August 5, 2015

Top News Stories –

Pierce Brosnan tries to board plane with 10-inch knife –
Pierce Brosnan, the former James Bond actor, has been stopped by airport security as he tried to board a plane in America with a large knife. The star had the 10-inch hunting blade confiscated from his hand luggage after it showed up during screening at Burlington International Airport, in Vermont. Brosnan, 62, was reportedly left embarrassed and angry when the knife was taken away by US Transportation Security Administration agents. [Daily Telegraph]
Pierce Brosnan

Mormons reveal Seer Stone for first time –
The Mormon Church released photographs on Tuesday of a so-called “seer stone” that members believe was used by the Utah-based faith’s founder, Joseph Smith, to write the Book of Mormon, its principal sacred text. Photos of the egg-shaped, chocolate-brown rock are in a new publication that also carries images of the first printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon, which Smith said was based on ancient records and include an account of a visit to America by Jesus Christ. The LDS Church teaches that Smith found gold plates engraved with ancient Egyptian symbols in upstate New York 185 years ago. [Daily Telegraph]

Natalia Molchanova: Freediving champion feared dead –
Russian freediving champion Natalia Molchanova is feared dead after going missing on Sunday. The 53-year-old was diving for fun off Formentera, a Spanish island near Ibiza, when she failed to surface. Search efforts have been continuing but it is feared she may have been caught up in strong underwater currents. She became “the most decorated competitive freediver in the world”, with 41 world records, said her family and the global freediving federation AIDA in a joint statement. [BBC] See List of the Day. On May 14, 2015 Peter Colat, a Swiss freediver, held his breath underwater for 19 minutes and 21 seconds, smashing the world record.
Natalia Molchanova in 2009

Video of the Day –

The Lexus Hoverboard: It’s here

List of the Day –

AIDA recognised freediving records (as of May 15, 2015)

Discipline	Gender	Depth [m]	Distance [m]	Time	Name	Date	Place
Static apnea (STA)	Men	–	–	11 min 35 sec	Stéphane Mifsud (FRA)	2009-06-08	Hyères, Var, France
Static apnea (STA)	Women	–	–	9 min 02 sec	Natalia Molchanova (RUS)	2013-06-29	Belgrade, Serbia
Dynamic apnea with fins (DYN)	Men	–	281	–	Goran Čolak (HRV)	2013-06-28	Belgrade, Serbia
Dynamic apnea with fins (DYN)	Women	–	237	–	Natalia Molchanova (RUS)	2014-09-26	Sardinia, Italy
Dynamic apnea without fins (DNF)	Men	–	226	–	Mateusz Malina (POL)	2014-11-09	Brno, Czech Republic
Dynamic apnea without fins (DNF)	Women	–	182	–	Natalia Molchanova (RUS)	2013-06-27	Belgrade, Serbia
Constant weight apnea (CWT)	Men	128	–	–	Alexey Molchanov (RUS)	2013-09-19	Kalamata, Greece
Constant weight apnea (CWT)	Women	101	–	–	Natalia Molchanova (RUS)	2011-09-22	Kalamata, Greece
Constant weight apnea without fins (CNF)	Men	101	–	–	William Trubridge (NZL)	2010-12-16	Dean’s Blue Hole, Long Island Bahamas
Constant weight apnea without fins (CNF)	Women	71	–	–	Natalia Molchanova (RUS)	2015-05-13	Dahab, Egypt
Free immersion apnea (FIM)	Men	121	–	–	William Trubridge (NZL)	2011-04-10	Dean’s Blue Hole, Long Island Bahamas
Free immersion apnea (FIM)	Women	91	–	–	Natalia Molchanova (RUS)	2013-09-21	Kalamata, Greece
Variable weight apnea (VWT)	Men	145	–	–	William Winram (CAN)	2013-09-03	Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
Variable weight apnea (VWT)	Women	127	–	–	Natalia Molchanova (RUS)	2012-06-06	Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt
No-limits apnea (NLT)	Men	214	–	–	Herbert Nitsch (AUT)	2007-06-14	Spetses, Greece
No-limits apnea (NLT)	Women	160	–	–	Tanya Streeter (GBR)	2002-08-17	Turks and Caicos

Top Twitter Trends –

1	#HarryBeCareful	#NationalUnderwearDay	#GBBO
2	Wildest Dreams	Lottie	#tubestrike
3	#TengoUnDeseoYEs	Wildest Dreams	#1YearToGo
4	#اطردو_السعودي…	#HarryBeCareful	#HarryBeCareful
5	#MePasaQueQuiero	#RuinAThriller	#12YearsOfMcFly
6	#MasterChefBR	Cyhi	Lenny Kravitz
7	Lottie	Blocky Climbers	#LiteraryCakes
8	Same Old Love	#MoAskHarry	Noel Edmonds
9	#MixersAreHereForPerrie	We Don’t Cry for Lions	Anjem Choudary
10	Dani Alves	#AskTheWorldAQuestion	Wildest Dreams

Other News Stories –

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Soudelor (Hanna) strengthens to the strongest storm of 2015; it is expected to be equivalent to a Category 3 or Category 4 hurricanewhen it hits Taiwan. (The Independent) (Free District)
Malaysian Airlines Flight 370:
- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak confirms that the plane debris recovered from Reunion Island on July 29 is from Flight 370. This is the first direct evidence that the missing March 2014 flight crashed. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the search for MH370 will continue.(BBC), (MSN) (Nine News – Australia)
- Examination of the part is being carried out, under the direction of a judge, at the Balma, France, aeronautical test facility in the Toulouse area to identify everything they can from the metal: damage, barnacles, etc. (UPI) (Deutsche Welle) (MSN)
The Italian Corps of the Port Captaincies – Coast Guard and Irish Navy rescue 367 people as a boat carrying migrants founders off the coast ofLibya with 25 people dying. (Associated Press)

Health and medicine

Researchers based at the University of Helsinki, using data from Statistics Finland, suggests that fathers live longest when having children around the age of 25 to 30, rather than prior. (Tribune)
The death toll from an outbreak of legionnaires disease in New York City rises to eight with 97 people sick. (NBC New York)

International relations

The Government of Cambodia claims that the Royal Thai Army has killed five Cambodians since January. (Bangkok Post)

Law and crime

Police claim a triple murder in Pensacola, Florida is linked to witchcraft and the blue moon. (The Washington Post)

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August 6, 2015

Top News Stories –

Facebook launches live video for celebrities in Mentions app –
Facebook has launched a live video function for celebrities on its Mentions app. The feature will allow any star with a verified account to broadcast to fans who follow them. It’ll be in competition with services like Periscope and Meerkat and will appear in people’s News Feed.
The Facebook Mentions app allows athletes, musicians, politicians and other stars to talk with their fans and each other. [BBC Newsbeat]

George Cole, Arthur Daley in Minder, dies at 90 –
Stars of stage and screen have been paying tribute to “immaculate” and “unforgettable” Minder actor George Cole following his death at the age of 90. Cole, whose showbusiness career spanned 70 years, is best remembered for his portrayal of small-time wheeler dealer and crook Arthur Daley in the TV show Minder, alongside his likeable bodyguard Terry McCann, played by Waterman. He died yesterday in hospital with his family at his side after a short illness, it was announced today. [Daily Telegraph]

Apple Music signs 11 million up to free trial in first five weeks –
Apple has signed up 11 million users to a free trial of Apple Music since the service launched at the end of June. Jimmy Iovine, who co-founded the Beats Music streaming service bought by Apple before it launched Apple Music, told USA Today he was “pleasantly shocked” by the service’s growth in its first five weeks, while Eddy Cue, the company’s senior vice president of internet software and services, said: “We’re thrilled with the numbers so far.” Should all of the trial members choose to keep paying for their subscriptions, Apple Music will have accumulated the equivalent of around half of rival streaming service Spotify’s paying membership – some 20 million – within three months. [Daily Telegraph]
Jimmy Iovine

Video of the Day –

Husband shocks wife with pregnancy announcement!

Top Twitter Trends –

1	Chano	#GOPDebate	#secschoolinnigeria
2	#OTRAMETLIFE	Patrick Kane	#Hiroshima
3	#تفجير_طواري_ع�…	#Hiroshima	#ThankYouThursday
4	River	#GLS15	Jamaicans
5	#لماذا_السعودي…	#SuperVillainCelebs	George Cole
6	BET Uncut	#DebateQuestionsWeWantToHear	#OTRAMETLIFE
7	#FelizJueves	Jennifer Aniston	#Ashes2015
8	#Hiroshima	#WelcomeBackToTexas1D	#EatAn80sBand
9	#LaVidaNoValeNadaSin	#VRA50	#NashsNewVideo
10	Jennifer Aniston	Lizzie McGuire	#tubestrike

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- A suicide bomber kills at least eight people and injures twelve in the city of Pul-i-Alam in Logar Province. (AP via ABC News America)
Terrorism in Saudi Arabia, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
- A suicide bomb attack kills at least 15 people at a mosque in the south-western Saudi city of Abha. IS claims responsibility. (Reuters), (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Syrian Civil War
- Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant conquers the key transport hub Al-Qaryatain, allowing its forces in the Qalamun region to be supplied through this city. (The News Hub)
Russian hackers are suspected of infiltrating the U.S. Pentagon e-mail system last week. (The Daily Telegraph)

Arts and culture

American news satire program The Daily Show airs its last broadcast with comedian Jon Stewart as host. (The New Yorker)
Many people throughout the world commemorate the 70th anniversary of the dropping of an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.(Reuters via Melbourne Age)

Disasters and accidents

At least 17 people, including 12 Afghan army soldiers were killed following a helicopter crash in the southern province of Zabul. (Al-Jazeera)
A Pakistani military helicopter crashes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province resulting in at least 11 deaths. (AP)

International relations

Yemeni Civil War:
- Saudi Arabia sends new military equipment including tanks from Sharura into northern Yemen to support government forces fighting Iran-backed Houthi militants. (Voice of America)

Politics and Elections

The Republican Party candidates for President of the United States debate, in two events (top tier candidates and lower-tier candidates separated) in an informal kick-off event for the 2016 campaign. (LA Times)

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August 7, 2015

Top News Stories –

One Direction number one breaks streaming records –
One Direction have topped the UK singles chart with their new single Drag Me Down. The track broke streaming records, earning the highest first-week streams for a single in the UK with 2.03m plays. Drag Me Down is One Direction’s first single as a foursome since the departure of Zayn Malik. Its release came a surprise to fans who had not been expecting a new single. [BBC Newsbeat]
One Direction in 2013 before Zayn left

North Korea sets up own time zone in rebuke to ‘wicked Japanese imperialists’ –
The hermetic communist state of North Korea is often said to be locked in a Stalinist time warp. But it is now turning the clocks back – by 30 minutes a day – by official decree. The state news agency has announced the creation of a new Pyongyang time zone as a rejection of the legacy of “wicked Japanese imperialists”. North Korea will step back in time by half an hour on Aug 15th – the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean peninsula from Japanese rule at the end of the Second World War. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Uber meets Tinder

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#DragMeDownMusicVideo	#StraightOutta	#Compton
2	Spice Girls	#TheWorstPartOfDepressionIs	Spice Girls
3	#GOPDebate	#InternationalBeerDay	#FridayFeeling
4	Aldon Smith	#DragMeDownMusicVideo	#InternationalBeerDay
5	NASA	Aldon Smith	#GOPDebate
6	#JonVoyage	#MyMotherAlwaysToldMe	Jenson Button
7	#TheVoiceChile	#MakeAHorrorMovieHarmless	#ReligiousUpaMovie
8	#BuenViernes	#ReligiousUpaMovie	#DragMeDownMusicVideo
9	#LaVidaEsAburridaSin	James Holmes	Cassper
10	Hayırlı Cumalar	#CameronDallasPhotoShoot	Jonathan King

Other News Stories –

Armed conflict and attacks

Suspected Islamist militants stormed two hotels in central Mali where UN peacekeepers were housed, seizing at least ten hostages and killing three Malian soldiers and a U.N. peacekeeper. (Times of Oman) (Reuters)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- At least fifteen people are dead and 400 injured when a truck bomb explodes in Kabul. (BBC) (WSJ)
- A bombing outside the Kabul police academy kills at least 20 people with the Taliban claiming responsibility. (AFP via ABC News)
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
- Tadmur offensive (July–August 2015), Syrian Civil War
  - The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that ISIL has kidnapped at least 230 people, including at least 60 Christians, from Al-Qaryatayn in the Homs Governorate. (Reuters) (RFERL)
- Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants execute 19 women in Mosul, Iraq, for refusing to have sex with the group’s fighters. (Tribune) (Daily Caller)

Arts and culture

North Korea will change its time zone to UTC+08:30 on August 15, returning to the time used by the Korean Empireuntil Japanese occupation in 1910. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Taiwan evacuates hundreds of people ahead of Typhoon Soudelor (2015). (Reuters via WA Today)

International relations

Syrian Civil War
- The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts a resolution aimed at identifying those responsible for deploying chlorine and other chemical weapons in attacks in Syria. (Hindustan Times) (VOA)

Law and crime

Attacks on secularists in Bangladesh
- A Bangladeshi blogger known for his atheist views has been hacked to death by a gang armed with machetes, the fourth such incident this year, in the capital Dhaka, Bangla. (BBC) (The Telegraph) (The Hindu)
The jury in the penalty phase of the trial of Aurora theater shooter James Holmes reaches a verdict to sentence him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. (Reuters) (AP) (WABC)

Sports

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup
- FIBA announces that China will host the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. China was chosen over the Philippines, the only other candidate nation, for the hosting rights of the tournament. (The Japan Times)

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August 8, 2015

Top News Stories –

Ashes 2015: England hammer Australia to regain the urn –
England regained the Ashes after wrapping up a spectacular victory over Australia on the third morning of the fourth Test at Trent Bridge. The hosts took Australia’s three remaining second-innings wickets in 39 minutes to win by an innings and 78 runs. Ben Stokes took the day’s first wicket to finish with 6-36 before Mark Wood clinched the victory by bowling Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon. England’s second successive three-day triumph gives them an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series with one match to play. After skittling Australia for 60 runs on day one, England made 391-9 declared before reducing the tourists to 241-7 at the end of day two. [BBC]

Twitter launches football ‘hashflags’ for start of new Premier League season –
Twitter has launched a new set of hashflags to coincide with the start of the new Premier League season. Tweeting the club’s hashtag will bring up that team’s crest and putting them together will bring up both images next to each other. So Liverpool is #LFC and Everton is #EFC but #EFCLFC will bring up hashflags for the Merseyside derby. Putting #BPL and #BPLKickoff in your tweet will put the Premier League trophy next to it. #FPL brings up the league’s logo. The new hashflags are available on the opening weekend of the season (until midnight on Monday) as well as key points through the year, such as transfer deadline day and the final run-in. Oh – and Twitter’s now calling hashflags Twitter emojis BTW. [BBC Newsbeat] See List of the Day below

Video of the Day –

List of the Day –

Premier League hashflags

Bournemouth – #AFCB

Arsenal – #Arsenal

Aston Villa – #AVFC

Chelsea – #CFC

Tottenham – #COYS

Crystal Palace – #CPFC

Everton – #EFC

Leicester City – #LCFC

Liverpool – #LFC

Manchester City – #MCFC

Manchester United – #MUFC

Norwich City – #NCFC

Newcastle United- #NUFC

Southampton – #SaintsFC

Stoke City – #SCFC

Sunderland – #SAFC

Swansea – #Swans

Watford – #WatfordFC

West Brom – #WBA

West Ham – #WHUFC

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#En3PalabrasTeDigoQue	#InternationalCatDay	#InternationalCatDay
2	#InternationalCatDay	#ChristianTaylor	#HappyBirthdayShawn
3	好きCP告白	Sean Price	#MakeAHorrorMovieHarmless
4	#ImposibleOlvidar	#HappyBirthdayShawn	#thankyouforexisting
5	#AlDubWeBelongTogether	Erick Erickson	Chantel
6	#HappyBirthdayShawn	High By The Beach	#COYS
7	High By The Beach	Ar Ab	James Holmes
8	#CBLOL	Roger Stone	Courtois
9	Sean Price	#MUFC	FOOTBALL IS BACK
10	Chantel	#thankyouforexisting	#ChristianTaylor

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- One NATO service member is killed, along with eight support staff and two Taliban insurgents, in an overnight attack on Camp Integrity in Kabul. (Reuters via Yahoo News), (AFP)
A hostage rescue operation in central Mali was successfully performed by British SAS forces after gunmen attack a hotel with at least seven people dead. (Daily Star)
Civil war in the Central African Republic
- A Rwandan soldier attached to MINUSCA goes on a shooting spree in Bangui, killing four fellow UN peacekeepers and injuring another eight before turning the gun on himself. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Soudelor makes landfall in Taiwan killing at least four people with four people missing and 64 injured. (CNA via Focus Taiwan), (AP via New York Times)
- Typhoon Soudelor makes landfall in mainland China in Fujian province with 250,000 having been evacuated from that province and Zhejiang province. (AFP via ABC News)

Law and crime

A man is in custody in Harris County, Texas, after six children and two adults are found dead in the American city of Houston. (KHOU)

Sports

In cricket, England regains The Ashes after taking an unbeatable lead of 3–1 in the 2015 Ashes series. Australian captain Michael Clarke announces his retirement. (BBC)
In rugby union, Australia wins the 2015 Rugby Championship with a 27–19 win over the New Zealand All Blacks. (WA Today)

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August 9, 2015

Top News Stories –

Australia proposes limiting Vegemite sales to prevent alcohol abuse –
Australia’s government says Vegemite sales should be limited in some communities to prevent the yeast-based spread being used to make home-made alcohol. Nigel Scullion, the indigenous affairs minister, said the spread – which is considered something of a national culinary staple – was a “precursor to misery” in communities suffering from alcohol abuse. He said he was not proposing a ban but wanted to restrict excessive sales of high-yeast products such as Vegemite in “dry” communities – typically remote Aboriginal townships where alcohol sales are banned. Vegemite, from the same family of spreads as Marmite, has been produced in Australia since 1923 and its advertising jingles have sometimes been said to be more widely known than the national anthem. [Daily Telegraph]

A woman’s bra wire saves her from bullet in German hunting accident –
A woman’s bra wire has saved her life after a bullet hit her during a hunting accident in north-eastern Germany. The tourist was cycling through woods with her husband in the Mecklenberg-Western Pomerania area of the country. According to newspaper the Gadebusch-Rehnaer Zeitung, the pair had inadvertently strayed into the middle of a boar hunt while crossing a field. The woman said she felt a pain in her chest, which turned out to be a bullet ricocheting off her bra underwire. She was taken to a doctor in nearby Gadebusch by a passing motorist and treated for severe bruising on her chest plus a small blood clot. The gun and ammunition from the hunt were also impounded and police with sniffer dogs and metal detectors searched the area. [BBC Newsbeat]

Video of the Day –

THE WILD from LIEBER FILMS on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#1DFanArmyVoteAttack	#1DFanArmyVoteAttack	#UFCNashville
2	#رشيدي_يتزوج_ح�…	#FergusonTaughtMe	Reece Oxford
3	#Elecciones2015	Frank Gifford	#WomensDay
4	#احلي_مافي_الس�…	#IWillGoToHellBecause	#OTRABaltimore
5	#QuieroAhoraMismo	Lizzie McGuire	Stoke
6	#OTRABaltimore	#MikeBrown	#MOTD
7	#ConRockTeDigoQue	#DietAMovie	Clause IV
8	Pais	Arsenal	Arsenal
9	Harry Louis	#1MonthSinceOTRASanDiego	Coutinho
10	Tini NUESTRO MUNDO Stoessel	Magcon	Charlie Adam

Other News Stories –

Arts and culture

Japan commemorates the 70th anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped over the Japanese city of Nagasaki during World War II. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- At least 22 people are dead or missing in China and millions are without power after Typhoon Soudelor hit the nation yesterday. (USA Today)

Law and crime

An arrest warrant has been issued for the cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Suleiman Hilal Al-Assad, who is accused of shooting and killing Colonel Hassan Al-Sheikh of the Syrian Armed Forces at what can be described as a traffic dispute. (The News Hub) (France 24)
Shooting of Michael Brown
- Tyrone Harris, Jr is shot in Ferguson, Missouri one year after the death of Michael Brown after allegedly firing shots at police. He is in a critical condition.(St Louis Post-Dispatch)

Politics and elections

The Prime Minister of Iraq Haider al-Abadi calls for abolishing the positions of Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister and says he is opening graft investigations. The previous vice president Tariq al-Hashimi was sentenced to death in absentia over political murders. (Bloomberg)

Sports

NFL player and sportscaster Frank Gifford dies at the age of 84. (NBC)

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August 10, 2015

Top News Stories –

Google unveils surprise restructuring under Alphabet –
Google has unveiled a surprise restructuring, creating a new parent company called Alphabet Inc. Under the rebranding, Google will retain its best-known businesses, such as search, apps, YouTube and Android. Some of the newer entities, such as the investment and research divisions, the “smart-home” unit Nest, and the drone arm will be run under Alphabet. Google founder Larry Page said it would create a simpler structure for what had become a diverse group of businesses. The name Alphabet was chosen for two reasons, Mr Page said. It represents language, “the core of how we index with Google search”, and because Alpha-bet means “investment return above benchmark, which we strive to do”. [BBC]

Tom Davies, 19, becomes ‘youngest person to cycle the world’ –
A British teenager is thought to have become the youngest person to cycle around the world. Tom Davies, 19, from Battersea, England, finished an 18,000-mile journey on Sunday raising more than £50,000 for several charities. Around 100 of his family and friends welcomed him home. During the six months he was away, he had to run away from a group of monkeys, was chased by dogs in Albania and raced an emu in Australia.

