Announcement

Total 100 articles, created at 2016-04-08 06:08 1 US Masters 2016: Jason Day was fairly skipping until the rot set in Coming down the 15th fairway of his first round at the Masters, Jason Day was fairly (4.00/5) skipping. At five under par, the Australian looked every bit the tournament favourite as he led the field chasing the breakaway leader Jordan Spieth. He chatted with his playing partner... 2016-04-08 00:00 967Bytes article.wn.com 2 Several top stars flame out in Round 1 at the Masters From Rickie Fowler to Jason Day to Bubba Watson, multiple world top-10 players came (2.00/5) up short Thursday at Augusta National. 2016-04-08 02:17 6KB espn.go.com

3 Danny Lee enjoys triumphant return to Masters AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Danny Lee made sure his return to the Masters was worth the

(2.00/5) wait. The South Korea-born Lee shot a 4-under 68 in Thursday's first round at... 2016-04-07 23:54 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 4 They’re acting like Republicans now! Hillary Clinton jabs Bernie Sanders over his NYC subway gaffe

(2.00/5) Hillary mocks Bernie for thinking NYC subways use tokens, but then struggles to get through turnstile herself 2016-04-07 21:08 1KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 5 JV Ejercito posts P30,000 bail at Sandigan Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito on Thursday posted P30,000 bail at the Sandiganbayan, which on Monday ordered him arrested for using municipal calamity funds to buy high- powered firearms 2016-04-08 06:02 4KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 6 Jennifer Lawrence leads female stars’ fight for equal treatment Many female stars complain that the biggest and best film roles today are written for male stars and protagonists, often limiting actresses to “love interest” or “sexy eye candy” 2016-04-08 06:02 3KB entertainment.inquirer.net 7 Fusion of soul and skill in ‘Les Mis’ stars’ solo albums If you have yet to watch the Manila staging of “Les Miserables” or haven’t had your fill of the exceptional vocal chops of Simon Gleeson (who plays Jean Valjean) and Kerrie Anne Greenland 2016-04-08 06:02 4KB entertainment.inquirer.net 8 Who gave dispersal order? DAVAO CITY—Who ordered the dispersal of protesting farmers who barricaded the national highway in Kidapawan City on April 1? Local government and police officials summoned to a 2016-04-08 06:02 6KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 9 Labour will not means test tuition fee grants, says Carwyn Jones First Minister Carwyn Jones rules out means-testing for university tuition fee grants in future if Labour retains power in the assembly election. 2016-04-08 01:56 2KB www.bbc.co.uk 10 Dev Patel: 'I get paid to play for a living' Bafta-nominated Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel explains why his latest film is a "mathematical bromance" and why being typecast is "more a blessing than a curse". 2016-04-08 02:57 5KB www.bbc.co.uk 11 The tragedy that 'chemsex' drugs can cause Barrister Henry Hendron had it all. But then a terrible mistake changed everything. 2016-04-08 01:56 6KB www.bbc.co.uk

12 Commons Confidential: Doppelgänger defect When to take a leak, abuse in Ambridge, and Ian McEwan’s identity supermarket “Why did Nick Clegg cross the road? Because he said he wouldn’t.” 2016-04-08 01:24 9KB www.newstatesman.com 13 The Times & The Sunday Times News and opinion from The Times & The Sunday Times 2016-04-08 01:37 568Bytes www.thetimes.co.uk 14 Secular Bangladeshi writer killed Machete-wielding attackers in the capital of Bangladesh have killed a 26-year-old writer Nazimuddin Samad -- the sixth secularist writer or publisher to have been killed in Dhaka in the last 14 months. 2016-04-08 02:37 1KB rss.cnn.com 15 Salman Rushdie: how Cervantes and Shakespeare wrote the modern literary rule book The band as brand: the Rolling Stones at the Saatchi Gallery It is 400 years since Shakespeare and Cervantes died. Together, they defy boundaries of time, and the conventions that keep street life seperate from fantasy. 2016-04-08 01:17 13KB www.newstatesman.com 16 Missing PC Gordon Semple: Man arrested on suspicion of murder Detectives searching for a serving police officer who has been missing for six days arrest a man on suspicion of murder and are searching a property. 2016-04-08 01:56 1KB www.bbc.co.uk 17 Djibouti election: What you need to know The road to Djibouti's presidential election on 8 April has been filled with tension and opposition claims of foul play. But with no strong challenger, incumbent President Ismail Omar Guelleh is widely expected to win. 2016-04-08 04:17 4KB www.bbc.co.uk 18 BC-TEN--Volvo Cars Open Results CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP) — Results Thursday from the Volvo Cars Open at Family Circle Tennis Center (seedings in parentheses): Angelique Kerber (1), G... 2016-04-08 02:26 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 19 Cruz apology to McConnell? 'Ain't gonna happen,' he says Ted Cruz said Thursday he will not apologize to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for accusing him of lying last year, despite suggestions from Senate colleagues it would help them unite behind his campaign. 2016-04-08 02:16 986Bytes rss.cnn.com 20 Moms plan thrift shop to support CMS Key Resale group wants to turn castoffs into cash for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. 2016-04-08 01:55 1KB www.charlotteobserver.com 21 5 craziest Charlie Sheen bombshells from National Enquirer editor’s Hollywood Reporter essay According to Dylan Howard, Sheen once invited him to drink the star's urine if a drug test came back clean 2016-04-08 02:58 3KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 22 The bad religion of Republican plutocrats: We can’t afford to overlook the danger of their ideas Much ink has been spilled on the violent orthodoxy of GOP social and foreign policy. But don't forget the economy 2016-04-08 00:50 3KB salon.com.feedsportal.com

23 Jacob Zuma’s week from hell Everything Bernie Sanders doesn’t know about his own policies South Africa’s president is now facing calls to resign even from within his own party. 2016-04-08 03:21 14KB www.newstatesman.com 24 Arkansas killer shot dead trying to escape Christopher Wilson, serving life sentences for two murders, is fatally shot as he tries to escape from a high-security Arkansas prison. 2016-04-08 02:06 827Bytes rss.cnn.com 25 Els after 9 at 1st: Putting with 'snakes' in head Ernie Els set a record he won't want to remember by carding a 9 on the opening hole at the Masters via a 6-putt. "It's the last thing you want to do is do that on a golf course at this level. " 2016-04-08 00:52 4KB espn.go.com 26 Senators blames nat'l gov't for Kidapawan protest Kakulangan ng national government sa pagtugon sa epekto ng El Niño. Ito ang nakikitang dahilan ng ilang senador kaya nag-protesta ang ilang magsasaka sa Kidapawan na nauwi naman sa madugong dispersal. 2016-04-08 01:55 933Bytes news.abs- cbn.com 27 Yahoo - Yahoo Statement Regarding Starboard Announcement --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- today noted Starboard Value LP's announcement of its intention to nominate nine director candidates for election to Yahoo's Board of Directors at the company's 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The Board's will review Starboard's proposed director nominees and respond in due course... 2016-04-08 04:19 4KB investor.yahoo.net 28 BUHARI VANGUARD APPOINTS CORDINATORS……. Supports Buhari for 2019 BUHARI VANGUARD APPOINTS CORDINATORS……. Supports Buhari for 2019 - Buhari Vanguard has appointed former APC Gubernatorial Aspirant in Bayelsa state, Hon. Romeo Bekeyei as its Coordinators in South and Alhaji Umar Ab... 2016-04-08 01:58 1KB worldnewsvine.com 29 Yahoo - Lexus Revs Up Basketball Fans with New Campaign on Yahoo Sports and Launches Bracket Challenge New campaign promotes the all-new 2016 Lexus GS F timed with the 2016 Men's College Basketball Tournament --(BUSINESS WIRE)... 2016-04-07 20:02 3KB investor.yahoo.net 30 Democrats are better in bed: Apparently, this is one thing singles on the right and left can agree on A new study also reveals which 2016 presidential candidates are most attractive, and why 2016-04-08 01:56 2KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 31 Syria war: Rebels 'capture key northern town of al-Rai' Syrian rebels say they have seized control of the strategically important northern town of al-Rai from the group known as Islamic State (IS). 2016-04-08 00:35 2KB www.bbc.co.uk 32 Livonia - News Livonia - News 2016-04-07 17:21 2KB rssfeeds.hometownlife.com

33 Yahoo - Introducing Fair Play on Yahoo Sports Daily Fantasy Yahoo Launches Key Changes in Daily Fantasy to Help Level the Playing Field for Fans Including Entry Limits, Labeling of Veteran Players and No... 2016-04-08 04:19 2KB investor.yahoo.net

34 Yahoo - Yahoo to Participate at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- (NASDAQ:YHOO) CFO will participate in a question-and-answer session at the Morgan Stanley in. The session is scheduled to begin on , at /... 2016-04-08 04:19 1KB investor.yahoo.net 35 Lisa Simpson, a vegan? 20,000 fans petition “Simpsons” writers to take “Lisa the vegetarian” to the next level Veganism is a movement in need of one animated second-grader to lead it to the masses VIDEO 2016-04-08 01:56 1KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 36 San Francisco police fatally shoot man carrying knife SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Two police officers shot and killed a man carrying a knife in the San Francisco's bustling Mission District on Thursday, the city's poli... 2016-04-08 01:36 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk 37 Sailor exonerated after spending 33 YEARS in prison for crimes The Virginia Supreme Court granted Keith Allen Harward's petition for a writ of actual innocence after new DNA tests failed to identify Harward's genetic profile in sperm left at the crime scene. 2016-04-08 01:22 4KB www.dailymail.co.uk 38 Newspaper headlines: Friday papers hail PM's financial disclosure Some of Friday's front pages have an air of "mission accomplished" as almost all carry David Cameron's acknowledgement that he had shares in his father's offshore fund. 2016-04-08 04:17 752Bytes www.bbc.co.uk 39 Mindy Kaling at NYC summit says she sends cupcakes after being brusk The 36-year-old actress revealed that she sends cupcakes when being overly assertive on Thursday during a women's summit in New York City. 2016-04-08 01:19 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 40 An inside look at Ohio State's pro day Nearly a quarter of the Buckeyes' roster is up for the draft. Here's an inside look at the sights, sounds and pro day performances of prospects like Ezekiel Elliott, Joey Bosa and Braxton Miller. 2016-04-08 01:15 3KB espn.go.com 41 Global Gaming Expo 2015 – Las Vegas, Nevada Global Gaming Expo 2015 – Las Vegas, Nevada - Brenda Hyatt, Chief Editor/Journalist Donald Scelzo, Photographer Las Vegas, NV (Sept) The 15th annual Global Gaming Expo (G2E), in partnership with the A... 2016-04-08 01:58 3KB worldnewsvine.com 42 “Rogue One” trailer wows: “Star Wars” franchise looks set to keep winning streak going Felicity Jones and Forrest Whitaker make strong impressions in a hurry in this stand- alone spinoff 2016-04-08 00:01 2KB salon.com.feedsportal.com 43 10 Things to Know for Friday - 8 April 2016 Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Friday: 1. WHY TRUMP NEEDS TO BROADEN HIS APPEAL Seven in 10... 2016-04-08 01:04 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 44 Ben Stokes felt "whole world" came down on him in World Twenty20 final Ben Stokes has laid bare the "complete devastation" he felt at being hit for four sixes in the final over in England's dramatic World Twenty20 final defeat t... 2016-04-08 01:03 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk

45 Arsene Wenger has no doubts over Jack Wilshere's professionalism Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has no doubts over Jack Wilshere's professionalism as the midfielder prepares to make his first appearance of the season on Fri... 2016-04-08 01:01 4KB www.dailymail.co.uk 46 Security flaws found in 3 state health insurance websites FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Federal investigators found significant cybersecurity weaknesses in the health insurance websites of California, Kentucky and Vermont t... 2016-04-08 01:01 6KB www.dailymail.co.uk 47 French energy minister: delaying Hinkley Point C still ‘under discussion’ Ségolène Royal ducks question of whether UK nuclear power development will be halted as discord over troubled venture continues at EDF 2016-04-08 00:57 3KB www.theguardian.com 48 Barrington man charged with possessing child pornography A northwest suburban man has been charged with possessing more than 10,000 videos and images of child pornography. 2016-04-08 00:54 1KB chicago.suntimes.com 49 Missouri sex offender pleads guilty to buying child porn from PH SPRINGFIELD, Missouri— A registered southwest Missouri sex offender has pleaded guilty in federal court to sending money to the Philippines to view online pornography. The Springfield 2016-04-08 00:52 1KB globalnation.inquirer.net 50 Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon divulge banter between rival BGT judges Amanda, 45, revealed the music mogul often responds to the funnyman's just-for-fun jibes with 'something horrible' about his recent Lara Stone divorce on Alan Carr's Chatty Man. 2016-04-08 00:52 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 51 It's the smart way to do business The Department of Home Affairs yesterday launched its eChannel pilot project, which allows South Africans to apply for smart ID cards and passports at banks. 2016-04-08 00:51 2KB www.timeslive.co.za 52 San Francisco first in U. S. to okay paid 6-week parental leave SAN FRANCISCO— In approving a novel paid parental leave policy, San Francisco officials buttressed their efforts to make life a little more affordable for workers who eke out a living in one 2016-04-08 00:51 4KB globalnation.inquirer.net 53 Jordan Spieth Picks up Where He off at Augusta National Jordan Spieth picked up where he left off at the Masters. After a dominating victory a year ago, the 22-year-old Texan threw up three early birdies on a breezy Thursday at Augusta National to claim the top spot on the leaderboard. Spieth set a tournament... 2016-04-08 00:51 4KB abcnews.go.com 54 Mormon Missionary Injured in Brussels Bombing Leave Hospital A Mormon missionary wounded in the Brussels airport attack has left the hospital and returned to his southern Utah home. University of Utah Hospital spokeswoman Kathy Wilets said Thursday that 20-year-old Joseph "Dres" Empey was released this week. He suffered second-degree burns and other... 2016-04-08 00:47 1KB abcnews.go.com

55 We need £12billion to repair all the potholes in Britain Yesterday the Government pledged £50m for fixing 1m potholes this year. But one survey found it will cost £11.8billion to fully fix all roads and the AA president said the funding was inadequate. 2016-04-08 00:47 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 56 What happened the last time Republicans faced a contested convention The scene sounds eerily familiar: Republicans gather at a convention with no clear nominee. A couple of hundred delegates separate the two candidates. The only way to pick a winner? A fight on the floor. 2016-04-08 00:45 932Bytes rss.cnn.com 57 Gov. Scott Signs Bill Making Florida 12th State to Defund Planned Parenthood KMorgan 1192 posts 2016-04-08 03:19 3KB www.thetribunepapers.com 58 Delivery driver flings parcel over fence in shocking footage She appears in the footage, taken in Staffordshire, approaching a high gate with the parcel. And then, with no apparent search to see if anyone's home, she lobs the parcel over. 2016-04-08 00:41 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 59 Invest in fighting the Zika virus Congress hasn't approved money to counter the Zika virus and the administration is right to warn that now is the time to do so, says Dr. Jennifer Caudle 2016-04-08 00:38 1KB rss.cnn.com 60 Peru's front-runner Fujimori slips in poll ahead of elections LIMA, April 7 (Reuters) - Peru's presidential hopeful Keiko Fujimori slipped 3.1 points in an Ipsos poll seen by a source on Thursday, but she remained the r... 2016-04-08 00:38 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 61 Enrile, Binay, Marcos assail Aquino inaction on Kidapawan President Aquino should have taken decisive action and opened the rice granaries when protesters took to the streets of Kidapawan City to demand food from the government, Senate Minority 2016-04-08 00:33 5KB newsinfo.inquirer.net 62 Ikea kitchen design goes VR Want to walk through an Ikea kitchen design, change the color scheme and never leave home? There's an app for that. 2016-04-08 00:30 1KB chicago.suntimes.com 63 Illinois budget crisis affecting fuel cleanup SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Federal regulators have warned Illinois to resume paying companies that wrench leaky fuel tanks from the ground or be forced to tell... 2016-04-08 00:29 4KB www.dailymail.co.uk 64 Asia Times News & Features – Asia Times On Sunday, several global news organizations published articles about a treasure trove of leaked documents. They originated from a Panama-based law firm... 2016-04-07 20:45 7KB atimes.com 65 Metro Atlanta truck driver dies in Charlotte wreck A semi-truck driver from the metro Atlanta area passed away in a wreck in Charlotte. 2016-04-08 00:18 1KB rssfeeds.11alive.com 66 World Bank hikes aid to poor nations fighting global warming WASHINGTON (AP) — The World Bank is boosting spending to help poorer countries battle global warming and power 150 million homes with renewable energy. The b... 2016-04-08 00:18 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 67 DeAndre Yedlin aims to ruin Leicester's Hollywood ending Sunderland's on-loan defender DeAndre Yedlin is hoping to do his parent club Tottenham a favour this weekend by helping his team beat Leicester City on Sunday. 2016-04-08 00:16 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 68 Bryan Bickell hoping to recapture past postseason glory After spending most of the season in Rockford, Bickell has a brief chance to impress in final two regular-season games. 2016-04-08 00:16 4KB chicago.suntimes.com 69 Activity icons 'could help healthy living’ Working out how much exercise it would take to burn off calories from food would be easier if labelling was changed, says Shirley Cramer of the Royal Society of Public Health. 2016-04-07 21:55 3KB www.bbc.co.uk 70 National Lottery jackpot: Record £35.1m Lotto win claimed A £35.1m Lotto jackpot - the biggest prize in the history of the UK game - has been claimed by a single ticket, lottery operator Camelot says. 2016-04-07 21:55 2KB www.bbc.co.uk 71 Kangana Ranaut wants Hrithik Roshan arrested for 'leaking pictures' Kangana Ranaut’s lawyer has sent Mumbai's Commissioner of Police a complaint against Hrithik Roshan, seeking his arrest for allegedly "blackmailing and threatening" his former co-star. 2016-04-08 00:14 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk 72 Colombia's highest court paves way for marriage equality in surprise ruling Magistrates vote against proposal that said marriage applied only to unions between men and women and that it was up to the congress to decide 2016-04-08 00:07 3KB www.theguardian.com 73 Lady Gaga's childhood piano could bring $200,000 at auction NEW YORK (AP) — Lady Gaga was only 5 years old when she wrote her first song on an upright piano that her grandparents bought. Now the instrument 2016-04-08 00:05 3KB chicago.suntimes.com 74 Zika virus was sexually transmitted in Texas, CDC says - .com Zika virus has been sexually transmitted in Texas, CDC said. It is the 1st case of the virus being locally acquired in continental U. S. in latest outbreak. 2016-04-08 00:04 1KB rss.cnn.com 75 The Fifth Column is thoroughly watchable, says PATRICK MARMION American novelist Ernest Hemingway wrote this, his only play while under bombardment from Franco and this likeable production is thoroughly watchable, writes PATRICK MARMION. 2016-04-08 00:03 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 76 Shape-shifting sofa changes shape into any type of furniture you want Lift-bit is a series of hexagonal stools that fit together and creates a number of combinations. Users control the sofa via an app or hand gestures to transform it into what they need for just $1,250. 2016-04-08 00:03 4KB www.dailymail.co.uk 77 3 endangered clouded leopards born at Point Defiance Zoo An endangered clouded leopard is a new mom, giving birth to three cubs at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. 2016-04-08 00:00 1KB rssfeeds.11alive.com 78 Officials: Texas student’s killing on campus ‘horrifying’ AUSTIN, Texas – A first-year University of Texas dance student whose body was found near the heart of campus was the victim of a “horrifying and incomprehensible” killing that was the first on school grounds since the bell tower mass shooting nearly 50 years ago, university officials... 2016-04-08 00:00 976Bytes article.wn.com 79 Kerry calls on Iran to help end Middle Eastern wars US Secretary of State John Kerry has called on Iran to help end the ongoing wars in the Middle East as Washington’s allies continue bombing Yemen and supporting terrorist groups operating in Syria. Kerry made the remarks on Thursday during a joint press conference with Saudi Arabia's Foreign... 2016-04-08 00:00 950Bytes article.wn.com 80 Yellen says Fed did not make mistake with December rate hike WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Thursday that the central bank did not make a mistake in boosting interest rates in December, a move that was followed by significant turbulence in financial markets and further weakening of the global economy. Yellen... 2016-04-08 00:00 1020Bytes article.wn.com 81 ExxonMobil has a secret weapon to combat low oil prices One interesting possibility for Exxon to better highlight the Chemical group, potentially improving performance and enhancing overall value, is a partial spin-off. 2016-04-08 00:00 851Bytes article.wn.com 82 Longtime CBS News executive Scheffler dies NEW YORK (AP) — Philip Scheffler, a top executive behind the scenes at the CBS newsmagazine "60 Minutes" until his retirement in 2003, has died. He was 85. C... 2016-04-08 00:00 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 83 BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Tom’s in deep as a bad boy — again! Tom Burke, who played ‘bad boy’ Dolokhov in BBC TV’s midwinter monster hit War & Peace, will be playing another not-so-dashing lover at the National Theatre this summer. 2016-04-07 23:59 6KB www.dailymail.co.uk 84 Facebook’s Messenger plans to boost businesses on chat service Facebook has launched new features to help its 900 million Messenger users chat. Users will soon have access to scannable codes, usersnames and links that open up threads in the app. 2016-04-07 23:58 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk 85 Stokes tipped to lead Hibernian's promotion tilt Anthony Stokes has been backed to fire Hibs into the Premiership — after finally getting himself close to match fitness. The striker is currently on loan at Easter Road from Celtic. 2016-04-07 23:57 4KB www.dailymail.co.uk 86 Indian investigators may not be let into Pakistan for Pathankot probe Soon after the return of the Pakistani investigation team that visited India to probe the Pathankot attack, Pakistan has hinted that Indian investigators are unlikely to be allowed to visit the country. 2016-04-07 23:55 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk 87 Professor Obama makes case for SCOTUS nominee Reviving his earlier-in-life position as a constitutional law professor, President Barack Obama sought Thursday to imbue his case for his Supreme Court nominee 2016-04-07 23:55 986Bytes rss.cnn.com

88 Congressman: Gov. Snyder contradicted himself under oath U. S. Rep. Elijah Cummings, top Democrat on a panel looking into the Flint water crisis, accuses Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder of contradictory testimony under oath. 2016-04-07 23:51 914Bytes rss.cnn.com 89 Passenger swims for help after chopper crash as pilot remains missing Passenger injured in a helicopter crash swam 800 metres to shore to raise the alarm, now the search is on for the missing pilot in far north Queensland. 2016-04-07 23:50 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 90 Judge mulls whether to let Arizona's executions resume PHOENIX (AP) — A federal judge heard arguments Thursday on an effort by Arizona to dismiss a lawsuit over how it carries out the death penalty in a decision... 2016-04-07 23:45 3KB www.dailymail.co.uk 91 Rams' 1st game back in L. A. set for Aug. 13 The NFL announced its preseason schedule, with the defending champion Broncos set to open against the Bears. ESPN will televise the Rams' return to Los Angeles and the Hall of Fame game. 2016-04-07 23:44 1KB espn.go.com 92 Ben Stokes: Carlos Brathwaite is a brilliant lad Ben Stokes has described Carlos Brathwaite as 'a brilliant lad' and has revealed the T20 World Cup final matchwinner asked for his England shirt after leading his country to glory. 2016-04-07 23:44 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 93 Merle Haggard, country music legend, dies aged 79 American country music legend Merle Haggard has died of pneumonia on his 79th birthday. 2016-04-07 23:43 707Bytes www.bbc.co.uk 94 5 Seconds Of Summer take selfies with excited fans in London They are set to kick off the European leg of their Sounds Good, Feels Good world tour. 2016-04-07 23:42 2KB www.dailymail.co.uk 95 Liverpool secures vital draw in 'El Kloppico' Jurgen Klopp's emotional return to his old club Borussia Dortmund did not end in victory but the next best thing as his Liverpool team secured a 1-1 draw. 2016-04-07 23:38 1KB rss.cnn.com 96 9 secret ways to save money at Walmart This giant retailer promises low prices every day, but you can save even more with these strategies 2016-04-07 13:56 6KB www.cbsnews.com 97 Big debacle for Big Easy: A 6-putt 9 to start the Masters AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Ernie Els was 2 feet from a par to start the Masters. Twenty-four measly inches. Then, the unimaginable happened. One miss. And another. ... 2016-04-07 23:37 5KB www.dailymail.co.uk 98 Kerry works to smooth relations with Gulf allies Secretary of State John Kerry meets with Gulf state ministers as differences over Iran and a host of regional conflicts cloud the relationship. 2016-04-07 23:36 983Bytes rss.cnn.com

99 Leigh Centurions unveil bizarre Summer Bash kit Perhaps the clue is in the name? Kingstone Press Championship leaders Leigh Centurions have released their Summer Bash kit with an interesting design, playing on their Roman gimmick. 2016-04-07 23:34 1KB www.dailymail.co.uk 100 What Trump gets wrong about U. S. neighbors American voters are getting wise to Donald Trump's radical protectionist fantasies, writes Parag Khanna. 2016-04-07 23:33 1KB rss.cnn.com Articles

Total 100 articles, created at 2016-04-08 06:08

1 US Masters 2016: Jason Day was fairly skipping until the rot set in (4.00/5) Coming down the 15th fairway of his first round at the Masters , Jason Day was fairly skipping. At five under par, the Australian looked every bit the tournament favourite as he led the field chasing the breakaway leader Jordan Spieth. He

Jason Day’s 3-hole implosion puts his Masters in jeopardy nypost.com Jason Day’s 3-hole implosion puts his Masters in jeopardy nypost.com 2016-04-08 00:00 article.wn.com

2 Several top stars flame out in Round 1 at the Masters (2.00/5) AUGUSTA, Ga. -- At first glance, Augusta National played right into the capable hands of some of the world's best golfers during Thursday's opening round of the 80th Masters Tournament. There's defending champion Jordan Spieth right atop the leaderboard -- he certainly qualifies. Justin Rose is just a couple of strokes back -- he does, too. Same goes for Rory McIlroy and Paul Casey and Sergio Garcia , each of whom enjoyed an impressive start to the year's first major championship. Look a little deeper, though, and you'll find that most of the world's top players left the hallowed grounds with some bruised and battered egos. Rickie Fowler had a cringe-worthy four bogeys, two doubles and a triple to shoot 80. Patrick Reed limped to a disappointing 76. Adam Scott matched that number, thanks to a back-nine 38. Bubba Watson was 1 shot better overall, but closed with an inward 41. Dustin Johnson shot a 73, which doesn't sound too rough until you consider he was on the course's hand-scored leaderboards before a back-nine 39. And then there's Jason Day , whose 72 was a tale of two sides, opening with a 31 on the front, only to falter with an ugly 41 on the back. If you're scoring at home -- an idea which would entail some heavy-duty addition -- that's six of the world's top 10 players who struggled mightily during the opening round, especially on the course's second nine holes. "Golf's not an easy game," proclaimed Fowler, who was presumably also speaking for his talent- laden brethren. That was largely the theme throughout this group. There was disappointment, but not depression; there was discouragement, but not despondency. "You know what? To be dead honest with you, there's no sting. It's just one of those things," Watson tried to explain. "I know how tough it was and I've got to just somehow commit and hopefully hit the same quality shots and tomorrow guess right. That's a short answer for that. " "To be honest, I mean, I played great golf," said Day, echoing Watson's sentiment and taking it one step further. "If I went 41 on the front side and 31 on the back side, I'd be just celebrating. Obviously, it's just a number. I've got to understand that the next two days are going to be very difficult with the wind conditions. And 6 under is leading and I'm at even par. I've just got to slowly try to inch my way back into this tournament if I can, and be patient with myself and hopefully I'm there by Sunday. " Day, the world's No. 1-ranked player and a guy who has won each of his past two starts, quickly followed these words by issuing what might be the mantra of every superstar who has struggled at one of the game's biggest tournaments. "It's a major championship. Things happen. And unfortunately it happened at the wrong time today. But it is what it is, and I've got to move on and push forward and try and get back in the tournament. " Scott, Day's fellow Aussie and Wednesday practice-round partner, admitted that he never quite felt comfortable during the first round. "Right from the first hole, I didn't quite come out on my line," said the 2013 champion. "On the back foot from the get go. Nothing unusual coming here, but it was tough. I just didn't really hit it solid enough into the greens and I left myself grinding for par even when I was putting for birdie. " Rather than lament his own performance, Scott quickly offered his take on exactly why these types of rounds are both frustrating and familiar. Editor's Picks Spieth makes Jordanesque statement at the Masters In Round 1, the defending champion showed that he'll be a force to contend with this year and for many more to come. Collins' Round 1 Masters grades There might not have been a clear favorite at this year's Masters, but there were a lot of expectations for the top 10 in the world. Michael Collins gives his assessment of Round 1. Masters.com leaderboard Get the latest scores from Thursday's opening round of the Masters. 2 Related In Round 1, the defending champion showed that he'll be a force to contend with this year and for many more to come. There might not have been a clear favorite at this year's Masters, but there were a lot of expectations for the top 10 in the world. Michael Collins gives his assessment of Round 1. Get the latest scores from Thursday's opening round of the Masters. "That's why these majors are the best test, because you've got to be sharp," he said. "It's very hard to play just off and be right there. I just need to come out tomorrow with the full belief that I'm just going to stripe it right down the line with my iron play. " Disappointment, but not depression. Discouragement, but not despondency. This was the theme of the day for some of the game's best players who struggled at one of the world's most devious venues. Perhaps it was Fowler who best summarized the day. "I made a couple of bad mistakes, caught a few bad breaks," he said. Fowler then shrugged, offered his first attempt at a smile since walking off the final green and explained, "It's golf. "

Jason Day’s 3-hole implosion puts his Masters in jeopardy nypost.com

Collins' Round 1 Masters grades espn.go.com 2016-04-08 02:17 Jason Sobel espn.go.com

3 Danny Lee enjoys triumphant return to Masters (2.00/5) AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Danny Lee made sure his return to the Masters was worth the wait. The South Korea-born Lee shot a 4-under 68 in Thursday's first round at Augusta National to finish the day in a second-place tie with Shane Lowry, two shots behind defending champion Jordan Spieth. He mixed in six birdies and two bogeys, handling the windy conditions well. Lee's final PGA Tour appearance as an amateur came in the 2009 Masters, when he opened with a 74 and missed the cut with a second-round 81. It took seven years to get back. Locking up a return trip was another reason to celebrate his first PGA Tour win at the Greenbrier Classic last year. "After I made the winning putt at the Greenbrier Classic, all I was thinking about was coming back to this place," said Lee, who became a citizen of New Zealand in 2008. "And now it's finally here. " In fact, he arrived a week before the tournament started to play extra practice rounds. Seeing his name high on the leaderboard was quite an experience for Lee, who remembers watching the 1997 Masters when Tiger Woods won despite going 4 over on the front nine in the first round. Lee easily beat that, though Woods' blistering finish would be hard to top. Lee played much of his early career on the European Tour, where he became the youngest winner as an 18-year-old. He also made stops on the Web.com Tour. Lee isn't well known in the United States, and the patrons at Augusta National didn't seem that excited as he moved up the leaderboard. After making a 6-yard birdie putt on No. 12, Lee realized something was missing: The applause. "I don't know, but I guess nobody was watching my putt," Lee said, smiling. "I was just waving at myself to the crowds, I made birdie, guys. " Lee, 25, has some accomplishments in the U. S. He replaced Woods in 2008 as the youngest U. S. Amateur champion ever, just past his 18th birthday. On Thursday, he had some fortunate breaks, like hitting the flag on No. 2 to keep the ball from flying over the green. In the process, Lee created a different set of memories from the 2009 tournament. Among the lingering recollections from those two rounds was a six-putt on No. 10 that had playing partners Adam Scott and Trevor Immelman laughing. "I was like, 'Seriously, guys? " Lee said. Now, he's just off the Masters lead. Seriously.

