May 14, 2015

Top News Stories –

Supergirl’s trailer reaction split between joy and ‘walking nightmare’ –
Saints be praised: a six-minute trailer for the new CBS TV series Supergirl is here, and it is extremely good.
Gone are the memories of the cult (and largely dreadful) 1984 film version starring a rather wet Helen Slater alongside Faye Dunaway chewing every piece of scenery in sight: the new Supergirl is kooky, charming and funny. Inevitably, Twitter was divided. A DC superhero show that was fun, frothy and where nobody looked anxious? What is this! Kara Jor-El fled the planet Krypton as a girl, and, like her cousin Superman, has grown up into a sweet, geeky character (played by Glee’s Melissa Benoist) who believes that wearing a pair of black plastic glassics is a cunning disguise. [Daily Telegraph] See Video of The Day
Calista-FlockhartCalista Flockhart who plays Supergirl’s boss

Swiss freediver breaks world record for holding breath underwater –

Peter Colat, a Swiss freediver, has held his breath underwater for 19 minutes and 21 seconds, smashing the world record. Colat, 38, performed the feat in a water tank in St Gallen, Switzerland. The previous Guinness World Record for oxygen-assisted static apnea was 19 seconds shorter and was set by an Italian, Nicola Putignano, last May. Colat, an experienced diver from Zurich, said the first 12 minutes was no problem. He said: “I felt the first need to breathe very late, but because of this it was even stronger.” Under the Guinness rules he was allowed to inhale pure oxygen 10 minutes prior to his attempt. See List of the day

Video of the Day –

List of the day –

Oxygen-assisted static apnea previous records

Duration Name Date Location
11:54 Branko Petrović 7 October 2014 Dubai, UAE
11:35 [2] Stéphane Mifsud 8 June 2009 La Crau, France
10:12 Tom Sietas 7 June 2008 Athens, Greece
10:04 Stéphane Mifsud 12 July 2007 Hyères, France
9:15 Tom Sietas 12 May 2008 Mainz, Germany
9:08 Tom Sietas 1 May 2007 Hamburg, Germany
9:04 Herbert Nitsch 13 December 2006 Hurghada, Egypt
9:00 Tom Sietas 29 August 2006 Tokyo, Japan
8:58 Tom Sietas 12 December 2004 Eindhoven, Netherlands
8:47 Tom Sietas 11 June 2004 Hamburg, Germany
8:06 Martin Štěpánek 3 July 2001 Miami, USA[1]

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide USA UK
1 #NoControlCampaignPH The Simpsons The Simpsons
2 Emanuel Ortega Raven Symone #Supergirl
3 #10TirosAesosQue #GrooveMusicVideo #GenderSwapAMovie
4 Corinthians George Stephanopoulos #AutocorrectedMovies
5 #TengoCeroGanasDe #GenderSwapAMovie Bale
6 #ViudasElFinal #LittleWhiteLiesITold #TGE15
7 Cruzeiro #NoControlCampaignPH #mobileengage
8 #GenderSwapAMovie #ThinkContent The Craft
9 #FelizJueves #AdviceForNewParents Ronaldo
10 Harry Shearer #LegendsOfTomorrow Inside the Milibunker

Other News Stories –

Disasters and accidents
International relations

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

November 30, 2015

Top News Stories –

New Zealand: Auckland aims to become trilingual city –
New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, has announced plans to encourage the entire population to speak English, Maori and a third language. The initiative, launched by the council-controlled educational organisation COMET, aims to get all of Auckland’s 1.4 million residents speaking the national language of Te Reo Maori, Radio New Zealand reports. Currently, only 2.3% of Aucklanders speak the language, the lowest rate in the country, while over 1m of the city’s residents are monolingual – usually English, the radio says. Some 377,000 residents already have two languages as a result of the city’s diverse ethnic mix, where 40% of Aucklanders were born overseas, but their languages tend to be overlooked in favour of English. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Domestic Appliances from Lewis Firth Bolton on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide USA UK
1 #CyberMonday #CyberMonday Sam Pepper
2 #FelizLunes #mondaymotivation #CyberMonday
3 Kobe #PopeBars #mondaymotivation
4 水木先生 Tomorrow is December #StAndrewsDay
5 #SoulTrainAwards #RejectedReindeer Kobe Bryant
6 Balón de Oro #COP21 #AuthorDay
7 水木しげる先生 Sam Pepper 75% of Labour
8 #TheWalkingDead #ISurvivedHighSchoolBy Overweight Haters Ltd
9 #الهلال_التعاون Clay Helton #PAKvENG
10 Sam Pepper Anne of Green Gables #TWDMidSeasonFinale

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks
Business and economics
Health and medicine
  • The capitals of the world’s two most populous nations, China and India, are blanketed in hazardous, choking smog. Beijing, on the second-highest pollution alert, is closing highways, halting or suspending construction while warning residents to stay indoors. The U.S. New Delhi embassy’s monitoring station recorded an air quality index of 372, putting air pollution levels into “hazardous” territory. No action by the New Delhi government. (Hindustan Times)
  • A UNICEF report finds AIDS is now the leading cause of death for African teenagers and the second most common killer for adolescents across the globe. While the Asia Pacific region has seen a 31 percent drop in new HIV infections, and 28 percent decline in AIDS-related deaths, the estimated number of adolescents dying of AIDS in the region has more than doubled since 2005. Tomorrow is World Aids Day. (AP via Huffington Post) (Reuters)
International relations
Law and crime
Politics and elections
Science and technology

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource