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Is this the new Mojito? –
The Mojito, the Cuba Libre and the Dark and Stormy have all earned their place in the cocktail hall of fame. And now a new creation looks set to join their ranks: the ‘Venceremos’ – a bold new cocktail that gets its kick from a dash of sesame oil. And it’s all thanks to Gn Chan, the self-confessed ‘lightweight’ bartender from New York, whose most recent concoction has been named the best cocktail in the world at the 2016 BACARDI Legacy Global Cocktail Competition.The mixture of BACARDI rum and coconut liqueur with pineapple, cucumber and lime juice (topped off with a dash of sesame oil and garnished with a pineapple leaf) is now set to grace bars, clubs, restaurants and lounges across the world. Best of all, it’s simple to make. ‘Put everything together,’ says Chan, 29, who currently works at a speakeasy-style bar in Manhattan. ‘Shake. Strain. Done.’ Chan, who describes himself as an ‘accidental bartender’ explains that the Venceremos – Spanish for ‘we shall overcome’ – is a reflection of his own journey as he hustled his way to the top of his career. [Daily Mail]

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Armed conflicts and attacks

• Kurdish–Turkish conflict (2015–present)
  • Two Turkish soldiers are killed and four are wounded in an attack by Kurdish militants in southeastern Turkey. (Daily Mail)
  • The Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) warns Turkey it is preparing to intensify its fight. (BBC)
• Syrian Civil War
  • At least eight people are reportedly killed as a car bomb explodes at a checkpoint south of Damascus. (Xinhua)
• American-led intervention in Syria
  • The President of the United States Barack Obama announces that the U.S. will send an additional 250 troops to fight ISIL in Syria. (The Guardian)
• Burundian unrest (2015–present)
  • A senior Burundian Army general, Athanase Kararuza, an ethnic Tutsi and security advisor to Burundi Vice-President Gaston Sindimwo, is shot dead by heavily armed men in the capital Bujumbura. (AFP via Daily Mail)
  • The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights announces that the International Criminal Court will conduct a preliminary examination of the violence in Burundi over the past year that has killed hundreds, and forced hundreds of thousands to flee abroad. (The Washington Post)
• Mexican Drug War
  • Mexican police come under attack in a two-hour gunfight in the city of Acapulco, killing one gunman. At the same time, a separate group of gunmen attacked a federal police base in the city. (BBC)
• Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
  • Yemeni and Saudi-led coalition forces recapture the port city of Al Mukalla from al-Qaeda militants. (BBC)
• Moro conflict
  • Abu Sayyaf militants, who threatened to kill three foreigners kidnapped in September, 2015, from a “high-end” Philippine resort, unless they were paid 900 million pesos (17 mil Euros) by midnight today (15:00 UTC), have beheaded one of the hostages, Canadian John Ridsdel. Philippine President Benigno Aquino III had ordered an all-out effort to rescue the hostages, including a Philippine woman, kidnapped by the Daesh-linked group. (Straits Times) (Journal of Turkish Weekly) (Reuters via EuroNews), (BBC)
• Attacks on secularists in Bangladesh
  • Xulhaz Mannan, a Bangladeshi employee of a U.S. charity (USAID), who is also an editor for the country’s only LGBT magazine, and a friend are hacked to death in Dhaka, Bangladesh, by suspectedIslamist militants. Guards at the building were also injured. (NBC News with Reuters) (Al Jazeera)

Business and economics

• British department store chain British Home Stores (BHS) collapses into administration after a last-minute rescue deal fails. The collapse of the retailer, which employs 11,000 people, is the biggest failure on the UK’s high street since the collapse of Woolworths Group in 2008. (The Guardian)
• Saudi Arabia’s Council of Ministers announces a broad-based economic reform plan, known as Vision 2030, which will help the oil-reliant state to diversify its economy over the next 14 years. (Al Jazeera)
• In the United States, Gannett Company, Inc., announces that two weeks ago it made an unsolicited, $815 million takeover bid for the Tribune Publishing Company, whose holdings include a number of major newspapers, such as the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. Gannett, the publisher of the national American daily USA Today as well as 107 daily newspapers, made the offer public since Tribune had not yet responded. Last month, Tribune Publishing’s winning bid for the Orange County Register was blocked by the U.S. Justice Department because of an antitrust challenge. (Reuters) (Chicago Tribune) (Orange County Register)
• Goldman Sachs, the American multinational investment banking firm, launches an FDIC-insured, Internet-based savings bank. The Wall Street institution, whose investment banking account minimums are in the millions, sets a minimum deposit of $1 dollar for GSBank.com. (TechCrunch) (GS Bank website)

