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Ed Sheeran sings Two Different Worlds with Sesame Street gang

Sonia Pantiss
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Ed Sheeran sings Two Different Worlds with Sesame Street gang

Ed Sheeran joined Sesame Street gang a song to perform an educational song.

The 24-year-old singer filmed the program back in October 2013, but it has taken until now for bosses to unveil his performance of Two Different Worlds with Elmo, Grover and the gang.

The pop song teaches children about the different rules for when talking at home or in school.Ed Sheeran sings with Sesame Street gang

The lyrics are: “At home I can speak whenever I please. I can talk real loud and shoot the breeze.

“At school I raise my hand in the air when there’s something that I want to share.”

The Muppets sing along with Ed Sheeran as he plays his guitar.

Announcing its release Ed Sheeran posted the video on his Twitter page before adding: “Filmed that a long time ago, happy it’s finally out.”

The two minute 49 second video had been viewed more than 290,000 times on YouTube.

Last month, whilst on tour in Australia, Ed Sheeran also filmed an appearance, playing himself, in the Australian soap Home and Away.

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Zimbabwe: Joyce Mujuru expelled from Robert Mugabe’s ruling party

Diane A. Wade
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Zimbabwe: Joyce Mujuru expelled from Robert Mugabe’s ruling party

Zimbabwe’s ex-VP Joyce Mujuru has been expelled from President Robert Mugabe’s ruling party, Zanu-PF.

Zanu-PF said Joyce Mujuru had plotted to remove Robert Mugabe from office and brought the party into disrepute.

Joyce Mujuru had been seen as a likely successor to Robert Mugabe but was sacked at the end of last year.

She was accused of corruption and plotting to kill the president – allegations she denied.

Robert Mugabe, 91, will have been in power for 35 years when Zimbabwe marks its independence from the UK later this month.Joyce Mujuru and Robert Mugabe

The first lady, Grace Mugabe – who is now a senior figure in the Zanu-PF Party – has been very vocal against Joyce Mujuru in public.

Joyce Mujuru fought alongside Robert Mugabe in the 1970s guerrilla war against white minority rule and was known as “Spill Blood”.

Zanu-PF spokesman Simon Khaya Moyo said in a statement that the ruling party’s top decision-makers had agreed to Joyce Mujuru’s dismissal citing 10 reasons.

These included plotting to remove Robert Mugabe from office, alleged corruption and bringing the party into disrepute – charges she has previously denied.

“The politburo felt that she lacked the quality of strong moral principles, honesty and decency and therefore ceases to be a member of Zanu-PF,” Khaya Moyo said.

Roebrt Mugabe has not publicly indicated a preferred candidate to take over his presidency.

However, in December 2014, Robert Mugabe purged the government of several ministers, including Joyce Mujuru, and appointed Emmerson Mnangagwa as his deputy, making the former justice minister the favorite to succeed him.

Didymus Mutasa, one of the sacked ministers and a former confidante of Robert Mugabe, was expelled from Zanu-PF earlier this year.

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Anthony Ray Hinton: Alabama prisoner released after 30 years on death row

Diane A. Wade
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Anthony Ray Hinton: Alabama prisoner released after 30 years on death row

Alabama death row inmate Anthony Ray Hinton has been freed after nearly 30 years.

Anthony Ray Hinton, 58, was convicted of murdering two restaurant managers in Birmingham in 1985, but was granted a new trial last year.

Tests on bullets found at the crime scene could not be connected to a gun found at Anthony Ray Hinton’s home, prompting prosecutors to drop the case.

Anthony Ray Hinton’s lawyer, Bryan Stevenson, said his client was convicted because he could not afford better legal counsel.

Walking out of the Jefferson Country Jail in Birmingham, Anthony Ray Hinton hugged family members and said: “Thank you, Jesus.”Anthony Ray Hinton exenorated

“All they had to do was test the gun,” Anthony Ray Hinton said, explaining why he shouldn’t have had to sit on death row for nearly three decades.

Bullets from the crime scene were the only evidence that linked Anthony Ray Hinton to the murders.

Prosecutors said that modern forensic methods failed to link the bullets to a revolver found in Anthony Ray Hinton’s home.

“Every day, every month, every year that the state took from him, they took something that they don’t have the power to give back,” said Bryan Stevenson.

At his first trial, Anthony Ray Hinton’s lawyer believed his client only had $1,000 to hire an expert that could defend against the prosecution’s allegations about the bullets.

