June 29, 2015

Top News Stories –

Floyd Mayweather tops the 2015 Forbes Celebrity Rich List –
Since 1999 Forbes have been ranking the wealth and influence of the world’s biggest stars. Factors taken into account include income, Google hits, fan base, press clips and magazine covers. But for the the first time, this year’s list has ranked the world’s top earning entertainers by annual income only. Mayweather’s $300 million year shatters the record for athlete earnings, which was previously held by Tiger Woods who banked $115 million in 2008. Mayweather earned an estimated $180m from his fight with Manny Pacquiao on May 2, 2015. Katy Perry has been crowned the highest earning female celebrity. [Daily Telegraph] See List of the Day below
Floyd_Mayweather_JrFloyd Mayweather

Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris top highest paid couple list –
Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris have become the highest paid celebrity couple, overtaking Beyonce and Jay Z. The relatively new romance of Swift with her superstar DJ boyfriend see them top this year’s Forbes list; with a combined income of $146m (£92m). It means Queen Bey and her rapper husband slip down to second place with earnings of $100m (£70m). The power couple have been number one on the list since 2013. [BBC]
Taylor-Swift Taylor Swift

Video of the Day –

Avril Lavigne says having Lyme disease has been the ‘worst time’ of her life –
Avril Lavigne has opened up about her struggle with Lyme disease, calling it the “worst time” of her life. The 30-year-old singer contracted the disease, spread by infected ticks, whilst touring last year. The Canadian says she became “bedridden” in October but is now expected to make a full recovery. She told Good Morning America: “I was seeing every specialist and every doctor. They’d say ‘chronic fatigue syndrome?’ or ‘are you depressed?’ “I woke up and had night sweats and felt like I had the flu. She says it took took months for someone to finally figure out that she had Lyme Disease. [BBC Newsbeat]
Avril_Lavigne Avril Lavigne

Video of the Day –

Do We Have to Get Old and Die? – Minute Earth

List of the Day –

The World’s Highest-Paid Celebrities 2015 according to Forbes Magazine

Rank Name Age Earnings Category
#1 Floyd Mayweather 38 $300 M Athletes
#2 Manny Pacquiao 36 $160 M Athletes
#3 Katy Perry 30 $135 M Musicians
#4 One Direction $130 M Musicians
#5 Howard Stern 61 $95 M Personalities
#6 Garth Brooks 53 $90 M Musicians
#7 James Patterson 68 $89 M Authors
#8 Robert Downey Jr. 50 $80 M Actors
#8 Taylor Swift 25 $80 M Musicians
#10 Cristiano Ronaldo 30 $79.5 M Athletes

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide USA UK
1 Zeca Camargo #MondayMotivation #Wimbledon2015
2 #WhereAreUNowMusicVideoTODAY #NashsNewVideo #MondayMotivation
3 #StopTerorismInChina #SignsYoureInTheUSA #BETAwards2015
4 #FelizLunes #AskELJames #AskELJames
5 #BestFandom Bo Ryan Rihanna
6 #BETAwards2015 You’re Fired #Slammiversary
7 #FormasFrikisDeDecirTeQuiero #DirtyWorkJuly10 Diddy
8 Big Sean #Wimbledon2015 Paulinho
9 K Michelle #WhoIsBurningBlackChurches The Who
10 #OdioEternoA #ROWYSOPerth Olympics

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June 30th 2015

Top News Stories –

1 second lie-in tonight –
At 11:59:59pm today, the clock struck 11:59:60pm a ‘leap second’ to compensate for the slowing of the Earth’s rotation around the Sun. The last time the world added a leap second, in 2012, major websites including Reddit, Foursquare, Yelp and LinkedIn were not being programmed to deal with an unexpected extra second and crashed. To avoid this Google have added fractions of a second to programmes over the last year, a technique known as a “leap smear”. Scientists at the the International Earth Rotation Service and Paris Observatory say this allows “Earth time” to catch up to “atomic time” and will be the 26th leap second since 1972. [BBC] See Top Twitter Trends

