MTV show Buckwild star Shain Gandee has been found dead in a vehicle in Sissonville, West Virginia, on Monday, the Kanawha County Sheriff’s Department confirmed.
Shain Gandee was 21.
Shain Gandee has been found dead in a vehicle in Sissonville, West Virginia, on Monday
The tragic news comes 31 hours after Shain Gandee was reported missing.
Shain Gandee was discovered along with two other bodies, also in the vehicle. One of the deceased was Shain Gandee’s 48-year-old uncle David.
The cause of death is not yet known, although no foul play is suspected.
Shain Gandee and his uncle David were last heard from at around 3 a.m. on Sunday morning, when the pair reportedly decided to go four-wheeling.
Prior to that Shain and David Gandee had been in a Sissonville bar, but did not tell anyone they spoke to where they planned to go next.
In a statement, a spokesperson for MTV said: “We are shocked and saddened by the terrible news about Shain Gandee, and those involved in this tragic incident. We are waiting for more information but at this time, our main concern is for the Gandee family and their friends.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with them. Shain had a magnetic personality, with a passion for life that touched everyone he met and we will miss him dearly.”
Rock legends The Cure are booked to headline the Lollapalooza music festival for the first time, organizers have said.
Mumford and Sons, The Killers and Nine Inch Nails, part of the Chicago festival’s first line-up in 1991, will also perform, founder Perry Farrell has said.
Phoenix, Thievery Corporation, Tegan and Sara, Cat Power, Lana Del Rey and Vampire Weekend are also confirmed.
More than 130 acts have been booked to play the Lollapalooza festival on August 2-4, 2013
More than 130 acts have been booked to play the Lollapalooza festival on August 2-4, 2013.
“It is so exciting to have The Cure at Lollapalooza for the first time because I love The Cure and we’ve never had them,” said Perry Farrell, lead singer for Jane’s Addiction.
“It’s always frustrated me and made me feel incomplete and now I can feel complete and die.”
Meanwhile, Mumford and Sons are returning as headliners just three years after their last performance at Lollapalooza in 2010, when they played during the day.
Mumford and Sons’ latest album, Babel, has sold more than one million copies.
The line-up reflects a mix of genres – indie bands, singer-songwriters, country, hip-hop, rock and electronic acts.
The musicians will be travelling to the festival from all over the world.
“We don’t look to stylize our line-up so much as we just stay away from pop garbage,” Perry Farrell said, adding that he considers himself a curator in his role arranging the festival line-up.
“Sometimes it’s not what I’m going to do. It’s what I’m not going to do that sets your trend.”
Lollapalooza music festival will take place at Chicago’s Grant Park for the ninth year, and three-day passes for the festival have already sold out.
Some one-day passes are still available.
Previous headliners included Lady Gaga, Green Day, Eminem and Coldplay.
Ten of this year’s bizarre stories presented by worldwide media that could be April Fools, but they are true, or seriously intended at least.
1. Universities are offering courses in Harry Potter and “ethical hacking”. Durham University’s education department offers a module entitled Harry Potter and the Age of Illusion which includes a section “Welcome to Hogwarts: the commodification of education”. Abertay Dundee offered a course on ethical hacking, consumer website Which? noted.
April Fool’s Day 2013
2. Lego is reportedly to stop selling a Jabba the Hutt set which Turkish activists argued was anti-Muslim. Austria’s Turkish Cultural Association (TCA) said the Jabba’s Palace set depicted a character who was a “terrorist who likes to smoke hookah and have his victims killed”. Critics said the domed palace closely resembled Istanbul’s Haghia Sophia, a cathedral-turned-mosque-turned-museum that provided a blueprint for many of the city’s mosques. Now the TCA says Lego has agreed to stop making the sets in 2014.
3. A flea circus in Germany was struck by tragedy when 300 of its tiny performers were killed by cold weather. The frantic owner was able to source 60 replacement fleas.
4. NASA is to use a giant bag to capture an asteroid and tow it to the Moon. The $100 million project will be included in its 2014 budget request. If successful, the asteroid will be used to help long-distance space missions.
5. TV hosts Antand Dec have their first British number one single after a re-release of their 1994 hit Let’s Get Ready to Rhumble. The song was heavily downloaded after the presenters performed it on their ITV1 show Saturday Night Takeaway .
6. A police officer is suing a petrol station owner after tripping on a kerb while investigating a suspected break-in and injuring her wrist and leg. The claim alleges the petrol station was at fault for failing to ensure the officer was “reasonably safe”, making no attempt to light the area or warn her about the step.
7. A woman in Bradford claims she was raised by a group of capuchin monkeys in Colombia. Marina Chapman says she spent five years of her childhood with the primates after being kidnapped and abandoned in the jungle. Over time she developed leathery skin and powerful, sinewy arms.
8. British PMDavid Cameron waded waist-deep into mud to save a sheep near his home. David Cameron had been helping a neighbor with lambing. The saved ewe was subsequently renamed Swampy, the prime minister suggested.
9. Winston Churchill’s marriage to his beloved “Clemmie” was nearly cancelled after he went to visit another woman in Scotland shortly before the ceremony. A new biography suggests that Winston Churchill’s visit to see Violet Asquith angered future wife Clementine Hozier. Violet Asquith had been considered as a potential match. Winston Churchill made the trip to explain his decision.
10. Ralph the Rabbit has regained his title as the world’s largest. Weighing in at 3st 8lb, or nearly 23 kg. Ralph costs £50 ($75) a week to feed.