Video of the Day –

PATAGONIA 8K from Martin Heck | Timestorm Films on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#NiallYourBodyIsWonderful	#CalmYourselfIn4Words	#MondayMotivation
2	Zekeriya Öz	#NationalSmoresDay	#AfternoonTeaWeek
3	#LaNochePintaPara	#NiallYourBodyIsWonderful	Ferrari
4	Fizzy	#BackInTheEighties	#WorldLionDay
5	Scioli	Ferrari	#BackInTheEighties
6	#CalmYourselfIn4Words	#BelieveInMagicBall	#NiallYourBodyIsWonderful
7	아육대	#Ferguson	Jeremy Vine
8	#お前がの後にすと�…	Alphabet	#CalmYourselfIn4Words
9	#LaLluviaSeHizoPara	#MondayMotivation	#AlcoholCelebs
10	#تغريده_تشفع_ل�…	Buddy Baker	#IWillGoToHellBecause

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Two women attack the US consulate in Istanbul with automatic rifles. No fatalities are reported, and one of the attackers, wounded during the exchange of fire, is captured. The Revolutionary People’s Liberation Army-Front (DHKP-C) claim responsibility. (The News Hub) (Hürriyet Daily News)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- A suicide bomb blast kills at least 5 people at the entrance to the Kabul International Airport. The Taliban have claimed responsibility. (BBC)
Two people are killed, and a third person seriously injured, during a stabbing at an Ikea store in Västerås, Sweden. (BBC News, via MSN)
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
- ISIL claims responsibility for a bombing in central Iraqi city of Baquba that has killed at least 30 people and injured 40 more. (CNN)

Business and economy

Google creates a new holding company called Alphabet Inc. containing Google Inc. and Calico containing Google Ventures, Google Capital, Google X and other subsidiaries. (Bloomberg)

Disasters and accidents

The death toll from floods in Myanmar tops 100 with more than a million people affected. (AAP via Sky News Australia)

Politics and elections

Tony Smith is elected as Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives replacing Bronwyn Bishop who resigned as a result of an expenses scandal. (Sydney Morning Herald)

Science

A night parrot has been captured for the first time in over a hundred years in Australia’s outback. (The Guardian), (The Australian)
A scientific study, part of the Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA) survey, examined huge blocks of space as distant as several billion light years away and concluded that the universe is “slowly dying” as more stars gradually go out faster than they are being replaced by light-emitting active ones. In cosmological terms, the demise of the universe -age calculated at approximately 13.8 billion years- is billions, perhaps trillions of years away. (The Guardian, via MSN) (CNN) (South African Times Live)

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August 11, 2015

Top News Stories –

Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson makes emergency landing as plane runs low on fuel –
Bruce Dickinson, the Iron Maiden frontman, was forced to make an emergency landing at a Royal Air Force airfield when his replica war plane started to run low on fuel. The heavy metal star pilot made an unexpected appearance in his Fokker triplane at RAF Halton, near Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. Dickinson took advantage of the Strasser Scheme, set up thanks to the work of Charles Strasser, the vice president of the Aircraft Operators and Pilots Association. It was established so that aircraft in can divert with no extra charge in the event of an emergency. All Ministry of Defence airfields, as well as 99 per cent of the UK’s civilian airfields, are signed up to the scheme. [Daily Telegraph]
Bruce Dickinson

Google unveils Alphabet… but that’s already trademarked by BMW –
The general reaction to Google’s announcement that it would create a new holding company called Alphabet, of which Google would be a subsidiary, was one of surprise and approval.
But perhaps the most surprised recipient of the news was BMW, which already runs a registered business called Alphabet. The German carmaker told WirtschaftsWoche, the German business magazine, that it will be “necessary to examine the legal trademark implications” of the name of Google’s new parent company. BMW also said it had not been contacted by Google before the surprise restructuring on Monday. In his announcement, Google co-founder Larry Page said Alphabet’s website would be http://abc.xyz, a decision that may have been influenced by the fact that alphabet.com is owned by BMW’s subsidiary, which operates in 18 countries and supplies 530,000 vehicles to corporate customers. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Men In Black Safety Defenders #AirNZSafetyVideo

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#FAceToFace	#FAceToFace	#FAceToFace
2	#MiFraseFavorita	Oath Keepers	Alphabet
3	#DeNoSerPorTwitter	#RobinWilliams	Robin Williams
4	Fran Rivera	#WhyIWouldMakeAGreatPresident	#TravelTuesday
5	Mehmet Topal	Geno Smith	#CharityTuesday
6	#SabesQueEsTuAmigoCuando	#RedneckScentedCandles	#TownNameUpAMovie
7	Alphabet	#BadWeddingVows	#BadWeddingVows
8	쿠키런	Kim K	Orton
9	#اكثر_كلمه_تسم�…	Sevilla	#tubestrikes
10	Geno Smith	Top Secret	Seth Rollins

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Boko Haram insurgency
- A bomb attack consistent with Boko Haram kills 50 people in Nigeria‘s Borno State. (BBC)
In Puyallup, Washington, a gunman on a mass shooting spree shot and killed a man, then fired at homes and people before driving a stolen SUV through the garage door, crashing into several cars and shooting at police until stopped when his SUV was rammed by a police car. (KIRO)

Business and economy

The People’s Bank of China devalues the Chinese yuan by two percent in an attempt to boost its economy, a move which could spark a currency war. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

Debris from a Buk surface-to-air missile is found at an unspecified location in eastern Ukraine. According to the Dutch Safety Board and the Dutch prosecutor overseeing the criminal investigation, it may have come from a Buk (possibly of Russian origin) fired by rebel fighters, accidentally or purposefully, in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17. The investigation remains classified. (AFP, via MSN)
A heatwave in Egypt has killed at least 42 people. (AP)
Flooding in Argentina kills at least three people and 11,000 are made homeless. (AFP via ABC News)
Japan’s Sendai Nuclear Power Plant in Satsumasendai in Kagoshima Prefecture on Kyushu restarts reactor no. 1. This is the first of 50-plus shut-down nuclear reactors to go back online since the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. The problems discovered in the reactor model after the disaster have not been fixed. (UPI) (CNN)

International relations

In talks held regarding the course of the Syrian Civil War, Russia and Saudi Arabia fail to reach agreement over cooperation in the fight against ISIL, with the Saudi representative refusing any common struggle with Assad‘s regime. (The News Hub)
Georgia accuses Russia of cutting off its citizens from their farmland by installing border signposts demarcating the breakaway South Ossetia region, calling on Moscow to refrain from “escalation”. (The Daily Star)

Politics and elections

The Parliament of Iraq approves a package of measures proposed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to tackle corruption and to abolish senior posts. (Radio Free Europe)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

August 12, 2015

Top News Stories –

China blasts: Shipment explodes in Tianjin port –
Massive explosions have hit China’s northern port city of Tianjin, reportedly injuring many people. According to Chinese state media, the blasts occurred when a shipment of explosives blew up at about 23:30 (16:30 GMT). Pictures and video shared on social media showed flames lighting up the sky and damage to nearby buildings. Latest reports in state media suggest that hundreds of people have been taken to hospital. The first explosion was followed by another 30 seconds later. [BBC] See Video of the Day

Twitter takes the chains off Direct Messages by removing 140-character limit –
Twitter is fairly conspicuous by its absence among the big messaging players. The service has allowed its users to send private messages back and forth for years, but for a long time, the feature seemed like an afterthought, with bugs such as unreliable notifications. This is slowly changing. On Wednesday, Twitter finally removed a 140-character limit on Direct Messages (DMs), meaning users can send up to 10,000 characters (which roughly allows space for 2,000 words). Sachin Agarwal, Twitter’s DM product manager, said this had been one of Twitter users’ most commonly-requested features. [Daily Telegraph]

RIP to LOL – the history of laughing out loud –
A Facebook study suggests that people are choosing to use “haha” and emojis over “LOL” to express laughter. The research claims more than half (51.4%) opt for “haha”, while just 1.9% are LOLers, although it didn’t look at direct messages. LOL was added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) in 2011, but the origin of the phrase can be traced back to the 1980s. The Facebook study suggests a third of people use emojis for laughter. [BBC Newsbeat]

Video of the Day –

直击天津滨海新区爆炸瞬间现场响声震天

Massive explosions have hit China’s northern port city of Tianjin

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SonrioCuando	#WorldElephantDay	#WorldElephantDay
2	#NecesitariaYaMismo	The Artist	#YouthDay
3	#AlDubMaybeThisTime	Jimmy Carter	#CeCeIsA
4	#WorldElephantDay	#MyMemoirWouldBeCalled	#MyMemoirWouldBeCalled
5	바퀴벌레	#ShoutOutDay	Simon Danczuk
6	#MasterChefBR	Hump Day	#BiscuitsInAMovie
7	#الهلال_النصر	#SoundsGoodFeelsGood	The Artist
8	#FAceToFace	#YouthDay	#FAceToFace
9	#ايش_بتسمي_اول_…	Rex Ryan	Paulo Wanchope
10	鳩山元首相	The Hateful Eight	#Inglorious12th

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- At least 40 people are killed and more than 180 wounded in artillery strikes in Damascus during a visit by the Foreign Minister of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif. (The News Hub)

Arts and culture

New Zealand flag debate
- A government appointed panel chooses 40 finalist flag designs out of more than 10,000 submitted. (Miami Herald) (New York Post)

Business and economy

Pearson PLC agrees to sell its share in the Economist Group to Exor controlled by the Agnelli family for £469m. (BBC)
2015 Chinese stock market crash
- The People’s Republic of China devalues the yuan (Renminbi) by 1.62 per cent after devaluing by 1.92 per cent yesterday. This comes in the wake of a 30% drop of Chinese stocks last month. (BBC)(USA Today) (The Australian)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Tianjin explosion
- A massive explosion in the Chinese city of Tianjin results in at least 17 deaths, 11 people seriously injured and hundreds of people being hospitalised. (BBC)(NBC News) (CCTV)
- A CNN reporter is interrupted from reporting by upset friends and relatives of victims outside a Tianjin hospital. (CNN)
A U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashes while landing on a U.S. Navy cargo vessel near the Japanese island of Okinawa, with seven people injured. (AP, via MSN)
The death toll from a heat wave in Egypt this week rises to 60. (AP)

Law and crime

Kasur child sexual abuse scandal
- In a two years period, 280 to 300 children have been sexually abused and filmed doing forced sex acts in Pakistan by a gang consisting of 20 to 25 culprits. (CNN) (Anadolu Agency) (BBC)

Politics and elections

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, aged 90, announces that recent liver surgery revealed that he is suffering from an as-yet unspecified form of cancer which has spread to other parts of his body. (Reuters, via MSN)
North Korea‘s vice premier Choe Yong-gon is believed to have been executed by firing squad this year for voicing frustration at the policies of leader Kim Jong-Un. (Reuters) (AFP)
A South Korean man is seriously injured after setting himself on fire during a protest against Japan‘s use of South Korean women as sex slaves during World War II. (New York Times)
Desi Bouterse is sworn in for a second term as President of Suriname. (AP via StarTribune)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

August 13, 2015

Top News Stories –

Nigerian granted divorce over wife’s late meals –
A Nigerian court has recently granted a 57-year-old man a divorce on the premise that his wife was bringing him his meals too late at night, local media reported on Thursday. Olufade Adeyoka recently explained to a courtroom in Lagos that he was fed up, that his wife of 25 years, Olusola, continued to serve him his meals late. In an interview with the Nigerian newspaper ‘Vanguard’ Adeyoka claimed that his wife “had failed in her matrimonial obligations”. This is thought to be the first time a legal divorce has been granted due to problems regarding domestic mealtime arrangements, however Nigeria has seen many abnormal divorce cases granted. [Daily Telegraph]

Pants ‘for superheroes’: Underwear that protects sperm count by blocking smartphone radiation –
Smart underwear designed to protect male fertility from radiation emitted by smartphones and laptops has been unveiled by a British scientist. Described by Sir Richard Branson as “underpants for superheroes”, the Wireless Armour underwear contains a mesh of pure silver woven into the fabric. It shields against 99.9 per cent of electromagnetic radiation, which is emitted from devices such as smartphones, tablets and laptops, and has been linked to fertility problems by scientists. [Daily Telegraph]
Wireless Armour underwear

Modern Family’s Ariel Winter has had a breast reduction –
Modern Family star Ariel Winter has revealed she has undergone breast reduction surgery. The 17-year-old said she made the decision after suffering with back and neck pain as a result of her 32F cups. “It’s amazing to finally feel right,” she told Glamour magazine. The actress, who plays young teenager Alex Dunphy in the TV series, had the surgery in June and reduced the size of her chest to a 34D. [BBC Newsbeat]
Ariel Winter

Video of the Day –

Beautiful Footage: Chameleons Are Amazing

List of the Day –

Chameleon scientific data [from Wikipedia]

Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Squamata
Suborder:	Iguania
Infraorder:	Acrodonta
Family:	Chamaeleonidae
Genera
Brookesiinae Brookesia Palleon Chamaeleoninae Archaius Bradypodion Calumma Chamaeleo Furcifer Kinyongia Nadzikambia Rieppeleon Rhampholeon Trioceros

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#DirectionersFuneral	#lefthandersday	#lefthandersday
2	#lefthandersday	#FlyAway	#FlyAway
3	Louis e Briana	#AdviceForStudentsThisYear	#Alevelresults
4	Fidel Castro	#ThingsNotToBringToAFuneral	#UniAdvice
5	#FlyAway	#meteorshower	#ThingsNotToBringToAFuneral
6	Sesame Street	Sesame Street	#meteorshower
7	Omar Bravo	#HipHopMovies	Scott Allan
8	#DeChiquitoCreia	Al Gore	UCAS
9	#NoEstariaMal	#CancelWendyWilliamsShow	#1xtraProm
10	Marian	#DirectionersFuneral	University

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2015 Baghdad market truck bomb, Iraq War (2014–present)
- At least 76 people are killed and 212 others are wounded in a truck bombing in Baghdad, Iraq. Responsibility for the attack was claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.(Reuters) (Daily Mail)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Rojava Revolution
- The United States believes that ISIL has likely used a sulfur mustard agent against Kurdish forces in Iraq earlier this week. (Wall Street Journal)

Business and economy

The government-owned New Zealand coal-mining company Solid Energy goes into temporary voluntary administration, asking creditors to freeze most of its debt. (Radio New Zealand)
2015 Chinese stock market crash
- The People’s Republic of China further devalues the yuan (Renminbi) by 1 per cent after two previous devaluings. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Tianjin explosion
- The death toll from the 2015 Tianjin explosion rises to 50. (AP)
An unspecified-type Egyptian military aircraft crashes due to a ‘technical failure’ near the Libyan border killing four crew members and injuring two others. (ABC via AP)

Law and crime

Assange v Swedish Prosecution Authority
- Swedish prosecutors drop some charges against Wikileaks founder Julian Assange as the statute of limitations expire but will continue to investigate rape claims. (Sky News)

Politics and elections

Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri pledges allegiance to the new Taliban chief Akhter Mansour in an audio message posted online. (BBC) (Reuters)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

August 14, 2015

Top News Story –

William and Kate issue furious warning over paparazzi pictures of their children –
The paparazzi are using children to lure Prince George into view as they take increasingly desperate measures to capture lucrative images of the young royal, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have revealed. The tactic is one of several “dangerous” and “distressing” methods detailed in an open letter published by the furious couple, warning that a line had been crossed. The letter, sent to 24 worldwide media industry watchdog bodies, says it is clear that Prince George has become the “number one target” in the Royal Family for unscrupulous freelance photographers who sell their images abroad. [Daily Telegraph] See List of the Day below
Prince George of Cambridge with his parents in 2014

Video of the Day –

The reason every meme uses that one font

List of the Day –

Succession to the British throne [as of August 14, 2015 – list from Wikipedia]

Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (b. 1948), eldest son of Queen Elizabeth II
Prince William, Duke of Cambridge (b. 1982), elder son of Charles, Prince of Wales
Prince George of Cambridge (b. 2013), son of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge
Princess Charlotte of Cambridge (b. 2015), daughter of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge
Prince Henry of Wales (b. 1984), younger son of Charles, Prince of Wales (aka. Harry)
Prince Andrew, Duke of York (b. 1960), second son of Queen Elizabeth II
Princess Beatrice of York (b. 1988), elder daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York
Princess Eugenie of York (b. 1990), younger daughter of Prince Andrew, Duke of York
Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex (b. 1964), youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II
James, Viscount Severn (b. 2007), son of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
Lady Louise Windsor (b. 2003), daughter of Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex
Princess Anne, Princess Royal (b. 1950), daughter of Queen Elizabeth II
Peter Phillips (b. 1977), son of Anne, Princess Royal
Savannah Phillips (b. 2010), elder daughter of Peter Phillips
Isla Phillips (b. 2012), younger daughter of Peter Phillips
Zara Phillips (b. 1981), daughter of Anne, Princess Royal
Mia Tindall (b. 2014), daughter of Zara Phillips