Hollywood couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner to divorce –
Hollywood couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner say they have made “the difficult decision to divorce”. The couple have been married since 2005 and have three children between the ages of three and nine. In a statement they said: “We go forward with love and friendship for one another and a commitment to co-parenting our children”. [BBC]
Ben_AffleckBen Affleck

Apple Music Makes Debut With D.J. Carrying the Flag –
“Into the unknown we go,” the D. J. Zane Lowe said just after noon on Tuesday, as he began his first show on Beats 1, the Internet radio station that is a big feature of Apple’s new music service. As Apple Music opened on Tuesday — most listeners found it as part of an update of Apple’s mobile operating system — much of the attention turned to Beats 1, a live radio feed that in some ways functions as marketing for the entire service. Led by Mr. Lowe, who was born in New Zealand and became a top announcer on the BBC station Radio 1, Beats 1 is in some ways an old-fashioned radio station, with D. J.s, promotional recordings — “carts,” as they are in industry parlance, after the tape cartridges they used to fit on — and teases about new songs.
Zane Lowe tweetZane Lowe tweet [@zanelowe]

Donna Karan Steps Down as Head of Iconic Brand –
In a major shift for American fashion, Donna Karan, the 66-year-old founder and chief designer of Donna Karan International, a brand that defined the way American working women dressed for decades, announced on Tuesday that she was leaving the helm of the house that bears her name. Ms. Karan will remain as an adviser to Donna Karan International, but devote more time to her Urban Zen line, which centers on wellness and artisanal goods, and its foundation. [NY Times]

Video of the Day –

Asking Siri 0 divided by 0 [See Top Twitter Trends – “Siri”]

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide USA UK
1 #CoolForTheSummerIn1Day #HowToKeepYourGirlHappy #leapsecond
2 #VentajasDeSerSoltero #leapsecond #HeatWave
3 #LeyMordaza Siri John Noakes
4 #TeenWolfSeason5 Apple Music Siri
5 #FelizMartes #AnnoyYourPartnerIn5Words Congolese
6 Siri #SummerACeleb #AppleMusic
7 Apple Music #SMDay #mpconf15
8 #MeEnamoraQue #AskBobby #charitytuesday
9 #TeLaResumoEn3Palabras Cookie Monster #TeenWolfSeason5
10 新幹線 Misty Copeland Kauto Star

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July 1, 2015

Top News Stories –

Katy Perry plans to buy former convent scuppered by nuns –
Katy Perry’s plans to buy a former convent in Los Angeles are being held up by a group of nuns. The sisters, who used to live on the site in the San Gabriel Mountains, say they’ve already sold it to a local restaurateur, Dana Hollister. But the local archbishop says the convent isn’t theirs to sell and has started legal action to stop it. Perry, the daughter of two Pentecostal preachers, reportedly met with the nuns in May to plead her case. “I found Katy Perry and I found her videos and… if it’s all right to say, I wasn’t happy with any of it,” Sister Rita Callanan told the Los Angeles Times. [BBC Newsbeat]
Katy-PerryKaty Perry

Hottest July day ever recorded in UK –
The UK has seen the hottest July day on record, with temperatures hitting 36.7C (98F). The Met Office said the reading had been registered at Heathrow – breaking the previous record set in 2006. 38.5C (101.3F) is the hottest temperature ever recorded in the UK in Faversham, Kent in August 2003. A level 3 “heatwave action” heat-health alert has been declared for all parts of England. [BBC] See Top Twitter Trends

Billy Joel Bests Elton John, Sets New Record at MSG –
Billy Joel set a record for most performances by a single artist at Madison Square Garden with his 65th show Wednesday night, besting Elton John. “I didn’t know I’d be here 65 times, amazing,” Joel said. “I want to thank you very much for making this possible.” A banner rose to the top of the stage in honor of Joel’s 65th show. Actor-comedian Kevin James came onstage to help the veteran musician celebrate. [Elton] John, 68, previously had the MSG record with 64 performances. Joel sang John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” as yellow lights beamed from the stage.
Billy-JoelBilly Joel

