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German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer prohibits Bremen Migration Office branch from deciding asylum cases after center accused of improperly approving some 1,200 political asylum applications between 2013 and 2016, also says all decisions by employees in question to be reviewed

World

Polio could be eradicated by end of this year or next according to WHO, number of cases have plummeted from 350,000 in 1988 to 22 in 2017 and disease is now present only in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria
Iranian Quds Force fired 20 missiles towards Israeli military bases in Golan Heights from Syria without hitting targets, dozens of Iranian military sites in Syria destroyed in response with unknown number of casualties according to Israel
Angela Merkel, Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron declare that they together with Russia and China will uphold Iran deal, urge Trump administration not to obstruct implementation
Pyongyang criticizes alleged misleading claims that Donald Trump's policy of political pressure and sanctions drove North Korea to negotiating table, claims Kim Jong-un is driver of current situation
Chinese Civil Aviation Administration sends letter to 36 foreign air carriers telling them to remove references on websites and in other material that suggests Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau are independent from China, Orwellian nonsense according to Trump administration
Dominican Republic establishes diplomatic relations with China and breaks with Taiwan, Beijing seeks to increase pressure on Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen to accept one China principle
North Korea and South Korea sign declaration to completely abolish nuclear weapons during summit between leaders Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in
Donald Trump to meet Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari in Washington on April 30, will discuss counterterrorism and economic cooperation, wants to build on Nigeria's role as democratic leader in region
US will not pull troops from Syria intil it has accomplished goal to ward off threats to American interests from chemical weapons attacks, IS terrorists and Iran according to UN ambassador Nikki Haley
Swiss Spiez laboratory found toxin used on Sergei and Yulia containing traces of nerve agent BZ which Russia never developed, according to Russian foreign minister Lavrov who casts doubt on laboratory's novichok findings as substance too volatile to be found in such amounts after over two weeks

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Miscellaneous

American author Philip Roth dies at 85, wrote more than 30 books including 1991 memoir Patrimony
Illustrator Bill Gold dead at 97, was one of Hollywood's best-known creators of film posters and designed iconic poster for Casablanca in 1942
Scot Robert McLeod dead at 78, used to say he was born 200 years too late and lived in off-grid cabin as only full-time St. James Bay resident 35 km northwest of Juneau, Alaska, since early 1980s
American author Tom Wolfe dead at 88, known for writing The Bonfire of the Vanities, The Right Stuff and The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
Novichok rapidly-growing trademark for Russian products, applications registered for alcohol products as well as sunflower oil and detergents
Sean Gabb: Several hundred years old documentation of UFO sightings a better proof of extraterrestrial life than modern ones, difficult for people living prior to 17th century to fabricate such stories
81-year-old Australian James Harrison whose blood plasma has saved 2.4 million infants does 1,173rd and final donation, naturally produces rare combination of Rh- blood and Rh+ antibodies which makes him an ideal donor for Rh- women carrying Rh+ fetuses
12,000 kilograms of liquid chocolate spilled across highway after tanker truck accident near Polish town of Słupca, several hours of cleaning required as 5-centimeter-thick layer solidified
13-year-old Trenton McKinley in Alabama who suffered seven skull fractures when he fell from car trailer wakes up after being declared brain dead, is now going through slow recovery process at home and says he believed he was in heaven while he was unconscious
12 surgeons manage after five hour procedure to remove 60-kilogram ovarian tumor from Connecticut woman