Caroline Kennedy, daughter of former President JFK, has been asked by President Barack Obama to be the US ambassador to Japan.
Caroline Kennedy was a key supporter of Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, but has largely shunned political life.
Caroline Kennedy has been asked by President Barack Obama to be the US ambassador to Japan
She considered running for a New York senate seat when Hillary Clinton became secretary of state in 2009, but declined citing personal reasons.
Japan is America’s largest trading partner.
A source from the Democratic Party told CNN on Monday that Caroline Kennedy was being vetted for the post.
Previous US ambassadors to Tokyo have included former Senate majority leader Mike Mansfield, former Vice-President Walter Mondale and former House Speaker Tom Foley.
Caroline Kennedy is the only surviving child of JFK and Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.
She is married to Edwin Schlossberg, who owns a New York-based design firm, and they have three children.
Caroline Kennedy is a graduate of Harvard and Columbia universities and has served at many non-profit organizations, such as the John F. Kennedy Library and the American Ballet Theatre.
Caroline Kennedy was also a speaker at the two previous Democratic National Conventions.
Musical director of the Vienna State Opera Franz Welser-Moest was treated in hospital after collapsing with back pain while conducting a Wagner opera on Sunday.
Franz Welser-Moest collapsed into his podium at the end of the first act of the 4-and-a-half-hour long Parsifal.
The conductor suffered a severe attack of lumbago when he raised his baton, the opera house said on Monday.
Franz Welser-Moest collapsed into his podium at the end of the first act of the 4-and-a-half-hour long Parsifal
The performance, celebrating Richard Wagner, continued after a colleague stepped in.
Franz Welser-Moest, who is also director of the Cleveland Orchestra in the United States, was admitted to hospital following the incident but allowed to return home later that same evening.
Vienna State Opera house – known as the Wiener Staatsoper – is one of the busiest opera houses in the world, producing 50 to 60 operas a year in approximately 200 performances.
Franz Welser-Moest took up the role of musical director in 2010, replacing Japanese conductor Seiji Ozawa, who was forced to take a break from performing due to illness.
Before Franz Welser-Moest became a conductor, he worked as a trained violinist with some of the most respected orchestras around the world, including the philharmonic orchestras of Vienna and Berlin, the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, and the Orchestras of Philadelphia, Boston, Los Angeles and New York.
Franz Welser-Moest was voted the orchestra chief of the year 2003 by the magazine Musical America.
The North Korean parliament has today endorsed plans to give nuclear weapons greater prominence in the country’s defences.
North Korea’s move came a day after the ruling Workers’ Party called for nuclear forces to be “expanded and beefed up qualitatively and quantitatively”.
North Korea has said it is entering a “state of war” with the South – prompting Seoul to promise a “strong response” to aggression by the North.
North Korea’s parliament has endorsed plans to give nuclear weapons greater prominence in the country’s defences
Meanwhile, North Korea has announced it has appointed a new premier, Pak Pong-ju. He was sacked from the same post in 2007.
North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly convened on Monday for a day-long annual session. It normally focuses on making economic decisions.
But state news agency KCNA said the body had “unanimously adopted an ordinance that provides for giving nuclear weapons greater prominence in the defence of the country”.
The law reads that North Korea’s nuclear weapons are a “means of defence” and serve the purpose of “dealing deadly retaliatory blows at the strongholds of aggression until the world is denuclearized”.
On Sunday the Workers’ Party Central Committee held a rare high-level meeting in which it described nuclear weapons as “the nation’s life”.
“The DPRK [North Korea]’s possession of nuclear weapons should be fixed by law and the nuclear armed forces should be expanded and beefed up qualitatively and quantitatively,” a KCNA report on the meeting said.
“The People’s Army should perfect the war method and operation in the direction of raising the pivotal role of the nuclear armed forces in all aspects concerning war deterrence and war strategy.”
In the last few days North Korea has issued multiple warnings of attacks on US and South Korean targets – to which the US has responded with an apparent show of military hardware.
Speaking to defence officials on Monday, South Korean President Park Geun-hye said that she took the series of threats from Pyongyang “very seriously”.
Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty for James Holmes, who is accused of killing 12 people last July at Aurora cinema in Colorado.
On Friday, prosecutors rejected an offer from James Holmes to plead guilty in order to avoid execution.
James Holmes, 25, is charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder in the attack in Aurora, one of the worst mass shootings in US history.
Prosecutors have said they will seek the death penalty for James Holmes, who is accused of killing 12 people last July at Aurora cinema in Colorado
Dozens were wounded in the attack at a midnight showing of a Batman film.
“It’s my determination and my intention that in this case for James Eagan Holmes justice is death,” Arapahoe County District Attorney George Brauchler said at Monday’s hearing, which the accused attended.
James Holmes’ parents sat holding hands in the public gallery.
Victims and their families said they did not welcome the thought of a lengthy trial.
Pierce O’Farrill, who was shot three times in the attack, told the Associated Press: “All of us victims would be dragged along potentially for years. It could be 10 or 15 years before he’s executed.
“I would be in my 40s and I’m planning to have a family, and the thought of having to look back and reliving everything at that point in my life, it would be difficult.”
Last week, prosecutors argued that the defence motion for a guilty plea was not valid as a plea deal, but correspondents say such an agreement could still be reached before the case goes to trial.
James Holmes’ defence lawyers were expected to argue he is not guilty because he was legally insane at the time of the shooting on July 20.
But investigators say James Holmes, a former neuroscience graduate student, had stockpiled weapons and ammunition ahead of the attacks.
