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Barack Obama Launches His Own Twitter Feed

Nancy Clayson
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Barack Obama Launches His Own Twitter Feed

President Barack Obama has launched his own Twitter feed, @POTUS (President Of The United States), the White House has confirmed.

Within few hours Barack Obama had attracted over a million followers.

“Hello, Twitter! It’s Barack. Really! Six years in, they’re finally giving me my own account” is the president’s first tweet.Barack Obama new Twitter account

The president’s official feed, run by Organizing for Action staff, has 59.3 million followers.

The official account @BarackObama was launched in 2007, and the president initials tweets he writes himself with the letters BO.

“The @POTUS Twitter account will serve as a new way for President Obama to engage directly with the American people, with tweets coming exclusively from him,” reads an entry on the White House website blog.

“President Obama is committed to making his Administration the most open and participatory in history, and @POTUS will give Americans a new venue to engage on the issues that matter most to them.”

Barack Obama is currently following 65 people, including Bill Clinton, George Bush and @FLOTUS, the First Lady’s account – but not Hillary Clinton or UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU-NdlnjIog

White House 2016: Lindsey Graham Confirms Presidential Bid

Diane A. Wade
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White House 2016: Lindsey Graham Confirms Presidential Bid

Lindsey Graham has confirmed that he will run for the White House in 2016.

The South Carolina Republican senator has told CBS This Morning that he would make an official announcement on June 1st in his home town of Central.

When asked why he was considering it, Lindsey Graham said “I’m running” because “the world is falling apart” and he would make the best commander-in-chief.

Lindsey Graham becomes the seventh leading Republican to join a crowded field.Lindsey Graham White House 2016

He has been a fierce critic of President Barack Obama’s foreign policy, particularly in the Middle East.

Lindsey Graham wants US ground troops to be sent into Iraq and Syria to combat ISIS, to prevent terror attacks in the US.

When asked by CBS whether he thought the Republican field was weak, Lindsey Graham revealed his intention to run himself.

“I’m running because of what you see on television, I’m running because I think the world is falling apart, I’ve been more right than wrong on foreign policy,” he said.

Lindsey Graham added: “It’s not the fault of others, or their lack of this or that that makes me want to run, it’s my ability in my own mind to be a good commander-in-chief and to make Washington work.”

Greece Debt Deal Could Be Reached Within Next Week

Clyde K. Valle
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Greece Debt Deal Could Be Reached Within Next Week

Greece is expected to reach an agreement with its international creditors within the next week, Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis has said.

The Greek government is fast running out of money and is due to make a payment of €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on June 5.

Yanis Varoufakis told Star TV a deal with creditors was “very close” and denied Greece might leave the eurozone.

“Another currency is not on our radar,” he said.

PM Alexis Tsipras also talked up the prospect of a deal in a speech to Greek business figures earlier, saying the government was “in the final straight” before a deal.

Greece has been locked in negotiations with the EU and IMF over economic reforms they say must be implemented before the final €7.2 billion tranche of the country’s €240 billion bailout is released.Greece Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis

Issues over pension reform, taxation, deregulation of the labor market, and the re-hiring of 4,000 former civil servants are yet to be resolved.

Last week, the government emptied its IMF reserves in order to pay €750 million in debt interest on its existing loans.

An apparent proposal from European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker emerged in Greek newspaper To Vima on May 18 before a spokeswoman quickly said she was unaware of it.

However, the plan for emergency funding and smaller primary surplus targets, in return for limited Greek fiscal reforms worth €5 billion, was not completely denied.

A Commission spokeswoman said she was unaware of Jean-Claude Juncker’s reported proposal.

The status of Jean-Claude Juncker’s proposal was unclear, but European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici complained in Berlin that the left-led government was “more eager to say what they don’t want to keep in the program than to propose alternatives”.

Greek media reported on May 19 that the government had sent proposals to its international creditors to revamp VAT rates in an attempt to tackle tax evasion.

Alexis Tsipras is due to attend the EU Eastern Partnership Summit in Riga, where Greece is likely to be a key topic.

Yanis Varoufakis said a payment deal was on the cards, but insisted he would reject any compromise he considered “non-viable”.

European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas has welcomed the commitment by the Greek government to bring the talks to a conclusion, but said more time and effort was needed “to bridge the gaps on the remaining open issues in the negotiations”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5-bfRtBs4Y

Mutlu Kaya: Turkish Talent Show Contestant Shot in Head

Nancy Clayson
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Mutlu Kaya: Turkish Talent Show Contestant Shot in Head

Mutlu Kaya, a Turkish teenager who has been taking part in a talent show on national TV, has been shot in the head while rehearsing at home, Turkish media reported.

Mutlu Kaya, 19, was in a critical condition after being shot in Diyarbakir province on May 18.

Diyarbakir is a conservative region in south-east Turkey and Mutlu Kaya had reportedly received death threats for singing on the show, Sesi Cok Guzel.

