Top News Stories –

Baftas 2016: The Revenant rules at Baftas –
Wilderness drama The Revenant, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, has dominated this year’s Baftas. It was named best film while DiCaprio won best actor and Alejandro G Inarritu best director. Apocalyptic action movie Mad Max: Fury Road took four awards: for make-up and hair, editing, costumes and production design. Brie Larson won the best leading actress award for her role as a kidnapped mother in Room. Director Lenny Abrahamson, who picked up the award on her behalf, called her “one of the best actors of her generation.” [BBC]
Leonardo_DiCaprio

Kanye West REALLY wants $1 billion from Mark Zuckerberg –
Kanye West has publicly asked Mark Zuckerberg to invest $1bn (£700m) into Kanye West ideas. He take his money, when he’s a need. Yeah, he’s a trifling friend indeed. In a series of tweets Kanye begs the co-founder of Facebook for help because he doesn’t have “enough resources” to create what he “really can”. It comes after he claimed to have a personal debt of $53m (£36m). Yes, that’s FIFTY THREE MILLION DOLLARS. It’s all because Kanye thinks he can make the world a better place. He also thinks tech companies in San Francisco should donate money to him rather than African school children. [BBC Newsbeat]

Kanye West begging tweets

Video of the Day –

Simon’s Cat Logic – Love

List of the Day –

Winners of the BAFTA Film Awards 2016

Best film

Winner: The Revenant

The Big Short

Bridge of Spies

Carol

Spotlight

Outstanding British film

Winner: Brooklyn

45 Years

Amy

The Danish Girl

Ex Machina

The Lobster

Actor

Winner: Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant

Bryan Cranston – Trumbo

Matt Damon – The Martian

Michael Fassbender – Steve Jobs

Eddie Redmayne – The Danish Girl

Actress

Winner: Brie Larson – Room

Cate Blanchett – Carol

Saoirse Ronan – Brooklyn

Maggie Smith – The Lady in the Van

Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl

Supporting actor

Winner: Mark Rylance – Bridge of Spies

Christian Bale – The Big Short

Benicio del Toro – Sicario

Idris Elba – Beasts of No Nation

Mark Ruffalo – Spotlight

Supporting actress

Winner: Kate Winslet – Steve Jobs

Jennifer Jason Leigh – The Hateful Eight

Rooney Mara – Carol

Alicia Vikander – Ex Machina

Julie Walters – Brooklyn

Director

Winner: Alejandro G Inarritu – The Revenant

Todd Haynes – Carol

Adam McKay – The Big Short

Ridley Scott – The Martian

Steven Spielberg – Bridge of Spies

Adapted screenplay

Winner: The Big Short

Brooklyn

Carol

Room

Steve Jobs

Original screenplay

Winner: Spotlight

Bridge of Spies

Ex Machina

The Hateful Eight

Inside Out

Animated film

Winner: Inside Out

Minions

Shaun the Sheep Movie

Documentary

Winner: Amy

Cartel Land

He Named Me Malala

Listen to Me Marlon

Sherpa

Foreign film

Winner: Wild Tales

The Assassin

Force Majeure

Theeb

Timbuktu

Cinematography

Winner: The Revenant

Bridge of Spies

Carol

Mad Max: Fury Road

Sicario

Costume design

Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road

Brooklyn

Carol

Cinderella

The Danish Girl

Editing

Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road

The Big Short

Bridge of Spies

The Martian

The Revenant

Make-up and hair

Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road

Brooklyn

Carol

The Danish Girl

The Revenant

Music

Winner: The Hateful Eight

Bridge of Spies

The Revenant

Sicario

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Production design

Winner: Mad Max: Fury Road

Bridge of Spies

Carol

The Martian

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Sound

Winner: The Revenant

Bridge of Spies

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Special effects

Winner: Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Ant-Man

Ex Machina

Mad Max: Fury Road

The Martian

British short animation

Winner: Edmond

Manoman

Prologue

British short film

Winner: Operator

Elephant

Mining Poems or Odes

Over

Samuel-613

Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer

Winner: Naji Abu Nowar (writer/director) & Rupert Lloyd (producer) – Theeb

Alex Garland (director) – Ex Machina

Debbie Tucker Green (writer/director) – Second Coming

Sean McAllister (director/producer) & Elhum Shakerifar (producer) – A Syrian Love Story

Stephen Fingleton (writer/director) – The Survivalist

Rising Star award

Winner: John Boyega

Taron Egerton

Dakota Johnson

Brie Larson

Bel Powley

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
  • The United Nations reports that civilian casualties reached a record level in 2015; at least 3,545 non-combatants were killed and 7,457 injured. (Reuters)
• Syrian Civil War
  • Rojava conflict
    • The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that Turkey has shelled areas held by the Kurdish YPG militia group in Syria‘s Aleppo Governorate for the second successive day with two YPG fighters reportedly killed. (Reuters)
    • Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu says Turkey will continue to target Kurdish YPG fighters in Syria near its border, despite mounting pressure to stop the attacks. (Voice of America)
    • Syria condemns Turkish military action against Kurdish fighters in northern Syria, and demands, in letters to the United Nations Secretary General and the Security Council Chairman, UN action on these violations of Syrian sovereignty. (BBC) (Syrian Arab News Agency)
• Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
  • Saudi air defenses intercept a Scud missile fired from Yemen as it headed towards the city of Khamis Mushait, in the southwestern ‘Asir Region. (The Washington Post)
  • The United Arab Emirates (UAE) says one of its soldiers was recently killed while fighting the Houthis in Yemen. (Reuters)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015–present)
  • Israel claims its forces shot dead five Palestinian attackers in three separate incidents. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

• The 69th British Academy Film Awards are held at the Royal Opera House in London. (AP via Yahoo! News)
  • The Revenant wins best film with lead actor Leonardo DiCaprio winning the BAFTA Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. (Deadline)

Disasters and accidents

• 2016 Christchurch earthquake
  • The U.S. Geological Survey reports a magnitude 5.8 earthquake strikes Christchurch in New Zealand. The St. John ambulance service says that several people suffered minor injuries from falls as they ran from the quake but there were no immediate reports of serious damage. (The Washington Post)
• The cold snap continues in the northeastern United States with record lows forecast in major cities like New York City and Philadelphia. (CNN)
• All four members of the British indie band Viola Beach and their manager die in a road accident in Stockholm, Sweden. (BBC)
• 2016 Taiwan earthquake
  • The earthquake death toll rises to 116. Tainan’s disaster response office says search and rescue operations have ended. The last body was found yesterday. Ninety-six, of the 289 people rescued, remain in hospital. (Taipei Times)(CNN)
• Crews rescue 48 people from two Cannon Mountain tram cars stuck this afternoon about 40 feet off the ground in New Hampshire sub-zero temperatures in the White Mountains. (AP via seattlepi.com)(WMUR)

International relations

• European migrant crisis
  • Slovenia announces that it will be clamping down on the number of migrants that it will allow to enter the country. (AFP via Yahoo! News)

Politics and elections

• Central African general election, 2015–16
  • Voters in the Central African Republic go to the polls for the second round of voting in the presidential election, a runoff between former prime ministers Anicet-Georges Dologuélé (1999–2001) andFaustin-Archange Touadéra (2008–13). (BBC)
• Jocelerme Privert is elected as the interim President of Haiti pending elections later this year. (AFP via Yahoo! News)

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