Video of the Day –

Steve Jobs – Official Trailer

List of the Day –

Billy Joel studio albums

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide USA UK
1 #BuyCoolForTheSummerOniTunes #LiesIveToldMyParents #hottestdayoftheyear
2 #hottestdayoftheyear #CanadaDay #InternationalJokeDay
3 #LiesIveToldMyParents #InternationalJokeDay 1st of July
4 #BienvenidoJulio #AddGoatRuinAQuote #AddGoatRuinAQuote
5 #الوليد_بن_طلا�… #AskPOTUS #CanadaDay
6 #MasterChefBR Anthony Davis Sir Nicholas Winton
7 #CanadaDay Kevin Love #BuyCoolForTheSummerOniTunes
8 #AddGoatRuinAQuote Dukes of Hazzard Debbie Harry
9 SASUKE Aminu Heathrow
10 Tiembla Chile #BuyCoolForTheSummerOniTunes #USAGER

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July 2, 2015

Top News Stories –

Robot kills man at Volkswagen plant in Germany –
A robot has killed a man at a Volkswagen car factory in Germany. The 22-year-old worker died from injuries he sustained when he was trapped by a robotic arm and crushed against a metal plate. The man, who has not been named, was part of a team that was setting up the automated machinery at the factory in Kassel, north of Frankfurt, according to Volkswagen. The robot in question is a mechanical arm that moves car parts into place, said Heiko Hillwig, a spokesman for the company. [Daily Telegraph]

Wimbledon 2015: Rafael Nadal dumped out of tournament by inspired Dustin Brown –
Wimbledon has a new cult hero. Dustin Brown, in a blur of flying dreadlocks and pure inspiration, on Thursday night produced one of the most thrilling upsets ever witnessed on these lawns by defeating the great Rafael Nadal in four breathlessly brilliant sets. With a combination of Sampras-esque serving and improvised groundstrokes that would not have looked out of place on the local park courts, the Jamaican-born German, who enraptured Centre Court by his Rastafarian cool, found an abundance of raw adrenalin to close out his astonishing 7-5, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 triumph. [Daily Telegraph] See Top Twitter Trends
Dustin-BrownDustin Brown

Selfies to replace passwords in Mastercard online payments trial –
Mastercard is testing new app that could allow customers to make purchases online by taking a selfie rather than entering a password. Currently, Mastercard customers use a system called SecureCode to verify their identity while shopping online. This requires them to enter a password at the point of sale. Participants in Mastercard’s trial will be prompted to snap a photograph of their face using the Mastercard app on their smartphone at the online checkout point, rather than entering a password. This app then converts the photo into 1s and 0s using facial recognition technology, and transmits it over the internet to MasterCard, which compares it with a stored code representing the cardholder’s face. If the two codes match up, then the purchase will be approved. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Wingsuit Flight Through 2 Meter Cave – Uli Emanuele By GoPro Original Productions

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide USA UK
1 #SiYoFueraPresidente #ThingsIGetAlot #BBHMMVideo
2 #EstaComoPara #AyeMaOniTunes Alton Towers
3 Jacobo Zabludovsky #HowIShowMyAge #Lionesses
4 #BBHMMVideo #BuyDirtyWorkOniTunes #HowIShowMyAge
5 #محاكمه_العواج… #BBHMMVideo Val Doonican
6 #UnutMadımaklımda #LiesIveToldAGuy Dustin Brown
7 #TrocoGenteFalsaPor #ComicConAilments #AskZoella
8 #هل_تتزوج_فتاه_… #100DaysSinceZaynLeft #CILIPConf15
9 #CunhaGolpista Dustin Brown #LiesIveToldMyParents
10 #QuintaDoFavQSdv Cadet Kelly Laura Bassett

