December 7, 2015

Top News Stories –

Austria: Linz scraps gay pedestrian crossing lights –
The Austrian city of Linz has scrapped its gay-themed pedestrian crossing lights, which were adopted earlier this year with the aim of promoting tolerance. The red and green signals, depicting same-sex couples holding hands, were first introduced in Vienna to coincide with the the Eurovision Song Contest in May. Their popularity meant Salzburg and Linz later followed suit. But while the signals have become a permanent feature in the capital, they’ve now been removed from the streets of Linz. [BBC]

IBM pulls #HackAHairDryer campaign following Twitter backlash –
IBM has pulled the plug on its #HackAHairDryer campaign designed to encourage more female engineers and scientists after social media users turned against it. The initiative, which was centered around encouraging more women to apply for positions within the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) industries, was roundly derided after Twitter users claimed it was patronising and trivialised science. Angry users took issue with the use of a hairdryer, claiming the campaign belittled women’s scientific abilities. [Daily Telegraph] See Top Twitter Trends

Video of the Day –

Jedi Levitation Prank

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SegundaComOClubeSDV	#ReasonWhyWeAreNotFriends	#TurnerPrize
2	#ReasonWhyWeAreNotFriends	#HackAHairDryer	#mondaymotivation
3	#زد_رصيدك24	#NuevaAsamblea	#TCDisrupt
4	#7DElDebateDecisivo	#PearlHarbor	#SheWantsAManFromBrum
5	#امنيه_تتمنونه…	Grammy	#ReasonWhyWeAreNotFriends
6	#UnaVelitaPor	Jose Fernandez	#beforeandafter1d
7	#NuevaAsamblea	Ralph Peters	#HackAHairDryer
8	#MeGustasComoPara	#YearInMusic	#ontopictalkshow
9	#انترنت_السعود…	#AvaBarbie	#SelfieForNash
10	#お前らたまにはア�…	#MyXMasStripperName	#musicmonday

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Syria‘s government says a U.S.-led military coalition airstrike on a Syrian Army camp in the eastern Deir ez-Zor Governorate, killed three Syrian soldiers and wounded 13 others. A senior U.S. military official denied responsibility for the airstrike and said that the U.S. is certain it was a Russian airstrike. (Reuters) (AP)
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 26 civilians have been killed in suspected U.S.-led coalition airstrikes near the ISIL-controlled town of Al-Hawl in Syria‘s northeast Al-Hasakah Governorate. A U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said the reports would be investigated. (BBC)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Turkey refuses to withdraw its forces from northern Iraq despite being giving a 48 hour ultimatum by Iraq to leave the country. Turkey says the troops are there as part of an international mission to train and equip Iraqi forces to fight against the Islamic State. The Iraqi government says it never invited such a force, and will take its case to the United Nations if they are not pulled out. (Reuters)

Business and economics

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) files an administrative complaint challenging office-supplies giant Staples’ proposed $6.3 billion acquisition of top rival Office Depot. The FTC said the deal would significantly reduce national competition in the market for office supplies sold to large business customers. The companies plan to contest the FTC decision. (USA Today) (Bloomberg via Chicago Tribune)
General Electric announces that it has abandoned its plan to sell its appliances business to Sweden‘s Electrolux. The U.S. Department of Justice had filed an antitrust suit in summer 2015 to block the $3.3 billion acquisition. (The Wall Street Journal)

Disasters and accidents

A powerful, magnitude 7.2 earthquake has shaken Tajikistan. It was felt as far away as India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. No damage or casualties have been reported as the epicenter lies within the vast Badakhshan national park. The US Geological Surveydescribes the area as one of the “most seismically hazardous regions on Earth” because of tectonic activity along shifting fault lines. (AP) (USGS) (The Independent)
Pollution in China
- Beijing’s city government issues its first red alert for pollution, ordering schools to close, halting outdoor construction, and restricting car use due to hazardous air quality. (CNN)
2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season
- Storm Desmond
  - Storm Desmond shatters U.K. rainfall records as an incredible 13.44 inches of rain fell in 24 hours at Honister Pass in the Lake District in North West England. The 15.94 inches of rain at Thirlmere — also in the Lake District — set a new record for the 48-hour period. (The Washington Post)
  - Desmond’s fury and flooding has resulted in at least two deaths. Cumbria Police say about 5,000 properties were flooded and around 3,000 remain without power. (Sky News) (ITV)
  - Flooding that’s devastated parts of northwest England, on Sunday temporarily brought a 260-foot high waterfall in the Yorkshire Dales National Park back to life for the first time in residents’ living memory. But by today, it stopped. (Sky News)
A blaze, sparked by a quick succession of between 15 and 20 gas cylinder explosions, in the Kandivali suburb of Mumbai, India, kills at least two and injures 11 while destroying around 1,000 hutment homes. (Sky News) (The Hindu)

International relations

Russia–Turkey relations
- Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu accuses Russia of provoking military gestures as a sailor aboard a Russian naval vessel wielded a rocket launcher as the ship passed through the Bosphorous Strait in the wake of Russia’s imposing sanctions on Turkey for that country’s downing of a Russian aircraft (Reuters)
- Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in a televised speech, states that it is possible to find alternatives to Russian energy sources following his return from Qatar where he arranged a deal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the Turkish Prime Minister’s visit to Azerbaijan where energy matters were reportedly discussed. Turkish officials have reportedly discussed energy deals with other countries as well. (Radio Free Europe)
Russia’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency says he expects the historic nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, the P5+1, to be implemented in January. Before the end of the year, Iran will exchange its stockpile of low-enriched uraniumfor Russia’s non-enriched forms of uranium, he said. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Iran’s Cyber Police Chief announces the arrest of some 53 people for allegedly running websites supportive of the Islamic State militant group. (Reuters)
The United States Supreme Court declines (Friedman v. Highland Park) to review the ability of cities and states to prohibit semiautomatic, high-capacity assault weapons that have been used in some of the nation’s most deadly recent mass shootings. Thenationwide assault weapons ban law expired in 2004. Since the District of Columbia v. Heller decision in 2008 found the Second Amendment provides the right for an individual to keep a weapon in the home, the court has avoided all cases that might clarify if that right is more expansive. (The Washington Post) (Reuters)
The United States Department of Justice will investigate the Chicago, Illinois police department. Long concerned with Chicago police department practices, the investigation is precipitated by the recent release of a video of the shooting death of Laquan McDonald. The Chicago police are set to release another video showing the police killing of Ronald Johnson in October of 2014. (New York Times) (CNN)
United States Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says the Obama administration will announce a new terror alert system “in the coming days,” that will better inform the public about threats to the United States. This will be the third terror alert system put in place since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. (AP via MLive.com)
Whaling in Japan
- Australia is threatening to take legal action against Japan over its resumption of its controversial whale hunt in the Antarctic Ocean. A whaling fleet set sail last week, ignoring international condemnation, and last year’s ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) prohibiting these hunts. (AP via The Seattle Times) (Voice of America)

Politics and elections

Venezuelan parliamentary election, 2015
- Venezuela’s National Electoral Council announces the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) has won at least 99 seats in the 167-member National Assembly in Sunday’s elections. The previous-ruling United Social Party of Venezuela (PSUV) picked up 46. Results for 22 contests remain to be determined. Voter turnout was a stunning 74.3 percent. “Within seconds,” President Nicolás Maduro recognized the opposition’s win, saying that despite (his party’s) adverse result, Venezuela’s democracy has triumphed. (AP) (BBC) (BBC)

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December 8, 2015

Top News Stories –

Arnold Schwarzenegger: ‘Go part-time vegetarian to protect the planet’ –
Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says people should go meat-free one or two days a week to protect the climate. Meat-eating was an environmental problem, with farming creating an estimated 28% of global greenhouse gases, the body-builder and movie star told BBC News. Asking people to go totally vegetarian would be too demanding, he said. It would better to suggest giving up meat once or twice a week, he added. When asked how young men would achieve a body like The Terminator – the cyborg assassin in the film of the same name – without steak, he said many successful body-builders avoided meat. [BBC]
Arnold Schwarzenegger

Saint West: Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West name their baby boy –
Many of her fans had been hoping she would choose “South” but Kim Kardashian West surprised them once again by calling her new baby “Saint”. Saint West, who weighed in at eight pounds one ounce, arrived at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Saturday. But Mrs West, and rapper husband Kanye, waited for two days before announcing the name on Twitter and her app. The couple’s first child, daughter North West, was born in 2013. [Daily Telegraph]

Kuala Lumpur airport seeks owner of ‘abandoned’ jets –
Officials at Malaysia’s main airport have taken out a newspaper advert seeking the owner of three Boeing 747 jets they say have been left unclaimed. The notice said if the owners “fail to collect the aircraft within 14 days…, we reserve the right to sell or otherwise dispose of the aircraft”. It said fees for landing and parking were also owed. An airport official was quoted as saying they had tried to contact the jets’ last known owners. He added that in the past decade a few other planes, mostly smaller aircraft, have been abandoned, with one that was left in the 1990s eventually being bought and turned into a restaurant in a Kuala Lumpur suburb. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

The Trial of Barnaby Finch from Sorrel Brae on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#TercaDeSDVNoClubeDaTAG	#VSFashionShow	Eagles of Death Metal
2	#ToHellAndBack	#JohnLennon	Donald Trump
3	#زد_رصيدك25	#NationalBrownieDay	#JohnLennon
4	#CartaDoTemer	#HappyBirthdayNickiMinaj	#HappyBirthdayNickiMinaj
5	#PSYAwkward	Don’t Glorify This Tragedy	#CutTheCosts
6	#De2015MeLlevo	#Somos112	#BritainAgainstCancer
7	#くと打ってクリス�…	Bow Wow	#InternetTheBeatles
8	#ALDUBPromiseRing	#TrumpIsDisqualifiedParty	#TravelTuesday
9	#커피를_마셨다로_��…	#HANGOUTFEST	#MadeInChelsea
10	#PabloPresidente20D	#WorstResponders	#LondonSpy

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2015 San Bernardino attack investigation
- A $28,500 deposit was made to Syed Farook’s bank account two weeks before he and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, carried out the San Bernardino massacre, a source close to the investigation says. Investigators are exploring whether the transaction was a personal loan or something else. (SBS) (Fox News)
- According to the FBI, the couple that perpetrated the attack had long been radicalized, and had been practicing at a target range days before their murder spree. (New York Times)
- FBI agents found an empty GoPro package, shooting targets, and tools inside a car belonging to the mother of San Bernardino mass-shooter Syed Farook. (Daily Mail)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Iraqi officials say the country’s forces have managed to retake large parts of the key city of Ramadi from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants. (Press TV)
Military intervention against ISIL
- U.S. television network NBC has calculated that ISIS and its sympathizers killed 525 people in six attacks in six countries outside its alleged caliphate since October 10, 2015. (NBC)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- Several Taliban insurgents storm into Kandahar International Airport and engage Afghan security forces in a firefight. (Al Jazeera)
Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, targeting Houthi rebels battling pro-government fighters, killed and wounded dozens in the port city of Mocha, according to Yemeni security officials. Around 35 fighters on both sides were killed in the battle over a key military base near the city of Taiz. (AP via Miami Herald)
Syrian Civil War
- Russian military intervention
  - For the first time, Russia strikes Islamic State targets in northern Syria with 3M-54 Klub (Kalibr) cruise missiles launched from a Kilo-class submarine in the Mediterranean, according to the Russian Minister of Defence, Sergey Shoygu. (RT)
- Rebels in Homs and the Syrian government agree to a local ceasefire that is to include the withdrawal of opposition fighters from the al-Waer neighborhood, the only area of the heavily damaged city still under rebel control. The evacuation is expected to start Wednesday. Residents are hoping to return in the next few days. (Daily Mail) (CBS News via Hawaii News Now)
Egyptian Sinai insurgency
- Four Egyptian security personnel are killed and another four are injured by a roadside bomb near the border town Rafah in the Sinai Peninsula. Islamist militants are suspected to have remotely detonated the device as an armored vehicle drove by the town’s center, near the border with the Gaza Strip and Israel, security sources told Ahram Online. (UPI) (Ahram Online) (Anadolu Agency)

Business and economy

UK-based Anglo American plc (AAUKF) announces plans to slash 85k jobs and shed 60% of assets over the next several years; it will also halt dividend payments for the rest of 2015-16 and cut capital expenditures. The company cited depressed commodity prices for its actions. (CNNMoney)
U.S. airplane manufacturer Boeing unveils the first Boeing 737 MAX airplane at its factory in Renton, Washington. (The Seattle Times) (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season
- Storm Desmond
  - The United Kingdom’s Met Office issues two new severe weather warnings for wind and rain covering across much of Scotland and Northern England beginning 6 a.m. Wednesday. (The Daily Telegraph)

Health and medicine

The United States Food and Drug Administration approves marketing of a cooling cap system to reduce hair loss in female breast cancer patients during chemotherapy. The DigniCap scalp cooling system, a product first available in Sweden in the 1990s, produces near-freezing temperatures that make it harder for cancer-fighting drugs to reach and harm hair follicles. (AP via U.S. News and World Report) (FDA) (DigniCap)

International relations

The United States agrees with Singapore on a first deployment of the U.S. P8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft in Singapore this month, in a fresh response to China over its pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea. (UPI) (Reuters)
The prime ministers of Britain and France joined condemnation around the globe of U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s call for a “total and complete ban” on Muslims entering the United States. (The Washington Post)
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power says the United States is investigating reports that Iran launched a medium-range ballistic missile in November, and if confirmed, will bring the issue to the U.N. Security Council and seek appropriate action. (Reuters)
Cross Border Xpress, a privately owned and operated airport terminal located in the Otay Mesa suburb of San Diego, California, United States, will open tomorrow with a connecting walkway to Tijuana International Airport in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. This facility, the final step of a project first proposed in the early 1990s, will be just the second cross-border airport in the world. U.S. Customs will operate a checkpoint on the bridge for those entering the country. (AP via USA Today) (AP Q&A via San Francisco Chronicle) (Los Angeles Times)

Law and crime

South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is granted bail while he appeals his murder conviction. (The Telegraph)

Politics and law

The U.S. Supreme Court rules that a lawsuit challenging Maryland’s congressional redistricting plan following the 2010 Census on grounds of unconstitutional gerrymandering may proceed. The suit, which alleges that congressional district boundaries were changed to make it easier for Democrats to win in seven of the state’s eight districts, had been rejected by both district and circuit courts due to lack of standing. (The Washington Post)
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump early Tuesday rejected criticism of his call to “shut the door” on Muslims entering the U.S. during a heated round of interviews in which he said he was not worried about being compared to Hitler. (The Hill)

Science and technology

New research by a team of British archaeologists, published in the current issue of the journal Antiquity, revives an older theory of Herbert Henry Thomas that Stonehenge may have stood in Wales hundreds of years before it was dismantled and transported to Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire in South West England. (Discovery) (National Geographic) (The Antiquaries Journal)

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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 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

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	Australia (USA unavailable)	UK
1	#CFKVerguenzaMundial	#badenclay	#PurposeWorldTour	13:10
2	#ConfessoQueEm2015	#ideasboom	#masterchefprofessionals	11:25
3	#QuartaComOClubeSDV	New Matilda	#HipHopStarWars	10:50
4	#زد_رصيدك26	Grammy	#VSFashionShow	10:35
5	#ParaEl2016Yo	Stan Grant	#newsnight	10:00
6	#PurposeWorldTour	Saint West	De Gea	09:00
7	#felizmiercoles	#Run1stWin	#ScreamQueensFinale	08:55
8	#رقص_سالم_الدو�…	#HourOfCode	Block Donald J Trump	08:55
9	#اسقاط_القروض_�…	#homeandaway	#potterythrowdown	08:50
10	#ALDUBIkawAtAko	#SmallzysMerrySOSmas	#thatssolastcentury

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015)
- An Israeli couple are injured in a drive-by shooting attack near Avnei Hefetz. (The Times of Israel)
- Israeli soldiers shoot dead a Palestinian teenager during an arrest raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. (The Jerusalem Post) (Al Jazeera)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- A Taliban attack on Kandahar International Airport results in at least 37 civilian and Afghan National Security Forces personnel dead and 35 injured. (Reuters)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- Amnesty International reports that years of foreign military intervention, poor oversight on weapons sales, and lack of control over the international flow of weaponry have enabled ISIL to accumulate its vast armaments stockpile. Amnesty International calls for weapons embargoes and the ratification of the global Arms Trade Treaty by nations that have not already done so and, at the same time, are sources of weapons in the ISIL stockpile. (Agence France-Presse via AlJazeera America) (Agence France-Presse via Defense News)
Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- Russian President Vladimir Putin says he hopes nuclear warheads will not be needed to deal with terrorists, after Russia launched cruise missiles at Islamic State positions in Syria from one of its Kilo-class submarines in the Mediterranean. (Independent)
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
- Azeri tanks on the front line shell military positions in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh Republic for the first time since a Russian-brokered ceasefire ended fighting in 1994. At least one Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army soldier is killed. (AFP via Yahoo)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Turkey calls on all its citizens to leave all areas of Iraq except Iraqi Kurdistan, due to “increased security risks”. (AFP via Daily Mail)

Arts and culture

Angela Merkel is named as Time‘s Person of the Year. (CNN International)

Disasters and accidents

2015 South Indian floods
- Heavy rains continue to lash Thanjavur and Thanjavur district, inundating urban areas and hundreds of acres of farmland. Many residential areas in Thanjavur have been marooned by rising water. (The Hindu)
Floods in the United States: 2001–present
- Governor of Washington Jay Inslee declares a state of emergency after severe flooding and high winds across the western part of the state close several major highways, damage homes and property, and impact electricity service. (Governor of Washington) (KIRO-TV)

International relations

The United States expands sanctions against North Korea over its alleged weapons breaches. (BBC)
Cuba–United States relations
- Government officials from Cuba and the U.S. met in Havana, beginning settlement discussions surrounding $1.9 billion worth of U.S. assets seized by Fidel Castro’s regime in the early 1960s. By law, the United States embargo against Cuba cannot cease until settlements are made. (Washington Post)

Law and crime

The Australian Federal Police raid the Sydney home of Craig Steven Wright – whom media today claimed was suspected to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin – in relation to possible tax offences. (ABC News Australia)
Chinese state television reports Guo Youming, former deputy governor of Hubei province, is found guilty of taking bribes totaling more than 23.8 million yuan ($3.70 million). Guo is the latest to be convicted as a result of President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign that started when Xi took office three years ago. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

