Simon Furness

Pressure is mounting on energy suppliers to cut the amount they charge customers who do not pay their bills by direct debit.
BBC News – Business

Pope Francis praises Jordan for its “generous welcome” to Syrian refugees at the start of a three-day visit to the Middle East.
BBC News – Middle East

Spanish oil firm Repsol ends its operations in Argentina two years after having its assets in local company YPF seized by the government.
BBC News – Latin America & Caribbean

A gunman opens fire at the Jewish museum in the Belgian capital Brussels, killing three people and wounding another before fleeing the scene.
BBC News – Europe

Cheeki Rafiki skipper Andrew Bridge will be “dearly missed by everyone who knew him”, his family say after the yacht’s wreck was found.
BBC News – UK

A gunman kills six people in drive-by shootings in Santa Barbara, with police investigating a video by a young man expressing anger at women.
BBC News – US & Canada

At least 10 people are reported killed as al-Shabab militants attack parliament in the Somali capital Mogadishu.
BBC News – Africa

Regrouping, Getting Back to Thunder Basketball
Thunder News

Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams was named to the All-Rookie Second Team for the 2013-14 season, it was announced earlier today by the NBA.
Thunder News

A report published on Friday is to say there are several billion barrels of oil in shale rocks spanning large parts of southern England, intensifying the debate over “fracking”.
BBC News – Business

Mortar fire has hit a pro-Assad rally in the southern Syrian city of Deraa, killing at least 20 people, state media and activists say.
BBC News – Middle East

A court in New York sentences former Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo to five years and 10 months in jail for taking bribes from Taiwan.
BBC News – Latin America & Caribbean

A dawn attack on a checkpoint in eastern Ukraine leaves at least 14 soldiers dead, in the worst loss of life for government forces to date.
BBC News – Europe

UKIP’s support surges, with Labour also making gains as Tories and Lib Dem lose seats in the English local elections, with most results still to come.
BBC News – UK

A man accused of kidnapping a teenager and holding her captive for 10 years and forcing her to marry him is charged in a California court.
BBC News – US & Canada

The UN Security Council approves sanctions against the Nigerian militant group Boko Haram, five weeks after it kidnapped more than 200 schoolgirls.
BBC News – Africa

Thunder falls to Spurs 112-77 in Game 2
Thunder News

UK retail sales rose by 6.9% in April compared with the same month a year earlier, new official figures show.
BBC News – Business

A court in Egypt sentences ousted President Hosni Mubarak to three years in prison after finding him and his two sons guilty of embezzlement.
BBC News – Middle East

Access to an online newspaper launched by Cuban dissident blogger Yoani Sanchez is blocked on the communist-run island shortly after it went live.
BBC News – Latin America & Caribbean