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1) Central Colombia oil spill contained: Ecopetról
Colombia’s state-run oil company Ecopetrol said Saturday that it had been able to end a massive oil spill that killed more than 2,400 animals in the center of the country.

The disaster at the Lazama 158 oil field was contained four weeks after the first reports of the massive leaking of oil from the abandoned mining operation.

The Prosecutor General’s Office has announced a criminal investigation into the alleged neglect that led to the environmental disaster.

Also the country’s Environment Ministry said it could impose sanctions after the company falsely claimed to have controlled the leak a day after it occurred on March 2.

Colombia's state-run oil company could facecrinial charages over environmental disaster
The leak spurred the displacement of 21 families who were living in the vicinity of the oil field. The crude oil that escaped from the field contaminated 24 kilometers of river, killing all of the fish living in the water sources.

Nine locals fell ill became of the approximately 500 barrels of crude oil that entered the local ecosystem.

The flora and fauna on the fields surrounding Lizama 158 has become a “valley of death,” according to “Semana magazine”, which visited the region.

Environmental agency ANLA said it didn’t know how long the region would need to recover.

“As the vegetation is dying, the area has to go through a process of rehabilitation. The banks of the gorges have to be recovered again and the habitat of the species of the area has to be improved,” ANLA official Claudia Gonzalez told local newspaper La Vanguardia.

The newspaper said that authorities expect to have defined penalties for the oil company within half a year.

How high this penalty would be is uncertain as this depends on the size of the company and the estimated damage of what one former Environmental Minister called the biggest environmental disaster in the history of national oil company.

2) Bogota's  jail break: Prisioners walk out of prison "to buy booze"
Two alleged FARC guerrillas were able to escape the maximum security wing of Colombia’s largest prison, allegedly after a corrupt prison guard gave them permission to buy liquor.

The prisoners were reported missing on Saturday, reportedly after prison guards found one of their colleagues drunk.

“The officer had been drinking with the prisoners, he was drunk. He couldn’t even stand up and supposedly let the prisoners through the main gate to buy booze,” according to the testinony of the guard that was leaked to W Radio.

Top crininals throw lavish parties at Colombia's high security priso

According to a report sent to the director of the prison, the surveillance commanders found the guard with his “breath smelling of alcohol.”

The warden refused to take a breathalyzer test and had allegedly failed to notify his superiors that the two prisoners had escaped.

According to the testimony of a fellow warden, the prison is in disarray mainly because of corruption.

“There is a new guard that makes and breaks La Picota, they take bribes, they give benefits to the inmates, they let them out in exchange for large sums of money, it is a mafia,” W Radio quoted the anonymous official as saying.

The official also pointed out that concerns had already been reported regarding the apparent lack of security in certain areas of the prison.

Politicians party on at La Picota prison:W Radio

Prison authorities confirmed that one of the prisoners was John  Rincon who had been in the prison since 2003 serving a 40-year sentence for kidnapping for extortion and conspiracy to commit a crime.
The other fugitive, Olmedo Vargas was imprisoned in November 2017 for theft and was due to be tried under the transitional JEP court established under Colombia’s peace process with the Marxist FARC guerrillas.

It is unclear why both men were still in prison as they were supposed to have been released as part of an amnesty law agreed with the FARC more than a year ago.

The police deployed officers to Bogota's transport terminals and airport to prevent the fugitives exiting the capital.

“Coordinations are being made with INPEC in order to provide the corresponding information and thus achieve their recapture,” the commander of the Chapinero Police Station, Colonel Elkin Quinchia, told reporters.

3) Fake drugs sold in north Colombia hospitals possibly linked to deaths of 16 babies
Colombia arrested four health officials on suspicion they caused the death of 16 babies who were given fake medicines to treat respiratory illnesses.

The suspects are two directors of pharmaceutical company Farma Pos, an independent intermediary and the person in charge of purchasing medication for the Laura Daniela hospital in the city of Valledupar.

The arrests follow more than half a year of protests organized by the mothers of the babies who died in the hospital, possibly because they did not receive the appropriate medicine.

According to the prosecution, Farma Pos developed a fake version of Survanta, a drug for babies with respiratory illnesses. The medicine was subsequently sold to the “Rosario Pumarejo Hospital and the Laura Daniela Clinic where some newly born were treated with the fake medicine.”

Prosecutors in Valledupar are “trying to establish whether the supply of the drug was directly related to the deaths of some of the children who were treated during the month of April 2016.”

