April 14, 2015

Top News Stories –

When carp attack: Watch fish jump at rowers –
As the Washington University in St. Louis men’s rowing teams practiced Friday morning, a school of Asian carp showed their apparent displeasure with the activity by leaping frantically from the waters of Missouri’s Creve Coeur Lake. Junior Benjamin Rosenbaum, a captain of the varsity team, captured the aquatic onslaught on video. Rosenbaum says practices on the lake aren’t normally so eventful, but recent heavy rains and flooding may have brought more of the fish to this particular area. He had seen this activity once before, in 2013, when he was in a boat rather than on the banks. (See Video of the day) [USA Today]

Soul singer Percy Sledge dies aged 73 –
US soul singer Percy Sledge, famed for his song When a Man Loves a Woman, has died aged 73. Steve Green from talent agency Artists International Management Inc confirmed to the BBC that he died at his home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on Tuesday. Sledge’s debut single When a Man Loves a Woman reached the top 10 twice in the UK and topped the US Billboard chart for two weeks in 1966, when it also got to number four in the UK chart (See List of the day). During an interview for the the 2013 documentary Muscle Shoals, he recalled his first recording of it. “When I came into the studio, I was shaking like a leaf. I was scared,” he said, adding that it was the “same melody that I sang when I was out in the fields. I just wailed out in the woods and let the echo come back to me”.

Video of the Day –

Rowers attacked by asian carp 2015 –

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April 18, 2015

Top News Stories –

Tony Abbott filmed downing a beer in only seven seconds –
Some may say it is behaviour unbecoming of a prime minister. Others have applauded it. Footage has emerged of the Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, knocking back a large glass of beer in only seven seconds. But the incident is not a first in Australian politics – and is not all that unusual for Mr Abbott. The prime minister was at a bar in east Sydney on Saturday along with players from the UTS Bats Australian Rules football team. [BBC]
Tony Abbott

Kate Middleton’s friend holds orgies in sharia hotel –
Emma Sayle, owner of Killing Kittens, a members-only sex-club, said the Bermondsey Square hotel in London is one of her preferred destinations for the self-styled ‘sexual elite’. The Duchess of Cambridge’s friend has been staging sex parties in the country’s first sharia hotel. A friend of Kate Middleton’s, Miss Sayle, 36, who attended Downe House boarding school with Prince Michael’s daughter, Lady Gabriella Windsor, has used the four loft suites on the seventh floor of the hotel for her parties. According to Miss Sayle, who is a member of Kate’s rowing crew, The Sisterhood, the rules at Killing Kitten events state men can’t approach women at parties unless they know them, everyone wears a mask and single men aren’t allowed. [Daily Telegraph]
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

Zayn Malik collects Asian Award and thanks bandmates –
Zayn Malik has taken a step in a new direction, showing off a new look for his first public appearance since quitting One Direction. He was in London for the fifth annual Asian Awards, where he picked a gong for his contribution to music and paid tribute to his former bandmates. Malik also thanked God and his parents, “for making me Asian”. [BBC] He also had a radical change of look with an almost shaved head compared to the long hair he used to sport.
Zayn Malik (image – thecount.com)

Video of the Day –

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Official Teaser Trailer

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May 7, 2015

Top News Stories –

British Election 2015: Exit poll puts Tories close to majority –
The Conservatives are set to be the largest party in the Commons but just short of a majority, according to the general election exit poll. The survey taken at polling stations across the UK suggests the Tories will get 316 MPs to Labour’s 239 when all the results have been counted. It suggests the Lib Dems will get 10 MPs, the SNP 58, Plaid Cymru 4, UKIP 2 and the Greens two. The exit poll was conducted by NOP/MORI for the BBC, ITV and Sky. [BBC] See List of the Day for previous election actual results
BBC Exit Polls

Putin’s new tank designed to ‘outclass the West’ breaks down –
A new Russian tank announced with much fanfare as superior to Western machines stalled during a dress rehearsal for Victory Day celebrations in Moscow on Thursday. The T-14 Armata, making only its second public appearance, ground to a halt on Red Square, opposite Vladimir Lenin’s mausoleum.
Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minster, was reportedly forced to approach the tank to find out what had happened; servicemen then tried to hook it up to another military vehicle and tow it away. [Daily Telegraph]

Sam Smith to have surgery on vocal cords –
Singer Sam Smith has told his fans he needs “surgery” on his vocal cords. The 22-year-old singer pulled out of the rest of his Australian tour last week, after doctors discovered a haemorrhage on the vocal cords. Smith has since flown to the United States to see a specialist. In a post on Twitter, he said: “I am very upset to announce I have been battling to get my vocal cords better [over] the last 10 days but unfortunately they haven’t recovered and I’m going to need surgery.” [Daily Telegraph]
Sam Smith

Video of the Day –

Magic Mike XXL – Official Trailer

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May 13, 2015

Top News Stories –

Prince Harry does the Haka in New Zealand –
Prince Harry has taken part in a traditional Maori Haka during his tour of New Zealand. It was part of a day of activities at Linton Military Camp, the largest army base in the country. [BBC] In December 2013 Prince Harry led his Sandringham workers team to a 7-2 victory in a football (soccer) match against local villagers in Scotland.
Prince Harry

China imposes smartwatch and wearable tech army ban –
China has forbidden its armed forces from wearing internet-connected wearable tech, according to reports. The People’s Liberation Army Daily, the Chinese military’s official newspaper, said security concerns had been raised after one recruit had received a smartwatch as a birthday gift. News site NBC said its sources had confirmed a ban was now in place. [BBC]

Prince Charles’s private letters published –
Private letters sent by the Prince of Wales to Labour ministers a decade ago have been published after a lengthy legal battle. Clarence House said the move would “only inhibit” the prince’s ability to express concerns. In one letter to the prime minister, the prince said the armed forces were being asked to do a challenging job “without the necessary resources”. Release of the letters follows a decade-long campaign by the Guardian. [BBC] See Top Twitter Trends
Prince Charles

Video of the Day –

Why Do We Wrinkle When Wet?

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#WeWantNoControlAsASingle	Instant Articles	Prince Charles
2	Kim Jong-Un	#WeWantNoControlAsASingle	#BritishValues
3	#SomayıUnutma	#HumpDay	#WeWantNoControlAsASingle
4	#AVecesMeDanGanas	Harriet Tubman	#HumpDay
5	예비군	#ScientificTVShows	Instant Articles
6	#MePuedeMuchoQue	#Amtrak	#UnlikelyLinesFromACooking…
7	Ali Kemal	#Amtrak188	#AskMmusi
8	#ScientificTVShows	#SingleBecause	Suarez
9	#SiNoTeHubieraConocido	Karachi	#BBUK
10	Harriet Tubman	#JacobOnBUZZ	#GeordieShore

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Gunmen open fire on a bus containing members of the Ismaili Shia Muslim community in the Pakistani city of Karachi, killing at least 44 people and injuring a dozen. (Pakistan Tribune), (BBC)
The Government of Iraq claims that Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant second-in-command Abdul Rahman Mustafa Mohammed has been killed in an airstrike in northern Iraq. (BBC)
War in Afghanistan: Gunmen attack a Kabul guesthouse used by both foreigners and locals sparking a gun battle with police. At least eight people including the three gunmen are killed with 16 rescued and 100 still inside. (Thomson Reuters Foundatiion), (NBC News)
Yemen crisis: A five day truce begins in Yemen as aid groups seek to gain access. (BBC)
A military reservist opens fire at a South Korean military base killing 2 and injuring 3. (Yonhap)

Business and economy

Japanese carmakers Toyota and Nissan recall 6.5 million vehicles due to fears over exploding airbags. (AFP via Yahoo! )
The United States Department of Agriculture reports that more than 40% of honey bee colonies died in the preceding year. Growers rely on honey bees to pollinate more than $15 billion of crops annually. (Wall Street Journal)
International conglomerate Danaher announces plans to acquire water filtration company Pall for US$13.8 billion and to split off its industrial businesses into a new company. (Bloomberg)

Disasters and accidents

Rescue efforts resume in Nepal after yesterday’s earthquake which killed at least 63 in Nepal and 17 in northern India. (BBC), (CNN)
2015 Philadelphia train derailment
- The death toll from the derailment rises to seven with over 200 people injured. (WCAU), (US News and World Report)
- Search teams recover the black box. (AFP via News24)
- Report that train believed to have been traveling in excess of 100 mph, about twice the speed limit for the curve.(CNN)
Thirty-one people die and dozens of people are missing and feared dead after a fire engulfs a rubber sandal factory in Manila, capital of the Philippines. (Al-Jazeera) (Reuters via News24)
Rescue workers attempt to rescue at least 15 gold miners trapped by floods in a mine in Colombia‘s Caldas Department. (BBC)

International relations

The Vatican concludes a treaty to recognize the Palestinian state. (New York Times)

Law and crime

2015 Burundian protests
- Major General Godefroid Niyombare has declared a coup in Burundi and the establishment of a “national salvation committee”. PresidentPierre Nkurunziza is attempting to return home from Tanzania. (BBC)
- Police in Burundi fire on protesters in Bujumbura opposing the bid by President Pierre Nkurunziza for a third term. (BBC)
- Bujumbura International Airport and all land borders are ordered closed by Major General Godefroid Niyombare. (AFP via News24)
The small nation of Nauru temporarily bans Facebook, purportedly to protect young people. (ABC Australia)
Shooting of Tony Robinson: Demonstrators peacefully protest Wisconsin prosecutor’s decision, announced yesterday, not to pursue charges against the officer who shot and killed 19-year-old. (Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel)

Politics and elections

South Korea claims that North Korea has executed its defense chief Hyon Yong-chol with an Anti-aircraft gun. (Yonhap) (CNN)
The United States House of Representatives votes overwhelmingly to end the mass collection of Americans phone data with the USA Freedom Act passing 338-88. Its passage through the Senate is less certain. (The Guardian)

Sports

Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- In athletics, the U.S. men’s 4×100 metres relay that won a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London is stripped of the medal due to a positive test result by Tyson Gay. (Reuters via Yahoo 7)

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May 20, 2015

Top News Stories –

Record fines for currency market fix –
Five of the world’s largest banks are to pay fines totalling $5.7bn (£3.6bn) for charges including manipulating the foreign exchange market.
Four of the banks – JPMorgan, Barclays, Citigroup and RBS – have agreed to plead guilty to US criminal charges. The fifth, UBS, will plead guilty to rigging benchmark interest rates. Barclays was fined the most, $2.4bn, as it did not join other banks in November to settle investigations by UK, US and Swiss regulators. Barclays is also sacking eight employees involved in the scheme. [BBC]

Chinese professor accused in ‘Breaking Bad’ drugs plot –
Police in China have arrested a chemistry professor for his part in producing a psychoactive drug in a case that has been likened to US crime drama Breaking Bad. State agency Xinhua said 17 people were arrested including a Xian university professor alleged to have helped provide the recipe for methcathinone. Police seized 128kg (282lb) of the drug and more than 5m yuan ($806,095; £519,450). The drug lab was raided last year. [BBC]

David Letterman saluted by stars on final Late Show –
Four US presidents have joined stars including Steve Martin, Tina Fey, Jerry Seinfeld and Foo Fighters to pay tribute to TV host David Letterman on his final late night talk show. Letterman has bowed out after 33 years and 6,028 late-night broadcasts.He joked that physicist Stephen Hawking had calculated it “works out to about eight minutes of laughter”.He gave emotional thanks to his family, crew and viewers, saying: “There’s nothing I can ever do to repay you.”The 68-year-old began his late-night career on NBC in 1982, before moving to CBS’s Late Show in 1993.[BBC] See Video of the Day and List of the Day.
David Letterman

Video of the Day –

Celebrity Top Ten Things I’ve Always Wanted to Say To David Letterman

List of the day –

David Letterman’s final Top Ten list – “Top 10 things I’ve always wanted to say to Dave:”

10. Alec Baldwin: “Of all the talk shows, yours is the most geographically convenient to my home.”

9. Barbara Walters: “Did you know you wear the same cologne as Muammar Qaddafi?”

8. Steve Martin: Your extensive plastic surgery was a necessity…and a mistake.”

7. Jerry Seinfeld: “I have no idea what I’ll do when you go off the air. You know what, I just thought of something: I’ll be fine.”

6. Jim Carrey: “Honestly Dave, I’ve always found you to be a bit of an over-actor.” (He gesticulated wildly).

5. Chris Rock: “I’m just glad your show is being given to another white guy.” (Dave: “You know, I had nothing to do with that.”)

4. Julia Louis-Dreyfus: “Thanks for letting me take part in another hugely disappointing series finale.” (Seinfeld smirks). (Dave: “I had nothing to do with that either.”)