The lawyer hired the only expert willing to take the job at that rate, and jurors reportedly laughed as the expert struggled to answer questions during cross-examination.

The US Supreme Court ruled last year that Anthony Ray Hinton did not have adequate legal counsel at the first trial and said the case should be reconsidered at a second trial.

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Amanda Knox to work on behalf of wrongly convicted

Nancy Clayson
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Amanda Knox to work on behalf of wrongly convicted

Amanda Knox has announced she will work on behalf of the wrongly convicted after being cleared of Meredith Kercher’s murder in Italy.

In a letter published by The Seattle Times on April 3, Amanda Knox writes that the kindness of friends, family and strangers has sustained her in the seven-plus years since she was arrested in Meredith Kercher’s death of in Perugia.Amanda Knox to work for wrongly convicted

She says she knows she must give back.

Amanda Knox also says she is lucky she had the backing of lawyers, DNA experts and former FBI investigators who saw the injustice in her case. She says countless other wrongfully convicted people lack that support, and she wants to work to give them a voice.

Italy’s highest court exonerated Amanda Knox and her former Italian boyfriend Raffaele Sollecito on March 27.

Good Friday: Pope Francis leads traditional Via Crucis at Colosseum

Diane A. Wade
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Good Friday: Pope Francis leads traditional Via Crucis at Colosseum

Pope Francis has begun leading the traditional Via Crucis (Way of the Cross) at the Colosseum in Rome at 9.15 pm local time (3.15pm EDT) on Good Friday.

The meditations for the 14 Stations of the Cross have been written this year by Monsenior Renato Corti, Bishop Emeritus of Novara in Italy.

Pope Francis has repeatedly lamented Christian suffering in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere. Reflecting this concern, among those chosen to take turns carrying the cross in the Way of the Cross procession in the ancient arena were faithful from Iraq, Syria, Nigeria, Egypt and China. Several Italian families also carried the lightweight cross for a few steps.Pope Francis Via Crucis 2015

Standing under a red canopy on the warm evening, Pope Francis listened to prayers affirming the right of religious freedom. Tens of thousands of tourists, pilgrims and Romans held candles as they watched.

Good Friday recalls Jesus’ death by crucifixion.

Earlier this afternoon, Pope Francis presided at the liturgy of the Passion of Our Lord in St. Peter’s basilica. As is customary, the homily was given by the preacher of the papal household, Father Raniero Cantalamessa, OFMCap.

After several Holy Week ceremonies, Pope Francis will celebrate Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square Sunday, April 5.

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Hayley Okines: 100-year-old teenager dies from progeria at 17

Kathryn R. Bown
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Hayley Okines: 100-year-old teenager dies from progeria at 17

Progeria campaigner Hayley Okines, who became known as the “100-year-old teenager”, has died aged 17.

Hayley Okines was born with Progeria, a rare condition that caused her body to age eight times faster than normal.

The rare ageing disease usually debuts within the first two years of birth, when symptoms such as slow growth and hair loss began to appear. The average life expectancy for a child with the disease is just 13, but Hayley Ikines defied all odds and lived for another four years.

Hayley Okines of Bexhill-on-Sea, England, became a spokesperson and fundraiser for progeria and campaigned for greater awareness throughout her teens. She released her autobiography at the age of 14, entitled Old Before My Time.Hayley Okines dead at 17

The girl had been treated in hospital for pneumonia over the past few days and returned home on April 2. She died on the same day, the BBC reported.

Hyaley’s mother, Kerry Okines, confirmed her death on Facebook, writing: “My baby has gone somewhere better. She took her last breath in my arms at 9.39pm.”

Progeria Research Foundation also paid an emotional tribute to Hayley Okines on its Facebook page: “The entire Progeria family mourns together with many as we say goodbye to Hayley Okines, our smart, beautiful and spirited English Rose.”

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Khloe Kardashian slams Jamie Foxx for Bruce Jenner joke

Lisa.Felice
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Khloe Kardashian slams Jamie Foxx for Bruce Jenner joke

Khloe Kardashian has opened up on Jamie Foxx’s controversial joke about Bruce Jenner at Sunday’s iHeart Radio Music Awards.

At the iHeartRadio Music Awards, which Jamie Foxx was hosting, he joked in his opening monologue about Bruce Jenner’s reported transition to a woman.