Media

Barack and Michelle Obama sign multi-year deal with Netflix, say production company Higher Ground Productions seeks to "cultivate and curate the talented, inspiring, creative voices who are able to promote greater empathy and understanding between peoples", will make both documentaries and series
Chinese TV channel Mango TV barred from airing Eurovision song contest after blurring rainbow flags, censoring tattoos and not airing Irish and Albanian entries, European Broadcasting Union says censoring not in line with its values of diversity
Website altright.com shut down, GoDaddy usually respects freedom of expression but says it has made an exception, Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law submitted complaint last month
Web.com hands over domain france.com that Jean-Noël Frydman has owned since 1994 to French government after Paris court ruling, Frydman files federal lawsuit in US
Netflix to buy cinemas in Los Angeles and New York to increase chances of own productions receiving Academy Awards
BBC clarifies fictional nature of video where news presenter announces nuclear war between Nato and Russian, film made in 2016 for company investigating psychological warfare, original contained disclaimers about information being false but these have been edited out from version going viral
Chinese microblog Sina Weibo reverses decision to remove homosexual content as part of three-month cleaning campaign after protests from LGBT advocates
Facebook bans Richard Spencer's page along with two other pages he controlled, alt-right figurehead continues to have active accounts on Twitter and Youtube
Chinese microblog platform Sina Weibo bans gay and violent content including pictures, cartoons and text posts during three-month clean-up campaign, says action aimed to comply with China’s new cyber security law calling for strict data surveillance
Mark Zuckerberg in first of two days of questioning in US Senate after Cambridge Analytica affair, apologizes for Facebook being used to spread fake news and violating privacy of users but does not back regulation

Politics

NRA sets new attendence record with 87,154 people attending annual meeting in Dallas
House of Lords votes to support amendment to Brexit meaning UK will remain in EU single market, decision can be overruled by House of Commons
Italy's Five Star Movement leader Luigi Di Maio rejects final offer for right wing coalition as party does not want to cooperate with Berlusconi's Forza Italia and Lega Nord leader Matteo Salvini does not want to scrap alliance, proposes fresh elections instead
Andrea Nahles new leader of German social democrats SPD, received support from 66% of delegates at extra party convention which was lower than expected
Pat Buchanan: Orbán and others like him succeed as they oppose dissolution of nations which common Europeans identify with while their competitors dismiss nationalism in favor of utopian multiculturalist democracy, despite decadent US exemplifying failure of democracy people will use it to replace weak elites with strong men
Manuel Valls considers running for Barcelona mayor, former socialist PM of France was born in city by Catalan father and Swiss mother, opposes independence for Catalonia
Austria government wants to give police right to confiscate mobile phones to investigate identities of asylum seekers, also wants to repatriate minors who commit crimes and extend time required to become citizen from six to ten years
Ingo Senftleben, leader of German Christian Democrats in state of Brandenburg, ready to go into coalition with Alternative for Germany if it enables him to win power
Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) retires from Congress after serving out term in January, says additional term would mean his kids would have only ever known him as weekend dad, touts tax code reform and rebuilding nation's military as top accomplishments
Ecuador once again cuts off Julian Assange’s internet connection at London embassy after Wikileaks founder criticizes Germany's detention of former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, Ecuador refers to agreement about respecting country's diplomatic relations

Opinion

Doug Smythe: Classical liberalism useless as anti-leftist or unifying ideology since its own principles have given rise to what it now wants to fight, leftist identity politics as well as biologistic nationalism presupposes liberal atomization of individuals and eradication of natural bonds
Cathy Ruse: Grassroots movement fighting perverted sexual education in schools in English-speaking countries healthy reaction against current order where tax money is used to recruit children into sexual revolution, significant that education focuses on contraceptive drugs rather than marriage and family
Justin Raimondo: Donald Trump's unease with own foreign policy could be sign that he is being held hostage in White House by warmongerers and deep state, his initial skepticism with regards to allegations against Russia has been counteracted by interventionist advisers
Richard Greenhorn: Patrick Deneen's claim that liberalism has failed inaccurate, avoids defining ideology and does not understand that its nature is theological rather than political, modern conservatives unable to criticize progressive enemy as they are themselves part of it
Annie Holmquist: Important not to underestimate impact of friends on children's character, parents should choose activities wisely and make home place of hospitality, happiness and authority in order to help children become good and upstanding adults
Brianna Heldt: Ryan T. Anderson’s book When Harry Became Sally must-read for modern parents raising kids in cultural climate marked by transgender activism and relativistic understanding of sexuality, combines solid scientific evidence with personal anecdotes from transgendered men and women themselves
George Stanciu: Francis Bacon's experimental method of science and rejection of senses as measure of things launched man's Second Fall, lead to progressive hubris that technology and inventions could create paradise on Earth, resulted in communism, nazism and contemporary society plagued by loneliness, depression and malaise
Richard Storey: Alt-right tendency to oppose Christianity betrays lack of basic knowledge about European history, ignores Christian defense of masculine values, free will and natural law, romanticizes pagan religions which were fatalistic, hyperindividualistic and multiculturalist
Dwight Longenecker: Patience with Pope Francis begins to run out after bullying of conservatives, ambiguous comments about homosexuality and gender ideology and flawed environmentalist agenda, there is hope in observation that liberalism tends to empty churches, in continuing hard work at grassroots level as well as in faith that God really is with His Church
Daniel Lattier: Secularism ironically grew out of Christianity, described accurately by Illich's theory, progressive mutation which hubristically wanted to remake entire society and abolish older ritualism became dominant, decreased need for struggle and will power which led to lukewarm religion