3. Peyton Manning: “Dave, you are to comedy what I am to comedy.”

2. Tina Fey: “Thanks for finally proving men can be funny.”

1. Bill Murray: “Dave, I’ll never have the money I owe you.”

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#DescribeYourselfIn3Words	#DescribeYourselfIn3Words	#DescribeYourselfIn3Words
2	#undiasinmusica	#HumpDay	#TDC15
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8	#MiConsejoDeVida	#NXTTakeOver	#GeordieShore
9	Yiğit Bulut	#bucciovertimechallenge	Uwe Rosler
10	#JustinForMMVA	#NoWayThatsAHoliday	#TheFlashSeasonFinale

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
- Islamic State captures the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra from the Syrian Army with grave concerns held about its world heritage site. (The Hindu) (BBC)
The People’s Liberation Army Navy issues warnings eight times as a United States surveillance plane flies over manmade islands in the South China Sea. (CNN)

Arts and culture

Tools found near Lake Turkana in Kenya by Sonia Harmand and Jason Lewis of Stony Brook University are dated at 3.3 million years making them the oldest yet discovered. (AP via ABC News America)
The last edition of the Late Show with David Letterman goes to air on CBS Television in the United States. Following his retirement, David Letterman will be succeeded by Stephen Colbert on September 8, 2015. (CNN Money)

Disasters and accidents

A Shosholoza Meyl passenger train collides head-on with a goods train in Eastern Cape, South Africa, killing two people and injuring 20. (News24)
A rupture of an underground oil pipeline in California‘s Santa Barbara County near Refugio State Beach may have released 105,000 gallons ofcrude oil with tens of thousands gallons released into the Pacific Ocean. Jerry Brown, the Governor of California later declares a state of emergency. (Los Angeles Times), (ABC7 Los Angeles)
2015 Colombian landslide
- The death toll from Monday’s landslide in the town of Salgar rises to 80. (CNN)

International relations

South East Asian migrant crisis
- The foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand meet in Kuala Lumpur to discuss people smuggling and the migrant crisis. Malaysia and Indonesia agree to accept asylum seekers providing that they can be resettled or repatriated within a year. (Straits Times), (wires and ABC Online)
- Over 430 migrants are rescued off the coast of Indonesia‘s eastern Aceh province. (AP via New York Times)
North Korea
- North Korea abruptly cancels an invitation for Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, to visit. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)
- The Korean Central News Agency claims that North Korea has the ability to miniaturize nuclear weapons and place them on ballistic missiles.(CNN)

Law and crime

Zambia lifts a ban on hunting big cats imposed over corruption in hunting concessions in the past. (AFP via Yahoo News)
Five big banks Barclays, RBS, Citi, JP Morgan and UBS are fined $5.7 billion after a United States Department of Justice investigation into collusion by forex traders in several countries. (The Guardian)
An arrest warrant is issued for Daron Dylon Wint in the US capital Washington, D.C. in connection to the alleged murder of four people on May 14.(WJLA)
The legislature in the American state of Nebraska votes to abolish the death penalty. (Washington Post)

Sports

British driver Lewis Hamilton signs a three year contract with the German constructors Mercedes AMG. (CNN)

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May 21, 2015

Top News Stories –

F1’s Ecclestone in legal challenge over £1bn tax move –
Formula 1 tycoon Bernie Ecclestone has gone to court to challenge the basis of assessments that have left him facing a UK tax claim of more than £1bn. The 84-year-old, at the F1 helm for 40 years, wants the assessments quashed, and HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) held to an earlier April 2008 agreement. The new figure is believed to cover the period from the tax year ended 5 April 1996 to tax year ending 5 April 2006. The case revolves around the Ecclestone family’s Bambino trust which was set up in Liechtenstein in 1997 for the benefit of Mr Ecclestone’s now ex-wife, Slavica, and daughters Tamara and Petra. The UK tax authorities re-opened their investigation of Bambino after a high-profile bribery case in Germany last year, said the judge. [BBC]
Bernie Ecclestone

Black Sabbath celebrate at Ivor Novello awards –
Black Sabbath have received a lifetime achievement prize at the Ivor Novello songwriting awards. Guitarist Tony Iommi picked up the trophy, confirming the heavy metal band would embark on their “final tour” next year. Ed Sheeran was named songwriter of the year, while Boy George picked up an outstanding contribution award. Clean Bandit beat Sam Smith and George Ezra to win the prize for most performed song for Rather Be. The Ivor Novello awards are voted for by songwriters, with judges this year including Gary Barlow, Guy Chambers, Nik Kershaw, Shaznay Lewis and Kim Appleby of ’80s pop group Mel & Kim.[BBC]
Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath

Video of the Day –

List of the day –

Ivor Novello Award winners and nominees –
Best song musically and lyrically

Take Me to Church – Hozier
Above the Clouds of Pompeii – Bear’s Den
I Forget Where We Were – Ben Howard

Best contemporary song

Rather Be – Clean Bandit, featuring Jess Glynne
Every Other Freckle – alt-J
Two Weeks – FKA Twigs

Best album

So Long, See You Tomorrow – Bombay Bicycle Club
Royal Blood – Royal Blood
Present Tense – Wild Beasts

PRS for Music most performed work

Rather Be – Clean Bandit, featuring Jess Glynne
Stay With Me – Sam Smith
Budapest – George Ezra

Best original film score

’71 – David Holmes
Mr Turner – Gary Yershon
The Boxtrolls – Dario Marianelli

Best television soundtrack

The Honourable Woman – Natalie Holt and Martin Phipps
The Mill (Series 2) – Samuel Sim
The Suspicions of Mr Whicher: Beyond the Pale – Edmund Butt

Lifetime Achievement: Black Sabbath

Outstanding Song Collection: Albert Hammond

PRS for Music Outstanding Contribution to British Music: Boy George

PRS for Music Special International Award: Paul Williams

Songwriter of the Year: Ed Sheeran

The Ivors Classical Music Award: Judith Weir

The Ivors Inspiration Award: Manic Street Preachers

The Ivors Special Anniversary Award: Midge Ure and Bob Geldof, Band Aid

BASCA Fellowship: Annie Lennox

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#MeDanGanasDe	#RedNoseDay	Sunderland
2	Santa Fé	#TakeAMovieToBreakfast	#ENGvNZ
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9	#حصه_ال_الشيخ_ت…	#BuyBlackMagicOniTunes	Scrabble
10	#BuyBlackMagicOniTunes	Boy Scouts	#TakeAMovieToBreakfast

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- Islamic State fighters enter the ancient ruins of Palmyra after capturing the Syrian city of Tadmur yesterday. A hundred pro-governmentfighters are believed to have died in fighting. (Reuters)
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that Islamic State now controls more than half of Syria dominating 95,000 square kilometres and controls settlements in nine provinces. (News Limited)
Al-Shabaab militants briefly take over a mosque in Kenya‘s Garissa County. (BBC)
2014–15 Russian military intervention in Ukraine
- The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) claims that two Russians captured in the Ukraine have publicly admitted to being part of the GRU Russian special forces. The Donetsk People’s Republic (separatists) authorities claim these men were official policemen in the self-proclaimed republic. (AFP via Yahoo! News)

Arts and culture

Robert Gates, the President of the Boy Scouts of America, calls on the movement to end the ban on gay adult leaders and says the movement will no longer revoke the charters of chapters that accept gay male leaders. (Yahoo News)

Health

South Korea confirms its third case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome. (Yonhap)
Two prisoners die and 30 are hospitalised following a cholera outbreak at the Shimo la Tewa facility in Mombasa, Kenya. (The Star via AllAfrica)
Cleanup continues from the 19 May 2015 Refugio Oil Spill at State Beach on Santa Barbara County, California coast.(ABC7.com)
Health authorities in the United States say that 53 people in nine states have been sickened in a salmonella outbreak. California is the worst affected state with 31 cases with the other states with cases include Arizona, Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico, South Dakota, Virginia, Washingtonand Wisconsin. (NBC News)

Law and crime

Brazilian anti-corruption blogger Evany José Metzker is found dead after investigating a drug dealing and prostitution case. (Deutsche Weller)
Death of Freddie Gray
- A grand jury in the American city of Baltimore indicts six police officers relating to the death of Freddie Gray in police custody. All six officers will face charges of reckless endangerment. (AP via ABC News America), (ABC2)
Daron Dylon Wint is arrested in the American capital of Washington D.C. in relation to the murder of four people on May 14. (NBC Washington)
Mexican Drug War
- Mexican police find three dismembered bodies in a search for ten missing people in Chilapa, a city occupied by vigilantes with alleged links to drug rings between May 9-14. (AP)

Sports

Amnesty International accuses Qatar of failing to meet commitments on labor market reforms for migrant workers to be introduced before the2022 FIFA World Cup. Among other charges, Qatar uses North Korean labourers who are not paid personally but instead the money goes to their government. (AFP via Google News)

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May 25, 2015

Top News Stories –

‘Dancing Man’ Sean O’Brien parties in Los Angeles –
A British man who attracted global support after “fat-shaming” images of him were posted online has attended a party in his honour in Los Angeles.
Liverpudlian Sean O’Brien, who now lives in London, was trolled in March after being spotted dancing at a gig. He was dubbed “The Dancing Man” by a social media campaign to uncover his identity and offer support. During his LA trip he has been feted by stars, appeared on TV shows and thrown the first pitch at an LA Dodgers game. Campaigner Monica Lewinsky, musicians Andrew WK and Moby attended his party, while Pharrell Williams recorded a special video message of support that was played at the party. [BBC]
Sean O’Brien aka Dancing Man

Galapagos volcano erupts for first time in 30 years –
A volcano in the Galapagos Islands erupted for the first time in more than 30 years on Monday, spilling streams of bright orange lava and raising fears for the world’s only colony of pink iguanas. The Galapagos National Park warned on Twitter that Isabela Island, where Wolf Volcano erupted at dawn, holds “the world’s only population” of the critically endangered Conolophus marthae, also known as the Galapagos rosy iguana. [Daily Telegraph]
Wolf Volcano
Galapagos pink iguana (Conolophus marthae)

Instagram spams users with ‘highlights’ from their friends’ feeds –
Instagram has started sending unsolicited emails to users with a selection of posts from their friends’ news feeds, in an attempt to re-engage people who have drifted away from the social network. Like Twitter, Instagram presents updates in reverse-chronological order, meaning that the posts people see when they log on are simply the most recent – not necessarily the most relevant. While this is an effective way of keeping people’s news feeds fresh, it also creates the risk that users miss the most interesting content, due to the constant stream of updates cascading through their news feeds. Instagram’s email updates are designed to offer a more curated experience, presenting users with only the most popular content from their network of contacts, TechCrunch reports. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Dior Secret Garden IV – Versailles – Long Version
In the Palace of Versailles and surrounded by darkness, Rihanna lights up the screen in this exclusive short film from the Secret Garden IV campaign, shot by Steven Klein.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#charliecharliechallenge	Ray McDonald	#charliecharliechallenge
2	EU TE AMO LIAM	#MemorialDay	#BankHolidayMonday
3	#PSYAngUnangPagIbig	#YouWontHearMeSay	#ReplaceMovieTitlesWithPubes
4	#MeCaesMalSi	#RIPGrandmaSepi	#3Queens
5	#MemorialDay	#MallMovies	#AfricaDay
6	#RIPGrandmaSepi	Which Beyoncé Song Are You	#MOTD
7	#OrgulloFriki	Ancelotti	Norwich
8	#UberSeQueda	#AfricaDay	#ENGvNZ
9	Enem	#charliecharliechallenge	Trevor Bayliss
10	Felices 114	#LHHWedding	#BGTlive

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- A suicide bomber and gunmen attack a court building in the provincial capital of Maidan Shahr in Maidan Wardak resulting in the deaths of two police officers and four of the attackers. (Tolo News)
Thirteen Kenyan police officers are missing after an Al-Shabaab ambush in Garissa County. (Standard Digital)

International relations

The President of Taiwan Ma Ying-jeou proposes a mechanism for resolving disputes in the South China Sea. (The Guardian)
The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force will participate in Exercise Talisman Saber, a joint exercise between the United States and Australia for the first time in July. (AFP via ABC Australia)

Disasters and accidents

Tornadoes of 2015
- Flash floods, tornadoes and dangerous thunderstorms have so far claimed 8 lives with 12 people missing in the American states of Texas andOklahoma with more rain on the way. (NBC News)
- Flash flood warnings are now in place in eight states with flood waters causing closures of roads, rail services and buses in the fourth largest city in the US Houston. (NBC News)
2015 India heat wave
- The death toll from the heat wave passes 800 as the roads in the capital New Delhi melting in the heat. (AFP via AsiaOne)

Law and crime

A petition to legalize same-sex marriage in the Philippines is filed in the Supreme Court. (Rappler)

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May 26, 2015

Top News Stories –

Best photobomb ever? Seagull steals the show from Red Arrows display team –
An image that shows the latest addition to the world famous Red Arrows is a seagull has become an Internet hit. The amazing moment was captured by first year photography student Jade Coxon,18, as she took pictures at the Llandudno Air Show on 23 May. And, since posting the stunning snap online on Sunday, Jade is over the moon to have got more than 1 million views. The crisp pic clearly shows eight of the Red Arrows in tight formation trailing their famous vapour. But then where the ninth plane should be there is an intrepid seagull holding the formation in place and, amazingly, with his own vapour trail. [Daily Telegraph]
Red-Arrows-and-seagull (Photo – SWNS Group)

Taylor Swift enters Forbes 100 most powerful women list –
The 25 year old singer and songwriter has become the youngest woman ever to be included on the Forbes list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women.
She’s included at number 64 in the list released on Tuesday because, Forbes says, she ‘has not only broken record sales and captivated the world with her fantastically honest lyrics, but she has proven herself as an impressive businesswoman.’ [Daily Mail] See List of the Day
Taylor Swift

The Charlie Charlie Challenge – what is the spooky craze? –
A strange new game is taking over Twitter, fuelled by speculation that its players can connect with a dead Mexican spirit known as Charlie. The Charlie Charlie Challenge has been played by thousands of young people after a number of videos purported to show supernatural goings-on. The game entails placing two pencils on a piece of paper in the shape of the cross with the words ‘yes’ and ‘no’. Participants then repeat the phrase “Charlie, Charlie can we play?” in order to connect with the demon. If Charlie is there the pencils will move to indicate his answer. [Daily Telegraph] See Top Twitter Trends 25 May 2015

Video of the Day –

Are You Consuming Your Coffee Correctly?

List of the day –

Forbes Magazine 100 Most Powerful Women in the World 2015 [Forbes]

Rank	Name	Age	Country	Category
#1	Angela Merkel	60	Germany	Politics
#2	Hillary Clinton	67	United States	Politics
#3	Melinda Gates	50	United States	Philanthropy/NGO
#4	Janet Yellen	68	United States	Finance
#5	Mary Barra	53	United States	Automotive
#6	Christine Lagarde	59	France	Philanthropy/NGO
#7	Dilma Rousseff	67	Brazil	Politics
#8	Sheryl Sandberg	45	United States	Technology
#9	Susan Wojcicki	46	United States	Technology
#10	Michelle Obama	51	United States	Politics
#11	Park Geun-hye	63	South Korea	Politics
#12	Oprah Winfrey	61	United States	Media
#13	Ginni Rometty	57	United States	Technology
#14	Meg Whitman	58	United States	Technology
#15	Indra Nooyi	59	United States	Business
#16	Cristina Fernández de Kirchner	62	Argentina	Politics
#17	Irene Rosenfeld	62	United States	Business
#18	Ana Patricia Botín	54	Spain	Finance
#19	Abigail Johnson	53	United States	Investments
#20	Marillyn Hewson	61	United States	Manufacturing
#21	Beyoncé Knowles	33	United States	Celebrity
#22	Marissa Mayer	39	United States	Technology
#23	Helen Clark	65	New Zealand	Philanthropy/NGO
#24	Safra Catz	53	United States	Technology
#25	Angela Ahrendts	54	United States	Technology
#26	Ellen Kullman	59	United States	Business
#27	Michelle Bachelet	63	Chile	Politics
#28	Anna Wintour	65	United States	Media
#29	Ursula Burns	56	United States	Technology
#30	Arundhati Bhattacharya	59	India	Finance
#31	Sri Mulyani Indrawati	52	Indonesia	Philanthropy/NGO
#32	Ruth Porat	57	United States	Technology
#33	Lucy Peng	42	China	Technology
#34	Loretta Lynch	56	United States	Politics
#35	Chanda Kochhar	53	India	Business
#36	Federica Mogherini	41	Italy	Politics
#37	Gina Rinehart	61	Australia	Metals & Mining
#38	Nancy Pelosi	75	United States	Politics
#39	Adena Friedman	45	United States	Finance
#40	Ewa Kopacz	58	Poland	Politics
#41	Queen Elizabeth II	89	United Kingdom	Politics
#42	Sheikha Lubna Al Qasimi	53	United Arab Emirates	Politics
#43	Ho Ching	62	Singapore	Business
#44	Laurene Powell Jobs	51	United States	Technology
#45	Renée James	50	United States	Technology
#46	Drew Gilpin Faust	67	United States	Philanthropy/NGO
#47	Ertharin Cousin	58	United States	Philanthropy/NGO
#48	Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala	60	Nigeria	Politics
#49	Samantha Power	44	United States	Politics
#50	Ellen DeGeneres	57	United States	Celebrity
#51	Amy Hood	43	United States	Technology
#52	Bonnie Hammer	64	United States	Media
#53	Mary Callahan Erdoes	47	United States	Finance
#54	Angelina Jolie	39	United States	Celebrity
#55	Beth Comstock	54	United States	Business
#56	Phebe Novakovic	56	United States	Business
#57	Sofía Vergara	42	Colombia	Celebrity
#58	Donna Langley	47	United Kingdom	Media
#59	Sheikh Hasina Wajed	67	Bangladesh	Politics
#60	Katie Jacobs Stanton	45	United States	Media
#61	Arianna Huffington	64	United States	Media
#62	Margaret Chan	67	China	Philanthropy/NGO
#63	Mary Jo White	67	United States	Politics
#64	Taylor Swift	25	United States	Celebrity
#65	Rosalind Brewer	52	United States	Business
#66	Nemat (Minouche) Shafik	53	United Kingdom	Politics
#67	Lubna S. Olayan	59	Saudi Arabia	Business
#68	Peng Liyuan	52	China	Politics
#69	Zhang Xin	49	China	Business
#70	Güler Sabanci	60	Turkey	Business
#71	Elvira Nabiullina	51	Russia	Politics
#72	Elizabeth Holmes	31	United States	Healthcare
#73	Tory Burch	48	United States	Fashion and Retail
#74	Dana Walden	–	United States	Media
#75	Diane von Furstenberg	68	United States	Fashion and Retail
#76	Carol Meyrowitz	61	United States	Business
#77	Mary Meeker	55	United States	Technology
#78	Solina Chau	53	Hong Kong	Technology
#79	Miuccia Prada	66	Italy	Fashion and Retail
#80	Katharine Viner	44	United Kingdom	Media
#81	Shakira Mebarak	38	Colombia	Celebrity
#82	Yao Chen	35	China	Celebrity
#83	Fabiola Gianotti	54	Italy	Philanthropy/NGO
#84	Padmasree Warrior	54	United States	Technology
#85	Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw	62	India	Medicine
#86	Kaci Kullmann Five	64	Norway	Philanthropy/NGO
#87	Folorunsho Alakija	64	Nigeria	Oil
#88	Judy Faulkner	71	United States	Healthcare
#89	Patricia Harris	58	United States	Philanthropy/NGO
#90	Gwynne Shotwell	51	United States	Construction & Engineering
#91	Sara Blakely	44	United States	Fashion and Retail
#92	Risa Lavizzo-Mourey	60	United States	Philanthropy/NGO
#93	Shobhana Bhartia	58	India	Media
#94	Beth Brooke-Marciniak	55	United States	Business
#95	Weili Dai	53	United States	Technology
#96	Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf	76	Liberia	Politics
#97	Raja Easa Al Gurg	–	United Arab Emirates	Business
#98	Jenny Lee	43	Singapore	Technology
#99	Greta Van Susteren	60	United States	Media
#100	Lee Boo-Jin	44	South Korea	Service

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	EU TE AMO HARRY	Sally Ride	#AlwaysInMyHeartLarry
2	#AlwaysInMyHeartLarry	#houstonflood	#MakeAMovieLazy
3	Brad Pitt	#MakeAMovieLazy	#BrandAFilm
4	#FelizMartes	#MySummerin5words	#ChooseDay
5	#ConEsteFrioReDa	#ThickGirlAppreciationDay	#BGTlive
6	#ConGanasDe	Mary Ellen Mark	#WelshProblemsDay
7	Leticia Sabater	OTAs	#GetStupid
8	#PSYAngUnangPagtingin	#BadMottosToLiveBy	Malcolm Bruce
9	#من_اهم_اعمالي_…	Toyota Center	Jony Ive
10	#MakeAMovieLazy	Point Break	#CharityTuesday

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- A suicide bomber and gunmen attack a court building in the provincial capital of Maidan Shahr in Maidan Wardak resulting in the deaths of two police officers and four of the attackers. (Tolo News)
Thirteen Kenyan police officers are missing after an Al-Shabaab ambush in Garissa County. (Standard Digital)
Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- Shellfire from Yemen kills two people over the border in Saudi Arabia. (AFP via Daily Star)
Boko Haram
- Boko Haram kills at least 43 people in the town of Gubio in Nigeria‘s Borno State. (Reuters)

Business and economy

Charter Communications announces plans to merge with Time Warner Cable in a $55.1 billion deal. (Market Watch) (Bloomberg)

Disasters and accidents

Tornadoes of 2015
- Flash floods, tornadoes and dangerous thunderstorms have so far claimed 8 lives with 12 people missing in the American states of Texas and Oklahoma with more rain on the way. (NBC News)
- Thirteen die in Ciudad Acuna, Mexico in the city’s first-ever tornado. (BBC News)
- Flash flood warnings are now in place in eight states with flood waters causing closures of roads, rail services and buses in Houston, Texas, fourth-largest city in the United States. (NBC News)
- Thirty people are reported missing in the Houston area as the flood water levels continue to rise. (AP via News24)
2015 India heat wave
- The death toll from the heat wave passes 800 as the roads in the capital New Delhi are melting in the heat. (AFP via AsiaOne)

Health

A man dies of the rare Lassa fever in the American state of New Jersey after returning from West Africa. (AFP via Yahoo! News)

International relations

The President of Taiwan Ma Ying-jeou proposes a mechanism for resolving disputes in the South China Sea. (The Guardian)
The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force will participate in Exercise Talisman Saber, a joint exercise between the United States and Australia for the first time in July. (AFP via ABC Australia)

Law and crime

A petition to legalize same-sex marriage in the Philippines is filed in the Supreme Court. (Rappler)
Thieves use an online tax service provided by the American Internal Revenue Service to steal information from more than 100,000 taxpayers.(AP)
A US Appeals Court rules that President Barack Obama will not be able to implement his executive action on immigration while it is being challenged by Texas and 35 other states. (Washington Examiner)

Science

The Wildlife Conservation Society estimates that poachers have killed half of Mozambique‘s elephants in the past five years. (AFP via CapitalFM)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

May 28, 2015

Top News Stories –

‘Buy button’ to be added to Google search results –
Google has confirmed that it is to introduce a “buy button” to its search results imminently. The button would give Google Search users the option to purchase without needing to visit a separate website. The company’s chief business officer, Omid Kordestani, said he wanted to reduce “friction” for users so they buy more things online. Google faces significant competition from Amazon, where many people now begin their search to buy products. [BBC]

Hashtag is ‘children’s word of year’ –
Hashtag has been declared “children’s word of the year” by the Oxford University Press. OUP analysed more than 120,421 short stories by children aged between five and 13 years old, submitted to the BBC’s 500 Words competition. According to the OUP, new technology is increasingly at the centre of the children’s lives but how they are writing about it is changing fast. Words including email, mobile and Facebook are in decline, it said.
They are being replaced by the likes of Instagram, Snapchat and emoji. And the word television has now been superseded by phone. The report also notes a sudden new arrival in children’s sentences. The use of the hashtag symbol # to add an extra meaning or comment at the end of a sentence has become commonplace. #IblameTwitter #AndInstagram. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

The A-Z of YouTube: Celebrating 10 Years | #HappyBirthdayYouTube

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	EU TE AMO LOUIS	#NationalBurgerDay	#WorkingClassTories
2	#FelizJueves	Justin and Selena	#ClickBaitAMovie
3	FIFA 16	Kung Fury	Derek Hatton
4	#TeenChoice	#io15	FIFA 16
5	#GeziyiUnutma	#AskPOTUS	#jamesyouareperfect
6	#ParaSiempre	Cheryl Lynn	Sevilla
7	Riley Curry	FIFA 16	#NationalBurgerDay
8	Justin and Selena	George Pataki	#TeenChoice
9	#اكتب_مقوله_مق�…	#ClickBaitAMovie	#HappyBirthdayRyan
10	#ClickBaitAMovie	Riley Curry	#bressure

Other News Stories –

Arts and culture

88th Scripps National Spelling Bee
- Vanya Shivashankar of Olathe, Kansas and Gokul Venkatachalam of Chesterfield, Missouri are declared co-champions of the Scripps National Spelling Bee held in National Harbor, Maryland. It is the second consecutive year that there have been two co-champions. (Sports Center via Twitter), (CNN)

Business and economy

The Solicitor General of the United States sides with Oracle in a much-watched copyright dispute with Google over Java APIs. (IDG News Service).