The suspects were charged with copyright infringement and fraud. It is unclear whether they will be held responsible for the deaths of the babies.

Colombia’s healthcare watchdog has been investigating the hospital and the Valledupar health secretary since last year after finding out that children had been given fake medicine between June 2017 and January 2017.

According to the watchdog, the Laura Daniela hospital failed to verify the veracity of drugs that was purchased from local producers.

Health authority Supersalud said in October it was investigating whether other hospitals in the region had also purchased and administrated fake medicine.

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1.  Teenager accepted by all 20 top-ranked universities he applied to — with full scholarships

A high school senior from Houston, Texas, was accepted by each of the 20 top-ranked universities to which he applied — and was offered a full scholarship to every single one of them.

Michael Brown, a 17-year-old student at Lamar High School, went viral after he was caught on camera screaming in glee upon learning he was accepted into Stanford University in December.

Little did the teen know at the time, but his excitement would increase by a factor of 20 in March when he was also accepted into Harvard, Princeton, Yale, the University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown, Northwestern, Vanderbilt and the University of Michigan, among other prestigious colleges.

But what did it take for Brown to pull off his flawless clean sweep?

To start, the high schooler has an impressive 4.68 grade point average and an SAT score of 1540 out of 1600. His ACT score, a 34 out of a possible 36, proved to be just as excellent.

Brown's extracurriculars also include various internships as well as participation on his high school's debate team.

His mother, Berthinia Rutledge-Brown, told The New York Times that she was simply blown away by her son's perfect streak.

"He actually earned it," she told the Times. “I always knew Mike would get into a good school. I always knew he’d get good scholarship support. But I never imagined this."

So, which school will he be attending this fall?

Although Brown remains undecided at the moment, he reportedly plans to major in political science and hopes to one day become a lawyer.

He will make the big decision by May 1.

2. Spotify shares jump in record-setting direct listing

NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Shares of Spotify Technology SA ended up 12.9 percent on their first day of trade on the New York Stock Exchange, a smooth debut that could pave the way for other companies looking to go public without the aid of Wall Street underwriters.

Spotify shares opened at $165.90, up nearly 26 percent from a reference price of $132 set by the NYSE late on Monday. The stock ended the session at $149.01, valuing the world’s largest streaming music service at $26.5 billion.

The direct listing was seen as a test case for other companies tempted to list without selling new shares, and for bankers that could lose out on millions of dollars in underwriting fees for future initial public offerings.

“It’s a fair market price. It’s not manipulated or set by any puts and takes by banks or institutional investors,” said Chi-Hua Chien, an early investor in Spotify who is now at San Mateo, California-based venture capital firm Goodwater Capital.

Some market-watchers cautioned investors not to read too much into the first day of trading, given the mixed performance of recent tech IPOs and an increasingly competitive music streaming landscape.

HEMORRHAGING COSTS

The direct listing by the Stockholm-founded company was the largest on record. Spotify now has a higher market value than Snapchat owner Snap Inc, which went public last year. Facebook Inc and Alibaba Group Holding Ltd remain the largest tech stock listings in recent years.

Since launching its service a decade ago, Spotify has overcome resistance from big record labels and some major music artists to transform how people listen to music. But it still does not make a profit and faces intense competition from Apple Inc and others.

“Investors are right to have some reservations. Spotify is from the costs of licensing content,” said Michael Carvin, chief executive of personal finance technology firm SmartAsset. “Even though Spotify’s scale is about twice that of Apple Music, Apple has a huge ecosystem of products to market to.”

Spotify has 71 million so-called premium subscribers, including users who have given the company a credit card number for a free trial. On a comparable basis the Apple Music service has 46 million subscribers.

Amazon Music Unlimited has an estimated 16 million paying subscribers and Pandora has 5.48 million total subscribers. Alphabet Inc’s Google does not release paid subscriber numbers for Google Play Music.

HEAVY TRADE

After the listing, Spotify has an enterprise value - which takes into account cash and debt on the company’s balance sheet - of about five times its 2017 revenue of $5 billion.

That represents a premium to smaller rival Pandora Media Inc, which has an enterprise value-to-sales ratio of one, but is far less than a comparable ratio above 10 for Netflix Inc and Dropbox Inc.

Analysts had worried ahead of Spotify’s direct listing that forgoing underwriters and traditional promotional events designed to stimulate interest from institutional investors could mean volatility once formal trading kicked off.