James Holmes allegedly also booby-trapped his flat to explode, in an apparent bid to distract police from responding to the cinema during the shooting.
In March, Colorado introduced new gun legislation to impose limits on the size of ammunition magazines and expand background checks for gun buyers.
The law bans the type of magazine used to fire dozens of bullets in just a few seconds during the Aurora shooting.
President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit Denver, Colorado, on Wednesday to highlight the bill as part of a campaign for national gun control measures in the wake of a mass shooting at an elementary school in December, in the state of Connecticut.
Apple has been denied a trademark for its iPad Mini by the US Patent and Trademark Office.
The trademark application for iPad Mini was turned down because the name was “merely descriptive” and did not create a unique meaning, it said.
However, Apple still has until July to persuade the Patent Office that the smaller tablet differs sufficiently from its iconic device.
Apple has been denied a trademark for its iPad Mini by the US Patent and Trademark Office
Apple has been involved in a series of patent disputes with rival firms.
It won a landmark case against Korea’s Samsung last year but this month, a judge in the US ordered the $1 billion in damages awarded to Apple be cut by 40% and set a new trial to assess the level of damages.
The award was the biggest in a series of global legal fights between the two companies over patents.
The Patent Office issued the letter in January, although it has only just emerged.
The letter said the “applied-for mark merely describes a feature or characteristic of applicant’s goods”.
The terms “mini” and “pad” and the prefix “i-” were all descriptive, it decided.
Neither as individual terms nor as a composite result – iPad Mini – did they “create a unique, incongruous, or non-descriptive meaning in relation to the goods being small handheld mobile devices comprising tablet computers capable of providing internet access”.
In its last quarter to January, Apple said that it sold a record 22.9 million iPads and iPad Minis.
It has been revealed that Chace Crawford’s apparent new girlfriend is Canadian model Rachelle Goulding.
Chace Crawford, 27, and Rachelle Goulding, 26, were photographed getting very cosy at the New York Knicks vs. Charlotte Bobcats basketball game at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
Chace Crawford’s apparent new girlfriend is Canadian model Rachelle Goulding
According to Us Weekly, Chace Crawford met Rachelle Goulding in London last summer.
A source told the publication that there “isn’t anything serious” going on between them.
Rachelle Goulding even exhibits a few of the traits that Chace Crawford has previously claimed to look for in a potential mate.
In April 2012, the actor told Pop Sugar Australia: “I love a girl who’s really spontaneous, someone who’s up for going on a camping trip, or concert or sporting event.”
Chace Crawford was previously rumored to be dating ESPN reporter Erin Andrews and has been romantically linked to A-listers Carrie Underwood and Ashley Greene in the past.
A second edition of the Internet Cat Video Festival, dedicated to celebrating internet videos of cats, is due to take place in Minnesota in August 2013.
Some 10,000 people gathered at the inaugural event last summer, hosted by the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
A second edition of the Internet Cat Video Festival, dedicated to celebrating internet videos of cats, is due to take place in Minnesota in August 2013
This year’s attendees are once again invited to nominate their favorite feline-themed viral videos to be played on a big screen at the event.
The festival will also now come to Brooklyn, New York, later in the year.
The video judged the best at last year’s festival featured a cat called Henri, described on his own website as “the world’s first and foremost feline philosopher”.
Director Will Bradon described the award as “a great honor” and is planning to unveil new material at the 2013 event.
Short videos of “cute” animal behavior are often popular on video websites such as YouTube and Vimeo, but cats seem to be a perennial favorite.
A one minute film of a cat “hugging” its kitten uploaded in May 2011 has been seen more than 50 million times on YouTube since it went viral after being posted on social news website Reddit.
“I think [cats] are easier to anthropomorphize and harder to herd,” said Plymouth University Prof. Susan Blackmore, author of The Meme Machine, in an interview with website knowyourmeme.com on the reason why cats are such an internet hit.
“There’s something secretive about them. When I was a child I used to imagine that all our local cats met up every night after dark to plot schemes against the grown-ups… One would never imagine this of dogs.”
Google Nose is Google’s latest April Fools’ Day prank to celebrate the practical joke-based holiday in 2013.
Google Nose BETA, the company’s new fictional product, promises “to offer the sharpest olfactory experience available.”
Google Nose is Google’s latest April Fools’ Day prank to celebrate the practical joke-based holiday in 2013
A video introducing Google Nose explains that the feature allows users to “search for smells. The product intersects “photons with infrasound waves” and “temporarily aligns molecules to emulate a particular scent.” The “mobile aroma indexing program” at the heart of the product has amassed a “15 million Scentibyte database of smells from around the world.”
And, of course, Google has covered the mobile, too. Google’s “Android Ambient Odor Detection” allows you to collect smells on your phone.
However… your nose will have to wait, because this incredible technology only exists in a fictional universe.
Glee star Cory Monteith has checked himself into rehab for drug addiction.
Cory Monteith’s representative confirmed that the star, who has struggled with substance abuse in the past, has entered a treatment facility.
The actor “has voluntarily admitted himself to a treatment facility for substance addiction”, his spokesperson told People magazine.
Glee star Cory Monteith has checked himself into rehab for drug addiction
“He graciously asks for your respect and privacy as he takes the necessary steps towards recovery.”
Cory Monteith’s girlfriend and Glee co-star Lea Michele told People magazine: “I love and support Cory and will stand by him through this. I am grateful and proud he made this decision.”
The 30-year-old actor has been open about his addiction problems in the past, and revealed back in 2011 that he entered rehab aged 19.
Cory Monteith hoped that talking about his own issues would help others to avoid making the same mistakes he did.
“I don’t want kids to think it’s okay to drop out of school and get high, and they’ll be famous actors, too,” he said.
“But for those people who might give up: Get real about what you want and go after it.”
Cory Monteith’s most recent tweet was posted on Thursday, when he wrote: “Such a beautiful day! truly seeing the forest for the trees. #gratitude.”
Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has announced a decision to free all political prisoners in the country.
In a speech at the opening of parliament, Omar al- Bashir also said the government was committed to a “national dialogue” with all groups.
It was not immediately clear how many prisoners would be released under the announcement.
Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has announced a decision to free all political prisoners in the country
The move comes as tensions ease in Sudan amid improving relations with neighboring South Sudan.
Omar al-Bashir said Sudan had now “guaranteed the atmosphere for freedoms and the safeguarding of the freedom of expression of individuals and groups”.
“Today, we announce a decision to free all the political prisoners and renew our commitment to all political powers about dialogue,” the president said, without giving further details.
The government would continue to communicate with “all political and social powers without excluding anyone, including those who are armed, for a national dialogue which will bring a solution to all the issues,” he said.
Omar al-Bashir’s announcement was welcomed by Human Rights Watch (HRW), which said it hoped it would lead to an end to arbitrary detentions and torture under Sudan’s strict national security laws.
“There is a chronic pattern of human rights abuse in Sudan,” said HRW’s Sudan researcher Jehanne Henry.
She said the organization heard of cases every month where “people perceived to have political opinions not in keeping with those of the government” were detained.
But analysts said it was unclear how the government would define political prisoners, and whether the release would include rebel fighters and government officials currently on trial for plotting a coup.
Sudan has been facing a heightened security situation since South Sudan became independent in 2011.
Tension between the new neighbors has been strained, with rebellions breaking out on either side of the border and a dispute over oil which escalated to the brink of war in April.
However, in September the leaders of both nations signed a deal, mediated by the African Union, to resume oil sales and set up a demilitarized buffer zone.
Last month, Omar al-Bashir, who came to power in a coup in 1989, said he would step down at the next election in 2015 because Sudan needed “fresh blood”.
The Russian government has announced it will not compensate its citizens who have lost money in the Cyprus banking crisis.
Russian citizens are believed to have billions of euros in Cypriot accounts and deposits above 100,000 euros ($128,200) in the two biggest banks (Bank of Cyprus and Laiki) could be reduced by as much as 60%.
The Russian government has announced it will not compensate its citizens who have lost money in the Cyprus banking crisis
Such losses would be “a great shame”, First Deputy PM Igor Shuvalov said, “but the Russian government won’t take any action in that situation”.
Cyprus now restricts cash withdrawals.
A 10 billion-euro bailout from the EU and IMF – required to keep the debt-laden Cypriot economy afloat – will only be granted if Cyprus itself raises 5.8 billion euros, most of which looks likely to come from depositors with more than 100,000 euros in Bank of Cyprus and Laiki (Popular Bank).
Laiki, the second largest bank, is being wound up and folded into Bank of Cyprus, the biggest bank.
Speaking on the Russian state TV channel Rossiya 1, Igor Shuvalov said Russian money in Cyprus included some that had been taxed and some that had not.
The Russian government would still look at cases where there were “serious losses, involving companies in which the Russian state is a shareholder”, he said. That review would take place in Russia, and “for this it would certainly not be necessary to help the Republic of Cyprus”, Igor Shuvalov added.
Many of the large-scale foreign investors in Cyprus are Russian – and in many cases they have taken advantage of the island’s status as an offshore tax haven. Some politicians have accused Cyprus of acting as a hub for Russian money-laundering – an allegation rejected by Cypriot officials.
After years of large-scale capital flight from Russia there is now a Kremlin drive to repatriate Russian money. The government has introduced tighter monitoring of foreign bank accounts held by Russian state employees.
Bank of Cyprus depositors with more than 100,000 euros could lose up to 60% of their savings as part of the bailout, officials say.
Cyprus’ central bank says 37.5% of holdings over 100,000 euros will become shares.
Up to 22.5% will go into a fund attracting no interest and may be subject to further write-offs.
The other 40% will attract interest – but this will not be paid unless the bank performs well.
The fear is that once the unprecedented capital controls – which are in place for an indefinite time – are lifted, the wealthiest will rush to move their deposits abroad.
Cyprus has become the first eurozone member country to bring in capital controls to prevent a torrent of money leaving the island and credit institutions collapsing.
President Nicos Anastasiades has said the financial situation has been “contained” following the deal.
The president has also stressed that Cyprus has no intention of leaving the euro, stressing that “in no way will we experiment with the future of our country”.
Amanda Bynes has gone on a Twitter rant against an unnamed ex.
Amanda Bynes, 26, wrote on Twitter: “When you write me on twitter and I ignore you it’s because I plan on ignoring you on twitter and in life forever.”
As her behavior has been increasingly erratic, now Amanda Bynes has gone on a Twitter rant against an unidentified ex
Yesterday the troubled actress had written: “If I’m not following you on twitter Quit acting like you know me.”
“I want to be the only one you adore.”
And also: “If you were hot, I’d be so into you. Dedicated to my exes still tryna holla.”
Amanda Bynes’ bizarre behavior has her loved ones deeply concerned.
Her worried family is trying to get her to leave New York and move closer to them in Los Angeles.
But she is reportedly refusing to move back to the West Coast to allow them to keep a closer eye on her.