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July 3, 2015

Top News Stories –

Solar Impulse completes epic flight to Hawaii –
Solar Impulse, the aeroplane that is powered only by the sun, has landed in Hawaii after making a historic 7,200km flight across the Pacific from Japan. Pilot Andre Borschberg brought the vehicle gently down on to the runway of Kalaeloa Airport at 05:55 local time (15:55 GMT; 16:55 BST). The distance covered and the time spent in the air – 118 hours – are records for manned, solar-powered flight. The duration is also an absolute record for a solo, un-refuelled journey. Mr Borschberg’s time betters that of the American adventurer Steve Fossett who spent 76 hours aloft in a single-seater jet in 2006. [BBC] See Video of the Day
Solar-ImpulseSolar Impulse

Music streaming reaches a record high in 2015 –
Music streaming has reached a record high in the UK, with the number of songs played rising by 80% compared to this time last year. New figures from the British Phonographic Industry show there have been 11.5 billion streams in the first six months of 2015. That’s compared to 14.8 billion for the whole of 2014. Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk is the most streamed track of the year, with 45 million plays. [BBC Newsbeat]
Mark-RonsonMark Ronson

BP reaches £12bn record settlement over Gulf oil spill –
British Petroleum has agreed to pay the largest settlement by a single company in US history over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. deal, which is still awaiting approval, will be worth $18.7bn (£12bn). Over 125 million gallons of oil were spilt into the Gulf after an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in 2010. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Solar Impulse Airplane: Landing in Hawaii

Worldwide USA UK
1 サマーウォーズ #SingleBecause #100DaysSinceZaynLeft
2 #SingleBecause #NothingMoreAmericanThan #SingleBecause
3 #LoUnicoQuePidoEs #ThingsIRevoltAgainst #fridayfeeling
4 #100DaysSinceZaynLeft #ToughenUpACartoon #ThingsIGetAlot
5 #استشهاد_رجل_ا�… Humana #NothingMoreAmericanThan
6 #JustinBiberSatanista #1Droasts Falcao
7 #BuenViernes #4thofJulyweekend Kids Company
8 Hayırlı Cumalar Serena #bbcqt
9 BuyCoolForTheSummerOniTunes #USMNT Kyrgios
10 #NaMinhaInfanciaEu Happy 4th of July #celebritymasterchef

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July 4, 2015

Top News Stories –

Matt Stonie beats Joey Chestnut in Fourth of July hot dog eating contest –
America’s Independence Day celebrations were overshadowed on Saturday by the shock defeat of the country’s champion hot dog eating star. Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, 32, began strongly at the annual Nathan’s Famous contest in Coney Island, New York, before being overhauled and beaten by Matt “Megatoad” Stonie, who polished off 62 frankfurters and buns in 10 minutes (to add to a bacon eating record he claimed earlier this year). Mr Chestnut, unbeaten for eight years, fell two short. He managed a smile as he conceded defeat in front of thousands of fans. [Daily Telegraph] See List of the Day
Joey-ChesnutJoey Chesnut

Chile beat Argentina on Penalties to win Copa America –
Chile secured the first major trophy in their history on home soil courtesy of a penalty shootout win over Argentina in the Copa America final.
Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez slotted in the winning spot-kick after Argentina’s Gonzalo Higuain fired over and Ever Banega was denied by Claudio Bravo.
Higuain had earlier missed from close range after 90 minutes of few chances. Sanchez came closest in extra time for Chile, who scored all four of their penalties in the shootout. [BBC]
Alexis_Sanchez Alexis Sanchez (playing for Arsenal)