Europe

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer prohibits Bremen Migration Office branch from deciding asylum cases after center accused of improperly approving some 1,200 political asylum applications between 2013 and 2016, also says all decisions by employees in question to be reviewed
Giuseppe Conte nominated as Italy's next prime minister, law professor who teaches at Florence University chosen as neutral compromise candidate by Five Star Movement and Lega
Three dead and three injured after four terrorists attack Russian Orthodox Archangel Michael Church in Chechen capital Grozny, assailants heard chanting "Allahu akbar" before storming church armed with guns, Molotov cocktails, knives and axes in hostage-taking attempt, all terrorists killed by police
Germany expects spending EUR 78 billion on migration-related issues through 2022 of which 21 billion for social payments and 13 billion for language courses and other integrative measures, according to Der Spiegel magazine
Alternative for Germany (AfD) files Constitutional Court complaint against government's refugee policy, accuses Chancellor Angela Merkel for unconstitutionally bypassing parliament when opening country's borders in 2015
Four left-wing parties negotiating to form new administration in Amsterdam publish plan to tackle mass tourism, increase in tourist taxes, limit for Airbnb rentals and tougher rules for horse-drawn carriages and other fun transport among main points
Researchers make two pages of Anne Frank’s diary covered up with brown paper legible using image processing technology, hidden texts contain dirty jokes and lines about sex education and prostitution
Vladimir Putin dressed in jeans and jacket opens bridge to Crimea and praises builders for miracle he said they had created, drives Kamaz truck in convoy crossing 19-kilometer bridge, four-lane highway to be supplemented by two-lane railroad, total cost USD 3.7 billion
Norwegian PM Erna Solberg says she is open to UK joining European Economic Area after Brexit
20-year-old Islamist terrorist who killed one and seriously injured four in Paris mass stabbing came to city along with parents as political refugees from Chechnya early 2000s and was on anti-terror watchlist of suspected extremists despite having no previous criminal record, man's parents now detained

North America

At least one additional informant attempted to infiltrate Trump campaign, according to Donald Trump's former aide Michael Caputo
Potentially deadly acid fumes and glass-like particles threaten inhabitants of Hawaii, formed when erupting lava reacts with sea water
Starbucks changes policy to allow noncustomers to sit in cafes and use restrooms, follows five weeks after two black noncustomers were arrested at Philadelpia Starbucks for refusing to leave store
Ontario transwoman sues spa for CAD 50,000 after Muslim female employee refused leg-waxing service on religious grounds, CEO says company respects staff members' "feelings of safety and dignity in regards to the right not to perform waxing services on males or male genitals"
US Senate votes to reinstate net neutrality rules for internet service providers, bill has little chance of advancing in House of Representatives
Victims of former gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar agree to settlement with Michigan State University, school to pay USD 425 million to 332 victims with another USD 75 million set aside in trust fund for future plaintiffs
US Senate Intelligence Committee approves Donald Trump's nominee to lead CIA Gina Haspel, expected to be confirmed by full Senate next week
Trump administration changes guidelines to house inmates according to biological sex instead of gender identification, change due to four women filing federal lawsuit arguing sharing facilities with transgender women putting them at greater risk of rape, previous guidelines introduced in January 2017 just days before Obama left office
New Kansas law makes it illegal for police to have sex with people they stop for traffic violations or detain during criminal investigations, was one of 33 states to allow such relations, sex with people in jail already banned for police
New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (D) resigns after allegations of physical abuse by four women, denies accusations