A group of mayors and officials from American cities such as Philadelphia, and New York City say that if they had their way Donald Trump would be banned from their cities for his comments on Muslims. (NBC)
The Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell distance the party from presidential candidate Donald Trump’s recent comments calling for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. While not entering into a political fray – in view of U.S. partnerships with Muslim nations and Muslim personnel serving in the United States Armed Forces – The Pentagon press secretary calls anti-Muslim rhetoric a national security threat. (CNN) (Politico)
British police officers have today sensationally backed U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s controversial claim that parts of the country are no-go areas such as London and Birmingham because of growing Islamist extremism. (Express)
Congress is set to vote on Thursday on whether to prevent barring of potential immigration applicants based solely on religion. (Free Beacon)

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December 10, 2015

Top News Stories –

Donald Trump: petition to ban presidential candidate from the UK becomes most popular ever –
An online petition calling for Donald Trump to be blocked from entry to the UK has broken the parliamentary website record and is approaching half a million signatures. It currently has more than 470,000 names, beating the previous high of 446,482. The Petitions Committee is expected to discuss the petition at its meeting on 5 January. [BBC]
Donald Trump

Famous Moscow cemeteries to install free wi-fi –
Three of Moscow’s most-visited cemeteries are about to enter the digital age, with the installation of full wi-fi connectivity. Visitors will be able to browse the internet for free at the Novodevichy, Troyekurovskoye and Vagankovo cemeteries starting from the first half of 2016, according to the Moscow city website. The head of the city’s funerary services office, Artem Yekimov, says the aim is to help visitors find out more about famous people buried there and their graves – and make visiting the cemeteries more “comfortable”. Telecommunications company YS System says it offered to install the wi-fi networks after hearing about plans to create rest areas – dubbed “zones of psychological comfort” – at the cemeteries. [BBC]

Hajj stampede killed three times Saudi Arabia’s official number, says report –
The September Hajj stampede killed at least 2,411 pilgrims, a new count shows, three times the number of deaths acknowledged by Saudi Arabia. The figures establish the crush on September 24 as the deadliest in the history of the annual pilgrimage. Saudi’s official death toll of 769 people has not changed since September 26, and officials have yet to address the discrepancy. The kingdom rebuffed criticism from its regional rival Iran and efforts by other countries to join a probe into the deaths. Saudi’s King Salman ordered an investigation into the tragedy almost immediately, yet few details have been made public since and hundreds of pilgrims remain missing. [Daily Telegraph]

Bollywood superstar Salman Khan cleared over hit-and-run crash –
An Indian court on Thursday cleared Bollywood superstar Salman Khan of killing a homeless man in a hit-and-run crash 13 years ago, acquitting him of all charges after he appealed his conviction. The Bombay High Court said a lower court had erred in finding Khan guilty of culpable homicide at the end of his trial in May, when he was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison. [Daily Telegraph]
Salman Khan

Video of the Day –

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	Australia (USA unavailable)	UK
1	#HumanRightsDay	#VSFashionShow	#BBCMusicAwards
2	#زد_رصيدك27	#AUSvWI	#HumanRightsDay
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8	Derechos Humanos	Bitcoin	#RealisticResolutions
9	#ConLaMoralChavistaEnAlto	#sydneystorm	#newsnight
10	#FrasesQueArden	#1989TourMelbourne	#RadioCityLive

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Military intervention against ISIL
- While testifying about the United States military’s current strategy, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Paul J. Selva warns the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) against falling into a ground fight trap with ISIL and U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter cautions that increased U.S. ground presence will “Americanize” the conflict. The Daily Beast reports that both Pentagon officials “did little to assuage lawmakers’ concerns that the strategy isn’t working.’’ At the same time, former U.S. defense officials tell SASC the current approach is inadequate. (The Daily Beast) (The Hill) (Defense News)
Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- Pro-Hadi government forces backed by Arab coalition air and naval forces, seize control of the Hanish Islands off the coast of Yemen, near the strategic Bab-el-Mandeb strait from troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The islands have been subject to heavy shelling by coalition forces for weeks according to local fishermen. (Reuters)
Swiss officials say police, based on a CIA tip, are hunting for at least four Islamic State-associated suspects believed to be plotting an attack in Geneva. (AP)

Arts and culture

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association announces the 73rd Golden Globe Awards nominees for the best films and television productions of 2015. The winners will be announced on January 10, 2016. (Los Angeles Times)
The Pew Research Center announces a new study that shows the American middle class, long seen as the economic backbone of the country, is shrinking and no longer constitutes a majority (49.89%). Also, the “nation’s aggregate household income has substantially shifted from middle-income to upper-income households.” (Headlines & Global News) (Christian Science Monitor) (Pew Research Center)

Business and economics

Volkswagen emissions scandal
- Volkswagen executives admit the diesel emissions cheating was the result of a collection of failures within the company, rather than just the actions of rogue engineers. In 2005, VW began working on software after they were unable to find a technical solution to U.S. nitrogen oxide emissions standards. (The Guardian) (New York Times via SFGate.com) (The Guardian press conference text)

International relations

North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of North Korea, announces that the country is now in possession of a hydrogen bomb, according to North Korean state media. Experts from South Korea however are skeptical about this claim. (RT) (BBC)
Syrian Civil War
- Syrian opposition politicians and rebels, attending a two-day meeting hosted by Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, agree on a framework that would guide proposed talks to end Syria’s nearly five-year conflict: a civil, democratic Syria with a transitional government that would respect human rights and the territorial integrity of the country; and, safeguard state institutions while restructuring security forces. Ahrar ash-Sham, a Saudi-backed ultraconservative group, withdrew from the talks at the end of the meeting.(BBC) (AP)
- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says that the new International Syrian Support Group are working toward a December 18 meeting in New York. (Reuters)

Law and crime

In the United States, Suffolk County police ask the FBI for more help in their investigation of a possible serial killer who preyed on prostitutes and left their bodies strewn along a Long Island beach in New York. Ten bodies were found along an isolated stretch of the South Shore’s Gilgo Beach between December 2010 and April 2011. (Reuters) (New York Daily News)

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December 11, 2015

Top News Stories –

Tokyo police are using drones with nets to catch other drones –
Tokyo’s police force has introduced an elite fleet of interceptor drones designed to chase and catch suspicious-looking drones in nets flying over sensitive locations amid concerns for the prime minister’s safety. Riot police will control the camera-equipped interceptor drones to chase after private drones they feel may be spying on buildings, including the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s office, and ensnare them in large nets before returning to the ground. Those controlling the force drone will first warn the suspicious drone’s operator to cease the flight, before pursuing them. A four-propellor drone carrying trace amounts of radioactive caesium was intercepted on the top of the prime minister’s office in April, raising terror concerns in the capital. Police said radioactivity levels were only a maximum of 1 microsievert of gamma rays per hour, a level that is not harmful to humans. [Daily Telegraph]

Google Chrome extension replaces all mentions of Donald Trump with Voldemort –
When JK Rowling said Donald Trump was worse than Lord Voldemort, after the former’s proposal that all Muslims should be banned from entering the US, the Harry Potter author inspired one person to take the idea that little bit further. A Google Chrome user has released an extension for the web browser that turns all mentions of Trump into various aliases for Harry Potter’s nemesis. A series of Trump-related Chrome extensions have filled the web. The Trumpweb inserts quotes from the man himself in between “Donald” and “Trump”, and another removes any mentions of him from Facebook. You can also change any mentions of Trump to “your drunk uncle”. [Daily Telegraph] A petition started on December 6 to ban Trump from entering Britain has now reached over half a million signatures.
Donald Trump

Video of the Day –

TIMEDRIFT II from Martin Heck | Timestorm Films on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SextaCampuseirosClubSdv	#FlashbackFriday	Ian Bell
2	#ParaEl2016MeEncantariaQue	#ICantStopSmilingBecause	Arnold Peralta
3	#زد_رصيدك28	#CouldBeOniTunes	#FridayFeeling
4	#من_عيوب_تويتر	#WomenInMusic	#DanielHoltzclaw
5	#ALDUBMaiDenMoment	#WelcomeToCanada	#RuinAChristmasMovie
6	#PraNamorarComigoÉPreciso	#XMenApocalypse	#SNERVOUS
7	#BirŞeySöyleyeceğim	#ewaGlobal	#pantoday
8	#WatchBoomChaOnAnahiVEVO	#RuinAChristmasMovie	#InternationalMountainDay
9	#MiFraseDeBorracho	#YouAreInDenialIf	#bbcqt
10	#XMenApocalypse	#NewMusicFriday	#DiamondBall

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- The Taliban claims responsibility for a car bomb attack near the Spanish embassy in Kabul. At least one Spanish security officer is killed. (Reuters)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015),
- Three Palestinians are killed by Israeli forces, two in Hebron, one of whom reportedly tried to ram his car into soldiers and the other during a violent demonstration in the West Bank city. A third Palestinian died in clashes with Israeli troops at the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel. (Today) (AP via Stars & Stripes)
2015 Burundian unrest
- Burundi’s army repels attacks on military barracks in the capital, Bujumbura, in the worst violence since this spring’s unrest that developed after President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to seek a third term in office. According to an army spokesman, at least 12 gunmen are killed and 20 captured. Reports that at least five soldiers have been killed are denied by the army, which says the soldiers were wounded. Two southern sites, a police station and an army camp, were also attacked, with no report on casualties. Kenya Airways and RwandAir cancels its flights to Bujumbura. (Al Jazeera) (Bloomberg)
Syrian Civil War, Syrian Kurdish–Islamist conflict (2013–present)
- A triple truck-bomb attack on the Kurdish YPG militia-controlled town of Tell Tamer in Syria‘s northeast Al-Hasakah Governorate leaves as many as 50 people dead and 80 others wounded. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for the attacks, saying in an online statement that three of its fighters driving three separate vehicles had detonated the suicide bombs targeting “bases” belonging to Kurdish fighters. (Reuters via NBC News)
Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant‘s branch in Libya (Libya Province) seizes control of the western Libyan town of Sabratha, after storming it in retaliation after two of their men were arrested in a house nearby; however they then set up checkpoints around the town, with little opposition from the local militias that were supposed to be in control of the area. There are now fears that the militant group could destroy the town’s Roman amphitheatre, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (The Telegraph)
Swiss police in Geneva, following yesterday’s CIA tip, arrest two Syrian nationals. Apparently, traces of explosives were found in their car. President Simonetta Sommaruga says, “There is currently no indication that there was a concrete attack planned.”(Sky News)

Business and economy

Chinese tycoon Guo Guangchang, founder and chairman of Fosun, is reported missing amid the Chinese anti-corruption campaign. (The Guardian)
Two of the U.S.’s oldest and largest companies, DuPont and Dow Chemical Company, will merge in an all-stock deal valued at $130 billion. The deal, which includes future plans for DowDuPont to split into three independent, public companies, is expected to face intense scrutiny from federal antitrust regulators, who will examine the impact on prices and the availability of vital seeds and herbicides.(Reuters) (The Washington Post)
China’s Alibaba Group Holding Limited acquires Hong Kong’s largest English-language newspaper, the South China Morning Post, in a deal reported to be worth about $100 million. (UPI)

Disasters and accidents

2015 South Indian floods
- Major UK-based reinsurance broker Aon Benfield estimates India has suffered over US$3 billion (over Rs. 200 billion) worth of losses as a result of the flooding, and rates them as the costliest floods and the eighth-costliest natural disaster of 2015.(Business Standard)

International relations

2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference
- French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announces the world climate talks (COP 21) will be extended to at least Saturday. (AP)
Syrian Civil War
- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says he will not negotiate with armed groups, a day after the Syrian opposition’s multi-group, two-day meeting in Riyadh agreed on a framework for future negotiations to end the conflict. Assad’s statement also appears to put a damper on peace talks Russia and the United States are working to set up. (Reuters) (Syria Online)
War in Donbass
- The United States and Russia exchanged charges concerning U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonović’s presentation at the U.N. Security Council meeting on Ukraine. While violence between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels has lessened since September’s agreement, Šimonović warned of the massive civilian toll if major hostilities re-erupt. OCHA’s John Ging said locals face unacceptable physical hardships and indignities, and that the suspension of humanitarian programs and expulsion of humanitarian workers in non-government controlled areas must end. (Reuters) (UN)

Law and crime

Hannibal Gaddafi, son of Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was kidnapped by militants, is released in Baalbek, Lebanon. Gaddafi’s abductors said they were seeking information on the fate of Shiite cleric Imam Moussa al-Sadr, who disappeared during a trip to Tripoli in 1978. (AP via ABC News) (Epoch Times) (AP via NBC News-update)

Politics and elections

Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- Martin Kobler, United Nations envoy to Libya, announces the country’s two rival parliaments agreement to set a target date of Dec. 16 to sign a U.N.-sponsored agreement on forming a national unity government. (AP via ABC News) (Reuters)

Science and technology

Washington State University researchers report in the Journal of the American Chemical Society that they have invented a new catalyst that promises to enable production of bio-based chemicals and plastics. In the future, products could be made from bio-based ethanol rather than superheated crude oil. Other uses for this new catalyst are being explored. (UPI) (Phys.org)

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December 12, 2015

Top News Stories –

Has history been made at COP21? –
I’m not a fan of hyperbole, but it would be churlish to say the adoption of the Paris Agreement [at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference or COP21] was anything other than a globally, historic moment. This carefully worded document that balances the right of countries to develop with the need to protect the planet is a truly world changing instrument. It sets out, for the first time, a global approach to a problem of humanity’s own making: the recent rapid warming of the Earth that science says is mainly down to the use of fossil fuels. The deal sets out a firm goal of keeping temperature rises well below 2C, and will strive for 1.5C. This is no easy task as researchers say that this year 2015, the world has gone through 1C above pre-industrial levels. The agreement text means that emissions of greenhouse gases will have to peak globally and reduce rapidly thereafter, in accordance with the best possible science. This phrase is crucial according to observers, meaning that the Paris deal will be guided by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And the IPCC say that carbon emissions will have to go to zero by the end of this century. [BBC] See Top Twitter Trends
2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference logo

Elon Musk launches $1bn fund to save world from AI –
Elon Musk has unveiled his latest big-money project: saving humanity from destruction by artificial intelligence. The man who made his billions from PayPal and who has gambled a chunk of his fortune on the race for space, has warned frequently that AI represents humanity’s greatest existential threat. He is joining forces with other tech entrepreneurs to establish a $1 billion investment fund for researchers to pursue applications with a positive social impact and to try to stay one step ahead of the technology. Along with his Paypal co-founder, Peter Thiel, and backing from Indian tech giant Infosys and Amazon Web Services, he has set up OpenAI, a nonprofit company that will back research into novel uses of AI and share the findings. [Daily Telegraph] In May 2015 Musk’s firm SpaceX won long-waited approval from the US Air Force to launch military satellites
Elon Musk

Video of the Day –

The Galapagos – Calling Home from Andrew Norton on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SabadoComOClubeSDV	#ParisAgreement	#ChangeASongsMind
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3	#اكتب_كلمه_تجلطك	#SantaCon	#LDJAM
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9	#iHeartRadioJingleBall	#BringBackMST3K	#TUFFinale
10	#عزيزتي_المزيو…	#IfICouldDoAnythingToYou	#bbcaq

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- A suicide bomber attacks an Iraqi Army post in Al Anbar Governorate on the border with Saudi Arabia, killing at least six guards. (Ahram Online)
Syrian Civil War
- Sixteen people are killed and many more injured by a car bomb and a second, delayed explosion near a hospital in Syria’s mainly Alawite, government-controlled neighborhood of al-Zahra, east of Homs’ old city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rightsreports. The attack comes just five days after the government and rebels agreed on a local ceasefire in the western al-Waer suburb. (Reuters) (EuroNews)
2015 Burundian unrest
- Burundi’s army reports 87 people, including eight government defenders, were killed, and 45 attackers captured in Friday’s clashes at three military sites in Bujumbura. Police have not identified the gunmen. Witnesses report some of the victims’ arms were tied behind their backs while others were killed at close range. This was the worst violence since this spring’s attempted coup d’état. One of the generals behind the failed coup says his rebel group still wants to oust the president. (Reuters) (AFP via Global Post)
Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- All sides in the Yemeni civil war announce a seven-day ceasefire will start on Monday. (Al-Arabiyah)
Nigerian soldiers kill at least 12 people and injure dozens more in a clash with followers of Shi’a cleric Ibrahim Zakzaky’s Islamic movement in the northern town of Zaria. The army says the crowd surged towards General Tukur Buratai’s convoy, some firing and attempting to kill Buratai. Afterward, the Nigerian Army and the Islamic Movement accuse each other of instigating the attacks. (EagleOnline) (AP) (Premium Times)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- Battle of Kunduz
  - The United Nations mission in Afghanistan reports 289 civilians were killed and 559 injured during fighting in Kunduz between Taliban militants and Afghan National Security Forces in September and October. These numbers include casualties from the friendly-fire attack on the Doctors Without Borders hospital. The U.N. noted the numbers were likely to rise as more information is available. (Reuters) (Radio Free Europe)

International relations

2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference
- Delegates from 196 countries approve an agreement that seeks to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Paris. (BBC) (Washington Post)
Japan and India sign an agreement on high-speed rail, defence technology and a memorandum of understanding on civil nuclear cooperation. (AFP via Daily Mail)
North Korea’s all-female Moranbong Band, which was formed by leader Kim Jong-un, surprisingly cancels tonight’s concert at Beijing’s National Centre for the Performing Arts, and two others and returns to Pyongyang. Rumors for the sudden change abound, but no reason has been given. The sudden cancellation could hurt Chinese-North Korean relations, cooler since between Kim assumed power in 2011. (AP via Huffington Post) (Reuters via Asian Times)

Law and crime

A Wisconsin gun shop, which a jury found negligently sold the gun an assailant used to injure two Milwaukee police officers to a straw buyer, reaches a $1 million settlement with the officers. (AP via seattlepi.com) (Reuters)

Politics and elections

President Yahya Jammeh of Gambia declares the country an Islamic republic. (The Guardian)
Saudi Arabian municipal elections, 2015
- Voters in Saudi Arabia go to the polls for municipal elections, with women voting and standing for election for the first time. (Los Angeles Times)
Houston mayoral election, 2015
- Residents in the United States’ fourth largest city are voting in a runoff election to choose the new mayor of Houston, Texas. The race is between the top two finishers in November’s non-partisan election: Sylvester Turner, a veteran lawmaker seeking to expand economic opportunities; and, Bill King, a businessman pledging to fix city finances. (Reuters) (KPRC-TV)
Thirty-three people are arrested in Moscow in Constitution Day protests against alleged human rights abuses. (Al Jazeera)
Poland protests: Thousands march against Law and Justice party. (BBC)

Sports

2015 Heisman trophy
- In American football, running back Derrick Henry of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team wins the Heisman Trophy for best college football player. (CNN)