Disasters and accidents

The United States Air Force says that as many as 22 people have been inadvertently exposed to anthrax during a laboratory training exercise atOsan Air Base in South Korea. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Tornadoes of 2015 and 2015 Texas–Oklahoma flood and tornado outbreak
- The death toll from the recent storms in the American states of Texas and Oklahoma rises to 21 with 11 people missing. Fourteen more people have been killed in northern Mexico. (AP via ABC News)
2015 Indian heat wave
- The death toll from the Indian heat wave rises to over 1,400 with over 1000 dead in Andhra Pradesh state alone. (CNN)
Seventeen students are killed and five injured when a truck carrying them to school overturns on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. (AFP via Abram Online)

International relations

The Hellenic Coast Guard rescues 218 migrants off the coast of Greece who sailed illegally from Turkey making the total number of people arriving more than 1,500 in a week. (AFP via Daily Star)

Law and crime

Former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Dennis Hastert is indicted for allegedly trying to evade banking reporting requirements and lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigations. (CNBC)
Independent lawmaker Catherine Murphy raises fresh allegations in Ireland’s Dáil against billionaire Denis O’Brien, prompting criticism over the silence of the country’s media (much of it owned by O’Brien). (RTE) (Broadsheet) (UP Report)

Politics and elections

Republican Party presidential primaries, 2016
- Former Governor of New York, George Pataki, announces that he is seeking the Republican Party nomination for the 2016 presidential election. (CNN)

Science and technology

NASA awards Boeing a commercial contract to build and fly the next passenger spacecraft, the CST-100. (Fin24)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

May 29, 2015

Top News Stories –

Silk Road drug website founder Ross Ulbricht jailed –
The founder of online illegal drug marketplace the Silk Road has been sentenced to life in prison in the US. Federal prosecutors said Ross Ulbricht’s website, hosted on the hidden “dark web”, sold more than $200m (£131m) worth of drugs anonymously. The 31-year-old was found guilty in New York of charges including conspiracy to commit drug trafficking, money laundering and computer hacking. The site was shut down in 2013 after police arrested Ulbricht. In February he was convicted of operating the site for nearly three years from 2011. [BBC]

Sepp Blatter wins FIFA President election –
Under-fire Sepp Blatter has been voted in for four more years as Fifa president – but only after his rival inflicted a ”bloody nose” on him.
More than a third of FIFA’s 209 associations voted for Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan as significant numbers turned against Mr Blatter following the crisis that has struck the world governing body this week. The Swiss bureaucrat, 79, won the first round by 133 votes to 73, but he failed to gain a two-thirds majority, and Prince Ali, the 39-year-old Sandhurst graduate, then withdrew from the contest rather than force a second round of voting.
Sepp Blatter at the 2014 FIFA Tournament Announcement in 2007

Sepp Blatter will be ousted from Fifa, declares FA Chairman Greg Dyke –
Greg Dyke declared the fight to oust Sepp Blatter as Fifa president had only just begun after watching him defy the worst crisis in the world governing body’s history to sweep to a fifth term in office on Friday. Dyke, the FA chairman, said: “This is not over by any means. To quote the Attorney General, this is the beginning of the process not the end. I’d be very surprised if Mr Blatter was still in this job in two years’ time.”
Confirming the FA would consider joining any Uefa-led World Cup walkout, he added: “There would be no point pulling England out if everyone else stays in. But if you could pull Uefa out, that might have an impact.”
Greg Dyke

Video of the Day –

MIT cheetah robot lands the running jump

List of the day –

Presidents of FIFA

Presidency		Date of Birth	Date of Death	Took office	Left office	Years Active	Nationality
1	Robert Guérin	June 28, 1876	March 19, 1952	1904	1906	2	France
2	Daniel Burley Woolfall	June 15, 1852	October 24, 1918	1906	1918	12	England
3	Jules Rimet	October 14, 1873	October 16, 1956	1921	1954	33	France
4	Rodolphe Seeldrayers	December 16, 1876	October 7, 1955	1954	1955	1	Belgium
5	Arthur Drewry	March 3, 1891	March 25, 1961	1955	1961	6	England
6	Stanley Rous	April 25, 1895	July 18, 1986	1961	1974	13	England
7	João Havelange	May 8, 1916	Living	1974	1998	24	Brazil
8	Sepp Blatter	March 10, 1936	Living	8 June 1998	Incumbent	Present	Switzerlan

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	EU TE AMO ZAYN	Lil Mama	#FridayFeeling
2	#BlackMagicVideo	#FlashbackFriday	#NationalBiscuitDay
3	#UnAmigoNunca	#DadRappers	Joel
4	메르스	#jacobsbigreveal	#FIFACongress
5	Hayırlı Cumalar	#Surf	#NotQuiteSoAwesomeMovies
6	#تفجير_العنود	#NationalBiscuitDay	Phil Neal
7	#BuenViernes	#IWalkedADayInYOURshoesAnd	Olly Murs
8	#MeArruinaElDia	Prince Shembo	#bbcqt
9	#QueLindoCuando	#FIFACongress	Heysel
10	#MitTırlarındanSilahÇı…	#FridayReads	Kung Fury

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- Singapore says the Islamist group plans to take the conflict into Southeast Asia. (Straits Times)
- Dammam Mosque bomb blast:Islamic State claims responsibility for a car bomb in the parking lot of the Imam Hussain Mosque situated inDammam, Saudi Arabia, during Friday prayers, with at least four people killed and dozens injured. Authorities state that the mosque itself was not hit. (The Express Tribune), (CNN)
Balochistan conflict
- Gunmen in Pakistan‘s Balochistan province attack two buses killing at least 19 people. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

A volcano erupts on the Japanese island of Kuchinoerabu-jima prompting the evacuation of all residents and the diversion of all flights. (Kyodo viaJapan Times), (GMA Network)
2015 Texas–Oklahoma flood and tornado outbreak
- Dozens of people are rescued in the US state of Texas. The death toll from floods in Texas and Oklahoma has reached 24 dead with 13 missing with another 15 people dead from tornadoes in northern Mexico and Texas. (NBC News)
- The Governor of Texas Greg Abbott asks for a Presidential declaration of a disaster to obtain United States Government assistance for the worst affected areas of the state. (AP)
2015 Indian heat wave
- The official death toll from the Indian heat wave passes 1,800 making it the deadliest heatwave in more than two decades. (AFP via Yahoo! News)

Health

The number of cases in an outbreak of Middle East respiratory syndrome in South Korea rises to 12. (Yonhap News)

International relations

2015 Rohingya refugee crisis
- Thailand will allow the United States to fly surveillance planes through their airspace, allowing the United States to identify boats carrying refugees. (ITV)
Irish Naval Service patrol vessel LÉ Eithne rescues 300 migrants in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya. (BBC)
The United States officially removes Cuba from its list of State Sponsors of Terrorism. (NBC News)
War in Donbass
- The President of France François Hollande and the Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel call on the President of Russia Vladimir Putin to implement measures agreed on the Minsk ceasefire. (Reuters)
- Russia blacklists dozens of European Union officials from entering the country. (AFP via France 24)

Law and crime

Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht is given a life sentence after being convicted for narcotics trafficking. (The Verge)
American television actor Dustin Diamond is convicted of two misdemeanor charges stemming from a stabbing at a Wisconsin bar last year but acquitted on felony charges. (AP)

Politics and elections

Muhammadu Buhari is sworn in as the President of Nigeria following a recent election. (AP)
Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016
- Former Governor of Maryland Martin O’Malley will announce his candidacy for President of the United States at 10:00 am on May 30. (USA Today)

Sports

Sepp Blatter is elected to a fifth term as president of FIFA after Prince Ali bin Hussein withdraws his candidacy before a second round of voting could take place. The first round of voting had ended with Blatter falling seven votes short of the 2/3 majority needed to win. (ESPN), (CNN)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

May 30, 2015

Top News Stories –

Prince William issues call for Fifa to ‘put the sport first’ –
The Duke of Cambridge has urged world football governing body Fifa to “show that it can represent the interests of fair play and put the sport first”. Prince William, the president of the FA, made his comments during a speech before the cup final at Wembley. He urged sponsors and other backers to use their influence with Fifa to support reform. It comes after Fifa’s president Sepp Blatter was re-elected, following the arrests of seven people linked to Fifa. [BBC]

Arsenal win the FA Cup for 12th time –
Arsenal beat fellow Premier League side Aston Villa 4-0 at Wembley in London, the largest margin of victory in an FA Cup Final since 1994. The title means Arsenal manager has won 6 FA Cups equalling a record set by former Aston Villa manager George Ramsay – who previously stood alone with the record for his victories with Villa between 1887 and 1920. Arsenal’s goals were scored by Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez, Per Mertesaker and Olivier Giroud. See List of the Day 1
Arsene Wenger

Barcelona wins Copa del Rey –
Barcelona beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 with goals from Lionel Messi (2) and Neymar. Along with fellow striker Luis Suarez, the trio have scored 120 goals this season, the most by three players in the history of first class football.
Lionel Messi

Wolfsburg win German Cup final –
Wolfsburg win the German Cup for the first time beating Borussia Dortmund 3-1. Luiz Gustavo, Kevin De Bruyne and Bas Dost scored Wolfsburg’s Goals. It was Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp’s final match in charge of the team.
Jurgen Klopp

Paris St Germain win French treble –
Paris St-Germain became the first French team to win a domestic treble beating Auxerre 1-0 in the French Cup final. Laurent Blanc’s side also beat Bastia 4-0 to win the French League Cup and were crowned Ligue 1 champions for a third successive year. Edinson Cavani scored the only goal in the final.
Edinson Cavani

Alastair Cook: Captain becomes England’s leading Test run scorer –
Alastair Cook has passed Graham Gooch to become England’s leading Test run scorer. In reaching 32 on the second day of the second Test against New Zealand at Headingley, he overtook Gooch’s mark of 8,900, which has stood since 1995. England captain Cook, 30, is playing his 114th Test, having made his debut in 2006. [BBC] See LIst of the Day 2

Video of the Day –

Every Inspirational Video Ever

List of the day 1 –

Arsene Wenger managerial career (as of May 30, 2015)

Club	From	To	Record
Club	From	To	G	W	D^[c]	L	Win %
AS Nancy	1 July 1984	1 July 1987	114	33	30	51	28.95
AS Monaco	1 July 1987	17 September 1994	266	130	53	83	48.87
Nagoya Grampus	9 December 1994	30 September 1996	56	38	0	18	67.86
Arsenal	1 October 1996	Present	1,065	612	249	204	57.46
Total			1,501	813	332	356	54.16

List of the day 2 –

English cricket Test run record [as of 30 May 2015 – from Wikipedia]

Rank	Runs	Player	Matches	Innings	Average
1	8,944	Alastair Cook	113	197	46.82
2	8,900	Graham Gooch	118	215	42.58
3	8,463	Alec Stewart	133	255	39.55
4	8,231	David Gower	117	204	44.25
5	8,181	Kevin Pietersen	104	181	47.28
6	8,114	Geoffrey Boycott	108	193	47.72
7	7,728	Michael Atherton	115	212	37.70
8	7,624	Colin Cowdrey	114	188	44.07
9	7,310	Ian Bell	106	183	45.40
10	7,249	Wally Hammond	85	140	58.46
Source: [10]. Last updated: 31 May 2015.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#FACupFinal	#BreakUpIn4Words	#FACupFinal
2	YouTubeさん	#HappyBirthdayJazmynBieber	#AvivaPremFinal
3	#كذبه_ساره_ابر�…	#BadAttitudeATVShow	Chris Pratt
4	#QueLindoCuando	#smallaccsappreciationday	Khan
5	사람들	#FACupFinal	#ToryBooks
6	#HappyBirthdayJazmynBieber	Messi	#smallaccsappreciationday
7	#HighSchoolMusical2	Derek Norris	#BadAttitudeATVShow
8	#FrasesDeMaestros	Tron 3	#bbc4
9	#NoSeLoQueHariaYoSin	Martin O’Malley	Ross Ulbricht
10	Lovatics	#NotMyAmerica	Rio Ferdinand

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights estimates that barrel bombs dropped by the Bashar al-Assad regime have killed at least 45 people in the Aleppo Governorate and injured dozens more. (AFP via Daily Star)
Boko Haram
- A suicide bomber kills 26 people in a Maiduguri mosque hours after militants launch an attack on the first full day of President of Nigeria Muhammadu Buhari‘s term of office. (AFP via Sky News)

Disasters and accidents

A 7.8 magnitude earthquake occurs off the coast of Japan. No tsunami warning is issued. (BBC)
The Italian Coast Guard states that at least 17 people have died and 4,200 have been rescued in the Mediterranean Sea attempting to travel toEurope in the past 24 hours. Ships from nations including Italy, Republic of Ireland, Germany, Belgium and the United Kingdom have been involved in rescue efforts. (AFP/Reuters via ABC Online)

International relations

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- The United States Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter warns that the People’s Republic of China‘s island building in the South China Sea is undermining security in the Asia-Pacific region and has called for a diplomatic solution. (The Guardian)
- US surveillance detects two large self-propelled artillery vehicles on one of the islands. (AP via News24) (CNN)

Law and crime

2015 Rohingya refugee crisis
- A Thai national is arrested in Myanmar in relation to human trafficking offences after the Myanmar Navy rescues more than 200 people from a boat that he allegedly owns. (AFP via Myanmar Mail)

Politics and elections

Beau Biden, U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden‘s son, who had served in the Iraq War and for multiple terms as the Attorney General of Delaware, dies at Walter Reed Medical Center after a battle with malignant brain cancer. (MSN)
Martin O’Malley announces that he will be seeking the Democratic Party nomination in the 2016 US presidential election. (CNN)

Science

A mystery disease has killed over 120,000 saiga antelopes – more than a third of the world’s total population – in Kazakhstan in recent weeks.(AFP via ABC Online)

Sport

Football
- In England, Arsenal defeat Aston Villa 4-0 in the 2015 FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium, with the victors playing in a record 19th final and achieving a record 12th win. (BBC) (The FA via Twitter)
- In Scotland, Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC defeat Falkirk FC 2-1 at Hampden Park to win the 2015 Scottish Cup Final. This is Inverness’ first major title. (BBC), (The Guardian)
- In South Africa, Namibia defeat Mozambique 2-0 to win the 2015 COSAFA Cup for the first time. (COSAFA)
- In Spain, FC Barcelona defeat Athletic Bilbao 3-1 in the 2014–15 Copa del Rey final meaning they complete a domestic double after winningLa Liga. Lionel Messi scored a brace in the victory. (The Guardian) (Reuters via Sydney Morning Herald)
Alistair Cook becomes the leading run scorer of all time in test cricket for England playing against New Zealand in the second test at Headingley Stadium in Leeds. (BBC)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

June 1, 2015

Top News Stories –

Caitlyn Jenner breaks Twitter record, gaining more than 1m followers –
After gaining more than a million followers in four hours, Caitlyn Jenner has broken a new Twitter record, Guinness World Records has confirmed. She’s beaten Barack Obama, who held the title for two weeks. The US president reached the one million mark in five hours. Caitlyn launched her Twitter account at the same time as a Vanity Fair magazine cover was released, showing her as a transgender woman and revealing the name she will now be using. See Video of the Day. [BBC]

Front cover of Vanity Fair July 2015 featuring an Annie Leibovitz photograph of Caitlyn Jenner.