Spieth leads way as Masters rivals stumble rss.cnn.com

Lydia Ko enjoys her 'amazing experience' at the Masters dailymail.co.uk 2016-04-07 23:54 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk

4 4 They’re acting like Republicans now! Hillary Clinton jabs Bernie Sanders over his NYC subway gaffe (2.00/5) Topics: Hillary Clinton , Bernie Sanders , Subway , Elections 2016 , Elections News , Media News , Politics News Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, during a two-stop photo-op ride on a Bronx No. 4 train Thursday, made a weaselly jab at Bernie Sanders, who in an interview with the NY Daily News mistakenly revealed that he thinks subway tokens still exist. “I think it was my first term when we changed from tokens to MetroCards,” Clinton said while swiping her MetroCard at the 161st St.-Yankee Stadium stop, according to the Daily News. It is unclear whether she bought her card at the station or had a pre-purchased Unlimited Ride MetroCard.

Hillary Clinton needs five swipes to enter NYC subway cbsnews.com 2016-04-07 21:08 Brendan Gauthier salon.com.feedsportal.com

5 JV Ejercito posts P30,000 bail at Sandigan Sen. Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito on Thursday posted P30,000 bail at the Sandiganbayan, which on Monday ordered him arrested for using municipal calamity funds to buy high-powered firearms for the San Juan police when he was mayor of the city in 2008. Ejercito arrived at the Sandiganbayan in Quezon City before 9 a.m., paid his bail in cash and was booked by the Fifth Division clerk of court. The Fifth Division issued a warrant for the arrest of the son of Manila Mayor Joseph Estrada on Monday after it found “sufficient grounds” to proceed with the graft and technical malversation charges brought by the Ombudsman. After news of the arrest order spread on Wednesday, Ejercito issued a statement pleading his innocence and blaming his legal trouble on local politics in San Juan. “I maintain my innocence and deny any wrongdoing in the purchase of high-powered firearms in 2008. I know I did nothing wrong, and that this case is undoubtedly politically motivated by oppositionists at the local scene,” Ejercito said, referring to former ally House Minority Leader Ronaldo Zamora and Zamora’s son, San Juan Vice Mayor Francis Zamora. The younger Zamora is running against Ejercito’s mother, San Juan Mayor Guia Gomez, who is running for reelection in polls next month. Coaccused Francis Zamora is among 14 former and incumbent city officials charged with Ejercito. Zamora also paid P6,000 bail along with former San Juan Vice Mayor Leonardo Celles and City Councilors Andoni Carballo, Vincent Pacheco, Angelino Mendoza, Dante Santiago, Rolando Bernardo, Grace Pardines, Domingo Sese, Francis Peralta, Edgardo Soriano, Jannah Ejercito- Surla, Ramon Nakpil and Joseph Christopher Torralba. The other accused in the case are city administrator Ranulfo Dacalos, treasurer Rosalinda Marasigan, lawyer Romualdo de los Santos, budget officer Lorenza Ching and engineer Danilo Mercado. Conspiracy “I trust that the court of law will conduct fair proceedings and exercise wise judgment,” said Ejercito, who was elected to the Senate in 2013 after serving one term in the House of Representatives. Ejercito, who was mayor of San Juan from 2001 to 2010, claimed he was only thinking of “the protection and interests of the people of San Juan against lawless elements” when he approved the purchase of submachine guns for the city police in 2008. The Ombudsman alleged that Ejercito conspired with other city officials to use the municipal government’s calamity funds to buy the firearms in February 2008. Ejercito, according to the Ombudsman, tapped the city’s calamity fund to buy the firearms as “investment for disaster preparedness.” The City Council passed a resolution authorizing the purchase of the firearms. Purchased for P2.1 million were three Daewoo K2 submachine guns and 17 Daewoo K1 submachine guns. Guns not for relief The submachine guns are made by Daewoo Precision Industries of South Korea and chambered for the 5.56mm ammunition. The Ombudsman found the use of calamity funds for the purchase of the submachine guns irregular, as firearms are not among the things considered necessary for disaster relief and mitigation under a circular jointly issued by the Department of Budget and Management, and the Department of the Interior and Local Government in 2003. Ombudsman prosecutors pointed out that San Juan was not under a state of calamity at the time of the weapons purchase. They also charged that the firearms were acquired without competitive public bidding. The prosecutors noted that the postqualification documents covering the acquisition of the firearms were dated earlier than the publication of an invitation to bid, showing that “unwarranted benefit, advantage and preference were accorded to the supplier.”

2016-04-08 06:02 Gil C newsinfo.inquirer.net

6 Jennifer Lawrence leads female stars’ fight for equal treatment Many female stars complain that the biggest and best film roles today are written for male stars and protagonists, often limiting actresses to “love interest” or “sexy eye candy” status. Is their complaint valid, or is it just a sign of the feminist times? “Flashbacking” way back to Hollywood in the ’20s and ’30s, we learn that female stars topped the box office, since filmgoing in those early days was mainly a female activity. It was important to women that they be given lovely and/or feisty female stars to identify with— and the movie studios did their bidding, with alacrity! Then came the 1940s and World War II—and the situation changed dramatically, and swiftly. The war years placed a premium on heroism in battle, thus prompting producers, scriptwriters and directors to rush the production of war dramas and epics, topbilling newly popular male leads. The Second World War was fought, won and ended in less than a decade. But, when the dust and smoke cleared the movie theaters were no longer the near-exclusive preserve of female fans. Fast-tracking now to 2016, our movie screens are dominated by big action blockbusters like the “Star Wars,” “James Bond” and Marvel Comics juggernauts. They make hundreds of millions of dollars for their producers and still largely male action stars, today’s movie kings and princes like Tom Cruise, Dwayne Johnson, Robert Downey Jr., Vin Diesel and Gerald Butler. Some female stars have made inroads into their macho territory, like Daisy Ridley as the female protagonist in the “Force Awakens,” but 2015’s top hits, like “Jurassic World,” “Spectre,” “Rogue Nation, “Furious 7,” “The Martian” and “Fury Road” were still dominated by male superstars. It makes sense, therefore, that the current fight for better roles and more equable talent fees for female stars is being led by Jennifer Lawrence. Like Ridley, she’s topbilled more than her share of blockbusters, paced by the “Hunger Games” film series—so Lawrence has the industry “cred” to insist on equal treatment and meatier roles for women, starting with productions slated for release next year. With Lawrence and Ridley setting the pace, that could begin to happen—but, the money part could be a tougher row to hoe. Top earners last year were mostly male, with Downey Jr. setting the pace with $75 million, all told; followed by Leonardo DiCaprio ($45M), Liam Neeson ($40M) and Bradley Cooper ($35M). For her part, Lawrence was able to keep up with $35M, but other top female leads had to settle for much less—Cameron Diaz made $18M, Scarlett Johansson got $17M, and Jennifer Aniston grossed $15M. Lawrence was able to demand and get top-dollar compensation due to her series of hit films, but other female stars can’t cite her grosses, so they’ve had to settle for considerably less. Still, Lawrence’s example—and gutsy insistence on respect and financial recompence for her key contributions at the box office (not to mention her slew of acting awards) could be—the way to go!

2016-04-08 06:02 Nestor U entertainment.inquirer.net

7 Fusion of soul and skill in ‘Les Mis’ stars’ solo albums If you have yet to watch the Manila staging of “Les Miserables” or haven’t had your fill of the exceptional vocal chops of Simon Gleeson (who plays Jean Valjean) and Kerrie Anne Greenland (Eponine), listening to them sing in their solo albums is just as satisfying. Sure, a studio-recorded performance dilutes the real-time urgency that characterizes a live performance, but its controlled setting guarantees enhanced clarity and gaffe-free delivery. Moreover, it allows listeners to identify a singer’s strengths and weaknesses. In Simon’s 10-track debut album, “Elements,” the 39-year-old TV and musical theater star essays show tunes that require interpretive skill as much as range and vocal bombast. His potent combination of soul and skill makes his covers of “If I Loved You” (from “Carousel”), “Being Alive” (from “Company”) and “Anthem (from “Chess”) nothing less than memorable. It’s instructive for singers to listen to his seamless placement shifts and controlled falsetto in “A Bit of Earth,” from “The Secret Garden.” The album also shows off Simon’s versatility by proving that his voice isn’t just “wired” for show tunes in the album’s pop-accessible revivals: He takes on Billy Joel and The Beatles in his earnest renditions of “She’s Got a Way” and “Something.” In “Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word,” the theater performer’s pop appeal is further enhanced by the participation of his talented wife, Natalie O’Donnell, who steals some of Simon’s thunder in Elton John’s mournful 1976 ballad, about a relationship on the rocks. If you prefer a higher degree of difficulty, you’ll get just that in Simon’s rousing covers of songs from “Into the Woods,” “Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens” and, of course, “Les Miserables.” Needless to say, his magnificent tenor voice will sweep you off your feet in his rendition of the musical prayer, “Bring Him Home,” a “Les Mis” show tune specifically written by Claude-Michel Schonberg for Colm Wilkinson, the Irish tenor who originated the role of Jean Valjean in the acclaimed stage musical. Also a must-hear is “And the Rain Keeps Falling Down,” a stirring number about dealing with loss and grief from Janet Hood and Bill Russell’s song cycle, “Elegies,” written from the perspective of people who have succumbed to AIDS. Simon ups the performing ante even more in “Stay With Me,” Stephen Sondheim’s structurally complex aria from “Into the Woods,” originally sung by The Witch to keep Rapunzel from running away with her Prince Charming! ‘Pictures’ For her part, Kerrie Anne Greenland’s album, “Pictures,” contains only five tracks. But, as her versions of Whitney Houston’s “Run to You” and “On My Own” (from “Les Mis”) prove, she doesn’t need a lot of songs to demonstrate her prodigious range and genre-shifting ability. Alas, her voice is even more “adaptable” than Simon’s predominantly theater-grade pipes. In fact, it isn’t hard to imagine hearing Kerrie Anne’s voice on the radio—from her judicious delineated notes and stunning melodic progression in “Run to You,” to her swirling vocal trills in “Let It Go” (from the screen musical, “Frozen”). Her repertoire isn’t compromised by overblown theatricality because she knows where her theater-style vibrato is most useful—and which songs it should be kept to a minimum. Kerrie Anne sounds aptly and inventively pop in the “torchy” scorch of “The Man That Got Away” and the “Disneyfied” froth of “Once Upon a Dream.” She sings the latter with “Australian Idol” alumnus Daniel Belle, who portrays Combeferre in the current Manila production of “Les Miserables,” which wraps up its sold-out, extended run on May 1. 2016-04-08 06:02 Rito P entertainment.inquirer.net

8 Who gave dispersal order? DAVAO CITY—Who ordered the dispersal of protesting farmers who barricaded the national highway in Kidapawan City on April 1? Local government and police officials summoned to a fact-finding hearing by the Senate committee on justice and human rights on Thursday did not directly admit responsibility for the bloody dispersal that killed three farmers and injured more than 100 others, including policemen. North Cotabato Gov. Emmylou Taliño-Mendoza said she did not order the dispersal. Mendoza said she was in constant consultation with local police officials and was told that they noticed a decrease in the number of protesters. “I asked how many were left and the police said 2,000. I responded by saying [the number was] still [high],” Mendoza said, explaining she was reluctant to disperse the farmers because she had no experience in police enforcement. She said the North Cotabato provincial police director, Supt. Alexander Tagum, asserted that it was a matter of “police action” to open the highway. “I received the order from my regional director,” Tagum said, passing the microphone to his superior, Chief Supt. Noel Armilla, the regional police director. Armilla said the incident was closely monitored by Philippine National Police Director General Ricardo Marquez, whose instruction was to ensure that his office was informed about the situation regularly. He said the crisis committee formed by the local government and the police was in command, but its action was based on the officials’ judgment call. “My guidance to Tagum was to clear the highway,” Armilla. But in an interview with the Inquirer, Armilla said the decision to disperse the crowd was “Tagum’s and Tagum’s alone.” Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano asked if the order issued at 10 a.m. included ensuring that policemen involved were unarmed. “All members of the civil disturbance management (CDM) team do not have firearms,” Tagum said, adding that those who were armed were members of the security team, which included the SWAT team. Tagum said the SWAT were positioned far from the frontline, earning jeers from farmers during the hearing. The farmers said heavily armed policemen were positioned near fire trucks and pursued the protesters while firing their weapons. Police officials said the presence of armed policemen in protests was covered by their manuals and was not illegal. “Carrying of firearms is allowed as a security component of the CDM,” Tagum said. Firearms prohibited But Cayetano debunked this by citing the Public Assembly Act of 1985, which states that no police personnel is allowed to carry firearms in protests. “I won’t argue with you but your legal officer just agreed with me that it is not allowed by [Batas Pambansa Bilang] 880,” he said. Tagum retorted that it is only justified for the SWAT to respond because the protesters fought back and overran their position. “Understand that there is already an imminent death of my police comrade. That is when the judgment call was made by the SWAT officers,” the officer said. Tagum said they had received intelligence reports that the farmers would stage the protest with the support of the New People’s Army and the Moro National Liberation Front. Cayetano said it could be that the police brought firearms because their frame of mind was that there would be acts of rebellion. He then slammed the PNP chief, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, and the President for their alleged silence over the incident. “The problem is your higher-ups are silent,” he said. ‘We are all victims’ Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III, the committee chair, called on the national government to release funds to help farmers affected by the prolonged drought all over the country. “If there’s money intended for the victims of the drought, release it now,” he said. “These farmers have nothing to eat, feeling desperation as well.” The farmers were demanding, among others, the release of 15,000 sacks of rice for the drought victims. But Mendoza said rice would be distributed in the municipal and barangay levels. “We are all victims. El Niño is for real. It was only during the rally that I became emotional because it is not easy to prepare for a disaster. The funds are still there,” she said. She asserted that the provincial government has taken appropriate action to mitigate the effects of the drought, but she also reminded the local government units to be prudent in using their funds. Calamity funds North Cotabato has P100 million in calamity funds for 2016, of which P30 million is allocated for quick response, including cloud seeding and relief goods, Mendoza said. “We still have 1,500 sacks of rice that we are about to pull out, but the protest came before we can do it,” she said. She pointed out that P70 million was allocated for disaster preparedness programs, including P15 million for the stocking and prepositioning of food supplies. “We also have P32 million in savings from 2015 which we can also use for quick response especially for food provision,” Mendoza said. The provincial government claimed that it had started the distribution of drought-resistant seeds and conducted medical missions thrice a week to ensure that no one is suffering from heatstroke and any heat-related illnesses. “We dispersed animals to areas that needed livestock while we provided seeds to marshy areas where people can plant now after the water subsided,” Mendoza said. Cloud seeding was also done from Feb. 17 to April 6 while 60 sorties will be done from April to May, she reported. Mendoza said she had written President Aquino requesting additional emergency funding. Pimentel interjected asserting that in emergency and humanitarian situations like this the government, both the local and the national, should immediately act on it most especially on the release of the much needed funds and aid. “There is money. The LGUs have started distributing it,” Mendoza said. RELATED VIDEO 2016-04-08 06:02 Karlos Manlupig newsinfo.inquirer.net

9 Labour will not means test tuition fee grants, says Carwyn Jones First Minister Carwyn Jones has ruled out means- testing for university tuition fee grants in future if Labour retains power in the assembly election. His comments follow criticism of the policy from the body representing Welsh universities and opposition parties. Mr Jones told BBC Wales he was "not attracted to the idea" of "putting huge amounts of debt on other students". A policy review by Prof Sir Ian Diamond is due to be finished in September. Students from Wales currently only pay £3,810 towards their tuition fees, wherever they study in the UK. The rest, up to £5,190 a year, is paid for by the Welsh government. The chair of Universities Wales has said tuition fee grants should be replaced by a means- tested grant to help poorer pupils. Prof Colin Riordan has warned the policy threatens the future of higher education in Wales because tens of millions of pounds ends up in the coffers of universities in England. But, in an interview with BBC Wales Today, Mr Jones said: "Means testing is not where we are going on this. "We will have to look at what the Diamond review says but I am not attracted to the idea of simply doing what England does, and means testing and putting huge amounts of debt on other students. "What we will never do is put Welsh students in the same financial position as their colleagues in England. "That is the fundamental principle of what we will do in future. " The Welsh Conservatives have said they would scrap tuition fee subsidies and pay half of students' rent instead. Plaid Cymru would also scrap the grants, and instead pay Welsh students working in Wales after graduation £6,000 a year, up to a maximum of £18,000. The Welsh Liberal Democrats' policy is to replace tuition fee subsidies with maintenance grants, while UKIP says it would like to cut tuition fees.

2016-04-08 01:56 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

10 Dev Patel: 'I get paid to play for a living' Bafta-nominated Slumdog Millionaire star Dev Patel explains why his latest film is a "mathematical bromance" and why being typecast is "more a blessing than a curse". "I'm terrible - I can barely figure out tips on a bill," Dev Patel says. "My dad is an accountant and I always let him down because I'm horrendously atrocious with maths, so to play one of the greatest mathematicians in history is quite the irony. " The mathematician in question is Indian Srinivasa Ramanujan, who Patel plays in his latest film The Man Who Knew Infinity. Ramanujan's name may not be familiar to many, but he was a pioneer who revolutionised mathematical and scientific theories - many of which are still used today, particularly in relation to black holes. Set in 1913, the biopic follows a 25-year-old, maths-obsessed, Ramanujan as he leaves Madras and travels to Cambridge University at the invitation of meticulous professor and mentor GH Hardy (played by Jeremy Irons), to prove his theories - much to the displeasure of the other Cambridge fellows who are unwilling to accept or credit him. With maths hardly at the top of many people's fun lists, Patel - who is now the same age as Ramanujan - says he's aware the film may be a hard sell to audiences. "When the script first came to me I was like 'I don't know anything about maths, so maybe I'm not your guy'," he says. "But what I connected to was the almost dysfunctional father-son relationship [between Ramanujan and Hardy]. "You've got a guy that's come fresh off a boat from the middle of nowhere in South India to Cambridge, into a very snotty environment where he faces a lot of adversity, racism and prejudice. "Hardy put his whole reputation on the line for this Indian man, but at the same time almost failed to see him as a human for a lot of it. "These two people are completely different, but the one thing they have in common is maths. So to see them come together and create something great is beautiful - it's like a mathematical 'bromance'. " While Ramanujan faced racism and prejudice from not only the Cambridge establishment, but also people on the street, Patel says he is fortunate enough to not have been on the receiving end of such extreme treatment - although it did hit close to home for his Gujarati Hindu family. "I'm very lucky compared to what my parents had to face when they first came to London and what their parents had to face," he says. "There were certain scenes where Ramanujan is being called a 'wog' and it started to hurt a little. I thought 'I don't feel comfortable about this', and I didn't expect that to happen. " Filming took Patel back to India, where he filmed his break-out role in the 2008 Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire. Perhaps surprisingly, the actor had only been to the country once before that - which he remembers as an unhappy experience. "I was dragged along to a family wedding when I was not even six, so I didn't enjoy it," he says. "I just remember missing my GameBoy and been bitten to death by mosquitoes. "But then I reconnected with this culture and saw [Mumbai] for the first time with [Slumdog director] Danny Boyle and it was pretty amazing. It's like finding a part of yourself when you get connected to parts of your heritage that way. " Proud of his ethnic background, Patel has played his fair share of Asian characters. But in a 2010 interview he criticised Hollywood for the lack of roles for Asian actors, saying he struggled to find work beyond the stereotypical parts of "a terrorist, a cab driver or smart geek". Since Slumdog he's notably starred in two Best Exotic Marigold Hotel films as eager hotel manager Sonny Kapoor, US drama series The Newsroom as reporter Neal Sampat and 2015 sci-fi film Chappie, playing robot creator Deon Wilson. His next role is opposite Nicole Kidman in Lion, about an Indian boy adopted by an Australian couple who sets out to track down his long lost family in his adult years. Now he's been in the business longer, Patel says he has a changed perspective on the stereotyping issue. "The scripts that I'm offered are quite typecast," he says. "But I'm starting to look at it as more of a blessing than a curse because I get to play characters like Ramanujan and bring great Indians from my heritage to the screen and tell their stories. "Things are changing now because I've been around a bit longer, but I don't feel as typecast as I did when I first came on the scene. " The modest actor maintains he's just thankful to get work: "[Comedian] Chris Rock says when you are doing a job you are constantly looking at the clock, but when it's a career you can't get enough of it. That's what it is for me. "I'm so lucky that I'm getting paid to do that. My mum cares for the elderly and she works a lot harder than I do. "I'm playing all the time, but she's really grafting - it puts everything into perspective really. " The Man Who Knew Infinity is released in cinemas on 8 April.

2016-04-08 02:57 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

11 The tragedy that 'chemsex' drugs can cause At the beginning of last year, Henry Hendron would have been forgiven for thinking he had it all - a successful career as a barrister, representing high-profile figures and politicians, a flat in the heart of London, and a happy, loving relationship. But just a few weeks later, it lay in ruins. His 18- year-old boyfriend, Miguel Jimenez, was dead from an overdose. Hendron was arrested and later charged with supplying drugs - his career and his freedom both in jeopardy. In an interview with BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Hendron has told how his partner's death weighs heavily on his shoulders. Last week, at the Old Bailey, Hendron pleaded guilty to two charges of possession with intent to supply Class B and Class C drugs. He will be sentenced in early May, with the judge telling him that "all sentencing options remained open". BBC producer Alexander Parkin had earlier admitted two counts of supplying controlled drugs. Whether or not Hendron is jailed, it almost certainly means the end of a successful career as a barrister. He says he is not pleading for sympathy or expecting special treatment from the courts. He holds himself entirely responsible for his situation - and the death of his boyfriend. "Every day that goes past I feel responsible. I was older, I should have known better, I was 34 then, he was only 18. It should have been me saying 'we're not going to do this' … I didn't make that call when I should have done, and for that reason, and that reason alone, I put his tragic death on my shoulders. " He believes party drugs are wrecking the lives of many young gay men. "It was a normal Monday afternoon. We had taken our dog to the vet. We had dinner, we had some wine, and my partner had quite a bit of wine, and then at midnight he just said 'shall we have some drugs?' "I was working the next day, so I didn't have any on that occasion, but he did. He had some G [GHB]. It was quite a nice experience and we went to sleep. I woke up and he was dead, next to me. "I'd never seen a dead person before but when I turned him over, he was non-responsive, he was purple in the face and his face was frozen. " GHB is much more dangerous when consumed with alcohol. Hendron says he then attempted CPR to revive Miguel while waiting for the ambulance to arrive at his flat in Temple, in central London. The paramedics, who arrived alongside officers from the City of London Police, worked for three-quarters of an hour but were unable to save Miguel. "I think I let out a wail. I was just in another mental, different place. All of a sudden, my whole world had collapsed from being happy and healthy and being in a loving relationship, to one which had this big question mark. "My partner was dead in the next room, and as the ambulance retreated, four or five police officers came forward and arrested me … for various drugs charges and manslaughter at that time. " It was that moment, handcuffed in his flat in the heart of London's legal district, and being taken away for questioning, that reality dawned. "I was there because of drugs, my partner was dead because of drugs and I was about to lose my career because of drugs. " Drugs, he says, are "common and increasing phenomenon" on the gay scene. The media reports of the case asserted that Miguel had taken the drugs at a party, but Hendron denies this. Source: FRANK He had bought a large quantity of both mephedrone and GHB (commonly known as G) not for a so-called "chemsex" party but to share with his partner, he says. But the chemsex scene - gay men using drugs like mephedrone and GHB to enhance sex - is one that he had become caught up in over recent years. "There wasn't a party on the night Miguel died. It was just him and me. But I am familiar with that scene, unfortunately so. I hadn't touched drugs in my teens and twenties, it was only the last couple of years. "There are a large number of men, in their 30s and 40s, who've come to drugs late and are now doing it regularly. Drugs in the gay scene have really taken off. Recent studies show that gay people are three times more likely to take drugs than their straight counterparts. "It seems to be the acceptable face now of recreation in the gay community. " In fact, the British Medical Journal published an editorial last year suggesting that chemsex needed to become a public health priority. The pioneering sexual health clinic, 56 Dean Street in London, estimates that 3,000 gay men who use drugs in a sexual setting access its services every month. Who are these people? In Hendron's experience, people very much like him. Professionals, holding down jobs during the week. "Most of the people who do these gay sex high parties are in full-time employment. It's not a picture that most people aren't part of that scene would recognise. "The problem is more prevalent than people think and it's an increasing one. It's increasing because the drugs are cheap, and they're everywhere. Within minutes on [gay dating app] Grindr, in Vauxhall or Soho, you can find someone who's selling or looking. " Hendron says he regularly goes to Miguel's native Colombia where he was buried, and has got to know his family, especially his mother. "It's a horrific thing to lose a son, especially at 18 and to drugs. And to make matters worse, not all of his family knew he was gay so you have many bombshells that dropped on their shoulders at the same time. " Hendron accepts he has done wrong. "I may go to prison and whatever I get, I deserve. I have made some stupid decisions and you have to stand up and accept that. "But that's the price that drugs make you pay. " More from the Magazine HIV infection rates are on the rise, particularly among gay men. But could a new type of drug treatment - PrEP - be given to people so they avoid catching the disease? The drugs that protect people who have unprotected sex (July 2015) Subscribe to the BBC News Magazine's email newsletter to get articles sent to your inbox.