“Bruce Jenner will be here doing some musical performances. He’s doing a his and her duet by himself,” Jamie Foxx said during the televised event on NBC.Khloe Kardashian Jamie Foxx Bruce Jenner joke

The Keeping Up With The Kardashians star came to Bruce Jenner’s defense telling to The Insider at the Ulta Beauty & Khloe Kardashian Celebrate the Launch of Kardashian Beauty event on April 2: “I just think it’s a low blow. I think it’s very mean. I wish him all the best. It is what it is.

“I know Jamie, so I think that’s also why that’s a really low blow.”

“But hey, guess that’s what he felt the need to do for a little press,” Khloe Kardashian continued.

Viewers were not happy about Jamie Foxx’s joke almost immediately after it aired on March 29, with some taking to Twitter to criticize his choice words.

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North Korea test-fires four short-range missiles into sea

Roy Siemens
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North Korea test-fires four short-range missiles into sea

According to South Korean military officials, North Korea has test-fired four short-range missiles into the sea off its west coast.

In a statement, the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said the missiles had a range of about 87 miles.

The missiles were fired from Dongchang-ri in the north of the country on April 3, the statement said.

North Korea often conducts missile tests in protest at US-South Korean military drills, one of which is ongoing.

Photo KCNA
Photo KCNA

The US and South Korea say the annual exercises are for defense training purposes, but Pyongyang calls them a rehearsal for invasion. They are always a trigger for a surge in tensions between the two Koreas.

When a drill began in March, North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles, and on March 13 it fired seven ground-to-air missiles into the sea to coincide with the end of one part of the drill, Operation Key Resolve.

The current drill, Foal Eagle, is continuing.

A JCS spokesman said today’s test “appeared to have been supervised by Kim Jong-un”, the AFP news agency reports.

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Okryu: North Korea launches online shopping website

Nancy Clayson
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Okryu: North Korea launches online shopping website

North Korea has announced the launch of its first online shopping website, called Okryu, state news agency KCNA reported.

Okryu, a state-run website, offers a range of products including food and medicines.North Korea launches online shopping website

The North Korean government says the site is “aimed at promoting convenience for the people”, but it’s not clear how many will actually be able to use it, as internet access is extremely limited outside of elite circles.

Some people can use North Korea’s own state-controlled intranet – known as Kwangmyong – via their smartphones, but computers are prohibitively expensive for the average worker and ownership requires government approval.

Okryu also shows that North Korea has improved its IT systems, Kim Heung-kwang, a former professor at Pyongyang Computer Technology University, told South Korea’s JoongAng Daily.

Game of Thrones: George R.R. Martin releases Winds of Winter chapter online

Sonia Pantiss
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Game of Thrones: George R.R. Martin releases Winds of Winter chapter online

Author George R.R. Martin has released a chapter of The Winds of Winter on his website.

The new chapter is part of the sixth book in the A song of Ice and Fire fantasy series which Game of Thrones is based on.

However, there’s still no sign of a publication date.

The chapter’s told from the perspective of Sansa Stark, living under the name Alayne Stone.

She is played on the HBO adaptation by Sophie Turner.

George R.R. Martin began the first volume of the A Song of Ice and Fire series, A Game of Thrones, in 1991. It was published in 1996.George RR Martin Winds of Winter

The books have inspired novellas, a comic book adaptation, card, board and video games – as well as the HBO TV series.

Fans often complain George R.R. Martin’s not working on the book The Winds of Winter as quickly as they’d like.

It’s been four years since the fifth title in the series A Dance with Dragons came out.

George R.R. Martin has shared a few chapters on his website before now, but Alayne Stone is the first since Mercy was published in March 2014.

Last month, the author wrote on his blog he is freeing up his schedule to make more time for writing.

He said he had decided to cancel a couple of public appearances for 2015 and it’s possible he will withdraw from others too, depending on how his work is going.

That work includes editing the book in his Wild Card science fiction and superhero anthology series, consulting on a couple of video games, helping produce a Wild Cards film, and having “an overall deal with HBO, and three new television concepts in various stages of development.”

He has also formed a new production company to make low budget short films.

Fans of the books can be reassured by this: “Please note, most of these other projects involve me editing, producing, consulting, or financing. The writing I’m doing is all on WINDS OF WINTER.”

George R.R. Martin has decided not to script an episode for season six of Game of Thrones as it “would cost me a month’s work on WINDS, and maybe as much as six weeks, and I cannot afford that.”

He says it’s possible he could finish The Winds of Winter this year.

In the meantime, fans will have to make do with the new chapter, and the fifth season of HBO’s Game of Thrones, which debuts on April 12.

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Gertrude Weaver becomes world’s oldest living person at 116

Nancy Clayson
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Gertrude Weaver becomes world’s oldest living person at 116

116-year-old Gertrude Weaver of Arkansas, the US, is now the world’s oldest living person, according to Guinness World Records.

Gertrude Weaver was born in 1898 and lives in a nursing home in the city of Camden.

She celebrates her birthday on 4th of July, but it’s unclear whether she was born on this date as there’s no record.

Gertrude Weaver is a fan of President Barack Obama and she’s hoping he will join her to celebrate her 117th birthday.Gertrude Weaver becomes world's oldest living person at 116

In an interview with CBS, Gertrude Weaver said her secrets were trust in the Lord, working hard, and loving everyone you meet.

She has outlived all but one of her four children, Joe, who turns 94 this month. He visits regularly along with other family members and friends.

The announcement comes after the previous record holder, Misao Okawa from Japan, died a few weeks after her 117th birthday.

Gertrude Weaver has a few years to go to beat the oldest person ever to have lived – Jeanne Calment from France lived until she was 122 years and 164 days old.

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Justin Bieber works with Kanye West on new album

Sonia Pantiss
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Justin Bieber works with Kanye West on new album

Justin Bieber has announced he is working with Kanye West and Rick Rubin on his new album.

In an interview with USA Today this week, Justin Bieber, 21, said his new material would be more mature after a few years of making the wrong sort of headlines.

“I don’t want to say it’s different because that’s what everyone says,” the singer said.

“But it is different, it’s a grown-up version of Justin and I think people will be shocked.”

Justin Bieber said he was turning his life around, echoing comments he made at the filming of his Comedy Central Roast last month.

“My whole direction has changed,” he said.Justin Bieber works with Kanye West on new album

“What you are thinking about all the time is what you write, and now that I’m thinking about more positive things, it completely changes my music.”

Justin Bieber has worked with Kanye West before on the rapper’s track, Yeezus.

His manager Scooter Braun tweeted news that he was working with Slayer and Jay Z’s producer Rick Rubin in January.

Justin Bieber told the publication that he had to re-record some of the music on his new album because it didn’t sound right.

“[The album] was done but it didn’t match up to where I am now and where my head’s at,” he said.

“I want to tell my story, but I also want to give people hope. I lost hope for a while, I was in a dark place, but it’s about getting out of that rut.

“It’s about knowing there’s sunshine on the other side.”

In June 2014, Justin Bieber said sorry after footage of him leaked using the n-word while telling a joke about the Ku Klux Klan.

He was charged with assault and dangerous driving after crashing his quad bike into a minivan near his hometown of Stratford, Ontario.

He was also serving two years probation for throwing eggs at his neighbor’s house in LA.

Justin Bieber says the lyrics on the follow-up to 2012’s Believe are about growing up, life experience and faith.

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Lazarus: David Bowie co-writes New York Theatre Workshop show

Sonia Pantiss
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Lazarus: David Bowie co-writes New York Theatre Workshop show

David Bowie is co-writing Lazarus, a stage show inspired by The Man Who Fell to Earth, the New York Theatre Workshop has announced.

Lazarus will feature new songs specially composed by David Bowie as well as new arrangements of his old songs.

The rock legend is working on the project with Irish playwright Enda Walsh, who won a Tony Award for the musical Once.

Lazarus is due to premiere in New York in the winter this year.

The stage show is inspired by 1963 novel The Man Who Fell to Earth by Walter Tevis and centers on the character of Thomas Newton, played by David Bowie in the 1976 screen adaptation directed by Nicolas Roeg.David Bowie co-writes New York Theatre Workshop Lazarus

It will be directed by the Belgian Ivo van Hove.

Bowie is not expected to feature in the cast.

James C. Nicola, the artistic director of the New York Theatre Workshop, said the show had been in secret development for some years.

He told the New York Times: “It’s going to be a play with characters and songs – I’m calling it music theatre, but I don’t really know what it’s going to be like. I just have incredible trust in their creative vision.”

James C. Nicola said the show would not retell the story of the book and film, but would feature some of the same characters.

David Bowie surprised his fans in 2013 when he suddenly released a new single on his 66th birthday – followed by a new album – after a 10-year hiatus.

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Personalized cancer vaccine: Safety tests show promising results

Kathryn R. Bown
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Personalized cancer vaccine: Safety tests show promising results

The US researchers have developed personalized cancer vaccines that target unique genetic errors in a patient’s tumor.

