Who’s the daddy? –
A Cuban man convicted of spying in the US and committed to a double life sentence in 1998 has become a father a month after his release. Gerardo Hernandez, who was released last month by the US as part of a diplomatic thaw with Cuba, requested to have his wife artificially inseminated with his sperm while he was still in jail.
Imran bowled over –
Sportsman-turned-politician Imran Khan has married his fiance, Reham, at a small wedding ceremony at his home in Islamabad, Pakistan. Khan was Pakistan’s most successful cricket captain, playing for the Pakistani cricket team from 1971 to 1992 and leading them to victory at the 1992 Cricket World Cup.
Team Wiggo launched –
Former Tour de France champion and Sky Team member Sir Bradley Wiggins launches his own cycling team to help preparations for the Rio 2016 Olympics. The four-time Olympic champion will try to break the individual world hour record as part of his build-up to Rio2016. Team Wiggins will operate independently of British Cycling but the governing body has given its backing to the team. Bradley Wiggins
App designers golden year –
Apple revealed today that app developers earned more than $10 billion in revenue in 2014, partly due to a 50 percent rise in billings. The App Store has grown to 1.4 million apps since launching in 2008, with 725,000 designed for the iPad.
Russia says drivers must not have ‘sex disorders’ –
The Russian government is tightening medical controls for drivers because the country “has too many road accidents”. Transsexual and transgender people are among those who will no longer qualify for driving licences and fetishism, exhibitionism and voyeurism are also included as “mental disorders” now barring people from driving.
Job for life but don’t turn up –
A.K. Verma, an executive engineer at the Central Public Works Department, India, was fired after last appearing for work in December 1990. Even after an inquiry found him guilty of “wilful absence from duty” in 1992, it took another 22 years and the intervention of a cabinet minister to remove him, the government said.
Zoella leaves dressing room for kitchen –
Zoe Sugg the YouTube vblogger with 7 million subscribers is to appear on the celebrity edition of The Great British Bake Off. Zoella as she is known online (@ZozeeBo with 2.6m followers on Twitter) recently featured on Debrett’s list of the 500 most influential people in Britain. Zoe Sugg A.K.A. Zoella
AKB48 proposed to open Olympic ceremony in 2020 –
The big debate in Japan today is whether to allow J-pop group AKB48 to perform at the opening ceremony of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Their creator, Yasushi Akimoto, proposed choosing the best of the 48 girls (who rotate according to social media popularity) to appear but the idea was ridiculed by Japanese TV celebrity and columnist Matsuko Deluxe, who said the group (named after the Akihabara district of Tokyo) would be “an embarrassment”. The group have sold more than 30m records and had sales exceeding $128m (£85m) in 2013.
Big United beat little United –
Despite the support of 6,000 away fans Cambridge United are finally beaten by Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford in the 4th round of the FA Cup. Man Uniteds starting 11 cost £231m in transfer fees, Cambridge’s cost £0. By forcing a repeat two weeks ago the small club will get around £1 million for their share of the attendance fee which the chairman intends to spend on upgrading the toilets at their ground.
Cut down on your jog life –
A report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology finds that people who jog at a steady pace for less than two and a half hours a week were least likely to die over a 12-year period that was studied. Those who ran more than four hours a week or did no exercise had the highest death rates.
Kate Moss escorted off flight ‘for being disruptive’ –
Supermodel Kate Moss has been escorted off a plane at Luton airport after reportedly being disruptive. The Easyjet flight had arrived from Bodrum in Turkey on Sunday afternoon. In a statement, Bedfordshire Police said they “were called to assist staff in escorting a passenger from a flight arriving into Luton airport this afternoon”. No formal complaints were made against her and she was not arrested. [BBC] In February 2010 Calvin Klein said of Moss – while “a great model,” she was a “difficult” person to work with. Kate Moss with photographer Mario Testino
Bradley Wiggins breaks UCI Hour Record at Lee Valley Velopark –
Sir Bradley Wiggins has broken the iconic hour record by completing a distance of 54.526km (33.88 miles). The 35-year-old smashed the record previously held by fellow Briton Alex Dowsett of 52.937km (32.89 miles), which was set in May. Roared on by a capacity crowd at Lee Valley VeloPark in London, Wiggins became the sixth rider to claim a Tour de France title and the hour record. “I’m just glad it’s done. It was torturous,” he said.