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#EsasGanasDe	#FlexinMyComplexion	#CancelWendyWilliamsShow
2	#ريحه_تحبها	#FlashbackFriday	#FridayFeeling
3	#BuenViernes	Gjallarhorn	#Iliad
4	Selamat Hari Pramuka	#CancelWendyWilliamsShow	Prince George
5	iOS 8.4.1	#FridayFeeling	#Janner
6	#QueLindoCuando	#D23Expo	#TheVoiceUK
7	#TheVoiceGranFinal	#AaronsNewVideo	2016 UK
8	Hayırlı Cumalar	#ModernWorldWonders	#VeryBritishProblems
9	Toy Story 4	#Cuba	#Misheard80sLyrics
10	#teog	John Farrell	Adama Traore

Other News Stories –

Business and economy

Greek government-debt crisis
- The Hellenic Parliament approves (with 222 yes votes) Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras’s bailout package, despite opposition by almost one-third of his Syriza party. This third bailout plan is almost identical to the one rejected by the Greek people in the referendum. Tsipras will seek a vote of confidence following the country’s August 20th payment to the European Central Bank. (The Guardian)(International New York Times)
- Ministers at Eurogroup’s lengthy meeting today approved Greece’s 85 billion euro bailout. (Forex) (The Guardian)

International relations

Cuban Thaw, Cuba–United States relations
- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry officially reopens the American embassy in Havana. Eight congressional lawmakers involved in the policy change also attended. (AP via Global News) (CNN)(Washington Post)
- The United States flag is raised at this embassy for the first time in 54 years. (NBC)

Disasters and accidents

Thirteen pilgrims are killed and 11 injured in a road accident near the Indian city of Jamshedpur in Jharkand state. (IBN Live)

Law and crime

Masked gunmen kill 19 people and wound seven others at multiple locations of São Paulo’s suburbs Thursday night. (BBC) (ABC)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

August 15, 2015

Top News Stories –

Miley Cyrus: Hannah Montana caused body image issues –
Miley Cyrus has spoken about how growing up as Hannah Montana led to body image issues. “I was made to look like someone that I wasn’t,” Miley told Marie Claire, “which probably caused some body dysmorphia.” The 22-year-old explained: “I had been made pretty every day for so long and then when I wasn’t on that show, it was like, who … am I?” Miley starred in Hannah Montana TV series from 2006 to 2011. [BBC Newsbeat] In April 2015 Cyrus revealed she wanted to have sex with Joan Jett.
Miley Cyrus

Michael Sam, first openly gay American Football player, leaves sport after mental health concerns –
The first openly gay professional American football player is taking a break from the game, after a difficult year that saw him dropped by two NFL clubs. Michael Sam made history when he was drafted by the St Louis Rams last year, sparking a flurry of media interest. However, he failed to gain a place in the team and recently made his debut in Canada with the Montreal Alouettes. He announced his decision on Twitter. [Daily Telegraph]
Michael Sam on Twitter

Video of the Day –

NIGHTLIGHT from Emmanuel Adjei & Marleen Ozgur on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Naughty Boy	#PowerFinale	#VJDay
2	#نطالب_بدخول_ا�…	#IfMyBedroomWallsCouldTalk	#MakeASongAboutSomeoneElse
3	#TodoTranquiHastaQue	Naughty Boy	#HappyBirthdayJenniferLawr…
4	#NecesitoYa	#SPJAirplay	#AaronsNewVideo
5	#SabadoDetremuraNoSdv	#1989TourSantaClara	Moana
6	DulceMariaKCA	#IGetTenseWhen	#ENGvFRA
7	#AlDubForYouIWill	#UrineMovies	#NZLvAUS
8	#متي_كانت_اخر_ض…	Matt Kemp	Rooney
9	#SabadoDeGanarSeguidores	Star Wars	Whitney Houston
10	Lolita Ayala	#MakeASongAboutSomeoneElse	Lukaku

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraq War (2014–present)
- ISIL bombings kill 21 and wound more than 100 persons in Shia neighborhoods of Baghdad. (The News Hub)
Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- Saudi-backed forces loyal to the former Government retake the Shabwah Governorate from the Iran-backed rebels. (AFP via Maktoob Yahoo!)
Syrian Civil War, Battle of Zabadani (2015)
- Fighting resumes in Syria near the Lebanese border and Idlib Governorate as a temporary ceasefire between the Syrian government, its ally Hezbollah and an alliance of insurgent groups ends. (Reuters)
Boko Haram insurgency
- A suicide bomber kills at least three people in an attack on a marketplace in Borno state. (Reuters via New York Times)
2015 Burundian unrest
- Jean Bikomagu, a leader of the military during the Civil War is assassinated, heightening fears of another civil war developing. (AFP via Daily Star)

Arts and culture

Victory over Japan Day
- Countries around the world commemorate the end of World War II. (AFP/Reuters via ABC News Australia), (ABC News Australia)
- North Korea moves its clock back half an hour to introduce Pyongyang Time 8.5 hours ahead of UTC in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean peninsula. (South China Morning Post)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Tianjin explosions
- The death toll from the explosions in Tianjin rises to at least 85. In a further update, Chinese state media reports are now saying that the death toll has now risen to at least 104. (AP, via MSN), (AFP, AP, via The Daily Telegraph)
- Police order further evacuations near the blast site following reports of more explosions. (The Guardian)
At least 40 migrants die of suffocation in the hold of a boat in the Mediterranean Sea near the Libyan coast. (Reuters)
Ecuador evacuates several villages following the Cotopaxi volcano showing signs of life. (AFP via Makhtoob Yahoo!)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

August 16, 2015

Top News Stories –

Guardian Angels return to New York’s Central Park –
With their bright red jackets and berets, the Guardian Angels were once a common sight in a city riddled with violent crime. And this week they made a pointed return to New York’s Central Park for the first time in more than two decades, citing a 26 per cent rise in crime there so far this year. “We realise things are much better than they were” in the crime peak of the 1980s and early 90s, said Curtis Sliwa, the group’s founder, but “we want it to stay that way.” After years of celebrating reductions in crime, the nation’s biggest city has seen murders rise by 9 per cent so far this year, although serious crime overall is down 5 per cent. [Daily Telegraph]

PGA Championship: Australia’s Jason Day breaks major drought with three-shot win over Jordan Spieth –
Australia’s Jason Day has ended a long wait for his first major, shooting a final round 67 to clinch victory in the PGA Championship by three shots. He led by three shots at the turn and held his nerve through the back nine to seal a memorable win over America’s Masters and US Open champion Jordan Spieth at the Whistling Straits course in Wisconsin. Day’s four-round total of 20-under was a record low score for a major championship. [ABC]
Jason Day

Video of the Day –

Visualization of nuclear detonations from 1945 to present.

Trinity from Orbital Mechanics on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#DragMeDownDay	Julian Bond	#7YearsOfJLS
2	#ZAYNHASNOCHILL	#WordsNotUsedOftenEnough	#DragMeDownDay
3	#TeJuroQueMeCuesta	#ZAYNHASNOCHILL	Gordon Brown
4	Julian Bond	#TeenChoiceAwards	Jason Day
5	Chelsea	#DragMeDownDay	Tracy
6	Goiás	Jason Day	#CorbynMediaFear
7	#CarnaCoxinha	#MaybeYouShould	Sunderland
8	#اشخاص_ترفع_له�…	Little Mix	Mourinho
9	#DomingoDeGanarSeguidores	Tebow	Chelsea
10	#كلمتين_عن_شخص�…	Chris Sale	#MOTD

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2015 Douma market air strikes, Syrian Civil War
- More than 110 people have been killed and hundreds injured following a series of air-raids by the Syrian Arab Air Force on the rebel-held market town of Douma according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (BBC) (IBT) (Reuters) (Xinhua) (Al Jazeera English Online)
2014–15 India–Pakistan border skirmishes, Kashmir conflict
- Eight people have been killed in the past week as India and Pakistan trade gunfire over the border in the disputed area of Kashmir. (AP via Fox News)
Turkey–PKK conflict
- A Turkish Army soldier and three PKK militants are killed in a clash in Turkey‘s Kars Province. (Daily Star via Reuters)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- ISIL militants reportedly execute 15 women in Mosul. (Al-Manar)
- Former Prime Minister of Iraq Nouri al-Maliki is among dozens of officials named in a parliamentary report on why Mosul fell to ISIL with so little resistance. (Washington Post)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Tianjin explosions
- The death toll from the explosions rises to 112 with 95 people missing including 85 fire fighters. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera English Online)
An Indonesian plane (Trigana Air Service Flight 257) with 54 people on board goes missing in Papua. There are later reports that the remains of the aircraft have been found in the Oksibil district. (BBC),(AFP via Yahoo!)
Ecuador declares a state of emergency over increased activity at the Cotopaxi volcano near the capital of Quito. Its last major eruption was in 1877. (BBC) (Dalje.com) (Al Jazeera English Online)

International relations

North Korea–South Korea relations
- South Korea establishes a surveillance center on its northernmost island of Baengnyeongdo to better deter North Korean threats. (Korea Times) (Yonhap)

Politics and elections

Crowds gather throughout Brazil to demand the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff due to a bribery and corruption scandal involving senior members of the governing Workers’ Party. Recent polls show her approval ratings below 10%. (France 24)

Sport

2015 Netball World Cup
- In netball, Australia defeats New Zealand 58–55 in the final of the Netball World Cup in Sydney. (Fox Sports Australia)
2015 PGA Championship
- In golf, Jason Day of Australia wins the PGA Championship on the Straits Course of the Whistling Straits complex in the American village of Kohler, Wisconsin. (ABC News Australia)
- Day’s 20-under-par is the lowest score in relation to par at a major championship, beating Tiger Woods‘ previous record of 19-under at the 2000 Open Championship. (ABC News Australia)
- Jordan Spieth of the United States finishes second and by doing so becomes the number one ranked golfer in the world ahead of Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland. (ABC News Australia)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

August 17, 2015

Top News Stories –

Cannes watch thief arrested after taunting police with pictures of luxury life on the run –
A gangster who stole designer watches worth €1.7 million (£1.2 million) from a Cannes jewellers and taunted police for two years with pictures of himself enjoying a luxurious lifestyle in Morocco has been arrested. NabiI Ibelati, 29, who has French and Moroccan nationality, had been on the run since July 2013, when he burst into Kronometry jewellers on the Cannes “croisette” in broad daylight with a pistol and grenade rifle, tied up staff and made off with 100 luxury watches. An accomplice and a brother of Ibelati were arrested six months later in France, but Ibelati fled to Morocco, posting regular Facebook pictures that showed him living the high life: relaxing in an infinity pool, enjoying a formal dinner and riding a camel in the desert. Moroccan authorities arrested Ibelati on Saturday, after secretly recording members of his entourage discussing his movements. [Daily Telegraph]

The songs China doesn’t want you to hear –
In China, the government has banned a list of 120 songs from the internet, including a string of karaoke favourites. It says the songs “trumpet obscenity, violence, crime or harm social morality”, and has ordered them to be removed from websites. Songs with titles like I Love Taiwanese Girls, Fart, Beijing Hooligans and Don’t Want to Go to School have all been blacklisted. [BBC Trending]

Video of the Day –

Introducing Project Sunroof – Google

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#FelizLunes	#MondayMotivation	#mondaymotivation
2	#TresCosasQueMeHacenFeliz	Stevie Wonder	#TheresNothingWrongWith
3	#TeenChoiceAwards	Bangkok	#TeenChoiceAwards
4	#اجمل_اسم_بنت	#blackcatappreciationday	#bloggerblackmail
5	#17Ağustos1999	#HappyBirthdayDonnie	TCAs
6	#RI70	#InThe90sWeAsked	Sergio Ramos
7	Sergio Ramos	#earthquake	Bangkok
8	コンスタンティン	Jeff Bezos	#ProudOfJanoskians
9	FÃ DA PITTY É VIADO OU S…	#HillaryAMovie	David Miliband
10	Bangkok	#ThingsJesusNeverSaid	#blackcatappreciationday

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2015 Attock bombing
- The U.S. offers to assist Pakistan with its investigation into the suicide bombing attack on Sunday that killed at least 19 people, including Shuja Khanzada, the interior minister of the Punjab Province. (Daily Pakistan)
2015 Ratchaprasong bombing
- A bomb explodes near the Erawan Shrine in Bangkok, Thailand, killing at least 19 people and injuring 123 others. No one has claimed responsibility. Thai Society president Songvut Manoonpong said parties opposing the Thai military government were likely responsible. (Sky News) (Reuters) (Bangkok Post) (NZ Herald) (Al Jazeera English Online)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Tianjin explosions
- Protesters in Tianjin demand answers and compensation from the government. (Radio New Zealand Online) (Al Jazeera English Online) (BBC)
A heat wave affecting the Middle East causes almost 100 deaths in Egypt. (Al Jazeera English Online)
Trigana Air Service Flight 257
- Indonesian authorities reveal that the crashed plane was transporting $US470,000 in cash for the poor. (The Telegraph)

International relations

South Korea and the United States commence a joint military exercise despite threats from North Korea. (AFP via Yahoo News)
The United Arab Emirates approves plans for the construction of the first Hindu temple in that country, after a visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. (Al Jazeera English Online)
The United Nations Security Council unanimously approves a statement backing intensive talks on key issues aimed at restoring peace in Syria. (AP via SFGate)

Law and crime

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which announced an extensive computer data breach in May 2015, has revealed that the breach is much deeper and more serious than previously thought, exposing an additional 220,000 individuals. The thieves had infiltrated a now-deactivated online system called “Get Transcript.” (AP, via MSN) (USA Today)
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi approves a controversial anti-terrorism law. Proponents say it will help fight terrorism, and opponents say the legislation will jeopardize civil rights including freedom of the press. (Al Jazeera English Online) (BBC)
A former police officer is charged with second degree murder, in connection with the on-duty shooting death of John Geer in Fairfax, Virginia, U.S., in August 2013. (NBC Washington)
American actor Emile Hirsch is jailed for 15 days for an assault on a Paramount Pictures executive at the Sundance Resort in Utah. (Deadline)

Medicine and health

Experiments at the the U.S. Department of Energy‘s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have made major progress in mapping brain signalling processes at an atomic level, in this case, the SNAREcomplex (neuronal SNAREs and synaptotagmin-1), which influences the control and release of neurotransmitters.(Science Daily)

Politics and elections

Sri Lankan parliamentary election, 2015
- Voters in Sri Lanka go to the polls for a general election with the ruling United National Party holding on to power.. (BBC) (Al Jazeera English Online), (AFP via Yahoo! News)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

August 18, 2015

Top News Stories –

Heidi Klum hits back at Donald Trump after he said she was ‘no longer a 10’ –
Heidi Klum has ridiculed Donald Trump after the presidential candidate said she was “sadly no longer a 10” in a sexist remark about her looks. The billionaire Republican, who has made a string of offensive comments since declaring his bid for the White House in June, claimed the German supermodel was no longer as attractive as previously.“Sometimes I do go a little bit far,” he said in an interview with the New York Times, in which he insisted he was not a misogynist. “Heidi Klum. Sadly, she’s no longer a 10.” In response, the German supermodel, who is a mother of four and regularly voted one of the most attractive women in the world, posted an amusing video on Twitter in which she poses for a photoshoot with a “10” on her t-shirt. [Daily Telegraph]
Heidi Klum on Twitter

Museum brings in security for Nicki Minaj waxwork –
Madame Tussauds has brought in extra security to monitor a waxwork of Nicki Minaj. The figure is based on the rapper’s iconic pose in her Anaconda video – where she’s posing in heels on her hands and knees. Since the Las Vegas museum unveiled it earlier this month, fans have been rushing to be photographed with it. Some visitors have been getting a bit too excited and taking “inappropriate” pics. [BBC Newsbeat]
Nicki Minaj

Video of the Day –

Los Angeles

Los Angeles from Ian Wood on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#MakeLifeBetterIn3Words	#MakeLifeBetterIn3Words	#ThingsJesusNeverSaid
2	#ComoMeGustariaQue	George Zimmerman	#MakeLifeBetterIn3Words
3	#WorthItVMA	#WorthItVMA	#fakeDWPstories
4	#ShesKindaHotVMA	#ShesKindaHotVMA	#ShesKindaHotVMA
5	#WhereAreUNowVMA	#WhereAreUNowVMA	Andre Gray
6	#GoodForYouVMA	Jared Fogle	#traveltuesday
7	#XuxaNaRecord	#RealTeenAwards	#WhereAreUNowVMA
8	#CoolForTheSummerVMA	Ronan	Flight of the Conchords
9	George Zimmerman	#favpichayes	#WorthItVMA
10	Federico García Lorca	Victor Frankenstein	Victor Frankenstein

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Donbass
- Fighting has intensified near the ceasefire line in eastern Ukraine with both the Government of Ukraine and the rebels blaming each other. The separatist-held cities of Donetsk and Horlivka were bombed with hundreds of shells and rockets in the last 72 hours. (New York Times)

Arts and culture

Two women pass the United States Army’s Ranger School becoming the first to do so, and earning Ranger tabs on their uniforms. (AP, via MSN)

Business and economy

The Obama administration, through the United States Environmental Protection Agency announces new regulations on emissions of the greenhouse gas methane.(New York Times) (WSJ) (NPR) (The Atlantic) (EPA)

Disasters and accidents

Trigana Air Service Flight 257
- Indonesian crews locate bodies of all 54 people aboard the wreckage of Trigana Air Service Flight 257 in a remote area of Papua. (New York Times) (CNN via Twitter)

Health

The US Food and Drug Administration approves the use of Flibanserin to help women with Hypoactive Sexual Desire Disorder. (Washington Post)

Politics and elections

The Prime Minister of Turkey Ahmet Davutoğlu returns his mandate to form a government to the President after failing to form a coalition government. This means that a new election is likely. (BBC) (The News Hub)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

August 19, 2015

Top News Stories –

Oscar Pistorius’ early release blocked by minister –
South Africa’s justice minister has blocked the early release of athlete Oscar Pistorius from prison on Friday. He said the decision by the parole board to free the athlete after serving 10 months of his five-year sentence was premature and without legal basis. It could now take months for the board to review its decision, legal sources told the BBC. Pistorius was convicted of manslaughter last year after shooting dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. The Olympic athlete insists he mistook her for an intruder. [BBC]
Oscar Pistorius competing

Athletics: Sebastian Coe elected IAAF president –
Former Olympic 1500m champion Lord Coe is the new president of the IAAF, the body that governs world athletics. The 58-year-old Briton beat rival Sergey Bubka, a former Olympic pole vault champion, by 115 votes to 92. Following his election, Coe tweeted that, after the birth of his children, this was the most “momentous moment” of his life. The former chairman of London 2012, Coe replaces 82-year-old Senegalese Lamine Diack, who has been in charge for 16 years. [BBC] See List of the Day
Sebastian Coe and Oscar Pistorius in 2011

Video of the Day –

The Martian | Official Trailer [HD] | 20th Century FOX

List of the Day –

Sebastian Coe medal record [Wikipedia]