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December 13, 2015

Top News Stories –

Ed Sheeran ‘quits’ social media –
Singer Ed Sheeran has announced he is “taking a break” from social media as he is “seeing the world through a screen and not my eyes”. Writing on his Instagram account, the singer explained he was “taking the opportunity of not having to be anywhere… to travel the world”. He also confirmed to fans that his third album is “on its way” and “is the best thing I have made thus far”. Sheeran has 16 million Twitter and 5.5 million Instagram followers. He has just completed a world tour of his number one album x (pronounced “multiply”) in Auckland, New Zealand. Before the final show, he also tweeted that he was “buggering off for a while”. [BBC]

Ed Sheeran

UFC 194: Conor McGregor knocks out Jose Aldo after 13 seconds –
Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo after just 13 seconds at UFC 194 to win the featherweight title in Las Vegas. Irishman McGregor, 27, beat the long-time champion by landing a strong left hand with his first connecting punch to secure the fastest ever knockout in a UFC title fight. McGregor claimed in the build up to the fight that he would “embarrass” Aldo with a first-round knockout. “Precision beats power, timing beats speed,” McGregor said afterwards. “I feel for Jose. He’s a phenomenal champion. He deserved to go a little bit longer.” It was also Brazilian Aldo’s first defeat in 10 years after winning 18 straight fights. [BBC]
Conor McGregor

Video of the Day –

Tiny Hamster Agility Course – Dumptruck Vs Porkchop

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#زد_رصيدك30	#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly	#HappyBirthdayTaylor
2	#HappyBirthdayTaylor	#HappyBirthdayTaylor	#explainafilmplotbadly
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9	#اكبر_تجمع_للي�…	#NocheDeConfesiones	Reggie and Bollie
10	#اريد_من_الوزي�…	Bucks	Robert Dyas

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in North-West Pakistan
- At least 25 people are killed and dozens injured in a bombing at a second-hand clothes market in the city of Parachinar in the Kurram Valley. (Pakistan Tribune) (The News)
Syrian Civil War
- Syrian rebels fire volleys of mortar shells into Damascus, killing three people and wounding at least 30. Government forces respond with airstrikes into rebel-controlled Douma, just northeast of the capital, and surface-to-surface missiles into Eastern Ghouta and Saqba, that kill at least 35 people and injure many more, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (AP via The Washington Post) (Reuters)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- Israel says an Arab-Israeli man who served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has joined Islamic State militants in Syria. (Reuters)
2015 Burundian unrest
- The U.S. State Department issues a travel advisory for Burundi and advises its citizens there to leave as soon as possible due to the increased violence in the capital Bujumbura where 87 people were killed this weekend. Families of U.S. government personnel and non-emergency personnel have been ordered to leave immediately. (UPI) (US State)
Gaza–Israel conflict
- Israeli Air Force planes hit two Hamas targets in Gaza in retaliation for rocket fire from the Palestinian territory. (Ynet News) (The Times of israel)

Disasters and accidents

At least 23 patients are killed and 23 injured in a psychiatric hospital fire in the Voronezh Oblast in western Russia. The remaining 24 patients were safely evacuated. (ABC News America) (AP via The Charlotte Observer)

International relations

European migration crisis
- On the eve of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party’s convention in Karlsruhe, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel says, “We want to noticeably reduce the number of people who come to us, but not through unilateral national measures alone.” She acknowledges the crisis could overwhelm Germany if it went on much longer. Merkel warded off pressure from immigration skeptics within the CDU to include a quota in the refugee policy motion the convention will vote on. (Jerusalem Post)(Bloomberg) (Reuters via International Business Times) (The Financial Times)
Russia–Turkey relations
- A Russian warship fires warning shots at a Turkish vessel in the Aegean Sea to “avoid a collision”, according to the Russian Defence Ministry. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Houston mayoral election, 2015
- Veteran Texas lawmaker Sylvester Turner edges out businessman Bill King by just over 4,000 votes in Houston’s runoff mayoral election. Turner, a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives since 1989, took 51 percent of the vote. King conceded defeat and encouraged Houston citizens to support the incoming mayor. Turner succeeds Annise Parker who was not eligible to run for re-election. (Reuters) (KHOU)
Saudi Arabian municipal elections, 2015
- Unofficial results show at least 17 Saudi Arabian women won municipal council seats in the kingdom’s third-ever election, and the first to allow female participation. Voters elected representatives for two thirds of the municipal council seats. The government announced that 979 women were candidates. (Reuters) (NPR) (Daily Pakistan)
French regional elections, 2015
- With most of the votes counted, the opposition conservatives of former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s party win in six of the country’s 13 regions and lead in the Paris region. The ruling Socialists of President François Hollande’s party capture five regions. The winner in Corsica is not affiliated with a major party. France’s far-right National Front (FN) fails to win a single region but did record its best showing in its history. Voter turnout was 58 percent. Definitive results are expected Monday. (The Guardian)(Politico) (The Straits Times) (Sky News) (Reuters)
Central African Republic constitutional referendum, 2015
- While voters in Central African Republic cast their ballots in a constitutional referendum aimed at ending years of sectarian strife, clashes erupt in the capital Bangui’s PK5 Muslim neighborhood, killing at least two and injuring over 20. PK5 residents, visited by Pope Francis two weeks ago, marched to the U.N. headquarters in the country to complain they were unable to cast their ballots. The proposed constitution would limit a president to two terms, add an upper house to go along with the National Assembly, and fight institutional corruption. (France24) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
2015 protests in Brazil
- Tens of thousands of Brazilians protest in cities around the country to demand that Congress impeach President Dilma Rousseff. The lower house of Congress opened impeachment proceedings on 2 December 2015. (Reuters) (AP via ABC News)(Reuters-Congress)

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December 14, 2015

Top News Stories –

Taylor Swift to release concert video on Apple Music –
Taylor Swift is releasing a live concert special from her 1989 world tour exclusively on Apple Music. The 1989 World Tour Live can be streamed from 20 December. It is not available to buy but it is free for streaming for Apple Music subscribers. Swift criticised Apple Music in June for not paying artists during its free, three-month trial launch. She said she was withholding her 1989 album because of Apple’s stance. The company then did a u-turn. Swift said Apple “had shown such humility in what they did … so that’s how we get to (here).” [BBC
Taylor Swift

Kim Jong-un ‘ordered girl group home over Chinese snub’ –
They mystery surrounding the hurried departure of Kim Jong-Un’s girl group from China may have been solved. North Korea reportedly ordered the Moranbong Band to return from China in a fit of pique after their scheduled performance was snubbed by the leadership in Beijing. The 21-strong Moranbong Band left Beijing abruptly just before they were due to perform at an invitation-only concert on Saturday. At least one member of China’s politburo was expected to attend, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News reported. A Chinese government official told Yonhap that North Korea initially expected Xi Jinping, the Chinese president, to attend he concert, but was horrified at the offer of only a politburo member. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

36 Questions That Make Strangers Fall In Love (The LAB)

Top Twitter Trends –

	Australia (Worldwide unavailable)	USA	UK
1	#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly	#mondaymotivation	#mondaymotivation
2	#ParisAgreement	#HappyBirthdayTori	#ShutUpForXMasNo1
3	#ufc194	#SandyHook	#GlutenFreeHelps
4	moorabbin	#ReasonWhyWeAreInARelation…	#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly
5	#capetown7s	#ThingsCollegeKidsDontGet	#WWETLC
6	#happybirthdaytaylor	#YouShouldBeHere	#ontopictalkshow
7	#viewpoint	#NYGvsMIA	#ThankYou1DFor
8	#WWETLC	#ties15	#PeoplesPost
9	#1989WorldTourLIVE	#1DHistory	Jess Phillips
10	#wleague	#WeLoveYouRyan	#XFactorFinal

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Yemeni Civil War (2015), Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Two senior army commanders from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are killed, including the head of the Saudi Special forces in Yemen, Colonel Abdullah al-Sahyan, along with dozens of Saudi, Emirati, Sudanese and Yemeni coalition troops in a OTR-21 Tochka missile attack by Houthi forces on their base near the city of Taiz in southwestern Yemen. (Reuters)
Metrojet Flight 9268
- Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry reports their investigation of the 31 October 2015 deadly crash of Russian Metrojet Flight 9268 in the Sinai has not found any evidence of terrorism. Prior to this, the working assumption has been that plane was brought down by a bomb, and a group affiliated with ISIL said it was responsible. (Sky News) (CNN)
Israeli-Palestinian conflict (2015)
- A Palestinian rams his car into a bus stop near the Chords Bridge at the entrance to Jerusalem before being shot dead by police; fourteen people, including a toddler, are injured in the attack. (Ynet News) (The Times of Israel)
Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Army backed by Hezbollah fighters retakes a key airbase on the eastern outskirts of Damascus. The Marj al-Sultan airbase had been under rebel control since November 2012. (BBC)
2015 PKK rebellion
- At least seven people are killed in clashes between Turkish security forces and Kurdish protesters across southeast Turkey, as Turkish authorities declare new curfews across the restive region. According to the Human Rights Foundation of Turkey, 52 curfews have been imposed since mid-August by Turkish authorities across seven Turkish provinces in the region, placing around 1.3 million people under curfew. (Reuters)

Business and economics

Oil price reached its lowest since December 2008. Other indicators in broader markets caused investor jitters ahead of the expected interest rate hike by the U.S. central bank on Wednesday. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Melor (Nona)
  - Thousands of residents are evacuated as Typhoon Melor, also known as Nona in the Philippines, slams into tiny Batag Island in the eastern Philippines. The storm, headed to Sorsogon province, has intensified into the equivalent of a Category 4 hurricane. Authorities shut schools and suspended fishing and ferry services in the central Phillipines. (AP via Columbus Ledger-Enquirer) (Reuters) (AccuWeather)
At least 41 people are dead after an Argentine National Gendarmerie bus crashes near the city of Salta in north-west Argentina. (BBC), (AP via ABC News America)

Law and crime

Censorship in China
- Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang goes on trial in Beijing for online social commentary critical of the ruling Communist Party. (AP)
- Chinese police prevent United States senior diplomat Dan Biers from delivering a statement outside the trial of Pu Zhiqiang. (Twitter) (CNN)
An Australian court orders British consumer goods company Reckitt Benckiser to stop selling several versions of the popular painkiller, Nurofen, that were identical to its standard ibuprofen pills but nearly twice as expensive. (AP)
United States Army sergeant Bowe Bergdahl will face a court martial on charges of misbehavior before the enemy and desertion related to his capture by the Taliban-aligned Haqqani network in Afghanistan in June 2009. (AP via ABC News America)
A Palestinian man from eastern Jerusalem, Muhammad Abu Kaf, is indicted by Israeli prosecutors on eight counts of incitement to violence or terror for posting a video on Facebook calling on people to stab Jews. (Ynet News)

Science

The Geminids meteor shower is visible tonight. (Lifehacker)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

December 15, 2015

Top News Stories –

Spacecraft carrying Russian, American, Briton docks with space station –
A Soyuz spacecraft successfully delivered a Russian, an American and a Briton to the International Space Station on Tuesday after blasting off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The otherwise smooth journey ended with a slightly delayed docking at 1733 GMT as Russian commander Yuri Malenchenko aborted the automatic procedure and manually guided the spacecraft towards the station. Alongside Malenchenko, a veteran of long-duration space flights who is on his fourth space mission, were NASA astronaut Tim Kopra and Briton Tim Peake, both former Apache military helicopter pilots. Peake, 43, a former army major who is on a six-month mission for the European Space Agency (ESA), became the first astronaut representing the British government and wearing a Union Jack flag on his arm. The first Briton in space was Helen Sharman, who travelled on a Soviet spacecraft for eight days in 1991. [Reuters]
Timothy Peake

Star Wars: Force Awakens gets world premiere –
The hotly anticipated latest addition in the Star Wars franchise, The Force Awakens, has had its world premiere in Los Angeles. Stars from the original series including Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher joined newcomers including John Boyega and Daisy Ridley. The plot of the film remains a closely-guarded secret and a media embargo on reviews is in place until Wednesday. Fans had been camping out for days outside the TCL Chinese Theatre, which along with other LA venues screened the seventh Star Wars instalment. Security was tight, with a giant tent shrouding the red carpet. The TCL Chinese Theatre – formerly known as Grauman’s Chinese Theatre – showed the first Star Wars movie in 1977. [BBC]

‘Late’ Madonna rebuffs fans over Manchester gig complaints –
Pop singer Madonna has told fans she is no “diva” after technical hitches meant she was late on stage for a gig in Manchester. The 57-year-old artist made the comments on Monday at the Manchester Arena during her Rebel Heart tour. “If you diva bitches want to keep complaining about it, then don’t come to my show,” she said. She added: “I’m not back there eating chocolate and filing my nails and getting my extensions done, all right?” However, the singer told fans: “Tonight, our video crashed, and we had no video, and our back-up file was – I don’t know – it was compromised, put it like that… So praise the Lord and thank you God but that is why we are late, all right? For no selfish diva bitch reason.” [BBC] In July 2015 Madonna compared herself to Pablo Picasso.
Madonna

World’s longest-surviving castaway sued for $1 million after being accused of ‘eating his colleague’ –
A fisherman who stunned the world by surviving 15 months lost at sea is being sued for $1 million (£650,000) by the family of his dead colleague, who accuse him of eating their relative to ensure his own survival. Salvador Alvarenga, 36, is the only man known to have survived for over a year at sea. And when he set sail from the coast of Mexico in November 2012, he thought he was setting out on a two-day fishing trip, having paid 22-year-old Ezequiel Cordoba $50 to accompany him. But a vicious storm with 10ft waves knocked out the 25ft boat’s communication systems, and washed their supplies overboard. The pair survived for several months by catching fish and birds, and drinking turtle blood and rainwater. He eventually died, extracting promises from Mr Alvarenga not to eat his corpse, and to find Cordoba’s mother and tell her what happened. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

The Physics of Car Crashes

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#15DiasProFinalDoAnoEeu	#ThisIsNotTheAlbumOnThursday	Paramore
2	#FantasticBeastsTrailer	#InternationalTeaDay	#internationalteaday
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4	#AnoQueVemPrometo	#edensunicornwish	#BackInTimeForChristmas
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7	#InternationalTeaDay	Cabin Fever 3	#TimPeake
8	#今年の漢字・2015	#GOPDebate	Mahrez
9	#ParaNavidadQuiero	#FantasticBeastsTrailer	#Moments
10	#ALDUBPagbangon	#BillofRightsDay	Mourinho

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War, Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports that increased airstrikes by Russia have forced humanitarian assistance organizations to curtail their relief efforts, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in northern Syria. (The Washington Post)
Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- United States Pacific Fleet commander Scott H. Swift warns of a possible South China Sea arms race. (Reuters via MSN)
Islamist insurgency in Nigeria
- At least 30 people are killed after Boko Haram militants attack three villages in Nigeria‘s northeast Borno state. (AFP via Yahoo)
Military intervention against ISIL
- France‘s Air Force carries out their first cruise-missile strikes targeting Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant installations in Iraq, including “a training center and logistical depot,” according to the French defence ministry. (AFP via Defense News)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Melor (Nona) causes widespread flooding and blackouts in the Philippines. More than 700,000 people had been evacuated ahead of the storm which hit late on Monday night. (New York Times)

Health and medicine

The United States Food and Drug Administration approves the Merck & Co. drug, Bridion, that reverses the effects of muscle relaxants used during surgery. (Reuters) (FDA)

International relations

Saudi Arabia announces the formation of a 34-member Islamic Military Alliance against terrorism including Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Malaysia and Pakistan with a joint operations centre based in Riyadh. (SBS) (BNO News)
Nuclear program of Iran
- The United Nations finds Iran’s firing of a medium-range ballistic missile in October violated a June 2010 resolution banning the Islamic Republic from launches capable of delivering nuclear weapons. The test was not technically a violation of the July nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers. It’s not known if the Security Council will take any action. (AP via The Christian Science Monitor) (Reuters)
- The U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) Board of Governors decides, by consensus unopposed, to close its investigation into whether Iran once had a secret nuclear weapons program. The IAEA will continue to police Tehran’s activities.(The News Telegraph) (Reuters)

Law and crime

A Baltimore, Maryland deadlocked jury was told by the trial judge to resume deliberations after closing arguments in the first trial of police officer William Porter, charged in the death of Freddie Gray. With demonstrations and unrest following the death, the city has cancelled leave for police officers and the mayor has called for calm when a verdict is announced. (CNN) (The Gazette)
Schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District close after receiving an unspecified “electronic” threat. Later, authorities conclude the threat was a hoax, and announce schools will reopen Wednesday. New York City schools‘ initial response to a similar threatening email was to treat it as a hoax. The NYC schools were open all day. (BBC News) (ITV) (LA School Report) (CNN)
American entertainer Bill Cosby, in response to dozens of accusations of sexual assault and misconduct spanning decades, has filed in U.S. federal court in Massachusetts a defamation suit against seven accusers. (The New York Times)
United Kingdom police arrest a 21-year-old man in Berkshire in the hacking of Hong Kong-based electronic toy maker VTech. Details of more than six million people from servers used to support VTech’s learning products app store were compromised.(BBC) (Digital Trends)

Politics and elections

New Zealand flag referendums, 2015–16
- New Zealand announces the flag design chosen by the public that will challenge the current flag in a March 2016 vote. Voters will choose between the current flag, which features the British Union Jack with a dark blue background, and the challenger, asilver fern and four red stars on a black and blue background. (CTV) (Stuff)

Science and technology

The Soyuz TMA-19M, consisting of Expedition 46 crew members Yuri Malenchenko (RSA), Timothy Kopra (NASA) and Tim Peake (ESA), launches from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan for the International Space Station (ISS) with Peake becoming the first Briton to represent the European Space Agency at the ISS. (Bay News 9) (The Daily Telegraph)

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December 16, 2015

Top News Stories –

Amazon tells customers: Get rid of your exploding hoverboards –
Customers who bought hoverboards as Christmas gifts have been urged to “dispose” of them and accept refunds after three of Britain’s biggest retailers suspended sales. In an email seen by The Telegraph, internet giant Amazon has asked customers to take the self-balancing, two-wheeled scooters to a local recycling point for electronic equipment. Estimates suggest around 500,000 people in Britain have bought hoverboards as Christmas gifts. A further million are considering it, according to the watchdog Electrical Safety First. More than 15,000 of 17,000 self-balancing scooters analysed at borders since October 15 have been deemed unsafe and detained. [Daily Telegraph]