“That’s the closest I have ever come to what it’s like to a have a baby,” Wiggins, who becomes the fifth person in the past nine months to break the record, joked. The multiple Olympic and world champion on track and road surpassed Dowsett’s 212 laps, set in Manchester, with 1min 42secs to spare and eventually completed 219 laps.[BBC] In January 2015, Wiggins launched his own cycling team, Team Wiggins, to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. Bradley Wiggins
Dame Helen Mirren reigns at Tony theatre awards –
Dame Helen Mirren has been named best actress in a play at the Tony theatre awards in New York. She took home the prize for her portrayal of the Queen in The Audience. Dame Helen, a previous Oscar-winner for The Queen, accepted the award saying: “Your Majesty, you did it again.” Other wins included Alex Sharp for best actor and Marianne Elliott for best directing of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which was also named best play. [BBC] See List of the Day
Actor, Sir Christopher Lee dies, aged 93 –
See full story on June 11, 2015 when his death was announced. Sir Christopher Lee (1922-2015)
WINNER: Michael Cerveris, Fun Home Robert Fairchild, An American in Paris
Brian d’Arcy James, Something Rotten!
Ken Watanabe, The King and I
Tony Yazbeck, On the Town
Best leading actress in a musical
WINNER: Kelli O’Hara, The King and I Kristin Chenoweth, On the Twentieth Century
Leanne Cope, An American in Paris
Beth Malone, Fun Home
Chita Rivera, The Visit
Best leading actor in a play
WINNER: Alex Sharp, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Steven Boyer, Hand to God
Bradley Cooper, The Elephant Man
Ben Miles, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Bill Nighy, Skylight
Best leading actress in a play
WINNER: Helen Mirren, The Audience Geneva Carr, Hand to God
Elisabeth Moss, The Heidi Chronicles
Carey Mulligan, Skylight
Ruth Wilson, Constellations
Best featured actor in a musical
WINNER: Christian Borle, Something Rotten! Andy Karl, On the Twentieth Century
Brad Oscar, Something Rotten!
Brandon Uranowitz, An American in Paris
Max von Essen, An American in Paris
Best featured actress in a musical
WINNER: Ruthie Ann Miles, The King and I Victoria Clark, Gigi
Judy Kuhn, Fun Home
Sydney Lucas, Fun Home
Emily Skeggs, Fun Home
Best featured actor in a play
WINNER: Richard McCabe, The Audience Matthew Beard, Skylight
K. Todd Freeman, Airline Highway
Alessandro Nivola, The Elephant Man
Nathaniel Parker, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Micah Stock, It’s Only a Play
Best featured actress in a play
WINNER: Annaleigh Ashford, You Can’t Take It With You Patricia Clarkson, The Elephant Man
Lydia Leonard, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Sarah Stiles, Hand to God
Julie White, Airline Highway
Best book of a musical
WINNER: Fun Home, Lisa Kron An American in Paris, Craig Lucas
Something Rotten!, Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell
The Visit, Terrence McNally
Best original score (music and/or lyrics) for the theatre
WINNER: Fun Home, Music: Jeanine Tesori, Lyrics: Lisa Kron The Last Ship, Music & Lyrics: Sting
Something Rotten!, Music & Lyrics: Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick
The Visit, Music: John Kander, Lyrics: Fred Ebb
Best director of a play
WINNER: Marianne Elliott, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Stephen Daldry, Skylight
Scott Ellis, You Can’t Take It With You
Jeremy Herrin, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Moritz von Stuelpnagel, Hand to God
Best director of a musical
WINNER: Sam Gold, Fun Home Casey Nicholaw, Something Rotten!