Olympic Games
	1980 Moscow	1500 m
	1984 Los Angeles	1500 m
	1980 Moscow	800 m
	1984 Los Angeles	800 m
European Athletics Championships
	1986 Stuttgart	800 m
	1982 Athens	800 m
	1986 Stuttgart	1500 m
	1978 Prague	800 m

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Ashley Madison	Deez Nuts	Ashley Madison
2	援交募集	Yvonne Craig	#WorldHumanitarianDay
3	#WeLoveYouLiam	#WorldPhotographyDay	#WorldPhotographyDay
4	#4YearsOfLittleMix	#4YearsOfLittleMix	#4YearsOfLittleMix
5	#WorldPhotographyDay	#WeLoveYouLiam	#WeLoveYouLiam
6	#SacaLoPeorDeMiCuando	Shaun King	Mane
7	#MasterChefBR	Kelvin Benjamin	#ILookGoodOnYou
8	#Siirtte8ŞehidimizVar	#CollegeIn3Words	#OTRAColumbus
9	Yvonne Craig	#JaredFogle	Shaun King
10	Ramiro	#ashleymadisonhack	Let Charlotte Live

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Boko Haram insurgency
- At least 151 were killed in a Boko Haram attack last week on a northeastern Nigerian village, Yadin Kukuwa. News of the attack was slow to emerge because the militants destroyed telecom masts around the village. (Independent) (AFP via Times Live)
Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL, Syrian Civil War
- Islamic State militants behead 82-year-old antiquities scholar Khaled Asaad, who worked for over 50 years as head of antiquities in Palmyra. (Reuters) (BBC)
Iraq War (2014–present)
- A suicide bomber kills at least 20 Iraqi Army troops in the city of Baiji. (Al-Arabiyah)
South Sudanese Civil War
- Fighting resumes in South Sudan after the failure to reach a deal between tribes loyal to the president and tribes loyal to the former vice-president. (AP via Fox News)
Turkey-PKK Conflict
- At least eight soldiers were killed in a bomb detonated by Kurdish militants. (NY Times) (Independent)

Business and economy

Greek government-debt crisis
- The Bundestag votes to approve a third bailout for Greece. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

A brush fire burning near the American town of Twisp, Washington, kills three firefighters, injures as many as four others and forces the evacuation of the towns of Twisp and Winthrop. (KREM), (Seattle Times)

International relation

Estonian-Russian relations
- A court in Russia has sentenced Estonian security official Eston Kohver to 15 years in prison for espionage. (BBC)
South Sudan–United States relations
- United States announces that it is proposing sanctions against those connected to the South Sudan conflict, unless a ceasefire is reached promptly. (Al Jazeera English Online)

Law and crime

Following a July 15 hacking, user data of the infidelity-promoting dating website Ashley Madison is leaked with over 30 million users having their information compromised. (BBC)
Police in the American city of St. Louis, Missouri, make nine arrests and use tear gas to disperse protesters after a killing of an armed man allegedly aiming a gun at police officers earlier in the day. (CNN)

Politics and elections

The United States Navy SEALS announce a plan to allow women to register, the first time in history. (Navy Times)

Sport

The International Association of Athletics Federations elects former British Olympic champion runner Lord Sebastian Coe as its new President, replacing Lamine Diack of Senegal. Ukrainian pole vaultchampion Sergey Bubka was the other contender for the position. (BBC) (Al Jazeera English Online)

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August 20, 2015

Top News Stories –

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras quits and calls early polls –
Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has announced he is resigning and has called an early election. Mr Tsipras, who was only elected in January, said he had a moral duty to go to the polls now a third bailout had been secured with European creditors. He had to agree to painful state sector cuts, including far-reaching pension reforms, in exchange for the bailout – and keeping Greece in the eurozone. Greece received the first €13bn ($14.5bn) tranche of the bailout on Thursday after it was approved by relevant European parliaments. It allowed Greece to repay a €3.2bn debt to the European Central Bank and avoid a messy default. The overall bailout package is worth about €86bn over three years. [BBC]
Alexis Tsipras

Voters back teenager Deez Nuts to be next US president –
Someone calling himself Deez Nuts is running for US president and is actually getting support from voters. In a North Carolina poll, almost one in 10 people said they’d vote for Nuts to run the most powerful nation on Earth. He’s up against businessman Donald Trump – who’s ahead in the polls – and former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Asked to chose between the three hopefuls, 9% of respondents backed Nuts. Though 12% of people didn’t know. The man behind Deez Nuts is actually a 15-year-old. He’s Brady Olson, who lives on a farm in the rural state of Iowa. Only thing is, candidates have to be at least 35-years-old to become president of the United States. Tough luck, Nuts. [BBC Newsbeat] See Top Twitter Trends

Stuffed wolf worth £32,000 stolen from Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts’ granddaughter –
A £32,000, six-foot-long stuffed wolf has been stolen from the home of Charlotte Watts, granddaughter of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts. Police are seeking three men in connection to the theft which happened after an evening spent socialising in London. Charlotte and a friend met the three men, believed to be in their early 20s, at a Soho club and invited them back to her Chelsea home at 4am,according to the Evening Standard. One hour later the men left the home and when the women woke up the next day they found the 45kg, three-foot-tall wolf gone. [Daily Telegraph]
Charlie Watts

Video of the Day –

Pizza Cat – Simon’s Cat

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#HappyBirthdayDemi	#WeLoveYouMichael	GCSE
2	#WeLoveYouMichael	#NationalRadioDay	#LabourPurge
3	GCSE	LaLa	#WeLoveYouMichael
4	Lina Morgan	#ScientificSongs	#farm24
5	#الحمدلله_علي_�…	#HappyBirthdayDemi	Deez Nuts
6	#JuroQueMeCuesta	#PremiosTuMundo	#HappyBirthdayDemi
7	Marian	GCSE	#Dismaland
8	신문 1면	Jimmy Carter	#AskPointlessBlog
9	#حاجه_تحب_تسمعها	#DragMeDownMusicVideo	#BrandNameASong
10	#وش_اللي_بخاطر�…	#AlternativeDonutFillings	#EverythingIs4Sale

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Macedonia declares a state of emergency and deploys police units on its borders as immigrants from the Middle East, mainly from Syria and Iraq, block the railway line between Thessaloniki and Skopje. (The News Hub)
August 2015 Egypt bombings
- Large blasts occur in Cairo and Giza, Egypt, targeting the State Security agency with six police officers injured. (Al Jazeera English Online via Twitter) (Al Jazeera English Online), (Washington Post)
North Korea–South Korea relations, Korean Demilitarized Zone
- North and South Korea exchange artillery fire over the border at Yeoncheon, prompting South Korea to order evacuations of its citizens in the area. (Sky News) (BBC)
Spillover of the Syrian Civil War, Israel–Syria relations
- The Israeli Army has fired Spike missiles on Syrian Army positions in the Golan Heights‘ Quneitra area in response to several rockets fired from Syria which landed in villages in northern Israel about 20 km from the border. (BBC)

Arts and culture

Archaeologists find the skull rack used by the Aztecs to display victims in the ruins of the Templo Mayor in Mexico City. (AP via ABC News America)

Disasters and accidents

At least 7 people are killed in a mid-air collision between two aircraft near Bratislava, Slovakia. (The Independent)

International relations

The President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro orders the border with Colombia at the town of San Antonio del Táchira closed for three days after three soldiers are attacked while looking for smugglers. (AP via ABC News America)

Law and crime

A newspaper publisher is shot dead in Mindanao, Philippines. (ABC News)
2015 Bangkok bombing
- Thai police say they suspect that at least ten people were involved in planning the attack on the Erawan Shrine but international terrorists were unlikely to have been involved. (BBC)
Operation Car Wash
- In Brazil, prosecutors lodge corruption charges against Speaker of the Lower House Eduardo Cunha and former President Fernando Collor de Mello, alleging illegal activities involving state-owned oil company, Petrobras. (Al Jazeera English Online) (BBC) (The Guardian, UK)

Politics and elections

Pierre Nkurunziza is sworn for a third term as President of Burundi. (BBC)
The Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, announces his resignation and calls a new election for September 20. (The Telegraph) (BBC) (Al Jazeera English Online)
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced that his liver cancer (melanoma) had spread to his brain. In addition to radiation, Carter will be treated with a new drug, Keytruda (pembrolizumab), that boosts the immune system without the debilitating side effects of older treatments. (Washington Post) (WRDW-TV GA) (OncLive)

Science

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that July was the hottest month globally since record keeping began in 1880. Global temperatures were 1.46°F (0.81°C) warmer than the 20th century average. NOAA scientists envisage 2015 will go down as the warmest year on record. (CBS News) (NOAA)

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August 21, 2015

Top News Stories –

France train shooting: Americans overpower gunman –
Three people have been hurt after a heavily armed man opened fire on a train in northern France, before being overpowered by American passengers. The incident happened on the high-speed Thalys service near Arras, and the attacker was arrested at Arras station. US President Barack Obama praised the passengers, who included two off-duty US military personnel. [Later named as Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos and non-military friend Anthony Sadler] The man arrested was a 26-year-old Moroccan. Anti-terrorist officers have taken over the case. The weapons were said to include a Kalashnikov, a knife, an automatic pistol and cartridges. French authorities said three people were injured, two of them seriously – one with a gunshot wound, the other a knife wound. [BBC]

Spotify says sorry after privacy policy anger –
Spotify chief executive Daniel Ek has apologised following anger over the music streaming service’s new data privacy policy. Some users said they were leaving the music service over changes in its terms and conditions. The new terms included access to pictures, contact phone numbers and sensor data stored on the user’s smartphone. Mr Ek apologised in a blogpost for the “confusion” the changes had created. He promised an “update” to the new policy in order to clarify it but did not suggest that the terms themselves would be changed. “We should have done a better job in communicating what these policies mean and how any information you choose to share will – and will not – be used,” Mr Ek wrote. He said Spotify would not access or import people’s photos, contacts, sensor or GPS data without their permission. [BBC]
Daniel Ek

One Direction release space-themed Drag Me Down video –
One Direction have released their first music video without Zayn Malik and it’s out of this world, kind of. Niall, Liam, Louis and Harry play astronauts in their video for Drag Me Down. Astronauts. Drag Me Down. Gravity. Space. Get it? Anyway, Nasa let 1D film the video at their headquarters in Houston, Texas. Libby Jackson, an astronaut flight education programme manager for the UK Space Agency, reviewed the promo for Newsbeat. “The guys went out to Nasa’s Johnson Space Centre and filmed at their facilities there – so it’s a fairly accurate portrayal of some of the elements of human spaceflight. “It’s obviously impossible to fit an entire astronaut’s training into a three minute video, but they’ve certainly given a flavour. “You see One Direction trying out a prototype Mars rover, which astronauts would need to learn drive for their missions,” she said. [BBC Newsbeat] See Video of the Day and Top Twitter Trends.

Malala celebrates string of top GCSEs –
Among those celebrating exam success is girls’ education campaigner, Malala Yousafzai who gained a string of As and A*s in her GCSEs. Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, took to Twitter to list Malala’s grades which include A*s in GCSE and iGCSE maths. “My wife Toor Pekai and I are proud of Malala getting 6A*s and 4As. #education for every child,” wrote Mr Yousafzai. Malala was shot by the Taliban after writing a diary about life under their rule in North-West Pakistan. Last year, she became the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize. [BBC]
Malala Yousafzai

Video of the Day –

One Direction – Drag Me Down

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#DragMeDownMusicVideo	#DragMeDownMusicVideoIsOut	#DragMeDownMusicVideo
2	Daniel Rabinovich	Gene Simmons	#FridayFeeling
3	#DragMeDownMusicVideoIsOut	#DragMeDownMusicVideo	#FitnessFriday
4	#PremiosTuMundo	#FridayReads	Kim Jong-Un
5	Hayırlı Cumalar	Jonathan Franzen	#DragMeDownMusicVideoIsOut
6	Ceará	#BadInFlightAnnouncements	#FavNashPic
7	#BuenViernes	#FlashbackFriday	#BadInFlightAnnouncements
8	#شنو_تسوي_لما_ت…	#5SOSonGMA	#corbynapologies
9	Kim Jong-un	Holly Holm	Jonathan Franzen
10	Tuca	#levelsnickj	John Barnes

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL, Battle of Al-Qaryatayn (August 2015)
- The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant destroys the historic Mar Elian monastery near the town of Al-Qaryatayn in the Homs Governorate in Syria. (AP)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- At least 65 civilians are killed following Saudi-led coalition air-strikes on the Yemeni city of Taiz. (BBC)
Three people are wounded on an Amsterdam-Paris train after a gunman opens fire. (The Guardian) (NBC news)

Arts and culture

A bottle with a letter inside by British marine biologist George Parker Bidder III is discovered by a woman vacationing in Germany. The bottle dating from 1906, if confirmed, would be the world’s oldestmessage in a bottle found to date. (MSN)
Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) ordered Google, Inc. to remove, from its search engines, links to news stories about Google’s implementation of a “right to be forgotten” request, that include identifying information about a decade-old shoplifting conviction. The order applies only in the United Kingdom. (Wall Street Journal) (Irish Examiner) (ICO)

Business and economy

The Dow Jones drops and closes down more than 500 points with the NASDAQ and S&P also down more than 3%. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Goni kills two people in the Philippines with thousands of people evacuated in the Phillipines and Taiwan. (AFP via ABC Online)
2015 Atlantic hurricane season
- The season’s first hurricane, Hurricane Danny, is upgraded to Category 3, as its winds strengthened to 115 mph. On its current track, the hurricane will move across the Leeward Islands by Monday but may weaken when it reaches Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. (USA Today) (Weather Channel updated)

International relations

Supreme Leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un orders the Korean People’s Army to be on a war footing following the exchange of artillery fire with South Korea yesterday. (BBC) (Al Jazeera English Online)
The United States halts, then resumes its annual military exercise with South Korea, Foal Eagle, amid rising tensions.(CNN) (Washington Post)

Politics and elections

Ranil Wickremesinghe is sworn in as the new Prime Minister of Sri Lanka following a strong performance by his United National Front for Good Governance in last Monday’s election. (AP via Star Tribune)
Greek legislative election, September 2015
- 25 parliamentarians from the governing Syriza party announce plans to form a new party, Popular Unity, led by former energy minister Panagiotis Lafazanis. (BBC) (To Vima)
Turkish general election, November 2015
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls a snap election for 1 November after the previous election resulted in a hung parliament unable to form a coalition government. (BBC)

Sports

South Korean teenagers participated in an under-15 international football tournament in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. In its first game, the South Korean team defeated a Chinese team at theRungrado 1st of May Stadium. (Wall Street Journal)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

August 22, 2015

Top News Stories –

7 Dead as Fighter Jet Crashes Into Highway at British Airshow –
A fighter jet taking part in a British airshow on Saturday crashed into a highway, killing seven people. The crash took place at the Shoreham Airshow in West Sussex, on England’s southern coast, at 1:20 p.m. Video footage showed the jet soar, loop and then plunge before it could complete a second loop. It crashed into a busy road, the A27, near the airfield where the show took place. Hours after the crash, the police had no comment about the pilot’s fate. Beyond the fatalities, one person was seriously hurt and 14 others had minor injuries, according to a statement from the Sussex Police. [NY Times]

Facebook and Instagram remove Project Harpoon page –
Facebook, Tumblr and Instagram have taken down the pages run by Project Harpoon. The internet movement sees people digitally edit pictures of women to make them appear thinner.
Now if you try to look at Project Harpoon on these social media sites, you are met with an error message. The online group started on Reddit, in a thread called Thinner Beauty which says it is not about “hate” but wants to provide people with “health goals”. [BBC Newsbeat]

Video of the Day –

Match Head Bomb at 2500fps – The Slow Mo Guys

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	BeliebersVoteForJustin	#TrueButYouShouldntSayIt	#MakeAFilmBroke
2	#ALDUBAgainstALLODDS	#ProtestPP	#Beijing2015
3	#SiMePagaranPor	#MakeSomeonesDayIn3Words	Neymar
4	#DragMeDownMusicVideoIsOut	#1989TourLA	Louise Mensch
5	Iñaki	Yeezys	Shoreham
6	#HoyViernesNoSalgoPorQue	#MakeAFilmBroke	#DragMeDownMusicVideoIsOut
7	#كلام_اخير_للا�…	#LLSYouTube	#bigbloggerconference
8	#طلعت_ريحتكم	#FocusOnMeIsComing	Callum Wilson
9	#TodosConNicolas	#UnauthorizedFullHouse	Pogba
10	#WelcomeToManilaArianaGrande	Mike Fiers	US Marines

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

South Korea evacuates residents near the North Korean border as tension escalates. High level talks are held in Panmunjom to defuse tensions. (Yonhap) (Yonhap)
War in Somalia (2009–present)
- An al-Shabaab suicide bomber attacks a Somali military training base in Kismayu with at least 16 people dead. Another five people are killed in a suicide bombing in Mogadishu. (Reuters)
Iran launches a new surface to surface missile called the Fateh 313. (Haaretz)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- An Afghan suicide bomber attacks a NATO convoy in Kabul killing at least twelve people and injuring 66. (CBS)
Syrian Civil War
- Over 50 people are killed in the Syrian rebel-held town of Douma near the capital Damascus following missile strikes by pro-Assad forces. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

Mei Xiang, a female giant panda at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C., delivers two cubs. (Washington Post), (Zoo’s Facebook page)
The 2015 Hugo Award winners are announced in Spokane, United States. (Hugo Awards)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Goni leaves seven people dead and two people missing as it moves from the Philippines towards Taiwan and Okinawa, Japan. (AP via Hindustan Times)
2015 Tianjin explosions
- The State Council of the People’s Republic of China orders a thorough investigation of the explosions as the death toll rises to 121. (Xinhua via icrossChina), (AP via Fox News)
Shoreham Airport disaster
- A Hawker Hunter aircraft crashes during an airshow after failing to pull out of dive at Shoreham Airport, West Sussex, United Kingdom. Seven people are killed with 15 injured. (BBC News Online)(News24)
An explosion occurs at a chemical warehouse in China’s Shandong province, with nine injured according to Chinese media. (RT)
Three people are dead and eight missing after a landslide in China‘s Yunnan Province. (Xinhua)

International relations

The Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev visits the disputed Kuril Islands prompting a protest from Japan. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)

Law and crime

Indian police arrest Jammu and Kashmir separatist Shabir Shah ahead of a meeting with Pakistani National Security Adviser Sartaj Aziz. (iBN Live)
A second journalist is killed in the Philippines in a week. (CNN)
Fourteen members of the Barrio 18 street gang are killed in the Quetzaltepeque penitentiary in El Salvador; the killings are believed to be a result of a power struggle within the gang. (Reuters via Yahoo! News)

Politics

President of the State of Palestine Mahmoud Abbas resigns from the Executive Committee of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation along with 11 ministers to force an election. The last time there were elections in the Palestinian authority was in 2005. (Jerusalem Post)

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August 23, 2015

Top News Stories –

Usain Bolt beats Justin Gatlin to win world 100m title –
Usain Bolt produced perhaps his greatest performance of all as he put a troubled build-up behind him to beat two-time doper and clear favourite Justin Gatlin to retain his world 100m title. The controversial Gatlin came into the final on a 28-race unbeaten run and apparently relishing his role as the sport’s bad guy. But at the same Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing where Bolt announced himself to the world with two Olympic golds and two world records in 2008, the Jamaican superstar came past a faltering Gatlin at the death to snatch victory by one hundredth of a second. Bolt’s 9.79 seconds was more than two tenths off his world record, but this was a night for athletics to celebrate victories rather than times. [BBC] See List of the Day
Usain Bolt

