Top News Stories –
NYPD arrest go-slow –
Police in the New York Police Department (NYPD) have dramatically reduced the amount of arrests and other actions since the shooting of two of their officers on December 20th 2015. Citations for traffic violations have fallen by 94 percent, from 10,069 to 587; summonses for low-level offenses like public drinking and urination are down by 94 percent — from 4,831 to 300; parking violations drop 92 percent, from 14,699 to 1,241 and drug arrests by cops dropped by 84 percent, from 382 to 63.
I “emoji” you –
The most popular word of 2014 is not actually a word at all but a symbol meaning love – the ’emoji’ heart symbol was the most widely used character in blogs, Twitter and Facebook and in 250,000 global news outlets in the last 12 months, according to a list compiled by the Global Language Monitor in Austin, Texas.
3 wheels on my airliner –
A Virgin Atlantic passenger plane landed safely at London’s Gatwick Airport after discovering a problem with part of its main landing gear. Virgin flight VS43 was travelling from Gatwick to Las Vegas when it had to return and land on slightly less than the full number of wheels.
No such thing as bad publicity –
The Interview, the film about the spoof assassination of the North Korea Leader becomes Sony’s biggest download film ever. It’s been downloaded more than two million times since its release on 27 December, making back a third of its $44m (£28m) budget.
Video of the Day –
The Interview Trailer
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in Somalia
- In the latest advance in Operation Indian Ocean, Somali government forces assisted by AMISOM troops capture seven towns in the central Hiran province from Al-Shabaab. (Garowe Online)
- Boko Haram
- Cameroon launches its first airstrikes against Boko Haram in a successful operation to reclaim several villages and a military base briefly seized by the militant group in the Far North Region. (BBC)
- Disasters and accidents
- The MS Norman Atlantic ferry fire death toll rises to at least ten as the evacuation ends. (BBC)
- Ebola outbreak:
- Glasgow‘s Gartnavel Hospital diagnoses a woman, who arrived from Sierra Leone, as the first case of Ebola in theUK. (BBC)
- A fire in a Pakistan shopping mall kills at least 13 people. (AP)
- Politics and elections
- Snap elections are to be called after the Hellenic Parliament fails to elect a new Greek president. (Reuters)
- The Chinese government blocks some of Google‘s Gmail services. (Reuters)
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