US musician Tom Petty dies aged 66

US musician Tom Petty has died in California aged 66, says a statement issued on behalf of his family.
Petty was found unconscious, not breathing and in full cardiac arrest at his Malibu home early on Monday.
He was taken to hospital, but could not be revived and died later that evening.
Petty was best known as the lead singer of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, and his hits included American Girl, Breakdown, Free Fallin', Learning to Fly and Refugee.
Obituary: A quiet, unassuming legend
"He died peacefully at 20:40 Pacific time (03:40 GMT Tuesday) surrounded by family, his bandmates and friends," said his long-time manager Tony Dimitriades.

A look at what might happen if Catalonia goes it alone

The northeastern region of Catalonia, one of Spain’s autonomous regions, is threatening to declare its independence from Spain following a disputed referendum that, it says, gave it a mandate to break away.

Spain, which declared the referendum illegal and invalid, says it will do all to maintain the country’s unity and keep hold of the region of 7.5 million people centered around the port city of Barcelona.

The two would seem to be about to enter uncharted waters. Here’s a look at how Spain got to this point and what may happen next.

ATM Fees Are Out of Control

Drawing cash from an ATM is beginning to feel like a ritual from a bygone era. Like buying a record on vinyl, it’s a once-universal experience for which dedicated fans are now paying a premium.

This year marks the 11th consecutive annual increase in bank ATM fees for customers using out-of-network machines, according to a new Bankrate.com report. Over the past decade, such fees have risen 55 percent. The average cost of such a transaction is now over $4.50, and N65.

ATM fees aren’t rising due to overwhelming demand. In fact, it’s the opposite. “It keeps getting easier to avoid the fees, and people are transitioning away from cash,” said Greg McBride, Bankrate.com’s chief financial analyst. “With fewer people making out-of-network ATM withdrawals, the cost of maintaining that network is being spread over fewer transactions.”

Instagram celebrity and gun fanatic Dan Bilzerian flees Las Vegas shooting

Internet famous poker player Dan Bilzerian witnessed the mass shooting that took place Sunday night in Las Vegas.

In dimly lit, expletive-filled videos posted to Instagram, Bilzerian can be seen apparently running from the area around the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino while describing one woman's death that took place right in front of him.

"F---, this girl just got shot in the f---ing head," Bilzerian recounted to his 23 million followers in the first video, uploaded around 10 p.m. local time (PDT), Business Insider reports. "So f---ing crazy."
Approximately an hour later, the web celebrity posted another clip offering further details into what he saw at the Route 91 Festival.
"So I had to go grab a gun," he says. "I'm f---ing headed back. It's f---ing so crazy - some kind of mass shooting. F---ing guy had a heavy caliber weapon for sure.

White House again rejects talks with North Korea on nuclear issue

The White House on Monday ruled out talks with North Korea except to discuss the fate of Americans held there, again appearing to rebuke Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who said Washington was directly communicating with Pyongyang on its nuclear and missile programs.

“We’ve been clear that now is not the time to talk,” White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters, reiterating a tweet from President Donald Trump at the weekend that was seen as undercutting Tillerson.

“The only conversations that have taken place were that ... would be on bringing back Americans who have been detained,” Sanders said. “Beyond that, there will be no conversations with North Korea at this time.”

Tillerson said on Saturday during a trip to China that the United States was directly communicating with North Korea on its nuclear and missile programs but that Pyongyang had shown no interest in dialogue.

Trump, who has traded insults and threats with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in recent weeks, later dismissed any prospect of talks with North Korea as a waste of time.

The mystery of Stephen Paddock — gambler, real estate investor, mass killer

He was 64 years old and, to those who knew him, showed no signs of mental illness, extreme political views or an unhealthy interest in guns. He liked to gamble, and had bounced around over the years, living in Southern California, Texas and Nevada. But he seemed to have plenty of money, and had held steady jobs as a mail carrier, accountant, auditor and apartment manager.

Stephen Paddock’s last stop was here, in Mesquite, Nev., a modest desert oasis 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, where he lived in a retirement community with his female partner and kept a low profile, conversing little and maintaining no Facebook or Twitter accounts.

In an era when social media invites full-throated expression of even the most minor annoyance, Paddock gave away no hint of whatever it was that drove him to commit mass murder on the Las Vegas Strip, killing 59 people in an assault on a country music festival late Sunday night.

“We are completely dumbfounded,” said a younger brother, Eric Paddock, who broke into tears in front of his suburban Orlando, Fla., home. “We can’t understand what happened.”

“He was always normal,” said Donald Judy, a former next-door neighbor who said he was struggling to reconcile the friendly conversations about real estate and family with carnage carried out from a hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

42 guns, loaded high-capacity magazines found in Vegas shooter's hotel room and Nevada home

A total of 42 guns were found in the suspected Las Vegas shooter's hotel room and house, police said Monday night.

Las Vegas Police Department Assistant Sheriff Todd R. Fasulo said that 23 guns were found in the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino room where suspected shooter Stephen Paddock fired into a crowd, and 19 were discovered out of his Mesquite, Nevada home.

Multiple loaded high-capacity magazines were found in the hotel room, law enforcement sources said earlier on Monday.

Among the guns and ammunition police found the in the room being used by Paddock were some high-powered rifles considered capable of penetrating police armor. There were also some handguns in the room.