Germany: Star Wars-themed service at Berlin church –
A church in Berlin has announced it will hold a special pre-Christmas service devoted to Star Wars. Excitement is building in Germany ahead of the release of the franchise’s latest installment, The Force Awakens, on Thursday. But the Zion Church, located in the capital’s central Mitte district, is taking inspiration for its Sunday morning service from one of the classics – Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Those attending the event will be shown scenes from the 1983 film, and there’s also the promise of organ music inspired by the score, the local church district says on its website.
The idea came from two young pastors-in-training, Ulrike Garve and Lucas Ludewig, who see parallels between the George Lucas films and the Bible. “In the key scene of Episode VI, Luke Skywalker is drawn onto the side of the emperor, of evil,” says Mr Ludewig, described as a theologian and Star Wars expert by the church. “Luke resists with the words: I will never belong to the dark side.” That sentiment, he says, is reminiscent of a passage from Romans: “Do not let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.” [BBC]

Last round pound coin minted –
The Royal Mint is producing the final round pound coin on Wednesday. It is more than 30 years since the now familiar gold-coloured coins were first minted. The new-look replacement will be brought into circulation in 2017. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Jimmy Fallon, The Roots & “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Cast Sing “Star Wars” Medley (A Cappella)

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
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7	#ALDUB5thMonthsary	#JetBlackHeartVideo	#mostexpensivechristmas
8	#CizreyeSilopiyeSesVer	#1DCarpoolKaraoke	Jane Austen
9	#QuartaComOClubeSDV	#MyParentsForgotToMention	#conf15
10	#LoTeniaQueDecir	#FedDecision	#APSMartyrs

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2015 San Bernardino attack
- Neither Syed Rizwan Farook nor his wife Tashfeen Malik made open posts on social media regarding radical Islamic jihad or martyrdom prior to the attack, according to FBI Director James B. Comey. There were, however, direct, private messages to each other that did reflect this commitment. (Los Angeles Times)
2015 Chattanooga shootings
- FBI Director Comey also announces the five military shooting deaths last July in Chattanooga, Tennessee, are now officially classified as a terrorist attack. The shooter, Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez, was inspired and motivated by foreign terrorist propaganda. U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus announces the Navy will award the Purple Heart to the four Marines and one sailor who were killed, and the one Marine who was injured. (AP via ABC News) (Los Angeles Times)

Business and economics

In a widely expected move, the Unites States Federal Reserve Board raised the federal funds interest rate, the rate banks charge each other for overnight loans, from the 0-.25% range to the .25-.50% range. U.S. stock markets rallied on the news.(CNNMoney) (Consumer Affairs)

Disasters and accidents

An Air India aircraft maintenance technician is killed at Mumbai‘s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in India after being sucked by an Air India Airbus A319‘s aircraft engine during pushback. (Press Trust of India via Business Standard) (CNN)

International relations

Cuba–United States relations
- The United States and Cuba reach an understanding on restoring regularly scheduled commercial flights. Currently, the only option available is charter flights. (AP via The Washington Post)
NATO leadership signs an agreement with the Ukrainian government to assist the country’s modernization of its defense industry and capabilities. (UPI)
Taiwan–United States relations, Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- The United States announces a deal to sell $1.83 billion worth of arms to Taiwan, which includes two decommissioned U.S. Navy frigates, Assault Amphibious Vehicles, and surface-to-air missiles. China has also expressed its disapproval over the deal, claiming it would affect their internal affairs. (BBC News) (Financial Times) (RT)
Islamic Military Alliance
- Pakistan says it was surprised to learn of the country’s inclusion in Saudi Arabia‘s so-called “Islamic anti-terrorist alliance”, and that Pakistan was not consulted before inclusion in the alliance by the Saudis. Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry says he has asked the country’s ambassador in Riyadh to get a clarification from Saudi Arabia on the matter. Malaysia has also denied any involvement in Saudi Arabia’s military coalition to counter terrorism. (BBC) (DAWN)
Latvia–Russia relations
- Latvia‘s State Border Guard begins the construction of a border fence that will cover almost a third of the Latvia–Russia border in an effort to keep out migrants who attempt to illegally cross the border from Russia. (Business Insider)

Law and crime

Japan‘s Supreme Court upholds a 19th-century law that requires married couples to have the same surname, but struck down another law that barred women from remarrying within six months of a divorce as unconstitutional. (The Guardian)
The North Korean (DPRK) supreme court convicts and sentences South Korea-born Canadian pastor Hyeon Soo Lim to hard labor for life for trying to overthrow the DPRK and undermine the country’s social system. Lim’s relatives said he’s traveled to North Korea more than 100 times since 1997, to help people, but not for any particular political purpose. Lim, from the Light Korean Presbyterian Church in Toronto, has been in custody since February. (Reuters) (Xinhua News Agency) (The Guardian)
A bank in Minnesota (U.S.) is robbed by the same person a second time while an Iowa television station was doing a live update on the first robbery. The robber was arrested shortly afterwards. (Associated Press)
After the jury fails to reach a unanimous decision, a Baltimore, Maryland, judge declares a mistrial in the trial of police officer William Porter, the first officer to be charged in the death of Freddie Gray. (NBC News) (ABC News)
About 100 men in more than 50 machine gun-mounted trucks kidnap at least 26 Qataris, including members of the royal family, from a hunting camp in Iraq near the Saudi border. (Sky News)

Politics and elections

Members of the U.S. Congress reach a spending deal that, once passed by both houses, will prevent a year-end government shutdown and will fund Fiscal Year 2016 federal government operations. President Barack Obama signs a separate bipartisan billthat extends government funding through Tuesday, December 22. (USA Today) (The Washington Post) (The Jerusalem Post)
Spanish general election, 2015
- Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy is punched in the face by a teenager during a People’s Party campaign event in the city of Pontevedra. (The Guardian)

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December 17, 2015

Top News Stories –

Jose Mourinho: Chelsea sack boss after Premier League slump –
Chelsea have sacked manager Jose Mourinho seven months after he led them to the Premier League title. The 52-year-old Portuguese had been in his second spell at the club, taking charge in June 2013. Chelsea finished eight points clear last season and won the League Cup, but have lost nine of their 16 league games so far and are 16th in the table, one point above the relegation places. Mourinho’s final match was Monday’s 2-1 defeat at leaders Leicester City. Pep Guardiola, Guus Hiddink, Juande Ramos and Brendan Rodgers have all been touted as possible successors as Blues owner Roman Abramovich begins another managerial search. [BBC]
Jose Mourinho

Pastafarian marriages approved in New Zealand –
Ever wanted to get married while wearing a colander on your head? Move to New Zealand – they just gave the right to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster to perform marriage ceremonies. Members of the church call themselves Pastafarians and believe that the world was created by an airborne spaghetti and meatballs-based being, although its own website notes that some followers consider it to be a satirical organisation. The registrar-general told stuff.co.nz that the request was valid because the purposes set out by the church were educating and training people, particularly atheists and superstitious people, about Flying Spaghetti principles and practices. He said: “In considering the matter I have referred to the Objects of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, reviewed material available online about this organisation and considered other organisations already able to nominate marriage celebrants. “A review of media and the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster’s international website show a consistent presentation of their philosophies. While some claim this is a ‘parody organisation’, members have rebutted this on a number of occasions.” [Daily Telegraph] In November 2016 ‘Pastafarian’ Lindsay Miller won the right to wear colander on head in driving licence photo in Massachusetts.
.

Video of the Day –

More Stuff by Blue Zoo Animation from Blue Zoo on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Vimeo presents: The Top Videos of 2015
Music:
TAME IMPALA ‘The Less I Know The Better’ from CANADA

Documentary:
“Guerilla Fighters of Kurdistan” from Joey L

Animation:
“Coda” from and maps and plans

Travel:
“Dubai Flow Motion” from Rob Whitworth

Experimental:
“INPUT/OUTPUT” from Terri Timely

Narrative:
“POWER/RANGERS” from Joseph Kahn

Sports:
“Skate Heads” from Flexfit

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2	#DetremuraSemWhatsSdv	#GoogleDoodle	#StarWarsTheForceAwakens
3	#Nessas48HorasEuVou	#DoGreatThings	#SJA2015
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9	#ALDUB22ndWeeksary	Martin Shkreli	Peep Show
10	#17Aralık	#adeletickets	#Cuffs

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- Delegates from Libya’s warring factions sign a U.N.-brokered agreement to form a national unity government. Some of Libya’s armed brigades are closely allied with political leaders who oppose this agreement. (Reuters) (Al Arabiya)
2015 PKK rebellion
- Turkish security forces have killed 23 suspected members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party in operations in the Kurdish-majority cities of Cizre and Silopi. (BBC)
- The Turkish Army deploys tanks into civilian areas of Silopi and soldiers are reportedly going house-to-house in search of PKK militants. The pro-Kurdish opposition Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) condemns the Turkish military actions in Silopi. (RT)

Disasters and accidents

A 6.4-magnitude earthquake hits the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. The epicenter was 11 kilometers (7 miles) from the town of Tres Picos, not far from the Pacific coast. There are no immediate reports of major damage or injuries. (Reuters) (USGS)
As many as 36 miners die in a pair of accidents in Northeast China. (AP via ABC News)
- Nineteen workers trapped by Wednesday’s gas explosion and raging fire in a coal mine in Hegang in Heilongjiang privince are not expected to survive because of carbon monoxide and the high temperatures from the fire, according to the rescue and command office’s Zhang Qinxiang. Thirty-three miners escaped. (MINING.com)
- A fire caused by sparks from welding equipment kills 17 workers in the Xingli coal mine in Huludao city in Liaoning province. The State Administration of Work Safety reports 13 miners died at the site while four died at the hospital. Another ten miners are hospitalized. (Xinhua) (AP via The Washington Post)

International relations

China summons Kaye Lee, the U.S. deputy chief of mission in Beijing, to protest Washington’s announcement that it is selling two warships to Taiwan as part of a $1.83 billion arms deal. U.S. state department spokesman John Kirby says the sale is consistent with the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act while Chinese Vice-Foreign Minister Zheng Zequang threatens to impose sanctions on U.S. firms because the proposed sale “severely damaged China’s sovereignty and security interests.” (NBC News) (BBC)
The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts a resolution aimed at disrupting revenue the Islamic State gets from oil sales, ransom payments, and other criminal activities. (Reuters) (AFP via Yahoo News)
The World Trade Organization approves Afghanistan’s membership at its 10th ministerial conference in Nairobi, Kenya. Afghanistan becomes the 164th WTO member and is the 36th least developed country (LDC) in the global trade body. (Xinhua News Agency via Global Post) (Channel News Asia)

Law and crime

European migrant crisis
- Riots break out in the western Dutch town of Geldermalsen over plans to establish a centre for asylum seekers in the town. Local police say they made several arrests. Including this year’s arrivals, the Dutch government said in November it expected to receive 58,000 asylum seekers by the end of 2016. (BBC)
United States federal prosecutors in New York City arrest Martin Shkreli on securities fraud charges for allegedly plundering for personal gain Retrophin, a biopharmaceutical company he ran as CEO from 2012 to 2014. (Chicago Tribune) (ABC News)

Politics and elections

Russian President Vladimir Putin calls U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, “a very colorful person. Talented, without any doubt” as well as an “absolute leader” in the race for the presidency. (ABC News)

Sports

2015–16 Premier League
- José Mourinho is sacked as Chelsea F.C.‘s manager on his second spell after the club lost nine of their 16 league games, placing the club one point above the relegation zone. (BBC) (France24)

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December 19, 2015

December 18, 2015

Top News Stories –

Star Wars film breaks opening night box office record –
The new Star Wars film has set a new opening night box office record in the US and Canada, industry experts said. Star Wars: The Force Awakens made $57m (£38m) on Thursday night, beating the previous record of $43.5m held by Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 in 2011. Analysts say the space saga could become the biggest selling movie of all time. The film also set a new opening day box office record in the UK and Ireland. The £9.64m tally beat the previous best of £9.48m set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2. Midnight screenings on Thursday morning accounted for £2.4m of ticket sales. Rentrak’s Paul Dergarabedian, one of Hollywood’s best-known box office analysts, said the film’s opening night performance in the US and Canada “portends a massive and potentially record-breaking opening day and weekend for the film”. [BBC]

The $70m cost of Uber Force One: Price of private flights for Obama and family –
Barack Obama’s eighth consecutive Christmas vacation to Hawaii starts Friday just as a new report shows the total cost of his vacations has now exceeded $70 million to U.S. taxpayers. The costs are being savaged by a critical conservative group, which says Obama is treating Air Force One, which costs $206,000/hour to run, ‘like an Uber ride’ ahead of his next jaunt to his home state,’ says Tom Fitton, president of the Judicial Watch pressure group. Fly-time alone will set taxpayers back somewhere in the region of $3.5 million as Obama, the First Lady, Sasha and Malia and their two dogs jet off for around two weeks. The total cost of Obama’s vacations since taking office in January 2009 has now hit $70.5 million, according to a new report. Yet he still has not taken anywhere near the total number of vacations or days off as his predecessor, George W. Bush, the report shows. [Daily Mail]
Barack Obama on Air Force One

Iceland grapples with volcano-naming responsibility –
Authorities in Iceland have decided on a name for a volcano a year after it started erupting. Council members in the rural district of Skutustadahreppur, which boasts a population of 371, took on the hefty responsibility to officially name the lava field known conversationally to locals as Holuhraun, the Iceland Review news website reports. After considering four names for the volcano – Flaedahraun, Holuhraun, Nornahraun and Urdarbruni – the vote was carried to officially use the name Holuhraun, despite only getting the backing of two of the five council members, Icelandic newspaper Visir said. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

This Is Not A Pine Tree

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#2015In5Words	#2015In5Words	#2015In5Words
2	#ParaNavidadMeReGustaria	#FlashbackFriday	#JetBlackHeartMusicVideo
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9	#ALDUBTheSearch	#ListenToThisIsNotTheAlbum	Arlene Foster
10	#CiteMusicasQEuSdv	Sanders	#AskZandJ

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- Two ballistic missiles are fired from Yemen at Saudi Arabia, one of which is intercepted by the kingdom’s air defences, while the other missile lands near the city of Najran, according to a coalition statement on Saudi state media. No casualties have been reported. (AFP via AhramOnline)
Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- A U.S. B-52 long-range bomber on a routine mission over the South China Sea mistakenly flew within two nautical miles of an artificial island built by China near the Cuarteron Reef in the disputed Spratly Islands archipelago, according to a senior U.S. defense official. The Chinese Defense Ministry issues a statement accusing the U.S. of deliberately raising tensions in the disputed region. (The Guardian)
American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–present)
- An airstrike by the U.S.-led coalition hit Iraqi forces as the army engaged militants in poor weather conditions south of the city of Fallujah. Official reports state one soldier was killed, and nine were injured, but casualties may be significantly higher. Amilitary medic says he’s treated at least 20 for injuries. (The Washington Post)
2015 Burundian unrest
- The African Union’s Peace and Security Council approves the plan to send 5,000 peacekeepers to Burundi to protect civilians caught up in the growing crisis; approval by the U.N. Security Council is required. Burundi’s Philippe Nzobonariba says the force would not be allowed in without government permission. (AP via Houston Chronicle) (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says suspected Russian airstrikes kill 32 civilians, half of them women and children, in three areas in northern Syria. No suspected militants were killed in the attacks. (The Times of Israel) (Sky News)

Arts and culture

The Vatican announces Mother Teresa‘s eligibility for canonization after a Vatican spokesman confirmed Pope Francis‘ recognition of a second miracle attributed to her involving the healing of a Brazilian man with multiple brain tumors. The Vatican has yet to confirm a canonization date for Teresa. (Agence France-Presse via The Guardian) (Reuters via The Hindu)

Business and economics

In the United States, JPMorgan Chase agrees to pay $307 million to settle federal cases where the bank failed to disclose certain conflicts of interest to some of its wealth management clients. (Reuters) (Huffington Post)

Disasters and accidents

Pollution in China
- The Chinese government warns residents in Northern China to prepare for a wave of choking smog arriving over the weekend and lasting through Tuesday, with Beijing affected hardest. The capital city issues its second-ever “red alert” — the first was announced on December 7, 2015. This alert triggers the odd-even license plate system to halve cars on the road, and recommends schools close. China’s National Meteorological Center reports the pollution will stretch from Xi’an, across part of Central China, through Beijing and up into Shenyang and Harbin in China’s frigid northeast. (Reuters) (South China Morning Post)

International relations

Australia–Japan relations
- In Tokyo, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull says his country is “very disappointed” with Japan’s decision to resume whaling, but this dispute should not be allowed to hurt the two countries’ special strategic ties. Malcolm Turnbull, who replacedTony Abbott in September, is on his first visit to Japan which will include talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe. (Reuters) (AP via The Washington Post)
Romania–NATO relations
- NATO‘s Aegis Ashore Ballistic Missile Defense System becomes partly operational at Romania‘s Deveselu airbase, as U.S. Navy personnel takes control of the site after years of construction. Aegis Ashore facilities in Romania form part of NATO’s European missile defence system, with another site under construction in Poland expected to become operational by 2018. The United States Ambassador to Romania Hans G. Klemm says that they have explained to the Russians on numerous occasions that the missile system is, “not directed at Russia, nor does it have the capability to threaten Russia.” The head of Russia‘s Strategic Missile Troops, Colonel General Sergei Karakayev, has dismissed the purported effectiveness of the missile defense system, saying Moscow develops “brand new and effective means and techniques to penetrate any missile defense system”. (AP via Yahoo News), (RT)
Russia–Ukraine relations
- Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says his country is imposing a moratorium on repayment of a $3 billion debt to Russia following Moscow’s refusal to accept repayment terms already offered to other international creditors. This means Ukraineis likely to default on the debt, which is due Sunday. (AP via ABC news) (BBC)
The European Union warns Thailand that the country needs to quickly address the human rights and slavery issues in its seafood industry if it wants to avoid an EU import ban. (AP) (AP investigation via New Europe)
Syrian Civil War
- Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  - NATO allies agree to send aircraft and ships to strengthen Turkey’s Syrian border air defenses and avoid incidents similar to November’s downing of a Russian jet. (Reuters)
- Following Russia and the United States agreement on the text, the U.N. security council unanimously approves an international roadmap for a peace process in Syria. The resolution does not touch on the question of Bashar al-Assad’s fate. (The Guardian) (The Washington Post)

Law and crime

In the United States, a group of hospitals, 32 in 15 states, agree to pay a total of $28 million to settle charges they submitted false claims to Medicare for a type of spinal fracture treatment. This is the latest settlement stemming from a decade-oldwhistleblower lawsuit about alleged inappropriate billing for kyphoplasty. More than 130 hospitals have paid about $105 million to settle billing claims from this spinal procedure. (Reuters) (The Arizona Republic)