Safety tests on three people, published in the journal Science, showed the immune system could be trained to fight skin cancers.

The research team, mainly based in St Louis and Oklahoma City, says the early results mark a “significant step” towards personalized cancer vaccines.

UV light can transform healthy skin cells into deadly melanomas by damaging the DNA.

The tumors are a genetic mess, containing hundreds of random mutations that are different in every patient.

The mutations can change the proteins that stick out from the surface of cells and act like identifying flags.

The team analyzed the genetic mutations to predict the new and unique flags that would be flown by the cancer cells.

A computer algorithm then analyzed the new flags, known as neoantigens, to decide which would be the best targets for a vaccine.

Personalized vaccines were given to three patients with advanced tumors in 2013. All had already been treated with another therapy – ipilimumab.

One was in remission and has stayed cancer-free; another still has stable tumors; and the third patient’s tumor shrank in the months after the vaccine before returning to its original size and remaining stable.

The team is, at this stage, testing just the safety of the vaccine and whether it provokes an immune response.Personalized cancer vaccine

They say it was successful on both counts.

One of the researchers, Dr. Gerald Linette, said: “Our team is very encouraged by the quality of the immune response directed against the melanoma neoantigens in all three patients.

“Our results are preliminary, but we think the vaccines have therapeutic potential.”

His colleague, Dr Beatriz Carreno, added: “These findings represent a significant step toward more personalized immunotherapies.”

The personalized vaccine approach has a number of hurdles to clear.

For a start, proper clinical trials are needed to prove that the immune boost actually makes a difference to controlling the tumor.

There are also questions about cost and the time it takes – currently three months – to develop each person’s vaccine.

However, if the approach proves successful it could be useful in other highly mutated cancers such as those found in the lung.

They may also have a role in breast and ovarian cancers in women with BRCA mutations, such as Angelina Jolie, which also tend to be very mutated.

Andreas Lubitz accelerated plane’s descent

Diane A. Wade
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Andreas Lubitz accelerated plane’s descent

The second black box belonging to Germanwings flight 4U 9525 confirms that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz acted deliberately, investigators say.

The French BEA crash investigation agency said Andreas Lubitz repeatedly accelerated the plane’s descent before crashing into the French Alps.

The second flight recorder from the plane was recovered on April 2.

All 150 people on board the flight from Barcelona to Duesseldorf on March 24 were killed.Andreas Lubitz second black box

“A first reading shows that the pilot in the cockpit used the automatic pilot to put the airplane on a descent towards an altitude of 100ft,” the BEA said in a statement on April 3.

“Then several times the pilot modified the automatic pilot settings to increase the speed of the airplane as it descended,” it added.

Earlier findings from the cockpit voice recorder suggested Andreas Lubitz, 27, locked the pilot out of the cockpit.

On April 2, German prosecutors said Andreas Lubitz had researched suicide methods and the security of cockpit doors on the internet the week before the crash.

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Zhou Yongkang charged with bribery, abuse of power and leaking state secrets

Diane A. Wade
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Zhou Yongkang charged with bribery, abuse of power and leaking state secrets

Zhou Yongkang, who oversaw China’s security apparatus and law enforcement institutions, has been charged with bribery, abuse of power and the intentional disclosure of state secrets, state media report.

The former security chief was, until his retirement in 2012, one of China’s most powerful men.

Zhou Yongkang headed the Ministry of Public Security and was a member of China’s top decision-making body.

Once Xi Jinping took over as president in 2013, however, Zhou Yongkang was put under investigation.

A formal probe was announced in July 2014, after months of rumors, and he has since been expelled from the Communist Party.

Zhou Yongkang’s case had been sent to a court in Tianjin, a northern port city, Xinhua news agency reported.Zhou Yongkang charged

The head of China’s top court said last month he would have an “open trial”, though no date has been announced.

In a brief statement, China’s top prosecution body said that the allegations against Zhou Yongkang were “extraordinarily severe”.

“The defendant Zhou Yongkang… took advantage of his posts to seek gains for others and illegally took huge property and assets from others, abused his power, causing huge losses to public property and the interests of the state and the people,” the statement said.

Zhou Yongkang, who is in his 70s, is the most senior official to be targeted in decades.

He was previously one of nine members of China’s highest organ, the Politburo Standing Committee. It has since shrunk to seven members.

Zhou Yongkang has not been seen in public since late 2013, when rumors of a probe first emerged.

