Corax
Commons Leader Andrea Leadsom quits cabinet, saying she no longer believes government's approach will deliver Brexit, comes amid backlash against Theresa May's Brexit plan from Conservative MPs, several cabinet ministers say May cannot stay
World
Four commercial ships targets of sabotage attack off United Arab Emirates, two Saudi oil tankers sustained significant damage, US has deployed warships to the region in recent days citing indications of threats from Iran, who's foreign ministry calls for a full investigation
Donald Trump vows to raise tariffs on USD 200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 to 25 percent as China backtracks on almost all aspects of trade deal negotiations, after 20 years of having their way with US, China still miscalculates the Trump administration, source says
Iran suspends parts of international nuclear deal, will keep enriched uranium stocks and threatens to resume production of more-highly-enriched uranium in 60 days if other signatories do not act to protect Iran from US sanctions
Opposition leader Juan Guaidó won't rule out US military intervention in Venezuala, says move to push out Maduro and call for free elections needs more military support, US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo don't rule out military action, Maduro urges soldiers to out traitors and show loyalty to the Fatherland and its legitimate commander-in-chief
Trump administration to designate Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist organisation, follows request by Egyptian President during White House visit in April, will bring economic and travel sanctions against Egypt's oldest Islamist movement
Pope Francis accused of committing heresy in open letter, states Pope has publicly denied truths of the faith and his words and actions amount to a comprehensive rejection of Catholic teaching on marriage and sexual activity, on the moral law, and on grace and the forgiveness of sins, many prominent clergymen and scholars among the signatories
ISIS terrorist leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi appears on video for first time in five years, praises terror attacks on Christians in Sri Lanka and comments on defeat in Baghouz
Miscellaneous
Raven chicks born at Tower of London for first time in 30 years, born to parents Huginn and Muninn, Ravenmaster at the Tower for 13 years Chris Skaife says he feels like a proud father
Internet’s most famous cat, Grumpy Cat, dies aged seven after complications from a urinary tract infection, one of internet's first "petfluencers" who gained fame online for her perpetually gloomy gaze
Transgender powerlifter Mary Gregory stripped of four women's world records after obligatory doping control, physiologically classified as a male according to US Powerlifting Federation rules
Southwest Airlines passenger removed from flight delayed for several hours after jokingly telling a flight attendant they should be passing out vodka instead of water because they had been waiting so long
Donald Trump to attend ongoing Grand Sumo Tournament in Tokyo during state visit at end of May, says he's always found sumo fascinating and will present newly made trophy to the winner of the championship, "the Trump Cup" among names considered for the trophy
New baby giraffe at Seattle zoo outfitted with therapeutic shoes to help treat abnormalities in his rear legs, two-piece shoes made of high-density polyethylene and plywood after consulting colleagues at other zoos and medical literature
Plougastel-Daoulas in Brittany offers EUR 2,000 reward for anyone who can decrypt inscriptions on mysterious rock believed to be centuries old, "ROC AR B… DRE AR GRIO SE EVELOH AR VIRIONES BAOAVEL… R I OBBIIE: BRISBVILAR… FROIK…AL" read parts, accompanied by pictures including a sailing boat and the two dates 1786 and 1787
Media
France threatens three French journalists with jail time and fine for using secret documents to reveal lies about country's involvement in Yemen war
State broadcaster China Central Television switches scheduling amid US-China trade war, anti-American Heroic Sons and Daughters (1964), Battle on Shangganling Mountain (1954), and Surprise Attack (1960) shown at prime time — films all set during Korean War, otherwise known in China as the War to Resist American Aggression and Aid Korea
Australian DJ Adam Sky dies in accident on Bali, was badly injured smashing through a glass door while trying to help friend who had fallen from their private terrace, Singapore-based Sky was ranked as third most popular DJ in Asia
