Top News Stories –

Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Harry respond to Obamas’ Invictus Games challenge –
When US President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama challenged Prince Harry on social media, he responded by bringing in a big gun — the Queen. The Obamas posted a video of themselves on Twitter promoting the Invictus Games, an international sports event for wounded, disabled and sick military personnel and veterans. Harry, fifth-in-line to the throne and a patron of the Invictus Games, responded to the US President and his wife in kind. “Unfortunately for you, Flotus and Potus, I wasn’t alone when you sent me that video,” the Prince tweeted to the Obamas. He also added a video of his own, showing him chatting amiably with his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, while they thumbed through an Invictus Games brochure, just as the Obamas’ challenge lands in his cellphone. [ABC News] See Video of the Day

Large Hadron Collider: Weasel causes shutdown –
The Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator at Cern is offline after a short circuit – caused by a weasel. The unfortunate creature did not survive the encounter with a high-voltage transformer at the site near Geneva in Switzerland. The LHC was running when a “severe electrical perturbation” occurred in the early hours of Friday morning. A spokesman for Cern said that the weasel did not get into the tunnels, just the electrical facilities. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

The Queen vs the President ‘Boom’

Unfortunately for you @FLOTUS and @POTUS I wasn’t alone when you sent me that video 😉 – H.https://t.co/sjfSQvkzb6

— Kensington Palace (@KensingtonRoyal) April 29, 2016

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian Civil War
  • According to Russian ambassador to the United Nations Aleksi Borodavkin, the Syrian Army is preparing to launch an offensive against the ISIL strongholds of Al-Raqqah and the countryside around Deir ez-Zor and that the Russian Air Force will be providing the ground campaign with air support. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
  • Airstrikes hit the Syrian city of Aleppo, destroying another medical facility and killing two civilians, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (Al Jazeera)

Business and economics

• According to Eurostat, the Eurozone’s economy grew by 0.6% in the first three months of 2016, faster than what was originally expected, with unemployment falling to 10.2%. This growth suggest that the eurozone’s economy is now bigger than it was before the start of the financial crisis of 2007–08. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

• A magnitude 7.0 earthquake hits off the coast of the Vanuatu island of Malakula, prompting the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) to issue a tsunami warning for the coasts of New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, which was later cancelled. (ABC News) (9 News Australia)
• 2016 Turøy helicopter crash
  • Thirteen people were killed when a helicopter carrying offshore workers from Gullfaks B crash landed off the western coast of Norway. (LA Times) (VG.no, Norwegian)
• Kenya flooding
  • Heavy rain in Nairobi, Kenya, causes floods killing at least four people. (Standard Media)
  • A six story residential building collapses in Nairobi. At least three people have died and scores are thought to be trapped. (BBC), (CNN)
• At least 13 people die in a collision between a taxi and truck in the South African city of Bloemfontein. (Eyewitness News)

Health

• Zika virus outbreak (2015–present)
  • The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the first Zika virus related death in the United States, an elderly man in Puerto Rico. (Washington Post), (New York Times)

International relations

• Lithuania–United States relations
  • The United States Air Force lands two of its most advanced fighter jets in Lithuania for the first time in a show of support for the Baltic states which have become worried about Russia’s actions in Ukraine.(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Law and crime

• Australia commemorates the one-year anniversary of the execution of the ringleaders the Bali Nine. (ABC News)
• North Korea sentences South Korea born American businessman Kim Dong Chul to ten years imprisonment for alleged spying. (Reuters via Trust)
• A court in South Africa rules that the decision in 2009 to drop over 750 corruption charges against President Jacob Zuma was irrational and called for a review of them. However, the court ruling does not automatically reinstate the charges against Zuma as a legal team must be set up to decide on whether to charge him or not. (Al Jazeera)

Politics and elections

• Iranian legislative election, 2016
  • Iran goes to the polls for second round elections in constituencies where no candidate achieved 25 per cent of the vote in February’s elections. (Reuters via Trust)
  • Early results shows victory for Reformists. (tasnimnews)
• 2014–16 Venezuelan protests
  • Protests erupt in various cities of Venezuela as the country faces increased food and power shortages, forcing the government to ration them, leading to widespread looting and violence. According to the opposition, who control the National Assembly, over a million people support its bid to start a referendum on ousting President Nicolás Maduro. (Al Jazeera)
• Protests in France turn violent as protesters clash with police, injuring over 20 police officers and resulting in over 120 arrests nationwide. The protests are against a labour law being proposed in the National Assembly, saying it will reduce rights and deepen job insecurity for youth. (The Guardian)
• Irish general election, 2016
  • Fine Gael and Fianna Fail agree to the formation of a Fine Gael-led government. (Newstalk)

• Protesters on Norfolk Island, an external territory of Australia, occupy the former Legislative Assembly to protest Australia’s termination of the island’s autonomy. In July, Norfolk Island is set to become part of the State of New South Wales. (Radio New Zealand)

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