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Kerry Says Situation in Ukraine is better than Yesterday

Though Foreign ministers of the world could not make a deal yet John Kerry Secretary of United States says “we would solve the Ukraine issue through dialogue not through fight”.

After holding series of meetings with foreign ministers of United Kingdom, France, Germany, Ukraine and Russia, John Kerry told to reporters that “we all have agreed to solve Ukraine issue amicably and through dialogue”.

Besides, John Kerry said that these meetings were more or less “Olive branch- the beginning of period of thaw” and they were undoubtedly constructive. Though, finding a quick solution of this issue is very difficult yet I consider today as better than yesterday.

On the other hand, the foreign minister of France Laurent Fabius said that “It was for the first time that something has moved with good pace and we are optimist for a constructive solution”. Besides, Russian foreign ministry said that “Kerry did not mention in his statements that we had reached over the solution of transition of power in Ukraine”.

Contrary to this, Ukraine officials said that “Russia has sent a big number of troops in the Crimean region and it was absolute violation of international law”. The Ukraine interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said CNN that “I am worried, what would happen if the diplomatic talks fail to reach to any solution”? He further said, I have directly spoken to Russian Prime minister and put forward two opinions – political and military.

Besides, John Kerry said “It is up to Russia now whether it withdraws forces from the region and calls for international observers to monitor the region or not”. He further adds, the violation of Ukraine territorial integrity has united the whole world on this front and Russia knows the very well. Lastly, it was the first top notch meeting since the beginning of Crimea crisis and states are serious monitoring the Ukraine issue.

86th Academy Awards winners

The event of Oscar 2014 has come to its end. This event brought some cherishing moments both for winners and losers alike. Few faces were glittering with honor and a few Hollywood personalities were apparently upset for not receiving a single award.

Here goes the list of Winners:

Best Picture	12 Years a Slave

Best Actor in a Leading Role	Matthew McConaughey (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress in a Leading Role	Cate Blanchett (Blue Jasmine)

Best Actor in a Supporting Role	Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club)

Best Actress in a Supporting Role	Lupita Nyong’o (12 Years a Slave)

Best Animated Feature	Frozen (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)

Best Cinematography	Gravity (Emmanuel Lubezki)

Best Costume Design	The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin)

Best Directing	Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón)

Best Documentary Feature	20 Feet from Stardom (Morgan Neville, Gil Friesen, Caitrin Rogers)

Best Documentary Short	The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life (Malcolm Clarke, Nicholas Reed)

Best Film Editing	Gravity (Alfonso Cuarón, Mark Sanger)

Best Foreign Language Film	The Great Beauty (Italy)

Best Makeup and Hairstyling	Dallas Buyers Club (Adruitha Lee, Robin Mathews)

Best Original Score	Gravity (Steven Price)

Best Original Song	Let It Go – Frozen

Best Production Design	The Great Gatsby (Catherine Martin, Beverley Dunn)

Best Animated Short Film	Mr. Hublot (Laurent Witz, Alexandre Espigares)

Best Live Action Short Film	Helium (Anders Walter, Kim Magnusson)

Best Sound Editing	Gravity (Glenn Freemantle)

Best Sound Mixing	Gravity (Skip Lievsay, Niv Adiri, Christopher Benstead, Chris Munro)

Best Visual Effects	Gravity (Tim Webber, Chris Lawrence, Dave Shirk, Neil Corbould)

Best Adapted Screenplay	12 Years a Slave (John Ridley)

Best Original Screenplay	Her (Spike Jonze)

Stocks Surge as tensions in Ukraine Plummet

Stocks have got a great momentum after easing the tensions of possible military confrontation between Russian and Ukraine. No doubt, it was the big day for business runners and most of the companies climbed to a big growth.

It is said that “The standard and Poor has surged to 500 points beating its own record of 1,859 points of February 28”. On the other hand, Dow Jones have secured 228 points and closed at 16,396 points. Nasdaq has also gained some hitting points after this stock surge.

Capital Economists said in a research note that “Fears of military confrontation have started fading and the business is returning back to its track”. No doubt, the fear of Ukraine and Russian war created troublesome situation for the whole world and Japanese yen, Oil, Gold, and treasury prices had fallen to greater extent.

Actually, the sudden surge took place after the forces withdrawal call of Putin. He was well aware that Russia would face serious economic setback however he called his troops not to launch attack in the Crimean region and ordered them to return to their bases immediately. This was the good news for investors and the normalization of situation brought enough happiness over the faces of marketers.