Amanda Bynes was recently forced to move out of her New York apartment after being threatened with eviction.
Her family is still hopeful that the actress a will return to her normal self but will step in to help get her life back on track if necessary.
An autographed copy of The Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band has been bought at Heritage Auctions in Dallas for $290,500.
The selling price far exceeded the $30,000 originally estimated for the rare record.
The album was bought by an unnamed buyer from the Midwest, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The autographed copy of The Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band has been bought for $290,500
The sale also broke the previous record for a similar item, the entertainment magazine reported.
The UK Parlophone copy of the album includes a high gloss cover and gatefold. According to the Hollywood Reporter it was believed to have been autographed by all four Beatles near its release in June 1967.
The Heritage Auctions, which ran the sale, described it as “one of the most spectacular jewels in our auction”.
Speaking before the sale, Beatles expert Perry Cox said: “With my being thoroughly immersed in Beatles collectibles for over 30 years, it takes something extraordinarily special to excite me, but I consider this to be one of the top two items of Beatles memorabilia I’ve ever seen – the other being a signed copy of Meet The Beatles.”
The album features an official souvenir programme of the fourth annual Beatles Convention of Cavern Mecca, dated August 26, 1984.
The previous record for a signed Beatles album cover was $150,000 which was paid for a copy of the 1964 record, Meet the Beatles in 2011.
It looks like Google users are prime targets for pranks on April Fool’s Day.
Google has gone all out with an array of pranks beginning with Google Nose – the newest addition to the search engine’s capabilities.
Google Nose apparently allows users to search the “Aromabase” of more than 15 million Scentibytes then catch a whiff of everything from wet dog to dumpsters.
Google has gone all out with an array of pranks on April Fool’s Day beginning with Google Nose
There is also the announcement that YouTube is shutting down at midnight – to allow a panel of experts to pick the best video ever for when the site re-launches in 2023.
The hilarious clip includes comments from some of the site’s biggest stars including the little boy who had a dazed conversation with his father following a dentist appointment and Judson Laipply from “Evolution of Dance” clips.
In Google Maps, there is also now a treasure hunt mode after the site allegedly found scrolls at the bottom of the ocean belonging to Captain Kidd with directions to finding his stash of gold bars.
Google Australia also came up with SCHMICK – Simple Complete House Makeover Internet Conversion Kit – offering homeowners the chance to spruce up their houses on Google Street View with different themes and features.
The search engine offers an example of a home spruced up with a fountain, green lawn and Australian flag flying proudly.
Google is not the only one breaking out a sense of humor for the start of the month.
Twitter announced that from April 1 would become Twttr as the micro-blogging site canceled the use of vowels. If you want the use of a,e,i,o, or u, then it will cost five dollars a month.
Scope has launched bacon-flavored mouthwash with the tagline “for breath that sizzles”, just in time for April 1.
April Fools’ Day is a holiday recognized in many countries all over the world on April 1 every year, and has been celebrated since the Roman times.
Sometimes referred to as All Fools’ Day, April 1st is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when people play practical jokes and hoaxes on each other.
Here are our 10 favorite April Fool’s Day pranks of all time:
1. In Sweden, in 1962, there was only one television channel, and it was shown in black and white. The station announced that their “technical expert,” Kjell Stensson, was going to tell people how to view color images on their black-and-white sets. Researchers, he said, had recently discovered that covering your television screen with a pair of tights would cause the light to bend in such a way that it would appear as if the image was in color. All viewers had to do, Kjell Stensson said, was to cut open a pair of stockings and tape them over the screen of their television set. Thousands of viewers fell for the hoax. Many say today that they remember their parents (their fathers in particular) rushing through the house trying to find stockings to place over the TV set. Regular color broadcasts began in Sweden on April 1, 1970.
April Fools’ Day is a holiday recognized in many countries all over the world on April 1 every year
2. The best known public prank is the 1957 news show broadcast by Panorama. It was a 3-minute segment about a bumper spaghetti harvest in southern Switzerland. This was apparently because of an unusually mild winter and the “virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil,” with video footage of a Swiss family pulling pasta off spaghetti trees and placing it into baskets. The show said: “For those who love this dish, there’s nothing like real, home-grown spaghetti.”
Hundreds of people phoned the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this query the BBC simply said: “Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best.”
3. During an interview on BBC Radio 2, on the morning of 1 April 1976, the astronomer Patrick Moore announced that at 9:47 a.m. a once-in-a-lifetime astronomical event was going to take place. The planet Pluto would pass behind Jupiter, temporarily causing a gravitational alignment that would reduce the Earth’s own gravity. Patrick Moore told his listeners that if they jumped in the air at the exact moment this planetary alignment occurred, they would experience a strange floating sensation.
The BBC received hundreds of phone calls from listeners claiming to have felt the sensation. One woman even reported she and her 11 friends had risen from their chairs and floated around the room.
4. In 1977 the Guardian published a seven-page “special report” about San Serriffe, a small country located in the Indian Ocean consisting of several islands that make the shape of a semi-colon. The two main islands were called Upper Caisse and Lower Caisse. They did an in-depth series of articles on the history, geography and daily life on these idyllic islands.
The Guardian‘s phones rang all day as readers wanted more information about the perfect-sounding fictional holiday spot, and the hoax began a tradition in newspapers to try and fool their readers.
5. On 1 April 1972, newspaper headlines around the world announced the dead body of the Loch Ness Monster had been found. A team of zoologists from Yorkshire’s Flamingo Park Zoo, who were at Loch Ness searching for proof of Nessie’s existence, had discovered the carcass floating in the water the day before. Initial reports claimed it weighed a ton and a half and was 15½ feet long. Upon inspection, Nessie turned out to be a bull elephant seal.