Snoop Dogg backs Louis Farrakhan who was kicked off of Facebook and Instagram, urges his fans to post their favorite videos of the Nation of Islam leader on their Instagram and Facebook pages, challenges social media platforms to ban him
Facebook and Instagram bans Alex Jones, Paul Joseph Watson, Milo Yiannopoulos and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan after extensive evaluation, will remove pages and not allow promotion of events when it knows banned individual is participating
British left-wing newspaper The Guardian breaks even for first time in recent history, increased financial contributions from readers major contributing factor
Scientific journal refuses article by professor Ton van Raan over Sleeping Beauty metaphor referring to scientific research lain dormant suddenly being rediscovered as scientific breakthrough, sexualising to women and offensive to other cultures, Journal of the Association for Informational Science and Technology editor Julia Khanova claims, Van Raan will not rewrite his article but publish it in another journal
Facebook blocks 17 pages belonging to three right wing networks ahead of Spanish general election on April 28, social media giant says decision not based on content, but on page coordinators using duplicate and fake accounts, together pages had more than 1.5 million followers and accumulated over seven million interactions since beginning of year
Politics
Nigel Farage hit by milkshake during visit to Newcastle, several pro-Brexit politicians subjected to same treatment in recent weeks
Sweden asks Netherlands to back plan for international tribunal to try ISIS terrorists travelling to caliphate from European countries, summit to be held in Stockholm on June 3, Dutch government adamant not to act to bring Dutch jihadis back to the Netherlands
Coinbase blocks Milo Yiannopoulos from the platform after having blocked Gab founder Andrew Torba and WikiLeaks Shop earlier this year
Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt genuinely worried over hand signals by incoming Estonian ministers, EKRE representatives made the allegedly right-wing OK gesture at Estonian parliament Riigikogu
Three of US most influential female activists forms Supermajority, organization aims to mobilise 2 million women over next year to become organisers and political leaders in their communities, creation of Cecile Richards, former head of Planned Parenthood; Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter; and Ai-jen Poo, executive director of National Domestic Workers Alliance
Tommy Robinson announces plans to stand as independent MEP in European elections, will speak out against Islamification of Britain, kick-starts campaign with family-friendly barbecue event in Manchester, promptly told by police he was potentially in breach of electoral laws on bribery by offering free food to voters
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz condemns allegedly racist poem by Braunau am Inn deputy mayor Christian Schilcher (FPÖ), poem compares Austrians and immigrants alike to rats, asking the latter to hurry away unless they adapt to way of life of their new home country, Vice-Chancellor and FPÖ head Heinz-Christian Strache says incitements and campaign against his party shows competitors are nervous ahead of European Parliament elections
Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld first Republican to challenge Donald Trump in 2020, Weld shared the ticket with Gary Johnson in 2016, party leaders promptly reject his campaign, according to recent Gallup poll 89% of Republican voters approve of the president
Opinion
Brendan O’Neill: Anyone who doubts the green movement is morphing into millenarian cult should take a look at Greta Thunberg, the monotone voice, look of apocalyptic dread in her eyes and talk of coming great fire that will punish us, echoes 1600s preachers warning parishioners of the coming hellfire if they fail to give up their witches, Extinction Rebellion a public manifestation of millenarian fear, bourgeois depression and contempt for ordinary people
Barry Brownstein: Today's students on American college campuses advocate the same prohibitions on freedom as is stipulated in communist China’s Constitution, I imagine my 1999 student from Shanghai – seeing that individuals are the source of a nation’s greatness, not government – shouting "Do you have the slightest idea of the hard-won freedoms you are clamoring to surrender?"
Glenn Greenwald: Mueller probe saddest media spectacle I have ever seen, a complete and total fraud, Trump being a Russian asset a complete fairy tale, accusing Russia of election hacking while US interferes in every Democracy they can find transformed US into a laughingstock
David Marsanic: Our society is broken due to a lack of personal responsibility, to emulate the society of our ancestors, before the advent of the state, built on trust between individuals and when oath and one’s honor were taken seriously the way forward
Daniel McCarthy: Libertarians at least as suicidal as left-liberals, the economic crisis they focus on will be preceded by political and cultural ones of greater importance, libertarians seem numb to meaningful details such as the difference between Islam and Christianity while focusing on broader structures, tax cuts and de-regulation not enough since markets depend on civilization and nation
Robert Kajiwara: US military base construction on Okinawa sparks increased independence calls, 70% of Japanese military installations on Okinawa despite representing 0.6% of its landmass, the Henoko base, deemed unnecessary by both US and Japan, threatens world's 2nd most biodiverse coral reef and further denies economic opportunity to natives on prime real estate, less than half of population satisfied with being Japanese prefecture
Vox Day: the US Democratic Party's candidate demography is approaching the final logic of the "Diversity Party", logically the Republican Party should reposition officially as the "White Party", cucks and virtue signallers will be forced to heed this point when being chased by angry socialist mobs
Jonathan Head: Speculations whether Thaksin Shinawatra had a green light from King Vajiralongkorn to nominate Princess Ubolratana and the king then change his mind or if he assumed Princess Ubolratana had her brother's approval and took a reckless gamble, to be on the receiving end of such explicit royal disapproval is normally a devastating blow
Claudio Sopranzetti: Princess Ubolratanas's short-lived candidacy revealed a rift within Bangkok conservative elites, some of whom showed that their hate for the Shinawatras may be stronger than their adulation for the royal family, it also exposed a division within the pro-democracy camp between those who celebrated the nomination of the princess as a brilliant tactical move and those who saw it as a huge mistake, additionally it seem to have affected the relation between General Prayuth and King Vajiralongkorn
Europe
Nigel Farage hit by milkshake during visit to Newcastle, several pro-Brexit politicians subjected to same treatment in recent weeks
Sweden asks Netherlands to back plan for international tribunal to try ISIS terrorists travelling to caliphate from European countries, summit to be held in Stockholm on June 3, Dutch government adamant not to act to bring Dutch jihadis back to the Netherlands
Coinbase blocks Milo Yiannopoulos from the platform after having blocked Gab founder Andrew Torba and WikiLeaks Shop earlier this year
Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt genuinely worried over hand signals by incoming Estonian ministers, EKRE representatives made the allegedly right-wing OK gesture at Estonian parliament Riigikogu
Three of US most influential female activists forms Supermajority, organization aims to mobilise 2 million women over next year to become organisers and political leaders in their communities, creation of Cecile Richards, former head of Planned Parenthood; Alicia Garza, co-founder of Black Lives Matter; and Ai-jen Poo, executive director of National Domestic Workers Alliance
Tommy Robinson announces plans to stand as independent MEP in European elections, will speak out against Islamification of Britain, kick-starts campaign with family-friendly barbecue event in Manchester, promptly told by police he was potentially in breach of electoral laws on bribery by offering free food to voters
Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz condemns allegedly racist poem by Braunau am Inn deputy mayor Christian Schilcher (FPÖ), poem compares Austrians and immigrants alike to rats, asking the latter to hurry away unless they adapt to way of life of their new home country, Vice-Chancellor and FPÖ head Heinz-Christian Strache says incitements and campaign against his party shows competitors are nervous ahead of European Parliament elections
Former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld first Republican to challenge Donald Trump in 2020, Weld shared the ticket with Gary Johnson in 2016, party leaders promptly reject his campaign, according to recent Gallup poll 89% of Republican voters approve of the president
North America
North Carolina teaches gun safety to kids as young as six, Echo Firearm Training founder Michael Pegram aware of social media polarization, says it gives kids knowledge to be safe when they do come across a gun
Washington first US state to legalise human composting as alternative to cremations and burials, loved ones are given the soil, which they can use in planting flowers, vegetables or trees, process already legal in Sweden, Environmentally friendly burial alternatives increasingly popular