John Rando, On the Town
Bartlett Sher, The King and I
Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris
Best scenic design of a play
WINNER: Bunny Christie and Finn Ross, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time Bob Crowley, Skylight
Christopher Oram, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
David Rockwell, You Can’t Take It With You
Best scenic design of a musical
WINNER: Bob Crowley and 59 Productions, An American in Paris David Rockwell, On the Twentieth Century
Michael Yeargan, The King and I
David Zinn, Fun Home
The death toll from the sinking of the Chinese cruise ship is now over 400 as the search area for bodies extends 1,000 km down the Yangtze River. (The Guardian)
Voters in Turkey go to the polls for a general election with the ruling AKP seeking enough votes to enable them to change the constitution. However, early projections show that they will lose their majority in the new parliament. (BBC), (New York Times)
Cambridge University professor of Lego proposed –
A professor of Lego could soon be in post at Cambridge University. The Lego Foundation has provided the university with £2.5m to fund a Lego Professorship of Play in Education, Development and Learning. It has also provided £1.5m to support a play research centre in the education faculty, which will be led by the Lego professor. The Lego professorship post would be “open to all those whose work falls within the general field of the title of the office”, the university said. [BBC]
Texan wrestling star Dusty Rhodes dies at 69 –
One of wrestling’s most colourful stars, Dusty Rhodes, the self-styled “American Dream”, has died aged 69. The death of Virgil Runnels, which was his real name, was announced by World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). His long and glittering career, which began in the late 1960s, earned him a place in the WWE Hall of Fame. “Runnels became a hero to fans around the world thanks to his work ethic, his impassioned interviews and his indomitable spirit,” said WWE. [BBC] Dusty Rhodes
Spain Princess Cristina loses title amid fraud inquiry –
King Felipe VI of Spain has removed the title “Duchess of Palma” from his sister, Princess Cristina, who is to go on trial charged with tax evasion. She was granted the title in 1997 when she married Inaki Urdangarin, a former Olympic handball player who is also accused of tax evasion. Princess Cristina had asked the king to remove her title, her lawyer said. But the royal palace said the king made the decision before seeing her request. She denies the tax fraud charges. [BBC] Princess Cristina
White woman ‘posed as black civil right leader’ in years-long deception –
The name of a local civil rights leader in the US northwest is trending worldwide after her parents told the media that she is a white woman who has been passing herself off as black for years. [BBC Trending] See Top Twitter Trends.
Rachel Dolezal, 37, has been the head of the local branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, or NAACP, in Spokane, Washington, since January. But her parents said Ms Dolezal is of German, Czech, and Swedish descent with a smattering of Native American ancestry. Mr and Mrs Dolezal said their daughter had black siblings who were adopted and that she went to school in Mississippi, where the family were part of a mainly black community. But they said she only began to claim African descent after divorcing her husband, who was also black, in 2004. Her mother, Ruthanne, said Ms Dolezal began to “disguise herself” in 2006 or 2007. [Daily Telegraph]
Video of the Day –
Dave Grohl, Lead singer of the Foo Fighters breaks his leg in a fall on stage in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The Israel Defense Forces Advocate General has announced criminal investigations into three more incidents from Operation Protective Edge. Of the 190 incidents reported to the IDF, investigations have been completed on 105, with seven leading to criminal investigations.(YNet)
The death toll from the South Korean MERS outbreak rises to 11 with 126 people now diagnosed with the disease but the number of people inquarantine falls slightly to 3,680. Two hospitals have closed as a result of the outbreak and the Bank of Korea has lowered interest rates due to concerns about effects of the outbreak on the economy. (Yonhap), (CNN)
Bridge cheating scandal grows as top German players admit ‘ethical violations’ –
Three weeks after a fellow bridge professional threatened to name and shame those he believed were cheating, German bridge partners Josef Piekarek & Alex Smirnov have publicly confessed to “ethical violations”. In apparent attempt to jump before they were pushed, the pair even suggested their own punishments for their behaviour, saying in a statement: “We are aware of the “whispers” circulating about our ethical conduct, and we are sorry to say there is some truth to them. We have voluntarily agreed never again to play competitive bridge together and to take two years off from playing competitive bridge.” The German Bridge Federation and the World Bridge Federation have yet to respond to the admission by Smirnov & Piekarek, [Daily Telegraph]
Apple’s iOS App Store suffers first major attack –
The company [Apple] disclosed the effort after several cyber security firms reported finding a malicious program dubbed XcodeGhost that was embedded in hundreds of legitimate apps. It is the first reported case of large numbers of malicious software programs making their way past Apple’s stringent app review process. Prior to this attack, a total of just five malicious apps had ever been found in the App Store, according to cyber security firm Palo Alto Networks Inc (PANW.N). The hackers embedded the malicious code in these apps by convincing developers of legitimate software to use a tainted, counterfeit version of Apple’s software for creating iOS and Mac apps, which is known as Xcode, Apple said. [Reuters]
Greek elections: Alexis Tsipras emerges as clear winner in shock result –
