USA – “It’s very nice to be home again,” said Ivanka Trump as she welcomed her father to the stage in New York. Donald Trump’s daughter said the rally was “just too important” to miss. It was one night after the Republican had lost out to his rival Ted Cruz, 48.2 per cent versus 35.1 per cent, in the key state of Wisconsin.

“He will work tirelessly for you,” his daughter assured the crowd in Bethpage, Long Island.  The audience was then shown a video, set to the background of a violin concerto. The first face on screen was that of Fox News host Megyn Kelly, his “foe”, who questioned him on his insulting remarks towards women. It also showed his supporters, including a Colombian woman who Mr Trump brought on stage at a rally in Las Vegas to hysterically scream his name.  Then the real Mr Trump appeared.

(The Independent UK)…[+]

DENMARK – Danish police said they had arrested four people on Thursday at different addresses near Copenhagen on suspicion of having been recruited by the militant group Islamic State (IS) in Syria to commit terrorist violence. Ammunitions and weapons were found in a connected search, the police said. “All four suspects are accused of having violated the penal code … by allowing themselves to be recruited by IS in Syria to commit terrorists acts,” a statement by Copenhagen police said. Neighboring Sweden on Thursday charged a 20-year-old man with terrorism for allegedly building a suicide bomb with the intent of staging an attack in Sweden.

The Danish arrests were part of a joint effort by police and the intelligence service PET to combat the enlisting of people by terrorist groups in war-torn areas of Syria and northern Iraq, the statement said.(Reuters)…[+]

NORWAY – Migrants in Norway with ‘obviously groundless’ asylum claims could be jailed for up to 72 hours to stop them escaping into the criminal underworld while their cases are processed. The plan is part of a bill proposed this week by Integration Minister Sylvi Listhaug and aims to stop claimants evading the authorities if they know they will be rejected. Since 2004 Norway has used a so-called 48-hour procedure where asylum claims of migrants from safe countries are processed within that time. But this new plan empowers police to arrest and detain migrants with unfounded claims, reports The Local. (Daily Mail)…[+]

USA – Republican Ted Cruz won the Wisconsin presidential primary on Tuesday, dealing a blow to front-runner Donald Trump’s hopes of amassing the delegates needed for the party’s nomination ahead of the July convention and boosting the chances of a rare contested convention. Cruz’s win was a breakthrough for Republican Party forces battling to block the controversial New York billionaire, and it raised the prospect of a prolonged nominating fight that could last to the July convention. Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders also won in Wisconsin, gaining momentum in his fight against front-runner Hillary Clinton and trimming her commanding lead in delegates. Trump had 737 convention delegates to Cruz’s 481 heading into the vote, leaving him 500 delegates short of the 1,237 needed to become the party’s nominee in the November 8 election. Cruz and Ohio Governor John Kasich, the other remaining Republican contender, hope to stop Trump short of a first-ballot victory and trigger a contested convention.(Reuters)…[+]

BRAZIL – A defiant President Dilma Rousseff has said no to a cabinet reshuffle, ignoring calls for changes which could have boosted her political support and defeat an upcoming impeachment vote. A special committee in Brazil’s lower house is due to decide whether Rousseff broke the law by allegedly doctoring Brazil’s fiscal accounts to hide a massive budget deficit before her 2014 reelection. President Rousseff told journalists on a visit to a military airbase that she thought any attempt to use these allegations as a reason to ask for an impeachment, was a coup, “it’s a coup because there is no legal basis.”

Since Rousseff’s main coalition partner, the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) broke away last week, her Workers’ Party has called for her to replace six of the PMDB ministers who remain in office. (Euronews)…[+]

ICELAND – Iceland’s prime minister became the first casualty of the global revelations on offshore companies as he resigned on Tuesday. In a day of high drama in Reykjavik, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson first tried to hang on to his office by seeking the dissolution of parliament. But after Iceland’s president refused to grant the request, Mr Gunnlaugsson decided to step down as prime minister but carry on as the head of his Progressive party. Sigurdur Ingi Johansson, the current minister of fisheries and agriculture, will become prime minister. Mr Gunnlaugsson leads a two-party coalition government between his Progressive party and the Independence group of finance minister Bjarni Benediktsson.(Financial Times)…[+]

PAKISTAN – A report has revealed the horrific extent of violence against women in Pakistan as religious groups continue to fight an “un-Islamic” law against domestic abuse. The annual report by the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) recorded gang rapes, kidnapping, acid attacks, amputations, burnings and said almost 800 women killed themselves or attempted suicide.

Pakistan’s largest state passed a landmark law in February criminalizing domestic violence, stalking, cybercrime and other forms of abuse but a coalition of more than 30 groups have demanded its withdrawal. Mainstream Islamic political parties are among those opposing the Punjab Protection of Women Against Violence Act 2015 and threatening to launch nationwide protests.(The Independent UK/Reuters)…[+]

FRANCE – More than three-quarters of refugees living in the Calais “Jungle” say they have experienced police violence, according to a report seen by The Independent. The findings, collated by the Refugee Rights Data Project (RRDP), provide a damning insight into the continuing “humanitarian crisis” at the refugee camp in northern France. Police violence was allegedly experienced by 75.9 per cent of the 870 individuals surveyed, which includes physical violence, verbal abuse, tear gas and sexual violence; 54.1 per cent said they “never feel safe”; 67.6 per cent said they resort to “using blankets or burning rubbish to keep warm”; and 76.7 per cent reported suffering from various health issues – largely attributed to the camp’s “unhealthy environment”.

(The Independent UK)…[+]

INDIA – Lying in a cot, Kumari Kunti is little bigger than a toddler. She spends her days in bed, unable to move and reliant on her mother for all her needs. But while she leads the life of an infant, she in fact 25 years old. Miss Kunti is suffering from a heartbreaking condition which has caused her bones to curve and shrink over the past decade. Previously 1.22 m, she has now shrank to just two 0,61 m tall and is completely helpless. A doctor who has examined her case believes she may have osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) – or brittle bone disease…[+]

USA – Joseph Medicine Crow, an acclaimed Native American historian and last surviving war chief of Montana’s Crow Tribe, has died on Sunday. He was 102. A member of the Crow Tribe’s Whistling Water clan, Medicine Crow was raised by his grandparents in a log house in a rural area of the Crow Reservation near Lodge Grass, Montana. His grandfather, Yellowtail, raised Medicine Crow to be a warrior. The training began when Medicine Crow was just 6 or 7, with a punishing physical regimen that included running barefoot in the snow to toughen the boy’s feet and spirit. Medicine Crow in 1939 became the first of his tribe to receive a master’s degree, in anthropology.(AP/The Denver Post)…[+]