The NYSE set Spotify’s reference price late on Monday to be in line with informal, private trading of Spotify shares, giving an early estimate of the level at which supply and demand could be balanced.

The opening public price was determined by buy and sell orders collected by the NYSE from broker-dealers and a designated market maker’s determination of where buy orders could be matched with sell orders.

Nearly 30 million shares had changed hands by the end of regular trading hours. Some 91 percent of Spotify’s 178 million shares were tradable, a much higher percentage than typical in a traditional IPO.

While Chief Executive Daniel Ek skipped NYSE rituals such as opening bell-ringing and trading floor interviews to tout the stock, the front of the 115-year-old Greek Revival exchange building was draped in a vast green-and-black Spotify banner.

3. Australia's nightmare tour of South Africa ends in humiliating 492-run hammering in fourth Test

Australia's nightmare tour of South Africa has ended in yet more humiliation after they were hammered by 492 runs in the fourth and final Test in Johannesburg.

Vernon Philander took 6-21 in Australia's second innings to wrap up a 3-1 series victory for the Proteas and inflict their opponents' second heaviest defeat ever, and fourth heaviest in all Test cricket, in terms of runs.

Aiden Markram cracked 152 for the hosts in their first innings as they posted 488 all out. Half centuries from Usman Khawaja, Tim Paine and Pat Cummins helped Australia to 221 in response.

South Africa opted not to enforce the follow-on and skipper Faf Du Plessis' 120 led them to 344-6 declared in their second dig.

That left Australia needing an impossible 612 runs to win, and they were cleaned up for just 119 thanks largely to Philander, whose six wickets came for the concession of just three runs.

Morne Morkel took the final wicket on his last appearance for South Africa, and he said: "It's tough to put it into words, I'm obviously very emotional but it's been a great journey.

"I'm so grateful for all the opportunities I was given and to go out on a high - the mission was to beat the Aussies on home turf and to accomplish that is a special feeling."

The match was the last of Darren Lehmann's coaching reign after the coach stood down in wake of the ball-tampering scandal.

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1.Which Team Has Reached The Most Champions League Quarter-Finals?
The Champions League quarter-final line-up this year has a very familiar look to it, with the majority of the big-name teams reaching the last eight, but who has appeared in the most quarter-finals since the tournament's inception in 1992 (in its current guise)?

Tonight's first leg between Sevilla and Bayern Munich will be the German giant's 17th appearance at this stage of the competition, more than any other club. Bayern have participated 22 times in the Champions League since 1992, meaning they have featured in the last eight a highly impressive 81% of the time.

El Clasico rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona are hot on Bayern's heels, with both sides making their 16thapperance this week. Manchester United - who fell at the Round of 16 this year - are fourth on the list with 13 appearances, while last year's finalists Juventus will be making their 11th appearance tonight.
When it comes to consecutive quarter-final appearances however, that accolade belongs to Lionel Messi and co, with Barcelona having qualified for the last eight a record 11 straight years.

The Catalan giants have exited at this stage of the competiton in three of the last four seasons though, so they will be seeking to improve that record when they face a Roma side who are making their first quarter-final appearance for a decade.

2.cassie sainsbury : drug mule's six-year jail term in colombia could be cut
Judge to consider previously undisclosed evidence in Australian’s final legal opportunity to reduce her sentence

Adelaide drug mule Cassie Sainsbury, who is serving a six-year jail term for trying to smuggle almost 6kg of cocaine out of Colombia, could have her sentence reduced as a judge considers previously undisclosed evidence. Originally, the 22-year-old had been facing up to 30 years in jail after being caught with 5.8kg of cocaine hidden inside 18 headphone boxes as she tried to leave Bogotá’s airport in April 2017.
She was sentenced in November after a judge rubber-stamped a plea deal, but media reports say a judge will consider undisclosed evidence that could reduce Sainsbury’s jail term in what will be her final legal opportunity.
Sainsbury’s mother, Lisa Evans, is travelling to Colombia to support her daughter as she prepares to appear in court in coming weeks, the Adelaide Advertiser reported.
In an interview with the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes program in September, Sainsbury told of how she landed in trouble in Colombia after thinking she had accepted a job as a legitimate courier transporting documents for $10,000 plus flights, but plans changed at the last minute.
She was sent to Colombia, where a “mastermind” known only as Angelo threatened via WhatsApp to kill her mother, sister and fiance if she did not transport his drugs.