One person has reportedly been arrested in connection with the incident.Mutlu Kaya Sesi Cok Guzel

The gunman was said to have been in the garden and fired through a window into the house.

Sesi Cok Guzel is similar to shows like America’s Got Talent. Mutlu Kaya’s mentor is Sibel Can, one of Turkey’s best-known folk singers.

Sibel Can had visited Mutlu Kaya at the school canteen where she worked in March, in order to make sure she joined her team in the competition.

However, the Posta newspaper reported on May 17 that Mutlu Kaya had received death threats after appearing on the show.

Mutlu Kaya’s father, Mehmet Kaya, told local media his daughter had been rehearsing to go back on the show when she was shot at her home in the Ergani district.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RO0aCe8YGg

Yingluck Shinawatra’s Trial Begins in Thailand

Diane A. Wade
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Yingluck Shinawatra’s Trial Begins in Thailand

Thailand’s ex-PM Yingluck Shinawatra has pleaded not guilty in a brief hearing at the start of her trial on charges of negligence.

Yingluck Shinawatra, 47, faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty of dereliction of duty over her role in a controversial rice subsidy scheme.

The former prime minister told crowds outside the court in Bangkok she would prove her innocence.

Yingluck Shinawatra was forced to step down last year shortly before a military coup.

She maintains that the charges she faces are intended to keep her out of politics. The next hearing in the trial has been scheduled for July 21.Yingluck Shinawatra negligence trial Thailand

Meanwhile Yingluck Shinawatra’s brother, Thaksin Shinawatra – himself ousted as prime minister by a previous coup in 2006 – has made a rare public appearance in Seoul, South Korea, saying he believed “democracy will prevail” in Thailand.

Thailand’s Constitutional Court forced Yingluck Shinawatra from office in early May 2014 after finding her guilty of abusing her power. Weeks later, the military seized power saying it needed to restore order following months of street protests.

In January 2015, Yingluck Shinawatra was retroactively impeached by a military-appointed legislature for her role in the rice subsidy scheme. She was also banned from politics for five years.

The scheme paid rice farmers in rural areas – where Yingluck Shinawatra’s party has most of its support – twice the market rate for their crops, in a program that cost the government billions of dollars.

Arriving at the Supreme Court on May 19, Yingluck Shinawatra told journalists she was confident of her innocence.

“I prepared myself well today and am ready to defend myself,” Reuters quoted the former prime minister as saying.

“I hope that I will be awarded justice.”

A small group of her supporters outside the court chanted “Yingluck, fight, fight!” as she arrived, though political gatherings are illegal under Thailand’s military rule.

Yingluck Shinawatra says she was not involved in the scheme’s day-to-day operations and has defended it as an attempt to support the rural poor.

Thaksin Shinawatra was removed by a previous coup in 2006. He now lives in self-imposed exile to avoid a jail sentence for corruption.

However, the influence of the family persists, with parties allied to the Shinawatras winning every election since 2001.

They are loved in the rural north for their populist policies, but hated by Thailand’s elite who accuse them of corruption.

Luz to Leave Charlie Hebdo in September

Nancy Clayson
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Luz to Leave Charlie Hebdo in September

Cartoonist Renald “Luz” Luzier, who designed Charlie Hebdo‘s cover image of Prophet Muhammad after the Paris attacks has said he is leaving the magazin.

Luz is quoted by the French newspaper Liberation as saying that his job had become “too much to bear” following the deaths of his colleagues.

Twelve people were murdered when two Islamist gunmen burst into the Charlie Hebdo offices on January 7.

“Each issue is torture because the others are gone,” Luz told Liberation.

Photo AFP
Photo AFP

Luz joined Charlie Hebdo in 1992 and said his resignation was “a very personal choice”. He will leave in September.

“Spending sleepless nights summoning the dead, wondering what Charb, Cabu, Honore, Tignous would have done is exhausting,” he added.

Within days of the attack, Charlie Hebdo‘s surviving staff produced an edition with the headline “All is forgiven” above Luz’s cartoon of Prophet Muhammad holding a sign saying “Je suis Charlie”.

Pictorial depictions of Prophet Muhammad are considered forbidden by most Muslims.

Last month, Luz announced he would stop drawing images of Muhammad, as it no longer interested him.

He announced his plans to leave on May 18, but said many people were urging him to stay.

“They forget that the worry is finding inspiration,” he added.

Charlie Hebdo, which regularly struggled to make ends meet, is now backed up by tens of millions of euros of funding.

Luz said in a previous interview that financial security had posed questions about its future editorial direction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItftWOdt97M

Meet Jackson Galaxy at Guitars and Cat-illacs Event in Austin

Nancy Clayson
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Meet Jackson Galaxy at Guitars and Cat-illacs Event in Austin

Jackson Galaxy will be in Austin, Texas, for a Guitars & Cat-illacs event on Friday, May 29.

The gala evening in Austin is dedicated to improving the lives of community cats through the work of Shadow Cats.Jackson Galaxy at Guitars and Catillacs in Austin

The cat behaviorist and star of Animal Planet’s hit show My Cat from Hell, Jackson Galaxy will be the keynote speaker at the event.

This time around, join Jackson for an entire fun-filled evening with other animal advo-cats.

Date & Time: Friday, May 29

6:30 – 9:30 p.m.

Place: Shoal Crossing Event Center
8611 N Mopac Expressway
Austin, TX

Ticket price: $125 per person

Info: www.shadowcats.net or call (512) 656-8775

Burundi: Three Ministers Sacked over Coup Attempt

Roy Siemens
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Burundi: Three Ministers Sacked over Coup Attempt

Burundi’s President Pierre Nkurunziza has decided to sack three cabinet ministers, as protests resumed after last week’s coup attempt.

His spokesman denied that the dismissal of the defense, external relations and trade ministers was linked to the failed coup.

Soldiers fired in the air to disperse protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza running for a third term in elections due next month.

Pierre Nkurunziza returned from Tanzania last week after the unrest.

The sacked ministers’ replacements have already been appointed, including Emmanuel Ntahomvukiye as defense minister.

On May 18, soldiers fire live rounds in the as protesters chanted for President Pierre Nkurunziza to drop his plans to seek a third term in elections.Burundi President Pierre Nkurunziza

Some businesses were closed and activities stopped in the Nyakabiga, Musaga and Mutakura neighborhoods of Bujumbura.

Several alleged leaders of the coup attempt have been arrested but Gen. Godefroid Niyombare, who announced it in a radio broadcast, remains on the run.

Pierre Nkurunziza made his first official appearance in front of international media since returning from Tanzania on May 17.

He said nothing about the coup plot or the current crisis in the country.

Instead, Pierre Nkurunziza said Burundi faced a specific threat from the Somali Islamist movement al-Shabab.

Al-Shabab spokesman Sheikh Ali Mahamud Rage denied this, saying the statement was intended “to divert the world’s attention from him”.

Burundi has troops fighting al-Shabab, as part of the African Union mission in Somalia.

Waco Biker Gang Shooting: At least 170 Face Organized Crime Charges

Nancy Clayson
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Waco Biker Gang Shooting: At least 170 Face Organized Crime Charges

At least 170 people are to face organized crime charges after a bike-gang shooting that left nine people dead and 18 others injured in Waco, Texas.

The feud broke out between several gangs at a shopping district in Waco.

What started as a fist fight soon descended into a battle with knives, clubs, chains and eventually guns.

One witness described the scene as “a war zone”, while a Waco policeman called it the most gruesome scene he had encountered in his career.

The number of those charged was revised down from 192, a figure police announced early on May 18.Waco biker gang shooting 2015

The incident happened shortly after midday on May 17 at the Twin Peaks Sports Bar and Grill in a shopping area called the Central Texas Market Place.

Up to five rival gangs got into a fight, apparently over parking space near the restaurant. Diners and staff at the nearby cafe managed to lock themselves in a freezer room for safety and were later escorted off the premises by armed police.

Waco police spokesman Sgt. Patrick Swanton said: “Twenty-five feet away there were families.

“This is one of the worst gunfights we’ve ever had in the city limits. They started shooting at our officers.”

Twin Peaks’ management said on May 18 it would close the Waco restaurant.

Rick van Warner, a spokesman for the company, said managers of the branch “chose to ignore the warnings and advice from both the police and our company, and did not uphold the high security standards we have in place to ensure everyone is safe at our restaurants.”

The authorities have increased security in the area to prevent further outbreaks of violence, as there are fears some of the gang members might return.

Police are to conduct tests on more than 100 cars or bikes found at the scene.

Sgt. Patrick Swanton said preliminary findings indicated that a dispute had broken out in a bathroom and eventually spilled over into the restaurant car park.

“I was amazed that we didn’t have innocent civilians killed or injured,” he said.

“In 34 years of law enforcement, this is the most violent crime scene I have ever been involved in,” he added.

A spokesman for McLennan County Court in Waco said the 170 people were being formally charged at the local jail, and that processing the large number of cases was proving to be “a big, big deal”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcFQq19x7j4

Billboard Music Awards 2015: Full List of Winners

Sonia Pantiss
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Billboard Music Awards 2015: Full List of Winners

Full list of winners at Billboard Music Awards 2015:

