Wonder Brings Songs In The Key Of Life To UK

Stevie Wonder is to perform his award-winning album Songs In The Key Of Life in its entirety in London's Hyde Park this summer.

The 1976 album, released by Motown Records, is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and features hits such as Sir Duke, Isn't She Lovely and I Wish.

The 65-year-old American singer has performed the entire album in a series of concert dates in the US and Canada since 2014, but is bringing the tour to the UK for the first time.

He will appear at the British Summer Time music festival on 10 July.

Songs In The Key of Life has been cited as a major influence by many of the world's biggest stars, including Sir Elton John, Prince and Michael Jackson.

Sir Elton told Rolling Stone magazine in 2011: "Let me put it this way: wherever I go in the world, I always take a copy of Songs In The Key of Life.

"For me, it's the best album ever made and I'm always left in awe after I listen to it.

Microsoft Drops Support For Bitcoin Payments

Microsoft has dropped bitcoin payments, just over a year after announcing it would support the virtual currency at its Windows Store.

The tech giant entered a partnership with payment firm Bitpay in December 2014, in what was seen as a forward-thinking move.

The company said it was supporting bitcoin as a way of "giving people options and helping them do more on their devices and in the cloud".

The change of heart emerged through a change to Microsoft's How-to notes on its website.

A post with the heading "Microsoft Store doesn't accept bitcoin" says: "You can no longer redeem bitcoin into your Microsoft account. Existing balances in your account will still be available for purchases from Microsoft Store, but can't be refunded."

The decision suggests bitcoin is still some way from being recognised as a mainstream global currency.

The bitcoin community has been divided over whether changes need to be made to the currency's infrastructure to increase capacity as it has grown in the years since pseudonymous founder Satoshi Nakamoto took a back seat.

The mystery over the identity of bitcoin's creator continues, three months after Wired magazine named Sydney-based Craig Wright as the brains behind the project. 

The creator has around a million bitcoins, worth more than £289m at current exchange rates.

Since its launch, bitcoin has grown from a digital novelty to a currency with a total value of around £3.3bn.

British composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies dies aged 81

Celebrated British composer Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, a former Master of the Queen's Music, has died at the age of 81.

He was known for his modern and avant-garde works, most notably Return to Stromness, a haunting lament for solo piano.

"He was right to the end a pioneer," Stephen Lumsden, Managing Director of music agency Intermusica, said. 

The Salford-born musician, who had leukaemia, died at home in Orkney. 

• Obituary: Peter Maxwell Davies

Famous for pushing boundaries, Sir Peter's earlier works had been described as unplayable, generating controversy among audiences and critics alike.

But he made it his mission to connect with as many audiences as possible, writing pieces for children, theatre and string quartet.

Known to most as Max, he composed some 300 works including symphonies and operas, which over the years covered a variety of musical styles.

He moved to the Orkney Islands in the early 70s, leading to a calmer style of music, which often incorporated Scottish motifs. 

In 1987 he was knighted, and in 2004 he became Master of the Queen's Music - a post considered to be the musical equivalent of the poet laureate. 

The holder is expected to write music to commemorate important royal events. 

In the 2014 New Year Honours List he was made a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for "services to music". Last month he was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal, considered to be the highest accolade the society can bestow. 

"Max was a truly unique musician," said Sally Groves, a close friend and former creative director of sheet music shop Schott Music.

She added that he was "a remarkable composer who created music theatre works of searing power, great symphonies, intense chamber music, works of truly universal popularity" and "a fierce fighter for music in the community and in education, and on environmental issues".

His most recent work was an opera for children called The Hogboon, which will be premiered by the London Symphony Orchestra on 26 June.

"His vision for music education and the wealth of wonderful pieces he has left for young people is unparalleled in recent times," said the LSO's managing director, Kathryn McDowell. "He will be sorely missed."

The U.S.’s New Earthquake Capital: Oklahoma

Oklahoma used to be a seismic afterthought, a place with so few earthquakes that in the 1990s it was one of three locations where the Soviets were allowed to monitor American nuclear testing. Today, however, Oklahoma is one of the most seismic places on the planet.

In 2015, the state had 907 earthquakes that were 3-magnitude or greater compared with just one in 2007. Scientists say the growth in seismicity is directly related to the oil and gas industry, specifically the use of disposal wells that reinject back into the earth salty wastewater that comes up naturally during drilling. An estimated 3 billion barrels of water came out of the ground in 2015, and its reinjection has increased pressure on the state’s fault lines, triggering hundreds of tremors in western and central Oklahoma.

Over the last few years, homes have been damaged, property values have fallen, and interest in quake insurance has risen. The state, meanwhile, has been slow to respond. Critics say officials are too reliant on the industry to take any meaningful steps that would put real pressure on the industry, especially at a time when the price of oil has fallen by 70% since 2014. Residents however, are taking action. Some are protesting. Some are suing. Others are even setting up seismographs on their own property to track the quakes themselves.