Banksy’s ‘Dismaland’ in England: It’s a Strange World, After All –
WESTON-SUPER-MARE, England — Rain pelted down for much of Sunday afternoon on this drooping beachside resort town where “Dismaland,” the gloomy anti-Disneyland created by the artist Banksy, opened this weekend. “Dismaland,” a satirical take on a theme park, features grumpy guards, funereal theme park games and art by about 60 artists — including Banksy, Damien Hirst and Jenny Holzer. The exhibition had a “locals” day on Friday and opened to the public on Saturday; it runs through late September. The exhibition came largely as a surprise: Members of the British news media had spotted construction at the exhibition site — the abandoned grounds of a former family swimming pool — early last week, and had begun to speculate on what was taking place there. The exhibition includes new and old artwork by Banksy, including a pool with mobile boats full of figurine immigrants in what apparently is the English Channel, and a mural-style work in the his signature silhouette style, which shows a fat cat in a suit gorging himself while a gaunt woman with children stands across from him. [NY Times]
Logo_of_Dismaland

Met Office loses multi-million pound BBC weather contract –
The Met Office has lost its lucrative weather forecasting contract with the BBC after nearly a century of providing the service. Negotiations to renew the deal hit a dead end and a new firm is expected to take over next year. The BBC said it was legally required to open up the contract to outside competition and secure the best value for money for licence fee payers. Dutch and New Zealand firms are said to be in the running for the contract, which is believed to make up a sizeable share of the £32.5 million a year the Met Office receives from commercial organisations, according to the Mail on Sunday. [Daily Telegraph] See Top Twitter Trends

Mel Gibson accused of pushing female photographer –
Oscar-winning actor Mel Gibson has been accused of pushing a female photographer in Sydney. The Daily Telegraph’s Kristi Miller told Australian media she was pushed and verbally abused while taking pictures of Gibson and his girlfriend. She alleges Gibson’s tirade ended when his partner, 24-year-old US equestrian vaulter Rosalind Ross, intervened. “I thought he was going to punch me in the face,” Ms Miller said. “He was spitting in my face as he was yelling.” Police confirmed they are investigating reports a female photographer was pushed outside a cinema on Sunday night. [BBC] Gibson swore at a TV journalist in February 2010.
Mel Gibson

Video of the Day –

Subway Love

Subway Love from Max Stossel on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Usain Bolt international competition record

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
2002	World Junior Championships	Kingston, Jamaica	1st	200 metres	20.61
			2nd	4×100 metres relay	39.15 NJR
			2nd	4×400 metres relay	3:04.06 NJR
2003	World Youth Championships	Sherbrooke, Canada	1st	200 metres	20.40
2003	Pan American Junior Championships	Bridgetown, Barbados	1st	200 metres	20.13 WYB
2003	Pan American Junior Championships	Bridgetown, Barbados	2nd	4×100 metres relay	39.40
2004	CARIFTA Games	Hamilton, Bermuda	1st	200 metres	19.93 WJR
2005	Central American and Caribbean Championships	Nassau, Bahamas	1st	200 metres	20.03
2006	World Athletics Final	Stuttgart, Germany	3rd	200 metres	20.10
2006	IAAF World Cup	Athens, Greece	2nd	200 metres	19.96
2007	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	2nd	200 metres	19.91
2007	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	2nd	4×100 metres relay	37.89
2008	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	1st	100 metres	9.69 WR OR
			1st	200 metres	19.30 WR OR
			1st	4×100 metres relay	37.10 WR OR
2009	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	1st	100 metres	9.58 WR
			1st	200 metres	19.19 WR
			1st	4×100 metres relay	37.31 CR
2011	World Championships	Daegu, South Korea	DSQ^[226]	100 metres	—
			1st	200 metres	19.40 WL
			1st	4×100 metres relay	37.04 WR
2012	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	1st	100 metres	9.63 OR
			1st	200 metres	19.32
			1st	4×100 metres relay	36.84 WR
2013	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	1st	100 metres	9.77
			1st	200 metres	19.66
			1st	4×100 metres relay	37.36
2014	Commonwealth Games	Glasgow, Scotland	1st	4×100 metres relay	37.58 GR
2015	World Relay Championships	Nassau, Bahamas	2nd	4×100 metres relay	37.68
2015	World Championships	Beijing, China	1st	100 metres	9.79

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#WhyILoveLiam	#WhyILoveLiam	Met Office
2	#sextapelarry	Jordy Nelson	#NXTTakeOver
3	#HepimizYarbayMehmetAlkanız	#sextapelarry	#MakeSomeonesDayIn3Words
4	#WeMissYourVoiceZayn	Cris Carter	#MOTD
5	BeliebersVoteForBieber	#HugoAwards	#HugoAwards
6	#NoFuisteADisney	White Horse	Bolt
7	#NXTTakeOver	Matt LeBlanc	Katarina Johnson-Thompson
8	#PSYUnangHalik	#SummerSlam	West Brom
9	#HoneymoonTourManila	Fernando Rodney	Shutter Island
10	#حدثني_عن_الحب_…	#FearTheWalkingDead	#BelgianGP

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- Al-Qaeda militants take over parts of the strategic southern Yemeni port city of Aden. The militants reportedly raised their black flag above the city’s port and government buildings. (Reuters)
- A Saudi general is killed in cross-border fire from Yemen making him the highest-ranking officer to be killed in border attacks by Houthi militants since March. (Yahoo via AFP)
- A British hostage in Yemen is freed following a United Arab Emirates military intelligence operation. (BBC)

Arts and culture

Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant is reported to have blown up the ancient Baalshamin temple in Palmyra, Syria. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

The death toll from floods in the Indian state of Assam rises to seven, with 650,000 people displaced. (Hindustan Times)
2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Goni leaves the Phillipines with 15 dead and 12 people missing. (AP)
The number of fatalities in the 2015 Shoreham Airshow crash is “highly likely” to have risen to 11. (BBC)

International relations

Britain and Iran reopen embassies in each others’ capitals that had been closed after Iranian protesters stormed the British embassy on November 29, 2011. (Reuters)
North and South Korea resume talks in the border village of Panmunjon in efforts to defuse recent tensions. (AP)

Law and crime

Malaysia finds the bodies of more than 20 people believed to be victims of human trafficking in mass graves buried near the border with Thailand. (Reuters via The Guardian)
Two men from Iowa are arrested in Saugus, Massachusetts after heavy firearms are discovered in their hotel room. The two had made threats on social media targeting the 2015 Pokemon Video Game World Championships that are being held in Boston. (CNN)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

August 24, 2015

Top News Stories –

Edinburgh Fringe: Mobile phone joke voted funniest –
A pun by comedian Darren Walsh has scooped the prize for funniest joke of the Edinburgh Fringe. The 39-year-old, whose show Punderbolt is on at the Pleasance, took first place in the vote by TV channel Dave. The winning joke was: “I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It’s Hans free. Walsh, from Peterborough, who won the first UK Pun Championship last year, said he was delighted. “What a punderful feeling,” he said. [BBC] See List of the Day

British IndyCar Driver Justin Wilson Dies of Injuries From Pocono Crash –
Justin Wilson, a British racecar driver who was struck by debris from another car during the closing laps of the penultimate race in the IndyCar Series season, died Monday, racing officials said. He was 37. Wilson was struck in the head on Sunday at Pocono Raceway by a piece of debris that broke off from the car of Sage Karam, who was leading the race before he crashed. Wilson had tried to avoid the subsequent pileup, but his car hit the debris and veered into an interior wall. He was airlifted to a hospital in Allentown, Pa., where he was in a coma in critical condition before he died. [NY Times]
Justin Wilson in 2008

China’s ‘Black Monday’ sends markets reeling across the globe –
China has been a major contributor to economic growth and low global inflation for more than two decades. But tonight, investors around the globe are catching their breath after one of the worst day’s trading in many years. They’re now pondering whether today marks the start of a new and alarming phase of the crisis which began some eight years ago. And while today’s losses are sizeable, they’re not among the worst losses in market history. For all the talk of Black Monday in China,and gloomy photos to match, this was more of a correction in Western markets. [The Guardian]

Windows 95 turns 20 –
Windows 10 might be the current OS of choice for many, but 20 years ago today (August 24) the world of home computing underwent a seismic shift as Windows 95 rolled off the production lines and into people’s lives. The basis for many consumers’ first computing experience, Windows 95 revolutionised the computing space not only on the surface, but beneath it too. From an all new graphical user interface to a switch to 32-bit foundations, it’s hard to overstate the impact this Start menu introducing software has had on the world. If you can even remember the days of floppy disks then you’ll know how much of a nightmare the Windows 95 update must have been to install, compared to today when waiting 17 seconds for a film to buffer on Netflix seems outrageous. For those without a CD-ROM drive, each of the 3.5-inch cartridges held a measly 1.44MB of data. Later updates, for those refusing to accept CDs had taken off, jumped to 26 floppy disks. [Digital Spy] See Top Twitter Trends

Video of the Day –

Guy annoys girlfriend with puns at Ikea – We moved in together recently so had to make the unavoidable trip to IKEA; I figured out how to get through there as quickly as possible.
Yeah, yeah I know, vertical video and all that. I filmed it in Snapchat, you’ll survive.

List of the Day –

The top 10 funniest jokes of the Edinburgh Fringe

“I just deleted all the German names off my phone. It’s Hans free” – Darren Walsh
“Kim Kardashian is saddled with a huge arse … but enough about Kanye West” – Stewart Francis
“Surely every car is a people carrier?” – Adam Hess
“What’s the difference between a ‘hippo’ and a ‘Zippo’? One is really heavy, the other is a little lighter” – Masai Graham
“If I could take just one thing to a desert island I probably wouldn’t go” – Dave Green
“Jesus fed 5,000 people with two fishes and a loaf of bread. That’s not a miracle. That’s tapas” – Mark Nelson
“Red sky at night. Shepherd’s delight. Blue sky at night. Day” – Tom Parry
“The first time I met my wife, I knew she was a keeper. She was wearing massive gloves” – Alun Cochrane
“Clowns divorce. Custardy battle” – Simon Munnery
“They’re always telling me to live my dreams. But I don’t want to be naked in an exam I haven’t revised for…” – Grace The Child

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Windows 95	#BlackMonday	Justin Wilson
2	#SummerSlam	#HeadlinesWeWouldLove	#3YearsOfUnionJ
3	#OTRAChicago	#NationalWaffleDay	#mondaymotivation
4	#كرتون_ادمنتو_�…	Windows 95	#TubeStrike
5	Yarbay Alevi	#firstdayofschool	#BlackMonday
6	#هل_تتزوج_فتاه_…	Quentin Tarantino	#SummerSlam
7	#شي_تحتاجه_حال�…	Reggie Wayne	#OneDirection
8	Aamir Khan	#ask5sos	Fight Club
9	#BlackMonday	#InBedThinkingAbout	#iamgratefulfor
10	#FelizLunes	David Wright	#RuinASongYouLike

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Turkey–PKK conflict
- Two Turkish Army soldiers are killed and three are injured as their car hits an IED near the town of Şemdinli in Hakkari Province. (Reuters via LBC)
- PKK insurgents blow up a natural gas pipeline in Turkey’s south-eastern Kars Province near the Armenian border (Daily Sabah)
2015 Thalys attack
- The President of France, François Hollande, presents the Légion d’honneur to four people – three Americans, Spencer Stone, Alek Skarlatos, Anthony Sadler; and Briton Chris Norman – for foiling a suspected terrorist act last Friday. (BBC)
A bomb explodes on a bus carrying Egyptian police killing one and injuring 29 in the Nile delta. (AFP via NDTV)
Clashes at a government protest in Kailali kill 8 in Nepal, including seven police officers. (BBC)
Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- Rockets fired by Houthi militiamen reportedly kill 14 people as fighting intensifies in the city of Taiz. (Reuters)
ISIL
- Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, the Turkish Foreign Minister, says that Turkey and the United States will launch a “comprehensive” campaign to flush out ISIL from a zone in northern Syria near the border. In effect this means creating a “security zone” by sending foreign soldiers into former territory of Syria. (Reuters)

Business and Economy

2015 Chinese stock market crash
- Stock markets around the world fall as a result of fears about China‘s economy with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling by 1000 points at the opening of trading on Wall Street. The Dow Jones Index closes down 588 points. (The New York Times), (The Guardian)
- The South African rand hits an all-time low against the US dollar as a result of worries regarding China’s economy. (BBC)
American utility Southern Company buys natural gas company AGL Resources for $12 billion. (New York Times)

Disasters

2015 Washington state wildfires
- The Okanogan Complex fire grows to 256,500 acres (103,800 ha), surpassing the previous year’s Carlton Complex fire as the largest in Washington state history. (KOMO-TV) (NBC)
Floods kill 8 in Turkey’s Artvin Province. (BBC)
Sightseeing seaplane crash on Quebec‘s North Shore kills all six people aboard. (Toronto Sun)

International relations

North and South Korea agree to reduce tensions on the Korean peninsula after marathon talks. (CNN)

Law and crime

South Africa convicts Czech fugitive Radovan Krejčíř of kidnapping, attempted murder and drug dealing charges. (Independent Online)
Former Vice President of Guatemala Roxana Baldetti appears in court to face corruption charges as finance minister Dorval Carias resigns. (BBC), (Reuters)

Politics

Prime Minister of Guinea-Bissau Baciro Dja sacks the chiefs of Guinea-Bissau National Radio and Television, Muniro Conte and Paula Mielo, over political “bias”. (Yahoo News)
The President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan calls new elections after a deadline to form a new government after an inconclusive election in June. (AP via Hawaii Now)

Science and technology

Jakobshavn Glacier sheds a massive 12.4 sq. km. section of ice. (BBC)

Sports

2015 World Championships in Athletics
- Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce narrowly defeats Dafne Schippers in the Women’s 100 metres finals in Beijing. (BBC Sport)
- Kenya moves into first place on the leaderboard with gold medals earned today by Vivian Cheruiyot (in 10,000 metres) and Ezekiel Kemboi (in 3000 metres steeplechase). (The Star) (The Star)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

August 25, 2015

Top News Stories –

Italian woman, 46, arrested for locking ‘toy boy’ in basement over sex demands –
An Italian woman has been arrested after allegedly locking up her “toy boy” boyfriend for refusing to have sex with her, in a story that has evoked comparisons with the classic film The Graduate. The woman, 46, who was divorced, met the 25-year-old during a holiday romance in Campania in southern Italy. Initially they got on well but the young man reportedly became increasingly vexed by the amount of sex that the older woman was demanding. He declined her advances on several occasions but she then took revenge by locking him up, against his will, in the basement of her house at Arzano, near Naples. The young man managed to raise the alarm, calling for help from passers-by. [Daily Telegraph]

George Clooney photobombs Cindy Crawford as she takes romantic selfie with husband –
Does anyone enjoy looking at “romantic selfies” of couples kissing on Instagram? It’s worse than a public display of affection (PDA), as it is done purely to show off how in love you are with the person you’re smooching. Cindy Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber were taking a tender selfie together, when George Clooney decided to ruin it by pulling a strange face in the background. [Daily Telegraph]
Cindy Crawford Instagram with Rande Gerber and George Clooney

International bridge champions accuse teammates of cheating –
Two Israeli men, Lotan Fisher and Ron Schwartz, have been accused by their team mates of cheating in three matches including the Spingold tournament – one of the most famous of all.
A triumphant team of bridge players has been ripped apart by accusations that would, in the words of the whistleblower, “even make a Hollywood movie surreal.” Two Israeli men, Lotan Fisher and Ron Schwartz, have been accused by their team mates of cheating. Quite how they cheated is unclear, but Norwegian bridge professional Boye Brogeland, one of the world’s highest-rated bridge players, said the other four members of the team were handing back three titles they had won together. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Dismaland [See August 23, 2015]

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#5monthswithoutzayn	#SolveMyProblemsIn4Words	#ask5sos
2	#RelationshipGoalsIn3Words	#RelationshipGoalsIn3Words	#RelationshipGoalsIn3Words
3	#Tucumanazo	Vick	#charitytuesday
4	#فتاه_تغتصب_شاب	#5monthswithoutzayn	House of Fools
5	#NuncaMePasoEsoDe	Curt Schilling	#1YearOfMyEverything
6	BeliebersVoteHottest	Aaliyah	#5monthswithoutzayn
7	#SolveMyProblemsIn4Words	#ask5sos	#TravelTuesday
8	LANA EU TE AMO	#BornToRun	Colin Fry
9	#FelizMartes	You Oughta Know	Harvey Proctor
10	NCAE	Jorge Ramos	Greg Rutherford

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Boko Haram
- A teenage girl suicide bomber kills five people and injures fourteen in the Damaturu area in northeast Nigeria. (AP via Fox News)
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
- Fourteen people are arrested in Spain and Morocco for allegedly trying to recruit people to ISIL. (Times of Israel)
North Korea and South Korea agree to stop airing propaganda at the border and stand down preparations for war. (NPR)

Business and economics

The People’s Bank of China cuts interest rates and lowers minimum requirements for bank reserves for the second time in two months. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Goni makes landfall in southwestern Japan with at least 26 people injured but no people killed. The death toll in the Philippines rises to 21 while South Korea is on alert. (AP), (Yonhap)
A gas explosion in the Afghanistan city of Herat kills eleven people and injures 18. (AP via Ahram Online)

International relations

A record number of migrants crossing the Balkans results in a record number of people in Hungary despite the government building a wall on the border with Serbia. (AP via The Columbian)

Law and crime

A Federal Security Service court in Russia sentences Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov to 20 years in prison for plotting terrorist acts in Crimea, amid allegations of torture and US claims that he is being held hostage in Russia after having been abducted from Ukraine by Russian-backed separatists. (BBC)
4 people are killed and 3 others are severely injured in a shooting at a camp in Roye, Somme, France. (L’Express)
Protests by the Patidar community in Ahmedabad turn violent, sparking violence across the state of Gujarat, India.(DNA)

Politics and elections

The Parliament of Singapore is dissolved with a general election to be held on September 11. (AFP/Reuters via ABC Australia)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resourceAugust 23, 2015

August 26, 2015

Top News Stories –

Ex-Broadcaster Kills 2 on Air in Virginia; Takes Own Life –
He was a fired television reporter with a history of conflicts at work and rage apparently stoked by racial grievances. And when he sought revenge on Wednesday, gunning down two former colleagues, he used the tools of social media to ensure that his crime was broadcast live, recorded from multiple angles and posted online. Vester Lee Flanagan II, 41, identified by the authorities as the gunman, waited until Alison Parker and Adam Ward, young journalists at WDBJ in Roanoke, were on air, then killed them while recording on his own video camera. Mr. Flanagan shot himself in the head hours later, the authorities said, but as the chase for him was on, he wrote about the shooting on Twitter, uploaded his video to Facebook and sent a manifesto to ABC News that spoke admiringly of mass killers and said that as a black, gay man he had faced discrimination and sexual harassment. [NY Times]
Alison Parker and Adam Ward