Top artist: Taylor Swift

Top new artist: Sam Smith

Top male artist: Sam Smith

Top female artist: Taylor Swift

Top duo/group: One Direction

Top Billboard 200 artist: Taylor Swift

Top Hot 100 artist: Taylor Swift

Top digital songs artist: Taylor Swift

Top radio songs artist: Sam Smith

Top touring artist: One Direction

Top social artist: Justin Bieber

Top streaming artist: Iggy Azalea

Top R&B artist: Pharrell Williams

Top rap artist: Iggy Azalea

Top country artist: Florida Georgia Line

Top rock artist: Hozier

Top Latin artist: Romeo SantosBillboard Music Awards 2015

Top dance/electronic artist: Calvin Harris

Top Christian artist: Hillsong

Top Billboard 200 album: Taylor Swift, 1989

Top soundtrack: Frozen

Top R&B album: Pharrell, GIRL

Top rap album: J Cole, 2014 Forest Hill Drive

Top country album: Jason Aldean, Old Boots, New Dirt

Top rock album: Coldplay, Ghost Stories

Top Latin Album: Enrique Iglesias, S** and Love

Top dance/electronic album: Lindsey Stirling, Shatter Me

Top Christian album: Lecrae, Anomaly

Top Hot 100 song: Meghan Trainor, All About That Bass

Top digital song: Meghan Trainor, All About That Bass

Top radio song: John Legend, All Of Me

Top streaming song (audio): John Legend, All Of Me

Top streaming song (video): Taylor Swift, Shake It Off

Top R&B song: Pharrell Williams, Happy

Top rap song: Iggy Azalea Feat. Charli XCX, Fancy

Top country song: Jason Aldean, Burnin’ It Down

Top rock song: Hozier, Take Me To Church

Top Latin song: Enrique Iglesias Featuring Descemer, Bailando

Top dance/electronic song: DJ Snake & Lil Jon, Turn Down For What

Top Christian song: Carrie Underwood, Something In The Water

Billboard chart achievement award: Taylor Swift

Billboard Music Awards 2015: Taylor Swift Wins Eight Categories

Sonia Pantiss
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Billboard Music Awards 2015: Taylor Swift Wins Eight Categories

Taylor Swift is the big winner of this year’s Billboard Music Awards, winning eight of the 14 categories in which she was nominated.

Among Taylor Swift’s prizes were best female artist, best streaming song for Shake It Off and the ceremony’s top honor, artist of the year.

Sam Smith won best new artist – and accepted his trophy using flash cards after having vocal surgery.

Kanye West was booed as he closed the show with a medley of hits.

Audience members jeered as Kanye West’s sisters-in-law, Kendall and Kylie Jenner, introduced his set; and the booing continued during his performance.

Surrounded by pyrotechnics and largely in the shadows, Kanye West’s delivery on All Day and Black Skinhead was angry and intense. And while some disapproved, other fans could be seen pumping their fists to the tracks.

Photo AP
Photo AP

TV audiences were also left mystified as the first minute of his set was censored by broadcasters ABC – reminiscent of Kanye West’s performance at the Brit Awards earlier this year.

Other artists were more favorably received, with Britney Spears and Iggy Azalea receiving a standing ovation for the first performance of their new song, Pretty Girls.

Simple Minds took to the stage to perform Don’t You Forget About Me, marking the 30th anniversary of teen movie The Breakfast Club, which featured the song in its closing moments.

One Direction came away with two trophies, for best group and best touring artist, dedicating the latter to “our brother Zayn” Malik, who left the band in March.

Taylor Swift opened the show with the premiere of her star-studded new video, Bad Blood – which features the likes of Ellie Goulding, Selena Gomez, Jessica Alba and Cindy Crawford.

The singer, who has successfully transitioned from country artist to pop star, accepted the prize for best album by thanking the fans who “embraced change”.

“I love you so much, more than I will be able to say to you,” Taylor Swift said.

Sam Smith, who is recovering from throat surgery, sent his acceptance message in a special video.

He held up a series of cards, reading: “Thank you Billboard for this incredible honor. Secondly, thank you to my amazing fans. It’s times like this that I realize how lucky I am to have you in my life.

“I can’t wait to get this surgery out of the way so I can sing my ass off for you again.”

Iggy Azalea won top rap song for Fancy, her collaboration with Charli XCX, while John Legend won Top radio song for All Of Me.

Meghan Trainor’s All About That Bass was named top digital song and top Hot 100 song, recognizing its US chart performance.

Coldplay won best rock album for Ghost Stories, while Irish singer Hozier picked up best rock song for Take Me To Church.

In tribute to the late singer Ben E King, rock band Imagine Dragons performed Stand By Me to an audience that included the late singer’s daughters and granddaughters.

Presenter Ludacris also gave a touching tribute to blues star BB King, who died on May 15.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZRaJ_OjFSs

Pitch Perfect 2 Tops US Box Office with $70.3 Million

Sonia Pantiss
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Pitch Perfect 2 Tops US Box Office with $70.3 Million

Pitch Perfect 2 has topped the US box office with $70.3 million on its opening weekend.

The comedy sequel earned more in its first weekend than the $65 million that the first installment pulled in over the course of its entire US run in cinemas.

Universal’s Nick Carpou described the musical sequel’s success as “amazing”.Pitch Perfect 2 tops US box office

Directed by actress Elizabeth Banks, Pitch Perfect 2 marks the highest ever opening for a first-time feature film director.

Pitch Perfect 2 sees Anna Kendrick and Rebel Wilson reprising their original roles, alongside newcomer Hailee Steinfeld, as the fictional a capella singing group The Barden Bellas.