2016-04-08 01:56 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

12 Commons Confidential: Doppelgänger defect When to take a leak, abuse in Ambridge, and Ian McEwan’s identity supermarket Nye Bevan, the founder of the National Health Service, might well have turned in his grave had he not been cremated, with his ashes scattered on the green hills above Tredegar, Wales. Junior doctors in England preparing to down stethoscopes in accident and emergency units should brace themselves for a permanent revolution. I understand that the political norovirus Jeremy Hunt intends to resist eradication. A mole in the minister’s Whitehall bunker whispered that Hunt plans to become the longest- serving health secretary in history and has already worked out that he needs to survive just over two more years. Appointed in September 2012, he has clocked up three years and seven months. Bevan did five years and five months, while the record-holder, Norman Fowler, chalked up five years and nine months during the Thatcher era. Hunt, I hear, has the summer of 2018 marked in his diary for a personal celebration. But what if David Cameron retires early, and a new prime minister injects political penicillin into the NHS, ordering the appointment of someone with a better bedside manner to eliminate this disease? The ladies serving in the canteen at the Welsh Assembly are excited at the prospect of Christine Hamilton – a survivor of “bushtucker trials” in I’m a Celebrity. .. Get Me Out of Here! – eating lunch in the Senedd. Labour’s First Minister, Carwyn Jones, is distinctly less happy at the prospect of Hamilton’s insignificant other, the ex-Tory Ukipper Neil Hamilton, camping in Cardiff Bay with a group of Purple Shirts after May’s elections. Despite serving as his country’s leader for almost seven years, Jones continues to be mistaken for the BBC Wales weatherman Derek Brockway. The two appear to have been separated at birth, though Brockway, as far as I could discover, has never been mistaken for Jones. John Prescott’s younger brother, Ray, is the dead spit of the former deputy PM. I did a double take on seeing him in Wrexham, but the former flight engineer, who negotiated deals to buy second-hand Jaguars for his sibling, swears much less than the old sea dog. So alike physically are the pair that Ray once walked unchallenged into parliament, greeted with a cheery “Morning, Mr Prescott” from the copper at the gate. The fun started when the elected Mr Prescott turned up shortly after that. The former Lib Dem MP Lembit Öpik tells me that he requires a second operation to straighten his wonky features, after complaining that the first op left him looking more like Saddam Hussein than George Clooney. He has a point. Nor has it improved the failed comic’s jokes: “Why did Nick Clegg cross the road? Because he said he wouldn’t.” A few months ago, I wrote a piece for Nieman Reports , Harvard’s journalism magazine, about the ethics of working with leaked and stolen documents. There are tough questions to be asked about running such stories – the article was prompted by the Sony hack, which unearthed public- interest gems such as how an executive had bought pubic hair dye on Amazon – but the Panama Papers are the most open-and-shut-case I can remember. Unlike the disclosures of WikiLeaks and Edward Snowden, there is no question here of national security being breached; unlike the Sony hack, there is no celebrity tittle-tattle being passed off as news. The only questions that should have troubled reporters are: a) “Are these documents real?” and b) “Can I protect the source?” Whoever leaked the 2.4 terabytes of data is very brave; he or she is now in the sights of every corrupt politician, state- sanctioned gangster and kleptocrat between here and the Río Chagres. Shameless rich Reading the Papers gave me a huge rush of anger and I was glad to see left and right united in condemnation. But we have to be realistic about the likely impact: it is notoriously hard to embarrass the super-rich and they will now have ample confirmation that “everyone is at it”. So far we haven’t even been able to extract an answer from David Cameron over his father’s Blairmore fund, established when David was 16. Were his Eton fees paid with money that had previously taken a lovely sunny holiday offshore? Was his Bullingdon Club uniform bought with wealth grown using a system his own Chancellor has called “morally repugnant”? The most telling line came in the rebuttal from the firm involved, Mossack Fonseca, which claimed that in 40 years of operation it had never been charged with criminal wrongdoing. No, I imagine not. A tale of two Helens So she did it. OK, you might not care about The Archers , but unless you’ve stuffed your ears with cheese, by now you should know that Helen Titchener stabbed her husband, Rob, after months of escalating emotional abuse. May I toot the horn of our web editor, Caroline Crampton, who spotted the potential impact of this plotline in February and published a harrowing but essential piece by the writer Helen Walmsley-Johnson, who had suffered a similar pattern of abuse? As a result of the NS publishing her story, a crowdfunding appeal was set up and over £100,000 has been raised for the charity Refuge, to help women like both Helens to leave their partner. On that note, the Archers story might have ended with Helen knifing Rob – but in the real world, men are four times more likely to kill their partner than the other way round. Nail-varnished truth I’ve always loved Eddie Izzard – that routine about “the pen of my aunt” is unparalleled in modern comedy – but I’m baffled why he now claims to have come out “as transgender 30 years ago”. I may have fallen victim to false memory syndrome, but my recollection is that he always called himself a transvestite, though he used to explain that the clothes he wore weren’t “women’s clothes”; they were “his clothes”. (My take on the subject? I’m with RuPaul: “We’re all born naked and the rest is drag.”) Izzard – who has long harboured ambitions of becoming an elected Labour politician – is perfectly entitled to define himself however he wishes and to update that definition based on the latest vocabulary and cultural moment. Yet I can’t help feeling that there is something regressive about this biographical rewrite. Izzard used to present himself as someone who was biologically male but enjoyed wearing clothes historically associated with women. Now he talks about getting his nails done because: “I’ve got boy genetics and girl genetics.” I can’t wait to hear which particular DNA sequence is associated with liking nail polish and, moreover, why I don’t have it. More than old-fashioned Izzard was responding, in part, to remarks made by the Booker Prize-winning novelist Ian McEwan, who used a lecture at the Royal Institution to lament the modern idea of an “identity supermarket”, in which individuals choose their self like a “consumer desirable”. (He later added: “Call me old-fashioned but I tend to think of people with penises as men.” Having spent some time on Twitter and Tumblr, I can confidently say that a lot of people will call him something worse than that.) The question of whether your identity is determined only by you or is imposed by society might sound like one of those things that keep first-year undergraduates up in a marijuana haze until 3am, but it has pretty big implications for policies ranging from the Race Relations Act to measures that concern single-sex spaces such as prisons, as well as the funding that backs them. We mustn’t dodge it. Inside and out I’ve been chewing the question over since I watched the varying responses from progressives to Rachel Dolezal (a white woman who got a perm and a tan and passed as African American, saying that she “felt” black) and Caitlyn Jenner, the former patriarch of the Kardashian clan, revealed as a woman on the cover of Vanity Fair . Most of the op-eds at the time blithely asserted that race and gender – both social constructs with a biological basis – were, like, totally different, without ever deigning to explain why. Since then, the best explanation I’ve found comes from the sex researcher James Cantor: “Identity is not an ‘inner sense’. It’s a statement of the social role you want others to treat you as.” I like this, because it makes the (important) case that trans men and women should be accepted in their chosen gender, without invoking quasi-religious ideas of a soul or the pseudoscience of “girl genetics” making you like dresses. Eddie, take note. l Peter Wilby returns next week In the debate over British steel, don't forget the human cost When to take a leak, abuse in Ambridge, and Ian McEwan’s identity supermarket newstatesman.com

Wanting it both ways: how to reconcile feminism and domesticity When to take a leak, abuse in Ambridge, and Ian McEwan’s identity supermarket newstatesman.com

Is this the end for Donald Trump? When to take a leak, abuse in Ambridge, and Ian McEwan’s identity supermarket newstatesman.com At the Independent leaving do, some ex-editors were looking surprisingly cheerful When to take a leak, abuse in Ambridge, and Ian McEwan’s identity supermarket newstatesman.com

Why people are crowdfunding their funerals When to take a leak, abuse in Ambridge, and Ian McEwan’s identity supermarket newstatesman.com

In this together: how the Lib Dems battled to ​restrain the Tory monster When to take a leak, abuse in Ambridge, and Ian McEwan’s identity supermarket newstatesman.com Commons confidential: Sajid Javid, man of steel When to take a leak, abuse in Ambridge, and Ian McEwan’s identity supermarket newstatesman.com

The Panama Papers are evidence of an us and them world When to take a leak, abuse in Ambridge, and Ian McEwan’s identity supermarket newstatesman.com 2016-04-08 01:24 Stephen Bush www.newstatesman.com

13 The Times & The Sunday Times Get the story behind the headlines with 12 weeks for £12 With analysis from Henry Winter, Mike Atherton and Stuart Barnes. Get the story behind the headlines with 12 weeks for £12 From the FTSE 100 to SMEs to entrepreneurs. Get the story behind the headlines with 12 weeks for £12.

2016-04-08 01:37 www.thetimes.co.uk

14 Secular Bangladeshi writer killed New Delhi (CNN) Machete-wielding attackers in the capital of Bangladesh have killed a 26-year- old writer Nazimuddin Samad -- the sixth secularist writer or publisher to have been killed in Dhaka in the last 14 months. I mourn Nazimuddin Samad, 28, law student, secular blogger, killed in #Bangladesh. Extremism is a human rights issue. https://t.co/rVPfiHELd2 Secular blogger Nazimuddin Samad hacked and shot to death in Bangladesh - https://t.co/D3ebsOZx3i pic.twitter.com/64c58naeat CNN's Sugam Pokharel reported from Delhi, India. Ivan Watson and Yuli Yang reported from Hong Kong. Serenite Wang reported from Atlanta.

2016-04-08 02:37 Sugam Pokharel rss.cnn.com

15 Salman Rushdie: how Cervantes and Shakespeare wrote the modern literary rule book The band as brand: the Rolling Stones at the Saatchi Gallery As we honour the four hundredth anniversaries of the deaths of William Shakespeare and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, it may be worth noting that while it’s generally accepted that the two giants died on the same date, 23 April 1616, it actually wasn’t the same day. By 1616 Spain had moved on to using the Gregorian calendar, while England still used the Julian, and was 11 days behind. (England clung to the old Julian dating system until 1752, and when the change finally came, there were riots and, it’s said, mobs in the streets shouting, “Give us back our 11 days!”) Both the coincidence of the dates and the difference in the calendars would, one suspects, have delighted the playful, erudite sensibilities of the two fathers of modern literature. We don’t know if they were aware of each other, but they had a good deal in common, beginning right there in the “don’t know” zone, because they are both men of mystery; there are missing years in the record and, even more tellingly, missing documents. Neither man left behind much personal material. Very little to nothing in the way of letters, work diaries, abandoned drafts; just the colossal, completed oeuvres. “The rest is silence.” Consequently, both men have been prey to the kind of idiot theories that seek to dispute their authorship. A cursory internet search “reveals”, for example, that not only did Francis Bacon write Shakespeare’s works, he wrote Don Quixote as well. (My favourite crazy Shakespeare theory is that his plays were not written by him but by someone else of the same name.) And of course Cervantes faced a challenge to his authorship in his own lifetime, when a certain pseudonymous Alonso Fernández de Avellaneda, whose identity is also uncertain, published his fake sequel to Don Quixote and goaded Cervantes into writing the real Book II, whose characters are aware of the plagiarist Avellaneda and hold him in much contempt. Cervantes and Shakespeare almost certainly never met, but the closer you look at the pages they left behind the more echoes you hear. The first, and to my mind the most valuable shared idea is the belief that a work of literature doesn’t have to be simply comic, or tragic, or romantic, or political/historical: that, if properly conceived, it can be many things at the same time. Take a look at the opening scenes of Hamlet. Act I, Scene One is a ghost story. “Is not this something more than fantasy?” Barnardo asks Horatio, and of course the play is much more than that. Act I, Scene Two brings on the intrigue at the court of Elsinore: the angry scholar prince, his recently widowed mother wedded to his uncle (“O most wicked speed, to post/With such dexterity to incestuous sheets”). Act I, Scene Three, and here’s Ophelia, telling her dubious father, Polonius, the beginning of what will become a sad love story: “My lord, he hath importuned me with love/In honourable fashion.” Act I, Scene Four, and it’s a ghost story again, and something is rotten in the state of Denmark. As the play proceeds, it goes on metamorphosing, becoming by turns a suicide story, a murder story, a political conspiracy and a revenge tragedy. It has comic moments and a play within the play. It contains some of the highest poetry ever written in English and it ends in melodramatic puddles of blood. This is what we who come after inherit from the Bard: the knowledge that a work can be everything at once. The French tradition, more severe, separates tragedy (Racine) and comedy (Molière). Shakespeare mashes them up together, and so, thanks to him, can we. In a famous essay, Milan Kundera proposed that the novel has two progenitors, Samuel Richardson’s Clarissa and Laurence Sterne’s Tristram Shandy ; yet both these voluminous, encyclopaedic fictions show the influence of Cervantes. Sterne’s Uncle Toby and Corporal Trim are openly modelled on Quixote and Sancho Panza, while Richardson’s realism owes a good deal to Cervantes’s debunking of the foolish mediaeval literary tradition whose delusions hold Don Quixote in thrall. In Cervantes’s masterpiece, as in Shakespeare’s work, pratfalls coexist with nobility, pathos and emotion with bawdiness and ribaldry, culminating in the infinitely moving moment when the real world asserts itself and the Knight of the Dolorous Countenance accepts that he has been a foolish, mad old man, “looking for this year’s birds in last year’s nests”. They are both self-conscious writers, modern in a way that most of the modern masters would recognise, the one creating plays that are highly aware of their theatricality, of being staged; the other creating fiction that is acutely conscious of its fictive nature, even to the point of inventing an imaginary narrator, Cide Hamete Benengeli – a narrator, interestingly, with Arab antecedents. And they are both as fond of, and adept at, low life as they are of high ideas, and their galleries of rascals, whores, cutpurses and drunks would be at home in the same taverns. This earthiness is what reveals them both to be realists in the grand manner, even when they are posing as fantasists, and so, again, we who come after can learn from them that magic is pointless except when in the service of realism – was there ever a more realist magician than Prospero? – and realism can do with the injection of a healthy dose of the fabulist. Finally, though they both use tropes that originate in folk tale, myth and fable, they refuse to moralise, and in this above all else they are more modern than many who followed them. They do not tell us what to think or feel, but they show us how to do so. Of the two, Cervantes was the man of action, fighting in battles, being seriously wounded, losing the use of his left hand, being enslaved by the corsairs of Algiers for five years until his family raised the money for his ransom. Shakespeare had no such dramas in his personal experience; yet of the two he seems to have been the writer more interested in war and soldiering. Othello , Macbeth , Lear are all tales of men at war (within themselves, yes, but on the field of battle, too). Cervantes used his painful experiences, for example in the Captive’s Tale in Quixote and in a couple of plays, but the battle on which Don Quixote embarks is – to use modern words – absurdist and existential rather than “real”. Strangely, the Spanish warrior wrote of the comic futility of going into battle and created the great iconic figure of the warrior as fool (one thinks of Heller’s Catch-22 or Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five for more recent explorations of this theme), while the imagination of the English poet-dramatist plunged (like Tolstoy, like Mailer) headlong towards war. In their differences, they embody very contemporary opposites, just as, in their similarities, they agree on a great deal that is still useful to their inheritors. “Lunatics, Lovers and Poets: Twelve Stories After Cervantes and Shakespeare”, with an introduction by Salman Rushdie, is published by And Other Stories (£10) At one point in the late Eighties, Keith Richards started getting strange phone calls from Mick Jagger. “What did we do in August of 1966, man?” Mick would say. “You’re writing a book, aren’t you?” Keith said. “Otherwise you would never have called me with such mundane questions.” (He was, though the book never appeared.) The Stones, unlikely as it may seem, are not nostalgic. Perhaps it’s hard to be nostalgic when you’re still plugging away as if nothing has changed. Their vast new exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery is an age-defying spectacle, largely resisting chronological layout and putting more emphasis on the power of staging and good album artwork than on explaining their role in the Sixties counterculture. It’s the most significant rock show since “David Bowie Is. . .” which set the bar for presenting old rock stars as pan-cultural prophets who influenced the art and fashion of a generation. That show opened with Gilbert and George and visitors read notes on surrealism while clamped into personal headsets, but the Stones exhibition is an art show in venue only: it takes more of a lead from the British Music Experience, the interactive pop museum that used to be at the O2. It’s a cacophonous multimedia sound-clash that feels a bit like being backstage at one of their gigs (in fact, there’s a room mocked up as such). “Exhibitionism” is upfront about one of the Stones’ biggest innovations: the concept of band as brand. This is a group that licensed “Start Me Up” to Microsoft Windows in 1995. Acres of wall space are given to the tongue-and-lips logo, from the original John Pasche design to Shepard Fairey’s 50th-anniversary take on it, and we are reminded at every turn that the band had enough business sense to delegate to the best of the best with each creative idea. Like Warhol, whose Jagger prints line one corridor, the Stones’ business nous made their symbols swell far bigger than those of their contemporaries – the lips, now in Topshops all over the world, will sit comfortably alongside formaldehyde sheep in 100 years’ time. The show ends unofficially in a huge gift shop, where silken lips pyjamas retail for £285. You wonder how long all this has been planned. The band’s staff have saved everything in a vast warehouse in London for decades. There’s a taxidermy donkey like the one from Get Yer Ya- Ya’s Out ; a Brian Jones dulcimer; seven sketches of a “half-eagle, half-plane” drawn by Mick and Charlie for a tour poster (“Conclusion: we prefer the plane-bird covered in feathers”) – and a huge collection of clothes on stiff mannequins (the one part of the rock’n’roll show no one seems to be able to bring into the 21st century). The most interesting items – saved by the person you’d least expect to save anything – are Keith Richards’s miniature diaries from 1963 in which the Lord of Misrule analyses crowd-band interplay with fastidious attention: (“Musically very good but didn’t quite click; Bo Diddley, tremendous applause.”) Nothing has changed. Here are Ronnie Wood’s handwritten set lists from recent shows; he even marks down what key they play the songs in – useful, he says intriguingly, for when the boys ask him: “What did we play tonight?” I could have done without the video room – who cares about the Stones videos? – and wanted more on the grammar-school days, when Mick ran a lunchtime jazz appreciation society. It’s a shame there’s not more on the blues they were obsessed with. But there is a stroke of genius: a scale mock-up of the flat they shared in the early Sixties on Edith Grove in Chelsea. It’s a grotesque, humming, scratch-and-sniff cesspit with original Sixties cereal packets. It feels like 10 Rillington Place. Or a Saatchi Gallery in-joke about Tracey Emin’s bed. Otherwise, there are big holes in the story. Where are the Stones’ girls – Anita Pallenberg or Marianne Faithfull – a vital part of their iconography for a time? Where’s the space given over to Brian Jones? Or the drugs bust, or Prince Rupert, who taught them all they know about money? Perhaps it’s all part of the effort to ignore time, to divert you from the idea of a golden age; but they’re ignoring part of their own cultural phenomenon. The Stones invented a new class of person: the upwardly mobile suburban rocker who gravitated towards lost aristocratic types and got the castles and the suits of armour, too. He’s still there, in the back pages of Tatler. But it’s not really a story the band would tell. The biggest shortfall is in the way they handle the music. The show exploits immersive technology – they should have plunged you into a black room with “Sympathy for the Devil” on full blast. We watch a video of the producer Don Was talking about “getting the good take”, but we don’t hear the actual sessions. It makes you think of that footage, used in the movie Gimme Shelter , where the guys listen to a playback of “Wild Horses” around the time of the fatal stabbing at their Altamont gig. You see their faces in close-up as they experience their own good take. More of that magic would be welcome. So what if Mick had a hotline to David Bailey and Andy Warhol? “Exhibitionism” runs until 4 September. Details: saatchigallery.com

Two poems: “Corvids” and “Starlings” Salman Rushdie: how Cervantes and Shakespeare wrote the modern literary rule book newstatesman.com

Is there something peculiarly British about Asbo-worthy behaviour in the theatre? Salman Rushdie: how Cervantes and Shakespeare wrote the modern literary rule book newstatesman.com The Smithers question: why do we keep retrofitting progressive narratives in pop culture? Salman Rushdie: how Cervantes and Shakespeare wrote the modern literary rule book newstatesman.com

#38: Zayn’s Mind of Mine, Zootropolis, The Magicians Salman Rushdie: how Cervantes and Shakespeare wrote the modern literary rule book newstatesman.com 2016-04-08 01:17 Stephen Bush www.newstatesman.com

16 Missing PC Gordon Semple: Man arrested on suspicion of murder Detectives searching for a serving police officer who has been missing for six days have arrested a 49-year-old man on suspicion of murder. Met Police officers are also searching a property in Southwark, London, where they have found human remains. Westminster officer Gordon Semple, 59, from Greenhithe, Kent, was last seen on 1 April in the London Bridge area. Police said his family had been informed about the "significant development". A spokesman said: "We are unable to make formal identification at this stage, but this is devastating news for all those involved in the search for Gordon. " Police who were called to an address on the Peabody Estate on Thursday afternoon found human remains, he said. He said forensic work was under way at the scene which may take some time. A post-mortem examination would be held in due course, he added. He said police would not speculate about what had happened or any possible motive at this stage, and would not speculate on the cause of death until post-mortem tests had taken place. On 1 April, PC Semple, who is originally from Inverness, had a work meeting at the Shard's Shangri-La hotel and left at about 12:30 BST. He was seen on CCTV in Great Guildford Street at 15:00 BST and his partner reported him missing later that night. PC Semple has no children but still has family in Scotland. The man under arrest is being held in custody.

2016-04-08 01:56 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

17 Djibouti election: What you need to know The road to Djibouti's presidential election on 8 April has been filled with tension and opposition claims of foul play. But with no strong challenger, incumbent President Ismail Omar Guelleh is widely expected to win and continue his tight hold on power. The president has been in power since 1999 and is only the second president the country has had since independence from France in 1977. The opposition are angry that the president rescinded his earlier decision not to seek a fourth term and some parties have chosen to boycott the election. The reaction from the West to these developments has been muted. Djibouti borders Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia and is generally seen as a relatively stable country in the volatile Horn of Africa neighbourhood. Many observers say the West doesn't want to rock the boat. "Every day Paris and Washington criticise Burundi but when it comes to Djibouti, silence reigns," opposition spokesman Daher Ahmed Farah told French radio. The opposition feel that only foreign countries can put pressure on the government but are looking the other way because of their interest in Djibouti's geo-strategic position on the Gulf of Aden. Such is the importance given to Djibouti's position that it hosts France's largest military base in Africa, the only US permanent base on the continent, as well as bases for China and Japan. Saudi Arabia is also planning a base there. This military presence signals a vote of confidence from world powers. The bases, along with Djibouti's port at the centre of a major shipping route, are the main sources of income for the country. Why are there so many military bases in Djibouti? More about Djibouti Djibouti's opposition feel suppressed. They complain of police brutality against them, and say they don't get fair media coverage. But they are also weak. The main opposition coalition, the Union for National Salvation (USN), has witnessed many splits in its ranks and ethnic allegiances threaten its unity. Three of the seven parties in USN have decided to boycott the polls entirely but the others will participate. Independent candidates are equally weak and do not pose any real threat to President Guelleh. The constitution was amended in 2010 to remove the two-term limit for the president and reduce the presidential term from six years to five. These changes allowed Mr Guelleh to contest and win a third term in the 2011 polls, which the opposition boycotted. The president vowed it would be his last election but has now changed his mind. BBC reporter expelled from Djibouti State media have been touting what they say is public enthusiasm for the vote and its democratic legitimacy. The US travel advisory for Djibouti, on the other hand, warns of "a possibility that spontaneous protests will occur during the election cycle and some could turn violent". The Djibouti Human Rights League said 29 people were killed when police fired at an unrelated religious demonstration in December. There was violence after the 2013 parliamentary elections, which the opposition claimed were rigged. In response the government launched a crackdown on its opponents. It later signed an agreement in 2014 to restore peace with the opposition. But the government again alienated the opposition by failing to implement reforms to the electoral commission, as stipulated in the 2014 deal. There are six candidates running for president. To win, the president must have an absolute majority of votes. A second round will be held if there is no clear winner. President Guelleh is the flag-bearer of the ruling coalition, the Union for a Presidential Majority. His coalition is fraught with tribalism and bickering. The candidate for the main opposition USN coalition is Omar Elmi Kaireh, a Djibouti independence hero. Mohamed Daoud Chehem is representing the Djiboutian Party for Development, a splinter group of the USN. There are three independent candidates: Djama Abdourhaman Djama, Mohamed Moussa Ali alias Tourtour, and Hassan Idriss Ahmed, a former diplomat, have also announced that they are standing for election. BBC Monitoring reports and analyses news from TV, radio, web and print media around the world. You can follow BBC Monitoring on Twitter and Facebook.

2016-04-08 04:17 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

18 BC-TEN--Volvo Cars Open Results CHARLESTON, South Carolina (AP) — Results Thursday from the Volvo Cars Open at Family Circle Tennis Center (seedings in parentheses): Angelique Kerber (1), Germany, def. Kristina Kucova, Slovakia, 6-2, 6-3. Yulia Putintseva, Kazakhstan, def. Venus Williams (3), United States, 7-6 (5), 2-6, 6-4. Sara Errani (5), Italy, def. Samantha Stosur (10), Australia, 6-4, 7-6 (5). Sloane Stephens (7), United States, def. Daria Gavrilova (12), Australia, 6-4, 6-3. Irina-Camelia Begu (13), Romania, def. Monica Puig, Puerto Rico, 1-6, 6-2, 7-6 (4). Daria Kasatkina (14), Russia, def. Louisa Chirico, United States, 6-0, 6-4. Elena Vesnina, Russia, def. Lourdes Dominguez Lino, Spain, 6-1, 6-3. Laura Siegemund, Germany, def. Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, Croatia, 7-5, 6-2. ___ Caroline Garcia, France, and Kristina Mladenovic (3), France, def. Daria Kasatkina, Russia, and Elena Vesnina, Russia, 2-6, 6-4, 10-8. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Germany, and Laura Siegemund, Germany, def. Anabel Medina Garrigues, Spain, and Arantxa Parra Santonja, Spain, 1-6, 6-3, 10-5. 2016-04-08 02:26 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk

19 Cruz apology to McConnell? 'Ain't gonna happen,' he says Washington (CNN) Ted Cruz said Thursday he will not apologize to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for accusing him of lying last year, despite suggestions from Senate colleagues it would help them unite behind his campaign.

2016-04-08 02:16 Tom LoBianco rss.cnn.com

20 Moms plan thrift shop to support CMS Red Ventures' Ric Elias is one of more than fifty athletes, actors, founders, and philanthropists who announced a surprise “flash funding” of classroom projects posted on DonorsChoose.org. Elias is funding projects in the greater Charlotte area, including Mecklenburg and Lancaster (S. C.) counties. VIDEO: A group students and faculty members staged a walkout of classes on campus in Chapel Hill in protest of new UNC system president Margaret Spellings' first day on the job. Tuesday meeting starts bond planning for Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. Matthews meeting draws support for neighborhood schools. A public hearing was held Tuesday 02.09.16 at the boards meeting. CMS board meets at Carolinas Aviation Museum to discuss how quickly to start a superintendent search. Munro Richardson, Read Charlotte executive director, and Superintendent Ann Clark gave books to third-grade students at Lebanon Road Elementary School. Cary High School student Lauren Muir created a popular parody video on exam stress using Adele's smash hit "Hello". Belk Tower at UNCC is being removed Sonja Gantt, a well-known local television personality on WCNC takes a new job with little-known Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools Foundation. Gantt read to almost 40 fifth graders at Stoney Creek Elementary on Friday, Dec. 18, 2015.

2016-04-08 01:55 www.charlotteobserver.com

21 5 craziest Charlie Sheen bombshells from National Enquirer editor’s Hollywood Reporter essay Topics: Charlie Sheen , Dylan Howard , National Enquirer , The Hollywood Reporter , Entertainment News Dylan Howard’s bombshell Hollywood Reporter essay on Charlie Sheen, which traces the National Enquirer and Radar Online editor’s tumultuous relationship with the “Two and a Half Men” star, is full of the insanity we’ve come to expect from reports about the troubled actor. Sheen is currently under investigation by Los Angeles police for “felony threats” he allegedly made to his ex-fiancée Scottine Ross (who performed as Brett Rossi), who claims that Sheen had unprotected sex with her while she was unaware of his HIV positive status. In response to the explosive essay, a Sheen representative tells The Hollywood Reporter: “It’s unfortunate that Dylan Howard has such anger toward Charlie, which, ironically, was caused by the anger that Charlie’s ex-fiance Brett Rossi took out on Dylan over the stories Dylan’s publications were writing about her.” Here are 5 of the most shocking claims from Howard’s story: 1. Sheen contracted HIV from “a transsexual lover” Sheen revealed his HIV positive status in a November 2015 NBC interview , and claimed not to know how he had gotten the virus. Howard claims that an informant told him Sheen contracted HIV from “a transsexual lover” in 2011, after which he continued to have unprotected sex without telling partners of his condition. Sheen still claims ignorance as to how he became HIV positive. 2. The bizarre details around Sheen’s 2008 arrest in Aspen, Colo. On Christmas morning 2008, Sheen’s then-wife Brooke Mueller called Aspen police after a domestic dispute during which Mueller claimed that Sheen choked her and held a knife to her throat, threatening to kill her. Sheen faced felony domestic violence charges , which were later dropped in exchange for Sheen entering a guilty plea to a lesser misdemeanor count. The dispute arose, Howard now claims, not over a Train song (Sheen’s account to the police) or over Mueller’s threat to divorce him and gain custody of their kids (Mueller’s account to the police), but over “leverage” Mueller allegedly held over Sheen: “I was able to examine texts between Brooke and a secret lover that revealed a darker story. Charlie was also having sex with that same man at the time — and Brooke was secretly photographing and videoing the crack-fueled encounters.” 3. Howard was first welcomed into Sheen’s inner circle through in invitation to drink Sheen’s urine Howard wasn’t always on the outs with Sheen — the beginning of his essay detailed the lengths he went to to secure a position as confidante with his one-time celebrity source. After rumors began circulating that Sheen was using drugs again in 2011, Howard writes that he confronted Sheen by text about the rumors. He says Sheen fired back with the following challenge: “Fly down here and test my pee. Lies are the fuels that cowards drink. How’s it taste? When it’s clean? Then what? Yeah, thought so. Pussy.”

2016-04-08 02:58 Michael Garofalo salon.com.feedsportal.com

22 The bad religion of Republican plutocrats: We can’t afford to overlook the danger of their ideas Topics: Donald Trump , Ted Cruz , Elections 2016 , GOP primary , News , Politics News In conservative circles, there has long been a self-satisfied conviction that liberals and left- wingers have little understanding of economic reality, and that, if unencumbered by right-wing obstructionism, Democrats would ruin the economy with vast redistributive schemes, over- regulation, onerous tax burdens on the rich, and so on. Their bleeding-hearts, conservatives argue, blind them from objective economic facts, and their policies would ultimately hurt the people — e.g. the middle class, American wage earners — who they intend to help. As Republican and conservative ideologues have made these arguments over the past several decades, the economic debate has shifted steadily to the right, and many Americans have accepted the notion that the GOP is the responsible and pragmatic party when it comes to the economy. Starting in the 1970s, when the country was going through a period of economic turmoil for a variety of reasons, the American right began an extensive and methodical campaign against the Keynesian status quo that had persisted for decades. In his 1971 memorandum , future Supreme Court justice Lewis Powell wrote a call-to-arms for the business community, declaring that, The next few decades saw the explosion of corporate lobbying, well-funded right-wing think tanks, and a multitude of political organizations promoting economic policies that benefited corporations and the wealthiest Americans. As Jane Mayer documents in her outstanding book “ Dark Money ,” billionaire ideologues like the Koch brothers became highly efficient at the art of propaganda, and promoted reactionary policies — e.g. deregulation, anti-union legislation, privatization, tax cuts for the wealthiest — under the false pretense that they would benefit the majority, not the the wealthy minority. With assistance from corporate spin, the narrative shifted, and under President Reagan, the government became the ostensible cause of all economic ills — particularly the scourge that was inflation. The state, which had been effectively used over the past 50 years to reduce the great inequities of capitalism and mediate class tensions was now seen as a barrier to the invisible hand of the market. (Amnesia had struck the field of economics, and the excesses of Gilded Age capitalism were largely dismissed as ancient history.) Republicans became the party of economic pragmatism in the minds of most Americans, and trickle-down economics was sold as a pro-growth strategy that would inevitably lift all tides. The rules of the market were devised to favor private industry over workers (which will happen when lobbyists write the rules), and, unsurprisingly, wage earners saw their incomes stagnate as corporate profits and executive pay exploded. As Republicans cultivated their reputation as economic realists, GOP administrations managed to balloon budget deficits with generous tax cuts for the wealthy and soaring military spending. President Reagan, whose administration is remembered as an economic triumph by many Americans, managed to almost triple the debt, while President George W. Bush squandered the fiscal surplus that he inherited from the Clinton administration. (“Reagan proved deficits don’t matter,” declared Vice President Dick Cheney.)

2016-04-08 00:50 Conor Lynch salon.com.feedsportal.com

23 23 Jacob Zuma’s week from hell Everything Bernie Sanders doesn’t know about his own policies Last week President Jacob Zuma must have thought things could hardly get any worse. The Constitutional Court, South Africa’s highest legal authority, had found against him – comprehensively. As Professor Pierre de Vos, constitutional law expert at the University of Cape Town pointed out , the court ruled that the president had failed in his most basic duty: to uphold, defend and respect the Constitution as the supreme law of the land. In a unanimous ruling the judges found that Zuma had enriched himself by allowing millions of dollars worth of improvements to be made to his private country residence at Nkandla. The president was forced to go on television to apologise to the nation. It cut little ice with the public, many of whom rejected what he had to say. Worse still, many of the president’s former comrades in the ANC came out against him. Party members, some of whom spent years on Robben Island, declared it was time for the president to resign. Ahmed Kathrada, who was among the eight ANC members sentenced to life imprisonment in the 1963-1964 Rivonia Trial, said that Zuma’s “continued stay as president will only serve to deepen the crisis of confidence in the government of the country”. Kathrada was joined by Denis Goldberg who told the BBC's Today Programme that Zuma should have “done something heroic” and resigned. Goldberg described the president's apology as “insincere”. Others ANC veterans took similar stands. Barbara Hogan, a former Minister of Public Enterprises, supported the critics. Ben Turok, who was jailed for fighting apartheid, declared he was deeply angered by what had taken place. “We have a situation where values of the president and his understanding of (the) constitution are wrong,” he said. “He (Zuma) doesn’t believe in constitutional democracy.” As if the situation was not difficult enough, the trade union representing the military, SANDU, issued a media statement saying it no longer had confidence in the president as Commander in Chief, since he had failed to uphold the constitution. This chorus of disapproval set the scene for what will play out over the coming week. President Zuma's fate will be considered by the ANC today, when the party holds a meeting, which is open to any member of its National Executive Committee. This will be the first chance for the whole ANC leadership to consider the matter. “There is deep anger within the party”, one long-standing party member told the New Statesman on Sunday. ANC secretary general, Gwede Mantashe, said that their discussions would be the beginning of a process of consultation with the whole party and its allies in the trade unions and Communist Party. While this is under way parliament is preparing to debate a motion of impeachment , brought by the leader of the opposition, Mmusi Maimane. Tuesday’s debate will be the first time in the history of a democratic South Africa that such a motion has been considered. Zuma fights back Although he is under intense pressure, Jacob Zuma shows no sign of buckling. He did not become leader of the ANC without learning how to defend himself. The president has begun rallying his supporters, who are in a majority on the NEC. ANC insiders say that Zuma is warning that Parliament would be dissolved if he was asked to step down. Since this would threaten the job security of many MPs they are hardly likely to risk such a step. Removing the president – as the ANC did in September 2008 to Thabo Mbeki – is thought to be too destabilising for the party. For this reason the ANC is thought likely to refuse to ask Zuma to step down. Jacob Zuma is really only symptomatic of a wider malaise, that is being termed “state capture”. There is increasing concern that senior ANC officials abuse their official their positions to secure state contracts for their cronies. Corruption is so widespread that Gwede Mantashe warned that the country was in danger of becoming what he termed a “mafia state”. President Zuma’s business associates, the Gupta family, has employed some of his closest relatives. In return the president is accused of giving them political cover. This included allowing the closure of South Africa’s main air-force base, so that a plane could land for a Gupta family wedding. The real problem may lie elsewhere – in the group of provincial leaders known colloquially as the “premier league”. Their loyalty to Zuma has been solid, so far. In return he has looked the other way when allegations of their abuse come his way. As one commentator remarked : “The auditor-general shows year after year that we lose billions due to ANC government corruption, especially at provincial and local level, away from the attention of the media and civil society.” But even black South Africans, who have been solidly loyal to the ANC for the past two decades, may be losing patience with this kind of behaviour. An opinion poll in the South African Sunday Times shows that just 27 per cent of black people in urban areas support the president – down from 43 per cent a year earlier. The country is due to hold important local elections later this year. The ANC could lose control of key metropolitan areas – including the Johannesburg area, Pretoria and Port Elizabeth. If this was to happen it might just jolt the party of Mandela and Tambo into finally carrying out root and branch reforms. Otherwise the public might simply desert the party of liberation. The limits of Bernie Sanders’ understanding of his own policies have been revealed in an interview with the New York Daily News. The transcript of the interview , conducted by the paper’s editorial board, has been published. Here are the policies Sanders failed to explain: Breaking up the banks On one of his key ideas, the need to break up banks that are “too big to fail”, Sanders admitted that this is “something I have not studied”. First, he seemed unsure whose authority it would be to implement such an intervention: Daily News: And then, you further said that you expect to break them up within the first year of your administration. What authority do you have to do that? And how would that work? How would you break up JPMorgan Chase? Sanders: Well, by the way, the idea of breaking up these banks is not an original idea. It's an idea that some conservatives have also agreed to. You've got head of, I think it's, the Kansas City Fed, some pretty conservative guys, who understands. Let's talk about the merit of the issue, and then talk about how we get there… Daily News: Okay. Well, let's assume that you're correct on that point. How do you go about doing it? Sanders: How you go about doing it is having legislation passed, or giving the authority to the secretary of treasury to determine, under Dodd-Frank, that these banks are a danger to the economy over the problem of too-big-to-fail. Daily News: But do you think that the Fed, now, has that authority? Sanders: Well, I don't know if the Fed has it. But I think the administration can have it. Daily News: How? How does a President turn to JPMorgan Chase, or have the Treasury turn to any of those banks and say, "Now you must do X, Y and Z? " Sanders: Well, you do have authority under the Dodd-Frank legislation to do that, make that determination. Daily News: You do, just by Federal Reserve fiat, you do? Sanders: Yeah. Well, I believe you do. Pushed for more details, Sanders eventually had to admit he didn’t know: Daily News: . . . what I'm asking is, how can we understand? If you look at JPMorgan just as an example, or you can do Citibank, or Bank of America. What would it be? What would that institution be? Would there be a consumer bank? Where would the investing go? Sanders: I'm not running JPMorgan Chase or Citibank. Daily News: No. But you'd be breaking it up. Sanders: That's right. And that is their decision as to what they want to do and how they want to reconfigure themselves. That's not my decision. All I am saying is that I do not want to see this country be in a position where it was in 2008, where we have to bail them out. And, in addition, I oppose that kind of concentration of ownership entirely. You're asking a question, which is a fair question. But let me just take your question and take it to another issue. Alright?. . . Daily News: Well, it does depend on how you do it, I believe. And, I'm a little bit confused because just a few minutes ago you said the U. S. President would have authority to order... Sanders: No, I did not say we would order. I did not say that we would order. The President is not a dictator. Daily News: Okay. You would then leave it to JPMorgan Chase or the others to figure out how to break it, themselves up. I'm not quite... Sanders: You would determine is that, if a bank is too big to fail, it is too big to exist. And then you have the secretary of treasury and some people who know a lot about this, making that determination. If the determination is that Goldman Sachs or JPMorgan Chase is too big to fail, yes, they will be broken up. Daily News: Okay. You saw, I guess, what happened with Metropolitan Life. There was an attempt to bring them under the financial regulatory scheme, and the court said no. And what does that presage for your program? Sanders: It's something I have not studied, honestly, the legal implications of that. This is a little embarrassing, considering a promise to “break up the banks” has been a regular mantra in Sanders’ stump speeches. Punishing Wall Street executives Sanders claims that his administration would punish those he blames for the 2008 financial crisis, but he is very hazy on how he would actually be any different from Barack Obama on this. Daily News: Okay. But do you have a sense that there is a particular statute or statutes that a prosecutor could have or should have invoked to bring indictments? Sanders: I suspect that there are. Yes. Daily News: You believe that? But do you know? Sanders: I believe that that is the case. Do I have them in front of me, now, legal statutes? No, I don't. But if I would...yeah, that's what I believe, yes. When a company pays a $5 billion fine for doing something that's illegal, yeah, I think we can bring charges against the executives. As the Daily News points out during the interview, Sanders has made this a central part of his campaign. An odd thing to do if he’s unable to flesh out the idea. A stop to losing jobs overseas Sanders has pledged to rejig US trade agreements to protect jobs for US workers and stop businesses moving work overseas. But again, he doesn’t seem too sure about how this could be done. While insisting in the interview that he is not “anti-trade”, that “we need trade” and that he backs “fair trade policies”, he ties himself in knots about which countries the US should be trading with. Sanders: . .. I don't think it is appropriate for trade policies to say that you can move to a country where wages are abysmal, where there are no environmental regulations, where workers can't form unions. That's not the kind of trade agreement that I will support. Daily News: So how would you stop that? Sanders: I will stop it by renegotiating all of the trade agreements that we have. And by establishing principles that says that what fair trade is about is you are going to take into consideration the wages being paid to workers in other countries. And the environmental standards that exist. But later in this section of the interview, Sanders seems to say that “fair trade” is only to trade countries with the same standards as the US: Sanders: Well, if he [Donald Trump] thinks they're bad trade deals, I agree with him. They are bad trade deals. But we have some specificity and it isn’t just us going around denouncing bad trade. In other words, I do believe in trade. But it has to be based on principles that are fair. So if you are in Vietnam, where the minimum wage is 65¢ an hour, or you're in Malaysia, where many of the workers are indentured servants because their passports are taken away when they come into this country and are working in slave-like conditions, no, I'm not going to have American workers "competing" against you under those conditions. So you have to have standards. And what fair trade means to say that it is fair. It is roughly equivalent to the wages and environmental standards in the United States. Using drones Sanders, who draws a big dividing line between himself and Hillary Clinton – who supported the Iraq invasion whereas he opposed it – on foreign policy, appears confused about his own view on using drones. Daily News: Okay, while we were sitting here, I double-checked the facts. It's the miracle of the iPhone. My recollection was correct. It was about 2,300, I believe, killed, and 10,000 wounded. President Obama has taken the authority for drone attacks away from the CIA and given it to the U. S. military. Some say that that has caused difficulties in zeroing in on terrorists, their ISIS leaders. Do you believe that he's got the right policy there? Sanders: I don't know the answer to that. What I do know is that drones are a modern weapon. When used effectively, when taking out ISIS or terrorist leaders, that's pretty impressive. When bombing wedding parties of innocent people and killing dozens of them, that is, needless to say, not effective and enormously counterproductive. So whatever the mechanism, whoever is in control of that policy, it has to be refined so that we are killing the people we want to kill and not innocent collateral damage. He seems to be in favour, but only if they don’t kill civilians by accident. Not exactly a wildly different take from pretty much any political leader involved in modern warfare.

2016-04-08 03:21 Stephen Bush www.newstatesman.com

24 Arkansas killer shot dead trying to escape (CNN) A man serving life sentences for two murders was fatally shot Thursday as he tried to escape from a high-security Arkansas prison, authorities said. CNN's Dave Alsup contributed to this report.

2016-04-08 02:06 Steve Almasy rss.cnn.com

25 Els after 9 at 1st: Putting with 'snakes' in head AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Ernie Els made dubious Masters history in the opening round Thursday by scoring a 9 on the par-4 first hole -- the highest in 80 years of the tournament. Els, 46, a World Golf Hall of Famer who has won four major championships, six-putted the first green at Augusta National after chipping from off the green to within 3 feet for what appeared to be an easy par. It could have been worse. The Masters live scoring had it listed as a 10 all day, until officials conferred, reviewed videotape and determined that Els had taken just six putts, instead of seven. He finished with an 8-over-par 80 and is tied for 81st. "It's hard to putt when you've got snakes in your head," Els said. The South African, who has 19 PGA Tour victories and more than 60 worldwide wins, was understandably dazed afterward. He stopped to talk with reporters but had difficulty explaining how it all went so badly. "I couldn't putt with a stick," Els said. "You make some stuff up in your brain, you know, it's difficult. It's something that, what holds you back from doing your normal thing? I don't know what it is. I can go to that putting green now and make 20 straight 3-footers. And then you get on the course, and you feel a little different, and you can't do what you normally do. So it's pretty difficult. " Els started innocently enough. He missed the par-4 first green but chipped up to inside 3 feet. That's where the trouble began. "I couldn't get the putter back," he said. "I was standing there, I've got a 3-footer, I've made thousands of 3-footers, and I just couldn't take it back. " Els missed and then did so again from distances of 3 feet, 10 inches, 11 inches and 2 feet. The last two putts he hit one-handed in disgust. "And then I just kind of lost count after, I mean, the whole day was a grind," he said. "I tried to fight. I'm hitting the ball half-decent, and I can't make it from 2 feet. ""You make some stuff up in your brain, you know, it's difficult. It's something that, what holds you back from doing your normal thing? I don't know what it is. I can go to that putting green now and make 20 straight 3-footers. And then you get on the course and you feel a little different and you can't do what you normally do. So it's pretty difficult. "" "I missed from 2 feet on 18 and a 4-footer on 17. When you count them up, it's too many shots just out there, just on the green, so it's very difficult. I'm not sure where I'm going from here. So I don't know. We'll see. " It marked the 23rd 6-putt or worse in stroke-play events on the PGA Tour since 1992, according to ESPN Stats & Information. The last 6-putt on tour was Graham DeLaet at the 2014 Open Championship at Royal Liverpool. Els, who won The Open in 2012 using a belly putter, has struggled with the "yips" in recent years. Starting Jan. 1, the rules of golf banned the use of an anchored putting stroke. At the Dunhill Links Championship last year and earlier this year at the South African Open, Els missed short putts, videos of which went viral. After a putt at the Dunhill in Scotland, Els described himself as a "little bit jumpy" on the green. "That was a disaster," he said at the Dunhill. "Anybody who has ever seen the yips, obviously, that was the perfect yip stroke you've ever seen in your life. It is what it is. The game of golf you've got to do some silly things when you play long enough... Hopefully, I won't have too many of those again because you can't play golf like that. " In Masters history, four players have made an 8 on the first hole: Olin Browne and Scott Simpson in 1998, Billy Casper in 2001 and Jeev Milkha Singh in '07. The highest score on any hole is 13: Tom Weiskopf on the par-3 12th in 1980 and Tommy Nakajima on the par-5 13th in 1998. Els left the course wondering how he even kept going. "I don't know how I stayed out there," he said. "But you love the game, and you've got to have respect for the tournament and so forth. But it's unexplainable. It's very tough to tell you what goes through your mind. It's the last thing you want to do is do that on a golf course at this level. So it's very difficult. "

2016-04-08 00:52 Bob Harig espn.go.com

26 Senators blames nat'l gov't for Kidapawan protest Kakulangan ng national government sa pagtugon sa epekto ng El Niño. Ito ang nakikitang dahilan ng ilang senador kaya nag-protesta ang ilang magsasaka sa Kidapawan na nauwi naman sa madugong dispersal. Bandila, April 07, 2016, Huwebes

2016-04-08 01:55 ABS-CBN news.abs-cbn.com

27 Yahoo - Yahoo Statement Regarding Starboard Announcement --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- today noted Starboard Value LP's announcement of its intention to nominate nine director candidates for election to Yahoo's Board of Directors at the company's 2016 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. The Board's will review Starboard's proposed director nominees and respond in due course. Additional Information and Where to Find It (the "Company"), its directors and certain executive officers are participants in the solicitation of proxies from stockholders in connection with the Company's 2016 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "Annual Meeting"). The Company plans to file a proxy statement (the "2016 Proxy Statement") with the (the "SEC") in connection with the solicitation of proxies for the Annual Meeting. , , , , , , , Jr., , Ph. D. and , Jr., all of whom are members of the Company's Board of Directors, and , Chief Financial Officer, are participants in the Company's solicitation. Other than , none of such participants owns in excess of 1% of the Company's common stock. may be deemed to own approximately 7.5% of the Company's common stock. Additional information regarding such participants, including their direct or indirect interests, by security holdings or otherwise, will be included in the 2016 Proxy Statement and other relevant documents to be filed with the in connection with the Annual Meeting. Information relating to the foregoing can also be found in the Company's definitive proxy statement for its 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders (the "2015 Proxy Statement"), which was filed with the on. To the extent that holdings of the Company's securities have changed since the amounts printed in the 2015 Proxy Statement, such changes have been or will be reflected on Statements of Change in Ownership on Form 4 filed with the. Promptly after filing its definitive 2016 Proxy Statement with the , the Company will mail the definitive 2016 Proxy Statement and a WHITE proxy card to each stockholder entitled to vote at the Annual Meeting. STOCKHOLDERS ARE URGED TO READ THE 2016 PROXY STATEMENT (INCLUDING ANY AMENDMENTS OR SUPPLEMENTS THERETO) AND ANY OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS THAT THE COMPANY WILL FILE WITH THE SEC WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THEY WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Stockholders may obtain, free of charge, the Company's preliminary proxy statement, any amendments or supplements thereto and any other relevant documents filed by the Company with the in connection with the Annual Meeting at the SEC's website (http://www.sec.gov). Copies of the Company's definitive proxy statement, any amendments or supplements thereto and any other relevant documents filed by the Company with the in connection with the Annual Meeting will also be available, free of charge, at the Company's website (http://info.yahoo.com) or by writing to Investor Relations, , , 94089. In addition, copies of these materials may be requested, free of charge, from the Company's proxy solicitor, , , 20th Floor, 10022 or (212) 750-5833. is a guide focused on informing, connecting, and entertaining our users. By creating highly personalized experiences for our users, we keep people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around the world. In turn, we create value for advertisers by connecting them with the audiences that build their businesses. is headquartered in , and has offices located throughout the , (APAC) and the , and (EMEA) regions. For more information, visit the pressroom (pressroom.yahoo.net) or the Company's blog (yahoo.tumblr.com).

2016-04-08 04:19 investor.yahoo.net

28 BUHARI VANGUARD APPOINTS CORDINATORS……. Supports Buhari for 2019 In a press release signed by the Vanguard National Chairman, Alhaji Musa Aliyu stated that the appointments of the two Cordinators were approved by the Vanguard’s National Working Committee meeting held in Abuja recently. The release stated that the choice of the two gentlemen were based on their track records in previous assignments, adding that the group has also agreed to align itself with the resolution of the APC’s NEC meeting that President Buhari should continue in 2019. “As a matter of fact, four years is not enough for President Buhari to correct all the wrongs done to this country in the past 16 years. “Presently, President Buhari has barely three years to go in this administration and that is why we in the Buhari Vanguard want to support resolution reached by the APC at their NEC MEETING, that Buhari should continue in 2019. We support it if only President Buhari will accept it,” he said.

2016-04-08 01:58 Ehis Agbon worldnewsvine.com

29 Yahoo - Lexus Revs Up Basketball Fans with New Campaign on Yahoo Sports and Launches Bracket Challenge New campaign promotes the all-new 2016 Lexus GS F timed with the 2016 Men's College Basketball Tournament --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- (NASDAQ:YHOO) announced today that Lexus is a presenting sponsor of Tourney Pick'em and will also launch "GS F The Bracket," a custom Lexus branded game around the 2016 Men's College Basketball Tournament. In addition to Lexus connecting with fans through display, native and video advertising, "GS F The Bracket" asks fans to pick which games will reach a combined 60 points the fastest for an opportunity to win a GS F-inspired luxury vacation. "Working with , we have the opportunity to engage millions of college basketball fans and highlight the Lexus GS F," said , Lexus general manager of consumer and product marketing. "A car that goes 0-60 in 4.5 seconds deserves the spotlight while we give fans a fun and fast way to get into the games this month. " Every year, is the ultimate destination for millions of sports fans during the Men's College Basketball Tournament. As a sponsor of Sports' Tourney Pick'em, Lexus's digital campaign includes display ads driving to "GS F The Bracket" game, pre-roll video ads and branded integrations, and native ad placements targeted to the GS F audience. As part of this, Lexus will be integrated within the "Tourney Bracket Live" show on. "We're helping brands like Lexus connect with the millions of fans that visit every year to create brackets tied to one of their favorite basketball events," said , Chief Revenue Officer,. "Sports fans are incredibly passionate on and we're committed to bringing them new experiences that make their favorite games even better. " To sign up for "GS F The Bracket," fans can visit GSFtheBracket.com beginning. Each round, players can select which matchup will reach a combined 60 points the fastest. Fans are encouraged to make their picks for each round but can join the game at any point before. "The phenomenon of college basketball fans and their brackets create an unparalleled level of engagement each March," said , Chief Creative Officer, , agency of record for Lexus. "With ‘GS F The Bracket,' there's a logical connection between the speed of offense that sports fans find with college hoops and a high-performance car like the Lexus GS F. " is a guide focused on informing, connecting, and entertaining our users. By creating highly personalized experiences for our users, we keep people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around the world. In turn, we create value for advertisers by connecting them with the audiences that build their businesses. is headquartered in , and has offices located throughout the , (APAC) and the , and (EMEA) regions. For more information, visit the pressroom (pressroom.yahoo.net) or the Company's blog (yahoo.tumblr.com). Lexus launched in 1989 with two luxury sedans and a commitment to pursue perfection. Since that time, Lexus has expanded its line-up to meet the needs of global luxury customers. Lexus is now going beyond its reputation for high quality vehicles with the integration of innovative technology, emotional exterior and interior designs, and engaging driving dynamics and performance. With six models incorporating , Lexus is the luxury hybrid leader. Lexus also offers seven F SPORT models and two F performance models. In , Lexus vehicles are sold through 236 dealers who are committed to exemplary customer service.

2016-04-07 20:02 investor.yahoo.net

30 Democrats are better in bed: Apparently, this is one thing singles on the right and left can agree on Topics: Sex , Love , dating , Republicans , Democrats , Life News , Entertainment News The upcoming election has voters considering the implications of each candidate’s potential presidency in addition to the shape their lives might look like in the near future. What if Donald Trump takes the White House? What about Hillary Clinton? As political discussions heat up, Americans are also being roused to consider the sexual and emotional factors that affect their political leanings. In a new study conducted by Zoosk , 6,000 American singles were surveyed in order to evaluate the impact of politics on their relationships. The survey was first administered in August 2015, and recently revisited to see how attitudes have evolved as the election race heats up. The survey found singles are increasingly willing to date outside their respective party, with 84 percent stating they see no problem blurring party lines when it comes to dating, a 4 percent increase from the initial survey in August. Respondents also reported favoring one party over another in terms of sexual performance. Both Democrats and Republicans agreed that Democrats are likely to be better in bed. The survey found that 55 percent of those surveyed believe Democrats have greater sexual prowess — and 23 percent of those were self-identified Republicans. No wonder so many people are willing to date/sleep outside their party lines. The survey also evaluated the desirability of each candidate to see who singles are most drawn to. Turns out, people reported that each party’s front-running candidates were the most dateable, no matter what their political leanings. Trump and Clinton received the highest votes in terms of potential dateability from voters, even if they were voting for different candidates in the presidential election.

2016-04-08 01:56 Erin Coulehan salon.com.feedsportal.com

31 Syria war: Rebels 'capture key northern town of al-Rai' Syrian rebels say they have seized control of the strategically important northern town of al-Rai from the group known as Islamic State (IS). The fall of the town is a boost for the rebels as they battle to capture the divided city of Aleppo. Al-Rai's capture after several days of heavy fighting secures an important supply line from Turkey for the rebels. Separately, at least 200 people are missing after an IS attack on a factory near Damascus, the government says. Workers were reportedly taken from a dormitory where they were staying on the outskirts of the town of Dumeir, about 40km (25 miles) east of the capital. Activists from the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights say about 140 workers managed to escape. Initially there was confusion over who attacked the factory, with some sources suggesting the abductions were carried out by a rebel group called Jaysh Tahrir al-Sham. A factory administrator said no-one had been able to contact the workers since the assault on Monday. The area around Dumeir has seen fierce fighting between government forces and IS militants in recent days. The BBC's Lina Sinjab in Lebanon says that al-Rai is a crucial stronghold for IS as it sits on a crossing linking Turkey to Syria. The Observatory said that an alliance of "rebel factions and Islamists" had captured the town. Control of al-Rai allows opposition fighters to lay siege to positions held by IS to the north of Aleppo and cut the group's supply lines, a commander of the opposition al-Mutasim Brigade was quoted as telling local media. Al-Rai can now be be used by opposition groups as a launching pad for future operations against IS in the east and south, the commander, Mohamed Hassan Khalil, added. He said that the main dangers faced by the opposition groups fighting IS were improvised mines, booby-trapped vehicles and suicide bombers. Earlier this week IS jihadists said they had launched several attacks around north-east Damascus, including Tishrin power station and Dumeir military airport. A Syrian military source told Reuters there had been attacks but all of the militants who took part in them had been killed. It comes almost two weeks after Syrian government and allied forces recaptured the ancient city of Palmyra from IS fighters. This was also seen as a significant loss to the militant group, which had held the city since last May.

2016-04-08 00:35 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

32 Livonia - News This feed's current articles are shown below. Subscribe for updates to all the content available in this feed, or click through here to see the original article. Canton Fire Chief Joshua Meier has been tapped as Canton’s new public safety director Second man arrested in tools theft outside Westland Lowe’s store Police say Joshua Palmer has been found. He was reported missing Thursday. Documentary film aims to understand the pain of social rejection The Yankee Air Museum will offer air tour rides on a Waco biplane April 9. Shocking headlines dominate the news as a murder trial unfolds. Dark secrets are revealed. Pain turns to sorrow. Questions linger. What went wrong that day? What if? Reporters Aileen Wingblad and David Veselenak search for answers in interviews with convicted murderers Nancy Seaman and Lakeshia Valdez. This is the third and final month of the summer with a Supermoon. It's when a full or new moon coincides with the moon's closest point to Earth in its orbit. Basically, the moon appears bigger and brighter than usual in the night sky. Angels Above has made more than 10,000 care packages. Two projects will add residential and retail components to the city Westland’s Wild chosen for fellowing to train at Harvard Business School South Lyon group happy with progress in its first three years Children, teens can go to Redford Union High School Saturday for a casual game of catch. Two teens charged with arson in the Eloise fire Livonia police say they worked with Taylor to ID and arrest two men. The city opted to settle instead of going to trial and risk a jury awarding a larger amount. Farmington Public Schools is considering privatization of custodial, transportation jobs. The Hindu Temple of Canton is hosting a citizenship workshop Garden City mayor term could expand to four years with voter OK

2016-04-07 17:21 rssfeeds.hometownlife.com

33 Yahoo - Introducing Fair Play on Yahoo Sports Daily Fantasy Yahoo Launches Key Changes in Daily Fantasy to Help Level the Playing Field for Fans Including Entry Limits, Labeling of Veteran Players and No Scripting --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- (NASDAQ:YHOO) today announced important changes to its Sports Daily Fantasy product to make contests more transparent and fun for all users. Changes include limiting entries to a max of 10 entries per user per contest (and in no event can a single user's entries make up more than 1% of total entries in a contest), clearly identifying Veteran players with a badge, and prohibiting the use of any type of scripting tool to upload or edit entries. "We first launched Yahoo Sports Daily Fantasy back in because it was an exciting addition to our product suite and because our users were clamoring for it," said , Head of Product for and Finance. "Yahoo Fantasy Sports has tens of millions of registered fans and we are making these changes today as the result of months of user experience and customer requests. values an environment that is transparent and trustworthy. We also want to provide the best Fantasy games for true sports fans. does both. " As daily fantasy continues to evolve, the labeling of a small percentage of "Veteran" players with a distinct badge is a key change that will make it easier for all players to know who they are playing against on Yahoo Sports Daily Fantasy. Veterans will be defined as users who have entered more than 1,000 contests within a single year, or who have entered more than 250 contests and prevailed in greater than 65% of them within a single year, or who have won a single prize of or greater more than three times within a single year. As a thank you to those users who have been so dedicated to Yahoo Sports Daily Fantasy, will be inviting Veterans to a special, free, invitation-only contest. has been a leader in fantasy sports for over 17 years. The changes made today will continue the tradition of fun and social user experiences that fans have come to expect from. is a guide focused on informing, connecting, and entertaining our users. By creating highly personalized experiences for our users, we keep people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around the world. In turn, we create value for advertisers by connecting them with the audiences that build their businesses. is headquartered in , and has offices located throughout the , (APAC) and the , and (EMEA) regions. For more information, visit the pressroom (pressroom.yahoo.net) or the Company's blog (yahoo.tumblr.com).

2016-04-08 04:19 investor.yahoo.net

34 Yahoo - Yahoo to Participate at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference --(BUSINESS WIRE)-- (NASDAQ:YHOO) CFO will participate in a question- and-answer session at the Morgan Stanley in . The session is scheduled to begin on , at / . A live webcast of the session will be available on the Investor Relations website at http://yhoo.client.shareholder.com/events.cfm? CalendarID=5. is a guide focused on informing, connecting, and entertaining our users. By creating highly personalized experiences for our users, we keep people connected to what matters most to them, across devices and around the world. In turn, we create value for advertisers by connecting them with the audiences that build their businesses. is headquartered in , and has offices located throughout the , (APAC) and the , and (EMEA) regions. For more information, visit the pressroom (pressroom.yahoo.net) or the Company's blog (yahoo.tumblr.com). is the trademark and/or registered trademark of All other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

2016-04-08 04:19 investor.yahoo.net

35 Lisa Simpson, a vegan? 20,000 fans petition “Simpsons” writers to take “Lisa the vegetarian” to the next level Topics: vegan , Veganism , Lisa Simpson , petition , The Simpsons , Video , Sustainability News , Entertainment News Fans of the “The Simpsons” are calling on the history-making animated series to do it once again — petitioning writers to turn Lisa the vegetarian into Lisa the vegan. In 1995, when the groundbreaking animated sitcom aired the episode “Lisa the Vegetarian,” featuring Paul and Linda McCarthy, following the second graders’ conversion to vegetarianism, it humorously highlighted animal rights and environmental issues in way that helped fuel wider acceptance of the lifestyle. Now, thousands of fans are hoping “Simpsons” writers can recreate the magic for veganism. “The Simpsons gets millions of viewers every episode, so it single handedly influences the cultural awareness of it’s day,” Matt Hanson, “Simpsons” fan and Care2 petition creator, said, explaining his petition calling on the cartoon writers to make Lisa Simpson a vegan.