Theater shooter Holmes gets 12 life sentences, plus 3,318 years –
A Colorado judge formally sentenced James Eagan Holmes to multiple life terms plus thousands of years in prison for the Aurora movie theater massacre that killed 12 and wounded 70. Holmes, a 27-year-old former grad student, received one life term for each person he killed, plus 3,318 years for the attempted murders of those he wounded and for rigging his apartment with explosives. He is not eligible for parole. Prosecutor George Brauchler said he believed the sentence was the fourth longest in U.S. history. He described the judge’s command to promptly remove Holmes from the courtroom as “the right exclamation point” to bring a painful, difficult trial to a close. [CNN]

James_Holmes_2012

Burger King is trying to make the McWhopper happen –
Lovers of fast food burgers are in for a treat: why choose between the Big Mac and the Whopper when you can have both in one mouthful and save the world at the same time? Burger King has approached McDonald’s about combining their star burgers for one day only, in a bid to raise awareness of Peace Day, the day of global unity recognised by the United Nations held annually on September 21. The McWhopper would be six parts Big Mac (top bun, all-beef patty, cheese, lettuce, special sauce and middle bun) and six parts Whopper (tomato, onion, ketchup, pickles, flame-grilled patty and bottom bun). The limited edition burger would be available in a co-branded pop-up restaurant in Atlanta, the mid-way point between McDonald’s headquarters in Chicago and Burger King HQ in Miami. [Daily Telegraph] See Video of the Day

Video of the Day –

Burger King | McWhopper Proposal

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#5monthswithoutzayn	#SolveMyProblemsIn4Words	#ask5sos
2	#RelationshipGoalsIn3Words	#RelationshipGoalsIn3Words	#RelationshipGoalsIn3Words
3	#Tucumanazo	Vick	#charitytuesday
4	#فتاه_تغتصب_شاب	#5monthswithoutzayn	House of Fools
5	#NuncaMePasoEsoDe	Curt Schilling	#1YearOfMyEverything
6	BeliebersVoteHottest	Aaliyah	#5monthswithoutzayn
7	#SolveMyProblemsIn4Words	#ask5sos	#TravelTuesday
8	LANA EU TE AMO	#BornToRun	Colin Fry
9	#FelizMartes	You Oughta Know	Harvey Proctor
10	NCAE	Jorge Ramos	Greg Rutherford

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- Two NATO soldiers are shot dead by two men in Afghan military uniforms. (AFP via France24)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- ISIL has destroyed two historic Muslim shrines in Palmyra. (CNN)

Arts and culture

The smaller of mother Mei Xiang’s two giant panda cubs born on Saturday at the Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, D.C. dies. (Smithsonian)

Disasters and accidents

A Swedish rescue crew finds 51 dead migrants in the hold of a boat off the coast of Libya during a rescue operation in the Mediterranean Sea that has saved 439 other people. In addition, three women are found dead in another migrant boat and another corpse is found during ten rescue operations on Wednesday that have saved around 3,000 people, according to the Italian coast guard. (Reuters) (AP via Columbus Republic)

Law and crime

Anti-corruption campaign in China, 2015 Tianjin explosions
- The People’s Republic of China sacks its workplace safety chief Yang Dongliang for alleged corruption following an investigation triggered by the Tianjin explosions. (Reuters)
Murders of Alison Parker and Adam Ward
- A U.S. television reporter and her cameraman, Alison Parker and Adam Ward, are shot dead during a live broadcast in Moneta, Virginia; the woman they were interviewing, Vicki Gardner, is wounded. The alleged shooter, Vester Lee Flanagan II, later uploads a video of the murder and commits suicide. (WTKR)
2012 Aurora shooting
- James Eagan Holmes is formally sentenced to 12 consecutive life sentences plus 3,318 years for the murder of 12 people and injury of 70 others at a Century movie theatre in the U.S. city of Aurora, Colorado. (AP via US News and World Report) (CNN)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

August 27, 2015

Top News Stories –

Facebook sets user record as more than 1bn people log on in single day –
Facebook has revealed that more than 1bn people used the site on Monday – the first time the social network has hit the milestone. Mark Zuckerberg, who founded the company in 2004 while studying at Harvard, said he felt “proud” that one-in-seven people on Earth logged on to the website during the day. The 31-year-old wrote in a post on Facebook:

Mark Zukerberg tweet
Although Mr Zuckerberg did not specify what had caused the rise in the number of users, the website has consistently attracted more followers. Last month Mr Zuckerberg revealed Facebook had 1.49bn monthly active users, up 13pc from a year earlier. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

LEVEL from joe pease on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

The top ten most unexpected words added to the online Oxford dictionary [according to the Daily Telegraph]
1. manspreading (noun): the practice whereby a man, especially one travelling on public transport, adopts a sitting position with his legs wide apart, in such a way as to encroach on an adjacent seat or seat

2. awesomesauce (adjective): extremely good; excellent

3. bants (noun): playfully teasing or mocking remarks exchanged with another person or group; banter

4. fat-shame (verb): cause (someone judged to be fat or overweight) to feel humiliated by making mocking or critical comments about their size

5. Brexit (noun): a term for the potential or hypothetical departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union

6. bruh (noun): a male friend (often used as a form of address)

7. cakeage (noun): a charge made by a restaurant for serving a cake they have not supplied themselves

8. fatberg (noun): a very large mass of solid waste in a sewerage system, consisting especially of congealed fat and personal hygiene products that have been flushed down toilets

9. Grexit (noun): a term for the potential withdrawal of Greece from the eurozone (the economic region formed by those countries in the European Union that use the euro as their national currency)

10. hangry (adjective): bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#1dfansaregorgeous	#NationalBurgerDay	#1dfansaregorgeous
2	Smelly Cat	#MakeSexAwkwardIn5Words	#MakeSexAwkwardIn5Words
3	#bieberisback	Smelly Cat	#NationalBurgerDay
4	#MeEncantaQue	#jetblackheart	#NameTheNextBoyBand
5	#1DayUntilWhatDoYouMean	#1dfansaregorgeous	#bieberisback
6	#jetblackheart	Darryl Dawkins	#jetblackheart
7	Derrick Rose	#BoringComicBookPlots	Smelly Cat
8	#D5ComingSoon	Usain Bolt	Spitman
9	#لو_قالوا_اختا�…	#NameTheNextBoyBand	#UCLdraw
10	コミュニケーショ��…	#ShesKindaHotEP	Kevin Nolan

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraq War (2014–present)
- Two generals of the Iraqi Army and 3 soldiers are killed and 10 wounded when an Islamic State suicide bomber detonates in northern Ramadi. (Los Angeles Times)
Gaza–Israel conflict
- In retaliation to a rocket attack on Southern Israel, Israel Defence Forces destroy a Hamas weapons manufacturing facility located within the Gaza Strip. (Haaretz)
The Government of India deploys the Army to the state of Gujarat after two days of caste-related violence results in seven deaths. (Reuters via Daily Mail)
War in Donbass
- Seven Ukraine servicemen have died and 13 were wounded in skirmishes with pro-Russian separatists in the past day. (Reuters)

Business and economy

Walmart will stop selling the AR-15 and other semi-automatic rifles allegedly because of sluggish customer demand. (Reuters)
Panasonic will stop making lithium-ion batteries for phones and cameras in Beijing, China, with a cut of 1,300 jobs. The company will instead refocus on higher-margin products such as electric car batteries. (Reuters)
The U.S. National Labor Relations Board ruling in the Browning-Ferris case uses an expanded definition of joint employer when determining if a parent company shares responsibility for workers hired by a subcontractor or franchisee. Democratic appointees on the panel split 3-2 with Republicans on this decision that upended the traditional arms-length relationship that had been in place since 1984. The Republican-controlled US Congress responded to arguments from businesses such as the International Franchise Association by adding another NLRB-related rider to the budget to block implementation of this latest ruling. Browning-Ferris can appeal the decision to a federal appeals court. The ruling could affect current unionization and pay efforts at McDonald’s franchises. (Wall Street Journal) (International Business Times), (Forbes) (Chicago Tribune) (Washington Post)
Oilfield services provider Schlumberger agrees to acquire construction company Cameron International in a $12.71 billion deal. (AP via Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Disasters and accidents

European migrant crisis
- Two boats carrying migrants capsize off of the coast of Zuwarah, Libya, with hundreds feared dead. (BBC)
- Austrian police discover as many as 50 dead refugees in a truck. (Reuters)
A sinkhole in China swallows five people. (AP)
2015 Atlantic hurricane season
- Four people are killed on the Caribbean island of Dominica as a result of floods and landslides caused by Tropical Storm Erika. (WRAL)

Law and crime

David H. Murdock, the CEO and chairman of Dole Food Company, along with a fellow confidant, are ordered to pay $148 million for misleading directors and shareholders. (AP via Washington Post)

Politics and elections

Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou, the head of the Court of Cassation, is appointed as interim Prime Minister of Greece for the duration of the upcoming election. She is the first woman to hold the post. (AP via Roanoke)
Thousands of protesters joined a Guatemalan national strike Thursday demanding the resignation of President Otto Pérez Molina for corruption. Five of 13 cabinet ministers have resigned since Friday, and Tuesday, the Supreme Court unanimously approved a motion to impeach the president. (Bloomberg) (Bayou Buzz) (The Weather Space)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

August 28, 2015

Top News Stories –

Someone has invented the first Apple Watch sex toy – and it’s a sell-out –
When you heard about all the apps you could get on an Apple Watch, was the first thing that sprung into your head an Apple Watch operated sex toy? As unorthodox an idea you may think it is, a lot of people want the piece of tech – it reached its $10,000 crowdfunding goal in just 24 hours. The $39 early bird special is sold out already, as is the reseller’s special, for people and websites who want to sell the sex toy to other customers. ‘Blush’ works by remote control, and is attached to a vibrating sex toy, that would be either controlled by you or your partner. The sex toy has three speed settings, can be recharged via a USB port and has up to two hours of battery life, and can either be directly controlled by Bluetooth for up to 30 feet or internet controlled, which can make it reach long distances. [Daily Telegraph]

Ashley Madison founder and chief executive Noel Biderman quits following hack –
The founder and chief executive of cheaters’ dating website Ashley Madison has stepped down just weeks after it was hacked. Noel Biderman, who heads the Canadian business’s parent company, Avid Life Media, is no longer employed at its headquarters, a spokesman said. It comes after a hacker group named The Impact Team stole the personal details of 37m Ashley Madison clients and posted them online. UK victims allegedly included 124 civil servants, 92 Ministry of Defence staff, around 50 police officers, 56 NHS workers, 65 local education and school staff and 1,716 people at universities and further education colleges. The data contained addresses, ages, phone numbers, credit card details and even sexual fantasies of users. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Freed Of London from Jack Flynn on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#BuyWhatDoYouMeanTOMORROW	#WhatDoYouMean	#ShesKindaHotEP
2	#BuenViernes	#HappyBirthdayLiam	#BankHolidayWeekend
3	#HappyBirthdayLiam	#YouKnowYouHaveAProblem	#WhatDoYouMean
4	#WhatDoYouMean	#NationalBowTieDay	HSBC
5	Garra Y Corazon VAMOS ROJO	#beautybehindthemadness	#FridayFeeling
6	ULTIMO ESFUERZO BRUGRAVIGNA	Al Arbour	#askcrystal
7	#BADLANDS	#BADLANDS	#JanoskiansToNumber1
8	#النصر_القادسيه	Sarah Palin	Rebekah Brooks
9	Hayırlı Cumalar	Tim Beckman	#BADLANDS
10	#ExtrañoMuchoEsoDe	#InjureAFilm	Badlands

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

South Sudanese Civil War
- Rebels and the Sudan People’s Liberation Army trade accusations of violations of a recently signed peace accords. (Reuters)
Iraq War (2014–present)
- A car bomb detonates in the parking lot of a Baghdad police station while police attempt to defuse it, killing 6 officers and injuring another 10. (AP via St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
2015 India-Pakistan border skirmishes, Kashmir conflict
- Indian and Pakistani border guards exchange gunfire over the disputed Kashmir border with 9 civilians killed and 63 injured. (AP via KSL)

Arts and culture

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination recommends that Costa Rica remove Cocorí from schools because of its perceived racial connotation. (Tico Times)

Disasters and accidents

European migrant crisis
- The body count from a van found on an Austrian highway carrying migrants yesterday rises to at least 71. Three people are arrested in Hungary in relation to their deaths. (AP via New York Times) (ITV)
2015 Atlantic hurricane season
- Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit reported that Tropical Storm Erika has left at least 12 dead and more than 20 missing. Erika deposited almost 12 inches of rain in less than 10 hours and caused extensive damage across the island as floods wiped out roads, swamped villages and started mudslides. (CNN)
- Florida Gov. Rick Scott declares a state of emergency as Erika is forecast to hit the Gulf Coast of Florida on Monday. The storm is over Hispaniola with maximum sustained winds of 50 mph, but is expected to weaken this weekend. Of particular concern is Tampa Bay, which has had historic rainfall in late July and early August. (Tampa Bay Times) (Miami Herald)
2015 Pacific hurricane season
- Hawaii Governor David Ige signed an emergency proclamation in anticipation of the arrival of Hurricane Ignacio on Monday. Ignacio is expected to strengthen to Category 2 this weekend. The state is still recovering from precipitation from Tropical Storm Kilo which skirted the islands earlier this week. In addition, Hurricane Jimena, which is expected to intensify to near category 5 strength on Saturday, is trailing Ignacio also heading toward Hawaii. (Hawaii News Now) (AP via Washington Post) (Maui Now) (Honolulu Star-Advertiser)
Seven people are killed and two injured after being exposed to toxic chemicals at a paper mill in central China. (AP)
Thirty-eight girls and young women die in a crash and twenty others on board the truck are injured travelling to the traditional Umhlanga ceremony in Swaziland. (AP)

International relations

Colombia–Venezuela relations
- Colombia and Venezuela recall their respective ambassadors amid rising tensions after a Venezuelan crackdown on Colombian migrants. (BBC)
Turkey–PKK conflict
- Turkish police detain two British journalists from Vice News covering unrest in southeastern Turkey. (ABC News)

Law and crime

Two French journalists are arrested for allegedly attempting to blackmail King Mohammed VI of Morocco. (AP via New York Times)
President Trương Tấn Sang of Vietnam signs two directives granting amnesty to 18,539 prisoners including murderers, rapists, human traffickers and other criminals but no political prisoners were released. (AP via New York Times)
New Mexico Secretary of State Dianna Duran is charged with 64 counts including fraud, embezzlement and money laundering. (Albuquerque Journal)

Politics and elections

Greek government-debt crisis
- Interim Prime Minister of Greece Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou, the country’s first female prime minister, was sworn in Thursday. The PM named her caretaker government cabinet that will oversee implementation of austerity measures required by the latest debt bailout with Eurogroup. Elections, required after Alexis Tsipras resigned last week, are scheduled for 20 September 2015, the third time Greeks will be going to the polls this year. (AP via New York Times) (Irish Examiner) (CTV News)

Sports

2015 World Championships in Athletics
- Dafne Schippers defeats Elaine Thompson in the Women’s 200 metres finals in Beijing. (NL Times)

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August 29, 2015

Top News Stories –

World Athletics Championships: Ashton Eaton sets new decathlon world record in Beijing –
Ashton Eaton’s world record in the decathlon has stolen the limelight from Mo Farah and Usain Bolt on the penultimate night of the world athletics championships in Beijing. Farah completed the long distance double for a second consecutive occasion at a world titles with victory in the men’s 5,000 metres final, while Usain Bolt captured his third gold in the Bird’s Nest in the last seven days when he anchored Jamaica to a win in the men’s 4x100m relay. But it was Eaton who deserved top billing, after the American dipped under his world mark to post a two-day total of 9,045 points. Eaton, the defending champion, collected 829 points in running four minutes and 17.52 seconds in the final event, the 1,500m, enough to beat his previous record by six points. [ABC]
Ashton Eaton tweet

Mo Farah completes the ‘triple-double’ with 5,000m at the athletics world championships in Beijing –
Mo Farah is the first athlete to win the 5,000 and 10,000m races at successive world championships. The ‘triple-double’: it is a coinage usually confined to basketball, but in Beijing it belongs to the extraordinary Mo Farah, who for a record third successive global championships has completed twin triumphs over 5,000 and 10,000 metres. None of the distance icons – not Emil Zatopek, not Lasse Viren, not Kenenisa Bekele – managed it, but Farah streaked into history at the Bird’s Nest stadium with another exquisitely controlled performance over 12½ laps. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Wirecutters

Wire Cutters from Jack Anderson on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Decathlon world record progression [As of August 29, 2015 – Wikipedia]

Points	Adjusted points	Athlete	Nation	Date	Place
7,485.61	6,087	Aleksander Klumberg	EST	1922-09-22	Helsinki^[1]
7,710.775	6,476	Harold Osborn	USA	1924-07-12	Paris^[1]
7,820.93	6,460	Paavo Yrjölä	FIN	1926-07-18	Viipuri^[1]
7,995.19	6,566	Paavo Yrjölä	FIN	1927-07-17	Helsinki^[1]
8,053.29	6,587	Paavo Yrjölä	FIN	1928-08-04	Amsterdam^[1]
8,255.475	6,865	Akilles Järvinen	FIN	1930-07-20	Viipuri^[1]
8,462.235	6,736	James Bausch	USA	1932-08-06	Los Angeles^[1]
8,790.46	7,147	Hans-Heinrich Sievert	GER	1934-07-08	Hamburg^[1]
7,900	7,254	Glenn Morris	USA	1936-08-08	Berlin^[1]
8,042	7,287	Bob Mathias	USA	1950-06-30	Tulare^[1]
7,887	7,592	Bob Mathias	USA	1952-07-26	Helsinki^[1]
7,985	7,608	Rafer Johnson	USA	1955-06-11	Kingsburg^[1]
8,014	7,653	Vasili Kuznetsov	URS	1958-05-18	Krasnodar^[1]
8,302	7,989	Rafer Johnson	USA	1958-07-28	Moscow^[1]
8,357	7,839	Vasili Kuznetsov	URS	1959-05-17	Moscow^[1]
8,683	7,981	Rafer Johnson	USA	1960-07-09	Eugene^[1]
9,121	8,010	Yang Chuan-kwang	ROC	1963-04-28	Walnut^[1]
8,230	8,120	Russ Hodge	USA	1966-07-24	Los Angeles^[1]
8,319	8,235	Kurt Bendlin	FRG	1967-05-14	Heidelberg^[1]
8,417	8,310	Bill Toomey	USA	1969-12-11	Los Angeles^[1]
8,454	8,466	Mykola Avilov	URS	1972-09-08	Munich^[1]
8,524	8,420	Bruce Jenner^[a]	USA	1975-08-10	Eugene^[1]
8,538	8,454	Bruce Jenner^[a]	USA	1976-06-26	Eugene^[1]
8,618	8,634	Bruce Jenner^[a]	USA	1976-07-30	Montreal^[1]
8,622	8,648	Daley Thompson	GBR	1980-05-15	Götzis^[1]
8,649	8,667	Guido Kratschmer	FRG	1980-06-14	Filderstadt-Bernhausen^[1]
8,704	8,730	Daley Thompson	GBR	1982-05-23	Götzis^[1]
8,723	8,741	Jürgen Hingsen	FRG	1982-08-15	Ulm^[1]
8,743	8,774	Daley Thompson	GBR	1982-09-08	Athens^[1]
8,779	8,825	Jürgen Hingsen	FRG	1983-06-05^[3]	Filderstadt-Bernhausen^[1]
8,798	8,832	Jürgen Hingsen	FRG	1984-05-09	Mannheim^[1]
8,798	8,847	Daley Thompson	GBR	1984-08-09	Los Angeles^[1]
8,891	8,891	Dan O’Brien	USA	1992-09-05	Talence^[1]
8,994	8,994	Tomáš Dvořák	CZE	1999-07-04	Prague^[1]
9,026	9,026	Roman Šebrle	CZE	2001-05-27	Götzis^[1]
9,039	9,039	Ashton Eaton	USA	2012-06-23	Eugene^[4]^[5]
9,045	9,045	Ashton Eaton	USA	2015-08-29	Beijing