British tank crushes learner driver’s car in Germany –
There’s a lot to remember when you’re a learner driver but a pretty good rule is: don’t pull out in front of tanks. That’s what happened to an 18-year-old driving this Toyota Yaris in the Lippe district of Germany today. According to local police she pulled out in front of a column of British military vehicles travelling on a ring road around the town, often used by British forces stationed nearby to transport tanks and other armoured vehicles. The driver of the tank, a 24-year-old British serviceman, wasn’t able to bring his Challenger 2 tank to a stop in time.
Inevitably, in a battle between 62-tonnes of armour and a one-tonne hatchback, there was only going to be one winner. Luckily the driver of the car was completely unharmed in the incident, and the tank crew pulled her free. The car, however, suffered 12,000 euros (£8,600) worth of damage.
The tank, not entirely surprisingly – was unscathed. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Caitlyn Jenner Is Finally “Free” on Vanity Fair’s Cover

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#WelcomeBackTo1DZayn	#WelcomeBackTo1DZayn	1st of June
2	#BuenLunes	#MondayMotivation	#MondayMotivation
3	Windows 10	#MakeAMoviePregnant	#WWEChamber
4	#GameofThrones	Caitlyn Jenner	#volunteersweek
5	Caitlyn Jenner	Drake Bell	#MakeAMoviePregnant
6	#TheVoiceChile	Vince Vaughn	The 1975
7	Louis e Lauren	Lindsey Graham	#AskLevi
8	Querétaro	Louis and Lauren	Caitlyn Jenner
9	#WWEChamber	Big Trouble in Little China	Pete Price
10	Tania Sánchez	#SorryToBringItUpBut	#WelcomeBackTo1DZayn

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

An Islamic State suicide bombing kills 37 at an Iraqi police base. (Yahoo)

Disasters and accidents

A ship carrying 458 people capsizes on Yangtze River in China’s Hubei province. So far, just seven have been rescued. (Xinhua via Twitter),(News Limited)

International relations

Illegal immigration from Africa to Europe
- A European Union mission rescues more than 5,000 migrants over three days. (Deutsche Welle)

Law and crime

Nigeria‘s anti-graft authority arrests 6 senior officials from the Central Bank of Nigeria and 16 people from commercial banks for fraud. (AFP via Fraud)

Politics and elections

Parts of the Patriot Act expire at 12:01 a.m. due to Congressional failure to reform the USA Freedom Act, temporarily making new surveillance of telephone records by the NSA illegal. (New York Times)
Senator Lindsay Graham of South Carolina enters the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. (New York Times)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

June 6, 2015

Top News Stories –

Xavi departs from Barcelona by winning the Champions League again –
After playing his last game at the Nu Camp last month Xavi Hernandez played his 397th and final game for Barcelona in the Champions League Final. Barcelona beat Juventus 3-0 to secure a treble of victories following the La Liga and Copa del Rey successes. It is the fourth time Xavi has one the Champions League Title and was celebrated by his club in a tweet. See List of the Day

Xavi Hernández

Frankie Dettori wins Epsom Derby on favourite Golden Horn –
Frankie Dettori capped his renaissance with a thrilling victory on favourite Golden Horn to win the 236th running of the Derby at Epsom. Dettori produced an ice-cool ride on the 13-8 favourite to beat his John Gosden-trained stablemate Jack Hobbs by three-and-a-half lengths, with Storm The Stars third. The 44-year-old jockey punched the air as he passed the line and did a trademark flying dismount in the winner’s enclosure. “It was unbelievable. The horse was brilliant,” said Dettori, riding for the first time in the race since returning from a six-month drugs ban two years ago. [BBC]
Frakie Dettori

Video of the Day –

IKE INTERVIEWS GOD from Eli Shapiro on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Xavi Hernandez honours

Barcelona

La Liga (8): 1998–99, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2012–13, 2014–15
Copa del Rey (3): 2008–09, 2011–12, 2014–15
Supercopa de España (6): 2005, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013
UEFA Champions League (4): 2005–06, 2008–09, 2010–11, 2014–15
UEFA Super Cup (2): 2009, 2011
FIFA Club World Cup (2): 2009, 2011

International

Individual

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#5HatCapitalSTB	#UCLfinal	#CapitalSTB
2	#Appreciate5YearsOfZayn	SATs	#AddACharacterChangeAFilmT…
3	#EstaIndirectaEsParaVos	#EdibleBands	#fabsummer
4	ジブリ悪役診断	#DDay	#UCLfinal
5	#NiallTheBadBoy	#Appreciate5YearsOfZayn	#EdibleBands
6	#FrasesDeBorracho	#AddACharacterChangeAFilmT…	Murray
7	総選挙速報	#TripleCrown	#ROWYSOBirmingham
8	#UCLfinal	Cheetah Girls	Juve
9	5 Seconds Of Summer	#IfIWereGodICould	#TorySongs
10	カノ嘘	Pirlo	Dark Souls 3

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Saudi Arabia shoots down a Scud missile fired by Houthi rebels in Yemen according to Saudi State media. (Reuters)
- At least four Saudi Arabian Army soldiers and dozens of rebels are killed in fighting near the border, according to Saudi government. They^[who?] capture the District and kill ten police officers. (AFP via France 24), (Al-Hazeera via Yahoo! Maktoob)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- The Taliban launches a major offensive in the Yamgan District of Badakhshan Province with hundreds of militants involved. (AP)
War in Donbass
- The President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko claims that his forces have repelled an attack on the town of Marinka and captured 12 rebels including one Russian. (BBC)
Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel
- For the second time this week, a rocket fired from Gaza lands in Israel. There were no immediate reports of injuries, or claims of responsibility.(Times of Israel)

Disasters and accidents

Sinking of the Dong Fang Zhi Xing
- The death toll from the sinking of the Dong Fang Zhi Xing rises to 396 with 46 unaccounted for. (CCTV via Twitter)
Eleven bodies have been recovered from Mount Kinabalu and 8 people remain missing following yesterday’s Sabah earthquake. (Straits Times)
Lightning strikes at the Rock am Ring rock festival held at the Mendig Air Base in Germany, injuring 33 people. (AP via News24)
Ships from the British and German navies are dispatched to rescue thousands of migrants stranded in the Mediterranean Sea. (CNN)

Health

2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus outbreak in South Korea
- The number of confirmed MERS cases in South Korea rises by 9 to 50. (AFP via Straits Times)

International relations

Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi travels to Bangladesh for the signing of an agreement that dissolves all 162 enclaves in the border region between the two nations and allows thousands of people living in the territories to choose their nationality. (Al-Jazeera)
Reuters reports that an Egyptian court has overturned a ruling that Hamas is a terrorist organisation. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Five police are injured following violent protests at a gay pride march in Kiev. (BBC)

Politics and elections

The President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir swears in a new Cabinet after having been sworn in for a five-year term earlier in the week. (al-Arabiya)

Sports

Association football
- Italian side Juventus FC and Spanish side FC Barcelona play in the final of the 2015 UEFA Champions League Final at the Olympiastadion in Berlin with Barcelona winning their fifth European championship 3-1. (ESPN), (The Guardian)
- The 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup gets underway in Canada with the Canadians beating China 1-0 in the first match. (BBC)
Horse racing
- The 236th running of the Epsom Derby is held at Epsom Downs Racecourse in England with Golden Horn ridden by Frankie Dettori winning and stablemate “Jack Hobbs” coming second. (BBC), (The Telegraph)]
- The 2015 Belmont Stakes is held at Belmont Park with American Pharoah becoming the first horse in 37 years to win the Triple Crown.(Bloomberg)
2015 French Open – Women’s Singles
- In tennis, number one seed Serena Williams of the US meets number 13 seed Lucie Šafářová of Czech Republic in the women’s singles final of the 2015 French Open. Williams wins her 20th Grand Slam title winning 6-3, 6-7, 6-2. (The Guardian)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

June 7, 2015

Top News Stories –

Kate Moss escorted off flight ‘for being disruptive’ –
Supermodel Kate Moss has been escorted off a plane at Luton airport after reportedly being disruptive. The Easyjet flight had arrived from Bodrum in Turkey on Sunday afternoon. In a statement, Bedfordshire Police said they “were called to assist staff in escorting a passenger from a flight arriving into Luton airport this afternoon”. No formal complaints were made against her and she was not arrested. [BBC] In February 2010 Calvin Klein said of Moss – while “a great model,” she was a “difficult” person to work with.
Kate Moss with photographer Mario Testino

Bradley Wiggins breaks UCI Hour Record at Lee Valley Velopark –
Sir Bradley Wiggins has broken the iconic hour record by completing a distance of 54.526km (33.88 miles). The 35-year-old smashed the record previously held by fellow Briton Alex Dowsett of 52.937km (32.89 miles), which was set in May. Roared on by a capacity crowd at Lee Valley VeloPark in London, Wiggins became the sixth rider to claim a Tour de France title and the hour record. “I’m just glad it’s done. It was torturous,” he said.
“That’s the closest I have ever come to what it’s like to a have a baby,” Wiggins, who becomes the fifth person in the past nine months to break the record, joked. The multiple Olympic and world champion on track and road surpassed Dowsett’s 212 laps, set in Manchester, with 1min 42secs to spare and eventually completed 219 laps.[BBC] In January 2015, Wiggins launched his own cycling team, Team Wiggins, to compete in the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
Bradley Wiggins

Dame Helen Mirren reigns at Tony theatre awards –
Dame Helen Mirren has been named best actress in a play at the Tony theatre awards in New York. She took home the prize for her portrayal of the Queen in The Audience. Dame Helen, a previous Oscar-winner for The Queen, accepted the award saying: “Your Majesty, you did it again.” Other wins included Alex Sharp for best actor and Marianne Elliott for best directing of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, which was also named best play. [BBC] See List of the Day

Actor, Sir Christopher Lee dies, aged 93 –
See full story on June 11, 2015 when his death was announced.
Sir Christopher Lee (1922-2015)

Video of the Day –

My Homemade 40W LASER SHOTGUN!!!!!

List of the Day –

Tony Awards 2015 Winners –

Best leading actor in a musical

WINNER: Michael Cerveris, Fun Home
Robert Fairchild, An American in Paris
Brian d’Arcy James, Something Rotten!
Ken Watanabe, The King and I
Tony Yazbeck, On the Town

Best leading actress in a musical

WINNER: Kelli O’Hara, The King and I
Kristin Chenoweth, On the Twentieth Century
Leanne Cope, An American in Paris
Beth Malone, Fun Home
Chita Rivera, The Visit

Best leading actor in a play

WINNER: Alex Sharp, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Steven Boyer, Hand to God
Bradley Cooper, The Elephant Man
Ben Miles, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Bill Nighy, Skylight

Best leading actress in a play

WINNER: Helen Mirren, The Audience
Geneva Carr, Hand to God
Elisabeth Moss, The Heidi Chronicles
Carey Mulligan, Skylight
Ruth Wilson, Constellations

Best featured actor in a musical

WINNER: Christian Borle, Something Rotten!
Andy Karl, On the Twentieth Century
Brad Oscar, Something Rotten!
Brandon Uranowitz, An American in Paris
Max von Essen, An American in Paris

Best featured actress in a musical

WINNER: Ruthie Ann Miles, The King and I
Victoria Clark, Gigi
Judy Kuhn, Fun Home
Sydney Lucas, Fun Home
Emily Skeggs, Fun Home

Best featured actor in a play

WINNER: Richard McCabe, The Audience
Matthew Beard, Skylight
K. Todd Freeman, Airline Highway
Alessandro Nivola, The Elephant Man
Nathaniel Parker, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Micah Stock, It’s Only a Play

Best featured actress in a play

WINNER: Annaleigh Ashford, You Can’t Take It With You
Patricia Clarkson, The Elephant Man
Lydia Leonard, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Sarah Stiles, Hand to God
Julie White, Airline Highway

Best book of a musical

WINNER: Fun Home, Lisa Kron
An American in Paris, Craig Lucas
Something Rotten!, Karey Kirkpatrick and John O’Farrell
The Visit, Terrence McNally