2016-04-08 01:56 Sophia Tesfaye salon.com.feedsportal.com

36 San Francisco police fatally shoot man carrying knife SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Two police officers shot and killed a man carrying a knife in the San Francisco's bustling Mission District on Thursday, the city's police chief said. San Francisco police Chief Greg Suhr said officers shot the unidentified Latino man after he refused demands to drop a knife and after the suspect was shot four times with nonlethal beanbags full of pellets. The incident was the third fatal shooting of a minority suspect not carrying a gun in the last two years and the second since December. The previous two shootings along with two separate scandals involving officers exchanging homophobic and racist emails has led to several protests, calls for the chief's firing and wrongful death lawsuits. The U. S. Department of Justice recently agreed to requests from Suhr and Mayor Ed Lee to review the department's procedures and policies. Suhr has called in outside law enforcement experts to help the department develop less lethal responses to suspects not carrying guns. The latest incident began Thursday morning when city homeless outreach officials checking on residents living in tents called police to report a man carrying a knife, Suhr said. Suhr didn't identify the man, who officers reported charging at them before firing. Seven bullets casings were found and the kitchen knife recovered, Suhr said. The blade was 10 inches to 12 inches long, and witnesses described it as a chef's knife, he said. Two witnesses say a language barrier may have contributed to the shooting. John Visor and Stephanie Grant said they lived in a tent in the same encampment as the suspect and say he spoke only Spanish and that the officers barked their commands to drop the knife in English. Visor, 33, and Grant, 31, say the man was confused and walking in a circle when the officers hit him with the beanbags and then opened fire with guns. They say the man had stuffed the knife into his waistband before he was shot. "Everybody carries something for protection here," Visor said. "He didn't have the knife in his hand when he was shot. " Visor and Grant knew the man only as Jose. They said Jose liked to collect bottles and cans for recycling and enjoyed kicking a soccer ball, sometimes late into the night and to the occasional annoyance of pedestrians. "He never hurt anybody," Visor said. "He just liked to pick up cans. " The last previous fatal shooting that involved San Francisco police occurred on Dec. 2, when five officers fatally shot Mario Woods 20 times, including six times in the back, in an incident caught on video. Woods' family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit. On Wednesday, the city's police commission agreed to reconsider its ban on arming San Francisco police officers with stun guns because of the Woods incident and the 2014 police shooting death of Alex Nieto, a college student carrying a stun gun that officers mistook for a handgun. Nieto carried a stun gun for his job as a security guard. A federal grand jury earlier this year ruled the officers acted appropriately and refused to award Nieto's family any damages after a trial in San Francisco. San Francisco is one of only two of the nation's largest cities in the country that do not equip officers with stun guns. ___ Associated Press writer Lisa Leff contributed to this story from San Francisco.

2016-04-08 01:36 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk

37 Sailor exonerated after spending 33 YEARS in prison for crimes A former sailor convicted of rape and murder in Virginia more than three decades ago is innocent and should be released from prison, the state's highest court said on Thursday. The Virginia Supreme Court granted Keith Allen Harward's petition for a writ of actual innocence after new DNA tests failed to identify Harward's genetic profile in sperm left at the crime scene. Harward will be released from the Nottoway Correctional Center on Friday, said Olga Akselrod, an attorney with the New York-based Innocence Project, which took on the man's case. The 59- year-old has been serving a life sentence 1982 killing of Jesse Perron and the rape of his wife in Newport News, where Harward's ship, the USS Carl Vinson, was docked at the time. The Supreme Court's swift action on his case speaks to 'how incredibly powerful the evidence of his innocence is', she said. Harward has been serving a life sentence 1982 killing of Jesse Perron and the rape of his wife in Newport News, where Harward's ship, the USS Carl Vinson, was docked at the time. Jesse Perron was beaten to death with a crowbar, according to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and his wife was repeatedly raped as their children slept in a nearby bedroom.. Harward's case hinged primarily on the testimony of two experts, who said his teeth matched marks left on the woman's leg. The wrongly convicted man's attorneys say the man's case is a prime example of unreliability of bite-mark evidence, which is still allowed in courts today. Harward is the 25th wrongful conviction or indictment based on bite-mark evidence since 2000, said Chris Fabricant, the Innocence Project's director of strategic litigation. 'How many more Mr. Harwards do we have to have before we stop admitting bite-mark evidence in trials?' Fabricant said. 'It almost cost him his life and it cost him 33 years in prison.' Harward was initially charged with capital murder, but was ultimately not sentenced to death. The high court's order came a day after Attorney General Mark Herring said DNA evidence proves that Harward couldn't have committed the crimes. The evidence implicated another sailor on the USS Carl Vinson, Jerry L Crotty. Crotty died in an Ohio prison in June 2006, where he was serving a sentence for abduction, Herring said. Olga Akselrod, Harward's lawyer with the Innocence Project, said he first contacted them in 2007, seeking DNA testing, but there was a long line ahead of him. He was moved up because he was convicted on bite mark evidence, which is a controversial forensic technique. The rape victim, who was attacked while no lights were on in the house, was unable to identify Harward. But she described her attacker as a white male, 19 or 20 years old, clean-shaven and wearing a sailor's uniform, according to the Times-Dispatch. Crotty was 19 at the time of the attack and Harward was 26 at the time. A security guard at the shipyard also identified Harward as a clean-shaven sailor he saw enter the shipyard with blood spatter on his uniform. But old photographs strongly suggested Harward had a mustache. Roy Lasris, who represented Harward during his trial in the late 1980s, said he hopes that the state provides the man with the social support, educational training and compensation he will need to try to start a life outside prison walls. 'He's coming into a different world. Thirty-three years later, I can't even imagine. It just saddens me,' Lasris said. Herring's office said in addition to throwing out his conviction, the state has also removed Harward's name from the state's sex-offender registry. Herring said he's glad Harward will soon be reunited with his family. 'It's just heartbreaking to think that more than half of his life was spent behind bars when he didn't belong there,' he said in a statement. 'The Commonwealth can't give him back those years, but we can say that we got it wrong, that we're sorry, and that we're working to make it right.'

US man exonerated of murder after 33 years in prison dailymail.co.uk 2016-04-08 01:22 Kelly Mclaughlin www.dailymail.co.uk

38 Newspaper headlines: Friday papers hail PM's financial disclosure Many of the front pages have an air of "mission accomplished" after the prime minister revealed he once held shares in his father's offshore fund, following days of pressure. The Telegraph has an unusual italic "did" - after Mr Cameron previously declined to comment on the question.

2016-04-08 04:17 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

39 Mindy Kaling at NYC summit says she sends cupcakes after being brusk Mindy Kaling revealed that she sends cupcakes when being overly assertive on Thursday during a women's summit in New York City. The 36-year- old actress during a one-on-one interview with Alicia Menendez during the Women In The World summit discussed being the creator and star of The Mindy Project, 'I am very assertive, even to the point of being brusk and then I just send cupcakes with a note saying, ''I am sorry for being so assertive, Love Mindy!''' she said. Scroll down for video 'In LA, there is a cottage industry of apology gifts you can send for being too assertive as a woman,' she quipped. 'Flower arrangements, artisanal ice cream. You can send a puppy party for demanding respect. ''I'm sorry I demanded respect at that meeting. Here's a puppy party. Love Mindy,"' she joked. The former writer and star of the US version of The Office cautioned young women to offer more conventional apologies until they become more established. 'You can't employ that. But maybe when you get older you can,' she said. Mindy also discussed her role as Dr. Mindy Lahiri on the Hulu sitcom and how she didn't want to portray a perfect woman, according to an article by People. 'I wanted to be a really flawed, delusion, funny character. Because as an actress, that's way more fun,' she said. 'All the best parts are villains... I hope that young women look to me, Mindy Kaling, as a role model, but let me play the characters I want to play,' she said. The Mindy Project will release it midseasone premiere on Tuesday. The comedy series was cancelled by Fox in May 2015 after three seasons, but was quickly picked up by Hulu.

2016-04-08 01:19 Paul Chavez www.dailymail.co.uk

40 An inside look at Ohio State's pro day This story appears in ESPN The Magazine's April 25 NFL Draft Issue. Subscribe today! It's only 9:30 a.m., but the staccato flow from rapper Easy Lantana's "All Hustle, No Luck" fills the Woody Hayes Athletic Center at Ohio State as hundreds of people mill around on this early- March day. Among them? Coaches Mike Zimmer of the Vikings, Mike Tomlin of the Steelers, Sean Payton of the Saints and what seems to be the entire staff of the Bengals. They are here at Ohio State's pro day to see whether the Buckeyes' 22 NFL hopefuls-nearly a quarter of their roster- match the hype. With as many as six projected first-rounders running through a combination of strength and agility drills, this is more than these Buckeyes' last chance to shine in Columbus. One look at defensive lineman Joel Hale, above, as he pitches in to provide snaps to quarterback prospect Cardale Jones, and you can see these players know what's at stake. Once the music stops, this is their chance to show they are ready to play on. A potential top-five pick, defensive end Joey Bosa attempts to trim the 4.86 40 he clocked at the NFL combine. For some reason, Bosa ditches his scarlet Ohio State compression shirt between runs. It might have worked: He drops his time to 4.77 seconds. Being the draft's top running back amounts to nothing without putting in the work, Ezekiel Elliott says. "In this process, you've got a lot of appearances to make, a lot of deals to deal with, but it's definitely always football first. You can't lose sight of that. " Often scouts come to a pro day with an eye on one or two star players, but they won't overlook a chance to find a hidden gem. Kato Mitchell spent his whole career as a walk-on wide receiver, but today he is under the same scrutiny as the rest of the Buckeyes. WR Jeff Greene hopes to catch the eye of scouts looking for free agent prospects after just two career catches at Ohio State following his transfer from Georgia Tech. At 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, he has the measurables, but his 28 1/2-inch vertical jump likely makes him a reach. With so much at stake, players know that pro days like this require sticking to strict routine: Stretch, perform, wait, repeat. Here, offensive tackle Taylor Decker, a potential first round pick, prepares in the end zone with hopes of hitting pay dirt. For three hours, Ohio State prospects push themselves through an intense series of tests like the vertical jump, broad jump, 40-yard dash and bench press. Cornerback Eli Apple pivots through an agility drill and nails down his spot as a first-round pick. It's not easy taking a test in front of a live crowd. A former Big Ten offensive player of the year as a quarterback, Braxton Miller hopes the transition he made to wide receiver last year carries over to the NFL. Needing to cut the 4.5 40 he ran at the combine, Miller torches the drill in 4.41 seconds. 2016-04-08 01:15 Coley Harvey espn.go.com

41 Global Gaming Expo 2015 – Las Vegas, Nevada Brenda Hyatt, Chief Editor/Journalist Donald Scelzo, Photographer Las Vegas, NV (Sept) The 15th annual Global Gaming Expo (G2E), in partnership with the American Gaming Association (AGA), was held from Sept 29-Oct 3, 2015 at The Sands Expo and Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV. Casino industry professionals connected to share ideas, discover the latest products, technology and services, and attend seminars to learn the newest industry trends and how the gaming industry is changing. Geoff Freeman, President & CEO of the American Gaming Association gave the “State of Gaming Address” keynote speech that included how illegal and unlicensed gambling threatens the casino industry. Regulated gaming can be a positive influence on a community and the industry needs to do a better job of explaining it. Cases of illegal gambling have been linked to organized crime, and fuel the negative views of casinos held by many lawmakers and members of the public, despite the economic benefits the casino industry brings to the areas in which it operates. “$80 billion will be bet illegally on sports this year which demonstrates the need for urgent regulatory reforms,” stated Freeman. Gaming experts offered their opinions on key gaming issues during seminars held throughout the Expo including: The Non-Gaming Customer, Examining , the Valuation and Profitability; Working Together, Reducing Tourist Victimization through Security and Law Enforcement Collaboration; International Economy, Global Perspective on Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing; Skill vs. Chance, Skill-Based Gaming’s Potential for Transforming Slot Play, just to name a few. Over 450 exhibitors covered the show floor to support the gaming industry with this year’s show being the inaugural “Integrated Resort Experience at G2E.” Sleeping room designs, food and beverage, entertainment, meetings and conventions, spas, and, of course, gaming. Sysco Corporation exhibited in several booths with samplings of their products. They are the global leader in selling, marketing and distributing food products. Its family of products also includes equipment and supplies for the food service and hospitality industries. Their website: www.sysco.com. NanoTech Gaming creates skill-based gambling games where player skill influences the chance to win. Their patent-pending technology focuses on transparency, fairness and advantage play for the best players with no exposure to the casino. For more information about this company go to: www.nanotechgaming.com. Kuhlmann Design Group, Inc. provides distinctive design and engineering services to the gaming industry focusing on casinos, hotels, spas restaurants, retail and entertainment venues. Their company is located in St. Louis, MO. For more information go to: www.kdginc.com . Global Gaming Expo (G2E) is the international trade show and conference “by the industry for the industry” and will be held in 2016 from Sept 27-29th at The Sands Expo and Convention Center, Las Vegas, NV. For more information go to: www. GlobalGamingExpo.com .

2016-04-08 01:58 Brenda Hyatt worldnewsvine.com

42 “Rogue One” trailer wows: “Star Wars” franchise looks set to keep winning streak going Topics: Star Wars , Rogue One , movie trailer , Movies , Felicity Jones , Forrest Whitaker , The Force Aw , Editor's Picks , Entertainment News At some point, the “Star Wars” movies may simply sputter out: The money to be made will be so huge, and the number of ideas left to pursue will be so small, that the whole franchise will dissipate into a sea of CGI. But the trailer for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” is reason for optimism. It’s partly that this clip of just under two minutes has some of the same feel – the same brooding, coiled energy — as “The Force Awakens.” (The new film, which opens in December, takes place before the original “Star Wars: A New Hope,” (episode IV) and tells the story of a rebel band trying to steal the plans for the Death Star. Unlike the Han Solo spinoff that’s also planned, this doesn’t have any clear links to the series’ original characters.) But it’s also because the acting in the film seems to be as much of a priority as the effects. Anyone who remembers the overdose of action and effects in “The Phantom Menace” – light saber battles that went nowhere, characters who didn’t seem to belong – will be happy to watch the new trailer. The first thing we see is Felicity Jones’ character, Jyn Erso, walking with her back to us. The British actress garnered critical acclaim for her improvised role in the wrenching romantic drama “Like Crazy” and is probably best known for her Oscar-nominated turn as Jane Hawking, Stephen Hawking’s ex-wife, in “The Theory of Everything.” Here she conveys an action hero’s determination and swaggering body language. In just a few seconds on screen, she projects powerfully. Jones has the authority to make a line like “I rebel” sound persuasive. She also looks a enough like Rey that she could be “The Force Awakens” character’s mother. Director Gareth Edwards is a visual guy more than anything – his roots are in digital effects – but his 2014 “Godzilla” reboot showed that he could bring some thematic substance to a blockbuster.

2016-04-08 00:01 Scott Timberg salon.com.feedsportal.com

43 10 Things to Know for Friday - 8 April 2016 Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Friday: 1. WHY TRUMP NEEDS TO BROADEN HIS APPEAL Seven in 10 people — including close to half of Republican voters — view the billionaire businessman unfavorably, according to a new AP-GfK poll. 2. PUTIN DISMISSES 'PANAMA PAPERS' ALLEGATIONS He characterizes the document leaks scandal as part of a U. S.-led plot to weaken Russia. 3. MASS ABDUCTION REPORTED IN SYRIA Islamic State militants kidnap some 300 cement workers and contractors northeast of Damascus, Syrian state TV says, and their fate is unknown. 4. FRESHMAN DANCE STUDENT FOUND DEAD AT UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS The "horrifying and incomprehensible" killing is the first on school grounds since the notorious bell tower mass shooting nearly 50 years ago. 5. DETAILS EMERGE IN CASE AGAINST DENNIS HASTERT At least four people have made "credible allegations of sexual abuse" against the former U. S. House speaker, the Chicago Tribune reports. 6. HOW VENEZUELA AIMS TO EASE NATIONWIDE POWER CRISIS State workers will be given Fridays off for the next two months. 7. INFLATABLE ROOM HEADING TO SPACE STATION The technology is meant to pave the way for moon bases and Mars expeditions, as well as orbiting outposts catering to scientists and tourists. 8. PAY TAXES, BUY A SLURPEE The IRS announces that U. S. taxpayers who need to make a payment in cash can now do so at 7-Eleven convenience stores. 9. SURPRISE OPENING ACT FOR FINAL EPISODE OF 'AMERICAN IDOL' In what appear to be pre-taped remarks, President Obama congratulates the show on its 15-year run. 10. WHO FELL OUT OF MASTERS CONTENTION ON VERY FIRST HOLE Ernie Els 6-putts from two feet, finishing with a quintuple-bogey 9 — the worst score ever at the par 4 No. 1 at Augusta.

2016-04-08 01:04 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk

44 Ben Stokes felt "whole world" came down on him in World Twenty20 final Ben Stokes has laid bare the "complete devastation" he felt at being hit for four sixes in the final over in England's dramatic World Twenty20 final defeat to West Indies. Carlos Brathwaite thundered Stokes' deliveries into the stands at Eden Gardens to emphatically give his side the 19 runs they needed from the final over to win the title. "I thought, 'I've just lost the World Cup'. I couldn't believe it," Stokes said in an interview with the Daily Telegraph on his emotions at the end of the match. "I didn't know what to do. It took me so long to get back on my feet. I didn't want to get back up. "It was like the whole world had come down on me. There weren't any good things going through my mind. It was just complete devastation. " Stokes was quick to thank fans for the support he received in the aftermath of the match and said he was determined to bounce back. "Setbacks make you want to be better again," he said. "This will be in my mind for quite a long time and I will reflect on it for a long time. It will be a little bit of motivation to make sure this does not ever happen again. So train 10 minutes longer every now and again to get better. " The 24-year-old also paid tribute to Brathwaite's awesome hitting, revealing he had no regrets about the decision to bowl yorkers. "It was amazing hitting. I just did not execute what I wanted to do," he said. "I have wondered if it would have been different if I had gone four slower balls into the deck, but they could have been hit for four sixes and then I would have thought why didn't I go for four yorkers? "I know that I can run up and hit my yorkers nine out of 10 times so I am not going to look back and wish I had changed anything. " Asked if he would step forward to bowl at the death again, Stokes said: "A hundred per cent. Definitely. It is something I work at a lot. Some days they go well. Some days they don't. That was a bad day but I won't be shying away from it. "

2016-04-08 01:03 Press Association www.dailymail.co.uk

45 Arsene Wenger has no doubts over Jack Wilshere's professionalism Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has no doubts over Jack Wilshere's professionalism as the midfielder prepares to make his first appearance of the season on Friday night. Wenger on Thursday played down pictures of the 24-year-old speaking to police in the early hours of last Sunday morning during a night out in central London. And Wilshere is slated to step up his comeback from his leg injury in Friday night's under-21 fixture with Newcastle after working well in training. "I've spoken to him. It looks to be taken out of proportion a little bit," said Wenger, speaking ahead of Saturday's Premier League clash with West Ham. "Overall, what is positive is that he works very, very hard. The news looks quite good. I think he will have a good test (for the under-21s). "The real question is does he have the serious life or not? A player cannot hide when you watch him practice every day. He's serious in his life. "He had a hard session on Monday and he did very well in the session so if he had been heavy drinking on Sunday I don't think he would have survived. " Wenger referred to well-documented, historical drinking issues at Arsenal involving the likes of Tony Adams and Paul Merson when he revealed Arsenal take urine samples to check players' alcohol level. The Frenchman said: "We test our players. We don't have a drinking problem. The drinking problem was much bigger when I arrived. " Wilshere has a chequered history of off-field incidents, but Wenger excused him for his night out. "There was no training session the next day," Wenger added. "You can accept that sometimes the players go out, when they are free the next day, over the weekend. " Wilshere could yet force his way into Roy Hodgson's England squad for this summer's European Championships. And Wenger insists his only lingering doubt over whether the midfielder will live up to his undoubted talent surrounds his fitness. Wenger added: "At the moment I believe he's a real football brain, Jack Wilshere. He loves football. "He's very serious, very dedicated. The only thing that could stop him from having the career he can make is injuries. "He had the history of his injuries. It's been bad recently. But I hope he can get rid of that and make the career he deserves. "Let him recover, prepare, come back and if he does well for England at the European Championship he'll be the hero. " Wenger does not know when Wilshere will make his maiden first-team appearance of the season and plans to field him in a number of under-21 contests first. Arsenal are 11 points behind leaders Leicester ahead of this weekend's fixtures, when they play at West Ham, who beat them 2-0 on the opening weekend of the season. Wenger, who could have midfielders Aaron Ramsey (thigh) and Mathieu Flamini (hamstring) back in contention, knows there is no margin for error if the Gunners are to overhaul Leicester - or in their bid for the top four. "As long as mathematically it's possible, there's a strong possibility (of catching Leicester)," he said. "We know we need nearly the perfect run - I could have cut the 'near' out. "We do not only look in front of us, we look behind us as well, because we are chased by a group of teams who can make it very difficult for us. "We have just to focus on our performance and hope we finish in a very strong way. " Alex Iwobi's performances could be key and the 19-year-old forward is in discussions to extend his contract. Wenger added: "He has three years left at the end of the season but we want to keep him here for longer. " Iwobi played for England at age-group level, but has since played for Nigeria. He could represent the Super Eagles at August's Olympics, delaying his return to Arsenal. Wenger said: "There's a possibility he will go to the Olympic Games and the African Nations Cup and travel a bit more. We have to respect his choice. "

2016-04-08 01:01 Press Association www.dailymail.co.uk

46 Security flaws found in 3 state health insurance websites FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Federal investigators found significant cybersecurity weaknesses in the health insurance websites of California, Kentucky and Vermont that could enable hackers to get their hands on sensitive personal information about hundreds of thousands of people, The Associated Press has learned. And some of those flaws have yet to be fixed. The vulnerabilities were discovered by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress, and shared with state officials last September. Vermont authorities would not discuss the findings, but officials in California and Kentucky said this week that there was no evidence hackers succeeded in stealing anything. Regulators said that given the number of weaknesses they discovered in just the three states studied, other state-run health insurance exchanges could be vulnerable, too. The GAO recommended the federal government continually monitor cybersecurity at such sites. Created under President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, the exchanges are online marketplaces where people who have no health insurance through their jobs can buy government-subsidized private coverage. Only a dozen states ran their own websites this year; the rest either switched to the federal one or jointly operate their exchanges with Washington. Computer security flaws are the just latest headache for the state exchanges. Some, like Oregon's, suffered crippling technical problems when they were launched in 2013. Some states, like Hawaii, turned operations back to the federal government because of cost concerns. The GAO report examined the three states' systems from October 2013 to March 2015 and released an abbreviated, public version of its findings last month without identifying the states. On Thursday, the GAO revealed the states' names in response to a Freedom of Information request from the AP. According to the GAO, one state did not encrypt passwords, potentially making it easy for hackers to gain access to individual accounts. One state did not properly use a filter to block hostile attempts to visit the website. And one state did not use the proper encryption on its servers, making it easier for hackers to get in. The report did not say which state had what problem. Kentucky's Steve Beshear, who was governor when the security flaws were discovered, said through a spokeswoman that "because of the time required to fix the technical issues, not all those issues had been addressed" by the time Gov. Matt Bevin took office in early December. But Beshear added: "It is important to note that there were never any security breaches of any kind, and no one's information was ever compromised. " Doug Hogan, a spokesman for the Bevin administration's Cabinet for Health and Family Services, said efforts to fix the problems "are in various stages of completion and implementation. " He added that privacy and security of sensitive information are "of the utmost importance" to Bevin's administration. Kentucky's insurance exchange, kynect, will be dismantled later this year. While the system is credited with helping reduce Kentucky's uninsured rate from more than 20 percent in 2013 to 7.5 percent last year, Bevin says it is too expensive. He wants to transfer the more than 93,000 people who bought private coverage on kynect to the federal exchange, Healthcare.gov. But Kentuckians' information might not be any safer on the federal exchange. According to the GAO report, Healthcare.gov had 316 security incidents between October 2013 and March 2015. Such incidents can include unauthorized access, disclosure of data or violations of security practices. None resulted in lost or stolen data, but the GAO said technical weaknesses with the federal system "will likely continue to jeopardize the confidentiality, integrity and availability of Healthcare.gov. " In Vermont, Lawrence Miller, director of health reform for Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin, said the state had changed vendors since the period of the GAO review. During the transition, "we ensured the correct controls were in place" to meet a federal standard, he wrote in an email. In California, a spokesman for the state's exchange, Roy Kennedy, would not say how Covered California was addressing the problems, citing security concerns. He pointed instead to a letter sent in October to members of Congress. In its, Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee said there have been no successful breaches of website security. However, he said personal information may have been exposed in a few instances because of human error or other mistakes. Lee said that Covered California adopted 37 of the GAO's 41 recommendations for improving security. He said his agency disagreed with three technical security recommendations and is constrained by state laws and union contracts from adopting a fourth — requiring background checks for existing employees. Since the GAO audit, Lee's letter said, Covered California conducts more frequent scans to identify threats, and any critical findings will be immediately fixed. "Protecting data is our highest priority," Lee wrote. "From day one, Covered California has followed the rigorous guidelines outlined in federal and state security regulations designed to protect our consumers' private information. " ___ Alonso- Zaldivar reported from Washington. Associated Press reporters Jonathan J. Cooper in Sacramento, California, and David Gram in Montpelier, Vermont, contributed to this report. 2016-04-08 01:01 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk

47 French energy minister: delaying Hinkley Point C still ‘under discussion’ The French energy minister, Ségolène Royal, has said that a postponement of the Hinkley Point C nuclear power project was still under discussion. In a French television interview on Thursday , she was asked whether Hinkley Point would be postponed. “It’s still under discussion,” Royal replied. “There’s an agreement between France and Britain, so things should go ahead. But the trade unions are right to ask for the stakes to be re-examined.” Asked if she was in favour of a postponement, Royal ducked the question and said she would not make rash comments. However, the minister added that while she did not want to “decisively throw the project into question just like that”, there should be “further proof” that the £18bn venture was “well-founded” and would not affect investment in renewable energy. EDF, the energy company controlled by the French government, has still not made a firm commitment to build the new nuclear power station. Its board is expected to make a final decision on the project at its next meeting on 11 May. Last week an EDF board member called for Hinkley Point C to be postponed , in the latest sign of discord at the top of the French energy company over the troubled project. Christian Taxil, an employee director, said a raft of changes to the Somerset reactor scheme agreed over the past three years significantly raised the risk for EDF. The dissent follows weeks of behind the scenes bickering and the resignation last month of EDF finance director, Thomas Piquemal , despite continual promises from EDF chief executive Jean- Bernard Lévy that the controversial project will go ahead. EDF has been hit by falling power prices, cost overruns on other projects, and demands to upgrade French nuclear reactors to make them safer. Its Paris-listed shares are down by almost 60% over the past 12 months. The company is being compelled by the French government to buy the reactors division of Areva, which is also state-controlled. Areva’s European Pressurised Reactor (EPR) technology is slated to be used at Hinkley Point. However, the first power station to use it – which is being built in Finland – is running nine years behind schedule due to problems and cost overruns. The problems had left Areva virtually bankrupt after four years of losses. Concerns about the EPR technology has also delayed EDF’s construction of another EPR reactor at Flamanville, on France’s west coast. Its budget has gone from €3bn to €10.5bn and it is running six years late. Building two new nuclear reactors at Hinkley has been heavily backed by the UK government in order to keep the lights on in Britain. The last of the UK’s coal-fired power stations will be closed in 2025. Simon Taylor, a specialist in nuclear financing and a lecturer at Cambridge University, said last month that the Hinkley project appeared to be “poor value for money” and it would be best if the French government abandoned it. “It would preserve the rest of the nuclear options in the UK, as it would not cast any doubt on the UK’s underlying commitment,” he said. “But if the UK cancels the project it could jeopardise all the other projects in the pipeline.”

2016-04-08 00:57 Angelique Chrisafis www.theguardian.com

48 Barrington man charged with possessing child pornography A northwest suburban man has been charged with possessing more than 10,000 videos and images of child pornography. John P. Malecki, 45, was charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography, according to the Lake County sheriff’s office. If convicted, each count carries a punishment of up to seven years in prison. Malecki was arrested after a search warrant was executed at his home Wednesday in the 500 block of Shorely Drive in Barrington, according to a statement from the sheriff’s office. Authorities seized multiple electronic devices from the home, which revealed more than 10,000 videos and images of child pornography, many involving children under the age of 13, according to police. “Due to the large volume of child pornography, additional digital forensics will be conducted and additional charges are possible,” police said in the statement. Malecki was ordered held in the Lake County Jail on a $150,000 bond, according to the sheriff’s office. He is next scheduled to appear in court Friday.