The zoo’s education officer, John Shields, confessed he had been responsible for placing the body in the Loch. The seal had died the week before, and he had shaved off its whiskers, padded its cheeks with stones, and kept it frozen for a week, before dumping it in the Loch. The seal’s body was displayed at the Flamingo Park Zoo for a few days before being properly disposed of.
6. Burger King published a full page advertisement in USA Today in 1998. The advert announced a new item on their menu: the Left-Handed Whopper. Especially designed for the 32 million left-handed Americans, the new burger included the same ingredients as the original Whopper, but all the condiments were rotated 180 degrees. Thousands of customers went into restaurants to request the new sandwich, while many others requested their own ‘right handed’ version.
7. In 1860 people throughout London received the following invitation: “Tower of London: Admit Bearer and Friend to view annual ceremony of Washing the White Lions on Sunday, April 1, 1860. Admittance only at White Gate.”
By noon a large crowd had gathered outside the tower. They were disappointed to find that lions hadn’t been kept in the tower for centuries, let alone white lions.
8. A barge towing a giant iceberg appeared in Sydney Harbor in April 1978. Dick Smith, a local adventurer and millionaire businessman, had been loudly promoting his scheme to tow an iceberg from Antarctica, saying he was going to carve the berg into small ice cubes, which he would sell to the public for ten cents each. These cubes, fresh from the pure waters of Antarctica, were promised to improve the flavor of any drink they cooled. Local radio stations provided blow-by-blow coverage of the scene, but when it started to rain the firefighting foam and shaving cream the berg was really made of washed away, uncovering the white plastic sheets beneath.
9. In 2007, images of an 8-inch mummified creature resembling a fairy were posted on the website of the Lebanon Circle Magik Co. The site explained how the creature had been found by a man walking his dog along an old Roman road in rural Derbyshire. By April 1 the Lebanon Circle website had received tens of thousands of visitors and hundreds of emails.
But, at the end of April 1, Dan Baines, the owner of the site, confessed the fairy was a hoax. He had used his skills as a magician’s prop-maker to create the creature. Baines later reported that, even after his confession, he continued to receive numerous emails from people who refused to accept the fairy wasn’t real.
10. In 1980 the BBC reported that Big Ben, in order to keep up with the times, was going to be given a digital readout. The announcement shocked listeners, who protested the change. The BBC Japanese service also announced the clock hands would be sold to the first four listeners to contact them. One Japanese seaman in the mid-Atlantic immediately radioed in a bid.
South Korea has pledged a “strong response” to North Korea’s aggressions, amid high tensions on the peninsula.
Speaking to defence officials on Monday, President Park Geun-hye said that she took the series of threats from Pyongyang “very seriously”.
North Korea announced on Saturday that it was entering a “state of war” with South Korea.
On Sunday, the US sent stealth fighters to South Korea, as North Korea pledged to build up its nuclear arsenal.
South Korea has pledged a “strong response” to North Korea’s aggressions, amid high tensions on the peninsula
“If there is any provocation against South Korea and its people, there should be a strong response in initial combat without any political considerations,” President Park Geun-hye said.
In recent days North Korea has issued multiple warnings of attacks on US and South Korean targets – to which the US has responded with an apparent show of military hardware.
North Korea has been angered both by UN sanctions imposed after its nuclear test in February and the joint US-South Korea annual
The US flew F-22 planes from Japan to South Korea’s Osan Air base on Sunday, as part of ongoing joint military exercises with South Korea, officials said.
“[North Korea] will achieve nothing by threats or provocations, which will only further isolate North Korea and undermine international efforts to ensure peace and stability in Northeast Asia,” the US military command in South Korea said in a statement reported by Reuters news agency.
In March, the US deployed both B-2 and B-52 planes, which have nuclear capabilities, over South Korea. It said this demonstrated its “capability… to provide extended deterrence to [its] allies in the Asia-Pacific region”.
It is not the first time F-22s have been used drills with South Korea, but the move came as North Korea’s Central Committee held a rare high-level meeting on Sunday.
The committee described nuclear weapons as “the nation’s life” and vowed to further develop its nuclear programme, state-run news agency KCNA said.
“Only when the nuclear shield for self-defence is held fast, will it be possible to shatter the US imperialists’ ambition for annexing the Korean Peninsula by force,” the report added.
North Korea’s Supreme People’s Assembly – the rubber-stamp parliament – is also due to convene on Monday for a day-long annual session.
While the group normally focuses on making economic decisions, this meeting will be keenly watched given the current high tension.
Few think North Korea – which last week cut a military hotline which was the last official direct link with Seoul – would risk full-blown conflict.
But in recent years there have been deadly incidents such as the sinking of a South Korea warship (in which Pyongyang denies any role) and the shelling of a South Korean island.
However, the jointly-run Kaesong industrial park, which is located within North Korea’s borders, remains in operation.
Workers from South Korea were crossing into the park – which is a key money-maker for North Korea – as normal on Monday, reports said.
Kaesong Industrial Complex is seen as a barometer of North-South tensions, observers say, and a move to close it would be seen as an escalation of current tensions.
India’s Supreme Court has rejected a plea by Swiss drugmaker Novartis to patent an updated version of its cancer drug, Glivec.
Novartis had been denied a patent by Indian authorities on the grounds that Glivec new version was only slightly different from the old.