Mad Max: Fury Road racked up $44.4 million after receiving positive reviews when it premiered at Cannes Film Festival last week.

Pitch Perfect 2 cost a modest $29 million to produce, while Mad Max: Fury Road carries a significant $150 million price tag.

North American box office Top 10:

  1. Pitch Perfect 2 – $70.3 million
  2. Mad Max: Fury Road – $44.4 million
  3. Avengers: Age of Ultron – $38.8 million
  4. Hot Pursuit – $5.8 million
  5. Furious 7 – $3.6 million
  6. Paul Blart: Mall Cop 2 – $3.6 million
  7. The Age of Adaline – $3.2 million
  8. Home – $2.7 million
  9. Ex Machina – $2.1 million
  10. Far from the Madding Crowd – $1.3 million

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqCYlxcq84c

Steve Jobs Trailer: Michael Fassbender Portrays Apple Co-Founder in Danny Boyle’s Movie

Sonia Pantiss
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Steve Jobs Trailer: Michael Fassbender Portrays Apple Co-Founder in Danny Boyle’s Movie

Michael Fassbender is portraying Steve Jobs in Danny Boyle’s new movie about the late Apple co-founder, the film trailer has revealed.

Michael Fassbender is seen wearing Steve Jobs’ trademark glasses and black polar neck in scenes recreating one of his famous product launches.

The biopic, called Steve Jobs, reportedly uses three such launches to probe the Apple co-founder’s life and relationships with colleagues.

Kate Winslet and Seth Rogen also appear in the biopic, out on November 13.

The first plays former Macintosh marketing chief Joanna Hoffman, while the latter plays Steve Wozniak, another Apple co-founder.Michael Fassbender plays Steve Jobs

“The musicians play the instruments. I play the orchestra,” Michael Fassbender is heard saying cryptically in the minute-long promo.

“I sat in a garage and invented the future… because artists lead, and hacks ask for a show of hands.”

“No one sees the world the same way you do,” actor Jeff Daniels is also heard saying in his role as John Sculley, Apple’s former CEO.

Steve Jobs co-founded Apple in the late 1970s but was driven out of the company in a boardroom coup in the 1980s.

He was later bought back and spearheaded the production of the highly successful iPod and iPhone, before dying of pancreatic cancer in 2011.

Written by Aaron Sorkin of The Social Network and The West Wing fame, Steve Jobs is based on Walter Isaacson’s biography of the late entrepreneur.

An earlier Steve Jobs biopic, starring Ashton Kutcher in the title role and Matthew Modine as John Sculley, met with a tepid response in 2013.

Lion Shot Dead After Killing Keeper at China’s Taian Tiger Mountain Park

Nancy Clayson
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Lion Shot Dead After Killing Keeper at China’s Taian Tiger Mountain Park

A Chinese zoo has shot dead a lion after it killed one of its keepers and escaped its enclosure.

The incident took place on May 17 in the eastern province of Shandong, at the Taian Tiger Mountain Park.

The 65-year-old keeper was cleaning the enclosure when the lion bit him on his shoulders and neck, authorities say. The man died later from his injuries.

The lion was on the loose in the zoo for more than an hour before it was shot dead by police.Lion shot dead China zoo

Reports in Chinese media did not say how the lion managed to get out of its enclosure after the early morning attack.

Officials put up steel barriers at the park’s entrance, while zoo staff as well as visitors who had arrived for a morning swim in a pond in the park were evacuated.

Beijing Youth Daily quoted a police spokesman as saying they mobilized local officers as well as special forces to the park.

The spokesman said they cornered the lion by a wall within the zoo grounds, and shot it dead to “ensure the safety of park visitors”.

The park reopened for business in the afternoon.

The incident is currently the third most popular trending topic on the Chinese microblog network Weibo.

Many questioned if it was necessary to kill the lion and raised concerns about the safety and living conditions in zoos, which have been criticized by animal rights groups.

The Taian Tiger Mountain Park houses a range of animals including deer, pigs, camels and birds in wire cages. An undercover report by Iqilu.com last year found it was in “serious disrepair”.

The Fall of Ramadi: Iraq Sends Shia Militias to ISIS-Held City

Roy Siemens
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The Fall of Ramadi: Iraq Sends Shia Militias to ISIS-Held City

Iran-backed Shia militias have been sent by the Iraqi government to Ramadi to recapture the city seized by Islamic State (ISIS) militants on May 17.

About 500 people are reported to have died when the Iraqi military abandoned positions in Ramadi – only 70 miles West of Baghdad.

A regional government official spoke of people fleeing Ramadi, the capital of Anbar province, “in great numbers”.

Photo Reuters
Photo Reuters

The US has said it is confident the capture of Ramadi can be reversed.

Speaking in South Korea, Secretary of State John Kerry said: “I am convinced that as the forces are redeployed and as the days flow in the weeks ahead that’s going to change.”

The Shia militias, known as the Popular Mobilization (Hashid Shaabi), were key to the recapture from ISIS of another city, Tikrit, north of Baghdad, in April. But their use has raised concern in the US and elsewhere.

