Top News Stories –

Sir Christopher Lee death announced –
In one of his final interviews, Sir Christopher Lee declared his intention never to retire. “When I die, I want to die with my boots on,” he said.
The actor remained true to his word. He was preparing for his latest film role – a drama called The 11th, co-starring Uma Thurman – when he died on Sunday morning [June 7, 2015] at London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Sir Christopher was one of the greats of the 20th century, but his career hit new heights in the last 15 years of his life. He will be best remembered by those of a certain age for playing Count Dracula in his Hammer Horror days, but to younger film fans he was a star of two of the biggest franchises ever made: Saruman in Lord of the Rings and Count Dooku in Star Wars. [Daily Telegraph] He appeared in over 200 films (See List of the Day)
Sir Christopher Lee (1922-2015)

Female scientists post ‘distractingly sexy’ photos –
Female scientists have been sharing “distractingly sexy” photos of themselves after a feminist website encouraged them to respond to comments by a Nobel laureate. Nobel Prize winner Tim Hunt was roundly criticised when he detailed his thoughts about the “trouble with girls” at a conference of science journalists. “Three things happen when they are in the lab,” he said, “you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticise them they cry.” He said his comments were meant to be “light-hearted, ironic comment”, but whatever the intention, it went over like a heavy metallic dirigible in a field with some widely acknowledged gender issues. Hunt has now resigned from his position at University College London. On Thursday the hashtag #DistractinglySexy began taking off, with more than 10,000 tweets in a matter of hours. [BBC Trending] See Top Twitter Trends (UK)

Video of the Day –

Saruman the White – from Lord of the Rings [from Youtube]

List of the Day –

Sir Christopher Lee film appearances (including voiceovers) [List from Wikipedia]

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Military intervention against ISIL
  • A US citizen fighting alongside Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) against ISIL is killed in action near Kobani. (Today’s Zaman via AP)
• Syrian Civil War
  • Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, the Al-Nusra Front, shoots dead at least 20 Druze villagers in Idlib in what is being described as a “massacre”.(The Telegraph)
• Boko Haram
  • Residents of northeast Nigeria claim that Boko Haram has killed at least 43 people and burnt down three villages in recent attacks. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
• Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel
  • A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip towards the Ashkelon region fell short and did not land in Israel with Palestinian sources indicating it may have hit a house. There were no immediate reports of injuries, or claims of responsibility. (Times of Israel)

Arts and culture

• Spain gives the late writer Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, a formal burial at a Madrid convent nearly 400 years after his death in 1616. (AP)

Business and economics

• After a poor 1st quarter earnings report, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo steps down with co-founder Jack Dorsey taking over as interim CEO effective July 1. (USA Today)
• Rupert Murdoch will step aside as CEO of 21st Century Fox to be replaced by his son James Murdoch. (AFP via ABC Online)

Disasters and accidents

• At least 41 people have been killed, 8 injured, and scores are missing in landslides in Nepal‘s Taplejung District caused by heavy rain. (The Hindu)

Health

• Health officials in the United States are advising doctors to be on the lookout for MERS following an outbreak in South Korea. (AP via Washington Post)

International relations

• NGO Save the Children
  • Federal Interior Ministry of Pakistan has sealed the offices of the NGO Save the Children in Pakistan and issued order for its foreign staff to leave the country within 15 days on account of the NGO’s anti-Pakistan activities. (Express Tribune).
• Nuclear program of Iran:
  • A new version of the Israeli-linked malware Duqu is found at hotels hosting Iran nuclear talks by Kaspersky; Israel denies involvement. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

• China‘s former security chief Zhou Yongkang is given a life sentence for bribery, leaking state secrets and abuse of power. (ABC News Australia)
• Shooting of Tamir Rice
  • A court in the American city of Cleveland, Ohio, finds probable cause that Cleveland Police Department officer Timothy Loehmann should face murder charges in relation to the shooting of Tamar Rice. (Cleveland.com)
• King Felipe VI of Spain strips his sister Cristina of her titles after she is charged with tax evasion. (AFP via Yahoo!)
• Authorities from the Marshal’s Service, the FBI, Customs, state and local police, and the Forest Police searching for 6 days in northeastern New York (about 25 miles south of the Canadian border, near Lake Champlain and Vermont, in the Adirondack Forest area, in Dannemora, New Yorkand Plattsburgh, New York) for two high-risk murderers who staged an elaborate escape from the high-security Clinton Correctional Facility– the first there- the night of Friday, June 5, 2015 (it was discovered the next morning), using bloodhounds, find a scent and leftover evidence that could be from the two, Richard Matt and David Sweat. (CNN)

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