A number of his former associates from his time both in the oil industry and as Communist Party chief in Sichuan province are already being investigated or prosecuted as part of Xi Jinping’s corruption crackdown.

Zhou Yongkang’s former protégé, former Chongqing Communist Party chief and high-flyer Bo Xilai, is currently in prison on charges linked to his wife’s murder of a British businessman.

Analysts say the investigation into Zhou Yongkang allows Xi Jinping – who took office as president in March 2013 – to consolidate his power base, remove people opposed to his reforms and improve the image of the Communist Party.

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Louis Jordan: Sailor lost at sea found alive after 66 days

Diane A. Wade
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Louis Jordan: Sailor lost at sea found alive after 66 days

Louis Jordan, who spent 66 days lost at sea, has been rescued after apparently surviving on raw fish and rainwater.

The 37-year-old sailor was found by a passing German tanker 200 miles off the North Carolina coast on April 2.

Louis Jordan’s 35-foot sailboat had overturned and he was sitting on the hull, from where he was hoisted to safety.

His family reported him missing at the end of January, and when his father spoke to him after the rescue, he said: “I thought I lost you.”

In an audio clip of the phone call, Louis Jordan apologizes for not being able to sail home.

Speaking from the safety of the German container ship, Louis Jordan tells his father: “I’m doing fine now.”Louis Jordan sailor lost at sea

Chief Petty Officer Ryan Doss from the Coast Guard in Miami told WITN, a North Carolina broadcaster, that Louis Jordan had survived adrift in the Atlantic Ocean on a diet of raw fish and rainwater.

The US Coast Guard said in a statement that they transported Louis Jordan by helicopter from the German vessel, Houston Express, to a hospital in Norfolk, Virginia.

They said such a feat of endurance was unheard of, but Louis Jordan’s father told CNN he had never given up hope his son would be found alive.

Louis Jordan was last seen on January 23, setting out from Conway in South Carolina on a fishing trip in his sailboat Angel.

It is not yet known why the boat capsized, although media report that the mast was found snapped in half.

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Avril Lavigne reveals struggle with Lyme disease

Lisa.Felice
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Avril Lavigne reveals struggle with Lyme disease

Avril Lavigne has revealed she was stuck in bed for five months with Lyme disease and thought she was dying.

The 30-year-old singer told People magazine: “I felt like I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t talk and I couldn’t move.”

Avril Lavigne was diagnosed with Lyme disease, which is spread by ticks, at the end of last year.Avril Lavigne Lyme disease

Symptoms include a rash and flu symptoms, like tiredness, headaches and muscle or joint pain.

Avril Lavigne says she could often barely stand, saying: “There were definitely times I couldn’t shower for a full week.

“It felt like having all your life sucked out of you.”

There had been rumors about Avril Lavigne’s health when she hadn’t been seen in public for months.

Avril Lavigne now says she’s “80%” better after being cared for by her mother and husband, Nickelback frontman Chad Kroeger.

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Iran nuclear deal: Framework agreement reached after marathon talks in Lausanne

Roy Siemens
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Iran nuclear deal: Framework agreement reached after marathon talks in Lausanne

A framework agreement on Iran’s nuclear program has been reached after marathon talks with six major powers in Switzerland.

Under the deal, Iran will reduce its uranium enrichment capacity in exchange for phased sanctions relief.

President Barack Obama said a “historic understanding” had been reached with Iran.

The world powers and Iran now aim to draft a comprehensive nuclear accord by June 30.

The framework agreement was announced by the European Union and Iran after 8 days of negotiations in Lausanne.

The talks between the so-called P5+1 – the US, UK, France, China and Russia plus Germany – and Iran at Lausanne’s Beau-Rivage Palace hotel continued beyond the original self-imposed deadline of March 31.Iran nuclear talks Lausanne 2015

Iran denies Western claims it is trying to build a nuclear weapon. It entered negotiations in order to see sanctions lifted.

According to the US, the outline deal includes the following conditions:

  • Iran will reduce its installed centrifuges – used to enrich uranium – by two-thirds and reduce its stockpile of low-enriched uranium
  • The centrifuges that are no longer in use will be placed in storage, monitored by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
  • All of Iran’s nuclear facilities will be subject to regular IAEA inspections
  • Iran will redesign its heavy-water reactor in Arak so that it cannot produce weapons-grade plutonium
  • US and EU sanctions related to Iran’s nuclear program will be lifted in phases, but can be brought back if Iran does not meet its obligations.

Barack Obama said the deal’s implementation would be closely watched.