The militias pulled out of Tikrit following reports of widespread violence and looting.

Meanwhile, the Iranian Defense Minister, Hossein Dehghan, has arrived in Baghdad on a visit arranged before the latest developments in Ramadi.

The police and military made a chaotic retreat from Ramadi, which has been contested for months, after days of intense fighting.

A statement purportedly from ISIS said its fighters had “purged the entire city”. It said ISIS had taken the 8th Brigade army base, along with tanks and missile launchers left behind by troops.

Prince Harry’s Cinderella Moment with New Zealand Girl

Lisa.Felice
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Prince Harry’s Cinderella Moment with New Zealand Girl

Prince Harry had a Cinderella moment with a little girl during his visit to New Zealand on May 15.

Kensington Palace shared on Instagram the sweet moment.

Photo Instagram
Photo Instagram

The picture shows how Harry, 30, proves to be a true Prince Charming as he kneels down with the girl’s shoe and is ready to help her put it back on.

The young New Zealander had Prince Harry bending down to help her with her shoe which had fallen off.

The adorable moment came just days after Prince Harry admitted that he would love to settle down and start a family, adding it would be great to have someone to “share the pressure” of royal life with.

Prince Harry is currently on tour in New Zealand, following a month-long Army secondment in Australia, and has been larking around as he visits local charities and trusts.

Dean Potter Dies After Attempting Wingsuit Flight from Taft Point

Clyde K. Valle
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Dean Potter Dies After Attempting Wingsuit Flight from Taft Point

Daredevil Dean Potter has died while attempting a wingsuit flight from the 7,500 ft Taft Point promontory in California’s Yosemite National Park on May 16, a park spokesman said.

Dean Potter, 43, was one of America’s best extreme athletes.

Graham Hunt also died when their attempt to fly at high speed through a narrow gap in the skyline went wrong.Dean Potter dead at 43

Rescuers found the bodies soon after contact had been lost with the men.

No parachutes had been deployed, reports say.

Dean Potter was regarded as a hugely innovative rock climber.

He was the first to climb Yosemite’s three most famous big walls in a single day.

Dean Potter was also renowned for his high-line walks and high-risk parachute jumps, some of which he carried out with his dog.

Cystic Fibrosis: New Therapy Profoundly Improves Quality of Life

Kathryn R. Bown
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Cystic Fibrosis: New Therapy Profoundly Improves Quality of Life

A new therapy could profoundly improve cystic fibrosis patients’ quality of life, say doctors.

Patients suffering from cystic fibrosis often die before their 40s as mucus clogs and damages their lungs and leaves them prone to infection.

A major international trial on 1,108 patients, in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed a combination of drugs could bypass the genetic errors that cause the disease and may increase life expectancy.

Errors in sufferers’ DNA – inherited from their parents – damage the microscopic machinery that controls salt and water levels in the linings of the lungs.Cystic fibrosis new therapy

The result is a thick mucus that inexorably damages the lungs.

Antibiotics help prevent infection and drugs can loosen the mucus, but nothing deals with the fundamental problem for most patients.

The combination of drugs – lumacaftor and ivacaftor – were designed to repair that microscopic machinery.

The trial showed that those patients given the cocktail for 24 weeks had better lung function.

Cystic fibrosis also affects the mucus lining in the gut so the doctors were pleased to see the patients also gained weight in the trial.

There are however, many types of error in the DNA that can culminate in cystic fibrosis.

This treatment combination should work on around half of patients, while one of the drugs on its own corrects a small proportion of errors.

New treatments are still required for the remaining patients.

The therapy is being examined by regulators around the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBMu02_KIPY

Waco Shooting: Nine Killed in Biker Gangs Shootout at Twin Peaks Sports Bar and Grill

Nancy Clayson
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Waco Shooting: Nine Killed in Biker Gangs Shootout at Twin Peaks Sports Bar and Grill

Nine people have been killed in a shootout between rival biker gangs in Waco, Texas police officials say.

The incident happened at the Twin Peaks Sports Bar and Grill in a shopping area called the Central Texas Market Place.

Eight people had died at the scene and a ninth died in hospital, police say. Several other people were injured.

Photo AP
Photo AP

One witness quoted by the Waco Tribune-Herald said the car park of the restaurant resembled “a war zone”.

Michelle Logan said: “There were maybe 30 guns being fired in the parking lot, maybe 100 rounds.”

Waco police said the shooting happened shortly after midday when two rival gangs got into a fight.

Police spokesman Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton said the fight started with punches and then involved knives and firearms.

He said there were concerns that groups involved in the shooting may have moved to other locations in and around Waco.

Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton asked residents to avoid the area until an all-clear is issued.

Waco police said no officers had been injured in the shooting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zft_JYm0tjQ

Iraq: ISIS Captures Ramadi after Days of Intense Fighting

Roy Siemens
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Iraq: ISIS Captures Ramadi after Days of Intense Fighting

The Islamic State (ISIS) has seized the Iraqi city of Ramadi after government forces abandoned their positions, officials say.