Greece’s radical former prime minister Alexis Tsipras returned to office on Sunday night after his far-left Syriza party won a clear victory in Greece’s general election. Despite a tepid campaign that saw Mr Tsipras’s personal popularity fall sharply, preliminary results showed the 41-year-old’s far-left Syriza party had won sufficient seats to form a coalition government in the coming days. After a tight race, Syriza ran out comfortable winners, with initial projections showing them falling only five or six seats short of the 151 seats needed to govern. [Daily Telegraph] Tsipras announced he was resigning has called an early election on August 20, 2015 Alexis Tsipras winning tweet Alexis Tsipras
At least 13 migrants died when a ferry and their inflatable dinghy collided off the northwestern Turkish port of Canakkale. Twenty people were rescued while another 13 are still missing. (BBC), (i24 News)
Austrian officials report 11,000 migrants crossed into the country from Hungary on Saturday, and another 7,000 are expected today. Seven trains are scheduled to transport 3,500 of these travelers to Germany. (CBS News)
Oscar Pistorius verdict changed to murder –
Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has been found guilty of murder after a South African appeals court overturned an earlier manslaughter verdict. He killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in February 2013 after shooting her four times through a locked toilet door. He is currently under house arrest after spending one year of his original five-year sentence in jail. Pistorius will have to return to court to be re-sentenced, for murder. [BBC] Pistorius started community service in November 2015 Oscar Pistorius competing
UK Trading Standards officers seize 15,000 unsafe hoverboards –
More than 15,000 unsafe hoverboards – otherwise known as self-balancing scooters – have been seized at ports and airports around the UK. Trading Standards officers said the boards were in danger of overheating, exploding or catching fire. The London Fire Brigade said at least three house fires were caused by such devices over 10 days in October. Many have plugs without fuses, faulty cables or chargers that can burst into flames, according to Trading Standards. It said that 88% of the hoverboards it seized around the UK were found to be defective. [BBC]
Black Friday breaks record with 185K gun background checks –
More Americans had their backgrounds checked purchasing guns on Black Friday than any day on record, according to data released by the FBI this week. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System processed 185,345 requests on Nov. 27, one of the largest retail sales days in the country. “This was an approximate 5% increase over the 175,754 received on Black Friday 2014,” wrote Stephen Fischer, the FBI’s chief of multimedia productions. “The previous high for receipts were the 177,170 received on 12/21/2012.” [USA Today]
Russian president Vladimir Putin addresses on Russian national television the shootdown of one of their jets in Syria by the Turkish Air Force. He goes on to say that “if anyone thinks Russia’s reaction will be limited to trade sanctions, they are deeply mistaken”. (BBC)
In the wake of Washington’s pledge of additional Special Operations troops to Iraq, several members of Iraq’s ruling alliance state that only the Iraqi Parliament can authorize the action, and political associates of Iraqi Prime MinisterHaider al-Abadi report such a troop expansion would be unacceptable. Several members of Iraqi militias have also decried a deployment of more U.S. troops. (Reuters)
Harvard Law School officials are reviewing the use of the school’s seal that includes three bushels of wheat, which also appears on Isaac Royall’s family coat of arms. Royall, a slaveholder whose father was known to be a cruel owner, left part of his estate to help found the law school. (MSNBC)(Boston Globe)
The Swedish government wants to be able to close the Øresund Bridge connecting Sweden to Denmark if the country’s record refugee influx continues. (Local)
U.S. Attorney GeneralLoretta Lynch announces criminal corruption charges against 16 FIFA officials in an indictment that expands Justice’s May filing that indicted 14 officials associated with FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) and related sports marketing companies. At U.S. authorities request, Swiss police arrest two South AmericanFIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) officials at the five-starBaur au Lac hotel in Zürich, on suspicion of accepting “millions of dollars” in bribes. In addition, eight of the defendants indicted in May have pleaded guilty. (CNN)(New York Daily News)
Wayde van Niekerk wins Olympic 400m gold in a new world record! –
The South African produces an absolutely astonishing run to wrestle the Olympic title away from Kirani James, who comes second. Michael Johnson’s 17-year-old world record is finally beaten! He looked to have set out far too quickly but, incredibly, got faster around the top bend and then sustained that top speed down the final stretch. The 2008 Olympic champion, LaShawn Merritt, gets the bronze. To give you an idea of how incredible of an athlete Van Niekerk is; he’s the only athlete in history to run 100m under 10 secs, 200m under 20 secs, and 400m under 44 secs. [CNN] See List of the Day Wayde van Niekerk
Volkswagen gets approval from Germany’s motor vehicle authority for technical fixes on 460,000 cars. (Reuters)
Disasters and accidents
A wedding bus carrying over 50 passengers falls into a ravine in Azad Kashmir, killing at least 25 people and wounding 20 more. Many people are critically injured, with the death toll expected to increase.(Anadolu Agency)
HEI Hotels & Resorts, a firm that operates hotels for Hyatt, Intercontinental, Marriott, and Starwood, reports that malware designed to collect payment information was discovered on computers at 20 of their locations across the United States. (Reuters)
Sage, a British accounting software firm, reports a data breach; it is presently unclear what data was viewed or taken. (BBC)
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Bradley Wiggins