Robert Sluymer the Capital market analyst said that “the long term U.S equity indexes remains unaffected and short term indexes got a serious setback”. Besides, to ease the financial challenges of Kiev, Secretary of United States John Kerry promised to offer $ 1 billion loan on Tuesday.

Last but not the least, the recent deal of Disney have also helped it to hit the record and closed at $82.17.

Jimmy Fallon and Rahm Emmanuel Took a Polar Plunge

The famous comedian Jimmy Fallon took an icy dip in the Michigan Lake. The full suit dressed man took a dip in the -32 degree lake and came out with screaming expressions over his face. Actually, he had made a promise that he would make Sunday’s morning as Polar Plunge with Mayor Rahm under the condition that the Mayor would join his program “The Tonight Show” in New York.

Emmanuel and Fallon went into coldest lake from head to toe and they suddenly came out to cherish the crowd gathered to see them. On the other hand, the famous musical group named as “Bagpipers” sung a very beautiful song for their dare to dip in the cold water.

It goes without saying that a big number of spectators were dressed in polar bear costumes and they were holding the pamphlets of Fallon to show their support. The plunging practice is generally practiced once a year to raise money for Chicago Olympics and many famous people have participated in this fund raising campaign.

Besides, Jen Kramer the president of Special Olympics Chicago said that “The participation of Fallon and Rahm has attracted more than 3000 people to see the running and it was supposed to be biggest viewership since the last year”.

It must not be forgotten that last year Mayor Rahm said that if the children read 2 million books under the “Rahm readers” program, he would jump in the cold lake. When Fallon made a call to Mayor and asked him to appear in his Show, the Mayor told him “I would surely join you but you have to join me first in the polar plunge”.

Last but not the least, Fallon had jokingly said that “I did not realize before making the commitment that it would tremble my whole body”.

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Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski to warm up the Oscars

Johnny Weir and Tara Lipinski are going to pop up in the Oscars after successfully completing the Sochi commentary on figure skating. The media reports claim that both of these skaters will be dressed in white clothes and they have planned to light up the Academy Awards with their famous gigs.

The white dressed skaters will join Kathie Lee Gifford and Al Roker to warm up the event. Oscar awards is considered to be the biggest night for the Hollywood actors which nominated heroes and heroine are given awards for the best performance in respective movies.

It goes without saying, Kathie Lee will share her list of interviews conducted during the Oscar party where as co-host Billy Bush –behind the scenes- would rub the shoulders of Hollywood personalities.

It must be noted that Johnny and Tara have been hosting events since they resigned from the Professional Olympics Skating and they have recently completed their last show on Sochi Olympics.

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Prince George is going to make first public appearance

Since his birth, Baby Prince George will make his first public appearance along with his family while touring for Australia and New Zealand. Exactly, it would be the first public appearance of the infant son of world’s famous couple (William and Kate) and the tour would begin from 7^TH April to 25 April.

Kensington Palace said in its press conference that “William and Kate did not want baby George to stay away from them for almost 30 days however they have decided to take him along with them to complete the tour”. The media reports claim that baby George is going to make his appearance on 7^th April 2014 at Willington New Zealand and it is assumed that Will and Kate may also take him to attend an event scheduled to be held in Australia.

It is for the first time that both legal heirs of the Queen are going on tour and they had sought special permission from the Queen Elizabeth II. On the other hand, the Australian authorities said that “plenty of places will be named with the name Prince George”.

The couple will visit plenty of heritage sites, ceremonial events, military bases and other famous places of Willington. Lastly, they have also made plans to participate in different adventure activities.

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GDP Growth of US Slashed Down in 4th Quarter

The economy of United States is growing with slow pace. The experts hold the opinion that the reason of slow growth is due to the less consumer spending. They claim that the exports of the country have also slowed down causing the GDP to fall at 2.4 percent. But, they hope that, the economy of the country would surely improve its growth in the few months to come.

Prior to this, the GDP of the country was about 4.1 percent in the third quarter and it has sharply down. On the other hand, Commerce Department said that “the figures are subjected to change as the available figures are not final”.

The weaker consumer spending and consistent downfall in the real estate market, have grossly affected the GDP, says an expert. The report of Commerce Department claims that “The consumer spending contributing points to GDP has lessened down from 2.26 percentage points to 1.76 percentage points”.

No doubt, the unfriendly weather of United State is also one of the main culprits. It did not only affect the lives of the people but also affected the corporate sector. But, economists are quite optimist over the pace of GDP growth. They say that “This year will be the strongest year in terms of economic growth”.

Needless to say, Paul Ashworth the chief economist of Capital Economics said that “the economy of our country is slowly and gradually improving and the pace of growth should be considered as bad omen”.

Moreover, the spending of the government has also slowed down to larger extent and there are possibilities that improvement in the exports of the country may help its economy to improve more GDP growth in few months to come.

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America under Snow Attack

Quickly after the passage of January and February, March is going to be more dangerous for the people of United States. The situation is alarming and National Weather Service said that 90 million people might be affected from this snow fall. On the other hand, Washington and its surrounding areas have been carpeted with 8 to 12 inches of snow.

The gruesome weather condition can be gauged from the fact that flightaware.com has reportedly cancelled 1,800 flights and delayed 4,400 flights. Inevitably, the conditions at Dallas Fort Worth airport were more dangerous than other airports. It caused too many problems for the travelers and they were seemingly helpless.

It was just a just beginning. The storm combined with more snow is on its way. It has been predicted that the situation on Sunday would be more deadly. People have been advised to not opt for traveling or parking their vehicles in the streets.

Besides, Police has said that in Denver, a series of car accidents took place. The 911 confirmed that 1 person failed to succumb with his injuries and died. And, the injured victims are fighting with their life. In addition, Carleton College of Minnesota said that three students have been died due to severe car accident.

The National Weather Service has predicted that the temperature of Kansas on Sunday will be the coldest ever recorded. And, it may cause serious troubles for the people who are out of their homes. Government and rescue agencies are trying their best to save the lives of the people and they have requested people not to come out of home unless the weather is not human friendly.

Last but not the least, the situation in South would be more threatening. Damaging winds have started flowing in the south and they would cause a serious setback to the people living in the region.

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Supreme Court Looks at the Execution Plea of Freddie Le Hall

Florida based prison Freddie Le Hall has applied for the execution protection plea under the pretext of mental disability but the State claims that Hall “the death row inmate” is not mentally disabled and has IQ level as high as 70. The Florida State has taken 9 tests of Freddie from 1968 to 2008 and his lowest IQ level was recorded as 60 and the highest level of IQ level score fell around 80.

Actually, Supreme Court had disallowed the states from executing the inmates having mental illness in 2002 and given the IQ determination right to the respective states. The Florida state has devised a certain mental determination system on the basis of which if a person has 70 IQ level would not be considered as mentally disable.

On the other hand, the lawyer of Freddie writes to court that “The IQ tests are not perfect measures to determine ones intellectual capability”. Freddie has also challenged the IQ cut off of the State and called it rigid.

It goes without saying, a Judge, Professors and Psychiatrists have already concluded him as mentally retarded person and not qualifying for the execution punishment. Actually, he had murdered a 21 years old pregnant woman (Karol Hurst) who was abducted from a Florida store and killed in 1978. Under the punishment act, he had to be executed for murdering a citizen but his mental disability has been safeguarding him from this punishment.

Last but not the least, he had also killed a deputy of sheriff and had been punished for 35 years of imprisonment. And, his death execution plea to Supreme Court is under consideration.

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Dozens of Nigerians Killed by Inaccurate Aerial Attack

The fight against Islamists militants have led to many civilians of Nigeria to death. Recently, a military aircraft hovered over the village Daglun and mistakenly dropped series of 5 bombs that killed a big number of villagers. The senator of the region Ali Ndume said that a military aircraft was launching air strike against the Boko Haram extremist group in the Sambisa Forest but the aircraft mistakenly fired a series of bombs over the Daglun village.

Ndume confirmed that 5 people have been killed by this inaccurate attack and a big number of people left their burnt home to save their life. He said, the bombardment destroyed the whole infrastructure of the village and put the life of the downtrodden in the danger.

Besides, one of the 25 wounded villagers said that “when the military aircraft started hovering over us, the whole village was sleeping but within the short span of time it started dropping a series of bombs over us”. He further adds, the bombardment killed more than 20 people and most of the deceased were elderly men who could not be able to run out of their burnt home.

On the other hand, the Nigerian military denied the allegations and said that it had not killed any civilian in the strike. This aerial strike has sparked violence across the Daglun region and Boko Haram extremist group has reacted with violence and mutiny of civilians.

The authorities are not clear how many people have been killed in this attack and what was the reason of inaccurate airstrike but the tensions in the vicinity of Daglun and Mainok are inviting more troubles for the civilians.

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