There were concerns that a patent could threaten access to cheap generic versions of drugs in poorer countries.
India’s Supreme Court has rejected a plea by Swiss drugmaker Novartis to patent an updated version of its cancer drug, Glivec
But some Western companies had warned that a decision against Novartis could discourage investment in research.
Glivec, which is used to treat chronic myeloid leukaemia and other cancers, costs about $2,600 a month.
The generic equivalent is currently available in India for just $175.
“This will go a long way in providing affordable medicine for the poor,” said Anand Grover, a lawyer representing Cancer Patients Aid Association, adding that he was “ecstatic with the ruling”.
Novartis applied for a patent in 2006 for its new version of the drug, arguing that it was easier to absorb and therefore qualified for a fresh patent.
However, the Indian patent authority rejected the application based on a law aimed at preventing companies from getting fresh patents by making only minor changes to existing drugs, a practice known as “evergreening”.
Officials also turned down a subsequent appeal by the company three years later.
On Monday, India’s Supreme Court rejected Novartis appeal to get patent protection for the drug.
The AFP news agency quoted the court as saying that the updated drug “did not satisfy the test of novelty or inventiveness” as required by the law.
Patents usually protect the companies for 20 years of exclusive sales. After that, it is open to other firms who can make cheaper copies of the original drug.
Once the protection expires, the first company to challenge the patent gets an exclusive right to sell the copy for 180 days.
After 180 days, more companies can sell the generic versions, potentially resulting in a further price drop.
It is estimated that drugs with combined annual sales of $150 billion will go off-patent by 2015.
India’s generic drug makers are among the biggest in the world and many expect them to benefit from these patents expiring in the coming years.
However, there have been concerns that if firms are granted patents for updated versions of their drugs, it may not only deny access to cheaper medicines to poor people, but also hurt the makers of generic drugs.
Pratibha Singh, a lawyer for the Indian generic drug manufacturer Cipla, said the ruling had set a precedent that would prevent international pharmaceutical companies from obtaining fresh patents in India on updated versions of existing drugs.
“Patents will be given only for genuine inventions, and repetitive patents will not be given for minor tweaks to an existing drug,” she said.
Shares of Novartis India fell almost 5% on the Bombay Stock Exchange, while stocks of generic drugmakers such as Cipla and Natco rose after the judgement.
University of Louisville basketball player Kevin Ware has suffered a horrific leg fracture that left the bone in his right leg protruding on live TV during NCAA Tournament game Louisville-Duke on Sunday night.
Kevin Ware, 20, jumped high in the air to block a three-point shot when he landed badly on the leg as he crashed to the court.
Teammates and Coach Rick Pinoto were in tears as kevin Ware screamed with pain and writhed on the court.
Kevin Ware has suffered a horrific leg fracture that left the bone in his right leg protruding on live TV during NCAA Tournament game
An official told several reporters that a bone snapped. Trainers immediately covered the leg with a towel and placed Kevin Ware on a backboard, then lifted him onto a stretcher.
CBS reported that Kevin Ware whispered encouragement to his team as he was carried away: “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be OK. Go win this thing.”
Kevin Ware’s teammates responded to the shock of his loss by returning to the court with a vengeance. The second half of the game saw Louisville dominate Duke – clobbering the Blue Devils 85-63.
Louisville will play Wichita State in the Final Four next weekend. The winner of that game plays for the NCAA men’s basketball championship.
His teammates held up a jersey with Kevin Ware’s name as they celebrated their resounding victory.
Silence fell over Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana, where the Elite Eight game was being played, as horrified fans waited for news of Kevin Ware’s condition.
The injury occurred with 6:33 left in the first half as Duke’s Tyler Thornton made a 3-pointer to get the Blue Devils within 21-20. Kevin Ware tried to contest the shot and his leg buckled when he landed, bending gruesomely.
The injury happened in front of the Louisville bench, and the Cardinals were overcome with emotion.
Russ Smith collapsed onto the floor, along with several players, and was clearly crying as doctors attended to Kevin Ware.
As Kevin Ware was being loaded onto a stretcher, the Cardinals gathered at midcourt until coach Rick Pitino called them over, saying that Ware wanted to talk to them before he left.
Rick Pitino wiped away his eyes as Kevin Ware was wheeled out, as did several of the Louisville players.
Former Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann, who famously sustained a broken leg during a Monday night football game against the New York Giants, tweeted: “Watching Duke/ Louisville my heart goes out to Kevin Ware.”
Kevin Ware, a native of the Bronx, New York, is a sophomore guard who has become a force on the number-one-ranked Cardinals team during the NCAA Tournament.
ESPN.com reports he could undergo surgery tonight at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.
Team officials say Kevin Ware’s pain is “under control”.
Giuliana and Bill Rancic have revealed they are thinking about having another baby.
“We’d only be so lucky,” Giuliana Rancic told the Chicago Sun-Times Sunday magazine SPLASH when they asked her if she wanted to add another little one to her clan.
Giuliana and Bill Rancic’s son Edward Duke was born via gestational surrogate
Giuliana and Bill Rancic’s son Edward Duke was born via gestational surrogate seven months after Giuliana struggled with infertility and then discovered she had breast cancer which was stopped in its tracked by her undergoing a double mastectomy.
The next series of Giuliana & Bill will premiere in June, can expect to see “a ton of baby Duke,” she revealed.
Giuliana Rancic is relishing every precious moment of motherhood taking regularly to Twitter to share pictures of Edward Duke.
The Kardashian clan came together for Easter Sunday as they walked into church in Los Angeles.