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#HappyBirthdayLiamFromBrazil	#WorstEverTributeBand	#HappyBirthdayLiam
2	ほん怖	#MichaelJackson	#WorstEverTributeBand
3	#HappyBirthdayLiam	#NewMonopolyPieces	Compton
4	#القهوه_ام_الش�…	#HappyBirthdayLiam	#AskJanoskians
5	#ALDUBMaiDenHeaven	#WhenAStrangerSaysHello	#LickAFilm
6	#اسوء_انواع_ال�…	#LilWeezyanaFest	Ryan Babel
7	#شي_جميل_بحرف_ا…	Rodeo	#NUFCvAFC
8	Happy Raksha Bandhan	Deputy Darren Goforth	#XFactor
9	#WhatDoYouMeanMusicVideo	Kelby Tomlinson	#challengecup
10	Javier Muñoz	HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIAM	Mumford

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

South Sudanese Civil War
- A ceasefire starts between the forces of President Salva Kiir and rebel forces with claims of breaches already being made. (AFP via Times Live), (AFP via Daily Star)
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
- Turkey launches its first air strikes against ISIL in Syria. (Daily Sabah)
Iraq War (2014–present)
- At least 10 people are killed in roadside bombings in Iraq. (al-Arabiyah)

Disasters and accidents

Thirty-five people are killed when a bus traveling between Butterworth and Willovale in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, drives off a cliff. (News24)
A Pacific Northwest windstorm, with winds of up to 87 miles per hour (140 km/h), leaves two dead and over 450,000 people in the Seattle metropolitan area without power. (Seattle P-I)
A man, who fell from the upper deck of Atlanta’s Turner Field during Saturday night’s Braves–New York Yankees baseball game, has died. (CNN)
2015 Atlantic hurricane season
- Five deaths occurred in Haiti as Tropical Storm Erika dumped heavy rains there, on the Dominican Republic, and on Puerto Rico. The storm weakened to a Tropical Depression before it hit Cuba (max winds 56 kph (35 mph), heading to the southeastern Gulf of Mexico. (WTSP) (Relief Web) (Deutsche Welle) (NHC)

International relations

2015 Thalys train attack
- European interior ministers and transport officials hold emergency talks in Paris following the recent attack on the Thalys train between Amsterdam and Paris. (BBC)
European migrant crisis
- The Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban Ki-moon calls for a “collective political response” to the crisis as the death toll from the latest boat to sink in the Mediterranean Sea rises to 171. (BBC), (CTV)

Law and crime

2013-15 detention of Al-Jazeera journalists by Egypt
- Al Jazeera journalists Peter Greste, Mohamed Fahmy, and Baher Mohamed are each sentenced to three years’ jail in Egypt for “aiding a terrorist organization” and falsifying news. Greste, who earlier was deported to Australia, was tried in absentia. Mohamed, an Egyptian, was sentenced to an additional six months for possession of a spent bullet casing; Fahmy is a Canadian national. (ABC News) (Al Jazeera)
2015 Bangkok bombing
- Thai police report a man with a fake passport has been arrested in a Bangkok suburb in connection with the Erawan Shrine bombing. The man was allegedly in possession of bomb making material and dozens of passports. (AP) (Banjkok Post) (BBC)
U.S. police in Harris County, Texas, arrest Shannon Miles for the alleged murder of Sheriff Deputy Darren Goforth on Friday. (ABC)

Politics and elections

Bersih 4 rally, 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal
- Tens of thousands of Malaysians rally in the capital Kuala Lumpur calling for Prime Minister Najib Razak to step down over a financial scandal where a MYR 2.672 billion (USD 700 million) payment was made to his bank account from unnamed foreign donors. (BBC News)
A legislative commission urges the Congress of Guatemala to remove President Otto Pérez Molina‘s immunity from prosecution over a corruption scandal that has caused former Vice President Roxana Baldetti to be jailed and much of the Cabinet to resign. (ABC News)

Sports

2015 World Championships in Athletics
- American athlete Ashton Eaton sets a new world record in the decathlon on the penultimate night of competition at Beijing. (ABC)

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August 29, 2015

August 30, 2015

Top News Stories –

Oliver Sacks, neurologist – obituary –
Oliver Sacks, the neurologist who has died aged 82, wrote perceptive accounts of intriguing neurological disorders in books such as Awakenings (1973) and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1985); away from his work he was variously a biker, weightlifter and wild swimmer. Sacks’s writing fascinated and inspired writers and film directors and showed how patients who are isolated by disease can still retain their dignity and humanity. In his best-known book, Awakenings, Sacks told the extraordinary story of a group of patients at Beth Abraham Hospital in the Bronx where he worked as a consultant neurologist. W H Auden declared Awakenings to be a masterpiece of medical literature. It inspired a play by Harold Pinter and an Oscar-nominated film starring Robin Williams as the dedicated doctor and Robert De Niro as a patient temporarily freed from years of catatonia. [Daily Telegraph] See Top Twitter Trends
Oliver Sachs in 2009

Video of the Day –

Los Angeles Hyperlapse/Timelapse Compilation from Vadim Tereshchenko on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Oliver Sacks	Oliver Sacks	#OTRADetroit
2	#OTRADetroit	#VMAs	Alice in Wonderland
3	FlyNoAltasHoras	#ShesKindaHotMVA	#SelfieForNash
4	フォロワーの大半	#ThatsAnOddCompliment	Tony Blair
5	#30AğustosZaferBayramı	Late Registration	Oliver Sacks
6	#لماذا_السعودي…	#WorthIthVMA	Rodeo
7	#DomingoDeGanarSeguidores	De La Salle	Metallica
8	#ShesKindaHotMVA	#HannibalMicDrop	#NottingHillCarnival
9	#SelfieForNash	#WhereAreUNowVMA	#MOTD
10	#TVK2Finale	Good Sunday	#HannibalMicDrop

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- An air strike from a Saudi-led coalition kills 36 civilians working in a bottling plant in the northern Hajjah Governorate. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that ISIL has blown up the ancient Temple of Bel in Palmyra. (Fox News)

Disasters and accidents

A fire at an Aramco housing complex in the Saudi Arabian city of Khobar kills at least two people and injures 105. (BBC)
2015 Atlantic hurricane season
- Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit declares disaster status for nine local areas where access by road is impossible after flooding and mudslides from Tropical Storm Erika which killed at least 20 people and left more than 50 missing. Skerrit also appealed for international aid. (Fox News)
2015 Pacific hurricane season
- Hurricane Ignacio, which has weakened to a Category 3 (115 mph) storm, is expected to side-step Hawaii this week though will still generate high surf, rain and powerful winds. The Big Island and Maui remain on a tropical storm watch. Ignacio may re-strengthen to a hurricane when he clears Oahu on Wednesday. (Inquisitr) (Reuters)
European migrant crisis
- Hungary makes a fifth arrest in relation to the death of seventy-one migrants in a truck in Austria. (CNN)
65 girls and young women traveling to an annual dance festival are killed after an open truck smashes into the back of a van near Mbabane, Swaziland. (RT) (The Telegraph)

Politics and elections

2015 Lebanese protests
- Protestors in Beirut continue their protests against the government due to a lack of effective garbage collection in the city during one of the hottest summers on record. (NPR)
2015 Iglesia ni Cristo protests
- Practitioners of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) Christian sect in the Philippines rally in the capital Manila against the Department of Justice for its ongoing investigation of INC leaders. (Channel News Asia) (Philippine Star)
Bersih 4 rally
- There is a second day of rallies in Malaysia calling on Prime Minister Najib Razak to resign over the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal. (BBC)
Japanese anti-militarism protests
- Students and activists protest in Tokyo against a proposal to amend Japan‘s pacifist constitution. (U.S. News and World Report)
Egyptian parliamentary election, 2015
- Voters in Egypt will go to the polls for parliamentary elections starting in October 2015. (Reuters via Mix Fargo)

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August 31, 2015

Top News Stories –

Bartender finds $20 note then wins $1 million California lottery with it –
An American man who found a $20 note on a street outside San Francisco International Airport used it to play the California lottery and won $1 million, a lottery spokesman said on Monday. Hubert Tang used the lucky note to buy two scratch cards at a shop near the airport on Wednesday and won the top prize with one of them, lottery spokesman Greg Parashak said. “I scratched the ticket outside of the store. I told my friend who I was with that I didn’t know if it was real but, ‘I think I just won a million dollars,'” Tang said, according to Parashak. Tang said he did not yet have plans for the money, but joked that he might use it to place $20 bills in random places for other lucky players to find, according to the lottery. [Daily Telegraph]

Bear Grylls to test President Obama’s survival skills in special episode of Running Wild –
President Barack Obama is to appear on a television show with Bear Grylls in Alaska, where the British adventurer will give him a “crash course” in how to survive in the wild. The president is to trek through the Alaskan wilderness with the survival expert and former SAS soldier, for a special episode of “Running Wild”, a show in which celebrities are thrown back to nature and pushed to their mental and physical limits. The participation in the show, which is due to air on NBC later this year, is part of a three day trip by President Obama to the Arctic Circle – the first by any sitting president – which he hopes to use to illustrate the urgency of his climate change agenda. [Daily Telegraph]
Bear Grylls

Isil ‘blows up Temple of Bel’ in ancient Syrian city of Palmyra –
Violent jihadists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) have partially destroyed the the most famous landmark in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra. The Temple of Bel was damaged on Sunday, according to messages posted on the Twitter account of a local activist group, the Palmyra Co-ordination Council. Although the extent of the destruction was unclear, a Palmyra resident, Nasser al Thaer, said that a huge blast had echoed through the area on Sunday afternoon. [Daily Telegraph]
Temple of Bel in 2011

Video of the Day –

I’m Going To Bite Someone

I’m Going To Bite Someone from steve dildarian on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#MTVHitsLA	#MyTypeIn4Words	Wes Craven
2	Wes Craven	#AshtonIsWorthIt	#BankHolidayMonday
3	#WhatDoYouMeanOnVEVO	Will Smith	#VMAs
4	#FelizLunes	Blue Bell	#AshtonIsWorthIt
5	#AshtonIsWorthIt	Fred Jackson	Martial
6	#VMAs	#MTVHitsLA	#WhatDoYouMeanMusicVideo
7	De Gea	#MondayMotivation	Wildest Dreams
8	Martial	Trent Richardson	Miley Cyrus
9	Iggy	Kirk Cousins	Kanye West
10	Kim Kardashian	#WhatDoYouMeanMusicVideo	#CONGRATS5SOS

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2015 Bangkok bombing
- Thai police say they have discovered bomb-making material in a raid in an apartment in an outer side of Bangkok. (AP)

Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL
- Reports suggest that the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has partially damaged the Temple of Bel in Palmyra, Syria, by detonating an explosive within its walls. (CNN) (Al Jazeera English Online)

Arts and culture

Denali, the highest mountain peak in North America, officially regains its original Alaska Native name through an executive order issued by American President Barack Obama. Previously, since 1917, it had been known as Mount McKinley. (The New York Times)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Atlantic hurricane season
- Hurricane Fred hits Cape Verde causing flooding and the closure of airports. (AP via New York Times)

International relations

Turkey–PKK conflict
- Two reporters and a support worker for Vice News are charged with being members of Islamic State of Iraq and Levant by a judge in Turkey, following their arrest a few days prior. (Al Jazeera English Online)
Minsk II implementation
- Riot police clash with protesters armed with firecrackers and petrol bombs outside the parliament building, in Kiev, Ukraine, leaving one national guardsman dead and around 100 people injured. (Al Jazeera English Online) (The News Hub) (BBC)
Syria–North Korea relations
- A park in Damascus is named after the North Korean founding leader Kim Il-Sung. (Al Jazeera English Online)

Law and crime

Kevin Dahlgren, who is suspected of killing four Czech family members, has been extradited from the United States to face trial. (Yahoo news) (Fox news)
White supremacist Frazier Glenn Miller, Jr. (also known as Frazier Glenn Cross) is convicted of three counts of murder outside two Jewish centres in the American state of Kansas. (AP via Yahoo! News)
At least three people are dead and three people injured in the Churachandpur district of India‘s Manipur State following riots after the passage of three bills in the Manipur Legislative Assembly yesterday. (NDTV)

Science and technology

According to a new study, the Sumatran Rhino is now considered extinct in the wild in Malaysia. No new wild animals have been spotted since 2007, elsewhere fewer than 100 Rhinos remain in the wild. (MSN).

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September 1, 2015

Top News Stories –

Kanye West tells MTV Video Music Awards he wants to ‘run for president’ –
Kanye West stole the show at the MTV Video Music Awards by declaring that he will run for US president in 2020. He was given the lifetime achievement award but during his speech said he’d “decided in 2020 to run for president”. Cheered on by his wife Kim Kardashian, Kanye got an extended standing ovation when he was picking up the Video Vanguard lifetime achievement award. He also appeared to confess to smoking weed before taking the stage. “I will die for the art, for what I believe in and I ain’t always gonna be polite. “I rolled up a little something. I got the answer. We’re the millennials bro.” [BBC Newsbeat]
Kanye West

Avril Lavigne and Chad Kroeger announce split –
Avril Lavigne has announced that she’s separating from Chad Kroeger after two years of marriage. The singer posted a statement on her Instagram account alongside a happy photo of the couple on their wedding day. “It is with a heavy heart that Chad and I announce our separation today,” she wrote. “Through not only the marriage, but the music as well, we’ve created many unforgettable moments.” The 30-year-old married the Nickelback frontman in July 2013.

Avril Lavigne

Video of the Day –

Taylor Swift – Wildest Dreams

List of the Day –

MTV VMA Winners 2015 [Billboard Magazine]

Video of the Year:
Beyoncé – “7/11”
Ed Sheeran – “Thinking Out Loud”
Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Bad Blood” — WINNER
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk”
Kendrick Lamar – “Alright”

Best Male Video:
Ed Sheeran – “Thinking Out Loud”
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk” — WINNER
Kendrick Lamar – “Alright”
The Weeknd – “Earned It”
Nick Jonas – “Chains”

Best Female Video:
Beyoncé – “7/11”
Taylor Swift – “Blank Space” — WINNER
Nicki Minaj – “Anaconda”
Sia – “Elastic Heart”
Ellie Goulding – “Love Me Like You Do”

Best Hip Hop Video:
Fetty Wap – “Trap Queen”
Nicki Minaj – “Anaconda” — WINNER
Kendrick Lamar – “Alright”
Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth – “See You Again”
Big Sean ft. E-40 – “IDFWU”

Best Pop Video:
Beyoncé – “7/11”
Ed Sheeran – “Thinking Out Loud”
Taylor Swift – “Blank Space” — WINNER
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk”
Maroon 5 – “Sugar”

Best Rock Video:
Hozier – “Take Me To Church”
Fall Out Boy – “Uma Thurman” — WINNER
Florence + the Machine – “Ship To Wreck”
Walk the Moon – “Shut Up and Dance”
Arctic Monkeys – “Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?”

Artist to Watch:
Fetty Wap – “Trap Queen” — WINNER
Vance Joy – “Riptide”
George Ezra – “Budapest”
James Bay – “Hold Back The River”
FKA Twigs – “Pendulum”

Best Collaboration:
Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Bad Blood” — WINNER
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk”
Wiz Khalifa ft. Charlie Puth – “See You Again”
Ariana Grande & The Weeknd – “Love Me Harder”
Jessie J, Ariana Grande, Nicki Minaj – “Bang Bang”

Video With a Social Message:
Jennifer Hudson – “I Still Love You”
Colbie Caillat – “Try”
Big Sean ft. Kanye West and John Legend – “One Man Can Change the World” — WINNER
Rihanna – “American Oxygen”
Wale – “The White Shoes”

Song of the Summer:
David Guetta ft. Nicki Minaj, Afrojack & Bebe Rexha – “Hey Mama”
Demi Lovato – “Cool For The Summer”
Fetty Wap ft. Monty – “My Way”
Fifth Harmony ft. Kid Ink – “Worth It”
Five Seconds of Summer – “She’s Kinda Hot” — WINNER
Major Lazer & DJ Snake ft. MØ – “Lean On”
OMI – “Cheerleader (Felix Jaehn Remix)”
Selena Gomez ft. A$AP Rocky – “Good For You”
Silento – “Watch Me”
Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Bad Blood”
The Weeknd – “Can’t Feel My Face”

Best Art Direction:
Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Bad Blood” (Charles Infante)
Snoop Dogg – “So Many Pros” (Jason Fijal) — WINNER
Jack White – “Would You Fight For My Love” (Jeff Peterson)
The Chemical Brothers – “Go” (Michel Gondry)
Skrillex & Diplo – “Where Are U Now” with Justin Bieber (Brewer)

Best Choreography:
Beyoncé – “7/11” (Beyoncé, Chris Grant, Additional choreography: Gabriel Valenciano)
OK Go – “I Won’t Let You Down” (OK Go, air:man and Mori Harano) — WINNER
Chet Faker – “Gold” (Ryan Heffington)
Ed Sheeran – “Don’t” (Nappy Tabs)
Flying Lotus ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Never Catch Me” (Keone and Mari Madrid)

Best Cinematography:
Flying Lotus ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Never Catch Me” (Larkin Sieple) — WINNER
Ed Sheeran – “Thinking Out Loud” (Daniel Pearl)
Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Bad Blood” (Christopher Probst)
FKA Twigs – “Two Weeks” (Justin Brown)
Alt-J – “Left Hand Free” (Mike Simpson)

Best Direction:
Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Bad Blood” (Joseph Kahn)
Mark Ronson ft. Bruno Mars – “Uptown Funk” (Bruno Mars and Cameron Duddy)
Kendrick Lamar – “Alright” (Colin Tilley & The Little Homies) — WINNER
Hozier – “Take Me To Church” (Brendan Canty, Conal Thomson)
Childish Gambino – “Sober” (Hiro Murai)

Best Editing:
Beyoncé – “7/11” (Beyoncé, Ed Burke, Jonathan Wing) — WINNER
Ed Sheeran – “Don’t” (Jacquelyn London)
Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Bad Blood” (Chancler Haynes at Cosmo Street)
A$AP Rocky – “L$D” (Dexter Navy)
Skrillex & Diplo – “Where Are U Now” with Justin Bieber (Brewer)

Best Visual Effects:
Taylor Swift ft. Kendrick Lamar – “Bad Blood” (Ingenuity Studios)
FKA Twigs – “Two Weeks” (Gloria FX, Tomash Kuzmytskyi, and Max Chyzhevskyy)
Childish Gambino – “Telegraph Ave.” (Gloria FX)
Skrillex & Diplo – “Where Are U Now” with Justin Bieber (Brewer) — WINNER
Tyler, The Creator – “F****** Young/Death Camp” (Gloria FX)

