Top News Stories –
The Obama’s light up –
President Barack Obama, wife Michelle and their daughters, Malia and Sasha switch on the lights of the Christmas Tree at the National Christmas Tree lighting ceremony at the Ellipse near the White House in Washington DC.
2014 National Christmas Tree
Psy’ched out –
Psy’s Gangnam Style video has been watched so many times that the YouTube’s counter is being upgraded from 32-bit to 64-bit. The old 32-bit system only counted up to 2,147,483,647 views with Gangnam Style hitting 8,000 more than that. The mew 64-bit system will count up to 9,223,372,036,854,775,808 views (around 9 quadrillion). (See Video of the Day and List of the Day below)
Apple accused of wiping competitors tunes –
A US district court has heard lawyers accuse Apple of “deleting” songs from rival services from some iPods in 2007-09. Users with non-iTunes music received a message telling them to restore devices to their factory settings when they tried to sync them. Apple said that the move was a legitimate security measure. The case has been going on for more than a decade and could result in Apple paying out $1bn in damages.
Nobel Prize medal sells for $4.75m –
The Nobel Prize medal of American geneticist James Watson sold for $4.75 million at auction in New York today. It is the first time a Nobel Prize of a living laureate has been sold and almost doubled the estimate price. The Nobel Prize was awarded to Dr Watson in 1962 for his discovery of DNA’s double helix structure in 1953.
Dr James D Watson
Video of the Day –
Gangnam Style – Psy
List of the day –
List of most viewed YouTube videos (as of 26 April 2015) [Wikipedia]
| Rank | Video name | Uploader / artist | Views | Upload date |
| (as of April 26, 2015) | ||||
| 1 | “Gangnam Style”[3] | Psy | 2,313,983,847 | July 15, 2012 |
| 2 | “Baby”[4] | Justin Bieber featuring Ludacris | 1,160,000,626 | February 19, 2010 |
| 3 | “Dark Horse”[5] | Katy Perry featuring Juicy J | 921,658,090 | February 20, 2014 |
| 4 | “Roar”[6] | Katy Perry | 893,854,028 | September 5, 2013 |
| 5 | “Party Rock Anthem”[7] | LMFAO featuring Lauren Bennett & GoonRock | 858,589,503 | March 8, 2011 |
| 6 | “Love the Way You Lie”[8] | Eminem featuring Rihanna | 851,801,370 | August 5, 2010 |
| 7 | “Waka Waka (This Time for Africa)”[9] | Shakira featuring Freshlyground | 841,367,204 | June 4, 2010 |
| 8 | “Bailando”[10] | Enrique Iglesias featuring Descemer Bueno & Gente De Zona | 837,703,728 | April 11, 2014 |
| 9 | “Gentleman”[11] | Psy | 827,500,572 | April 13, 2013 |
| 10 | “On the Floor”[12] | Jennifer Lopez featuring Pitbull | 826,399,446 | March 3, 2011 |
| 11 | “Charlie Bit My Finger – Again!”[13] | Harry and Charlie Davies-Carr | 817,888,282 | May 22, 2007 |
| 12 | “Blank Space”[14] | Taylor Swift | 789,072,425 | November 10, 2014 |
| 13 | “All About That Bass”[15] | Meghan Trainor | 777,167,864 | June 11, 2014 |
| 14 | “Wrecking Ball”[16] | Miley Cyrus | 763,299,644 | September 9, 2013 |
| 15 | “Counting Stars”[17] | OneRepublic | 762,937,861 | May 31, 2013 |
| 16 | “Shake It Off”[18] | Taylor Swift | 755,393,951 | August 18, 2014 |
| 17 | “Thrift Shop”[19] | Macklemore & Ryan Lewis featuring Wanz | 695,336,660 | August 29, 2012 |
| 18 | “Chandelier”[20] | Sia | 686,672,853 | May 6, 2014 |
| 19 | “Call Me Maybe”[21] | Carly Rae Jepsen | 672,490,024 | March 1, 2012 |
| 20 | “Danza Kuduro”[22] | Don Omar featuring Lucenzo | 667,169,495 | August 11, 2010 |
| 21 | “Propuesta Indecente”[23] | Romeo Santos | 662,924,477 | September 9, 2013 |
| 22 | “The Lazy Song”[24] | Bruno Mars | 655,553,094 | April 15, 2011 |
| 23 | “Rolling in the Deep”[25] | Adele | 640,938,739 | November 30, 2010 |
| 24 | “Happy”[26] | Pharrell Williams | 638,324,184 | November 21, 2013 |
| 25 | “Somebody That I Used to Know”[27] | Gotye featuring Kimbra | 631,772,862 | July 5, 2011 |
| 26 | “What Makes You Beautiful”[28] | One Direction | 630,691,006 | August 19, 2011 |
| 27 | “Ai Se Eu Te Pego”[29] | Michel Teló | 627,510,241 | July 25, 2011 |
| 28 | “Bad Romance”[30] | Lady Gaga | 621,450,810 | November 23, 2009 |
| 29 | “Not Afraid”[31] | Eminem | 614,198,215 | June 4, 2010 |
| 30 | “Wake Me Up”[32] | Avicii featuring Aloe Blacc | 611,578,995 | July 29, 2013 |
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2014 Grozny clashes:
- Islamic insurgents kill three state police at a traffic circle before taking an empty school and a “press house” in Grozny. Ten state forces die with 28 injured in gun battles ending with ten insurgents killed. (RT)
- Iraqi insurgency:
- Bombings in Kirkuk and Shia Muslim sections of Baghdad kill at least 33 people. (Al Jazeera)
- Disasters and accidents
- Tens of thousands of people evacuate ahead of Typhoon Hagupit (Ruby) which is expected to strike the Philippines. (BBC)
- An estimated 3000m³ of crude oil from a damaged pipeline leak into a nature reservation in Arava desert in southern Israel. (DW) (Ynetnews)
- Law and crime
- Death of Eric Garner:
- Protests erupt in New York City after a grand jury decides not to indict any police officers in the death of Garner. (CNN)
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