The police and military made a chaotic retreat after days of intense fighting.

Iraq’s PM Haider al-Abadi had ordered troops to stand their ground, saying he was deploying Shia militia to the city.ISIS captures Ramadi in Iraq

Ramadi is the capital of Iraq’s largest province, Anbar, and is just 70 miles West of Baghdad.

A statement purportedly from ISIS said its fighters had “purged the entire city”. It said ISIS had taken the 8th Brigade army base, along with tanks and missile launchers left behind by troops.

Footage posted on social media showed military vehicles speeding away from Ramadi, with soldiers hanging off the sides.

Reports said Iraqi forces fled following a series of suicide car bomb attacks on May 17.

Four almost simultaneous explosions hit police defending the Malaab district in southern Ramadi. Later, three more suicide bombers drove explosive-laden cars into the gate of the provincial military headquarters, the Anbar Operation Command, officials said.

PM Haider al-Abadi called on pro-government forces to “hold their positions and preserve them and not allow Daesh (ISIS) to extend to other areas in Ramadi”.

Anbar province covers a vast stretch of the country west from the capital Baghdad to the Syrian border, and contains key roads that link Iraq to both Syria and Jordan.

ISIS reportedly controls more than half of Anbar’s territory.

Cannes 2015: Cate Blanchett’s Carol Tipped to Win Palme D’Or

Sonia Pantiss
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Cannes 2015: Cate Blanchett’s Carol Tipped to Win Palme D’Or

Carol movie is being tipped for this year’s Cannes Film Festival glory in France.

The film, starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, tells the story of two women having an illicit romance in 1950s New York.

Carol – based on a 1952 novel by Patricia Highsmith, author of The Talented Mr. Ripley – is winning rave reviews for its lead performances.

Cate Blanchett denied speculation suggesting she drew on her own early gay relationships to create the role.Carol movie 2015

The actress said: “In 2015, the point should be: who cares?”

Carol, directed by Todd Haynes, follows the blossoming relationship between a glamorous married woman (Cate Blanchett) and an impressionable shop girl (Rooney Mara).

Last week, double Oscar-winner Cate Blanchett, 46, reportedly admitted to Variety magazine that she had had many female partners.

However, at a news conference in Cannes, the actress was quick to scotch reports of a gay past.

Carol is seen by some critics as a companion movie to Todd Haynes’ Far From Heaven, about an illicit romance between a white woman and a black man, also set in the 1950s.

Vladimir Putin Plays Hockey at Gala Match in Sochi

Nancy Clayson
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Vladimir Putin Plays Hockey at Gala Match in Sochi

Vladimir Putin has played hockey at a gala match with retired NHL players in Sochi.

The Russian president scored eight goals – with a little help from Pavel Bure and Valeri Kamensky – and his team won 18-6.

PM Dmitry Medvedev was among audience.Vladimir Putin hockey Sochi

Vladimir Putin, 62, better known for his love of judo, only recently took up hockey and clearly enjoyed himself.

The president’s performance on skates drew jokes on social media.

The Sochi match, held to celebrate 70 years since Victory in World War Two, coincided with Russia’s national hockey team winning the semi-final in the ice hockey world championship against the US 4-0.

In March, questions were raised about the health of Vladimir Putin, who plunged the world into uncertainty last year by annexing Crimea from Ukraine, when he disappeared from public view for 10 days before re-emerging without explanation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN2FMGRTvoc

Pope Francis Canonizes Palestinian Nuns Mariam Bawardy and Marie Alphonsine Ghattas

James J. Williams
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Pope Francis Canonizes Palestinian Nuns Mariam Bawardy and Marie Alphonsine Ghattas

Two 19th Century nuns, who lived in what was then Ottoman-ruled Palestine and were native Arabic speakers, will be canonized by Pope Francis on Sunday, May 17.

The nuns, Mariam Bawardy of Galilee and Marie Alphonsine Ghattas of Jerusalem, will be among four new saints declared in Rome’s St Peter’s Square.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and over 2,000 Christian pilgrims from the region will be present at the ceremony.

The move is seen as a token of Vatican support for dwindling Christian communities in the Middle East.

On May 16, Pope Francis met Mahmoud Abbas at the Vatican.

Mahmoud Abbas’ visit came just days after the Vatican formally recognized Palestinian statehood in a treaty.Palestinian nuns Mariam Bawardy and Marie Alphonsine Ghattas canonization

The treaty states that the Holy See favors a two-state solution to the conflict with Israel and allows the Vatican to oversee aspects of Roman Catholic life in the areas President Mahmoud Abbas controls.

Israel expressed disappointment with the treaty, which uses the term “Palestinian state”.

Mariam Bawardy was born in Galilee to Greek Catholic parents from Syria and Lebanon.

A mystic, she is said to have carried out many miracles and to have experienced stigmata – wounds representing those suffered by Jesus on the cross.