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#BackToHogwarts	#DescribeMyJobToA5YearOld	Idris Elba
2	Idris Elba	#MyCountryIn3Words	#DeadlineDay
3	#YaEsSetiembreY	Idris Elba	#MyCountryIn3Words
4	#EnEsteMesTengoPensado	#BackToHogwarts	#BackToHogwarts
5	#ReDaPara	Kim Davis	#LabourC4
6	#ÖzgürMedyaSusturulamaz	Kermit	#Back2School
7	#قاطعوا_النساء…	#BeatLA	1st of September
8	Setembro	Jimmy Snuka	#action1D
9	#EstreiaARegraDoJogo	#NewHorrorMovieRules	#FreeMyHomieCalum
10	#حمله_مقاطعه_ا�…	#IWillShhhhYouWhen	#IKNOWWHATYOUDIDONITUNES

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL
- The United Nations confirms the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has completely destroyed the Temple of Bel in Palmyra, Syria, after earlier reports that the structure was mostly intact. (BBC) (Al Jazeera English Online)
War in Somalia (2009–present)
- Al-Shabaab claims to have killed scores of African Union troops in a successful attack that captured a compound in Janaale, south of Mogadishu. (Al-Jazeera), (AP)
War in North-West Pakistan
- Six suspected militants are killed in a United States drone attack in the tribal area of North Waziristan. (IANS via Yahoo! News India)

Arts and culture

Pope Francis releases a letter granting priests the ability to grant absolution to women who have received an abortion. (Washington Post)
Conflict-of-interest editing on Wikipedia
- Wikipedia concludes a large-scale operation blocking hundreds of users centered on networks of for-pay edits violating the encyclopedia’s guidelines. (BBC) (The Guardian) (Ars Technica)

Disaster and accidents

A chemical plant owned by the Shandong Binyuan Chemical Company explodes in the Chinese city of Dongying in the coastal Shandong province, killing at least one person with the extent of other injuries unknown. (AP via Asian Correspondent) (Voice of America) (Shanghaiist)
The death toll from a Legionnaires’ disease outbreak at a Quincy, Illinois veterans home rises to at least seven with more than the current number of 32 sickened expected since the incubation period for illness can be up to two weeks. (Reuters)

International relations

European migrant crisis
- Authorities in Hungary close the Budapest Keleti railway station to prevent hundreds of migrants from boarding trains to other European capitals. (ITV)
- Thousands of refugees arrive in Germany’s München Hauptbahnhof from Budapest. Police and firefighters on the scene provide them with food, water and medical aid even as more continue to arrive. (thelocal)
- More than 11,000 Icelanders offer to open their homes to Syrian refugees to help with the European crisis.(The Independent) (Time)
Eurostar services between Paris and London are delayed by hundreds of migrants trying to board the trains at Calais. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Lake County, Illinois authorities seek three suspects, believed to be two white men and a black man, who killed a police officer from the Fox Lake, Illinois Police Department, Lieutenant Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, a 30-year veteran of the force who had been a mentor to many youths in the area and one of the most decorated officers in his department. (Chicago Tribune)

Politics and elections

Guatemala’s Congress unanimously votes to strip President Otto Pérez of immunity from prosecution for his alleged role in a graft scandal that has engulfed his government. Nationwide elections are scheduled for Sunday, September 6th; Pérez is not eligible because of constitutional term limits. (Reuters) (Bloomberg)
New Zealand flag debate
- Four alternatives to the current New Zealand flag are chosen for a Spring referendum (20 November – 11 December 2015) in which New Zealanders will determine their favorite of the new designs. (TV New Zealand) (New Zealand Government)
A law affecting online personal computer data storage comes into force in Russia. (RT)
Faroese general election, 2015
- The centre-left opposition, led by Aksel V. Johannesen, wins the elections on the Faroe Islands; the new government is expected to pass legislation allowing same-sex unions. (The Local)]

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September 2, 2015

Top News Stories –

Wikipedia rocked by ‘rogue editors’ blackmail scam targeting small businesses and celebrities –
Hundreds of small British businesses and minor celebrities have been targeted by a sophisticated blackmail scam orchestrated by “rogue editors” at Wikipedia, The Independent can reveal. The victims, who range from a wedding photographer in Dorset to a high-end jewellery shop in Shoreditch, east London, faced demands for hundreds of pounds to “protect” or update Wikipedia pages about their businesses. A former Britain’s Got Talent contestant was among dozens of individuals targeted. The scam worked by targeting firms struggling to get pages about their businesses on Wikipedia. They were often told their articles had been rejected due to concerns of excessive promotional content – although in some cases the scammers themselves may have been the ones causing the articles to be removed. [The Independent]

‘Doctor Who’: Alex Kingston Revives River Song Role For Christmas Special –
Actress Alex Kingston is returning to the world of “Doctor Who” for this year’s Christmas special, to air Dec. 25 on BBC America. Kingston plays the time-traveling Professor River Song, who is married to the Doctor. She’s appeared in 15 “Doctor Who” episodes since 2008, but the Dec. 25 special will mark the first time she’s worked with Peter Capaldi, the latest actor to play the Doctor in the enduring British sci-fi franchise. The 11th “Doctor Who” Christmas special began production this week, from a script by exec producer Steven Moffat and directed by Douglas Mackinnon. Producers said a range of guest stars for the special are still to be announced. [Variety] See Top Twitter Trends
Alex Kingston

Man invents ‘Nutella Lock’ to stop people stealing –
Daniel Schobloch has invented the “Nutella Lock” to keep chocolate spread thieves out. Schobloch says the product started off as a joke and was inspired by a friend: “One of my friends was always getting worked up because his children were stealing his Nutella.” Eventually, word got out that someone had finally created a solution to all our Nutella woes, and demand began to rise. As of the end of August, Schobloch as sold nearly 1000 units. He hopes to bring the device, which he warns shouldn’t be used as a “serious security” measure, to the open market soon. In the meantime, you can put an end to Nutella thievery by purchasing a lock on eBay for 10 euros (£7.30). Though judging by the response on Twitter, you’ll have to be quick. [Daily Telegraph]

French farmers kidnap Alps park chiefs, demanding protection from wolf attacks –
A group of 50 farmers are holding hostage the president and director of a national park in the Alps, demanding they take urgent action to stop wolves attacking their livestock. French farmers have kidnapped the head of a national park in the Alps, demanding stronger measures against wolves that are attacking their flocks. Around 50 farmers took the law into their own hands on Tuesday evening by taking hostage Guy Chaumereuil, president of the National Park of Vanoise in the French Alps, along with the park’s director, Emmanuel Michau. France has become accustomed to “bossnapping” over the years during labour disputes, but this is thought to be the first time an official has been held over a wolf dispute. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Google, Evolved

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	River Song	#DoItRight	#Expo15NHS
2	#felizmiercoles	River Song	#5HEuropeanAnnouncement
3	#5HEuropeanAnnouncement	#Change5SOSLyricsToFries	River Song
4	#كم_فلوسك_في_ال…	#FreddieGray	Bill Turnbull
5	#KıyıyaVuranİnsanlık	Hump Day	Miss Piggy
6	#MasterChefBR	Dean Jones	#Change5SOSLyricsToFries
7	#غرق_طفل_سوري	#WeKnowTheTruth	Kyrgios
8	#DursunÖzbekistifaEt	#IWishICouldForget	Walkie Talkie
9	参加者の声	Dwight Howard	#DescribeMyJobToA5YearOld
10	#OTRAPhilly	Elvis Andrus	#IWishICouldForget

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraq War (2014–present)
- Masked men in military uniforms kidnap 16 Turkish workers in Baghdad. (AP)
Syrian Civil War
- A car bomb kills at least seven people in the Latakia Governorate. (AFP via Daily Star)

Business and economy

150 million workers go on strike in India to oppose Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s labour market reforms. (Voice of America)

Disasters and accidents

French police arrest an arsonist for a fire in an apartment in the 18th arrondissement of Paris which killed eight people.(BBC)

International relations

Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
- Upcoming congressional votes
  - President Barack Obama has sufficient support in the United States Senate to uphold a veto of the proposed congressional vote of disapproval of the nuclear deal with Iran. (AP)

Law and crime

Eight people have been killed and over 30 injured in riots in the Indian state of Manipur since the passage of three controversial land bills on Monday. (IBN Live)
Crime in El Salvador
- There have been 907 deaths last month in El Salvador as a result of gang violence, a death rate not seen since the Salvadoran Civil War of the 1980s. (BBC)
The Dutch Public Prosecution Service releases a statement that former Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands Els Borst who was murdered on 8 February 2014, died from forty-one stab wounds on her head, neck and hands. (NOS)
A French probe into the death of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in 2004 closes without bringing any new information. (Wires via France 24)
A judge orders that President of Guatemala Otto Pérez Molina be detained for his alleged role in a corruption scandal. (AP)

Science and technology

A new study estimates that there are three trillion trees on Earth, with 15 billion lost each year to mainly human causes. (Sydney Morning Herald)
Russian rocket Soyuz TMA-18M launches a crew of three to the ISS. (Space.com)

Sports

2022 Commonwealth Games
- South Africa will become the first African nation to host the Commonwealth Games as Durban is granted the rights to host the games in 2022. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Delegates elect Vitaly Mutko to be the President of Russian Football Union. (TASS)

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September 3, 2015

Top News Stories –

Mel Gibson will not be charged for allegedly pushing female photographer –
Mel Gibson will not face charges for allegedly shoving a female photographer in Sydney. Kristi Miller, the photographer, told police Gibson pushed and verbally abused her, and that she feared he “was going to punch me”. New South Wales police announced on Thursday that they would not charge Gibson over the alleged incident, which Ms Miller said took place outside a cinema on 23 August. “At this stage, based on the evidence gathered, no formal action will be taken,” police said in a statement. [Daily Telegraph]
Mel Gibson

Teen who wants to throw party hacks parents’ phone and changes ‘no’ to ‘hell yes’ using autocorrect –
It is perhaps a given that children these days know more about technology than their parents. And this was perfectly demonstrated by a young man apparently who got his parents to agree to a party they never wanted in the first place. The teenager, known only as Brendan, knew he wouldn’t get the answer he wanted if he asked in the traditional sense. So, he hacked his parents’ phone and changed the autocorrect settings from “no” to “HELL YES”. He asked his parents in a group conversation, which was then posted on imgur: “Hey guys can I throw a party tmrw night. [sic]” His mother tried to say no. However, her phone said “HELL YES”. It is unclear if Brendan threw his party, or got grounded, but his parents will probably keep a closer eye on thier phones from now on. [Daily Telegraph]
imgur – Added a shortcut to parents phone everytime they type “No”

Video of the Day –

Surf in High Heels

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#FelizJueves	#ImOldEnoughToKnow	#refugeeswelcome
2	#TeLoDigoEn3Palabras	#QuestionsBetterLeftUnansw…	#cycletoworkday
3	デレステ	BB-8	Dean Jones
4	Tom Brady	Tom Brady	#OllieMarlandForWildcard
5	#AylanKurdi	#BieberOnFallon	#ZaynFeatNickiMinaj
6	#كلمتين_لشخص_ف�…	#KimDavis	#ImOldEnoughToKnow
7	スターライトステ��…	That’s So Raven	Katie Hopkins
8	#ÇocuklarınÖldüğüDü…	Kershaw	Welbeck
9	#WeLoveYouCamila	#MrRobot	#LabourDebate
10	Corinthians	#Streamys	Hungary

Other News Stories –

Disasters and accidents

European migrant crisis/Syrian Civil War
- Death of Aylan Kurdi
  - Bodies of Syrian refugees are found on a beach in Turkey, including a 3-year-old boy, pictures of whose body spread virally and prompt grave international concern.(Al Jazeera)
An overloaded wooden boat with Sumatra-bound migrants sinks off the coast of Malaysia killing at least 15 people, 13 of which are women. Nearby fisherman rescue 19 people with more than 40 missing. The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency states that the boat was taking migrant workers home to Tanjung Balai in Indonesia’s Sumatra province for the Hari Raya Haji celebration. (Reuters) (The NY Daily News) (Malaysian Star)
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370:
- French prosecutors state that they believe “with certainty” that a piece of debris that had washed ashore on Reunion Island came from the missing plane. (BBC)

International relations

2015 China’s V-Day Parade
- A military parade is held in Beijing featuring 12,000 members of the People’s Liberation Army, 500 vehicles and 200 People’s Liberation Army Air Force air craft. Women of the Chinese military are allowed to participate in the parade for the first time. (RT)

Law and crime

The President of Guatemala, Otto Pérez Molina, resigns after being charged in a corruption scandal; Vice President Alejandro Maldonado is sworn in as interim head of state. (The New York Times) (BBC News)
2015 Bangkok bombing
- Another suspect in the bombing is arrested in Narathiwat Province in southern Thailand and flown to Bangkok. (Bangkok Post)
Miller v. Davis
- Kim Davis, the Rowan County, Kentucky, clerk, is jailed for contempt of court for continuing to refuse, on grounds of religious freedom, to issue marriage licenses tosame-sex couples per U.S. District Judge David Bunning’s August 12, 2015, order. The deputy clerks are ordered to issue these licenses. (Reuters), (New York Times)

Sports

National Football League
- In arbitration, U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman overturns the NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell‘s four-game suspension of New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. The judge rules that Brady had been given no notice that ball deflation would result in a suspension. The NFL announces that they will appeal the ruling.(AP) (ESPN)

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September 4, 2015

Top News Stories –

North Korean all-girl band ‘created by Kim Jong-un’ –
Seven-strong group to serve as ‘ideological scouts, the bugles of revolution and ideological flag-bearers’. A new all-girl band that North Korean state media says was created by Kim Jong-un has made its debut in Moscow. The female vocalists of the Chongbong Orchestra have been tasked with “creating music for the masses”, North Korean state media reported. The singers and their brass backing band play “light music” and are a “revolutionary art organisation that represents and leads the era”, North Korean television reported, adding that the group was set up as part of the “grand plan” of the “respected Kim Jong-un”. [Daily Telegraph]

Egyptian billionaire offers to buy an island off Italy or Greece to rehouse refugees –
If Greece or Italy sell him an island, Naguib Sawiris, the 10th richest man in Africa, says he will host the migrants and offer them jobs in the new country. Naguib Sawiris, the 10th richest man in Africa, announNaguib Sawirisced the initiative on Twitter, but said that he had not yet approached the Italian or Greek governments about his plan. “Greece or Italy sell me an island, I’ll call its independence and host the migrants and provide jobs for them building their new country,” he wrote. [Daily Telegraph] Naguib Sawiris is the founding member of Al Masreyeen Al Ahrrar political party.
Naguib Sawiris tweets

Hatton Garden jewelry heist: Four men admit part in £10m Hollywood-style robbery of ‘impenetrable’ London vault –
Four men have admitted their involvement in the £10m Easter weekend Hatton Garden Safety Deposit raid, at Woolwich Crown Court. John Collins, Daniel Jones, Terry Perkins and Perry Reader all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle the Hatton Garden deposit. The admission does not mean the men carried out the burglary but that they participated in an agreement or encouragement of the offence. The pleas come after Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Company went into liquidation after falling into insolvency. A law firm representative said the company owed money “to companies and people”. The dramatic raid of Hatton Garden Safety Deposit, near the City of London, happened over the Easter Weekend when a masked gang used power tools, including an angle grinder, concrete drills and crowbars to break into the facility on Thursday, 2 April. [International Business Times]
Hatton Garden road sign

Video of the Day –

Что будет если в Колу добавить ПРОПАН ? Coca Cola + propane = Mega ROCKET

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#HappyBirthdayBeyonce	#MyObituaryShouldInclude	#IAmHappiestWhenI
2	#MeGustaBastanteQue	#BeyDay	#fridayfeeling
3	Niall e Camila	#LaborDayWeekend	#HappyBirthdayBeyonce
4	#BuenViernes	Niall and Camila	Bob Geldof
5	#NadaMasLindoQue	#HappyBirthdayBeyonce	#ForceFriday
6	#استشهاد_جنود_�…	#camsfanmail	Anjem Choudary
7	Hayırlı Cumalar	#fridayreads	Wales
8	Michigan	#ForceFriday	Kylie Jenner
9	Palacio de Justicia	#IAmHappiestWhenI	#GEOSCO
10	#SufrirEsEsoDe	Baylor	#SugarRush

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraq War (2014–present)
- Iraqi security forces raid the offices of Kata’ib Hezbollah in Baghdad, accusing them of being involved in the abduction of 18 Turkish workers. (Reuters via Economic Times)
Sinai insurgency
- Two roadside bombs detonate in the Sinai Peninsula injuring six international peacekeepers, who were there to support the 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty. (AP via CBS)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- An explosion at an arms depot in Yemen kills 45 Emirati soldiers who were part of the Saudi led coalition. (Yahoo)
- Five Bahraini soldiers are killed on the Saudi-Yemeni border while taking part in a military operation against Yemen-based Houthi militants. (Reuters)
Clashes in and around Tajikistan‘s capital Dushanbe kill at least 17 people. Government representatives blame the attacks against security forces on former Deputy Defense Minister Aduhalim Nazarzoda, who fought against government forces in the Tajikistan Civil War. (BBC)
Russia’s role in the Syrian Civil War
- Russian President Vladimir Putin confirms that Russia is providing military aid in Syrian Civil War in support of the Bashar al-Assad regime and is providing heavy weapons, aircraft, tanks, serious training and logistical support to the Syrian Army. (Telegraph)

Arts and Culture

The world’s shortest man ever recorded, Chandra Bahadur Dangi, dies from pneumonia in an American Samoan hospital at age 75. Dangi lived with his family in Dang District, Nepal. His height, listed in the Guinness World Records, is 54.6 centimeters / 21.5 inches. (Kathmandu Post) (Daily Pakistan)
U.S. Military Academy officials confirm that during West Point’s annual pillow fight on August 20, 2015, some cadets swung pillowcases packed with hard objects leaving 30 cadets injured, including 24 with concussions. (New York Times)

Business and economics

General Mills sells subsidiary Green Giant to B&G Foods Inc. for $765 million. (Star Tribune via The Ledger)
BlackBerry Limited announces it will purchase Good Technology, a provider of mobile software, as part of its broader shift to a services role within the internet of things. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Atlantic hurricane season
- Tropical Storm Fred’s predicted track will turn northeast toward the Azores islands off the coast of Portugal as a Tropical Depression. (Weather.com)
2015 Pacific hurricane season
- Tropical Storm Ignacio, currently headed north-northwest away from Hawaii, is anticipated to turn northeast on Sunday, heading for the Alaskan panhandle and northwestern British Columbia. (AccuWeather), (SurfLine.com)
Forty one people are injured when a British tourist bus and four trucks are involved in a collision between Sempach and Sursee in Switzerland. (Reuters via News24)

Law and crime

Two British Vice News journalists, Jake Hanrahan and Philip Pendlebury, arrested on 28 August in Diyarbakir Province in southeastern Turkey on terror charges, are released while their colleague, translator Mohammed Ismael Rasool, remains in custody. (Turkish Weekly), (Time)

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