Politics and elections

United States presidential election, 2016
- The Democratic National Committee suspends Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders‘ presidential campaign’s access to its national voter database after a member of his campaign staff took advantage of a software error to review Hillary Clinton’s private campaign data. In response, the campaign files a lawsuit. (The Washington Post)
- Jeff Weaver, presidential campaign manager for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, says the DNC’s suspending access to the Democratic voter file is part of a “pattern” of actions that suggest the DNC is not impartial. The campaign, which had notified the DNC of software problems, threatens to take the DNC to federal court if the party organization doesn’t restore the campaign’s access. (UPI) (CNN)
- Michael Briggs of the Sanders campaign says the voter data access issue has been “resolved.” (ABC News)

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December 19, 2015

Top News Stories –

Harrison Ford nets £23m from Star Wars –
Hollywood veteran Harrison Ford will rake in more than £23 million for his role in the new Star Wars blockbuster, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Insiders say Disney producers were so determined to get the 73-year-old to reprise his role as Han Solo for The Force Awakens that they agreed a £16.7 million fee. Ford will also get a 0.5 per cent share of the film’s gross earnings, which are expected to break records by hitting at least £1.3 billion. It means the actor’s share could be worth £6.5 million. His salary is more than 76 times greater than that of British newcomers Daisy Ridley and John Boyega. They received £300,000 each for their starring roles in the movie. However, once worldwide box-office takings have topped the $1 billion mark, the pair will also start to receive a small cut. [Daily Mail]
Harrison Ford

Video of the Day –

IMPACT from Bluearth production on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
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Armed conflicts and attacks

American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–present)
- Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obaidi updates the death toll from Friday’s friendly fire airstrike near Fallujah to 10, one officer and nine soldiers. U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter says it appears an American jet conducted the strike. Carter called Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to express condolences. (The Washington Post)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Turkey’s foreign ministry says it will continue to move some of its troops out of a military base at Bashiqa in Nineveh province in northern Iraq. (Reuters via The Washington Post)
Turkey–PKK conflict
- The Turkish army says 69 Kurdish insurgents and two Turkish soldiers were killed in four days of fighting in Cizre and Silopi, near the Syrian and Iraqi borders, in southeast Turkey. (Reuters)
A car bomb explosion outside a shopping mall in the Somali capital Mogadishu kills at least three and injures at least eight. The al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab militants claim responsibility. (Reuters) (CNN)

International relations

Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
- Iran nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi says nine tons of Iran’s enriched uranium will be exported to Russia in the next few days, as the country moves to implement the nuclear deal and secure relief from international sanctions. (Reuters) (Ya Libnan)
European migrant crisis
- Germany’s refugee crisis coordinator Peter Altmaier says, in an interview with German magazine Focus, that he and Austrian special minister Josef Ostermayer are working on a proposal for a common European asylum law. He added other countries such as France and The Netherlands would be approached soon. (Reuters) (Sputnik News)

Law and crime

Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber announces criminal proceedings are underway against an unnamed Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS) board member for spreading jihadist propaganda. ICCS reports the individual is their head of multimedia, Naim Cherni, who released a videotape of his trip to Syria which included interviews with Islamist leaders. (Reuters) (Deutsche Welle) (Blick) (de)

Politics and elections

Rwandan constitutional referendum, 2015
- Rwandans vote overwhelmingly to lift constitutional restrictions that will allow President Paul Kagame to run for more terms in office. The National Electoral Commission reports more than 98 percent of voters approved the referendum. Final official results will be released Monday. (BBC) (AP via Huffington Post)

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December 20, 2015

Top News Stories –

Miss Universe: Miss Colombia mistakenly crowned as winner –
The host of the Miss Universe has apologised after mistakenly naming the wrong woman as winner, leaving Miss Colombia empty-handed. After the error, Ariadna Gutierrez was instead declared runner-up and surrendered her crown to Miss Philippines, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach. #MissUniverse2015 became Twitter’s biggest trend of the night as social media users expressed their disbelief. The host Steve Harvey responded, saying it was “his mistake” and he would take responsibility for not reading the winning card correctly. [BBC] See Video of the Day
Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach

Star Wars smashes box office records on opening weekend –
“Star Wars: The Force Awakens” shattered box office records with an estimated $517 million (£350 million) in worldwide ticket sales on its opening weekend, a staggering debut that re-established the celebrated space saga as a global phenomenon. The first “Star Wars” film in a decade recorded the biggest domestic opening in Hollywood’s history, collecting $238 million over the weekend in the United States and Canada. Global sales for “Force Awakens” finished second only to the dinosaur film “Jurassic World,” which in its June opening garnered $525 million worldwide, including China, where the “Star Wars” film will not open for weeks. “Jurassic World” took $208.8 million at domestic cinemas in its first weekend. “Force Awakens” is the seventh installment in the epic science-fiction franchise created by George Lucas in 1977. [Daily Telegraph] See List of the Day

Video of the Day –

THE 64TH ANNUAL MISS UNIVERSE PAGEANT | Can’t ‘Miss’ Moment: The Reveal

List of the Day –

Star Wars films in order of box office performance –

IMDb rating:8.7

IMDb rating:8.8

IMDb rating:8.4

IMDb rating:6.5

IMDb rating:7.7

IMDb rating:6.7

IMDb rating:5.8

Note that figures are for US box office and allow for the effects of inflation.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#DomingoComOClubeSDV	Air France	#WeAreAllHarry
2	#زد_رصيدك37	#PeopleWhoMadeMy2015	#SoundOfMusicLive
3	#FelizDomingo	#EleccionesGenerales2015	#DemDebate
4	#50ShadesOfLouisAss	#INeverReallyTrusted	#TheBridge
5	#حزب_اللي_ياكل�…	#8DaysOfBlueNeighbourhood	#Strictly
6	#Garzoners	Chabelo	#LouisBeHappy
7	#WeAreAllHarry	#ThePerksOfBeingInTheFamily	#UFCOrlando
8	#もし女子高生にな�…	#WWELA	Air France
9	Chabelo	#1989WorldTourLIVE	#2015In5Words
10	#CiteFatosDePobre	#ATLvsJAX	#1989WorldTourLIVE

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Air France Flight 463 en-route to Paris from Mauritius makes an emergency landing in Mombasa, Kenya, after a package, suspected to be a bomb is found in the toilet. Later, Air France CEO Frédéric Gagey says it was a false alarm; the package contained a mixture of cardboard, sheets of paper, and a timer. (AP via News24) (CNN) (Reuters)
Territorial disputes in the South China Sea, China–Vietnam relations
- Vietnam is reported to be preparing for a possible military conflict with China over territorial claims in the South China Sea. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War
- Israeli involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  - A missile-strike attributed to the Israeli Air Force in Jaramana in southern Syria kills high-ranking Lebanese Hezbollah commander and murderer, Samir Kuntar, and eight National Defence Force (NDF) personnel. Kuntar was the longest serving Lebanese prisoner in Israel until his release in 2008. On April 22, 1979 Kuntar and his team broke into an apartment building and kidnapped a father, 31-year-old Danny Haran, and his 4-year-old daughter, Einat, taking them to a nearby beach and killing them. (Reuters)
- Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  - Airstrikes, apparently from Russian jets, kill scores of people in the center of rebel-held Idlib in northwest Syria. The missiles hit a busy market place, several government buildings, and residential areas. At least 73 bodies, 30 unidentified, have been recovered. (Reuters)
A female driver runs over pedestrians at the Las Vegas Strip between Planet Hollywood and Paris Las Vegas, killing one person and injuring at least 26 more. (ABC)

Arts and culture

Miss Philippines, Pia Wurtzbach, is crowned Miss Universe 2015 in Las Vegas, moments after host Steve Harvey incorrectly announced 1st runner-up Miss Colombia, Ariadna Gutiérrez, as the winner. (Reuters)

Business and economics

Thousands, including families, children, and miners from around the country, march from Knottingley to North Yorkshire to mark the end of deep coal mining in the United Kingdom. The last facility, Kellingley Colliery in Beal, North Yorkshire, closed for good, Friday, 18 December 2015. The march was organized by two miners’ wives to pay tribute to this industry. (The Independent) (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Shenzhen landslide
- Thirty-three buildings collapse after a landslide hit an industrial park in Shenzhen, China, leaving at least 91 people missing. (CNN)
An avalanche in Svalbard, a Norwegian Arctic archipelago, kills one and injures nine others as the snow smashes into 10 houses in Longyearbyen. The deluge from Sukkertoppen mountain follows Friday’s 60 mph storm that ripped off a school roof and temporarily closed the airport. Dozens of homes at the foot of the mountain were evacuated and all of the area’s residents have been located, according to Tone Hertzberg, a spokeswoman for Svalbard’s governor. Experts from Norges Geotekniske Instituttare examining nearby slopes. (AP via CBS News) (newsinenglish.no)
A ferry ran into trouble in rough seas off the coast of Indonesia’s island of Sulawesi, with at least three killed, including two children, 39 rescued, and 77 missing. The New Marina, a fiberglass boat, was reported to be carrying 109 passengers with a crew of 10. The National Search and Rescue Agency says the boat sank 22.5 km (24 miles) off the coast of the Wajo Regency in South Sulawesi. Rescue teams expect to resume their search for the missing, Monday. (BenarNews) (Muscat Daily)
Two pilots are killed after a South Korean-made KAI T-50 Golden Eagle crashes and bursts into flames at an air show in Yogyakarta on Indonesia‘s Java island. (The Telegraph)

Politics and elections

Spanish general election, 2015
- Today’s parliamentary election is forecast to end Spain’s two-party system as the traditional powers, the center-right People’s Party (PP) and the center-left Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), are facing real challenges from the anti-austerity Podemos Partyand the liberal Ciudadanos party (C’s). Analysts expect a high turnout. (Reuters via Huffington Post) (Newsweek)
United States presidential election, 2016
- Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders presidential campaign fires national data director Josh Uretsky, and suspends two staffers following Friday’s announcement the campaign had improperly accessed and downloaded voter data belonging to Hillary Clinton’s campaign. NBC News reports at least four individuals affiliated with the campaign were involved in the breach, which occurred Wednesday. (NBC News) (Bloomberg)
Elections in Iran
- Iranian legislative election, 2016
  - Iran starts registering candidates for the 290-seat parliamentary elections scheduled for 26 February 2016. Potential candidates must be approved by the Guardian Council. The elections will, effectively, be a vote on President Hassan Rouhani’smoderate policies that received a boost from the July 14 landmark nuclear deal. (AP via The Washington Post)
- Iranian Assembly of Experts election, 2016
  - Elections for the 88-seat Experts Assembly, a clerical body empowered to choose or dismiss Iran’s supreme leader and supervise his activities, are scheduled for Thursday 25 February 2016. Those elected may decide who replaces Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is 76. (Deutsche Welle)

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December 21, 2015

Top News Stories –

Fifa: Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini get eight-year bans –
Fifa president Sepp Blatter and Uefa boss Michel Platini have been suspended for eight years from all football-related activities following an ethics investigation. They were found guilty of breaches surrounding a £1.3m ($2m) “disloyal payment” made to Platini in 2011. The Fifa ethics committee found Blatter and Platini had demonstrated an “abusive execution” of their positions. “I will fight for me and for Fifa,” Blatter, 79, said at a news conference. Platini said the decision was a “masquerade” intended to “dirty” his name. Both men continue to deny wrongdoing and intend to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas). Swiss Blatter and 60-year-old Frenchman Platini have also been fined £33,700 ($50,000) and £54,000 ($80,000) respectively. [BBC] In September Swiss police opened a separate investigation into criminal mismanagement or misappropriation over a TV rights deal.
Sepp Blatter

Martin Shkreli fired from drug firm KaloBios following arrest –
Martin Shkreli has been fired as chief executive from the drug company KaloBios Pharmaceuticals. It comes just days after his arrest by the FBI for securities fraud. In a short statement, the company said he had also stepped down voluntarily from the board. Mr Shkreli, who came to prominence after his company raised the price of a lifesaving HIV drug by 5,000%, has pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges. He has already resigned as head of the company which made the drug, Turing Pharmaceuticals. The FBI has accused Mr Shkreli of using assets from his former company, Retrophin, to illegally pay off debts at MSMB, the hedge fund he managed. He was released on $5m (£3.53m) bail. [BBC]
Martin Shkreli

Video of the Day –

Fire-breathing Backflip with Steve-O – The Slow Mo Guys

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#EsHermosoCuando	#blackoutday	Hermione
2	#EuJaFuiCarrota	#mondaymotivation	#RHOA
3	#زد_رصيدك38	#HandsToMyselfVideoTODAY	#MissUniverse2015
4	#SegundaComOClubeSDV	#ChristmasWeek	#mondaymotivation
5	#FelizLunes	#MiamiBeachBowl	#WeAreAllZayn
6	#HandsToMyselfVideoTODAY	Louis and Danielle	#PeopleWhoMadeMy2015
7	#ChristmasWeek	#Kimoji	#BigThankYou
8	Hermione	#WeAreAllegiant	#ChristmasWeek
9	#WeAreAllZayn	#FelizLunes	#SPOTY
10	#EnEsteVeranoYo	Hermione	#AFCvMCFC

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- 2015 Bagram suicide bombing
  - A suicide-bomb attack on a joint Afghan-U.S. patrol near Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan‘s Parwan Province, kills at least six U.S. soldiers and wounds another six. The Taliban‘s spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claims responsibility for the attack in a message on Twitter. (Reuters) (The Washington Post)
- Taliban forces overrun the Sangin District in Afghanistan‘s southern Helmand Province following clashes with Afghan security forces which left dozens dead. Taliban militants have reportedly surrounded the local police compound with around 170 officers trapped inside the compound, according to a local official. (FRANCE 24)
- At least three rockets hit the capital Kabul, with two landing in the diplomatic zone of the Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood near the U.S. embassy building, while the other struck near the presidential palace complex. There were no reports of any casualties. (Reuters) (RT)
Terrorism in Kenya, War in Somalia
- At least two people are killed in a attack, near the north-eastern village of El Wak in Mandera County near the Somali border. A group of Kenyan Muslims traveling on a bus ambushed by suspected Al-Shabaab insurgents, protected Christian passengers by refusing to be split into groups, according to eyewitnesses. (BBC)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present), Military intervention against ISIL
- Around 20 people, including civilians and Islamic State militants, are killed in airstrikes on Mosul in northern Iraq. (Reuters)
2015 PKK rebellion
- Fighting continues to rage between the Turkish Army and PKK militants across southeastern Turkey, with the Kurdish-majority cities of Cizre and Silopi both becoming war zones as street-to-street fighting takes place. Turkish tanks shelled civilian houses in Silopi, while a Turkish military helicopter was damaged by PKK fire as it attempted to land in Cizre. Also, two Turkish soldiers were killed and six others wounded in a roadside bombing near the town of Bitlis. Many within Turkey are saying a civil war is now underway. (Al Jazeera)
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says military operations will continue in southeast Turkey and vowed that Kurdish rebels (PKK) along with their supporters, “will be buried in the trenches they have dug”. The state-run Anadolu Agency reports at least 115 PKK militants have been killed since December 15. (The Guardian)

Arts and culture

Pope Francis, in his annual pre-Christmas speech, urged the Roman Curia (cardinals and bishops who direct Holy See actions), to follow his “catalogue of virtues,” e.g., to show more maturity, honesty, humility, and sobriety in their tasks. He listed “Curial antibiotics” to treat the “15 ailments of the Curia” he outlined last year and which still plague the Vatican. (AP via Berlin Record) (National Catholic Reporter)

Health and medicine

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lifts the 32-year-old, lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. Men can donate if they haven’t had sex with another man in the previous year. The FDA stance is in line with other countries, such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.K., and is consistent with rules on recent blood transfusion or accidental exposure to another individual’s blood. (The Guardian) (The Washington Post) (FDA)

International relations

Armenia–Russia relations
- Russia reinforces the joint Armenian–Russian run Erebuni Airport, home to the Russian 3624th Air Base, with six attack and transport helicopters. The Russian Defence Ministry said the Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters had been transferred from a military base in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar Krai to the air base in Erebuni, Armenia. (Radio Free Europe)
War in Donbass
- The European Union extends Russian sanctions for interference in Ukraine another six months, until 31 July 2016. The EU says it’s extending the sanctions because the Minsk peace accords would not be fully implemented by the end of this year.(Bloomberg) (Voice of America)

Politics and elections

Slovenian same-sex marriage referendum, 2015
- Slovenian voters reject a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the country with only 36% of registered voters supporting it, while over 63% of voters voted against the bill. (CNN)
Spanish general election, 2015
- In Sunday’s elections, Spain’s center-right ruling People’s Party (PP) wins 123 seats (35.1%), and the center-left Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) takes 90 (25.7%) of the 350 seats in parliament, thereby ending Spain’s two-party system since neither major party won an absolute majority. Turnout was 73 percent. Spain’s new political forces, Podemos and Ciudadanos (C’s), get 69 and 40 seats, respectively. Smaller parties split the remaining 28 seats, 17 to Catalonia parties which favor secession. It appears that a coalition government will be necessary. PSOE has declined to join the PP, which actually doesn’t want that either. King Felipe, who ascended the throne in June 2014, is constitutionally empowered to mediate. (Stratfor) (Fortune)(International Business Times) (BBC)
United States presidential election, 2016, Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016
- South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham ends his campaign for the Republican Party nomination for President. During his campaign he has failed to poll above single digits nationally or in the early voting states. (USA Today)
Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom (Likud party) resigns because of allegations he sexually harassed several women during his career. Israel’s attorney general has started an investigation of Shalom, who also resigned his Interior Minister position andKnesset seat. (Reuters) (UPI)

Sports

2015 FIFA corruption case
- FIFA’s ethics committee issues an eight-year ban on President Sepp Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini from any football-related activity for a CHF 2,000,000 (£1.3m/US$2.02m) payment to Platini that Blatter approved. Ethics judges decided the pair, who were also fined, broke rules on conflict of interest, breach of loyalty, and offering or receiving gifts. Both men deny wrongdoing and intend to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). (BBC Sport) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera) (FIFA text via Channel NewsAsia)

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December 22, 2015

Top News Stories –

Actor Nicolas Cage returns stolen dinosaur skull he bought –
Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage has agreed to turn over a rare stolen dinosaur skull he bought for $276,000 to U.S. authorities so it can be returned to the Mongolian government. The office of Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, filed a civil forfeiture complaint last week to take possession of the Tyrannosaurus bataar skull, which will be repatriated to Mongolia. The lawsuit did not specifically name Cage as the owner, but Cage’s publicist confirmed that the actor bought the skull in March 2007 from a Beverly Hills gallery, I.M. Chait. The “National Treasure” actor is not accused of wrongdoing, and authorities said he voluntarily agreed to turn over the skull after learning of the circumstances. Cage outbid fellow movie star Leonardo DiCaprio for the skull, according to prior news reports. [Reuters]
Nicolas_Cage