3.TRUMP SEEKS ARBITRATIONS IN STORMY DANIELS CASE
LOS ANGELES (AP) — President Donald Trump asked a federal judge on Monday to order private arbitration in a case brought by a porn actress who claimed she had an affair with him.

Trump and his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, filed papers in federal court in Los Angeles asking a judge to rule that Stormy Daniels' case involving a non-disclosure agreement must be heard by an arbitrator instead of a jury.

Daniels, whose real name is Stephanie Clifford, has been seeking to invalidate the agreement she signed days before the 2016 presidential election. She has offered to return the $130,000 she was paid as she tries to "set the record straight."

She's said she had sex with Trump once in 2006 and their relationship continued for about a year. Trump married his current wife, Melania Trump, in 2005, and their son, Barron, was born in 2006.

The White House has said Trump denies having an affair.

Trump's attorneys have argued that Daniels could owe about $20 million for violating the non-disclosure deal.

Daniels argues the agreement is legally invalid because it was only signed by her and Cohen, not by Trump.

In the Monday court filing, Cohen said Daniels had never raised any issues with the settlement agreement or suggested it was invalid or legally unenforceable before she filed her lawsuit last month.

Daniels' attorney, Michael Avenatti, said they would oppose the motion to have the case heard in private arbitration, "hidden from the American public."

"This is a democracy and this matter should be decided in an open court of law owned by the people. #sunlight," he tweeted.

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1) Unemployment in Colombia up to 9.4%, highest in Latin America after Venezuela.
Colombia’s unemployment rate grew to 9.4% in 2017, making it the country with the highest unemployment rate in Latin America after Venezuela.

Unemployment went up 0.2 points from 9.2%, according to the country’s statistics agency, DANE.

Another 8.5% of the population was underemployed in the last quarter of 2017.

This was 9% during the same period the year before.

The highest unemployment rate was registered in the west Colombian city of Quibdo, Choco, where 16.1% of the labor force was without a job. Coastal city Santa Marta marked the country’s lowest unemployment rate with 8%.

Colombia traditionally has one of Latin America’s highest unemployment rates.

It has, however, been overtaken by Venezuela that was hit by an economic crisis due to dropping commodity prices in 2014.

While unemployment in Colombia went from 9.6% to 9.4% between 2013 and 2017, Venezuela saw its unemployment skyrocket from 7.5% to 24.3%.

2) Colombia’s government calls for ban on bullfighting.
Hundreds of years after Spanish settlers introduced bullfighting, Colombia’s government said Saturday it is in favor of banning the increasingly controversial practice.

According to Deputy Interior Minister Luis Ernesto Gomez, the cultural phenomenon should be prohibited by law after decades of decline in popularity and increasing protests by animal rights advocates.

While a decade ago between 50,000 and 70,000 tickets were sold in the capital, in 2017 there were only 28,000 tickets.

Bullfighting seasons have also been cancelled in cities like Cartagena.

Deputy Interior Minister Luis Ernesto Gomez

Bullfighting events are exempt from animal cruelty laws until May 2019 when a deadline imposed by the Constitutional Court expires.

"Unless Congress passes a bill to extend this exemption,

the cultural events will fall under common animal cruelty laws and bullfighters could be “punished with prison sentences between one and three years,” the ministry said.

The government called on the president of the House of Representatives,

Rodrigo Lara, to resume the congressional debate on a bullfighting ban that was introduced last year, but never finished.

Unlike last year, the first bullfighting show of the year in Bogota took place without irregularities.

Authorities had deployed some 2,000 policemen to prevent a repetition of violence that left multiple people injured at the beginning of the bullfighting season in 2017.

3) Legendary bandleader Juancho Torres dies at 74.
Legendary big band leader Juancho Torres has died at 74, the director of his legendary orchestra told media on Monday.

The artist and his big band recorded more than 600 songs,

mainly of local genres like “porro” that originate from his native region on the Caribbean coast.

Torres was inspired by American big band artists like Duke Ellington while studing music in the United Kingdom and has also played jazz.

The “costeño,” together with legendary artists like Lucho Bermudez and Pacho Galan,

has been one of the very few Colombians able to maintain their big band for more than two decades.

“He was a person who with his excellent big band rescued songs from the bin and that thanks to him were made famous,”

Historian Julio Cesar Peña told local newspaper El Heraldo.

Peña and Torres were both from Sincelejo, the capital of the northern Sucre department.

The local music scene declared a state of mourning, El Heraldo reported.