A greater number of voters believe Donald Trump will be re-elected, 57% of voters now believe it is likely the President will be successful, up from 46% in February, shift may relate to Democrats advocating proposals supported by only 20% of population, and a growing perception that Congress is moving to the left politically
Birth tourism increase in Canada due to automatic citizenship at birth, a 24% increase in births by non-resident mothers in British Columbia, to 837 babies in 2017-18, practice debases meaning of citizenship and immigrants who strive and sacrifice for a citizenship the ones most offended, says Liberal MLA Jas Johal
30% of DNA tests of migrant families at southern border suspected of lying about kinship revealed adults not related to children, pilot marked first time DNA testing has been used at border
Alabama lawmakers pass ban on abortions, only exception when woman’s health is at risk, doctors who carry them out facing up to 99 years in jail, senators votes in favour by 25 to 6, state governor to make final decision enacting the law, "bill has the opportunity to save the lives of millions of unborn children" Senator Clyde Chambliss says
Cuba launches widespread rationing of chicken, eggs, rice, beans, soap and other basic products in the face of grave economic crisis, Commerce Minister Betsy Díaz Velázquez blames hardening of US trade embargo by Trump administration, calls for calm and assures at least cooking oil will be in ample supply
Denver first US city to effectively decriminalize use and possession of "magic mushrooms" containing psychedelic psilocybin among people 21 and older, advocates for the measure argue psilocybin is safe, nonaddictive and that evidence suggests the drug has therapeutic benefits, will shift law enforcement resources away from pursuing nonviolent offenses
Latin America
Mexicans buy fake cell phones to hand over in muggings, originally used by shops in exhibition cases to protect against burglaries, armed robberies increasingly common aboard buses in Mexico City
Nicolás Maduro was ready to flee Venezuela amid protest violence and calls for his ouster on April 30, before Russia convinced him to stay, according to US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
Juan Guaidó issues video message accompanied by opposition figure Leopoldo López and well-armed soldiers, declares final phase of ousting Maduro, López says he was liberated from under house arrest by military, reports of clashes in Caracas, government sources claim all military garrisons support current regime
Legislation that would ban sale of cold beer in stores in Mexico City cause public backlash, residents launching hashtag #ConLasCervezasNo and saying politicians should worry about insecurity of the country instead
Peru's former president Alan García dies after shooting himself as police arrives at his home to arrest him, was accused of taking bribes from Brazilian construction company Odebrecht
Venezuela’s opposition figurehead Juan Guaidó stripped of parliamentary immunity which opens door to his arrest, members of Chavista assembly celebrates as Guaidó calls it a sign of regime's desperation, US repeats it will not stand idly by if anything happens to Guaidó
Brazil's federal prosecutor's office opposes President Jair Bolsonaro's plan to allow the armed forces commemorate the 55th anniversary of the 1964 military coup which some say liberated the country from the threat of communist usurpation
Asia
Poland's Ambassador to Israel physically and verbally assaulted by man outside embassy, attacker shouts "Polish, Polish" and spits at the diplomat, police arrests the assailant 90 minutes later
19-year-old crane operator Lan Junze saves 14 people from burning building in Fushun, China using his crane, drove to the scene from nearby construction site after hearing screams for help
Australian family finds 624g gold nugget worth USD 37,000 while walking their dog Lucky, the unexpected windfall came at a crucial time as the family has been struggling financially
Australian central bank misspells "responsibility" on 46 million new AUD 50 bank notes, microscopic typo found by eagle-eyed citizen, Reserve Bank of Australia say they will correct error at next print run later this year
Sri Lanka expels 600 foreign nationals, including 200 Islamic clerics, after Easter jihadist terror attacks, tightens visa restrictions for religious teachers, state of emergency remains in effect
Petition to stop plans to build hydroelectric dam in Tapanuli Orangutans' habitat Batang Toru on Sumatra gains almost 1 million signatures, only 800 left in the wild of red listed ape, calls on Bank of China to stop financing dam
Elderly Australian couple receives package containing USD 7 million worth of methamphetamine accidentally sent to their house, calls police after opening parcel and discovering it containing bags of white substance, 21-year-old man arrested in nearby town of Bundoora where a further 20 kilograms of methamphetamine is found
Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn marries deputy head of his personal guard force and gives her title Queen Suthida, the former flight attendant was appointed by Vajiralongkorn in 2014, who also made her full general in 2016, marriage a surprise as he is yet to be officially crowned following a mourning period for King Bhumibol
MIDDLE EAST
17 injured in explosion targeting tourist bus carrying 25 South Africans near Giza pyramids in Egypt, perpetrators not yet known but Islamist militants have attacked tourists in Egypt in the past
Exxon Mobil evacuates all foreign staff from Iraqi oilfield, evacuation is precautionary and temporary measure and there is no indication of any danger, says chief of Iraq’s state-owned South Oil Company Ihsan Abdul Jabbar
Escalation in Gaza Strip as Hamas and Islamic Jihad fires more than 250 rockets into Israel, who hits back with tank shelling and air strikes at Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets
Children of women raped by ISIS terrorists will not be accepted into Yazidi community, only children born of two Yazidi parents recognised as belonging to the sect once numbered about 500,000 people, group's faith leaders say
Poles in Pruchnik hang, beat and burn effigy resembling stereotypical Jew representing Judas in Good Friday ritual, Robert Singer, CEO of World Jewish Congress, says in statement Jews are deeply disturbed by ghastly revival of medieval anti-Semitism that led to unimaginable violence and suffering
Vida Movahed sentenced to one year in prison but pardoned by Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, was found guilty of encouraging public corruption after removing her hijab in 2017, authorities detained 29 women on similar charges in 2018
US grants Iraq 90-day waiver exempting it from sanctions against Iran, allowing Baghdad to keep importing Iranian gas that is critical for power production
Israel's Supreme Court disqualifies leader of Jewish Power party, Michael Ben-Ari, from next month's elections over his comments about Israeli Arabs, meanwhile Arab parties critical of the Israeli state previously banned from contesting the 9 April poll reinstated
Ikea in Israel sued for gender discrimination over catalogue that doesn't depict women, Orthodox Jewish woman Hannah Katsman's suit alleges the lack of images connotes "women have no value", the catalogue was specially created for Israel's ultra-Orthodox community but the company states it does not live up to their standards
Africa
World's first malaria vaccine Mosquirix, with a 40% protection rate, rolled out in Malawi, Kenya and Ghana, 435,000 people die of malaria each year and children under 5 at greatest risk, mosquitoes become resistant to drugs and insecticides after 10 to 20 years
More than 130 people killed with guns and machetes in ethnic attack on Mopti village in Mali by Dogon hunters accusing the Fulani villagers of ties to jihadist groups
Algeria's president Abdelaziz Bouteflika will hand over power to a democratically elected successor after a new constitution is approved and a national conference is held
Angolan parliament decriminalizes homosexual relations and bans sex-oriented discrimination, first change to penal code since independence from Portugal in 1975
Kenya third African nation to start teaching Chinese to elementary school students from 2020, the place of China in the world economy has grown so strong Kenya stands to benefit, says head of country’s curriculum development institute
Economy
Softbank reportedly planning IPO for its USD 100 billion investment fund, is also said to be mulling launching second fund of at least same size, aims to further increase investment in startups developing cutting-edge technologies
Investors Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger says partnership between Coca-Cola Opens and the legal cannabis industry would be a serious problem, as Coca-Cola has a wholesome image and cannabis doesn’t, the soft drink manuafacturer says it has no plans partnering with cannabis companies although its competitors explore drinks infused with cannabidiol
Amazon's automated tracking and termination process fired hundreds of employees at single facility between August of 2017 and September 2018 for failing to meet productivity quotas, leaked documents suggest, assuming a steady rate, Amazon fires 10 percent of its staff annually, solely for productivity reasons
Amazon in discussions with music rights holders regarding licensing deals for high-resolution streaming of their tracks, goal to secure enough music to launch new service by end of 2019 at a cost of USD 15 per month, similar services available at USD 20 per month
Private landlords in England will no longer be able to evict tenants after their fixed-term tenancy period ends, government says it wants to protect renters from unethical landlords and an organisation representing tenants calls it a vital first step to ending profiteering from housing
Alibaba owned online healthcare platform Xiang Hu Bao provides basic health plan where participants share each other's medical expenses, costs capped at USD 28 per month, covers 100 illnesses and has reached 50 million users since its launch in October, anyone with Alipay app credit score of 600 can join
Donald Trump calls on Federal Reserve to open monetary floodgates to turn world’s largest economy into "rocket ship", says they should drop interest rates and asks for quantitative easing
Jean-Claude Juncker says he is slightly worried about state of Italian economy, urges government to do more to boost growth, compromise deal from 2018 allows Italy to borrow more than initially envisaged, based on 2019 growth projection of one percent which now is overly optimistic, Juncker adds
Swedish Economic Crime Authority raids Swedbank's Stockholm headquarters, search in relation to ongoing investigation into whether the bank breached insider trading regulations, no individual yet served with a suspicion of a crime
McDonald’s will no longer lobby against minimum wage hikes, believes that all industries should be treated the same way, the company and its franchisees have an average starting wage exceeding USD 10 per hour, could boost House Democrats and their efforts to raise the minimum wage to USD 15 per hour
Technology
Facebook owned WhatsApp admits vulnerability enabling installation of surveillance software on phones and other devices using the app's voice calling function, calls don't need to be picked up and disappears from call log, software linked to Israeli firm NSO Group, known for its flagship software Pegasus with the ability to collect intimate data from target device
Microsoft Word introduces artificial intelligence to recommend edits that are politically correct and gender inclusive, suggestions include changing "policeman" to "police officer", software will also recommend ways to shorten sentences to ensure brevity
Windows 10 version 1903 gets rid of password expiration policy, admits it doesn't improve online security as too often users make small and predictable alteration or forget their new passwords, when password has been stolen most people will quickly realize and do something about it straight away
Joe Armstrong dead at 68, legendary computer scientist most known for creating programming language Erlang
Non-profit Archive.org hit with more than 550 takedown notices from EU asking them to remove archives including all books, TV footage and cartoons, falsely citing terrorist content, EU currently drafting legislation with fines of 4% of global revenue if takedown notices are not honoured within an hour
Google Wing launches first home delivery drone service in Australia, will deliver takeaway food, coffee and medicines in small packages lowered into customer's garden on a length of string, trials have attracted complaints drones are noisy and intrusive
Science
Swedish and British scientists show individual’s genetic make-up has great influence on whether they choose to acquire a dog, concordance rates of dog ownership much larger in identical twins than in non-identical ones, next step to identify which genetic variants affect this choice using data from Swedish Twin Registry
Parents who raise their children as vegans should face prosecution, according to Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium, comes after a number of deaths related to the diet, an estimated 3% of Belgian children forced to eat vegan
32-year-old Greek woman gives birth to boy with DNA from three people, using experimental form of IVF using an egg from the mother, sperm from the father and another egg from a donor woman, some say procedure raises ethical questions, Dr Panagiotis Psathas, president of Institute of Life in Athens, says every woman's inalienable right to become a mother with her own genetic material has become a reality
International collaboration Event Horizon Telescope says it captured first ever image of a black hole, located at center of galaxy Messier 87, 55 million light-years from Earth and with a mass 6.5 billion times that of the Sun
Japanese Hayabusa-2 spacecraft thought to have detonated explosive charge on asteroid Ryugu, idea to create artificial crater to better understand how Earth was formed in early Solar System, probe later to return to gather samples from gouged depression
55% of non-cyclists rate cyclists not completely human, Australian study with 442 participants conclude, 9% admit they used their car to cut off a cyclist, professor Narelle Haworth finds the word "cyclist" dehumanising and wants to replace it with "people who ride bikes"
Tyrannosaurus rex discovered 1991 in western Canada world's biggest, team of paleontologists say after decades-long skeleton reconstruction process, estimated at 13 meters and more than 8,800 kilos, T. rex nicknamed Scotty is the oldest known having lived into its 30s
Mitochondrial DNA analysis may identify serial killer Jack the Ripper as Polish barber Aaron Kosminski, was identified by witness to one of the killings who then refused to testify against him, scientists analyzed blood-stained shawl from fourth victim Catherine Eddowes, linking Kosminski to the crimes
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