December 9, 2015

Top News Stories –

Angela Merkel named as Time magazine’s person of the year –
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has been named by Time magazine as its person of the year – the first woman to receive the accolade in almost 30 years. Mrs Merkel, 61, was chosen for her leadership at a time of immense difficulty in Europe, and becomes the first woman to be named as person of the year since 1986. Last year’s winners were the Ebola fighters. “Not once or twice but three times there has been reason to wonder this year whether Europe could continue to exist – not culturally or geographically but as a historic experiment in ambitious statecraft,” said Nancy Gibbs, editor of the magazine. [Daily Telegraph] See List of the Day
Angela_Merkel_Times_Magazine_CoverAngela Merkel Time Magazine Cover

Knightsbridge to fine boy-racers up to £1,000 if they rev their supercar engines –
For years they have infuriated residents in London’s Knightsbridge with their incessant racing around the neighbourhood in noisy supercars. But boy-racers found guilty of wrecking the peace will now be fined £1000 after locals won a battle to make the uncouth behaviour a criminal offence. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which plays host to Harrods department store, has introduced a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) which hopes to restore peace to the neighbourhood. [Daily Telegraph]

Denmark: Nature agency offers free ponds to landowners –
Denmark’s nature agency is offering to pay for people to have ponds installed on their land in an effort to protect endangered wildlife. The government’s AgriFish Agency is offering to foot the bill for creating water features up to 1,000 sq m (10,764 sq ft) in size, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation reports. But such is the level of interest in the new scheme, officials say they probably won’t be able to meet demand. So far there have been more than 100 inquiries by interested landowners, the report says. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

YouTube Rewind: Now Watch Me 2015 | #YouTubeRewind [Over 13 million views in 24 hours]

List of the Day –

The Shortlist for Times Person of the Year 2015
Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi
Donald Trump
Black Lives Matter
Hassan Rouhani
Travis Kalanick
Caitlyn Jenner

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