2016-04-08 00:54 Jordan Owen chicago.suntimes.com

49 Missouri sex offender pleads guilty to buying child porn from PH SPRINGFIELD, Missouri— A registered southwest Missouri sex offender has pleaded guilty in federal court to sending money to the Philippines to view online pornography. The Springfield News-Leader reports 65-year-old Paul Sipeer of Duenweb pleaded guilty on Tuesday to receiving child porn over the Internet. Prosecutors say Sipeer transferred money to people in the Philippines in amounts between $10 and $20 several times a month last summer to watch child porn. Sipeer admitted to investigators that he had sent about $1,200 to the Philippines to pay for child porn. He also acknowledged downloading other child porn from the Internet. Sipeer also told authorities he had downloaded child porn from the Internet. Several images of child pornography, depicting children younger than 10, were found on Sipeer’s computer, according to the release. Federal prosecutors say he is facing 15 to 40 years in prison. Sipeer was convicted in 1992 of sexually abusing a 7-year-old. Like us on Facebook 2016-04-08 00:52 Associated Press globalnation.inquirer.net

50 Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon divulge banter between rival BGT judges Divorce is a sensitive subject at the best of times. But it seems Simon Cowell couldn't resist taking a dig at the demise of David Walliams' marriage when the pair, Amanda Holden and Alesha Dixon filmed this year's Britain's Got Talent series, the girls revealed during their appearance on Alan Carr's Chatty Man on Thursday. Amanda, 45, disclosed the fact the music mogul often responds to the funnyman's just-for-fun jibes with 'something horrible' about his recent divorce from Lara Stone while 37-year-old Alesha claimed sexual chemistry between their male counterparts is responsible for the tension between them. Scroll down for video Divulging details on Simon and David's relationship, the former Mis-Teeq signer explained: 'They love to hate each other, they are so competitive, but it’s great entertainment for us. The thing is, David can get away with so much with Simon. So much.' Amanda added: 'I might have said this before, but David asked me, “what shouldn’t I say to Simon?” I said, "don’t mention his height, his love life, all these things", and he just went in and did them all. 'I think this year Simon has out-funnied David, and if David had said something cruel to Simon, Simon comes back with one remark, and it’s usually something horrible about David’s divorce, and he shuts up with tears in his eyes and carries on judging.' Alesha went on to describe the pair's friendship as a 'battle of the egos' and likened them to schoolboys with the way they constantly try to get one up on each other on the show. She agreed when comedian Alan said the competitiveness was down to sexual chemistry, offering: 'They both can’t stand up in the break. Let’s just say that.' David was having the last laugh on Thursday though as he arrived at the press launch in London dressed as his nemesis who was attending to America's Got Talent duties in Los Angeles. The Little Britain star made for one convincing Simon lookalike in signature high-waisted and flared trousers which he styled with his now-iconic white open-button shirt. He went one step further to emulate his frenemy by mimicking his slicked-back hairstyle and adding some fake grey stubble. Unsurprisingly, Simon is yet to comment on David's stunt. Britain's Got Talent returns to ITV for a tenth series on Saturday at 7pm

2016-04-08 00:52 Helen Turnbull www.dailymail.co.uk

51 It's the smart way to do business Partnering with Absa, FNB, Nedbank and Standard Bank, the department said it was revolutionising its services to make them more accessible to citizens. Speaking in Midrand, the Minister of Home Affairs, Malusi Gigaba, said the pilot project would change perceptions the department was a poor service provider. "We are taking the modernisation of the department forward," Gigaba said. "We are utilising the advantages of the technology our country has to offer... so we can provide our people with a service that is convenient to them. " The online process will take two weeks from application to collection. Home Affairs is currently accepting applications from citizens between the ages of 30 and 35. Twelve branches will pilot the project, but the services will be expanded to other parts of the country. Currently, 11 branches are being provided in Gauteng and one in Cape Town. President Jacob Zuma, who launched the project, called on other stakeholders to come on board to ensure it worked. "We request that the private sector support Home Affairs. The department is now part of the security cluster because we realised the need to improve the security aspects of migration. [It] will work in the cluster to ensure that persons who enter the republic are cleared," said Zuma. Banks will provide kiosks inside branches where clients can submit their fingerprints and pictures, having first made appointments and payments online. The project, said by the department to be a world-first, was initially piloted at Standard Bank and FNB headquarters in the Johannesburg city centre.

2016-04-08 00:51 Neo Goba www.timeslive.co.za

52 San Francisco first in U. S. to okay paid 6-week parental leave SAN FRANCISCO— In approving a novel paid parental leave policy, San Francisco officials buttressed their efforts to make life a little more affordable for workers who eke out a living in one of the most expensive cities in the country. Mayor Ed Lee is expected to sign legislation approved Tuesday, April 5 by the Board of Supervisors that requires employers to provide fully paid six-week leaves for new mothers and fathers. Currently, the state of California pays about 55 percent of a worker’s salary when they take leave, which advocates say is not enough for working families. The San Francisco measure requires employers with at least 20 employees to make up the rest. “The vast majority of workers in this country have little or no access to paid parental leave, and that needs to change,” Supervisor Scott Wiener, who pushed the measure, said at a news conference before the vote. Employee protections Paid parental leave is the latest proposal to come from a city that has led the country on employee protections even as the cost of living soars. The median rental price in the five-county San Francisco metropolitan area was $3,350 in February, according to real estate data firm Zillow, and the median price for a home tops $1 million. For example, San Francisco approved a $15 hourly minimum wage for workers in 2014, a mandate that California Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Monday for the entire state. In 2007, San Francisco officials required businesses to set aside money to be used toward employee health care, long before the federal government approved the Affordable Care Act. And in 2006, San Francisco voters approved paid sick leave, the first in the country to require the benefit. Some larger employers, such as Twitter and Netflix, already offer generous benefits for their workers but owners of small businesses say they don’t have such deep pockets. “These are issues that need to be taken at the state level, and the state now is showing some appetite for dealing with these issues,” said Mark Dwight of Rickshaw Bagworks, a company of 30 employees that makes custom work bags in San Francisco. Level playing field But in the meantime, he said, “let’s make it a level playing field, for everyone.” Attorney Jason Geller, managing partner of Fisher & Phillips San Francisco employment law office, said he expects retailers to pass on the costs to consumers who can and will pay higher prices in a bid to make the city more equitable. “I am a business person and a resident of San Francisco, and I know that if they can pass on that expense, people will pay it,” he said. “We know that consumers in San Francisco will pay higher prices.” Paid leave has become a topic in the presidential campaign as companies, especially in Silicon Valley, start offering better benefits. Twitter announced Tuesday that it would offer up to 20 weeks of fully paid leave for new parents in the U. S., starting May 1. U. S. lagging The U. S. lags other many countries in providing parental leave and is the only major industrialized nation that doesn’t require paid leave. Kim Turner, a nonprofit attorney who took advantage of the state parental leave program, says full paid leave like San Francisco’s would have been better. “I do think employers should be pitching in more,” she said. “I think we all need more help. It’s just so hard to make ends meet with little ones in the house.” The regulation will be phased in, starting with businesses that employ 50 workers in January 2017. Businesses with 35 to 49 workers must comply starting in July 2017, and businesses with 20 to 34 workers have until January 2018. Like us on Facebook

2016-04-08 00:51 Associated Press globalnation.inquirer.net

53 Jordan Spieth Picks up Where He off at Augusta National Jordan Spieth picked up where he left off at the Masters. After a dominating victory a year ago, the 22- year-old Texan threw up three early birdies on a breezy Thursday at Augusta National to claim the top spot on the leaderboard. Spieth set a tournament record with 28 birdies in 2015, romping to his first major title with an 18- under score. That sparked one of the great years in golf history, as he went on to capture the U. S. Open at Chambers Bay, just missed out on a playoff in the British Open, and took the runner-up spot behind Jason Day at the PGA Championship. Day is now the top-ranked player in the world and came into the Masters as the betting favorite. Spieth might have something to say about that. He birdied the third hole, rolled in a 10-footer for another birdie at the sixth, and took advantage of the par-5 eighth to become the first player to reach 3 under. He made the turn with a 33, one stroke ahead of Daniel Berger and a pair of Englishmen, Paul Casey and Matthew Fitzpatrick. Even though the course was softened overnight by strong thunderstorms, the wind whipping across Augusta National made it tough to go low. It didn't seem to bother Spieth, who is trying to become only the fourth player to win back-to-back titles. Tiger Woods was the last to do it in 2001 and 2002. The others: Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo. On the 30th anniversary of his sixth and last Masters title, Nicklaus joined Gary Player to hit the ceremonial opening tee shots shortly after sunrise. Arnold Palmer could only watch, having decided not to swing the club this year because of health issues. The 86-year-old Palmer did ride a cart out to the first tee, offering that familiar wink and thumbs- up. He also posed for a picture with his two longtime rivals and friends, who combined to win seven straight Masters in the 1960s and collectively won 34 major championships. Player, the 80-year-old South African who said he prepared by doing 1,300 sit-ups and crunches, belted his drive down the middle. The 76-year-old Nicklaus hit it higher and shorter. "Gary won his tournament this year," Nicklaus said with a grin. "I hit a pop-up. " "I wouldn't be too concerned about me outdriving you too much," Player replied, "because you did it to me for 50 damn years. " But this moment was all about Palmer. "It was gratifying and sad, because everything shall pass," Player said. "But it was nice to have him on the tee. I dedicated my first tee shot to him in respect. It's a very special moment. " After the original "Big Three" stepped aside, the 80th Masters began for real. Rickie Fowler's pursuit of his first major title got off to a rocky start, with a drive into the trees leading to a double-bogey at No. 1. He bounced back with three birdies before a bogey at the seventh sent him around the turn with an even-par 36. Day and four-time major champion Rory McIlroy had afternoon tee times. ——— Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul-newberry .

2016-04-08 00:51 By abcnews.go.com

54 Mormon Missionary Injured in Brussels Bombing Leave Hospital A Mormon missionary wounded in the Brussels airport attack has left the hospital and returned to his southern Utah home. University of Utah Hospital spokeswoman Kathy Wilets said Thursday that 20- year-old Joseph "Dres" Empey was released this week. He suffered second- degree burns and other injuries March 22. He was one of three American missionaries seriously injured when explosions ripped through the Brussels airport as they accompanied a French woman set to fly to the U. S. for her mission. The other injured missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints remain hospitalized. The Deseret News reports ( http://bit.ly/1Mhmh8b ) that a large gathering of friends and family greeted Empey when he arrived to his house in Santa Clara on Wednesday. The city is near St. George, Utah. 2016-04-08 00:47 By abcnews.go.com

55 We need £12billion to repair all the potholes in Britain A government fund to fix potholes is more than 230 times smaller than the amount needed, local councils have warned. Yesterday the Government pledged £50million to local authorities to help them fix nearly one million potholes this year. But councillors say the actual amount needed for repairs is £11.8billion, and the £50million promised is merely a ‘drop in the ocean’. Martin Tett, the Local Government Association’s transport spokesman, said budget cuts had forced councils to only ‘patch up’ inadequate roads. ‘While £50million is a step in the right direction, councils need more than 230 times that amount to cover the £11.8billion cost to bring our roads up to scratch,’ he said. ‘The money announced today...would not even completely cover the cost of the £69million faced by the average authority to bring its roads up to a reasonable condition.’ The Pothole Action Fund will split £250million between councils in England and Wales over the next five years. Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin said the fund is part of a ‘record’ £6.1billion being spent on local road maintenance. This year, roads in the South West will get the biggest cash injection, at £8.4million, with the North East receiving the least at £3million. But a recent survey by the Asphalt Industry Alliance found it will cost £11.8billion and take 14 years to fully fix the roads in England and Wales. Richard Burnett, chief executive of the Road Haulage Association, said: ‘So many local roads are in such a dreadful condition that much more money will be needed, and soon. ‘Britain is afflicted by a pothole plague that is causing needless damage and congestion which is hurting car drivers, hauliers and the economy as well as vulnerable road users, including cyclists.’ A survey by AA found around 39 per cent of its members reported damage to their vehicles from potholes in the past two years. Describing the £50million as a ‘drop in the ocean’, AA president Edmund King said: ‘It is a false economy to put off until tomorrow what everyone knows needs to be done now.’

2016-04-08 00:47 Gerri Peev www.dailymail.co.uk

56 What happened the last time Republicans faced a contested convention Washington (CNN) The scene sounds eerily familiar: Republicans gather at a convention with no clear nominee. A couple of hundred delegates separate the two candidates. The only way to pick a winner? A fight on the floor.

2016-04-08 00:45 Brian Rokus rss.cnn.com

57 Gov. Scott Signs Bill Making Florida 12th State to Defund Planned Parenthood By Barbara Hollingsworth- Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed a bill Friday that defunds his state’s abortion clinics – including those run by Planned Parenthood (PP) – making Florida the 12th state to block state taxpayer dollars from going to the nation’s largest abortion provider. The Termination of Pregnancy bill (HB 1411), sponsored by state Rep. Colleen Burton (R- Lakeland), was passed by the Republican-led Florida House (76-40) and state Senate (25-15), and was included in a batch of 67 bills sent to Scott for his signature. The new law, which goes into effect on July 1, prohibits any state funding to groups that own, operate or are affiliated with licensed abortion facilities. Florida law currently allows state funding for non-abortion services. Abortion clinics are not allowed to “purchase, sell, donate, or transfer fetal remains obtained from an abortion… excluding costs associated with certain transportation of remains… Advertising, purchase, sale, or transfer of human embryos or fetal remains [are] prohibited” under the new law. The legislation also “requires that physicians performing or inducing a termination of life procedure have admitting privileges at a hospital within a specified distance of location where the procedure is performed or induced.” It also requires monthly reports by, and annual state inspections of, all Florida abortion clinics, which must meet the state’s regulatory standards for ambulatory surgical centers, including “emergency resuscitative and life support” equipment. PP president Cecile Richards called the legislation “a cruel bill…designed to rip health care away from those most at risk.” Richards warned that “thousands of people across Florida may no longer be able to access essential reproductive health care, such as cancer screenings, birth control, and well-woman exams.” But John Stemberger, president and general counsel of the Florida Family Policy Council, applauded the governor’s action. “This is a historic victory and we are thrilled to have been an active part of this effort,” Stemberger said in a statement. Stemberger had urged Scott to sign the legislation in a March 23 letter, pointing out that “there are 636 Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) sites and Rural Health Clinics in the state of Florida which are required by federal law to provide either directly or through established arrangements” obstetric, gynecological and preventive health services, among others. “These FQHCs provide far more care, not less, than the limited services that Planned Parenthood and similar abortion-centric facilities provide,” Stemberger pointed out. Besides being “morally disqualified” from receiving taxpayer funding, he noted that “no Planned Parenthood facility offers the same level of care as FQHCs are required by law to provide.” Besides Florida, legislators in nearly a dozen other states, including Texas and Ohio, have also voted to restrict state funding for Planned Parenthood after the Center for Medical Progress released undercover videos showing PP officials allegedly discussing the sale of aborted baby parts. However, PP still receives hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015, the abortion provider received $553.7 million in “government health services grants and reimbursements,” according to its 2014-2015 annual report. In January, President Obama vetoed a congressional attempt to defund PP. Congress’ attempt to override the veto the following month failed.

2016-04-08 03:19 www.thetribunepapers.com

58 Delivery driver flings parcel over fence in shocking footage As more and more people order goods from the internet you'd expect delivery services to be getting better and better. But it would seem this woman delivery driver hasn't quite got the hang of customer service in this video. She appears in the footage approaching a high gate with the parcel. And then, with no apparent search to see if anyone's home, she lobs the parcel over. Turning quickly around she shuffles off to her van. The video, which was shot in Staffordshire, was published on Thursday. Matthew Furber, who lives in the property, happened to see the lighter- side. 'I ordered some shoes from a well known UK manufacturer online,' he said. 'They used this particular courier to delivery them and our CCTV caught and recorded the delivery as it happened. 'We were amused to see the delivery lady throw the shoes so far over the gate into the back garden.'

2016-04-08 00:41 Matt Hunter www.dailymail.co.uk

59 Invest in fighting the Zika virus Jennifer Caudle is a board-certified family medicine physician and assistant professor of family medicine at Rowan University School of Osteopathic Medicine in New Jersey. Follow her on Twitter @DrJenCaudle. The opinions expressed in this commentary are hers. (CNN) In a move to thwart the threat of Zika, President Barack Obama asked for $1.9 billion in emergency funding from Congress in February 2016. This request, not yet approved, was followed by an Obama administration announcement Wednesday that nearly $600 million will be reallocated to assist in the Zika response.

2016-04-08 00:38 Jennifer Caudle rss.cnn.com

60 Peru's front-runner Fujimori slips in poll ahead of elections LIMA, April 7 (Reuters) - Peru's presidential hopeful Keiko Fujimori slipped 3.1 points in an Ipsos poll seen by a source on Thursday, but she remained the race's clear frontrunner and her two closest rivals were nearly tied for second place ahead of Sunday's elections. Fujimori won 37.7 percent of valid votes in a mock voting exercise conducted on April 6, following a large protest against her presidency on the day her father, former strongman Alberto Fujimori, shuttered congress 24 years earlier. (Reporting by Teresa Cespedes; Editing by Sandra Maler)

2016-04-08 00:38 Reuters www.dailymail.co.uk

61 Enrile, Binay, Marcos assail Aquino inaction on Kidapawan President Aquino should have taken decisive action and opened the rice granaries when protesters took to the streets of Kidapawan City to demand food from the government, Senate Minority Leader Juan Ponce Enrile said Thursday. Had Mr. Aquino done so, the government would have known at once whether the protesters were legitimate. “[Mr. Aquino] is a hollow symbol in our society right now. But even then, he should’ve acted on his own behest,” Enrile said at a Senate forum. If he were President, he would have flown to Kidapawan, and ordered the distribution of rice to the protesters “to see whether that is a legitimate rally or just a contrived rally in order to provide a conflict or an encounter.” “If they’re really hungry, they will disperse immediately because they want to cook the rice at least to satisfy their hunger,” he said. Such a move would also have ensured the victory of the President’s chosen candidate, Mar Roxas, said Enrile, who criticized the Chief Executive’s slow decision-making. “If he went there and acted immediately and given them rice, nobody can beat Roxas,” Enrile said. “He missed the boat to make his candidate win.” But the Aquino government has apparently learned nothing about running a country in six years, he said. He called Mr. Aquino a “three-day President,” one who takes too long to make a move. Malacañang shrugged off Enrile’s criticism. “President Aquino is, at all times, focused on the important things that are happening in the country and the whole world to ensure the immediate response of government to all the needs of Filipinos in and out of the country,” Presidential Communications Secretary Herminio Coloma Jr. said. “Perhaps, the reason behind the thinking of Senator Enrile is the style of governance that he was used to when he was a Cabinet official under former President Marcos under the dictatorship and martial law,” Coloma said. Enrile said the administration was too focused on the concept growth, he added, but this just pertains to a number or the opinion of economists, he said. Hunger and fear, on the other hand, are immediately felt, he said. He also said that in this democracy, or “demo-crazy,” authorities shoot at people because they have no training in handling social problems, as they don’t know the issues that affect the lives of the people they consider their bosses. “That’s the problem if you were born very rich. You don’t know the feeling of the downtrodden people,” he said. The Kidapawan rally had ended in violence when police decided to disperse drought-hit farmers demanding aid from the government. Three protesters were killed. But police said one of the slain protesters had a positive result during the paraffin test, indicating he may have fired a gun. Government officials also questioned the motive of protesters, saying their ranks had been infiltrated by leftists. Enrile also took to task his colleagues in the Senate for initiating a probe on the Kidapawan incident but purportedly failing to inform fellow lawmakers about it. Vice President Jejomar Binay said the protest in North Cotabato province demonstrated that poverty remained a problem in the country. He lamented that the rally ended in violence. “Everything must have to be handled with compassion,” Binay said. In a statement, Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala should explain how the agency’s budget was being spent. “The DA has a big budget for 2016 but there is a possibility that it is being used for politics and not to support our farmers,” the vice presidential candidate said. For 2016 the total appropriation for the DA is at P48.45 billion, over P2 billion of which was set aside for El Niño mitigation programs. “Seventy percent of the country’s poor are in agriculture… You cannot blame the farmers because they are hungry. You cannot fault them for fighting for their families’ survival,” Marcos said. The International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) called for the release of farmers still detained and “to bring all those responsible to justice.” IADL president Jeanne Mirer in a statement in New York said Mr. Aquino’s silence on the incident showed that the President “tacitly supported” the police action. The Antwerp-based Progress Lawyers Network expressed “shock and outrage” over the dispersal, citing how the farmers were merely seeking government help as their livelihood suffered due to the dry spell wrought by climate change. The Italian Association of Democratic Lawyers said the violent dispersal violated “the [farmers’] right to life and to be free from arbitrary detention.” “We protest against such actions and the silence of the President,” said the Italian group. The National Lawyers Guild International expressed its support for the National Union of People’s Lawyers in the Philippines in its efforts to seek “justice and accountability at the highest levels for those responsible for the killing of farmers in Kidapawan.” With reports from Christine O. Avendaño, Tarra Quismundo, Nikko Dizon and Jeannette I. Andrade RELATED VIDEOS

2016-04-08 00:33 INQUIRER.net newsinfo.inquirer.net

62 Ikea kitchen design goes VR Want to walk through an Ikea kitchen design, change the color scheme and never leave home? There’s an app for that. Furniture retailer Ikea has released a virtual reality app that works on the gaming platform Steam. “Virtual reality is developing quickly and in five to 10 years it will be an integrated part of people’s lives. We see that virtual reality will play a major role in the future of our customers,” Jesper Brodin, an Ikea managing director, said in a news release. “For instance, someday, it could be used to enable customers to try out a variety of home furnishing solutions before buying them.” The IKEA VR Experience app, which the company says is a test to gauge customer feedback, lets people using an HTC Vive headset explore one of three different kitchen designs. Users can change the cabinet color and drawers with a click. Another feature lets users change their view of the kitchen to a child’s perspective or that of a 6-foot-4 adult (in case you are’t that tall).

2016-04-08 00:30 Bill Ruminski chicago.suntimes.com

63 Illinois budget crisis affecting fuel cleanup SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Federal regulators have warned Illinois to resume paying companies that wrench leaky fuel tanks from the ground or be forced to tell gas station operators they have to pay, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press. It's another potentially crippling consequence of the state's 10-month budget stalemate, which makes the $58 million set aside to pay for cleanup inaccessible. The letter, dated March 21 and sent by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency's regional director in Chicago, demands the Illinois EPA deliver a plan to free up the cash for scrubbing contaminated sites. Companies in charge of yanking tanks said the work has slowed since the state can't touch the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Fund — financed by an at-the-pump gas tax and a fuel-delivery fee. One consultant in northern Illinois told the AP, "Cleanup is not being done. " But the state EPA, which has until April 21 to respond, counters that this isn't the first tank-fund payment backlog and there is sufficient money to pay the $20.3 million in submitted bills. Without reimbursement, contractors that pull leaking tanks and replace contaminated soil would have to find alternate financing — likely from costly insurance policies that would be required of gas station owners no longer covered by the state fund. "The state budget impasse has impacted the fund by halting reimbursements for remediation of LUST sites for the past eight months," Robert Kaplan, the federal EPA's acting regional administrator, wrote in the letter, adding that it "compromises the financial viability of the cleanup contractors that are critical to ongoing cleanups. " But work continues on 211 gas- contaminated sites around the state, according to documents released to the AP under the Freedom of Information Act. However, the majority of contractors on the ongoing jobs haven't sought payment and state EPA spokeswoman Kim Biggs said there's no way to estimate how much it will cost. The federal agency also questioned diverting $20 million from the fund as part of the $1.3 billion budget deal that Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats in the Legislature struck to balance the ledger for the 2014-2015 fiscal year. The two sides continue to wrangle over a spending plan that should have taken effect July 1. Biggs said past payment delays have run as long as 24 months without threat of federal sanction. "EPA continues to move reimbursement requests through our approval system so that payments will be made as soon" as a budget is approved, Biggs said in an email. Legislation to free up $860 million in special- purpose funds that was introduced Thursday by Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno includes $60 million for the leaking-tank fund. But millions more in expenses are piling up. Among contractors on the 211 sites where decontamination has begun since the start of the fiscal year, only 10 have submitted reimbursement claims, Biggs said. That's because much work has stopped, according to Bob Renguso, senior project manager of the St. Charles-based Marlin Environmental Consulting. Work proceeds in stages, with EPA approval at each step, but many companies hold up when there's no money to cover the next phase. "We can't do the next step and wait for reimbursement any longer — we've used up all our capital," Renguso said. "We've been trying to continue these last few months, where the next step is approved, but we're just sitting on it. Cleanup is not being done. " Biggs said contractors are responsible for continuing to remove the environmental threat regardless of when they're paid. Josh Appleton runs Earth Services in the southern Illinois town of Benton. Consulting firms dependent on state reimbursement pay his firm to do the digging. He's waiting on about $1 million for work dating back to last spring — about one-quarter of his annual revenue — and has turned his attention to demolition jobs. "We've pretty well put a halt to any LUST (tank) work we're doing," Appleton said. ___ Contact Political Writer John O'Connor at https://twitter.com/apoconnor. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/john-oconnor .

2016-04-08 00:29 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk

64 Asia Times News & Features – Asia Times On Sunday, several global news organizations published articles about a treasure trove of leaked documents. They originated from a Panama-based law firm named Mossack Fonseca. Dubbed the Panama papers, their weighty pages revealed how the law firm provided offshore services that allowed some of the world’s most powerful people to conceal their wealth, dodge taxes and engage in other illegal activities that were tangled in a web of unseemly financial transactions. The documents contained the names of politicians of more than fifty countries. Among them, the presidents of Russia, Argentina and the Ukraine. The news shocked the world. Based on the information disclosed, the politicians named encompassed current and former top Chinese officials, including president Xi Jinping. However, in contrast to the huge reactions of many global media organizations, Chinese news agencies remained silent. On Monday, only a few online news agencies had translated what the papers had to say regarding illegal financial transactions of powerful types in nations such as Russia and Iceland. State censorship also blocked any news reporting that had something to do with the Panama Papers. We have gathered and edited some of the published information on individuals from China: Li Xiaolin, daughter of former Premier, Li Peng From 1987 to 1998, when Li Peng served as the Prime Minister of China, his second child and only daughter Li Xiaolin, and husband Li Zhiyuan, were the owners of a foundation based in Liechtenstein. According to the Panama Papers, the foundation owned a company in the British Virgin Islands named Cofic Investments. In order to make it harder for herself to be connected to Li Peng during background checks, Ms. Li’s name on her Hong Kong passport was given as “Xiaolin LIU-LI.” In addition to being the Vice president of China Power Investment Corporation, Ms. Li also works for a top consulting firm in China. The scanned copy of her Hong Kong passport was exposed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) which reviewed the papers. One of the directors of Cofic Investments, lawyer Charles-Andre Junod in Geneva, refused to take questions from ICIJ, claiming that the firm was lawful. Li Zidan, granddaughter of Jia Qinglin, a former member of the Politburo Standing Committee According to the Panama Papers, Jasmine Li Zidan studied at a boarding school in the US. After graduating from Stanford University, she worked as an assistant to Cai Guoqiang, a Chinese artist based in New York. She later worked at Artsy, an online art retailer. Mossack Fonseca’s report indicates that Li Zidan became the owner of a company called Harvest Sun Trading Ltd. in 2010, when she was under the age of 18. This company was registered in 2009 in the British Virgin Islands. She took ownership of the company for $1 from a person named Zhang Yu in 2010. Zhang is the founder of Hengdeli, a luxury watch retailer in China. Li Zidan also is the sole founder of another company. Li’s name did not appear in the registration documents, though she is the owner of the two companies. Her grandfather, Jia Qinglin, served from 2002 to 2012 as the No.4 member of the Politburo Standing Committee. Boku Kailai, former Politburo member and secretary of Chongqing, Bo Xilai’s wife The French architect, Patrick Henri Devillers, was the former commercial partner of Boku Kailai, the wife of Bo Xilai. Bo Xilai was the Politburo member and secretary of the city of Chongqing from 2007 to 2012. He was sentenced to life imprisonment (by the Chinese government) for corruption. The documents show that Devillers and Boku Kailai are co-presidents of a company named Adad. The company is registered in Britain. Devillers holds funds on behalf of Boku Kailai in the company. Court documents indicate that this company tapped corrupt money to secretly purchase a luxurious French villa worth 3.2 million dollars. Devillers’s testimony was accepted by a Chinese Court in 2013. Deng Jiagui, the brother-in-law of Chinese leader Xi Jinping In September 2009, Deng Jiagui, the brother-in-law of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, became the sole president of two companies registered in the British Virgin Islands. According to the Panama Papers, up until November 2012 when Xi became the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, both of these companies were inactive. Sun Hung Kai Properties in Hong Kong In 2012, Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP) asked Mossack Fonseca to close a company named Yorkshire Limited owned by Thomas Chan Kui-yuen. The law firm’s staff found that Chan was involved in a corruption scheme involving Xu Shiren, former Hong Kong Chief Secretary for Administration, and had been arrested a few weeks earlier. Mossack Fonseca staff were wary whether Chan was the legal owner of the company. They asked SHKP to provide more documentation. SHKP rejected the requests based on the company’s inactivity. Mossack Fonseca staff in Hong Kong were concerned that further pressure for obtain records would encourage SHKP to change law firms. However, Mossack Fonseca’s president asserted that the company couldn’t be closed without proper documentation. The deadlock continued for three months until SHKP provided the requested papers. In 2014, Mossack Fonseca found that Chan was the director and beneficial owner of another company in the British Virgin Islands named Moricrown. Moricrown is a subsidiary of Cheung Kong Holdings, the company of Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s richest man. One of the founders of Moricrown, Thomas Kwok Ping-kwong, a billionaire co-owner of SHKP, had been charged in the bribery scandal alongside Chan. Mossack Fonseca documents disclosed that the identity of Moricrown’s owners needed to be legally be updated. Otherwise, there was a risk of being fined more than 10,000 dollars. Six months later, Chan Kuiyan and Thomas Kwok were sentenced to six and five years of imprisonment respectively. Thomas Kwok’s family also owned a company named King Yip Group, which used a company in British Virgin Islands to make billions through commercial cooperation with the Australian government. Jackie Chan Actor Jackie Chan’s name also surfaced in the Panama Papers. According to information revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) which probed the Panama Papers, Mossack Fonseca provided services for at least five to six of Chan’s offshore companies. But there’s no indication these financial transactions were illegal. Merely having an offshore company doesn’t necessary entail illegality. This article was originally published on Apr. 5, 2016 by The Initium Media, a Hong Kong-based digital media company. Asia Times has translated it with permission with editing for brevity and clarity. Translated by Tenei Nakahara for Asia Times

2016-04-07 20:45 By Kevin atimes.com

65 Metro Atlanta truck driver dies in Charlotte wreck CHARLOTTE, N. C. -- A semi-truck driver from the metro Atlanta area passed away in a wreck in Charlotte. Officials in Charlotte say 22-year-old Christopher Dyer of Jonesboro, Ga. was killed after losing control of the big rig he was driving on Wednesday. The truck caught fire after slamming into a bridge on I-85 in Charlotte. Highway patrol says a 45-year-old passenger in the truck, Rodney Watson of Gulfport, Miss., also died. The truck was operated by Swift Transportation, based in Phoenix. 11Alive’s sister station NBC Charlotte reports that one in 10 Swift drivers have been in a crash since 2014, 55 of which have been fatal. This accident makes 56.

