Top News Stories –

Typhoon Hagupit hits the Philippines –
Typhoon Hagupit is sweeping across the eastern Philippines, threatening coastal areas with a powerful sea-surge. Roofs have been blown off in the city of Tacloban, where thousands were killed by Typhoon Haiyan a year ago and more than half a million people have fled coastal villages.

Slice of Prince William and Kate’s wedding cake sells for $6,000 at auction –
A wedding cake slice from the 2011 wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge has been sold at an auction in Beverly Hills for $6,000 (£4,000).
The buyer of this romantic slice of history was bought by Gee Chuang, the CEO of online marketplace Listia.com, who plans to give away the piece of wedding cake on the company’s website in April of next year to celebrate the royal couple’s fourth wedding anniversary. The eight-tiered wedding cake, made by pastry chef Fiona Cairns and her team, was adorned with icing flowers, petals and leaves. [Daily Telegraph]

iPhone crash landing protection –
Apple Inc was granted a patent last week on an innovation that can detect when a handset is falling – and rotates it to avoid the screen hitting the ground. If sensors calculate the screen or camera will hit the ground, a motor is instantly activated within the phone which moves an internal weight fast enough to affect the ‘rotational velocity’ of the device and spin it around so that it lands on a reinforced area. The idea could also work with iPads and other devices.

Al-Qaeda hostage killed during rescue mission –
Luke Somers, a US journalist who was being held captive in Yemen since 2013, has been shot by his captors during a a military operation to rescue him and later died. A video was released earlier this week showing a member of al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP) threatening to kill Mr Somers unless unspecified demands are met.

Video of the Day –

I’ve fallen and I can’t get up – Crowd dynamics test using Miarmy for Maya

I've fallen, and I can't get up! from Dave Fothergill vfx on Vimeo.

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• 2014 hostage rescue operations in Yemen
  • An American civilian and a South African civilian die during an attempt to rescue them by U.S. Navy SEALs in Yemen. They were being held hostage by al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. (CNN)
• 2014 Iguala mass kidnapping
  • Forensic specialists at the University of Innsbruck confirm the identity of the first of the 43 missing students in Guerrero. The remains were located at a municipal dump in Cocula, Guerrero. (El Universal)
• Syrian Civil War
  • The Syrian Army repels an ISIL offensive on the Deir ez-Zor air base, resulting in at least 119 casualties total. (Khaleej Times)
• Unidentified gunmen break into a prison and free an estimated 200 inmates in Minna, west-central Niger State in Nigeria. (NBC News)

Disasters and accidents

• At least 70 drown when a migrant boat from Ethiopia sinks off the Red Sea coast of Yemen. (BBC)
• Typhoon Hagupit (Ruby), a strong tropical cyclone, makes landfall hitting the Philippines. (BBC)

Law and crime

• 2014 Ferguson unrest, Death of Eric Garner
  • Demonstrations continue for a third day in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Jacksonville, Miami, and Washington, D.C. where protesters perform “die-ins” over the deaths of Michael Brown and Eric Garner. (The New York Times) (Boston.com)

Science and Technology

• NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft reawakens at 8:00 PM UTC in preparation for observing the dwarf planet Pluto and its satellites. New Horizons, launched on January 19, 2006, will begin distant observations on January 15, 2015, culminating with its July 14, 2015 closest approach flyby.(Sky and Telescope) (L.A. Times) (C-Net)

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