST ACTION MOVIE: Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE: Tom Hardy – Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE: Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST COMEDY: The Big Short
BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY: Christian Bale – The Big Short
BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY: Amy Schumer – Trainwreck
BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE: Ex Machina
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Son of Saul
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Amy
BEST SONG: Furious 7 – “See You Again”
BEST SCORE: The Hateful Eight – Ennio Morricone
Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief General Raheel Sharif will visit Riyadh on Monday and Tehran on Tuesday to launch mediation efforts between Iran and Saudi Arabia for normalization of relations and to ease the tensions in the region after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr and an attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. (DAWN)(Pakistan Today)(India Times)
Alphabet – owner of Google – takes top spot from Apple –
Alphabet- Google’s parent company- has surpassed Apple as the world’s most valuable company after its latest earnings report. The company made a profit of $4.9bn (£3.4bn) for the fourth quarter, an increase from $4.7bn a year ago. The announcement sent its share price up as much as 9% in after-hours trading.
That means that Alphabet is now worth around $568bn, compared with Apple, which has a value of $535bn. [BBC] Alphabet was launched in August 2015 Structure of Alphabet companies
Zika-linked condition: Rio Olympics ‘to go ahead’ despite virus –
There is no chance that the Rio Olympics will be cancelled because of a Zika virus outbreak, Brazil has said. The authorities said there was no risk to athletes and spectators – except pregnant women – at the August event. Earlier, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned a disease linked to Zika posed a global public health emergency requiring a united response. The infection has been linked to cases of microcephaly, in which babies are born with underdeveloped brains. Experts are worried that the mosquito-borne virus in Latin America is spreading far and fast, with devastating consequences. Meanwhile, WHO Director General Margaret Chan called Zika an “extraordinary event” that needed a co-ordinated response. The WHO alert puts Zika in the same category of concern as Ebola. It means research and aid will be fast-tracked to tackle the infection. [BBC]
Video of the Day –
Flight Over Dwarf Planet Ceres
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
A snow storm in the United States is affecting multiple regions in Colorado, California and elsewhere, with more than 70,000 people in southern California losing power. (AccuWeather)
Chinese authorities arrest 21 people involved in the Ezubao online finance scheme accused of allegedly defrauding 900,000 people of 50bn yuan ($7.6bn; £5.3bn) in a Ponzi scheme. (BBC)
Two men are sentenced to death for the murder of Tibetan religious leader Akong Rinpoche, his nephew and his driver in 2013. (Reuters)
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]
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)
A Pakistanipolice 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)
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)
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 GovernorPat 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)
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)
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 messengerapp. (Bloomberg)(AP via The Washington Post)
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
A bomb explosion in Jerusalem set two buses on fire and injured 21 people with ball bearing and nails. Israelipolice say they believe the incident was a suicide bombing but no group has claimed responsibility. (Euronews)(Ynetnews)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
During a visit to Baghdad, U.S. Defense SecretaryAsh 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 giveKurdishPeshmerga forces, which are fighting ISIL on the ground, more than $400m (£280m; €350m) in assistance. (BBC)
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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John Terry
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