“If Iran cheats, the world will know it,” the president said, adding that the deal was based not on trust but on “unprecedented verification”.

He said the framework agreement had come after “months of tough, principled diplomacy”, and that it was “a good deal”.

EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, speaking at a news conference alongside Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif after agreement was reached, said a “decisive step” had been achieved.

“We have reached solutions on key parameters of a joint comprehensive plan of action,” she said.

Negotiators would now start “drafting the text” of the plan “guided by the solutions”, Federica Mogherini added.

News that a deal had been agreed emerged on Twitter, before the official news conference.

In a tweet, Javad Zarif said: “Found solutions, ready to start drafting immediately.”

US Secretary of State John Kerry tweeted: “Big day… Back to work soon on final deal.”

Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu also took to Twitter to declare: “Any deal must significantly roll back Iran’s nuclear capabilities and stop its terrorism and aggression.”

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Kenya attack death toll rises to 147 in Garissa

Roy Siemens
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Kenya attack death toll rises to 147 in Garissa

At least 147 people have been killed in an attack by al-Shabab Islamist militants on Garissa University campus in north-eastern Kenya, Kenyan government officials say.

The operation to secure the Garissa University College campus was now over, with all four attackers killed, they added.

Officials said 587 students had been evacuated, 79 of whom were injured.

An overnight curfew is being implemented in parts of Kenya.

Four counties near the Kenya-Somalia border, Garissa, Wajir, Mandera and Tana River, would have dusk-to-dawn curfews imposed, disaster management officials said.

Photo Reuters
Photo Reuters

Nine critically injured students were airlifted to the capital Nairobi for treatment, they added.

Each student had been accounted for by the end of the evacuation.

Masked gunmen stormed the university early on Thursday morning and took hostages.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned what he called a “terrorist attack” and said the UN was ready to help Kenya “prevent and counter terrorism and violent extremism”.

The US said it was offering Nairobi assistance to take on al-Shabab and would continue to work with others in the region to take on the group.

The Kenyan government has named Mohamed Kuno, a high-ranking al-Shabab official, as the mastermind of the attack.

Mohamed Kuno was headmaster at an Islamic school in Garissa before he quit in 2007.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta offered his condolences to families of the victims and ordered “urgent steps” to ensure police recruits could begin training immediately.

“We have suffered unnecessarily due to shortage of security personnel,” Uhuru Kenyatta said.

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Manoel de Oliveira dies in Porto aged 106

Sonia Pantiss
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Manoel de Oliveira dies in Porto aged 106

Portuguese film director Manoel de Oliveira has died in Porto at the age of 106.

Believed to be the world’s oldest film-maker, Manoel de Oliveira made his first film in 1931 and continued making films up to last year.

Manoel de Oliveira made more than 50 films and competed for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival on five occasions.

Cannes Film Festival gave Manoel de Oliveira an honorary Palme for “blending aesthetic contemplation and technological innovations” in 2008.

Manoel de Oliveira’s last movie, Gebo and the Shadow, was released in 2012.

Born in 1908 in Porto in to a family of wealthy industrialists, Manoel Candido Pinto de Oliveira originally trained as an actor.Manoel de Oliveira dead at 106

He made his directing debut in 1931 with a silent documentary short about river workers in his home city and made his first feature in 1942.

Manoel de Oliveira’s credits were sporadic under Antonio Salazar’s dictatorship. From 1981 onwards, though, he roughly directed a film a year.

His prolific work rate saw him become a regular at Europe’s leading film festivals and be embraced by cineastes, particularly in France.

The Convent (1995), one of his better-known films, starred John Malkovich as an American professor determined to prove that Shakespeare was Spanish.

John Malkovich and his co-star, Catherine Deneuve, would work with Manoel de Oliveira again on 2001’s I’m Going Home and 2003’s A Talking Picture.

The director’s other films included Belle Toujours, a 2006 follow-up to Luis Bunuel’s Belle de Jour.

His later work often dealt with melancholy bourgeois characters and had a stylistic formality that involved long takes and static camerawork.

Manoel de Oliveira left instructions that Memories and Confessions, a 1982 film about a house in which he used to live, only be released after his death.

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June Shannon changes her lifestyle as she pitches new reality show in LA

Lisa.Felice
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June Shannon changes her lifestyle as she pitches new reality show in LA

Honey Boo Boo’s mom, June Shannon, was spotted last month while exercising at a park in Hollywood with the help of celebrity personal trainer Natasha Fett, who has worked with Matthew McConaughey, Heidi Klum and Fergie.

