Top News Stories –

‘Muggle’ becomes internet sensation after Democrat debate –
Amid the suited spin doctors and political professionals, one maverick in the Democratic Presidential Debate really stood out. And it wasn’t Bernie Sanders. The internet was abuzz with musings about who the striking white-haired person in the audience could be. Bathed in a blue light from the studio settings, the man was seemingly oblivious to the sensation he was creating. And his identity remains a mystery – for now – and so online jokers have come up with their own answers. [Daily Telegraph]
Muggle at Democrat conference?

Kendrick Lamar and Big Sean both win three BET Hip Hop Awards –
Kendrick Lamar and Big Sean were the big winners at this year’s BET Hip Hop Awards. Both rappers won three prizes followed by Drake, J. Cole and Fetty Wap, who all won two. Lamar, who enjoyed success earlier this year with his third album To Pimp A Butterfly, was named lyricist of the year at the ceremony which took place in Atlanta, Georgia. He also won awards for impact track and hip hop video for his single Alright. [BBC Newsbeat] See List of the Day for full winners list.
Kendrick_Lamar

Video of the Day –

Man cuts ball fired at 160 kmh with samaurai sword

From comments:
Assuming the radar gun reads the highest velocity, and taking drag into consideration, the ball hits the sword after around 211 ms. If he is using the sound for triggering his reaction the sound would take ~3 ms to reach him and using the average audio stimulus reaction time of ~170 ms would leave him ~38 ms to draw the sword and hit the ball. That’s 0.038 seconds.

List of the Day –

BET Hip Hop Awards Winners 2015

Best Hip-Hop Video
Big Sean feat. Chris Brown and Ty Dolla $ign – “Play No Games”
Big Sean feat. Drake and Kanye West – “Blessings”
Fetty Wap – “Trap Queen”
Kendrick Lamar – “Alright” — WINNER
Nicki Minaj feat. Beyoncé – “Feeling Myself”

Best Collabo, Duo or Group
Big Sean feat. Drake and Kanye West – “Blessings” — WINNER
Big Sean feat. E-40 – “IDFWU”
Fetty Wap feat. Monty – “My Way”
Nicki Minaj feat. Beyoncé – “Feeling Myself”
Nicki Minaj feat. Drake and Lil Wayne – “Truffle Butter”

Best Live Performer
Drake
J. Cole — WINNER
Kanye West
Kendrick Lamar
Nicki Minaj

Lyricist of the Year
Big Sean
Drake
J. Cole
Kendrick Lamar — KENDRICK LAMAR
Nicki Minaj

Video Director of the Year
Alan Ferguson
Benny Boom — WINNER
Chris Robinson/Lil Chris
Colin Tilley
Director X

DJ of the Year
DJ Drama
DJ Envy
DJ Esco
DJ Khaled
DJ Mustard — WINNER

Producer of the Year
DJ Mustard — WINNER
J. Cole
Kanye West
Mike Will Made-It
Pharrell Williams
Timbaland

MVP of the Year
Big Sean
Drake — WINNER
Future
J. Cole
Kendrick Lamar
Nicki Minaj

Track of the Year
“Alright” – Produced by Pharrell Williams and Sounwave (Kendrick Lamar)
“Blessings” – Produced by Boi-1da and Vinylz (Big Sean feat. Drake and Kanye West)
“Commas” – Produced by DJ Spinz and Southside (Future)
“IDFWU” – Produced by Dj Dahi, Dj Mustard, Kanye West and Key Wane (Big Sean feat. E-40)
“Trap Queen” – Produced by Tony Fadd (Fetty Wap) – WINNER

Album of the Year
Big Sean – Dark Sky Paradise
Drake – If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late
J. Cole – 2014 Forest Hills Drive — WINNER
Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly
Nicki Minaj – The Pinkprint
Wale – The Album About Nothing

Who Blew Up Award
Bobby Shmurda
DeJ Loaf
Fetty Wap — WINNER
Rae Sremmurd
Tink

Hustler of the Year
Dr. Dre — WINNER
Drake
J. Cole
Jay Z
Nicki Minaj

Made-You-Look Award (Best Hip-Hop Style)
A$AP Rocky
DeJ Loaf — WINNER
Drake
Kanye West
Nicki Minaj

Best Club Banger
Big Sean feat. E-40 – “IDFWU” (Produced by Dj Dahi, Dj Mustard, Kanye West and Key Wane) — WINNER
Dej Loaf – “Try Me” (Produced by Dds)
Fetty Wap – “Trap Queen” (Produced by Tony Fadd)
Future – “Commas” (Produced by DJ Spinz and Southside)
Rich Homie Quan – “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)” (Produced by DJ Spinz and Nitti Beatz)

Best Mixtape
Future – 56 Nights – WINNER
Future – Beast Mode
Future – Monster
Lil Wayne – Sorry 4 The Wait 2
Travis Scott – Days Before Rodeo

