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On Sunday, Filipino-US chess grandmaster Wesley So won this year's Tata Steel Chess Tournament, held in Wijk aan Zee, Netherlands, securing 9.0 points out of thirteen. Following closely in second place was current World Champion Magnus Carlsen with 8.0 points. Wesley So won five games and drew the remaining eight. A player gets a point for each win, half a point for a draw and no points for a loss. He is currently on a 56 lossless game streak. In the final round, Wesley So was paired against Russian grandmaster Ian Nepomniachtchi. Wesley So

At 9:00 p.m. U.S. east coast time yesterday (0200 today UTC), a U.S. federal judge in Brooklyn issued an emergency ruling halting deportation of individuals from the U.S. under the ban on individuals from seven majority-Muslim countries entering the United States that president Donald Trump had initiated by executive order on Friday. Another judge in Virginia issued a similar ruling shortly afterward. The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit on behalf of two Iraqis who had been detained at John F. Kennedy airport in New York. Judge Ann D

British metal musician Geoff Nicholls, keyboardist for Black Sabbath from 1979 to 2004, died yesterday after battling lung cancer. He was 68. Prior to Sabbath, Nicholls performed with New Wave of British Heavy Metal band Quartz. Quartz's 1977 début album was produced by Tony Iommi, founding guitarist of Black Sabbath. Iommi broke the news of Nicholls's death to fans, writing he was "so saddened to hear the loss of one of my dearest and closest friends Geoff Nicholls. He's been suffering for a while now with lung cancer and he lost his battle

A court in Celle, Germany sentenced sixteen-year-old German-Moroccan girl Safia S. to six years in prison on Thursday for an attempted murder. Safia stabbed a 34-year-old police officer in February last year using a vegetable knife in a train station in Hannover. Phone chats revealed Safia acted on the behalf of ISIL, the judge said, though the militant group did not claim any responsibility. The Federal Prosecutor Office sought the six year sentence for the juvenile a week prior. 20-year-old Mohamad Hasan K., who knew about Safia's plan, was

On Wednesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet announced Germany is to drop the 'lese majeste' law which protects foreign leaders from insult. This law is to come under effect in January 2018. German justice minister Heiko Maas called this law redundant and said, "the idea of lese majesty arose in an era long gone by. It no longer belongs in our criminal law". A year ago, German satirist Jan Böhmermann presented a poem on the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. In the poem he said Erdoğan "kicks the Kurds, smacks the Christians,

On Wednesday night more than 1,000 protesters, most of them part of the LGBT community, staged a dance protest they called the "Queer Rager" outside the Leows Hotel in Philadelphia's Center City, where the U.S. Republican Party has arranged a retreat. Gay rights and health care featured amongst the issues raised. Protesters expressed concerns about traditional gay issues, but Republican U.S. President Donald Trump's impending repeal of the Affordable Care Act, law enforcement, climate change and other issues were also visible. Signs included "

The Czech government on Monday announced its diplomats had secured the release of a Polish citizen imprisoned for terrorism in Syria. The Polish foreign ministry on Tuesday confirmed the release of Leszek Panek, 54, from Wrocław. Polish media reports Panek, who vanished in late 2015 after crossing into Syria via Lebanon, suffers ill mental health. He had previously been travelling around Poland to warn of impending nuclear Armageddon. A statement from the Czech Presidential office said Panek's condition was "satisfactory". Panek requires crut

A rescue helicopter crashed in Abruzzo, Italy on Tuesday. All six on board died. The flight was taking a wounded skier from the Campo Felice ski resort in Rocca di Cambio to the regional capital, L'Aquila. It crashed near the resort. The mountainous site is around 100km (60 miles) from the scene of an avalanche last week at the Rigopiano hotel, where at least fifteen died and several remain missing. Rescue operations at the hotel, which is on the other side of mountain Gran Sasso, are ongoing. Rescuers diverted away from the scene to assist

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) of the United Kingdom yesterday issued an update detailing progress on its response to the August 2015 crash at Shoreham Airshow that killed eleven. The Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) is expected to release a final report within months. It has issued a total of 21 recommendations to the CAA, which yesterday confirmed it has accepted all of them. Pilot Andy Hill, who survived but was seriously injured, faces a manslaughter investigation. The CAA says it has already implemented more than half the re

{{DISPLAYTITLE:La La Land receives record-equalling fourteen Oscar nominations; Hacksaw Ridge gets six}} Yesterday, La La Land, directed by Damien Chazelle, received a record-equalling fourteen Academy Awards nomination, tied with 1950s movie All About Eve and 1990's Titanic. Mel Gibson's HackSaw Ridge based on true story bagged six nominations. The movie, featuring Ryan Gosling and Emma Stone, received nominations in all major categories. Gosling and Stone received nominations for Best Actor and Actress respectively. The other nominations in

Today, Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal defeated Canadian player and current world number 3 Milos Raonic in three straight sets in the Australian Open's quarter-finals. Defeating Raonic 6–4, 7–6, 6–4, Nadal is to face fifteenth seeded Bulgarian player Grigor Dimitrov in his fifth semi-finals appearance at the Rod Laver Arena. In the first set, Raonic served six aces, but committed ten unforced errors. Nadal won the first set 6–4 in 43 minutes. The second set lasted for 81 minutes, going to 6–6. Nadal bettered the two, in the tie breaker. Nad

On Sunday, the Bryan brothers announced their retirement from the United States' Davis Cup team. Twins Bob and Mike Bryan have participated in the tennis tournament representing the US for almost fourteen years. Mike and Bob Bryan hold the record of winning sixteen grand slam titles together. The 38-year-old duo made the announcement via Instagram with Bob saying, "Mike and I want to formally announce our decision to step down from our role as active members of the U.S. Davis Cup team". They won the Davis Cup for the USA in 2007 calling it "on