Disasters and accidents

• A Royal Norwegian Air Force F-16 fighter jet, taking part in a mock attack on Tarva on April 12, mistakenly opened fire on a control tower with three officers inside, who survived unharmed, according to the Norwegian military. (The Guardian)
• At least 23 people have died and dozens of others have become sick in Karor Lal Esan, central Pakistan, after eating sweets suspected of being contaminated with pesticides. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
• At least two people are killed and seven are injured following an explosion on a bus in Yerevan, Armenia. The cause of the blast is being investigated. (RT)
• Hillsborough disaster
  • The jury in the second inquest for the victims of the Hillsborough disaster reach their verdicts. These will be given at 11:00 BST tomorrow.(BBC)

International relations

• The People’s Republic of China urges North Korea to abide by a United Nations Security Council resolution that bans the North from conducting ballistic missile tests, two days after Pyongyang claimed it conducted a test from a submarine. (Yonhap)
• Belarus–United States relations
  • The top U.S. diplomat in Belarus Scott Rauland and Belarusian Foreign Minister Uladzimer Makey said that their countries are ready to discuss the possible return of their ambassadors. Makey told reporters in Minsk that “there is readiness from both sides for a full normalization of our relations.” Belarus recalled its ambassador from Washington in 2008 after the United States imposed sanctions against Belarusian oil giant Belneftekhim following tensions between Minsk and the West. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
• 2016 Ecuador earthquake
  • The United Nations World Food Programme announces it is stepping up assistance to Ecuador’s most vulnerable areas following an earthquake that killed over 650 people. (Euronews)
• Afghanistan–Pakistan relations, Taliban insurgency
  • Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani says Pakistan must take military action against Taliban, operating from Pakistan, who are waging an increasingly deadly insurgency across his country. Otherwise, “… we will be forced to turn to the UN Security Council and start serious diplomatic efforts.” (The New York Times) (Penske Media Corporation)
• European migrant crisis
  • Turkey says it has deported more than 3,300 foreigners suspected of links to jihadi groups, and barred another 41,000 foreigners from entering the country. (AP)

Law and crime

• Shooting of Tamir Rice
  • The U.S. city of Cleveland, Ohio, agrees to pay $6 million to settle a wrongful death civil rights lawsuit brought by the family of Tamir Rice. Rice was a 12-year-old boy who was walking outside a recreation center holding an air pellet gun when he was shot and killed by a Cleveland Police officer on November 22, 2014. Prosecutor Tim McGinty reported in December 2015 that an Ohio grand jury decided not to indict the police officers. (NPR) (CNN)
• Constitution of Venezuela
  • Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal rules that opposition’s proposed amendment to change the President’s term of office from six to four years can not be applied retroactively, thereby ending this attempt to cut short President Nicolás Maduro’s time in office. (BBC) (AP)

Politics and elections

• United States presidential election, 2016
  • The presidential campaigns of Texas Senator Ted Cruz and Governor of Ohio John Kasich announce they will now coordinate strategies to stop fellow Republican Donald Trump from becoming the party’s nominee. Cruz’s campaign will cut campaigning in Oregon and New Mexico to help Kasich, while the Kasich campaign will give Cruz a “clear path” in Indiana. (BBC)
• United States presidential election in Arizona, 2016
  • A Maricopa County, Arizona, judge rejects Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s request to throw out a court challenge prompted by major polling problems during the March primary. (KPNX)(KPNX²)

Sports

• 2015–16 Serie A
  • Juventus win Italy’s association football championship for the fifth consecutive time. (BBC)
• In American football, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals rules that New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady must serve a four-game suspension imposed by NFLcommissioner Roger Goodell in the Deflategate scandal. The suspension had been stayed due to a lower court ruling. (ESPN)
• In basketball, the Golden State Warriors, the top seed in the ongoing NBA playoffs, announce that the NBA’s reigning MVP, Stephen Curry, will miss at least two weeks with a sprained MCL. (ESPN)

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