Marie Alphonsine Ghattas – who was born to a Palestinian family in Jerusalem – co-founded the Congregation of the Rosary Sisters, which today runs many kindergartens and schools.

Both nuns lived through tough conditions, overcoming male dominance in Ottoman society, poverty and ill-health while helping others.

They are said to have seen apparitions of the Virgin Mary and remained in close communication with her.

By granting these women sainthood, the Catholic Church is celebrating their good works but it is also showing support for Christians in the birthplace of their religion.

The total number of Christians in Israel and the Palestinian territories has declined to less than 2% of the population.

This is partly because of growing Jewish and Muslim populations, but also because of the conflict and the chance of better opportunities abroad.

Abu Sayyaf: ISIS Leader Killed in First US Ground Raid in Syria

Roy Siemens
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Abu Sayyaf: ISIS Leader Killed in First US Ground Raid in Syria

Senior ISIS member Abu Sayyaf and captured his wife in a rare US special forces ground raid in eastern Syria.

According to a US Department of Defense statement, Abu Sayyaf helped direct oil, gas and financial operations for the Islamic State, as well as holding a military role.

The statement said forces tried to capture Abu Sayyaf, but he was killed after engaging them.

It is the first time the US is known to have carried out a ground operation to attack ISIS within Syria.

The operation was authorized by President Barack Obama and was carried out by forces based in Iraq.

US officials said Abu Sayyaf was Tunisian, with one official telling CNN he was the chief financial officer “of all of [ISIS]” and that the US had seized “reams of data on how ISIS operates, communicates and earns its money”.

On Arabic social media, however, Abu Sayyaf was not being spoken of as a known public figure.ISIS leader Abu Sayyaf killed in US raid in Syria

Oil and gas have been an important source of revenue for ISIS, which gained swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq last year.

On May 16, the group took control of the northern part of the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, which it has been advancing on for three days, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights – a UK-based network that uses activists within Syria.

The US said the operation in Syria was conducted “with the full consent of Iraqi authorities”, though it did not inform the Syrian government in advance.

“We have warned [President Bashar al-Assad’s] regime not to interfere with our ongoing efforts against [ISIS] inside of Syria,” said National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan, adding that “the Assad regime is not and cannot be a partner in the fight” against IS.

The Pentagon said Abu Sayyaf’s wife, Umm Sayyaf, is suspected of being an ISIS member and of being complicit in the enslavement of a young Yazidi woman who was rescued in the raid.

It said it believed at least 12 militants had been killed at the scene, that there was hand-to-hand fighting and that militants had tried to use women and children as shields.

Umm Sayyaf has been taken into military detention in Iraq.

The operation lasted for about 30 minutes around dawn in the residential quarters of the al-Omar oil field, which houses about 500 families of ISIS fighters.

In Iraq on Saturday, ISIS militants tightened their grip over the centre of the city of Ramadi but reportedly withdrew from a key government compound they had seized a day earlier.

Neither ISIS nor its supporters on social media were commenting publicly on the raid against Abu Sayyaf, with Twitter posts focusing instead on Ramadi.

The US has been carrying out air strikes against ISIS in Iraq and Syria since August 2014. Shortly after they began, the Pentagon said there had been a failed raid in Syria to free American hostages – the only other ground operation inside the country it has acknowledged.

Charlotte Brown: Blind Pole Vaulter Wins Bronze Medal in Texas High School Championships

Clyde K. Valle
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Charlotte Brown: Blind Pole Vaulter Wins Bronze Medal in Texas High School Championships

Blind pole vaulter Charlotte Brown has won a bronze medal in the Texas state high school championships on May 16.

For three years, 17-year-old Charlotte Brown has been chasing a medal by trying to jump over a bar she couldn’t see.

Charlotte Brown cleared 3.5m and was joined on the podium in Austin by her guide dog Vador.

She had qualified for the state meet each year since 2013 with Emory Rains High School. She finished eighth as a sophomore and improved to fourth as a junior.

Charlotte Brown developed cataracts at 16 weeks and had artificial lenses inserted, but her vision began to worsen aged 11 and she is now blind with only a “jigsaw puzzle” of light and dark shades.Charlotte Brown blind pole vaulte

Despite her disability, Charlotte Brown takes pride in her fierce spirit of independence, born out of growing up in a family with two older brothers who pushed her to help herself in the rural town of Emory, about 76 miles east of Dallas.

She first took up pole vaulting, which is not a Paralympic sport, in seventh grade because she wanted something a little “dangerous and exciting”.

She counts the seven steps of her left foot on her approach, listening for the sound of a faint beeper placed on the mat that tells her when to plant the pole and push up.

Charlotte Brown, who is heading to university at Purdue on an academic scholarship, said: “It took me three years to get on the podium, and I finally did it.”

“If I could send a message to anybody, it’s not about pole vaulting and it’s not about track. It’s about finding something that makes you happy despite whatever obstacles are in your way.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5zp4fzm2N8g

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