Kourtney Kardashian, 33, carrying baby Penelope, wore a sheer white maxi that was reminiscent of the seventies overtop a short, white, spaghetti-strapped mini dress.
The Kardashian clan came together for Easter Sunday as they walked into church in Los Angeles
Kendall Jenner and Mason Disick in the first batch, seemed to take a page from Kourtney Kardashian’s styling for the day, all wearing flowing, light ensembles.
The star of the mini Kardashian Easter parade, however, was baby Penelope.
Penelope sported a large floral headband, which accented her adorable Cabbage Patch Kid face.
Kris Jenner went opposite the pastel path for her Easter best, opting for a bright pink dress with a voluminous yet short skirt and a matching cardigan, and Kylie Jenner, 15, matched the others in a little white dress and a grey cardigan wrapped around her shoulders.
After the service, Kendall Jenner took to her Keek account to send Easter wishes to her fans.
A list of unusual IRS (Internal Revenue Service) claims that did get approved includes the woman who claimed her breast implants were a business expense and the man who passed off his swimming pool as medical.
Topless dancer Chesty Love was a notable case changing the rules for plastic surgery exemption.
In 2009 a court ruled Chesty Love’s “assets” were so big they constituted props and she was permitted to write them off.
Unusual tax write-offs made and allowed by the IRS
“[The] petitioner’s line of business, that of a professional exotic dancer, was such that part of her <<costume>> was her freakishly large breasts,” the court ruling read.
“[The] petitioner has proven that if she could remove her implants on a daily basis she would have done so as she preferred not to have <<worn>> them in her offstage personal life. However, this was physically impossible. Because [the] petitioner’s implants were so extraordinarily large, we find they were useful only in her business. Accordingly, we hold that the cost of the petitioners implant surgery is depreciable.”
One unidentified man was able to claim tax relief on his daughter’s wedding, according to his lawyer.
Writing on his website Edward Gonzalez, a tax lawyer in Maryland and Virginia, said: “The documentation was thorough. Surprisingly, IRS never even argued with us about the nature of the wedding as a business event. We said it was (partially). Gave them the list of attendees, documentation for the expenses, and it was accepted!”
In 1962, the IRS approved the deduction of clarinet lessons as they were used to help fix a little boy’s overbite while a man was allowed to write-off his swimming pool expenses as it helped with his osteoarthritis.
Under IRS Publication 502 medical expenses can include “special equipment installed in a home, or for improvements, if their main purpose is medical care for you, your spouse or dependent”.
They also include items such as false teeth, prosthetic limbs and breast pumps.
Turbotaxhas compiled a list of bizarre exemption attempts that failed to work.
Less successful attempts included a woman who claimed a dog was a dependent and the person who said their sex toys were part of their business.
Another tried to claim “entertaining his mistress” should count as a work expense.
One man tried to claim his marijuana crop was a business expense and got more than the tax-relief he was hoping for.
“If you’re running a criminal enterprise, normal tax laws should be the least of your worries,”Turbotax said.
According to the website, another man apparently tried to claim for a $10,000 arsonist he used to burn down his business so he could claim the insurance money.
Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef has been released on bail, after being questioned by prosecutors over allegations he insulted Islam and President Mohamed Morsi.
Bassem Youssef was ordered to pay 15,000 Egyptian pounds ($2,190).
He had spent five hours at the public prosecutor’s office, a day after a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Bassem Youssef has faced several complaints over his show Al Bernameg (The Programme), which satirizes many public figures.
Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef has been released on bail, after being questioned by prosecutors over allegations he insulted Islam and President Mohamed Morsi
On his Twitter feed, Bassem Youssef said the bail conditions were related to three lawsuits, while a fourth was still being investigated.
The case has highlighted worries about press freedoms in Egypt.
At one point during his arrival at the prosecutor’s office Bassem Youssef donned an oversized academic hat, mocking one which Mohamed Morsi wore recently when he received an honorary doctorate in Pakistan.
In a statement sent out on his Twitter account as he arrived, Bassem Youssef said that lawyers and policemen at the office wanted their picture taken with him, and joked that this was perhaps the real reason for his summons.
However, the al-Misri al-Yawm news portal reported that the judge asked Bassem Youssef to remove this and other tweets written during the questioning.
Bassem Youssef is a doctor who shot to fame after winning a large number of followers with his witty lampooning of public figures in amateur videos posted on the internet following the uprising that ended Hosni Mubarak’s rule in February 2011.
He became a household name when his satirical show – likened to Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show in the US – began to be broadcast three times a week on one of Egypt’s independent satellite stations.
But sketches in which he portrayed President Mohamed Morsi as a pharaoh, calling him “Super Morsi” for holding on to executive and legislative powers, and, separately, putting the president’s image on a pillow and parodying his speeches angered one Islamist lawyer, whose formal complaint resulted in the investigation.
As well as insulting Mohamed Morsi and Islam, Bassem Youssef is also accused of “spreading false news with the aim of disrupting public order”.
Bassem Youssef’s case is also seen as the latest in a string of prosecution actions against opponents of President Mohamed Morsi and the movement that supports him, the Muslim Brotherhood.
Earlier this week, Egypt’s top prosecutor ordered the arrest of five political activists, among them a leading blogger, on suspicion of inciting aggression against the Brotherhood.
Many journalists have criticized the Islamist-backed constitution which came into force earlier this year, arguing it does not offer enough guarantees for a free media.
The constitution also sparked protests from opponents who say it favors Islamists and does not sufficiently protect the rights of women or Christians.