Best original score (music and/or lyrics) for the theatre

WINNER: Fun Home, Music: Jeanine Tesori, Lyrics: Lisa Kron
The Last Ship, Music & Lyrics: Sting
Something Rotten!, Music & Lyrics: Wayne Kirkpatrick and Karey Kirkpatrick
The Visit, Music: John Kander, Lyrics: Fred Ebb

Best director of a play

WINNER: Marianne Elliott, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Stephen Daldry, Skylight
Scott Ellis, You Can’t Take It With You
Jeremy Herrin, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
Moritz von Stuelpnagel, Hand to God

Best director of a musical

WINNER: Sam Gold, Fun Home
Casey Nicholaw, Something Rotten!
John Rando, On the Town
Bartlett Sher, The King and I
Christopher Wheeldon, An American in Paris

Best scenic design of a play

WINNER: Bunny Christie and Finn Ross, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time
Bob Crowley, Skylight
Christopher Oram, Wolf Hall Parts One & Two
David Rockwell, You Can’t Take It With You

Best scenic design of a musical

WINNER: Bob Crowley and 59 Productions, An American in Paris
David Rockwell, On the Twentieth Century
Michael Yeargan, The King and I
David Zinn, Fun Home

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SandığınaSahipCık	#TonyAwards	#internetbestfriendday
2	#GreenHairDontCare	#McKinney	#HorseAroundWithAMovie
3	#FELIZDIADELPERIODISTA	#internetbestfriendday	#IREvENG
4	#MeLaReJuegoPostaSi	#RejectedTVShowSpinoffs	#GreenHairDontCare
5	#TripleCrown	Hope Solo	#MyHour
6	刀剣男士	#WorstBirthdayGifts	Barca
7	Booba	#WouldPreferForgetting	#FIFAWWC
8	Cotto	Cheetah Girls 2	#FrenchOpenFinal
9	Wawrinka	#earthquake	Suarez
10	#Secim2015	Gardena	#UFCNOLA

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- The Saudi-led coalition launches airstrikes on Houthi gatherings in Taez. (Al-Arabiya)

Arts and culture

69th Tony Awards
- The 2015 Tony Awards, which celebrate the best theatrical performances on Broadway, are held at Radio City Music Hall with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time winning best play and Fun Home winning best musical. (AP), (Variety)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Sabah earthquake
- More bodies are found on Malaysia‘s highest peak Mount Kinabalu with the total death from the earthquake at 13 with most casualties from Malaysia and Singapore. (AP via NBC News), (AFP and ABC Australia)
Sinking of the Dong Fang Zhi Xing
- The death toll from the sinking of the Chinese cruise ship is now over 400 as the search area for bodies extends 1,000 km down the Yangtze River. (The Guardian)
Thirteen people have died in a heatwave in Pakistan. (AAP via News Limited)

Health

2015 Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus outbreak in South Korea
- South Korea records its fifth death from MERS with 14 new cases reported. (Yonhap)

International relations

41st G7 summit
- The G7 summit gets underway in Germany with the Greek government-debt crisis and Ukrainian crisis dominating the agenda. (Reuters via CNBC)
Illegal immigration from Africa to Europe

The number of migrants arriving in Italy from Africa in 2015 passes 50,000 with over 5000 arriving in the past few days. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

Mexican legislative election, 2015
- Voters in Mexico go to the polls for a legislative election with reports of violence in southern states and widespread voter disillusionment. Exit polls show the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party of President Enrique Peña Nieto in a position to retain power. (The Guardian)
Turkish general election, 2015
- Voters in Turkey go to the polls for a general election with the ruling AKP seeking enough votes to enable them to change the constitution. However, early projections show that they will lose their majority in the new parliament. (BBC), (New York Times)

Sport

2015 French Open – Men’s Singles
- In tennis, Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland defeats Novak Djokovic of Serbia 4–6, 6–4, 6–3, 6–4 in the men’s singles final for his first win atRoland Garros and his second Grand Slam singles title. Wawrinka’s victory also denies Djokovic a career Grand Slam. (ATP World Tour),(The Telegraph)
2015 Canadian Grand Prix
- In motor sport, the Formula One Canadian Grand Prix is held at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal with Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes-Benzwinning the race ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg. (PA via theThe Guardian)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

June 9, 2015

Top News Stories –

One Direction to meet Leah Washington after Alton Towers crash –
The stars of One Direction have filmed a video message and offered to meet a teenage girl whose leg was amputated following a rollercoaster crash at Alton Towers. Leah Washington, 17, from Barnsley, South Yorkshire, was one of five people who suffered severe injuries on the Smiler ride on 2 June. A Twitter campaign – #Get1DToLeah – called for the pop band to contact her. Friends said Ms Washington would be “elated” at the news. [BBC]

Naked rambler Stephen Gough appears nude via video link from prison –
A man known as the naked rambler made legal history after appearing nude via prison video link at the Court of Appeal. Stephen Gough lost an appeal against a conviction for the breach of an Asbo. He appeared from Winchester Prison where he is serving a two-and-a-half-year sentence for breaching the order banning him from being naked in public. His counsel Matthew Scott argued Gough should have been allowed to appear naked at the original trial. Lady Justice Rafferty refused Gough’s appeal. Clive Coleman, the BBC’s legal affairs correspondent, said Gough, 56, almost certainly made legal history by appearing in his natural state.

Video of the Day –

The Martian – Official Trailer – 20th Century FOX

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Pedro Zerolo	#MakeMarriageBetterIn4Words	#MakeMarriageBetterIn4Words
2	#MartesDeParo	#4BestWordsEver	#ChildrensLaureate
3	#HappyBirthdayJohnnyDepp	Vincent Bugliosi	#HSBC
4	#YoTodoElTiempo	#MyWorkOutRoutineIsMostly	#IAD15
5	#عبر_عن_نفسيتك_…	#MyBestFriendsAre	Rik Mayall
6	#KoalisyonTahminim	Texas A&	#4BestWordsEver
7	#MockingjayPart2	TCAs	#ENGvNZ
8	Alex Morgan	#MockingjayPart2	#USAvAUS
9	#NationalBestFriendsDay	#ItBugsMeWhen	Slaven Bilic
10	Teen Choice Awards	Robert Gibbs	John Carver

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Naxalite–Maoist insurgency
- Indian police kill at least 12 Naxalite Maoist rebels in a clash in the state of Jharkhand. (AP)
Syrian Civil War
- The Southern Front of the Free Syrian Army claims to have captured a major Syrian Army base known as Brigade 52 in Daraa Governorate.(BBC)

Business and economy

HSBC announces plans to cut 8,000 jobs in the United Kingdom, one-sixth of its U.K. workforce, via “natural attrition” as it restructures its banking business. A total of 25,000 jobs could be axed globally. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

Several firefighters are killed after an explosion at an oil depot near Kiev, Ukraine, with several people missing and hundreds evacuated. (Reuters UK), (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)

Law and crime

At least four people have been killed (including the gunman) and five people injured following a shooting incident in China’s northern Hebeiprovince. (BBC)
The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit upholds a Texan law providing that abortion clinics meet the same standards as hospital style surgical clinics meaning that many abortion clinics must upgrade or close. (New York Times)

Politics and elections

The Turkish cabinet led by current Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu submits its resignation, but is asked to stay on until a new government forms after the election. (AFP via France 24)

Sports

2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup
- Two Brazilians reach historic milestones in the team’s 2–0 win over South Korea in Montreal. Marta sets a new record with her 15th goal inWomen’s World Cup play, and the 37-year-old Formiga becomes the oldest player to score in a Women’s World Cup. (ESPN)
In Major League Baseball, Chris Heston of the San Francisco Giants becomes the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter in the 2015 season in the Giants’ 5–0 win over the New York Mets. (ESPN)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

June 12, 2015

June 11, 2015

Top News Stories –

Sir Christopher Lee death announced –
In one of his final interviews, Sir Christopher Lee declared his intention never to retire. “When I die, I want to die with my boots on,” he said.
The actor remained true to his word. He was preparing for his latest film role – a drama called The 11th, co-starring Uma Thurman – when he died on Sunday morning [June 7, 2015] at London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Sir Christopher was one of the greats of the 20th century, but his career hit new heights in the last 15 years of his life. He will be best remembered by those of a certain age for playing Count Dracula in his Hammer Horror days, but to younger film fans he was a star of two of the biggest franchises ever made: Saruman in Lord of the Rings and Count Dooku in Star Wars. [Daily Telegraph] He appeared in over 200 films (See List of the Day)
Sir Christopher Lee (1922-2015)

Female scientists post ‘distractingly sexy’ photos –
Female scientists have been sharing “distractingly sexy” photos of themselves after a feminist website encouraged them to respond to comments by a Nobel laureate. Nobel Prize winner Tim Hunt was roundly criticised when he detailed his thoughts about the “trouble with girls” at a conference of science journalists. “Three things happen when they are in the lab,” he said, “you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticise them they cry.” He said his comments were meant to be “light-hearted, ironic comment”, but whatever the intention, it went over like a heavy metallic dirigible in a field with some widely acknowledged gender issues. Hunt has now resigned from his position at University College London. On Thursday the hashtag #DistractinglySexy began taking off, with more than 10,000 tweets in a matter of hours. [BBC Trending] See Top Twitter Trends (UK)

Video of the Day –

Saruman the White – from Lord of the Rings [from Youtube]

List of the Day –

Sir Christopher Lee film appearances (including voiceovers) [List from Wikipedia]