The state’s oil and gas regulatory agency—the Oklahoma Corporation Commission—says that disposal has decreased significantly in the last several months. But many Oklahomans are still concerned that a big one will hit a populated area like Oklahoma City. Of equal concern are the long-term consequences of disposing billions of barrels of water back underground. Some seismologists say that even if all disposal activity stopped in the state immediately, there could be earthquakes for decades.

PM's 'Help To Save' Plan For Low-Paid Workers

People on low incomes will be eligible for a bonus of up to £1,200 over four years if they put money away in a new savings scheme, David Cameron has announced.

Under the Help to Save initiative, around 3.5 million workers on universal credit or working tax credits will be able to save up to £50 a month and receive a bonus of 50% - a maximum of £600 - after two years.

For a further two years, savers can continue to use the scheme and earn up to another £600.

Research suggests almost half of Britain's adults have less than £500 set aside for emergencies.

The Prime Minister also announced an increase to the national minimum wage for young workers.

From October, the rate will go up by 25p an hour for 21- to 24-year-olds, taking the rate to £6.95, and by the same amount for 18- to 20-year-olds, putting their pay at £5.55 an hour.

The rate will increase from £3.87 to £4.00 an hour for under-18s and apprentices will be given a 10p hourly rise taking them to £3.40.

The Government has already announced plans for a national living wage of £7.20 for workers over 25 from April.

Speaking about today's announcements, Mr Cameron said: "I've made it the mission of this government to transform life chances across the country.

"That means giving hard-working people the extra support they need to fulfil their potential.

"And that's what these new measures will achieve - helping someone start a savings fund to get them through difficult times, giving people on low incomes a pay rise and making sure teenagers have the experience and networks to succeed."

Meanwhile, George Osborne has warned of a further £4bn spending cuts in Wednesday's Budget, saying "that the world is a more uncertain place than at any time since the financial crisis and we need to act now so we don't pay later".

Savings equivalent to 50p in every £100 the Government spends needed to be found by 2020, the Chancellor said.

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, has criticised the Chancellor for not doing more to cut spending. 

He said: "While the Chancellor deserves some credit for steering the economy through difficult times, much of the action which was urgently needed to bring spending down and sort out the nation's finances sadly never took place."

Top U.N. Official Calls on India to Criminalize Marital Rape

India could be violating the U.N.’s development agenda if it fails to criminalize marital rape, the head of the U.N. Development Programme implied on Monday.

In an interview with the Hindu newspaper, UNDP chief Helen Clark said the only parameter for determining rape should be consent.

“It’s pretty clear in the circles I move in at the U.N. that rape is rape,” Clark said on the sidelines of a summit in New Delhi. “The issue is the consent of the women, and if it isn’t there, it is rape.”

She also added that each country needs to examine its laws under the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals, which India has officially adopted, to see whether they “take women forward or take them back.”

Clark, a former Prime Minister of New Zealand, was responding to a statement by India’s Minister for Women and Child Development in which marital rape was referred to as a foreign concept. The minister, Maneka Gandhi, said last week that factors like India’s “illiteracy, poverty, myriad social customs and values etc.” mean that the concept of marital rape “cannot be suitably applied” to India.

“An assault on women at home is never something ‘within the family,’” Clark told the Hindu. “It is a crime. It has to be recognized and dealt with.”

ISIL attacks kill 47 Iraqi soldiers near Ramadi

Iraqi forces declared victory over ISIL in Ramadi in late December and have since cleared most of the city [File: Reuters]

At least 47 Iraqi soldiers have been killed in a series of attacks by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) fighters near the strategic city of Ramadi, military sources said.

The first attack took place overnight on the headquarters of the 3rd rapid deployment force and other military barracks in the villages of Qutainiyah and Zuwaiyah, near Zankurah town, the sources told Al Jazeera on Monday morning.

At least 22 soldiers were killed and a further 16 security personnel were injured in the attack.

On Monday afternoon, two separate ISIL suicide car bombers struck Iraqi Security Force convoys in the villages of Safiyrah and Abu Taiban, about 30km northwest of Ramadi.

At least 25 soldiers were killed and another 20 were injured in the twin attacks.

Iraqi forces declared victory over ISIL in Ramadi in late December and have since cleared most of the western city.

Since being pushed from the centre of Ramadi, ISIL has launched near-daily attacks on Iraqi forces, especially on its outskirts.

Ramadi, the Anbar provincial capital where around half a million people once lived, was lost to ISIL in May 2015.

The US-led coalition carried out more than 600 air strikes in the area from July to December last year.