SpaceX succeeds in historic rocket launch and landing –
SpaceX successfully landed its powerful Falcon 9 rocket late on Monday night for the first time, a major milestone in the drive to cut costs and waste by making rockets as reusable as planes. Its engines burning bright orange against the dark night sky, the Falcon 9 made a graceful arc back to Earth and touched down upright at Cape Canaveral, Florida, minutes after launching a payload of satellites to orbit, video images showed. “I still can’t quite believe it,” Musk said in a teleconference after the landing. “I think this is a revolutionary moment. No one has ever brought an orbital class booster back intact.” Previous attempts to land the Falcon 9’s first stage on a floating ocean platform have failed – with the rocket either colliding with the autonomous drone ship or tipping over. [Daily Telegraph] In June 2015 a SpaceX rocket carrying cargo to the International Space Station exploded minutes after take-off. See Video of the Day
Elon Musk

Video of the Day –

Historic Landing of Falcon 9 First Stage at Landing Zone 1

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#TercaNatalTaíTremuraSdv	#FirstDayOfWinter	#WeAreAllNiall
2	#زد_رصيدك39	#SandraBland	#2YearsAndStillHere
3	#FelizMartes	#GolpeAlVoto	#SpaceX
4	#TuFraseCumbia	#DearSantaSorryFor	Brendon McCullum
5	#PSYOneSweetNight	#iHeartJLo	#charitytuesday
6	#MevlidKandili	#TWUG	Arsenal
7	#WeAreAllNiall	#AllTogetherNow	#SandraBland
8	#MinhaVidaSeResumeEm	#TravelTuesday	#universitychallenge
9	#اول_لاعب_عشقت�…	#WinterOfficiallyBeginsSo	#MadeInChelsea
10	#CrestaRoja	#BrandNewByAustinMahone	#Slammy

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present), Battle of Ramadi
- The Iraqi Army advances into the center of Ramadi, the latest development in the effort, which began in November, to regain the city from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. (Reuters)
Islamist insurgency in Nigeria
- More than 1 million children have been forced out of school as a result of Boko Haram terrorism in northeastern Nigeria and its neighboring countries, which leaves the children more susceptible to violence, poverty and child marriage, Manuel Fontaine,UNICEF’s West and Central Africa regional director, said in a statement. (Huffington Post) (Reuters)
Mali declares a 10-day state of emergency effective at midnight, following a series of threats from unnamed jihadist groups, and last month’s siege at a Bamako hotel, where 20 people were killed. (DW) (TV360Nigeria) (NDTV)

Disasters and accidents

An Indian Border Security Force plane headed to Ranchi crashes just outside New Delhi, killing all 10 on board. The Super King Air turboprop aircraft hit an airport wall and landed in a small body of water. (Reuters) (AP via Fox News)

Health

The Philippines becomes the first country in Asia, and second in the world (after Mexico), to approve use of the dengue vaccine. (Rappler) (CNN)
According to industry sources, the Indian health ministry is considering Sanofi Pasteur’s dengue fever vaccine for large-scale clinical trial exemption which would accelerate approval for marketing. India reported a record number of dengue fever cases this year. (The Economic Times)
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signs a decree fully legalizing medical marijuana. Growers must apply to the National Narcotics Council for a license. Earlier, Colombia decriminalized personal possession of up to 20 grams. (BBC) (VICE News)

Politics and elections

Philippine presidential election, 2016
- The Philippine Commission on Elections disqualifies presidential frontrunner Grace Poe, who is a rival of Mar Roxas, the candidate favored by President Benigno Aquino III. The move is widely believed to be politically motivated. (Inquirer), (GMA News),
- Petitioners alleged Poe doesn’t meet the residency and citizenship requirments. The actual decision is still to be released. (CNN)
Central African constitutional referendum, 2015
- Central African Republic’s National Election Authority announces voters approved (93%) the new constitution in the December 13 referendum. Amid sporatic violence, 39 percent of registered citizens voted in the two-day poll. The first round of the presidential elections and Parliamentary elections now can be held on December 27, 2015. Acting President Catherine Samba-Panza and current members of the legislature cannot participate. (Deutsche Welle) (Toronto Metro News)
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announces, effective February 1, 2016, that Virginia will no longer recognize concealed carry handgun permits from 25 (of the 30) states with reciprocity agreements with the commonwealth whose concealed handgun regulations are weaker than Virginia’s. The state agreements with the other five states will not change. Virginia’s concealed carry permits will not be recognized by at least six states because they require mutual recognition of permits. (The Washington Post) (AP via Chicago Tribune)
Haitian presidential election, 2015, Haitian parliamentary election, 2015
- Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council postpones presidential and legislative runoff elections scheduled for Sunday, December 27, 2015. Authorities are waiting for findings from the not-yet-installed special commission evaluating the widely criticized first round of elections before determining how to proceed. (AP via The Washington Post) (Haitian-Caribbean News Network)

Science

American actor Nicolas Cage agrees to return to Mongolia a stolen dinosaur skull he bought in 2007 for $276,000. Cage says he was unaware the skull had entered the country illegally. (Reuters) (USA Today)
Falcon 9 Flight 20
- American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company SpaceX makes history by sending the first orbital rocket into space and landing the first stage back on the ground at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (NBC News)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

December 23, 2015

Top News Stories –

Skier’s Close Call As Drone Camera Crashes –
A skier has narrowly avoided serious injury after a drone being used to film the event he was competing in crashed to the ground. The drone hit the snow just centimetres away from Austria’s Marcel Hirscher during the alpine skiing World Cup slalom in Italy. “This is horrible,” Hirscher, who finished second in the event, said. A skier has narrowly avoided serious injury after a drone being used to film the event he was competing in crashed to the ground. The drone hit the snow just centimetres away from Austria’s Marcel Hirscher during the alpine skiing World Cup slalom in Italy. “This is horrible,” Hirscher, who finished second in the event, said. [MSN News] See Video of the Day
Marcel Hirscher

Madonna goes to court to force 15-year-old son to return to New York –
Madonna has gone to court to force her 15-year-old son Rocco to return to New York, after his father Guy Ritchie insisted that he wanted to stay in the UK for Christmas. The singer appeared before a judge in Manhattan on Wednesday morning, where she won her bid to have her son forced to board a plane from London. Mr Ritchie, a film director who has two children with Madonna, argued through his lawyer that Rocco preferred to spend Christmas with his father, the New York Post reported. Judge Kaplan ordered that Rocco should talk with Madonna, and then revisit the issue of which parent he prefers. The judge told a smiling Madonna that Rocco must also present himself to court in the United States for the case to be decided. “I’m directing the child to be returned to New York. If he wants to stay with his father, he must return to his mother.” [Daily Telegraph]
Madonna

Video of the Day –

TV drone crashes during ski race – Marcel Hirscher at Madonna di Campiglio

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#CosasQueAprendiDel2015	Tornado Watch	Christmas Eve Eve
2	#WeAreAll1D	#CosasQueAprendiDel2015	#WeAreAll1D
3	#QuartaComOClubeSDV	#HappyBirthdayLouis	#ReplaceAWordWithSchlong
4	#زد_رصيدك40	#WeLoveYouAshton	#Luther
5	#5incoMinutos7Milhoes	#YodaSpeakASaying	Boxing Day
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8	#PSYYakap	OG Maco	#YodaSpeakASaying
9	#DeNatalEuQuero	#ReplaceAwordWithSchlong	#tattoofixers
10	#WeLoveYouAshton	#Festivus	#Supervet

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  - Amnesty International reports at least 200 civilians have been killed in Russian air strikes in Syria, indicating “serious failures by Russia to respect international humanitarian law”. Moscow denies causing civilian deaths. (BBC)
Boko Haram insurgency in West Africa
- An overnight raid by suspected Boko Haram militants on Niger‘s southern border town of Abadam, kills two Nigerien Army soldiers and three civilians. And, separately, a suicide-bomb attack on Lake Chad killed three of the attackers but no one else. A military convoy was also ambushed by militants in northern Cameroon, although there were no reported deaths. (Reuters)
Palestinian political violence
- Two Palestinian attackers stab passers-by at the Old City’s Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem, Israel, killing two and injuring one; the attackers are shot and killed by two Israeli Border Police officers. (CNN) (The Jerusalem Post)
2015 PKK rebellion
- Clashes continue between PKK militants and Turkish Army troops in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakır in southeastern Turkey. At least one Turkish soldier is killed and several are wounded in a bomb attack. (Reuters)
Hacktivist collective Anonymous declares a cyber-war on Turkey, and claims responsibility for the major week-long cyber-attack between 14 and 21 December on Turkey, which it accuses of supporting the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and threatened additional attacks in case the alleged support continues. “We will continue attacking your internet, your root DNS, your banks and take your government sites down,” it said. “After the root DNS, we will start to hit your airports, military assets and private state connections. We will destroy your critical banking infrastructure,” the group added. (Hurriyet Daily News) (Independent)
Terrorism in Australia
- Australian police in Sydney arrest two men who, police say, were planning attacks on locations such as naval bases and police headquarters. New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn said Wednesday’s activity brings the number of people arrested in connection with last year’s Operation Appleby to 13. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (Reuters)

Arts and culture

The governments of Somalia, Tajikistan and Brunei ban celebrations of Christmas, with punishments ranging up to a five-year jail term. Each country has a majority-Muslim population. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

Tornadoes of 2015
- At least six people die and dozens injured as major storms, packed with tornadoes, move through the American South and Midwest. Three people died when a tornado hit northern Mississippi, one was killed in Arkansas and two more in Tennessee. Officials continue searching into the night for the missing. (CNN) (AP via The Washington Post) (Weather.com) (Reuters)

Health

South Korean MERS outbreak
- South Korea announces an end to the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak that has killed 36 people since May 2015. The virus infected 186 people, with nearly 17,000 people confined to their homes and thousands of schools temporarily closing at the peak of the largest MERS outbreak outside Saudi Arabia, where it first appeared in 2012. (AFP via FRANCE 24)

Brazilian health officials announce 2,400 babies (up from 147 in 2014) have been born this year with microcephaly, a neurological disorder that can result in incomplete brain development which can be caused by the mosquito-borne Zika virus, and advise would-be parents, especially in the country’s northeast where most of the cases occurred, to avoid pregnancy. (CNN) (The Washington Post) (Medical Daily)

International relations

Yemeni Crisis
- The United Nations Security Council expressed “deep concern” at the number of violations of Yemen’s ceasefire. U.N. envoys warned that a fledgling peace process was hanging by a thread, and that Yemen faces permanent fragmentation if the conflict is not ended soon. (Reuters) (Time) (Saudi Gazette) (UN)

Law and crime

The public interest non-profit Cause for Action files a Freedom of Information Act request for United States Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter’s personal emails following his disclosure of using that account for official government emails, this in the wake of the former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton email controversy and the Office of Personnel Management data breach. The U.S. Federal Records Act restricts use of personal email for official business. (Federal Times)
A Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia report reveals that an agent with the Presidential Protective Service of the United States Secret Service had his weapon, shield, and other professional equipage stolen from his vehicle in broad daylight in downtown Washington, D.C. (CNN)
Russia issues an international arrest warrant for former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky on charges of organizing the murder of Vladimir Petukhov, mayor of Nefteyugansk in 1998. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

Spanish general election, 2015
- Pedro Sánchez, leader of Spain‘s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) rejects a pact with the ruling People’s Party (PP). “We say ‘no’ to Rajoy and his policies,” Sánchez told a news conference after meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. (Reuters)
Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili unexpectedly announces his resignation, without giving any specific reason for his decision. (Civil Georgia)
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović selects Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals executive Tihomir Orešković to be the new prime minister following the inconclusive November 8 election. The “technocrat” is the choice of conservatives and reformists, who have 78 parliamentary seats, enough for confirmation.

Science and technology

The United States National Center for Health Statistics reports the rate of twin births has hit an historic high. Researchers say the increase in twin births may be affected by changes in reproductive technology, including in vitro fertilization, and by more women giving birth later in life–a time when the occurrence of twins is higher. (Science World Report) (Daily Mail)

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December 24, 2015

Top News Stories –

Robert Downey Jr pardoned for 20-year-old drug conviction –
US actor Robert Downey Jr has been granted an official pardon for a drug conviction that sent him to prison nearly 20 years ago. California Governor Jerry Brown announced pardons for 91 people who had been out of custody for 10 years and proved they had turned their lives around. The conviction will remain on his record but the actor twice-nominated for an Oscar will have his voting rights restored. In 1996, police found cocaine, heroin and a pistol in his car when they stopped him for speeding. [BBC] Earlier in 2015 Downey was named by Forbes Magazine as the 8th highest paid celebrity and highest paid actor.
Robert Downey Jr

Anti ‘sweet tooth’ hormone discovered by scientists –
A cure for sugar cravings is a major step nearer after scientists identified a hormone which suppresses a “sweet tooth”. Researchers say their findings, published online in the journal Cell Metabolism, could improve the diet and help patients who are diabetic or obese. While sugar cravings are common, particularly at this time of year, the physiological mechanisms that trigger our “sweet tooth” were not well defined until now. But the new study in mice shows that a hormone produced by the liver, fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), suppresses the consumption of simple sugars.[Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Why December Has The Longest Days

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#QueridoSanta	#BeatlesOnSpotify	Boxing Day
2	#VesperaDeNatalNoClubeSDV	#SantaNoShowExcuses	#BestBlackAlbumCovers
3	#BeatlesOnSpotify	George Will	#DarlingPlease
4	#زد_رصيدك41	#BahamasBowl	#Hollyoaks
5	#BrindoPor	#IShouldBeWrappingPresentsBut	#BeatlesOnSpotify
6	#حريق_مستشفي_ج�…	#Nochebuena	Bridget Jones
7	#Nochebuena	#BrindoPor	Don Howe
8	#PSYAwakening	#ItMeansYoureDoingItWrong	#masterchefprofessionals
9	#ALDUB23rdWeeksary	#BestBlackAlbumCovers	#HappyBirthdayLouis
10	#النصر_الهلال	#EnLasFiestasNoFaltaNunca	#YouAintNoChristianBruv

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2015 Zaria Shia Massacre
- Human Rights Watch (HRW) reports Nigeria’s military has quickly buried the corpses of at least 300 Shia Muslims killed during raids at the house of Ibrahim Zakzaky in Zaria earlier in December. (BBC) (International Business Times)

Disasters and accidents

A fire at the Jizan General Hospital in Jizan, Saudi Arabia, kills at least 24 people and injures over 100. The blaze began on the first floor of the hospital which contains the maternity ward and intensive care unit. Government-controlled Al Ekhbariya television reports the cause of the fire seems to be electrical. (Al Jazeera) (The News Tribe) (Reuters) (Pakistan Today)
Tornadoes of 2015
- Officials report the casualties from yesterday’s spring-like storm that triggered more than 20 tornadoes, destroyed homes, delayed and cancelled air flights, and caused power outages in the U.S. Midwest and Southeast have risen to at least 11 people killed with dozens injured. Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant declares a state of emergency in areas affected by the storm. (NBC News) (Reuters)
Up to 100 people die in an explosion at an LPG gas plant in Nnewi, Anambra, in southern Nigeria. Sources indicate the accident was caused by a truck discharging its contents before the mandatory cooling time had expired. (BBC) (Vanguard)
Uruguay’s National Emergencies System reports two people have died in flooding from heavy rains in its northern provinces, and almost 5,500 have been evacuated. The Uruguay River has risen close to three meters over safe levels in Paysandú, and almost four meters (13 feet) in Salto. (Fox News Latino) (Latin American Herald Tribune)

Health and medicine

The same day the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency announces it is easing restrictions on medical research involving cannabidiol (CBD), a key component in marijuana, NYU Langone Medical Center researchers report a clinical trial suggests a pill containing CBD may reduce seizures for children and young adults with epilepsy. (CBS News) (Health Day via U.S. News & World Report) (Leafly.com)

International relations

Australia, the UK, France, and the United States, all issue security alerts for westerners in Sanlitun in the Chaoyang District of Beijing, a popular diplomatic and entertainment district. Chinese officials indicate they have taken appropriate measures in response to this information. (Reuters) (CNN) (Latin American Herald Tribune)

Law and crime

One person is shot and killed by a policeman at the Northlake Mall in Charlotte, North Carolina. (TWC News)

Politics and elections

2016 United States federal budget, Iran hostage crisis
- The 53 Americans taken hostage in Tehran, Iran, in 1979, or their families, will receive compensation of $4.4 million each from the United States government as a result of a provision in the spending deal signed into law last week. (ABC News) (The Hill)

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December 25, 2015

Top News Stories –

UK astronaut Tim Peake calls wrong number from space –
British astronaut Tim Peake tweeted an apology on Christmas Day from the International Space Station after calling a wrong number. He wrote “I’d like to apologize to the lady I just called by mistake saying ‘Hello, is this planet Earth?’ — not a prank call — just a wrong number!” The 43-year-old former army helicopter pilot did not say who he was calling.
Timothy Peake

Video of the Day –

The Talk

THE TALK (2015) from Joe Otting on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#BeautyAndTheBestieNowShowing	Happy Birthday Jesus	LCD Soundsystem
2	#9MonthsWithoutZayn	#9MonthsWithoutZayn	#QueensSpeech
3	#FelizNatalComOClubeSDV	#LifelineOniTunes	HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS
4	#CiteUmFilmeComPeru	#IGotCoalBecause	#EastEnders
5	#زد_رصيدك42	Low Life	Peter Kay
6	#كذبه_كنت_مصدق�…	#WhatSantaWontGetMeForXmas	Midnight Mass
7	#MiRegaloFue	SANTA CAME	#joinin
8	#ALDUBMyBebeLoveSaPASKO	Merry Christmas	#notgoingout
9	#MerryChristmas1DFamily	#WhyImHashtaggingOnXmas	#Barfest2016
10	#크리스마스인데_기…	#KingStaysKing	#9MonthsWithoutZayn