Latin America

Venezuela expels American diplomats Todd Robinson and Brian Naranjo as Donald Trump authorized new sanctions against country after widely-condemned presidential election
Nicolás Maduro re-elected as Venezuelan president with 67.7% of vote in election that main opposition boycotted, both second placed Henri Falcón and third candidate Javier Bertucci demand new election due to irregularities
Giant anti-communist flag displayed on Rio de Janeiro hill on Karl Marx's 200th birth day, firefighters called to remove it since it was placed in national park (Portuguese)
Venezuela raises minimum monthly wage by 155% to VEF 1 million three weeks before presidential election, raise to USD 1.61 at black market exchange rate third increase this year
Mexican presidential candidate Jaime "El Bronco" Rodriguez says during debate that robbers' hands should be cut off, was country's first independent governor and is in fifth place in most opinion polls
Ten killed and at least 100 injured in Nicaragua after three days of clashes between police and people protesting pension reform, protests concerning 5% pension tax and increased forced contributions to system for both employees and employer
Cuba communist party nominates 57-year-old Miguel Díaz-Canel as only candidate to replace 86-year-old Raúl Castro who retires after ten years in power
Venezuelan National Assembly approves preliminary impeachment proceedings against Nicolás Maduro after corruption scandal, not clear what effect will be as legitimate Supreme Court is exiled in Colombia and has been replaced by loyalist magistrates
Ecuadorian president Lenín Moreno confirms three journalists kidnapped at Colombia border in late March are dead, says military operations against drug gangs in area will continue
Venezuela's Supreme Court in exile orders detention of President Nicolás Maduro and asks Interpol to issue arrest warrant, court is recognised by Organization of American States and consists of magistrates appointed by opposition in 2017

Asia

Malaysian police raid apartments owned by former PM Najib Razak’s family as part of investigation into state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad, seize luxury bags, cash and jewellery
Japanese commuter train departs 25 seconds early due to mistake by train conductor, operator apologises for inconvenience
School in eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou installs cameras to monitor facial expressions in classroom in order to help teachers identify which students are concentrating, unnamed student says he believes everyone’s concentration has improved
Chinese tourists cause anger in Vietnam as they arrive in Cam Ranh dressed in t-shirts with illustration of South China Sea territorial claims, forced to take off offending shirts before being allowed to leave airport
Several police officers and civilians wounded by yet another suicide bomb in Indonesian city of Surabaya, suicide bombers rode two motorbikes up to checkpoint outside police station
Cambodian school director arrested for insulting King Norodom Sihamoni by suggesting monarch was behind decision to disband main opposition party, first person to face charges after law was passed in February
Suicide bombings in Indonesian Surabaya with at least 13 dead and 40 injured carried out by family where sons 18 and 16 years old rode motorcycles into church, mother and daughters 12 and 9 years old forced way inside other church with bombs strapped to waists and father drove bomb-laden car into third church facade, IS-affiliated family recently returned from Syria
North Korea says it will dismantle nuclear test site according to state news agency KCNA, tunnels will be collapsed with explosions during ceremony which journalists across world will be invited to cover, to take place between May 23 and 25 depending on weather
Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un to meet on June 12th in Singapore, will be special moment for world peace according to Trump
Rockhampton Regional Council in Queensland covers up Taiwanese flag on bull statue in order for it to reflect Australian government's one-China policy, statue had been painted by school students for event hosted by country's beef industry which has China as one of largest export markets