Photo Facebook
Photo Facebook

Mama June, 35, did a series of sit-ups, push-ups and weight lifting as she was in Los Angeles to pitch new reality shows to network executives, TMZ reported.

Here Comes Honey Boo Boo was cancelled in October 2014 after four seasons on TLC.

TLC decided to end the show after reports indicated that June Shannon was dating a man accused of child molestation.

Airbnb adds Cuba to its list of destinations

Kathryn R. Bown
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Airbnb adds Cuba to its list of destinations

Airbnb has decided to add Cuba to its list of destinations.

More than 1,000 properties in Cuba are already listed, but can only be booked by users in the US.

The home holiday rental site is restricted from showing the listings elsewhere because of a US trade embargo against Cuba.

Nevertheless, Airbnb said Cuba could eventually become one of its biggest markets in Latin America.

“We are actually plugging into an existing culture of micro-enterprise in Cuba,” said the company’s regional director Kay Kuehne.

“The hosts in Cuba have been [renting out rooms to travelers] for decades.”Airbnb adds Cuba on its list

The initial listings range from $15 a night for a private room in Trinidad to $1,100 a night for the whole of a five-bedroom “chalet” in Havana.

Airbnb visitors outside the US can view the listings, but can only add them to their wish lists, rather than book them. An on-screen alert states that the site is not licensed to provide booking services to others.

The US recently began allowing Americans to travel to Cuba if they obtained a special license, which can be granted for activities including family visits, educational activities and public performances.

The White House said it would like tourism to be added to the list, and President Barack Obama has urged Congress to begin work to drop the wider sanctions.

Visitors across the globe can still find listings for Cuba-based rooms via other US services, including TripAdvisor, which allows users to contact hosts directly but does not take a cut of the bookings itself.

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Andreas Lubitz researched suicide and cockpit door security

Diane A. Wade
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Andreas Lubitz researched suicide and cockpit door security

Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz had researched suicide methods and the security of cockpit doors in the week before the crash, German prosecutors say.

Andreas Lubitz, 27, is suspected of deliberately crashing Germanwings flight 4U 9525 into the French Alps on March 24.

German prosecutors said internet searches were found on a tablet used by Andreas Lubitz.

Meanwhile, the second “black box” flight recorder from the plane has been recovered.

There were no survivors among the 150 people on board the Airbus A320.

Photo Bild
Photo Bild

The German prosecutors said internet searches made on the tablet found in Andreas Lubitz’s Duesseldorf flat included “ways to commit suicide” and “cockpit doors and their security provisions”.

Spokesman Ralf Herrenbrueck said: “He concerned himself on one hand with medical treatment methods, on the other hand with types and ways of going about a suicide.

“In addition, on at least one day he concerned himself with search terms about cockpit doors and their security precautions.”

Andreas Lubitz had been deemed fit to fly by his employers at Germanwings, a subsidiary of Lufthansa.

Based on voice recordings from the first flight recorder recovered almost immediately at the crash site, investigators believe Andreas Lubitz intentionally crashed Flight 9525, which was travelling from Barcelona to Duesseldorf.

The second “black box” recovered is the flight data recorder (FDR) with readings for nearly every instrument seen as vital to the investigation into the crash.

If the flight recorder is not too badly damaged, French investigators hope to retrieve technical information on the time of radio transmissions and the plane’s acceleration, airspeed, altitude and direction.

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Dubai sandstorm disrupts air traffic

Nancy Clayson
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Dubai sandstorm disrupts air traffic

A major sandstorm across the United Arab Emirates has reduced visibility to just a few hundreds feet in some parts of Dubai.

High winds have whipped up desert sands causing residents to suffer breathing difficulties.

The storm has led to flight diversions from Dubai’s International Airport, leaving many passengers stranded.

Abu Dhabi police say the storm has caused a serious traffic accident and forecasters predict it could last days.Dubai sandstorm 2015

Although sandstorms are not unusual in the region, the extreme weather has shocked some locals.

“Last time, I have seen [a storm], it was not up to this,” said one Dubai resident.

“I felt very bad, and I hear that there were some accidents already on Dubai’s roads.”

Abu Dhabi police say a 24-year-old has been airlifted to hospital after being seriously injured in the traffic accident caused by the reduced visibility.

The United Arab Emirates’ National Centre of Meteorology and Seismology warned of reduced visibility of as little as 500 meters.

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