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  - Amnesty International reports at least 200 civilians have been killed in Russian air strikes in Syria, indicating “serious failures by Russia to respect international humanitarian law”. Moscow denies causing civilian deaths. (BBC)
Boko Haram insurgency
- An overnight raid by suspected Boko Haram militants on Niger‘s southern border town of Abadam, kills two Nigerien Army soldiers and three civilians. And, separately, a suicide-bomb attack on Lake Chad killed three of the attackers but no one else. A military convoy was also ambushed by militants in northern Cameroon, although there were no reported deaths. (Reuters)
Israeli-Palestinian conflict (2015)
- Two Palestinian attackers stab passers-by at the Old City’s Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem, Israel, killing two and injuring one; the attackers are shot and killed by two Israeli Border Police officers. (CNN) (The Jerusalem Post)
2015 PKK rebellion
- Clashes continue between PKK militants and Turkish Army troops in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakır in southeastern Turkey. At least one Turkish soldier is killed and several are wounded in a bomb attack. (Reuters)
Hacktivist collective Anonymous declares a cyber-war on Turkey, and claims responsibility for the major week-long cyber-attack between 14 and 21 December on Turkey, which it accuses of supporting the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and threatened additional attacks in case the alleged support continues. “We will continue attacking your internet, your root DNS, your banks and take your government sites down,” it said. “After the root DNS, we will start to hit your airports, military assets and private state connections. We will destroy your critical banking infrastructure,” the group added. (Hurriyet Daily News) (Independent)
Terrorism in Australia
- Australian police in Sydney arrest two men who, police say, were planning attacks on locations such as naval bases and police headquarters. New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn said Wednesday’s activity brings the number of people arrested in connection with last year’s Operation Appleby to 13. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (Reuters)

Arts and culture

The governments of Somalia, Tajikistan and Brunei ban celebrations of Christmas, with punishments ranging up to a five-year jail term. Each country has a majority-Muslim population. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

Tornadoes of 2015
- At least six people die and dozens injured as major storms, packed with tornadoes, move through the American South and Midwest. Three people died when a tornado hit northern Mississippi, one was killed in Arkansas and two more in Tennessee. Officials continue searching into the night for the missing. (CNN) (AP via The Washington Post) (Weather.com) (Reuters)

Health

South Korean MERS outbreak
- South Korea announces an end to the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak that has killed 36 people since May 2015. The virus infected 186 people, with nearly 17,000 people confined to their homes and thousands of schools temporarily closing at the peak of the largest MERS outbreak outside Saudi Arabia, where it first appeared in 2012. (AFP via FRANCE 24)

Brazilian health officials announce 2,400 babies (up from 147 in 2014) have been born this year with microcephaly, a neurological disorder that can result in incomplete brain development which can be caused by the mosquito-borne Zika virus, and advise would-be parents, especially in the country’s northeast where most of the cases occurred, to avoid pregnancy. (CNN) (The Washington Post) (Medical Daily)

International relations

Yemeni Crisis
- The United Nations Security Council expressed “deep concern” at the number of violations of Yemen’s ceasefire. U.N. envoys warned that a fledgling peace process was hanging by a thread, and that Yemen faces permanent fragmentation if the conflict is not ended soon. (Reuters) (Time) (Saudi Gazette) (UN)

Law and crime

The public interest non-profit Cause for Action files a Freedom of Information Act request for United States Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter’s personal emails following his disclosure of using that account for official government emails, this in the wake of the former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton email controversy and the Office of Personnel Management data breach. The U.S. Federal Records Act restricts use of personal email for official business. (Federal Times)
A Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia report reveals that an agent with the Presidential Protective Service of the United States Secret Service had his weapon, shield, and other professional equipage stolen from his vehicle in broad daylight in downtown Washington, D.C. (CNN)
Russia issues an international arrest warrant for former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky on charges of organizing the murder of Vladimir Petukhov, mayor of Nefteyugansk in 1998. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

Spanish general election, 2015
- Pedro Sánchez, leader of Spain‘s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) rejects a pact with the ruling People’s Party (PP). “We say ‘no’ to Rajoy and his policies,” Sánchez told a news conference after meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. (Reuters)
Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili unexpectedly announces his resignation, without giving any specific reason for his decision. (Civil Georgia)
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović selects Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals executive Tihomir Orešković to be the new prime minister following the inconclusive November 8 election. The “technocrat” is the choice of conservatives and reformists, who have 78 parliamentary seats, enough for confirmation.

Science and technology

The United States National Center for Health Statistics reports the rate of twin births has hit an historic high. Researchers say the increase in twin births may be affected by changes in reproductive technology, including in vitro fertilization, and by more women giving birth later in life–a time when the occurrence of twins is higher. (Science World Report) (Daily Mail)

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December 26, 2015

Top News Stories –

Nudists rescue sinking yacht at start of Sydney-Hobart race –
A group of struggling sailors in Sydney were given a surprising rescue when they found themselves being hauled to shore by a nudists. A small wooden boat had sailed out to watch the start of the annual Sydney to Hobart race, which sees 100 vessels set out on Boxing Day every year. But as spectators were walking back along the coast, they saw a boat get in to trouble near Lady Bay Beach – a popular site for nudists. “The boat came angling into the shore, which was a bit weird,” said Chris Pearce, a photographer with Getty agency. Mr Pearce said that a crowd of people swimming in the sea came to their rescue, in waters around three feet deep. After the woman and child were rescued from the boat, those left on board started to see the funny side of the situation. Photographs of the rescue show at least one man on board grinning as nude men surrounded the boat, ready to lend a hand. [Daily Telegraph]

Twitter is winning war on trolls and extremists, says its Europe chief –
The social media giant, which is 10 years old in March, has amassed 320 million users and a valuation of more than $33bn (£22bn). But it desperately needs to turn back waves of negative headlines and to find ways to engage more deeply with the margins of its audience. But Twitter is fighting back. Boosted in October by the return of its founder Jack Dorsey, now permanent chief executive, it believes it is winning its war on trolls and clearing its decks of violent extremists. Speaking to The Independent ahead of the company’s tenth anniversary, Bruce Daisley, head of Twitter in Europe, said: “We have spent longer and put more effort into user safety than any other issue. The measures we’ve taken correlate directly with a reduction in the amount of bad behaviour on the platform.” [The Independant]

Video of the Day –

BEST WISHES from Jeroen Houben on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Google Trends 2015 –
Top Searches – Global

1 Lamar Odom

2 Charlie Hebdo

3 Agar.io

4 Jurassic World

5 Paris

6 Furious 7

7 Fallout 4

8 Ronda Rousey

9 Caitlyn Jenner

href=”https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=American+Sniper” target=”blank”>American Sniper

Source: Google

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SabadoDetremuraSdv	#SabadoDetremuraSdv	#HappyBirthdayJade
2	#WeAreProudOfYou5SOS	#WeAreProudOfYou5SOS	Rolling Stones
3	#زد_رصيدك43	#زد_رصيدك43	#WeAreProudOfYou5SOS
4	#BeautyAndTheBestieDay2	#BeautyAndTheBestieDay2	#flooding
5	#SintoFaltaDaEpocaQue	#SintoFaltaDaEpocaQue	#DowntonAbbey
6	#WeAllAreJustinBieber	#WeAllAreJustinBieber	#gogglesprogs
7	#RewindBr	#RewindBr	#20thingsiwantfor2016
8	#بلغ_عن_من_تكشف…	#بلغ_عن_من_تكشف…	#Barfest2016
9	#AUSvWI	#AUSvWI	#wankpuffin
10	#20thingsiwantfor2016	#20thingsiwantfor2016	#EastEnders

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

At least one person is injured and another is arrested after a machete attack at Intu Bromley shopping centre in the United Kingdom during the busy annual Boxing Day sales. A motive or possible link to terrorism has not yet been established. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 Australian bushfire season
- A bushfire in Victoria state has destroyed 116 homes. The 2200-hectare Jamieson Track blaze razed 98 homes in Wye River and 18 at Separation Creek. The fire stopped just 500 meters short of Kennett River. A dousing of rain on Saturday was unlikely to do much in the long term as this blaze could continue into January or February, says emergency management commissioner Craig Lapsley. No injuries are reported. (Sky News) (BBC) (The Guardian)
2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season
- Storm Eva
  - Heavy rain from the fifth officially named storm of the season leads to serious flooding across Lancashire and Yorkshire in northern England. (BBC)
Tornadoes of 2015
- The death toll in the spring-like, tornado-laden storms that began Wednesday in the American South has risen to 18 with additional tornadoes hitting north-central Alabama Friday and one outside of Dallas, Texas, today. (NBC News) (USA Today)
December 2015 Hindu Kush earthquake
- Officials report at least four people died and more than 100 were injured, most in Pakistan, after Friday night’s 6.3 magnitude earthquake in northeast Afghanistan. Casualty numbers may change since rescue teams have not reached all affected areas.(Latin American Herald Tribune)

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December 27, 2015

Top News Stories –

Eiffel Tower joins Twitter and receives a warm welcome from Statue of Liberty and Taj Mahal –
When a 126-year-old woman took to Twitter for the first time this week, the Taj Mahal and the Statue of Liberty were so impressed that they sent her tweets to congratulate her. But this was no ordinary old lady – it was the Eiffel Tower, the world’s most visited monument, taking its first steps on the wildly popular microblogging site. “Parisian since 1889, now I am sparkling on Twitter!” said one of the first tweets, in both English and French, on the official account of the 1,063 ft-high tower nicknamed La Grande Dame by its creator, Gustave Eiffel. The tower that each year attracts more than seven million visitors from across the globe, already has around 1.7 million fans on its Facebook account but until this week had kept away from Twitter. Its arrival there this week, under the username @LaTourEiffel, was quickly hailed by direct tweets from the official accounts of other world-renowned monuments. [Daily Telegraph]

Star Wars: The Force Awakens becomes fastest to take $1bn –
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has become the fastest film to take $1bn (£674m) at the global box office. JJ Abrams’ film achieved the feat in 12 days, beating the previous record of 13 days set by Jurassic World in June.
But while Jurassic World had the benefit of record takings in China over the period, The Force Awakens has yet to open there. Star Wars also scored the biggest US Christmas Day box office takings in history with $49.3m (£33.2m). The film took $153.5m (£103.5m) in the US in its second weekend, bringing its total domestic haul to $544.6m (£367m). [BBC]

Christmas time storms, tornadoes kill at least 43 in U.S. –
Storms hit the U.S. South, Southwest and Midwest over the Christmas holiday weekend, unleashing floods and tornadoes that killed at least 43 people, flattened buildings and snarled transportation for millions during a busy travel time. The bad weather, or the threat of it, prompted the governors of Missouri and New Mexico to declare a state of emergency for their states. Flash floods killed at least 13 people in Missouri and Illinois. In Missouri, emergency workers have evacuated residents from their homes and conducted dozens of water rescues, Governor Jay Nixon said on Sunday. He said at least eight people had been killed and numerous roadways had been closed. [Reuters]

British soldiers aid evacuation in flood-hit northern England –
British soldiers helped evacuate hundreds of people from rising floodwaters in the historic city of York on Sunday, after heavy rainfall inundated towns and cities across northern England. Prime Minister David Cameron pledged more military help for the region as the army was deployed to move 300 to 400 people from their homes in York, where the River Ouse was expected to continue rising until Monday, the local council said. Some 100 soldiers were also helping emergency services in the hardest hit areas of West Yorkshire, including Leeds, police said, after the region suffered its worst flooding in 70 years. [Reuters]

Video of the Day –

The Christmas Human – Wishing you a very Christmas merry! from Andre Maat on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Google Trends 2015 –
Top Searches – Global News

1 Charlie Hebdo

2 Paris

3 Hurricane Patricia

4 Isis

5 Nepal

6 El Chapo

7 Greece

8 Baltimore Riots

9 San Bernardino

10 Hurricane Joaquin

Source: Google

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#زد_رصيدك44	Peyton Manning	#yorkfloods
2	가요대전	#DepressABeatlesSong	#RecipeWizard
3	#ANECUP	#GBvsAZ	#AndThenThereWereNone
4	#ÚltimoDomingoDoAnoSdvDTr	#MichaelIsOurSafetyPin	#BigGame8
5	#FelizDomingo	#mattylovesya	#DepressABeatlesSong
6	#TeamBernardoFordGoesToJapan	Chyna	#SAvENG
7	#MyBebeLoveDay3	#5SOSIsDeadParty	#2015bestnine
8	#حكمه_انت_ماشي_…	#PlatonicActivity	#5SOSIsDeadParty
9	#علمتني_الرياض…	#2016PopCulturePredictions	Lynton Crosby
10	#5SOSIsDeadParty	#ThinkBIGSundayWithMarsha	COBRA

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Battle of Ramadi
  - The Iraqi Army declares victory over Islamic State militants as their forces retake an important government compound in Ramadi. (Reuters) (CNN)
Boko Haram insurgency
- Boko Haram militants attack the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri with rocket-propelled grenades and multiple suicide bombers. At least 15 people are reportedly killed but the death toll is expected to be much higher. (AP via The Washington Post)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season
- Storm Eva
  - Thousands of people are evacuated from their homes as flood waters continue to rise across large parts of northern England, with York particularly badly affected. (BBC)
Tornadoes of 2015, 2015–16 North American winter, 2015–2016 El Niño event
- At least 11 people are killed as tornadoes strike Dallas, Texas, and five people die in a flash flood in Illinois. A total of 34 people have died in this week’s smörgåsbord of storms that started Wednesday. Mark Wiley of the National Weather Service says this rare run of December tornado storms in the South and Midwest, and spring-like temperatures across much of the North and East, in part to a strong El Niño. (USA Today) (AP via The Greeneville Sun)
- Missouri governor Jay Nixon declares a state of emergency as widespread flash flooding continues to impact the midwestern state. (Fox2Now)

Sports

Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps will coach the sport at Arizona State University upon his presumed retirement following the 2016 Olympics. (NPR) (The Arizona Republic)

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December 28, 2015

Top News Stories –

Man dies after blowing up condom machine, says German police –
A man died on Christmas Day in Germany after he was hit in the head by a flying piece of metal from a condom machine that he and two accomplices blew up in an apparent robbery attempt, police said on Monday. The 29-year-old man was taken to hospital in the western town of Schoeppingen, near the Dutch border, by the two other men who fled the scene of the explosion in a car, leaving behind condoms and money scattered around the gutted vending machine. The two men told hospital officials that their friend had fallen down the stairs, injuring his head. Suspicious of their story, the officials called the police. During questioning, police said, one of them admitted that the three had blown up the condom machine. Police said the three men apparently got into a car after triggering the explosion, but the 29-year-old did not close his door and was hit by debris when the machine exploded. [Daily Telegraph]

Lemmy, Motorhead frontman, dies aged 70 after cancer diagnosis –
Motorhead frontman Lemmy has died aged 70, two days after learning he had cancer, the British band has announced. Lemmy formed the rock group in 1975 and recorded 22 albums, including Ace of Spades, as he became one of music’s most recognisable voices and faces. The band said on its Facebook page: “Our mighty, noble friend Lemmy has passed away after a short battle with an extremely aggressive cancer.” Lemmy was born Ian Fraser Kilmister in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in 1945. He lived in Anglesey, Wales, as a child and acquired the nickname Lemmy while at school, although he claimed to have had no idea where it came from. [BBC]
Lemmy in 2005

Game of Thrones tops list of 2015’s most pirated shows –
For the fourth year running, fantasy series Game of Thrones has topped a list of the most pirated TV shows. According to Torrentfreak, the season five finale was illegally downloaded 14.4m times. More than half of those came in the week after its US premiere. The Walking Dead and The Big Bang Theory rounded up the top three, with 6.6m and 4.4m downloads respectively. Earlier this year, Game of Thrones broke a record when more than 258,000 users shared the show simultaneously. The HBO drama was mainly downloaded on BitTorrent. [BBC] Last year Game of Thrones was only downloaded 8.1 million times.
Sophie Turner (Sansa Stark in Game of Thrones)

Video of the Day –

FINAL from Carmel Joy on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Google Trends 2015 –
Top Searches – People

1 Lamar Odom

4 Adele

6 Ruby Rose

8 Sia

10 Jeremy Clarkson

Source: Google

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SegundaComOClubeSDV	#HappyBirthdayNash	#AndThenThereWereNone
2	#زد_رصيدك45	#DiaDeLosInocentes	#ontopictalkshow
3	#DiaDeLosInocentes	#mondaymotivation	#MissYouNash
4	#PSYMadamIsBack	Meadowlark Lemon	#OLIC2
5	#FelizLunes	#MusicMonday	Ellsworth Kelly
6	#من_اسباب_سعادتي	#OhNoHarrysHair	#mondaymotivation
7	#OhNoHarrysHair	#SOOMPIAWARDS2015	#HarryPriceGhostHunter
8	#DinahIsOurQueen	#MilitaryBowl	#ProductPlacementFilms
9	#ALDUBBestOf2015	#UAALLAMERICA	#dragonsden
10	#НасосДляИнст�…	#DoctorStrange	#Homeland

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- At least 32 people are killed and 90 injured following a car bomb and suicide-bomb attack in the al-Zahra district of the Syrian city of Homs. (Reuters)
- Under a United Nations agreement, vehicles are set to ferry scores of insurgents from rebel-held Al-Zabadani to Turkey. Families from two besieged Shi’ite towns in the mainly rebel-held Idlib province are also headed to the border and will eventually fly on to Beirut. (Reuters) (Raidió Teilifís Éireann)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- A car bomb near Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, that was targeting a NATO convoy passing through the area, kills one civilian and injures 33 others. The Taliban claim responsibility. (AFP via Yahoo News) (Reuters via NBC News)

Business and economics

Whole Foods agrees to pay $500,000 to resolve a New York City Department of Consumer Affairs investigation that the supermarket chain charged too much for some prepackaged foods at its New York City stores. (NBC News) (CNN)

Disasters and accidents

Queensland, Australia, authorities say the estimated amount of sulphuric acid leaked from Sunday’s 26-carriage Aurizon freight train derailment near Julia Creek to 31,500 liters. The train was carrying 819,000 liters, not 200,000 liters as originally thought.Flinders Highway remains closed in both directions. (Sky News) (ABC Australia)
2015 Shenzhen landslide
- A Chinese official who sanctioned a dump of construction debris that led to a deadly landslide in the southern city of Shenzhen that killed at least 7 people and has left over 70 missing, kills himself by jumping from a building in the city’s Nanshan district, according to the South China Morning Post. (TIME)

International relations

Japan–South Korea relations
- Japan and South Korea agree to ‘irreversibly’ resolve a long-running dispute over Korean women the Japanese military used as sex slaves during World War II. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe will issue a formal apology to the so-called “comfort women.” Tokyo will set up an aid fund of about 1 billion yen ($8.3 million). (USA Today) (Reuters)
European migrant crisis
- Germany recruits 8,500 teachers to provide special German language lessons for 196,000 Syrian child refugees. (The Independent) (CNN)
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
- Eleven tons of enriched uranium are on a ship heading from Iran to Russia, per the July 14th international agreement. Iran delivers 200 tons of Russian yellowcake in return. The International Atomic Energy Agency will decide when Tehran has complied with its obligations which would make dismantling of economic sanctions possible. (AP) (BBC) (Mehr)