Middle East

Syrian army restores control over all areas surrounding Damascus after recapturing al-Hajar al-Aswad district and Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp from IS terrorists
Israel's ambassador to Turkey declared persona non grata filmed by invited journalists while being denied access to VIP lounge and bodily searched at Istanbul airport, Israel responds by inviting press to film Turkish diplomat who was asked for documents by security guard while arriving at Israeli Foreign Ministry
Iraq catches five "most wanted" IS terrorist commanders, leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi not among captured
Sausan Alkassem selected as judge in Haifa District Labor Court, fist female Druze judge in Israel
US cancels financial support to White Helmets in Syria which is helping population in areas controlled by Islamists, will make group lose third of overall funding
Benjamin Netanyahu claims to have evidence of secret Iranian nuclear weapons program which Tehran dismisses as propaganda, comes two weeks before Trump administration will decide on deal with Iran
Missile attacks targeting outposts close to Aleppo and Hama in Syria kill 26 pro-government fighters, mostly Iranians, according to Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, speculation that strikes were carried out by Israel
Saudi airstrike in northwestern Yemen kills at least 20 people attending wedding and wounds another 30, incident will be fully investigated according to spokesman for Saudi-led coalition
Top-ranking Houthi political leader Saleh al-Samad killed last week in Saudi-led airstrike in Yemen
Saudi security forces say shot down amateur drone near royal palace in Riyadh according to orders and instructions, amateur footage shows loud gunfire lasting at least 30 seconds

Africa

Zimbabwe has applied to re-join Commonwealth according to organisation's Secretary-General Patricia Scotland, observers' report on upcoming election in country part of informal assessment to determine re-admission
US ambassador to Cameroon accuses government forces for targeted killings against country's Anglophone separatists, calls for dialogue to end escalating 18-month crisis
Nigerian former vice president Atiku Abubakar to run in next year's presidential election, becoming main challenger of Muhammadu Buhari, wants to privatize parts of state oil firm NNPC and says he is believer in very small government
South African photographer Sam Nzima dead at 83 – took iconic photo of dying 13-year-old Hector Pieterson during 1976 Soweto uprising, which Time Magazine 2016 named one of 100 most influential photographs in history
At least 48 killed after Patel Dam in central Kenya bursts, most structures within three-kilometre radius destroyed
Democratic Republic of Congo Health Ministry confirms two cases of Ebola in Bikoro in northwestern part of country, 17 deaths in area
Nigerian military with support from Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Benin rescues 1,000 Boko Haram hostages, mostly women and children
At least 51 killed by bandits and former cattle rustlers who surrounded village of Gwaska in northern Nigeria, children under age of 10 among dead
Pentagon accuses China of harassing US fighter pilots with military grade lasers in Djibouti – formal complaint issued, demanding that Beijing investigate series of incidents in area where respective countries operate military bases just 18 miles apart
More than 60 killed in suicide attack against mosque and market in Mubi in northeast Nigeria, Islamist Boko Haram whose insurgency has left 20,000 people dead since 2009 suspected to be behind bombing

Economy

US House of Representatives passes bill to loosen federal regulations on banking sector, changes Dodd-Frank law by raising threshold for closer Fed oversight from USD 50 billion to USD 250 billion in assets
Paypal buys Swedish startup iZettle for USD 2.2 billion
Japan's economy shrank by 0.6 percent on annualized basis during first quarter after eight straight quarters of economic expansion
Kellogg closes operations in Venezuela citing country's economic and social deterioration, Nicolás Maduro says company has been handed to workers and that it will continue to operate in hands of working class
US clothing retailer Gap apologises for selling T-shirt with map of China not comprising Tibet and Taiwan, will implement rigorous reviews to prevent repeat of mistake
Barclays CEO Jes Staley fined GBP 642,000 and has GBP 500,000 paycut imposed for trying to identify whistleblower who sent letters criticizing an employee of the bank
California starts requiring solar panels on new residential buildings, homes located under shade among those exempt, critics say measures to drive up building costs by nearly USD 10,000 per home
Walmart acquires Indian e-commerce giant Flipkart, deal values company at USD 20 billion and is expected to be among Walmart’s biggest ever, acquisition mistakenly announced by Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son
French government will not bail out Air France after company faces losses due to series of strikes, could mean airline will disappear according to economy minister Bruno Le Maire
Argentina's central bank raises interest rates to 40% which is third increase in eight days, inflation in country was at 25% in 2017 highest in Latin America except for Venezuela