England finish third in the Women’s World Cup beating Germany 1-0 –
Fara Williams’s extra-time penalty ensured England beat Germany for the first time in 31 years to finish third at the Women’s World Cup. The performance was the second best by an England team following the 1966 win by the men’s side and eclipsed the 1990 men’s team, who finished fourth in Italy. The Lionesses had not beaten two-time World Cup winners Germany in 20 attempts but they more than matched their opponents and won the spot-kick in the second period of extra-time after substitute Lianne Sanderson was brought down by Tabea Kemme. Williams, who is England’s record cap holder and was homeless at one point in her England career, beat retiring German goalkeeper Nadine Angerer for her third penalty of the tournament. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Car Chase by Vania Heymann

 

List of the Day –

Joey Chesnut World Eating Records (as of July 4, 2015)

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide USA UK
1 Happy 4th of July Happy 4th of July Happy 4th of July
2 #MeEncantaQue Joe Budden #IndependenceDay
3 #HarrysFriendIsMissing #BeastInTheEast #storm
4 #VamosVamosArgentina #MakeABandUnhealthy #ToughenUpACartoon
5 #EsMuyComunEnMiQue #dontjudgechallenge Skepta
6 Çinli #CookoutNewsNetwork #MakeABandUnhealthy
7 #IndependenceDay #HarrysFriendIsMissing #BeastInTheEast
8 #LasMinasQueremos #americanproblemsnight #HarrysFriendIsMissing
9 #musicday Roy Hibbert Fawkes
10 Beligoy #DescribeYourSexLifeWithAMeal Joe Budden

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July 5, 2015

Top News Stories –

Greece votes ‘No’ and gambles its future –
Greek voters have delivered a defiant response to Europe. Political leaders and heads of government had lined up to warn the Greeks that a “No” vote would be a vote to leave the euro. It did not deter them. Indeed many voters seemed to revel in their resistance. The European Project is now facing its gravest crisis. [BBC]

USA beat Japan 5-2 in Women’s FIFA World Cup Final –
Carli Lloyd scored an incredible 13-minute hat-trick as the United States thrashed Japan to win their third Women’s World Cup title. In a repeat of the 2011 final, which Japan won on penalties, the Nadeshiko could not live with their stronger and quicker opponents, who went 4-0 up when Lloyd scored an astonishing third from the halfway line. The pulsating finale to an entertaining tournament was the highest-scoring final in the tournament’s history, and matched the highest scoring men’s final, when Brazil defeated Sweden by the same scoreline in 1958. [BBC] See Video of the Day
Carli-Llyoyd Carli Lloyd

Video of the Day –

List of the Day –

FIFA Women’s World Cup results [from Wikipedia]

Year Host Champions Score Runners-up Third Place Score Fourth Place Teams
1991   China
United States
2–1
Norway

Sweden
4–0
Germany
12
1995   Sweden
Norway
2–0
Germany

United States
2–0
China PR
12
1999   United States
United States
0–0 a.e.t.
(5–4 pen)

China PR

Brazil
0–0 [A]
(5–4 pen)

Norway
16
2003   United States
Germany
2–1 asdet
Sweden

United States
3–1
Canada
16
2007   China
Germany
2–0
Brazil

United States
4–1
Norway
16
2011   Germany
Japan
2–2 a.e.t.
(3–1 pen)

United States

Sweden
2–1
France
16
2015   Canada
United States
5–2
Japan

England
1–0 a.e.t.
Germany
24

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide USA UK
1 #ToNoTwitterPq Happy 5th of July #greekreferendum
2 #QueLindoEstariaQue #USAvJPN Chile
3 デスノート #dontjudgechallange Messi
4 #Grefenderum #ImThatGirlfriend #UKBuyWorthIt
5 AGUANTE MESSI CARETAS #YouMightBeARacist #PutWalesinaFilm
6 Dragon Ball Super #WeLoveYouHalsey Argentina
7 #كم_رصيد_حسابك #BadCharitiesToDonateTo #YouMightBeARacist
8 #شي_مانستغني_عنه #MakeAMovieMoreAmerican Sanchez
9 Messi Best 4th of July #BritishGP
10 Vidal Take Jackson Off the $20 Bill #marr

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