#	Year	Film	Role	Notes
1	1948	Corridor of Mirrors	Charles
2	1948	One Night with You	Pirelli’s Assistant
3	1948	Hamlet	Spear Carrier	Uncredited
4	1948	Penny and the Pownall Case	Jonathan Blair
5	1948	A Song for Tomorrow	Auguste
6	1948	My Brother’s Keeper	Second Constable	Deleted scenes
7	1948	Saraband for Dead Lovers	Bit Part	Uncredited
8	1948	Scott of the Antarctic	Bernard Day
9	1949	Trottie True	Bongo
10	1950	They Were Not Divided	Chris Lewis
11	1950	Prelude to Fame	Newsman
12	1951	Valley of Eagles	Det. Holt
13	1951	Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N.	Spanish Captain
14	1951	Quo Vadis	Chariot Driver	Uncredited^[1]
15	1952	The Crimson Pirate	Joseph (attache)
16	1952	Top Secret	Russian Agent	Uncredited
17	1952	Paul Temple Returns	Sir Felix Raybourne
18	1952	Babes in Bagdad	Slave Dealer
19	1952	Moulin Rouge	Georges Seurat
20	1953	Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot	Voice	Uncredited
21	1953	Innocents in Paris	Lieutenant Whitlock	Uncredited
22	1954	Destination Milan	Svenson
23	1955	Man in Demand
24	1955	Crossroads	Harry Cooper
25	1955	Final Column
26	1955	That Lady	Captain
27	1955	Police Dog	Johnny, a constable
28	1955	The Dark Avenger	French Patrol Captain at Tavern	Uncredited
29	1955	The Cockleshell Heroes	Submarine Commander
30	1955	Storm Over the Nile	Karaga Pasha
31	1956	Alias John Preston	John Preston
32	1956	Private’s Progress	Gen. von Linbeck’s aide	Uncredited
33	1956	Port Afrique	Franz Vermes
34	1956	Beyond Mombasa	Gil Rossi
35	1956	The Battle of the River Plate	Manolo
36	1957	Ill Met by Moonlight	German Officer at Dentists
37	1957	Fortune Is a Woman	Charles Highbury
38	1957	The Traitor	Dr. Neumann
39	1957	The Curse of Frankenstein	The Creature
40	1957	Manuela	Voice	Uncredited
41	1957	Bitter Victory	Sgt. Barney
42	1957	The Truth About Women	François
43	1958	A Tale of Two Cities	Marquis St. Evremonde
44	1958	Dracula	Count Dracula	Alternative title: Horror of Dracula
45	1958	Battle of the V-1	Labor Camp Captain, Men’s Section
46	1958	Corridors of Blood	Resurrection Joe
47	1959	The Hound of the Baskervilles	Sir Henry Baskerville
48	1959	The Man Who Could Cheat Death	Dr. Pierre Gerard
49	1959	The Treasure of San Teresa	Jaeger
50	1959	The Mummy	Kharis, the Mummy
51	1959	Uncle Was a Vampire	Baron Roderico da Frankurten
52	1960	Too Hot to Handle	Novak
53	1960	Beat Girl	Kenny
54	1960	The City of the Dead	Prof. Alan Driscoll	Alternative title: Horror Hotel
55	1960	The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll	Paul Allen
56	1960	The Hands of Orlac	Nero the magician
57	1961	The Terror of the Tongs	Chung King
58	1961	Taste of Fear	Doctor Pierre Gerrard
59	1961	The Devil’s Daffodil	Ling Chu
60	1961	Ercole al centro della terra	King Lico (Licos)	Alternative title: Hercules in the Haunted World
61	1962	Stranglehold
62	1962	The Puzzle of the Red Orchid	Captain Allerman
63	1962	The Pirates of Blood River	Captain LaRoche
64	1962	The Devil’s Agent	Baron von Staub
65	1962	Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace	Sherlock Holmes
66	1963	Katarsis	Mephistoles
67	1963	La vergine di Norimberga	Erich	Aka Castle of Terror and Virgin of Nuremberg
68	1963	La frusta e il corpo	Kurt Menliff	Aka The Whip and the Body and Night Is the Phantom
69	1964	Il castello dei morti vivi	Count Drago	Alternative title: Castle of the Living Dead
70	1964	La cripta e l’incubo	Count Ludwig Karnstein	Aka Crypt of the Vampire and Crypt of Horror
71	1964	The Devil-Ship Pirates	Captain Robeles
72	1964	The Gorgon	Prof. Karl Meister
73	1965	Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors	Franklyn Marsh
74	1965	She	Billali
75	1965	The Skull	Sir Matthew Phillips
76	1965	Ten Little Indians	Voice of “Mr. Owen”	Uncredited
77	1965	The Face of Fu Manchu	Dr. Fu Manchu / Lee Tao
78	1966	Theatre of Death	Philippe Darvas
79	1966	Dracula: Prince of Darkness	Count Dracula
80	1966	Rasputin, the Mad Monk	Grigori Rasputin
81	1966	Circus of Fear	Gregor	Alternative title: Psycho Circus
82	1966	The Brides of Fu Manchu	Fu Manchu
83	1967	The Vengeance of Fu Manchu	Dr. Fu Manchu
84	1967	Night of the Big Heat	Godfrey Hanson
85	1967	Five Golden Dragons	Dragon #4
86	1967	The Blood Demon	Count Frederic Regula, Graf von Andomai	Aka The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism and Castle of the Walking Dead
87	1968	Curse of the Crimson Altar	Morley
88	1968	The Devil Rides Out	Duc de Richleau
89	1968	Eve	Colonel Stuart	Alternative title: The Face of Eve
90	1968	The Blood of Fu Manchu	Fu Manchu
91	1968	Dracula Has Risen from the Grave	Count Dracula
92	1969	The Castle of Fu Manchu	Fu Manchu
93	1969	The Oblong Box	Dr. J. Neuhart
94	1969	The Magic Christian	Ship’s vampire
95	1970	Scream and Scream Again	Fremont
96	1970	Umbracle	The Man
97	1970	The Bloody Judge (es)	Lord George Jeffreys	Alternative title: Night of the Blood Monster
98	1970	Count Dracula	Count Dracula
99	1970	Taste the Blood of Dracula	Count Dracula
100	1970	One More Time	Count Dracula
101	1970	Julius Caesar	Artemidorus
102	1970	Eugenie	Dolmance	Aka Eugenie – The Story of Her Journey into Perversion
103	1970	The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes	Mycroft Holmes
104	1970	Scars of Dracula	Count Dracula
105	1971	The House That Dripped Blood	John Reid	Segment: “Sweets to the Sweet”
105	1971	Cuadecuc, vampir	Count Dracula/Himself
106	1971	I, Monster	Dr. Charles Marlowe/Edward Blake
107	1971	Hannie Caulder	Bailey
108	1972	Death Line	Stratton-Villiers, MI5	Alternative title: Raw Meat
109	1972	Nothing But the Night	Col. Charles Bingham
110	1972	Dracula A.D. 1972	Count Dracula
111	1973	Dark Places	Dr. Mandeville
112	1973	The Creeping Flesh	James Hildern
113	1973	The Satanic Rites of Dracula	Count Dracula
114	1973	Horror Express	Sir Alexander Saxton
115	1973	The Three Musketeers	Rochefort
116	1973	The Wicker Man	Lord Summerisle
117	1974	The Four Musketeers	Rochefort
118	1974	The Man with the Golden Gun	Francisco Scaramanga
119	1975	Diagnosis: Murder	Dr. Stephen Hayward
120	1975	Le boucher, la star et l’orpheline	Van Krig/Himself
121	1976	The Keeper	The Keeper
122	1976	Killer Force	Major Chilton	Alternative title: The Diamond Mercenaries
123	1976	To the Devil, A Daughter	Father Michael Rayner
124	1976	Dracula père et fils	Prince of Darkness	Alternative title: Dracula and Son
125	1976	Albino	Bill	Aka Whispering Death and Death in the Sun
126	1977	Airport ’77	Martin Wallace
127	1977	Meatcleaver Massacre	On-screen narrator	Aka Evil Force and Revenge of the Dead
128	1977	End of the World	Father Pergado / Zindar
129	1977	Starship Invasions	Captain Rameses
130	1978	Return from Witch Mountain	Dr. Victor Gannon
131	1978	Caravans	Sardar Khan
132	1978	Circle of Iron	Zetan	Alternative title: The Silent Flute
133	1979	The Passage	Gypsy
134	1979	Arabian Adventure	Alquazar
135	1979	Nutcracker Fantasy	Uncle Drosselmeyer / Street Singer / Watchmaker	Voice
136	1979	Jaguar Lives!	Adam Caine
137	1979	Bear Island	Lechinski
138	1979	1941	Capt. Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt
139	1979	Captain America II: Death Too Soon	Miguel
140	1980	Serial	Luckman Skull
141	1981	The Salamander	Prince Baldasar, the Director of Counterintelligence
142	1981	Desperate Moves	Dr. Carl Boxer
143	1981	An Eye for an Eye	Morgan Canfield
144	1982	Safari 3000	Count Borgia
145	1982	The Last Unicorn	King Haggard	Voice; also in German language version
146	1983	New Magic	Mr. Kellar
147	1983	The Return of Captain Invincible	Mr. Midnight
148	1983	House of the Long Shadows	Corrigan
149	1984	The Rosebud Beach Hotel	Mr. Clifford King
150	1985	Mask of Murder	Chief Supt. Jonathan Rich
151	1985	Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf	Stefan Crosscoe
152	1986	The Girl	Peter Storm
153	1987	Jocks	President White
154	1987	Mio min Mio	Kato
155	1988	Dark Mission	Luis Morel
156	1989	Murder Story	Willard Hope
157	1989	La chute des aigles	Walter Strauss
158	1989	The Return of the Musketeers	Rochefort
159	1990	The Rainbow Thief	Uncle Rudolf
160	1990	L’avaro	Cardinale Spinosi
161	1990	Honeymoon Academy	Lazos
162	1990	Panga	–
163	1990	Gremlins 2: The New Batch	Doctor Catheter
164	1991	Curse III: Blood Sacrifice	Doctor Pearson
165	1992	Jackpot	Cedric
166	1992	Kabuto	King Philip
167	1994	Police Academy: Mission to Moscow	Cmndt. Alexandrei Nikolaivich Rakov
168	1994	Funny Man	Callum Chance
169	1994	Flesh and Blood	Narrator/Self	Last collaboration with Peter Cushing
170	1995	A Feast at Midnight	V. E. Longfellow, a.k.a. Raptor
171	1996	Welcome to the Discworld	Death
172	1996	The Stupids	Evil Sender
173	1998	Tale of the Mummy	Sir Richard Turkel
174	1998	Jinnah	Mohammed Ali Jinnah	Lee considers this to be his favourite role/most significant^[2]
175	1999	Sleepy Hollow	Burgomaster
176	2001	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	Saruman
177	2002	Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones	Count Dooku / Darth Tyranus
178	2002	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	Saruman
179	2003	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	Saruman	Extended Edition only
180	2004	Crimson Rivers II: Angels of the Apocalypse	Heinrich von Garten
181	2005	The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby	The Lord Provost
182	2005	Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith	Count Dooku / Darth Tyranus
183	2005	Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	Dr. Wilbur Wonka
184	2005	Corpse Bride	Pastor Galswells	Voice
185	2007	The Golden Compass	First High Councillor
186	2008	Star Wars: The Clone Wars	Count Dooku / Darth Tyranus	Voice
187	2009	Boogie Woogie	Alfred Rhinegold
188	2009	Triage	Joaquín Morales
189	2009	Glorious 39	Walter
190	2010	Alice in Wonderland	Jabberwocky	Voice
191	2010	Burke & Hare	Joseph
192	2010	The Heavy	Mr. Mason
193	2011	Season of the Witch	Cardinal D’Ambroise
194	2011	The Resident	August
195	2011	The Wicker Tree	Old Gentleman
196	2011	Grave Tales	Himself	Original version only
197	2011	Hugo	Monsieur Labisse
198	2012	The Hunting of the Snark	Narrator	Voice
199	2012	Dark Shadows	Silas Clarney
200	2012	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	Saruman
201	2013	Night Train to Lisbon	Father Bartolomeu
202	2013	Necessary Evil	Narrator	Voice
203	2013	The Girl from Nagasaki	Old Officer Pinkerton
204	2014	The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies	Saruman
205	2014	Extraordinary Tales		Voice
206	2015	Angels in Notting Hill	The Boss, Mr. President

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#LiamDay	NOT AVAILABLE	#MakeAMovieLessRomantic
2	#QueSeriaMiVidaSin	NOT AVAILABLE	#LiamDay
3	Marge y Homero	NOT AVAILABLE	Christopher Lee
4	Christopher Lee	NOT AVAILABLE	Ornette Coleman
5	#ConfiesoQue	NOT AVAILABLE	#SAScon
6	Perrie Malik	NOT AVAILABLE	#MyDadWouldAlwaysSay
7	#WorstChildhoodRumors	NOT AVAILABLE	#TimeToDeactivate
8	#RetoTelehit	NOT AVAILABLE	#distractinglysexy
9	Dusty Rhodes	NOT AVAILABLE	#VFintelligence
10	#BuenJueves	NOT AVAILABLE	#ROWYSOLiverpool

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Military intervention against ISIL
- A US citizen fighting alongside Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) against ISIL is killed in action near Kobani. (Today’s Zaman via AP)
Syrian Civil War
- Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, the Al-Nusra Front, shoots dead at least 20 Druze villagers in Idlib in what is being described as a “massacre”.(The Telegraph)
Boko Haram
- Residents of northeast Nigeria claim that Boko Haram has killed at least 43 people and burnt down three villages in recent attacks. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel
- A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip towards the Ashkelon region fell short and did not land in Israel with Palestinian sources indicating it may have hit a house. There were no immediate reports of injuries, or claims of responsibility. (Times of Israel)

Arts and culture

Spain gives the late writer Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, a formal burial at a Madrid convent nearly 400 years after his death in 1616. (AP)

Business and economics

After a poor 1st quarter earnings report, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo steps down with co-founder Jack Dorsey taking over as interim CEO effective July 1. (USA Today)
Rupert Murdoch will step aside as CEO of 21st Century Fox to be replaced by his son James Murdoch. (AFP via ABC Online)

Disasters and accidents

At least 41 people have been killed, 8 injured, and scores are missing in landslides in Nepal‘s Taplejung District caused by heavy rain. (The Hindu)

Health

Health officials in the United States are advising doctors to be on the lookout for MERS following an outbreak in South Korea. (AP via Washington Post)

International relations

NGO Save the Children
- Federal Interior Ministry of Pakistan has sealed the offices of the NGO Save the Children in Pakistan and issued order for its foreign staff to leave the country within 15 days on account of the NGO’s anti-Pakistan activities. (Express Tribune).
Nuclear program of Iran:
- A new version of the Israeli-linked malware Duqu is found at hotels hosting Iran nuclear talks by Kaspersky; Israel denies involvement. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

China‘s former security chief Zhou Yongkang is given a life sentence for bribery, leaking state secrets and abuse of power. (ABC News Australia)
Shooting of Tamir Rice
- A court in the American city of Cleveland, Ohio, finds probable cause that Cleveland Police Department officer Timothy Loehmann should face murder charges in relation to the shooting of Tamar Rice. (Cleveland.com)
King Felipe VI of Spain strips his sister Cristina of her titles after she is charged with tax evasion. (AFP via Yahoo!)
Authorities from the Marshal’s Service, the FBI, Customs, state and local police, and the Forest Police searching for 6 days in northeastern New York (about 25 miles south of the Canadian border, near Lake Champlain and Vermont, in the Adirondack Forest area, in Dannemora, New Yorkand Plattsburgh, New York) for two high-risk murderers who staged an elaborate escape from the high-security Clinton Correctional Facility– the first there- the night of Friday, June 5, 2015 (it was discovered the next morning), using bloodhounds, find a scent and leftover evidence that could be from the two, Richard Matt and David Sweat. (CNN)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

June 13, 2015

Top News Stories –

Sweden royal wedding: Prince Carl Philip marries ex-reality star –
Sweden’s Prince Carl Philip has married a former reality-TV star and glamour model in a lavish ceremony in the chapel at Stockholm’s Royal Palace.
Sofia Hellqvist, 30, also worked as a topless model and a yoga instructor before helping to set up a charity. Her new husband, 36-year-old Carl Philip, is third in line to the throne. Thousands of well-wishers lined the streets for the event, despite polls suggesting the Swedish royal family’s popularity is waning. They cheered as Miss Hellqvist, a 30-year-old commoner, became a princess. [BBC]
Sofia Hellqvist

Gunman killed by police snipers after attack on Dallas police headquarters –
A police sniper has shot and killed an armed suspect in Texas hours after the gunman opened fire on Dallas police headquarters before fleeing in an armoured van. The getaway vehicle was pursued by police to a fast food restaurant parking lot in the nearby city of Hutchin, where officers disabled the vehicle, in the incident early on Saturday morning. Some hours later, police said the suspect was killed. Two explosive devices, including one described as a pipe bomb, were found earlier on outside the Dallas police building. They have both been cleared. One detonated when a bomb disposal robot attempted to move it, but nobody was injured. [Daily Telegraph]

Queen’s birthday honours list: knights outnumber dames five to one –
Men outnumber women by almost five to one in the highest honours announced for the Queen’s birthday, which sees knighthoods for comedian Lenny Henry, trade unionist Paul Kenny and singer-songwriter Van “the Man” Morrison. For only the second time in honours history, more women received awards – 51% of all recipients – but just seven are made dames, compared with 33 knighthoods for men, reflecting a gender imbalance at the highest levels of industry, business, politics and academia. [Guardian] See List of the Day

Video of the Day –

BEAT DOWN from Camp 4 Collective on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

The Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2015 – [For full list click here from the Metro]

KNIGHTS BACHELOR

Henry Angest. National Treasurer Conservative Party. For political service. (London)

Professor Harshad Kumar Dharamshi Bhadeshia F. R.S., Tata Steel Professor of Metallurgy, University of Cambridge. For services to Science and Technology. (Cambridgeshire)

The Rt Hon Simon Hugh McGuigan Burns. Member of Parliament for Chelmsford. For parliamentary and political service. (Essex)

Dr Philip Henry Montgomery Campbell. Editor in chief Nature. For services to Science. (London)

Dr Kevan Arthur Collins. Chief executive Education Endowment Foundation. For services to Education. (London)

Naim Eliahou Dangoor, CBE. Philanthropist. For charitable services. (London)

Michael Lawrence Davis. Chair Prime Minister’s Holocaust Commission. For services to Holocaust Commemoration and Education.