Sweet 16: Best Featured Verse
Drake – “Blessings” (Big Sean feat. Drake and Kanye West)
Drake – “My Way (Remix)” (Fetty Wap feat. Drake) — WINNER
E-40 – “IDFWU” (Big Sean feat. E-40)
Kendrick Lamar – “Classic Man (Remix)” (Jidenna feat. Kendrick Lamar)
Lil Wayne – “Truffle Butter” (Nicki Minaj feat. Drake and Lil Wayne)

Impact Track
Big Sean feat. Kanye West and John Legend – “One Man Can Change The World”
Common and John Legend – “Glory” (From The Motion Picture “Selma”)
J. Cole – “Apparently”
J. Cole – “Be Free”
Kendrick Lamar – “Alright” — WINNER

People’s Champ Award
Big Sean feat. Drake and Kanye West – “Blessings” — WINNER
Fetty Wap – “Trap Queen”
Future – “Commas”
Kendrick Lamar – “i”
Rae Sremmurd – “No Type”
Rich Homie Quan – “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)”

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• The President of Indonesia Joko Widodo calls for calm in the province of Aceh after a person was killed and a church burned down yesterday. (Channel News Asia)
• Syrian Civil War
  • Iranian involvement in the Syrian Civil War
    • Two officers from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are reportedly killed in Syria. (Al Arabiya)
    • Thousands of Iranian troops arrive in Syria to reportedly start a new offensive in the battle of Aleppo. (The Telegraph)
  • Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War
    • The United States and Russia are finalizing a memorandum of understanding that sets out basic air safety procedures in the skies above Syria, according to a U.S. official. (Reuters)
• Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–present)
  • ISIL confirms that U.S. forces killed its number two leader, Abu Mutaz al-Qurashi, in an airstrike near Mosul back in August. (Israel National News) (Al Arabiya)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict
  • Israel’s military deploys new checkpoints in its Arab neighborhoods, as well as thousands of border police soldiers to cities and on roads to assist police forces in response to recent Palestinian stabbing attacks. (USA Today) (AP via Denver Post)(The Guardian) (New York Times)
  • A Palestinian man wearing camouflaged clothing is shot dead at Jerusalem‘s Damascus Gate after charging at Israeli police with a knife. (Jerusalem Post)
• Taunsa Sharif bombing
  • A suicide bomb kills at least seven people and injures 13 others in Pakistan’s Punjab province inside the political office of Pakistan Muslim League MNA Sardar Amjad Farooq Khan Khosa, who was not present. Sardar Khosa, who is attending a meeting in Islamabad, said he did not receive any threat or alert prior to the blast. A Taliban splinter group, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, claims responsibility for the attack. (The Express Tribune) (India.com)
• Boko Haram insurgency
  • A triple suicide-bomb attack in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri kills at least 7 people. (Yahoo)
  • The U.S. is to deploy 300 troops to Cameroon as part of a stepped-up effort to counter Boko Haram in the region. (AP via Daily Mail)
• War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
  • Taliban insurgents overrun two security checkpoints near Kandahar in the southern Helmand Province, killing at least 29 border police officers, according to local officials. (Star Tribune)

Arts and culture

• At the beginning of today’s weekly general audience, Pope Francis asks for forgiveness for the scandals which have recently hit Rome and the Vatican. He did not offer details. The Church’s Synod on the Family concludes Monday, October 19, 2015. (Voice of America) (Catholic Herald) (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• A Swiss Boeing F/A-18 military jet crashes in France while on a training mission, injuring the pilot. The Swiss defense ministry has said it did not know what caused the accident. (Reuters)
• A temporary footbridge across the M1 motorway in Sandton near Johannesburg, South Africa, collapses, killing two people and injuring 23. Both carriageways of the motorway remain closed as rescue work continues. (News24)
• 2015 Mina stampede
  • An updated count by the Associated Press raises the death toll from the Mina stampede during the Hajj to at least 1,621, with hundreds still missing. (AP via Washington Post) (Dainik Jagran)

Politics and elections

• Myanmar general election, 2015
  • Myanmar election authorities confirm that landmark polls will go ahead on November 8 after the opposition rejected postponing due to this summer’s widespread flooding. The upcoming election is Myanmar’s first since moving away from half a century of military rule in 2011. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (The Guardian)

Sports

• 2015 WNBA season
  • In North American basketball, the Minnesota Lynx win their third Women’s National Basketball Association title in five years defeating the Indiana Fever 3 games to 2 in the finals. (AP)
• 2015 MLB Postseason
  • In North America, the Toronto Blue Jays defeat the Texas Rangers, 6-3, and the Kansas City Royals top the Houston Astros, 7-2, in a pair of American League Division Series (ALDS) deciding game fives. The teams move on to the best-of-seven 2015American League Championship Series (ALCS). The series opens Friday, October 16, 2015, at 7:30 p.m. EDT when defending AL champs Kansas City host the Blue Jays, who are in the ALCS for the first time since 1993. (Game 1 – MLB.com) (Game 2 – MLB.com)

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