Law and crime

A police officer storms the police headquarters in the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, and shoots dead three fellow officers, including a commanding officer. Authorities say Guarionex Candelario, 50, was arrested for the killings shortly afterwards and taken to hospital for minor injuries. (NY Daily News)
A U.S. grand jury decides not to bring charges against a Cleveland policeman over the killing of 12 year old Tamir Rice. (BBC)
Guatemalan Gustavo Alejos Cambara, once private secretary to former President Álvaro Colom, turns himself in to authorities on charges related to government medicine procurement corruption. (AP)

Politics and elections

Polish constitutional crisis, 2015
- The leader of Poland‘s Democracy Defence Committee, Mateusz Kijowski, says the government has “broken the country” after Polish President, Andrzej Duda, enacted a measure curbing the powers of the country’s highest legislative court, theConstitutional Tribunal, despite protests and warnings from the European Union. Kijowski further called for foreign intervention in the country from “Europe and the United States” to topple the Law and Justice (PiS) government, saying “they must help us, otherwise Poland will leave the community of democracies”. After news broke that Duda had signed into law the constitutional tribunal bill, he made a speech on television defending his move. Polish newspaper Gazeta Wyborcza quoted U.S. sources saying Barack Obama had objections and had let it be known he would delay meeting Duda. The newspaper also suggested Poland’s hosting of the next NATO summit, planned for July 2016, was in the balance. (The Guardian)

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December 29, 2015

Top News Stories –

Russia: Book of Putin quotes ‘given to officials’ –
Officials across Russia have been given a 400-page book of “prophetic” quotes by President Vladimir Putin as a new year gift, it’s reported. The collection, entitled Words That Change The World, was sent to as many as 1,000 people by one of Mr Putin’s top aides, Vyacheslav Volodin, according to the business newspaper RBK. Recipients include MPs, regional governors and civil society representatives. In an accompanying letter, Mr Volodin says the book should be seen as a guide to the Kremlin’s “values and guiding principles”. He’s also reported to have recommended it to a recent meeting of officials as “required reading for any politician”. [BBC]
Vladimir-Putin

Russia ‘unlikely’ to return by Rio Olympics –
Russia are unlikely to return to international competition in time for next year’s Rio Olympics, says European Athletics president Svein Arne Hansen. Russia’s athletics federation was banned by the International Association of Athletics Federations for alleged involvement in widespread doping. An IAAF inspection committee is due to visit Russia in January. “For the moment they have to fulfil the conditions, but I cannot really see them competing in Rio,” Hansen said. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

VertiGo – A Wall-Climbing Robot Including Ground-Wall Transition

List of the Day –

Google Trends 2015 –
Top Searches – Global Sporting Events

1 Copa America

2 Wimbledon

3 Tour de France

4 Rugby World Cup

5 Super Bowl

6 Mayweather vs Pacquiao

7 Indian Premier League

8 US Open

9 ICC Cricket World Cup

10 Australian Open

Source: Google

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#زد_رصيدك46	#MessageForMyCrush	Dappy
2	#ConEsteCalorYo	#TWUG	#LHHNY
3	#FelizMartes	#1YearWithoutO2L	Lemmy
4	#TercaDetremuraSdv	#IdGiveYou	#MessageForMyCrush
5	#MessageForMyCrush	#TravelTuesday	Cellino
6	#ALDUBFLASHBack2015	#AndThenISaid	#IWantToBeSoRich
7	#MentirasMasUsadas	Ethan Couch	#MOTD
8	#YoTeDigo	#KidQuestionsForHillary	#TamirRice
9	#닉네임의_받침을_��…	#ARMYSelcaDay	#StormFrank
10	#НасосДляИспо�…	#TWDMarathon	#TravelTuesday

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in North-West Pakistan
- A suicide-bomb attack outside the regional office of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) in the northwestern Pakistani city of Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, leaves at least 26 people dead and 45 wounded. The militant Islamistgroup Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan splinter group, claims responsibility for the attack. (AP via New York Times)
Syrian Civil War, Military intervention against ISIL
- The United States military announces that a key Islamic State leader with ties to the Paris attack terrorists was killed in a coalition airstrike on December 24, 2015. Charaffe al Mouadan is the tenth ISIL leader killed by an airstrike since December 7. (The Washington Post) (International Business Times)
The French newspaper Le-monda claims that the November 13, 2015 Paris attacks were coordinated from Belgium by a single unidentified suspect.(Lemonde.fr)

Business and economics

American chemical giant DuPont announces that, in early 2016, it will cut 1,700 jobs in Delaware, about 28 percent of its home state workforce, and thousands more globally in connection as a result of the Dow Chemical Company merger. (The Washington Post) (AP via NBC news) (Delaware Online)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season
- 2015 Great Britain and Ireland floods
  - The 18th century Tadcaster Bridge, in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, partially collapses into the River Wharfe as a result of flooding. British Army soldiers evacuated people from nearby homes. (The Guardian)
2015 Flood in Missouri
- Missouri Governor Jay Nixon warns residents that the state faces historic flooding that likely will rival Great Flood of 1993 levels. Swollen rivers are still rising and won’t crest for days. The Mississippi River is expected to reach nearly 15 feet above flood stage on Thursday. Nixon pleaded with drivers to stay off inundated roadways. Twelve of the 13 people killed from these recent storms died after their vehicles were swept from flooded roadways. (NBC News) (UPI)

Health and medicine

For the first time since March 2014, Guinea is declared free from Ebola virus transmissions by the World Health Organization. (New York Times)

Law and crime

Ethan Couch, the so-called “affluenza” teen who violated probation for killing four people when driving while intoxicated when he disappeared from Tarrant County, Texas, is taken into custody in Mexico. Mexican officials will remand Couch and his mother, with whom he fled, to the U.S. Marshals Service. (Reuters)
Lebanese Customs seize five tonnes of Captagon amphetamine pills and Hashish, concealed in primary school desks that were to be shipped to Egypt, at Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport. Meanwhile, security forces in northern Lebanon found two workshops producing Captagon and other drugs during a series of raids. The drug is infamous as being used by Islamist militants in the Syrian civil war. (Channel News Asia)
Chicago, Illinois police officer, Jason Van Dyke, enters a not guilty plea regarding the charges of the 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald. (New York Times)
El Salvador‘s murder rate surges by 70% in 2015, an increase that may lead to the Central American nation edging out Honduras as the world’s most murderous nation. (Reuters via Daily Mail)

Politics and elections

Eloy Inos, the Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands since 2013, dies in office.(Saipan Tribune)
- Lieutenant Governor Ralph Torres will be sworn in as Governor on December 29th. Victor Hocog will succeed Torres as Lieutenant Governor.(Marianas Variety)
United States presidential election, 2016, Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016
- Former Governor of New York, George Pataki, ends his campaign for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States. (USA Today)
North Korea‘s state media says Kim Yang-gon, a top aide to supreme leader Kim Jong-un and secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), who was also in charge of ties with South Korea, dies in a car crash. (BBC)

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December 30, 2015

Top News Stories –

Freak storm pushes North Pole 50 degrees above normal to melting point –
A powerful winter cyclone — the same storm that led to two tornado outbreaks in the United States and disastrous river flooding — has driven the North Pole to the freezing point this week, 50 degrees above average for this time of year. From Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning, a mind-boggling pressure drop was recorded in Iceland: 54 millibars in just 18 hours. This triples the criteria for “bomb” cyclogenesis, which meteorologists use to describe a rapidly intensifying mid-latitude storm. A “bomb” cyclone is defined as dropping one millibar per hour for 24 hours. NOAA’s Ocean Prediction Center said the storm’s minimum pressure dropped to 928 millibars around 1 a.m. Eastern time, which likely places it in the top five strongest storms on record in this region. [Washington Post]

Uber claims one billion journeys in five years since launch –
Uber claims to have made one billion journeys since its launch in 2010, underlining the massive growth of the ride-sharing service and its challenge to the traditional taxi industry. The company said its billionth trip was completed in London on Christmas Eve – five and a half years after its first journey in San Francisco. The figure suggests that Uber has averaged more than 600,000 rides a day since its driver-hailing app went online, although the figure today is much higher. Uber said last year that it was arranging 1 million trips per day, and has since expanded in dozens of new cities around the world. [Daily Telegraph]

Canadian Bad Santa pulls Christmas Eve heist, escapes in Hummer –
A man dressed as Santa Claus robbed a small-town Canadian jewelry store at gunpoint on Christmas Eve, before dashing away in a Hummer, police said on Wednesday. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the red-and-white-garbed robber entered a jewelry store in Stettler, Alberta, in late afternoon last Thursday. He demanded jewelry and diamonds from a clerk and left with a bag of them. No one was hurt. An employee at the store declined to comment. [Daily Mail]

Video of the Day –

How To Prevent Hangovers (With Science)

List of the Day –

Google Trends 2015 –
Top Searches – Movies

1 Jurassic World

2 Furious 7

3 American Sniper

4 Fifty Shade of Grey

5 Minions

6 Spectre

7 Straight Outta Compton

8 Mad Max

9 Prem Ratan Dhan Payo

10 Birdman

Source: Google

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#ParaEl2016Prometo	#Thanks1DForAnAmazing2015	Oliver Letwin
2	#QuartaComOClubeSDV	#NewYearsResolutionIn5Words	#SUNLIV
3	#زد_رصيدك47	#baconday	Barney
4	#TomaraQueEm2016OCrush	#BillClintonSitcoms	David Beckham
5	#Thanks1DForAnAmazing2015	Bill Cosby	#morrisseykitchen
6	#اشياء_تتمناها…	#BlackTwitterTheBestTwitter	#SchoolDiscoMemories
7	#FelizMiercoles	Cleveland’s Terrible Stain	#Thanks1DForAnAmazing2015
8	Página 364 de 365	#BelkBowl	Guru Josh
9	#СНаступающим�…	#BirminghamBowl	Lemmy
10	#あなたに絶対似合�…	#WhatItDoByMahone	#TylerOakleyThankYouFor

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- 2015 al-Qamishli bombings
  - Several suicide-bomb attacks targeting Assyrian Christians celebrating New Year’s Eve at restaurants in the Kurdish-controlled Syrian city of Al-Qamishli, Al-Hasakah Governorate, leave at least 16 people dead and 35 wounded. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are suspected to be behind the bombings. (RT)
2015 Burundian unrest
- Burundi‘s President, Pierre Nkurunziza, says Burundians will fight against any African Union peacekeepers sent into the country in response to the ongoing crisis, “everyone has to respect Burundian borders,” Nkurunziza said. The African Union said this earlier this month it was ready to send 5,000 peacekeepers to protect civilians caught up in months of violence. (Reuters)

Business and economy

South China Sea disputes
- The Philippines says it will join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank despite disputes between it and the bank’s founder, China. (Rappler)
Governor Alejandro García Padilla indicates Puerto Rico will default on bonds issued by the island’s Infrastructure Financing Authority and Public Finance Corporation. (New York Times)

Disasters and Accidents

2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season
- Storm Frank hits the United Kingdom and Ireland, contributing to the 2015 Great Britain and Ireland floods following previous heavy rainfall. (ITV News)

International relations

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present), Iraq–Turkey relations
- Iraq‘s Foreign Minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, renewed demands that Turkey fully withdraw its troops from northern Iraq, asserting that Turkey must respect Iraq’s sovereignty or face potential military action. (Reuters)
War on Terror
- Belgium cancels New Year’s Eve firework celebrations in Brussels amid fears of an Islamic terrorist attack in an unspecified European capital city. (Sky News)

Law and crime

Bill Cosby sexual assault allegations
- American entertainer Bill Cosby is charged with aggravated indecent assault in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The county’s District Attorney-elect said his office is also examining evidence related to other cases. The current charges relate to one particular 2004 incident. (New York Times)
2015 Brussels lockdown
- Two Belgian policewomen and eight soldiers reportedly held an orgy at a police station in the Brussels neighbourhood of Ganshoren while colleagues hunted for the Paris terror attacks suspects. The police station was near Molenbeek, where anti-terror raids had been taking place. Police spokesman, Johan Berckmans, said “we have launched an investigation to find out what exactly happened”. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

Central African general election, 2015–16
- Voters in the Central African Republic are heading to the polls for the rescheduled parliamentary elections and the first round of the presidential election, where 30 candidates are running to replace Acting President Catherine Samba-Panza. The presidential runoff election is scheduled for 31 January 2016. The Central African Republic has been rocked by unrest since the March 2013 coup of president François Bozizé by Séléka, a mostly Muslim alliance of anti-government groups. Thousands have died and about one million people have been displaced in the ongoing sectarian violence between Séléka and the Christian anti-balaka militia. The United Nations peacekeeping mission has promised a heavy security presence today. (AP via The Washington Post) (Pulse News Agency)
- Ballot counting is underway after a peaceful election day in this country plagued by years of sectarian violence. National Elections Authority President Marie-Madeleine Koue says at least 65 percent turnout was expected. (EuroNews) (Bloomberg viaThe National)

Science and technology

The freak weather system responsible for heavy rain and tornadoes in the U.S., and high winds and rainfall in the British Isles, also has impacted the Arctic where the average winter temperature is normally around 20 degrees(F) below zero. Temperatures around the North Pole have been fifty degrees higher than usual for December, and today, at least for a brief moment, surpassed the 32-degree threshold, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Prediction Center.(The Washington Post) (South China Morning Post) (Sputnik News)

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December 31, 2015

Top News Stories –

BBC Website And iPlayer Crippled Following Massive DDoS Attack –
Have you ever seen a dog chase its own tail? That pretty much describes what’s going on at BBC News this morning. The site suffered a pretty large distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack earlier today, one that knocked out the company’s entire network and iPlayer streaming service, causing grief for web visitors who grew impatient with how long it took to restore service. As for the image of a dog chasing its own tail, it’s based on BBC’s reporting of the situation. The site posted a statement on Twitter in the early morning hours saying it was “aware of a technical issue” affecting its website, but declined to elaborate. A BBC News journalist for the site’s Technology section posted an article saying that internal sources blamed the issues on a DDoS attack, then a few paragraphs down notes that “BBC has yet to confirm or deny that such an attack was responsible for the problems.” So there you have it — BBC acknowledged a technical issue (duh) while one of its own journalists heard from people within the organization that it was a DDoS attack, but for some unknown reason the site won’t go on record as saying so. The good news is order has been restored and, despite claims to the contrary on Twitter, this is not the end of the world. [Hot Hardware]
BBC Error 500

Dubai seeks cause of massive hotel fire at New Year –
The authorities in Dubai are trying to find out what caused a spectacular fire to engulf a 63-storey luxury hotel in the city centre on New Year’s Eve. Firefighters managed to subdue the blaze, but part of the Address Downtown Hotel is still smouldering. A BBC reporter says a significant fire is still visible on the 20th floor, where the blaze apparently started. The tower was evacuated and 16 people were hurt. But a fireworks show went ahead at the Burj Khalifa tower nearby. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Gym Wildlife

List of the Day –

Google Trends 2015 –
Top Searches – Music

1 Adele

2 Sia

3 Eagles of Death Metal

4 Sam Smith

5 Meghan Trainor

6 Fetty Wap

7 N.W.A

8 Eazy-E

9 Hozier

10 Chris Stapleton

Source: Google

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#Adios2015	Page 365 of 365	#Remember1D2015
2	#زد_رصيدك48	#BestMemoriesOf2015	Harry and Kendall
3	Hasan Karakaya	#PeachBowl	#BestMemoriesOf2015
4	#HappyNewYear	Happy New Year	#NYE2016
5	#FimDeAnoSrTwitteiroSdv	#Feliz2016	Goodbye 2015
6	#2016YılındanBeklentim	#ImAlwaysMixingUp	Here’s to 2016
7	#امنيتك_في_عام_…	#PeopleWhoMadeMyYear	#Likely2016Headlines
8	#HojeEuVou	#RIZIN	#PeopleWhoMadeMyYear
9	#SeFueElAñoYYo	Carrot Top	#NewYearsResolutionsIn5Words
10	#2015medejo	Here’s to 2016	Happy Hogmanay

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Terrorism in the European Union
- Belgian house raids result in the arrest of six people concerning a New Year’s Eve celebrations’ plot in Brussels, the nation’s capital. (Reuters)
- Munich’s main train station and the station in the city’s western district of Pasing, are evacuated during New Year’s Eve celebrations, and train service is stopped, because of potential ISIS suicide threats. A foreign security service, which wasn’t identified, passed on information that five to seven suicide attackers are involved in the plot. (NBC News) (CNN)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- Rochester, New York, police arrest 25-year-old Emanuel Lutchman who allegedly planned to attack a local bar with knives and machetes and a pressure cooker bomb to prove he was worthy of joining the Islamic State group. Rochester cancels New Year’s Eve fireworks. (AP via WITN) (Waltonian)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Missouri flooding
- Record flooding along the Mississippi River and its tributaries that has closed major highways, forced evacuations, and overflowed levees, continues to threaten the Midwestern United States where at least 24 have died. The Mississippi is expected to crest in the next few days in Thebes, Illinois, at 47.5 feet, breaking the 1995 record by more than a foot and a half (46 cm). And now periods of below-freezing air will cause some flooded areas to turn icy. (Reuters) (AccuWeather) (Chicago Tribune)
Air Canada Flight 88, a scheduled flight from Shanghai to Toronto, diverts to Calgary International Airport after the aircraft, a Boeing 777, encountered violent turbulence. Twenty-one passengers, including three children, were taken to hospital. (CBC)
A fire breaks out at The Address Downtown Dubai hotel. Fourteen people are reported as injured, with one indirect casualty. (CNN)

Law and crime

Russian President Vladimir Putin signs an amendment to Russia’s law regarding the regulation of the use of weapons, giving the FSB the authority to use lethal force on crowds in order to “prevent acts of terrorism, rescue hostages, or repel attacks on public buildings.” (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
The Indonesian government plans an appeal to a South Sumatra court’s rejection of a Rp 7.8 trillion (SGD 780 million) lawsuit against a pulp and paper company accused of contributing to the recurring Southeast Asian hazes, particularly the recent incident of hazes in 2015. (BBC News) (AFP via The Straits Times)

Politics and elections

The Venezuelan Supreme Court bars four incoming lawmakers (three from the opposition and one from the ruling Socialist party) from taking office, putting the opposition’s two-thirds legislative “supermajority” at risk, won via a landslide victory in the December 6 election by just one seat. The court is yet to specify the quorum for the new House, which would determine the number of seats needed for a two-thirds majority. The new National Assembly convenes Tuesday. (AP via Fox News Latino) (Latin American Herald Tribune)

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The 2010s

The story of a decade

Yearly Archives: 2015

December 7, 2015

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December 20, 2015

1. Episode IV: A New Hope (1977) – $1,486m

2. Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) – $818m

3. Episode VI: Return of the Jedi (1983) – $784m

4. Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) – $707m

5. Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (2005) – $495m

6. Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002) – $446m

7. The Clone Wars (2008) – $41m

December 21, 2015

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