2016-04-08 00:18 11Aliev , WXIA rssfeeds.11alive.com

66 World Bank hikes aid to poor nations fighting global warming WASHINGTON (AP) — The World Bank is boosting spending to help poorer countries battle global warming and power 150 million homes with renewable energy. The bank released a 59-page climate action plan Thursday designed to help less developed nations meet global warming goals they set last December in Paris. The private-sector arm of the international financial organization plans to increase its $2.3 billion-a-year spending on fighting climate change to $3.5 billion a year by 2020. Officials hope to spur $13 billion a year in similar private investments. The bank also plans to help developing countries add 30 gigawatts of electricity to power 150 million homes without emissions of heat-trapping gases. "We're making climate change a central part of everything we're doing," said John Roome, the bank's senior director for climate change. The World Bank Group said it spends about $10.3 billion a year on climate, which is slated to rise to $16 billion a year by 2020.

2016-04-08 00:18 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk

67 DeAndre Yedlin aims to ruin Leicester's Hollywood ending Sunderland's on-loan defender DeAndre Yedlin is hoping to do his parent club Tottenham a favour this weekend by helping his team beat Leicester City, Spurs' main rivals at the top of the Premier League. The 22-year-old United States international is on loan with the Wearsiders this season and is likely to feature against Leicester, who are seven points ahead of Spurs with six games remaining, on Sunday. A Sunderland win would breathe new life into Tottenham's pursuit of this season's surprise league leaders and considerably help their own relegation fight. Sunderland are 18th in the table, four points adrift of Norwich City above them. 'The whole Leicester thing is an unbelievable story, but it's obviously one we are going to try and put a dent in this weekend,' Yedlin told the Evening Standard . 'Talking to a lot of the players here, they've been saying that if Leicester win the title, it will probably be one of those stories they end up making a movie out of. It's a great story,' he added. Leicester's rise, fired by the goals of Jamie Vardy, has already attracted the attention of Hollywood with writer Adrian Butchart, who co-wrote the first two parts of football trilogy 'Goal!', reported to be discussing a deal in Los Angeles to script the striker's life story. Yedlin will not want to contribute any more uplifting twists to the plot on Sunday when he will be charged with finding a way to keep Vardy quiet. 'As a full back, you always have to be aware of where he (Vardy) is,' added Yedlin, who has made 16 league appearances for Sunderland this season. 'He likes to get into spots where you are not used to being. That's why we have to be on our sharpest game and we have to be focused for the whole match. 'It's definitely going to be one of our most challenging games, but we can't focus on them. We have to focus on ourselves right now because we have to get out of trouble.'

2016-04-08 00:16 Reuters www.dailymail.co.uk

68 Bryan Bickell hoping to recapture past postseason glory For the past three months, Bryan Bickell — who three times has been on the ice to celebrate winning the Stanley Cup — has been living out of a hotel in Rockford, shuttling back and forth to Chicago to see his family on off nights, and playing against teams like the Lake Erie Monsters and Manitoba Moose. Puts things in perspective a bit. “I remember those old days — seven-hour trips on a bus,” Bickell said. “Maybe when I was 21, it was easier on the body. But I just turned 30, so it was tough. It’s nice to get back, and hopefully I won’t have to do that again.” That, of course, is up to Bickell, who is getting a third chance in Chicago this season thanks to the Blackhawks’ litany of injuries. With Andrew Shaw likely out for the last two games of the regular season, and Marian Hossa and Artem Anisimov out tonight against St. Louis and questionable at best for Saturday’s finale in Columbus, the Hawks turned to Bickell to help fill the void. And after spending most of this season sparking memories of the old-old days in the minors, Bickell now hopes to rekindle memories of the good-old days when he was a goal-scoring wrecking ball in the 2013 and 2014 playoffs, totaling 16 goals. Bickell, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith all used the word “force” to describe Bickell in past postseasons. The question, after two disappointing seasons marked by poor play and injuries, is whether that force still exists. “I believe I have it, I know they believe it, and that’s why they brought me back here,” Bickell said. “I’m excited to get this train back on track and be a force. I know I’ve got a lot of games left in me, and I want to play every game like it’s my last.” Every game could be Bickell’s last. At least, in Chicago. The Hawks have been trying to unload his $4-million salary for more than a year, and came close during this past trade deadline. With Hossa, Shaw and Anisimov all expected back for Game 1 of the playoffs next week, Bickell’s window to prove he can be the player he once was might not be open for long. “We all love Bicks as a guy, and I think we’re all hoping that he can recapture the player he was and the player he can be,” Kane said. “He can be one of those guys that comes in and plays well right away and is a big force in the playoffs, like he has been in the past. He’s got that big body, plays that physical type of game, and he can also chip in with scoring goals. Great to see him back up here. Hopefully he does well.” Bickell hasn’t played for the Hawks since Jan. 8, and has no goals and two assists in just 23 games. In Rockford, he had 15 goals and 16 assists in 44 games. In 2013, he had nine goals and eight assists in 23 playoff games, earning the four-year, $16-million contract that has become something of an albatross for the Hawks. The following postseason, Bickell had seven goals and three assists in 19 games. Last spring, he had just five assists in 18 games, and missed five of the six Stanley Cup Final games as he battled vertigo. “At this time of the year, his play seems to rise to the challenge of playing important games,” Joel Quenneville said. “He brings an element — he has all the tools to help our team and had some good games in the minors. I’m sure he’s really excited about getting the opportunity today, and we’ll see how it goes going into next week.” Bickell, an uncommonly introspective player, always has dealt with confidence issues. But he said positivity was the key to enduring the disappointment and humiliation of being demoted for most of the season. “Being positive is the biggest thing,” he said. “Going down there, I didn’t want to be a sore thumb. Have a positive attitude and work hard. I’m happy to be back up here for a couple games going into one of the times I like the most, the playoffs. I’m looking forward to it.” Email: [email protected] Twitter: @marklazerus

2016-04-08 00:16 Mark Lazerus chicago.suntimes.com

69 Activity icons 'could help healthy living’ People like to have information about their food - but working out how much exercise you'll need to do to burn off the calories in your favourite treat is not straightforward. In this week's Scrubbing Up, Shirley Cramer, chief executive of the Royal Society for Public Health, says a simple icon on food packaging could be the answer. Picture, if you will, your favourite chocolate bar. You may take note of how many calories it has - and wonder just how these calories relate to your everyday life. Given the average consumer spends six seconds looking at food before making a purchase this is a lot to cram in. So how about we make life easier for people? We think a clearer way of making people more mindful of the calories they are consuming is for a food or drink product to also show on the front of the packet a small icon which would visually display just how much activity you would need to do to burn off the calories it contains. Take, for example, a medium coffee mocha. Who'd have thought that this could contain nearly 300 calories? But what does that actually mean for our daily lives? If instead we showed that you'd need to walk for nearly 50 minutes to burn the calories off or run for 30 minutes, maybe we wouldn't be so blasé about the number. This is not meant to scare people, or to create a society of obsessives. But instead it is meant to show to the public very clearly just how active we need to be if we are to consume the diets we do and not put on weight. Or how we might need to readjust our diets to match our inactive lives. Why does this matter? Firstly, we are facing an obesity epidemic - two in three of us are either overweight or obese. And one of the main reasons for this is we are consuming far more calories than we are actually expending. We recognise that just to live and breathe we need to consume a certain number of calories every day - for a man that's about 2,500 and for a woman 2,000. But anything more than this, without a more active lifestyle, could lead us to gain weight. Can you lose weight without counting calories? Are we being fooled by food labels? What's the easy way to get healthy? We also think these little icons could gently prompt people to be a bit more active in their everyday lives. Almost half of us aren't getting enough physical activity. Perhaps that bar of chocolate showing how long we need to walk might encourage us to either put down the chocolate bar, or get off the bus or tube a stop earlier and walk. However, we also know that you can't out-run a bad diet, so there are limits to how much activity we can do to compensate for how many calories we consume. Introducing activity-equivalent calories labelling should be a fairly simple step. We know the calories contained in many food and drink items. And we know how these equate to activity equivalents. This doesn't require legislation. There are one or two food companies already doing it! Retailers or food companies could show some real leadership on this issue and make life a lot easier for us. And perhaps they'd make consumers lives healthier into the bargain.

2016-04-07 21:55 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

70 National Lottery jackpot: Record £35.1m Lotto win claimed A £35.1m Lotto jackpot - the biggest prize in the UK game's history - has been claimed by a single ticket, lottery operator Camelot has said. The ticket matched the winning numbers in Wednesday's draw - 50, 57, 31, 17, 41 and 15 - to win £35,133,888. Camelot has not revealed whether a syndicate or an individual held the ticket, or where it was bought. The jackpot beats the previous record prize, won by two tickets that shared £66m in January. Wednesday's jackpot will be paid out at a ticket validation appointment, and the winner will then decide whether or not to go public and share their news, Camelot said. An entire village in North Yorkshire , with cash spare for renovating your 21-bed mansion An 8ft yellow and blue painting by Mark Rothko Seven private Rolling Stones concerts A rare Blue Moon diamond, set in a ring A shopping centre, home to an Argos and a Poundland, in Barking, east London The National Lottery said it was delighted that the "life-changing win" had been claimed. In January, David and Carol Martin, a couple from the Scottish Borders, shared the £66m jackpot with another winner, who chose to remain anonymous. The prize, which was the result of 15 rollovers, broke a 21-year-old record. Who advises overnight millionaires? How four Lotto winners' lives changed A few weeks later, Gerry and Lisa Cannings , from Deeping St James, near Peterborough, won £32.5m. They waited a week to claim their prize because they were having their house redecorated. The record prior to January's win was a jackpot of £22.5m, claimed by two business partners from St Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, in 1995. National Lottery jackpots have been dwarfed in recent years by those won by British winners of the Euromillions lottery. Money for that prize comes from ticket sales in a number of European countries and the jackpot often rolls over for many weeks. The biggest UK Euromillions winners are Colin and Chris Weir, from Largs in North Ayrshire, who collected £161.6m in 2011. "When she won the lottery she was sitting here crying. It was too much stress for her" - Mother of Jane Park, who won £1m at the age of 17 "It will enrich her life so much and that's the most important thing on the agenda" - Paul and Debbie Lawton , who planned to use their £6.9m helping their three children, including their eldest daughter Tracey who has cerebral palsy "Being Trotters we were always going to be millionaires one day" - Neil Trotter , who won £107.9m on the Euromillions lottery

2016-04-07 21:55 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

71 Kangana Ranaut wants Hrithik Roshan arrested for 'leaking pictures' Kangana Ranaut and Hrithik Roshan’s legal battle seems unlikely to wind down any time soon. The latest development in the case is Kangana’s lawyer sending the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai, a complaint against Hrithik Roshan seeking his arrest. Kangana, who has accused Hrithik and his legal team of slut- shaming her by leaking her personal mails and photographs to the media, has said blackmailing or threatening her won't work, as it doesn’t scare her. “...blackmailing or threatening won't work with me. Though my legal team is taking strict actions against blackmailing and threatening me, but as a girl it doesn’t scare me. You won't get a sorry by threatening me or circulating my love poems, letters or images,” said Kangana. “I am not ashamed of anything, not my past, not my affairs, not my body and most definitely not my desire. So slut-shaming won't work either. If they want an apology then they have to come to the point, beating about the bush won't help. Me and my team are eager to help, as hurting sentiments isn't our intention,” she said. The legal and public fight has been going on for more than a month between the two actors, but no one seems in the mood to relent. “In a legal matter, only on-the-record statements can be addressed, not gossip. So here’s my final word: If the other party who sued me for defamation and asked for a public apology can prove defamation, I promise to apologise publicly. I request the other party to respond to the legal matter which they have started and not turn this defamation suit into a media trial and judgment,” Kangana told a entertainment and fashion web portal. The 29-year-old actor said that if Hrithik is sincerely seeking an apology, then he and his team must help her understand their perspective. Initially, the war between the two started in the media - but in February, Hrithik sent a legal notice asking her to publicly apologise for referring to him as ‘silly ex’ in an interview. He also accused her of wrongly claiming to have had a relationship with him, saying their relationship was strictly professional. The actor also filed a cyber complaint, claiming someone was impersonating him and talking to people on his behalf. Kangana, on her part, slapped a counter legal notice saying she was not ashamed of her relationship and she had not named him in her interview - and hence there was no case of defamation.

2016-04-08 00:14 Mail Today www.dailymail.co.uk

72 Colombia's highest court paves way for marriage equality in surprise ruling Colombia’s highest court has given the green light to gay marriage in the conservative, mostly Catholic country. The magistrates of the constitutional court voted six to three against a proposed ruling that said marriage applied only to unions between men and women and that it was up to the congress and not the court to decide on same-sex marriage. Magistrate Alberto Rojas, who voted against the proposed ruling and will now write up the majority decision making gay marriage legal, said: “All human beings ... have the fundamental right to be married with no discrimination.” A small group of marriage equality activists celebrated on the steps of the court, chanting: “Yes sir, I will get married because here in Colombia the law now allows me to.” The ruling means Colombia is set to become the fourth Latin American nation to fully allow same-sex marriage, after Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay. Mexico City and several Mexican states have also passed regulations allowing gay marriage and that country’s high court has ruled the unions had to be recognised nationwide. A 2011 constitutional court ruling in Colombia recognised same-sex couples as families and ordered the congress to pass a law that would afford gay couples the same rights as heterosexual married couples. If lawmakers failed to pass a law by June 2013, by default gay couples could “formalise” their unions before notaries and judges. But the court’s language was vague, and left many people in limbo. Many were told that they could not be married but they could enter into a “solemn contract”. “We are super happy,” said Luís Felipe Rodríguez, a gay rights activist in Cali who challenged the court’s 2011 ruling. “This is a victory against all the conservative political parties, against the Catholic church and everyone who tried to block our rights.” “This decision tells all those conservatives that equality is unstoppable,” he said, adding that he and his partner would spend the weekend making wedding plans. Alejandro Ordóñez, Colombia’s ultra conservative inspector general, lamented the court’s decision, saying: “Today ... marriage is no longer marriage and family is no longer family.” Rodríguez said the ruling came as something of a surprise because the court had postponed the debate on the issue of gay marriage eight times since August 2015. Brian Silva, director of Marriage Equality, a US-based group, said the Colombian court decision was “great for the Colombian people but even greater for people around the world still fighting for marriage equality”. The court had already ruled in 2015 that gay couples could adopt children but a senator, Viviane Morales, proposed a referendum that would allow Colombians to vote on whether or not the decision would become law. In a survey conducted by a conservative university on Bogota found that 70% of Bogotá residents opposed gay couples’ right to adopt, while 57% disapproved of gay marriage. Rodríguez expects similar challenges to the court’s ruling on marriage equality, although the court expressly stated that judges and notaries public cannot refuse to perform a same-sex wedding. “We still have a tough battle ahead of us,” said Rodríguez.

2016-04-08 00:07 Sibylla Brodzinsky www.theguardian.com

73 Lady Gaga's childhood piano could bring $200,000 at auction NEW YORK (AP) — Lady Gaga was only 5 years old when she wrote her first song on an upright piano that her grandparents bought. Now the instrument that inspired the pop music sensation is going on the auction block at a pre-sale estimate of $100,000 to $200,000. The piano is being offered at Julien’s Auctions’ “Music Icons” memorabilia sale at the Hard Rock Cafe New York on May 21. A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the piano will benefit the Born This Way Foundation, launched by Gaga in 2012 to empower youth. The organization also addresses issues of bullying, poor body image, and acceptance and tolerance. The Everett Piano Co. instrument was featured in a 2011-2012 “Women Who Rock” exhibition at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland. Gaga’s paternal grandparents purchased the piano for $780 in 1966 and later gave it to her parents. Little Stefani Germanotta began taking piano lessons when she was 4 and wrote her first composition, “Dollar Bills,” a year later, a song inspired by Pink Floyd’s “Money.” Honoree Lady Gaga attends the Daily Front Row “Fashion Los Angeles Awards” at Sunset Tower Hotel on March 20, 2016 in West Hollywood, California. |Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images “When Stefani started to crawl, she would use the leg of the piano to pull herself up and stand, and in doing so, her fingers would eventually land on the keys,” her mother, Cynthia Germanotta, recalled once. “She would stay there and just keep pressing the keys to hear the sound. We would then start to hold her up or sit on the bench and let her tinker.” When she turned 13, her parents bought her a baby grand piano. Darren Julien, owner of Julien’s Auctions, said investors and collectors are looking for ways to diversify their portfolios and historical artifacts like rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia that have proven to be great investments. “Values continue to increase due to the collectability of Western pop culture globally,” he said. “Rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia is the new art market.” The auction also includes more than 85 Elvis Presley items, including a custom-made 1969 Gibson Dove guitar that Presley’s father made for him. It was given to a fan by Presley at a 1975 concert. The guitar has Elvis Presley inland across the fingerboard and a Kenpo Karate decal (Presley was a black belt in karate). It’s estimated to bring $200,000 to $300,000. Memorabilia from singer-guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan, Kurt Cobain, the Beatles, Johnny Cash, Michael Jackson and other music icons also are part of the sale.

2016-04-08 00:05 Ula Ilnytzky chicago.suntimes.com

74 Zika virus was sexually transmitted in Texas, CDC says - .com (CNN) The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday updated its Zika virus guidance for pregnant women, advising them to protect themselves if their male sexual partner has traveled to or lives in an area where Zika virus is circulating. CNN's Debra Goldschmidt contributed to this story.

2016-04-08 00:04 Sandee LaMotte rss.cnn.com

75 The Fifth Column is thoroughly watchable, says PATRICK MARMION American novelist Ernest Hemingway wrote this, his only play, in Madrid 1937 while under bombardment from Franco’s fascist army. Personally, I wouldn’t fancy writing any kind of play under an artillery assault, but what notorious tough nut Hemingway wound up with was a surprisingly amusing stage take on film noir. Our hard-boiled hero Philip Rawlings calls himself a ‘second rate cop trying to be a third rate newspaperman’. Fighting alongside the communists, necking whisky and seducing women, he’s nothing less than a people’s cad who falls for a rich blonde heiress in the neighbouring room — much to the chagrin of his Moorish occasional flame, local sex worker Senorita Anita. I’m not sure that the resultant snapshot of life under siege tells us much about the Spanish Civil War, but aside from some flabby and hokey scenes, it is thoroughly watchable. The noir-ish tone is set with lines like: ‘I don’t believe anything I hear, and very little of what I see.’ There are touches of Fawlty Towers farce, too, with a Manuel-ish manager who declares solidarity with Rawlings by crooning: ‘You dissolve my heart with feeling.’ Tricia Thorns directs an equally likeable production, even if Alex Marker’s budget set makes the Hotel look like a local authority hostel. Simplicity and suggestion would have been better, but it’s the acting that really anchors the production. Alix Dunmore is delightful as the leggy, high-maintenance blonde slumming it with the International Brigade, while Stephen Ventura has an undoubted twinkle in his eye as the Hotel manager. The turn of the night is from young, rangy, handsome Simon Darwen as Rawlings — a man who uses whisky for mouthwash at breakfast. He has a wayward but eye-catching presence that reminded me of a young Alan Alda in MASH. He turns our hero into the sort of hyperactive lounge lizard of whom Hemingway would surely have approved, and shows that with a few more drafts, this could have been an even better-known play, and part.

2016-04-08 00:03 Patrick Marmion www.dailymail.co.uk

76 Shape-shifting sofa changes shape into any type of furniture you want It could mean the end of trips to Ikea, and allow you to transform your living room at the touch of a button. Dubbed the 'digitally transformable sofa,' Lift-Bit is a series of hexagonal stools that fit together honeycomb-style. Powered through a tablet app and simple hand gestures, the stools shift their height around in a matter of seconds to transform into whatever piece of furniture you need. Scroll down for video International design firm, Carlo Ratti Associates collaborated with the Swiss furniture, Vitra, in making the sofa. 'Lift-Bit draws on the potential of internet of things technologies to transform our interior landscape, giving form to an endlessly reconfigurable environment,' Professor Carlo Ratti, founder of Carlo Ratti Associati studio and director of the Senseable City Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told DesignBoom . 'In the future, we could imagine an architecture that adapts to human need, rather than the other way around – a living, tailored space that is moulded to its inhabitants' needs, characters and desires.' The entire system can be operated by a single person through the companion app or hovering a hand in the air over the seat. The app features both a series of predetermined 3D shapes and a tool to transform the sofa into different combinations. 'Controlled remotely through a tablet app, each stool can double (or halve) its height in just a few seconds, reconfiguring the space in a myriad of combinations,' according to Lift-Bit's website. 'Paying homage to Cedric Price 1978's 'Generator Project', Lift-Bit's responsive modules can seamlessly transform into a sofa, a bed, an ordered living room, a small auditorium, or a domestic landscape, according to the user's needs and wishes.' And if you do not use your Lift-B it for a long-time it will become 'bored' and start shape-shifting on its own to get your attention. Lift-Bit offers a 'configurator' tool on its sit that allows curious consumers to test it out before purchasing it. Users can experiment with four different colors and combinations. Activating the stool triggers a broader effect, with the entire system recalibrating and generating a potentially infinite number of arrangements. Two elements together can make a chair, four a chaise lounge and nine a large sofa. A prototype of the transforming sofa will be unveiled during Milan Design Week that runs from April 12th to 17th, but is accepting preorders for $1,205. 'Thanks to the liberating effect of technology, the way we live and work is becoming more flexible. We are excited to be present at the 'Rooms' exhibition at Milan's Triennale, supporting Carlo Ratti Associati in this exploration of innovative ideas for our interiors', says Eckart Maise, Chief Design Officer of Vitra. Lift-Bit will be on show at Milan's XXI Triennale, titled '21st Century. Design After Design', within the 'Rooms. Novel living concepts' exhibition curated by Beppe Finessi and produced by the Salone del Mobile. Milano. Office spaces are also getting a little smarter, as a result of other industries showing off new technology. Car giant Nissan has adapted its self-driving car technology - for office chairs. Similar to self-parking cars, 'Intelligent Parking Chairs' are able to make 360 turns, locate a target position and put itself away. Nissan said the gadget was designed with Okamura chairs that are tracked by four motion cameras placed 'at various strategic angles within a room', reported Digital Trends. The entire chair consists motors, wheels and batteries to power it on the journey home – back under the desk. The cameras, which are Wi-Fi enabled, transmit information to the chair, or as the company says, 'generates a bird's-eye view to wirelessly transmit the chair's position and its route to destination.' Users just give a simple clap, similar to how the Clapper works from the 80s, and the chairs know to roll back to their original position -- without human assistance. Even though these chairs seem life-changing, the video and technology is actually a gimmick to gain excitement around Nissan's self-parking car. So for now, office employees will have to manually push their chairs back under their desk.

2016-04-08 00:03 Stacy Liberatore www.dailymail.co.uk

77 3 endangered clouded leopards born at Point Defiance Zoo TACOMA, WASH. - - An endangered clouded leopard is a new mom, giving birth to three cubs at Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium. The leopard, 3-year-old Sang Dao, gave birth to the cubs Wednesday. She was mated with Tien, also 3. “The birth of these cubs is another crucial step in increasing the number of clouded leopards in the Species Survival Plan,” Zoo General Curator Karen Goodrowe Beck said in a statement. The cubs are being bottle-fed and will be hand-reared by zoo staff. They do not yet have names. The zoo will announce in a few weeks how and when they will be named and when visitors will be able to see them. The species lives in Southeast Asia. The zoo says clouded leopards are under pressure in the wild from human encroachment and destruction of their habitat, as well as poaching. It’s unclear how many still exist in the wild. Copyright 2016 KING

2016-04-08 00:00 Travis Pittman rssfeeds.11alive.com

78 Officials: Texas student’s killing on campus ‘horrifying’ AUSTIN, Texas – A first-year University of Texas dance student whose body was found near the heart of campus was the victim of a “horrifying and incomprehensible” killing that was the first on school grounds since the bell tower mass

2016-04-08 00:00 article.wn.com

79 Kerry calls on Iran to help end Middle Eastern wars US Secretary of State John Kerry has called on Iran to help end the ongoing wars in the Middle East as Washington’s allies continue bombing Yemen and supporting terrorist groups operating in Syria.

2016-04-08 00:00 article.wn.com

80 80 Yellen says Fed did not make mistake with December rate hike

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Thursday that the central bank did not make a mistake in boosting interest rates in December, a move that was followed by significant turbulence in financial markets and further

2016-04-08 00:00 article.wn.com

81 ExxonMobil has a secret weapon to combat low oil prices One interesting possibility for Exxon to better highlight the Chemical group , potentially improving performance and enhancing overall value, is a partial spin-off. Much as EMC owns most of VM Ware , but VM Ware trades under its ticker

2016-04-08 00:00 article.wn.com

82 Longtime CBS News executive Scheffler dies NEW YORK (AP) — Philip Scheffler, a top executive behind the scenes at the CBS newsmagazine "60 Minutes" until his retirement in 2003, has died. He was 85. CBS News did not immediately have a cause of death. Scheffler died Thursday at a Manhattan hospital. Scheffler joined CBS News in 1951 and worked as a reporter and producer on various broadcasts. He became senior producer at "60 Minutes" in 1980, essentially serving as right-hand man to founding executive producer Don Hewitt. He had the day-to-day responsibility of guiding producers and reporters and was eventually named executive editor. He'd also serve as referee during battles between the high-strung Hewitt and his all-star group of correspondents. The show's current executive producer, Jeff Fager, called Scheffler a "first-class journalist, an admirable human being and a great friend. "

2016-04-08 00:00 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk

83 BAZ BAMIGBOYE: Tom’s in deep as a bad boy — again! Tom Burke, who played ‘bad boy’ Dolokhov in BBC TV’s midwinter monster hit War & Peace, will be playing another not-so-dashing lover at the National Theatre this summer — opposite Helen McCrory. Burke will star with leading lady McCrory in a revival of Terence Rattigan’s powerful Fifties play The Deep Blue Sea. It’s about Hester Collyer, wife of a High Court judge, who abandons her husband and comfortable lifestyle to live in a dank West London flat with Freddie Page, a former RAF World War II fighter pilot who hates himself because he returned home while his comrades didn’t. Hester becomes obsessed with Page because of his sexual prowess, but he fails her emotionally. Burke described the play as being about people ‘staring into an abyss’ — and not knowing what to do about it. ‘Page seems to me to be permanently in transit: on the run from sitting still and thinking about anything for too long. He’s also terrified of silence,’ mused Burke, who is appearing in Neil LaBute’s new play Reasons To Be Happy at Hampstead Theatre. That runs until April 23, by which time he will have started rehearsing The Deep Blue Sea, which will begin previews at the Lyttelton from June 1. Burke observed that most of the characters in Rattigan’s play are ‘damaged’ and ‘brave about getting out of bed in the morning’. Director Carrie Cracknell has assembled a cracking company. Peter Sullivan will play Hester’s hubby Sir William, and Marion Bailey (so good in Mike Leigh’s Mr Turner) will play the lovers’ landlady. Hubert Burton and Adetomiwa Edun are also in the cast. Burke said he read part of the play with McCrory. He stressed, however, it wasn’t a ‘chemistry meeting, to suss out whether there was, well, chemistry’. In any event, he insisted, it comes down to a question of trust, not chemistry. ‘It’s trust; and just listening to each other,’ he told me. Burke said Freddie is not nearly such a ‘bad boy’ as Dolokhov, who had ‘total disregard for what one would call the norms of society — marriage, fidelity’. He added: ‘It’s a funny thing to play someone who will divide sympathies. I think: “Should I be trying harder to be nice — or nicer?! Or am I doing the job?” ’ Tom Hiddleston played Freddie opposite Rachel Weisz in the most recent film version of The Deep Blue Sea, in which Simon Russell Beale played the judge. Theatre knights Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart have taken millions at the box office, months before they open in one of Harold Pinter’s classic plays. The two stars will do a short tour of Pinter’s No Man’s Land in August, before it heads into Wyndham’s Theatre from September 8. So far it has sold more than £2 million worth of tickets at Wyndham’s - and close to £1.2 million for the tour, which starts on August 3 at the Lyceum Theatre in Sheffield. After that, the play, about a poet and a writer who meet in Hampstead, will visit the Theatre Royal, Newcastle (from August 15); Theatre Royal Brighton (from August 22), and Cardiff’s New Theatre (from August 29). The director, Sean Mathias, has just added actor Owen Teale (of Game of Thrones) to the cast. He will play Briggs, one of two henchmen employed by Hirst, Stewart’s character. McKellen and Stewart appeared together in No Man’s Land on Broadway, but these are the first UK shows. Pinter plays are very much in the news, what with director Matthew Warchus’s sublime version of The Caretaker, which features knockout performances by Timothy Spall, Daniel Mays and George MacKay. All three actors get right under your skin; and MacKay’s performance is (to my mind) the moment that marks him as a major actor. I’ve been observing his work for several years, and he is now more than ready to tackle some of the top flight classical and modern theatre roles. Danny Collins was described to me as a ‘triple threat’. That’s not because he’s dangerous, but because he’s a top-notch dancer who can act and sing, as London audiences will discover when the terrific Sheffield Theatre production of Show Boat begins previews at the New London Theatre tomorrow. Collins, from North-West London, plays song-and-dance man Frank Schultz, and partners with Alex Young, who plays Ellie May Chipley. The two are somewhat down the cast list from the leads, played by Rebecca Trehearn, Gina Beck, Malcolm Sinclair, Chris Peluso, Lucy Briers, Emmanuel Kojo and Sandra Marvin. I’ve seen many productions and, frankly, the role of Schultz doesn’t normally even register. But in Sheffield, he nearly stole the show. Daniel Evans, who directs, said: ‘He’s a serious triple threat, because in this he’s absolutely hilarious, as well as having an elastic body — and a rubber face. His body moves with the music on its own. There’s a history of dancers who have crossed over to all- round performing, and he’s a major example,’ continued Evans, the artistic chief at Sheffield who will be moving to Chichester’s Festival Theatre this summer. Evans’s views were echoed by dance supremo Matthew Bourne. Collins has danced with Bourne’s New Adventures company for several years. He and his siblings used to play-act when they were kids, presenting their own shows. Danny was soon attending ballet lessons. ‘When the film of Billy Elliot opened, I remember thinking: “That’s me!”, although I’m from a London borough,’ he said. Evans is such a big fan that he has allowed Collins to take the role of Dr Jekyll in Drew McOnie’s Jekyll & Hyde, which will have a brief run at the Old Vic from May 20 to May 28. He will perform in Show Boat until he’s needed at the Old Vic (although he’ll give matinees a miss while he’s rehearsing with McOnie’s troupe). Keep an eye on the name Danny Collins. This all singing, all dancing, all acting guy is going places. A horse-drawn carriage — and a flying sports car — in a panto at the London Palladium? Oh no there isn’t. Oh yes there is! After a 30-year break, panto is returning to the Palladium. Michael Harrison, who will direct the ‘spectacular production’ of Cinderella with choreographer Andrew Wright, told me it will have the feel of an original show and be ‘stuffed’ with stars. The Qdos Entertainment effort will have a five-week run at the Palladium from December 9.

2016-04-07 23:59 Baz Bamigboye www.dailymail.co.uk

84 Facebook’s Messenger plans to boost businesses on chat service Facebook has reached a new milestone of 900 million Messenger app users in its battle with Snapchat and WhatsApp. The firm today launched a new bid to make it easier to add friends - and also revealed plans to attract businesses to the platform. Users will soon have access to scannable codes, usernames and links they can share with others that easily launch conversations in the app. Scroll down for video 'Starting today we are taking another step forward in delivering a new solution to the more than 900 million people who use Messenger every month,' Facebook shared in a post today. 'Phone numbers aren't necessary, and you don't have to be friends on Facebook.' ‘Since traditional phone books are almost obsolete, we're making it easier for you to find the people (and businesses) that matter to you and be able to start conversations immediately with the launch of a simple set of tools that are built for the modern world,’ Messenger Codes are Facebook’s version of Snapchat’s snapcodes, as it uses a code that can be scanned with smartphone cameras or tablets to launch a discussion. And if you’re wondering how to get your code, it’s in the settings tab of your Messenger app. ‘Messenger Codes are the best way to find people in Messenger, whether you're standing side- by-side or looking at your computer screen,’ the firm says. ‘No matter where you are - online or at an event - all you have to do is scan a code someone shares with you, and then you can start that important conversation.’ Messenger Links use a Page’s username to create a short and memorable link (m.me/username) that, when clicked, opens a conversation with the business in Messenger. Send contacts your Messenger Link directly and just tap a link it to open the app directly to a chat with the other person or business. Users can also place their URL names in the signature of emails or on their website as an option for people to get in touch with you – without having to give them you phone number. Your unique URL name can be edited at and will soon be displayed on your Page, underneath your Page title with an ‘@’ symbol. Facebook will also be releasing Messenger Greetings, which are customizable notes for business that are displayed in a new message thread. This allows them to tell customers what types of messages to leave – similar to a welcome note. The social media tycoon is also rumored to be rolling out ‘secret conversations’ and could also be used to pay for goods in shops in the future. Clues about the new services, which have not been confirmed by Facebook, were found within the code for Messenger, by The Information. The 'secret conversations' feature could suggest Facebook may add encrypted chats in Messenger, or equally, it may introduce a way for users to hide chosen messages on their device, which could prove handy for cheaters. The code may also let people use the app to pay for products, allowing Messenger to turn into an online retail hub. 2016-04-07 23:58 Stacy Liberatore www.dailymail.co.uk

85 Stokes tipped to lead Hibernian's promotion tilt Anthony Stokes has been backed to fire Hibs into the Premiership — after finally getting himself close to match fitness. Easter Road coach John Doolan admitted on Thursday that lack of game time had left the Celtic striker desperately short of conditioning when he arrived on loan in January. Despite insisting that the former Republic of Ireland international still has room for improvement, Doolan expects his recent run of scoring form — four goals in as many games — to continue. The assistant boss, aware that Stokes hadn't played so much as a minute of first-team football for Ronny Deila's champions since August, revealed he and manager Alan Stubbs had spoken to the 27-year-old about the issue — and received a positive response. 'When he came in, he wasn't sharp at all,' said Doolan. 'He wasn't fit. We've got him to a level of fitness now which is good enough — but he still needs to do more. 'Yeah, he was short when he came in. You have to judge any player as soon as he comes through the building. You can see yourself, your eyes do not lie. You can look at it and see, when he first came in, that he wasn't sharp. 'He has got a bit shaper — and he needs to be even more sharper. It is an important part of the season and he came up trumps the other night against Livingston. 'He's getting there. As you saw in the last 45 minutes the other night, he was putting a shift in right across the back four. 'He's come in and scored important goals. So he's a top player. He gives us something a bit different at that top end. We'd like to see it on a more regular basis, to get us where we need to be. 'But he knows himself, we've had chats with him about it, that he can do a lot more. He has played at the top level. He knows the level he needs to be at. Having said that, if he keeps doing less but scores goals, we'll have that all day. 'He can come into his own for us now. He is a big game player who has played for Celtic. So Stokesy is going to be a big part of what happens for the rest of our season. 'I would rather have Stokes in my team. He has come from Celtic. He is a massive player. He wants to succeed and that is why he came here. 'He knows what this club is all about because he has been here before. He had other offers from good clubs that he could go to but he didn't. He wants to be successful and he likes it here, he likes the gaffer and the way we do things. 'He has had chances in games to score more goals and the keeper has made a save or he has missed the target. You can call it lack of sharpness or game time — but he is getting that now.' Doolan, who said Farid El Alagui was taken off 'as a precaution' in Tuesday night's win over Livingston, admitted that Hibs had allowed Rangers to run away with the Championship flag over the past month. But he said: 'It's as if people expect us to be at panic stations. We're not. We've lost a few games and we were that close to Rangers, at one point. We've sort of shot ourselves in the foot but that's just unfortunate. 'We should have been closer to them, we're not, it's happened. But there is great potential for the end of this season.' Hibs could hand a debut to Finnish goalkeeper Otso Virtanen away to Alloa on Saturday, with a number of players possibly being rested ahead of next Tuesday' s crucial visit of play-off rivals Falkirk. 'The Falkirk game is a massive one, so we need to sit down and have a chat,' said Doolan. 'It's one of those where we might just throw him (Virtanen) in on the day of the game and he could have an unbelievable game, keep a clean sheet and win it for us. 'I think he'd cope. From what I have seen up to now he has looked good on the training ground. He's 6ft 5in or something so never mind catching crosses, he should be catching clouds!' Meanwhile, Rangers have been linked with interest in Scotland squad midfielder Kevin McDonald as they assess potential additions ahead of their Premiership return. Reports in the Midlands claim the Ibrox club are keeping tabs on the 27-year-old, who has recently dropped out of Wolves' first team. McDonald only signed a three-year contract at Molineux last autumn and would likely command a fee in excess of £1million should any move be made. 2016-04-07 23:57 John Greechan www.dailymail.co.uk

86 Indian investigators may not be let into Pakistan for Pathankot probe Soon after the return of the Pakistani investigation team that visited India to probe the Pathankot attack, Pakistan has hinted that Indian investigators are unlikely to be allowed to visit the country. Citing the principal of reciprocity, New Delhi has maintained that an Indian team should be allowed to visit Pakistan to take the probe forward. Pakistan envoy Abdul Basit said on Thursday that the peace process between the two countries stands suspended. “It is very difficult for me to say. But at this stage...the whole investigation is not about question of reciprocity in my view. It is more about extending cooperation or our two countries cooperating with each other to get to the bottom of the incident,” he said. His comments came days after a five- member Joint Investigation Team(JIT) from Pakistan visited India to carry forward the probe into the attack at the Pathankot airbase, after which India was expecting to send a team from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to the neighbouring country. Earlier, External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Vikas Swarup said the NIA did mention to the JIT that they would like to visit Pakistan in connection with the probe. The work of the JIT in India was as per the terms of reference which were agreed upon between the two governments through their respective foreign offices. “They (visits) are on reciprocal basis and in accordance with the existing legal provisions,” Swarup said. Basit, however, said during an interaction at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in New Delhi: “This whole incident in not about reciprocity, it is about cooperating... and let’s hope that the spirit of cooperation is retained in the days and weeks ahead.” When asked whether he was ruling out an NIA visit to Pakistan, he said: “I leave it to your imagination.” According to the Terms of Reference for the JIT visit, it was to interview key witnesses and victims of the Pathankot attack - but there was no mention of access to military or any other security personnel. Pakistan has said that India did not produce witnesses belonging to the security forces. “The JIT visited the crime scene and also recorded the statements of some witnesses. However, the witnesses belonging to the Indian security forces were not produced before it,” said the Pakistan Foreign Office on Wednesday, in its first statement on the team’s return from India. The Terms of Reference also said that the JIT would collect and review physical evidence, and collect pieces of forensic evidence to find possible matches. Further, the JIT was meant to share details of the investigation conducted by it up to the time of the visit, and get a briefing from the NIA about the investigation it conducted.

2016-04-07 23:55 Mail Today www.dailymail.co.uk

87 Professor Obama makes case for SCOTUS nominee Chicago (CNN) Briefly reviving his earlier-in-life position as a constitutional law professor, President Barack Obama sought Thursday to imbue his case for Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland with academic heft, insisting Republicans hold hearings as a matter of legal responsibility.

2016-04-07 23:55 Kevin Liptak rss.cnn.com

88 88 Congressman: Gov. Snyder contradicted himself under oath (CNN) The top Democrat on a congressional panel looking into the Flint water crisis has accused Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder of contradictory testimony under oath and "perpetuating the same type of heavy-handed, deficient governance that caused this disaster in the first place. "

2016-04-07 23:51 Ray Sanchez rss.cnn.com

89 Passenger swims for help after chopper crash as pilot remains missing A helicopter passenger swam 800 metres for help after it crashed in the sea as police continue to search for the missing pilot. The 43-year-old Port Douglas man swam to the Noah Beach camping area off Cape Tribulation, in Queensland's far north, at around 7.45pm Thursday night. Police said he had borrowed a camper's phone but had to walk to high ground to get reception. The passenger was taken to Mossman hospital in a stable condition and treated for injuries to his chest and abdomen. The initial search for the missing 50-year-old pilot and helicopter owner was called off on Thursday night due to poor conditions. The search resumed first thing Friday morning with police patrolling the shoreline on foot, with four-wheel-drives and quad bikes and SES volunteers assisting. Air and sea searches have also commenced.

2016-04-07 23:50 Sinead Maclaughlin www.dailymail.co.uk

90 Judge mulls whether to let Arizona's executions resume PHOENIX (AP) — A federal judge heard arguments Thursday on an effort by Arizona to dismiss a lawsuit over how it carries out the death penalty in a decision that could let the state resume executions. Executions in Arizona are on hold until the lawsuit is resolved, but if the case is dismissed, it would clear the way for the state to continue using the death penalty. But even then, the state would face what's believed to be a fast-approaching expiration date on its supply of a key lethal-injection drug, leaving Arizona with a short timeframe for carrying out executions. Lawyers for the state told U. S. District Judge Neil Wake earlier this year that Arizona's supply of the sedative midazolam will expire on May 31 and that it didn't have a means to get more. The Arizona Department of Corrections and Attorney General's Office had no immediate comment Thursday on whether the state has since found a new supply. The lawsuit by seven death-row inmates and the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona seeks more transparency in the state's execution process, such as information about the suppliers of lethal-injection drugs, their expiration dates and the state's efforts to find such drugs. It protests the use of a paralytic drug that's part of the state's three-drug lethal-injection protocol, claiming it masks whether midazolam given to a condemned inmate is effective. Lawyers pushing the lawsuit say there's no valid reason for the government to use the paralytic. The lawsuit says the state has violated the First Amendment rights of access to government proceedings and violates the prisoners' right to be free from chemical experimentation. Attorneys for the state are seeking the dismissal of the lawsuit, saying the U. S. Supreme Court has upheld the use of midazolam and a paralytic in lethal injections. They say death penalty critics are manipulating the judicial system and pharmaceutical market in their opposition to executions. They also say Arizona embraces national standards in executions to avoid mishaps. Executions in Arizona were put on hold after the July 2014 death of convicted killer Joseph Rudolph Wood, who was given 15 doses of midazolam and a painkiller and who took nearly two hours to die. His attorney says the execution was botched. Wake had an up-close perspective of the Wood execution. The judge received an emergency phone call during the execution from lawyers who asked him to halt it and order medical staff to revive the inmate. The judge did not intervene because Wood died during his conversation with lawyers. Since then, the Department of Corrections has issued new protocols that include four different drug combinations that can be used in executions. Similar lawsuits are playing out in other parts of the country that seek more transparency about where states get their execution drugs. States are struggling to obtain execution drugs because European pharmaceutical companies began blocking the use of their products for lethal injections. Death penalty states refuse to disclose the sources of their drugs, though the sources are widely believed to be compounding pharmacies — organizations that make drugs tailored to the needs of a specific client. Those pharmacies do not face the same approval process or testing standards of larger pharmaceutical companies.

2016-04-07 23:45 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk

91 Rams' 1st game back in L. A. set for Aug. 13 The NFL announced its 65-game preseason schedule Thursday, featuring eight nationally televised games, including the Rams ' first home game in Los Angeles since their announced relocation. Editor's Picks 2016 NFL preseason schedules for all 32 teams The NFL on Thursday announced the preseason schedule for 2016, featuring the Rams playing their first game back in Los Angeles. The first weekend of preseason games, from Aug. 11-15, includes the Rams hosting Dallas on Saturday, Aug. 13 (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET). "We are excited to open the preseason on a national stage here in Los Angeles," Rams coach Jeff Fisher said in a statement. "This is a historic year and we can't wait to get in front of the fans for the first time at the Coliseum. " Other nationally televised games include: Green Bay vs. Indianapolis on Sunday, Aug. 7 in the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio (ESPN, 8 p.m. ET) Atlanta at Miami on Aug. 25 (NBC, 8 ET) Cleveland at Tampa Bay on Aug. 26 (CBS, 8 ET) Tennessee at Oakland on Aug. 27 (CBS, 8 ET) and a tripleheader on Aug. 28 of San Diego at Minnesota (Fox, 1 p.m. ET), Arizona at Houston (Fox, 4 ET), and Cincinnati at Jacksonville (NBC, 8 ET). The Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos will open the preseason at the Chicago Bears. A date for Broncos-Bears has not yet been set. The Associated Press contributed to this report.

2016-04-07 23:44 ESPN.com espn.go.com

92 92 Ben Stokes: Carlos Brathwaite is a brilliant lad Ben Stokes has described Carlos Brathwaite as 'a brilliant lad' and has revealed the T20 World Cup final matchwinner asked for his England shirt after leading his country to glory. The all-rounder was left devastated after the West Indies star won the final by hitting four consecutive sixes in the final over. Stokes showed a high level of sportsmanship during a moment of disappointment by congratulating the West Indies team and Brathwaite also displayed his class. 'We did not have a beer with them afterwards but Brathwaite came up to me and asked for a shirt,' Stokes told the Daily Telegraph . 'He is a brilliant lad. I wanted to make sure I spoke to them and say well done because I did not want people to think I was bitter. 'I wished them all the best. It is about respect to the opposition. What happens on the pitch stays on it. Off it you have to let it go.' Stokes has also heaped praise on the cricket fraternity for supporting him after his horror over in last Sunday's final. Former Australia bowler Shane Warne was among those to send Stokes a commiseration message following Stokes' costly over. 'He [Warne] said, "It is hurting at the moment. Head high. Use tonight’s match as motivation on every level so you don’t feel like this again". Basically he was just reassuring me that everything is all right and just stick to what I have been doing. 'The support from everyone has been amazing. I reckon I get more abuse when I do well than I did on that night. It is strange. That is when I realised how much we have made England proud. 'It took us to lose to get everyone to say how proud they are of us and what we achieved. I think if it had been the other way around we might not have appreciated it as much.'

2016-04-07 23:44 Anthony Hay www.dailymail.co.uk

93 Merle Haggard, country music legend, dies aged 79 American country music legend Merle Haggard died of pneumonia on his 79th birthday, his manager has confirmed. He was a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame, with dozens of albums and top hits, and was credited with helping to define the "Bakersfield sound". James Cook looks back at his life.

2016-04-07 23:43 BBC News www.bbc.co.uk

94 5 Seconds Of Summer take selfies with excited fans in London They are set to kick off the European leg of their Sounds Good, Feels Good world tour. And British fans couldn't have been happier with the arrival of 5 Seconds Of Summer as they arrived BBC Radio 1 in London on Thursday morning. Despite the early hour, the Aussie rockers appeared to be in high spirits as they animatedly took selfies with frenzied fans ahead of their radio interview. Clad in a khaki bomber jacket paired with skintight black jeans, Michael Clifford, 20, looked every inch the rock star as he pulled silly faces with one lucky fan. He completed his trendy outfit with a pair of lace-up black leather boots, a cap worn backwards and a set of leather and metal wristbands. Meanwhile, Calum Hood played it cool as he sauntered down the pavement, opting to pull a serious face as he posed for selfies. The handsome 20-year-old swaddled up from the cold in a black zip-up jacket, a pair of black skinny jeans and a set of leather riding boots. Ashton Irwin, 21, appeared relaxed as he posed serenely with fans, his hair obscured beneath the pulled-up hood of his jacket. He wore an all-black ensemble consisting of a hoodie, faded skinny jeans and a pair of lace-up boots. Luke Hemmings, 19, was also spotted posing for a selfie as he wandered toward the radio station with his hands in his jeans pockets. Later the Hey Everybody! rockers took to the airwaves in an interview with radio host Nick Grimshaw during which time Ashton shared an awkward moment with newsreader Tina Daheley. After admiring her broadcasting skills, Ashton asked Tina whether she would be attending their show at London's O2 that evening. Ashton's flirty advances were quickly knocked back however, with Tina promptly responding that she was too busy to attend. Following the radio interview, Michael took to Twitter with the message: 'Awesome morning at radio 1; thanks to everyone who came out and met us and everyone at the station.' The Sydney-born boys will kick off the European portion of their world tour before moving to the USA and Canada in July. They will then arrive in Australia in September to perform to crowds in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.

2016-04-07 23:42 Monique Friedlander www.dailymail.co.uk

95 Liverpool secures vital draw in 'El Kloppico' (CNN) Jurgen Klopp's emotional return to his old club Borussia Dortmund did not end in victory but the next best thing as Liverpool secured a 1-1 draw in the Europa League quarterfinal first leg tie Thursday. Post-match pleasantries with his old team complete, Jürgen Klopp runs to thank the Reds for wonderful support! pic.twitter.com/gudsCxJI0n

2016-04-07 23:38 Paul Gittings rss.cnn.com

96 9 secret ways to save money at Walmart By Cameron Huddleston/GOBankingRates Walmart ( WMT ) has built its reputation on offering low prices every day. This policy helps explain why more than 260 million people shop at the company's stores and website every week and why it has become the world's largest retailer. If you shop at Walmart, you know you're probably getting good deals on your purchases. However, there are ways to save even more at this retailer. Here are nine strategies to make sure you're getting the best prices and help you save money at Walmart. This article was originally published by GOBankingRates. Even if Walmart isn't offering the lowest price on a given item, you can take advantage of the store's price match policy to secure a better deal. Walmart will match any advertised price from stores in your area, said Paul Ivanovsky, creator of IHeartTheMart.com , a blog dedicated to saving money at Walmart. To qualify, the items in question must be identical and in stock at the other retailer. According to Ivanovsky, the price matching policy is a great way to save money on items such as fruit, meat and paper products. Additionally, Walmart will match many online competitors' prices for home goods and other non- food items. While restrictions exist, the retail giant will generally match prices for goods from Amazon.com, BestBuy.com, Target.com and TigerDirect.com, among other stores. Before you make a purchase in one of its stores, see if Walmart is offering a better price online, as the company will match Walmart.com prices for in-store purchases. Bethany Halford, co- creator of the Whoa, Wait. Walmart? blog that features great finds at Walmart, said she frequently finds items that have been marked down online but not in the stores. To get the better price, she pulls the item up on her phone and shows it to the cashier when she checks out. Recently, Halford saved a couple dollars when she found a pair of slippers selling for $12.88 in the store and about $10 online. If you forgot to check other stores' prices before shopping at Walmart, you still can take advantage of the retailer's price match policy after the fact by using the Savings Catcher app. After scanning your receipt with the app, you can compare the prices you paid with local competitors' advertised rates, Ivanovsky said. If an item you bought is cheaper elsewhere, you will be credited the difference in the form of Savings Catcher Rewards Dollars, which can be redeemed for a Walmart gift card or Walmart Buck$ to be added to a Bluebird by American Express Card prepaid debit card. "Even if you don't think you bought something that can be matched, you might be surprised at what the Savings Catcher finds for you," said Dian Farmer of GroceryShopForFree.com . Shipping costs can quickly negate the savings you might accumulate by shopping online. However, there are two ways you can get free shipping from Walmart.com. If you spend $50 or more online, Walmart will ship your purchases for free, Halford said. While there's a flat $4.97 shipping fee for orders less than $50, shoppers can get around that fee by having online purchases shipped to their local stores, said Amanda Jerkins, the other co-creator of Whoa, Wait. Walmart? It's important to note that perishable products, hazardous materials and items weighing more than 350 pounds aren't eligible for free store pickup. With many other items, though, you can pick them up the same day you order them online. If you rush through your Walmart trips, you might miss out on some of the retailer's best clearance deals. Typically, deeply discounted items are placed in an aisle near the toy or lawn and garden department, Halford said. When she and Jerkins comb through the clearance racks, they often find that items they were coveting at full price are now on sale for much less. For example, Jerkins said she recently found a floor lamp she wanted that was marked down from $45 to $20 in the clearance section. She also recommends checking the end caps on aisles throughout the store for heavily discounted items. If your local Walmart has a grocery department, you can save money by timing your food shopping trips right. Farmer recommends shopping early in the morning to score discounts on one of the priciest food items on your list -- meat. "Normally, by 8 a.m., the meat department has discounted their meat, and you can grab some great deals," she said. Walmart is known for offering great Black Friday sales. In fact, DealNews.com found that it was among the top five retailers with the best deals on Black Friday and the entire week of Thanksgiving. However, there are other times of the year when retailers offers savings, as well. In particular, July has become a season for merchants to promote Black Friday-like deals, said Slickdeals.net consumer expert Regina Conway. In July of 2015, Walmart hosted a big sale to rival Amazon's one-day sale for its Prime members, who pay a $99 annual fee for free two-day shipping and other benefits. Amazon has already announced plans to hold the event again, and Conway anticipates that Walmart will do the same. As an added bonus, Walmart doesn't require any sort of membership fee to take advantage of its deals. Some of the items you can find at a dollar store can also be purchased at Walmart for $1 or less -- and you don't even have to ask for price matching. For example, Walmart sells personal grooming products such as deodorant and shampoo for about $1. You also can find greeting cards and gift bags for $1, although the selection is smaller than what you'd see at a traditional dollar store. Ivanovsky keeps a running list on IHeartTheMart.com of Walmart's current dollar deals. Walmart has rolled out a new service in some cities that doesn't cost a dime to use and can save shoppers a lot of valuable time: grocery pickup. Customers in Atlanta, Nashville, Colorado Springs, Tucson, Charlotte, Fayetteville, Salt Lake City and Ogden can now order their groceries online and then pick them up at select stores in their areas. You can even select a time for your pickup, and an associate will load the groceries into your car.

2016-04-07 13:56 GOBankingRates www.cbsnews.com

97 Big debacle for Big Easy: A 6-putt 9 to start the Masters AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Ernie Els was 2 feet from a par to start the Masters. Twenty-four measly inches. Then, the unimaginable happened. One miss. And another. And another. And another. And another. Finally, on his sixth putt — a one-handed swat that showed his total disgust — Els finished off a quintuple-bogey 9 that essentially ruined any hope of contending for a green jacket on the very first hole Thursday. Talk about a hard one to take for the Big Easy. "I can't explain it," said Els, who went on to shoot an 8-over 80 that matched his highest score ever at Augusta National and left him a whopping 14 shots behind leader Jordan Spieth. "You're not able to do what you normally do. It's unexplainable. " Els posted the worst score ever at No. 1, a 445-yarder known as "Tea Olive. " No one at the Masters had ever gone higher than 8 on the par-4 hole. "I feel bad for Ernie," said Spieth, the defending Masters champion. "It's obviously in your head. I've certainly had my moments, everybody has, from short range, where they just are not confident in where they are starting it. And on Augusta National's greens, with the wind blowing, it's a place you certainly want to be comfortable. " Making the whole scene downright surreal, none of the putts appeared longer than 4 feet. Els just kept knocking the ball back and forth past the cup, totally bedeviled by not only the slick, treacherous greens at Augusta National, but basically a meltdown in his mental approach. He missed so many times, the score was initially recorded as a 10 instead of a 9. It was easy to lose count. Even Els wasn't quite sure how many times he putted. "It's the first time I've ever seen anything like that," said Jason Day, who was playing with Els. "You don't want to see any player go through something like that. It can be sometimes career ending for guys like that if they really are fighting it that much. I just want Ernie to kind of get back to what he used to do, and start playing some good golf again and try to get past this. " Els' correct score was finally posted after he finished his round. Not that it was much solace to the South African. "I can't get the putter to go back," Els said. "I'm not sure where I go from here. " Tom Watson, playing in the Masters for the final time, said Els' putts were harder than they might have looked, especially on a blustery day. "It's probably the windiest green on the golf course," Watson said. But Els said the conditions had nothing with it. He three- putted from 25 feet at No. 2. He missed a 6-footer at the 15th, an 8-footer at the 16th, and a 4- footer at the 17th. Finally, he closed with a three-putt from 16 feet at the final hole, the crowd groaning one last time in the fading sunlight. Els' only real highlight with the putter was a 40-foot birdie at the fifth. "I can count up 15 shots I lost out there just on the greens," Els moaned. After the third putt at No. 1, Els stared at the ball with a disbelieving hint of a smile. By the end, he let his frustration get the best of him, making a half-hearted flick at the ball with one hand on the club from less than a foot away. Naturally, it lipped out. This one would've been tough to take for a weekend duffer. Imagine how a guy who has won four major titles must've felt, though it wasn't the first time Els has come down with the yips at a major championship. At the first hole of the 2014 British Open, he struck a spectator in the face with his opening tee shot and was still shaken when he got to the green. Els missed a 1-foot putt, and then missed again when he carelessly tried to back-hand the ball into the hole. But that was only a triple-bogey. Els kept saying that he's at a loss to explain his putting woes. Late Wednesday afternoon, after most players had left the course, he was still on the putting green working with famed coach David Leadbetter. "It wouldn't matter if I putted with a stick," Els said. "When snakes are going off in your brain, it's difficult. " The sequence was so far-fetched, the high-tech shot tracker on the Masters web site couldn't handle it. The system at first showed only seven shots for Els, went down temporarily, and finally returned with 10 shots logged in. Obviously, no one had expected a professional golfer to need that many strokes on one hole, even if it was actually only nine. For Els, it was a far cry from his start a year ago, when he opened the Masters with a 5-under 67 that left him only three strokes behind eventual winner Spieth. There was no chance of him shooting a 67 this time around. Not after a six-putt. ___ Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/paul- newberry .

2016-04-07 23:37 Associated Press www.dailymail.co.uk

98 Kerry works to smooth relations with Gulf allies Manama, Bahrain (CNN) U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Gulf state ministers Thursday as differences over Iran and a host of regional conflicts cloud the relationship between the countries ahead of a summit between President Barack Obama and Gulf leaders in Saudi Arabia later this month

2016-04-07 23:36 Elise Labott rss.cnn.com

99 Leigh Centurions unveil bizarre Summer Bash kit Perhaps the clue is in the name? Kingstone Press Championship leaders Leigh Centurions have released their Summer Bash kit with an interesting design, playing on their Roman gimmick. 'I just hope all three parties can reach an agreement going forward. But he's here anyway until the game after the Challenge Cup.'

2016-04-07 23:34 Rohan Banerjee www.dailymail.co.uk

100 What Trump gets wrong about U. S. neighbors Parag Khanna is a CNN Global Contributor. This article and map are adapted from his forthcoming book " Connectography: Mapping the Future of Global Civilization. " You can follow him on Twitter @paragkhanna. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely his. (CNN) American voters are getting wise to Donald Trump's radical protectionist fantasies. As the primaries swing toward the Northeast, a region even more dependent on trade than Wisconsin, serious economic and foreign policy issues will continue to plague the Republican front-runner.

2016-04-07 23:33 Parag Khanna rss.cnn.com

Total 100 articles. Created at 2016-04-08 06:08