Technology

Boston Dynamics shows humanoid robot Atlas jogging on sloped grass and jumping logs, dog-like SpotMini climbing stairs and avoiding obstacles autonomously
Shaun Nichols: Cambridge Analytica's shutdown more of a market exercise, official documents show new firm Emerdata Limited run by similar management and investors as former company's parent organization and headquartered at same offices
Project In Codice Ratio uses AI and OCR software to create digital transcripts of Vatican Secret Archives which is one world’s largest historical collections, lack of spaces between words has previously made transcription difficult
Russia launches floating 70MW nuclear power plant, two reactors will be used to power 100,000-person town of Pevek, desalination plant and oil rigs, towed from St Petersburg via Murmansk
Rick Dickinson dies while receiving treatment for cancer, famous for having designed iconic home computer ZX Spectrum for Sinclair Research
Joseph James DeAngelo who is suspected to be Golden State Killer was arrested after DNA found on crime scene partially matched genome of relative on open-source genealogy website
Spotify starts testing way of filtering out songs which have explicit lyrics, previously word "explicit" was displayed next to tracks
Hyperloop Transportation Technologies begins building two test tracks running 320 and 1,000 meters in length at facility in Toulouse in southern France, ready for testing later this year
Virgin Galactic makes its first engine powered test flight of the space craft SpaceShipTwo since the accident in October 2014 when the second pilot Michael Alsbury died but the first pilot, Peter Siebold survived, the craft is released from an airplane that reaches, at its highest, 25,600 meters altitude, and speed of Mach 1.87
The Chinese space station Tiangong-1 will to the largest part burn up when it re-enters the Earth's atmosphere over the southern Pacific Ocean; it was launched in 2011 as a part of a space program that will establish a permanent station in orbit in 2023

Science

Lead pollution in Greenlandic ice correlates to expansion of Roman empire and events thought to have affected silver production
Scientists at Max Planck Institute in German Leipzig to grow lentil-sized Neanderthal brain organoids via human stem cells edited to contain Neanderthal DNA to understand "why humans seem to be cognitively so special", organoids to be incapable of thoughts or feelings but will replicate basic adult brain structures
American soldier undergoes first successful transplant of penis and scrotum at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, injured by IED in Afghanistan, professor W.P. Andrew Lee hopeful patient will regain near normal urinary and sexual functions
Prion infection similar to mad cow disease discovered in Algerian camels, unclear if transmission to humans possible
Austrian psychiatrist Hans Asperger collaborated with Nazi euthanasia program according to medical historian Herwig Czech, referred 35 children to infamous clinic Am Spiegelgrund wehere 800 children were murdered
Children's reading ability determines how much they choose to read, rather than vice versa, according to Dutch study covering 12,000 twins
Autodidact fossil hunter in Lilstock, England finds bones of ichthyosaur which is calculated to have been 26 meter long, could mean ancient aquatic creatures were largest animals ever, other skeletons presumed to be from land-living dinosaurs could be from marine reptiles
One in three men and one in four women in Germany smoke, according to poll with 12,200 participants, highest proportion of smokers in Brandenburg and among people with low education or income (German)
Marmoset monkeys more likely to share food with young when out of sight from rest of group, surprise researchers at University of Zürich
Rare form of ice discovered inside diamond, first time ice-VII has been observed outside laboratory, characterized by cubic crystal structure created by very high pressure

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