Ciaran Gearoid Devane. Chief executive Macmillan Cancer Support. For services to Cancer Patients. (London)

Professor Charles Peter Downes, OBE, FRSE. Principal and vice-Chancellor, University of Dundee. For services to Higher Education and Life Sciences. (Newport-on-Tay, Fife)

Gareth Owen Edwards, CBE. For services to Sport and for charitable services. (Bridgend, Mid Glamorgan)

Bernard Peter Gray. Chief of Defence Materiel Ministry of Defence. For public service, particularly to Defence. (Oxfordshire)

Patrick Head. Director Williams Hybrid Power Ltd. For services to Motorsport. (London)

Lenworth George Henry, CBE. Actor and Comedian. For services to Drama and Charity. (London)

The Rt Hon Simon Henry Ward Hughes. Member of Parliament for Bermondsey and Old Southwark. For public and political service. (London)

Thomas Baird Jeffery, CB. Director general, Department for Education, Children’s Services and Departmental Strategy Directorate. For services to the Department for Education. (Lewes, East Sussex)

Dr Karl William Pamp Jenkins, CBE. Composer. For services to Composing and Crossing Musical Genres. (London)

Paul Stephen Kenny. General secretary GMB Union. For services to Trade Unions. (London)

Dr James Loy Macmillan, CBE. Composer and conductor. For services to Music. (Glasgow)

Francis McLoughlin, CBE. Principal, City and Islington College and Chair, Commission on Adult Vocational Teaching and Learning. For services to Further Education. (London)

Iain Macleod McMillan, CBE. For services to the Scottish Economy. (Falkirk, Stirling and Falkirk)

George Ivan Morrison, OBE. For services to the Music Industry and to Tourism in Northern Ireland. (Down)

Professor Stephen John Nickell, CBE, FBA. Economist. For services to Economics. (Banbury, Oxfordshire)

Dr Nicholas Beaver Penny, FBA. Director general, National Gallery. For services to the Arts. (London)

Professor Hussein Munir Pirmohamed. David Weatherall Chair of Medicine University of Liverpool. For services to Medicine. (West Kirby, Merseyside)

Andreas Whittam Smith, CBE. For public service particularly to the Church of England. (London)

Gary Keith Verity. Chief executive Welcome to Yorkshire. For services to Tourism and the Tour De France Grand Depart 2014. (North Yorkshire)

Professor Ian Vincent Derrick Weller. Emeritus Professor of Sexually Transmitted Diseases Department of Infection and Population Health, University College, London.

For services to HIV Research. (Grantham, Lincolnshire)

Nicholas John Weller. Executive Principal Dixons Academies, Bradford. For services to Education. (Leeds, West Yorkshire)

Adrian Edwin White, CBE, DL. For services to International Trade and Investment. (Dorking, Surrey)

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#AskRachel	#DallasPDShooting	#BirthdayHonours
2	#ComoOdioAEsosQue	John Stamos	#NRocks
3	Dave Grohl	#FoodAnEightiesSong	#WorldGinDay
4	Jurassic World	#BecauseOfAriana	Dave Grohl
5	#AssistamTeuOlharFLY	Uncle Jesse	#SkypeREECEandCHARLIE
6	#ARGENTINARMY	#GETWELLSOONMICHAEL	Van Morrison
7	Bolivia	#NoControlMusicVideo	#TroopingTheColour
8	#USAvSWE	#Hillary2016	#IREvSCO
9	Barbie Velez	#UFC188	Wales
10	Fede Bal	#WhenIDiePeopleWillBeShock…	#QueensBirthdayHonours

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

The Taliban kill 20 police officers in attack in Helmand, Afghanistan. (WTVM)
Syrian Civil War
- Some 13,000 refugees have crossed into Turkey as Syrian Kurd People’s Protection Units encircle the ISIL-held town of Suluk. (AP via Yahoo!)

Arts and culture

The trooping the colour ceremony is held in London to celebrate the Queen’s Official Birthday while singer Van Morrison and American actorKevin Spacey are given knighthoods at the Birthday Honours. (CNN), (BBC)
The wedding of Prince Carl Philip, Duke of Värmland, and Sofia Hellqvist takes place in Stockholm. (BBC News)

Disasters and accidents

At least 22 Hindu pilgrims are killed after a van they are travelling in falls into a reservoir in the southern Indian town of Dhavaleswaram in Andhra Pradesh. (AAP via News Limited)

International relations

Immigration to Europe
- Austria stops processing asylum requests in an effort to pressure other European Union member states to do more to help absorb waves of refugees pouring into the continent. (Irish Times), (Telegraph)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Scheduled talks of 14th June, 2015 between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and the exiled government which are brokered by the UN have been postponed with a new schedule set for Monday 15 June, 2015 (The Daily Star (Lebanon) via Reuters
P5+1
- Iran asks Austria to secure the talks over its nuclear program following reports of cybersecurity breaches. (AFP via Daily Star)
Egypt opens its border with the Gaza Strip temporarily for the first time in months. Egypt blames Hamas for the Sinai insurgency. (AP via Daily Star)
Dozens of migrants who refused entry to France go on hunger strike at the border crossing in the Italian town of Ventimiglia. (AFP via Daily Star)

Law and crime

A man opens fire at policemen outside the police headquarters in the Texan city of Dallas, while a bag containing a pipe bomb is also found. He was later shot dead by police snipers following a car chase and standoff. (AP), (CNN)

Politics and elections

Thousands of people protest in Skopje demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister of Macedonia Nikola Gruevski. (AFP via Yahoo! News)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

June 14, 2015

Top News Stories –

Philae comet lander wakes up, says European Space Agency –
The European Space Agency (Esa) says its comet lander, Philae, has woken up and contacted Earth. Philae, the first spacecraft to land on a comet, was dropped on to the surface of Comet 67P by its mothership, Rosetta, last November. It worked for 60 hours before its solar-powered battery ran flat. The comet has since moved nearer to the Sun and Philae has enough power to work again, says the BBC’s science correspondent Jonathan Amos. An account linked to the probe tweeted the message, “Hello Earth! Can you hear me?” On its blog, Esa said Philae had contacted Earth, via Rosetta, for 85 seconds on Saturday in the first contact since going into hibernation in November.

Artist’s impression of the Philae lander

Jurassic World takes $511m in record opening weekend –
The fourth instalment in the Jurassic Park series has become the first film to take more than $500m at the box office on its opening weekend. Jurassic World was the most popular screening in all 66 countries where it was released. The film made $204.6m (£131.4m) in the US, according to the firm Exhibitor Relations. It took $100m in China and $29.6m (£19m) in the UK and Ireland as part of the record global total of $511.8m. The Universal Pictures release had the second-highest grossing opening weekend in the US. The record is held by Marvel’s The Avengers, which took $207.4m in 2012. [BBC] See Video of the Day

Video of the Day –

Jurassic World – Official Global Trailer

List of the Day –

Biggest Worldwide film openings since 2002 [from Wikipedia]

Rank	Film	Year	Opening (USD)^[1]
1	Jurassic World	2015	$511,800,000
2	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2	2011	$483,189,427
3	Furious 7	2015	$397,627,459
4	Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince	2009	$394,022,354
5	Marvel’s The Avengers	2012	$392,538,708
6	Avengers: Age of Ultron	2015	$392,471,109
7	Transformers: Dark of the Moon	2011	$382,425,000
8	Spider-Man 3	2007	$381,660,892
9	Iron Man 3	2013	$372,553,677
10	Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides	2011	$350,653,677
11	Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End	2007	$343,972,864
12	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2	2012	$340,667,634
13	Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix	2007	$332,715,157
14	Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1	2010	$330,017,372
15	Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith	2005	$303,949,700
16	Transformers: Age of Extinction	2014	$302,138,390
17	The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1	2011	$291,022,261
18	The Twilight Saga: New Moon	2009	$274,939,137
19	The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1	2014	$273,897,634
20	Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull	2008	$272,150,927
21	X-Men: Days of Future Past	2014	$262,866,321
22	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	2003	$250,000,534
23	The Dark Knight Rises	2012	$248,887,295
24	Avatar	2009	$241,571,046
25	The Da Vinci Code	2006	$232,074,037
26	2012	2009	$230,470,474
27	The Twilight Saga: Eclipse	2010	$228,893,465
28	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	2012	$222,617,303
29	Iron Man 2	2010	$220,766,270
30	Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen	2009	$219,921,171
31	Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs	2009	$218,430,064
32	The Hunger Games	2012	$211,785,747
33	Alice in Wonderland	2010	$210,101,023
34	The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug	2013	$209,845,197
35	Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban	2004	$207,197,367
36	War of the Worlds	2005	$203,061,125
37	Man of Steel	2013	$201,981,486
38	The Matrix Revolutions	2003	$201,390,000
39	Iron Man	2008	$201,174,140

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#ARGENTINARMY	Roc Nation	Toke
2	#AskRachel	#zayniscomingback	#GETWELLSOONCALUM
3	#ComoOdioAEsosQue	#FlagDay	Rolf Harris
4	Bolivia	#ICouldUseALittleMore	Snowden
5	Fede Bal	#NWC2015	#zayniscomingback
6	Jurassic World	#RedFlags	#UFC188
7	Dave Grohl	#MITB	#SLOvENG
8	#GoodForYou	Tbilisi	Michael
9	#AssistamTeuOlharFLY	Good Sunday	#HappyBirthdayJesy
10	Vuoso	#GETWELLSOONCALUM	Townsend

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
  - Fifteen Taliban militants, including the shadow governor for Kunar Province, are killed in a NATO airstrike. (IANS via Business Standard)
- Syrian Civil War
  - Thousands of Syrians flee into Turkey as Kurdish fighters come closer to capturing the border town of Tell Abyad from Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. (AP)
Disasters and accidents
- 2015 Tbilisi flood
  - Flooding in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, destroys animal enclosures at a zoo resulting in the release of potentially dangerous animals and the death of three zookeepers and six other people. (AP), (USA Today), (Reuters, DPA via WA Today)
Health
- 2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak in South Korea
  - A South Korean man is hospitalised in the Slovak capital Bratislava with symptoms of MERS as the death toll in Korea rises to 15. (Sky News Australia), (Al-Jazeera)
International relations
- Save The Children
  - Ministry of Interior, Government of Pakistan has suspended its order against the NGO Save the Children for closure of its working and allowed the international aid agency to resume its operation in Pakistan. (Express Tribune) (ARY Digital )
- A South Korean official claims that North Korea is placing land mines in the Korean Demilitarized Zone to stop soldiers from defecting. The Korean DMZ already contains an estimated 1 million mines. (Yonhap)
Law and crime
- International Criminal Court investigation in Darfur
  - The International Criminal Court asks South Africa to arrest the President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir for alleged war crimes when he arrives at the African Union summit. (AFP via Straits-Times
  - The High Court in Pretoria grants an interim order preventing the President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir from leaving South Africa, and postpones the application for his arrest to Monday 15 June, 2015 to allow the government more time to prepare. (News24) (News24)
Politics and elections
- Thousands of people march in Hong Kong to demand the Legislative Council reject a China backed proposal for the naming of candidates forChief Executive be done by a nominating committee. (Bloomberg)
Science
- The European Space Agency‘s Philae spacecraft wakes up after six months in hibernation as comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko gets closer to the sun. (BBC)
Sport
- In motor sport, the Porsche 19 team of Earl Bamber, Nick Tandy and Nico Hulkenberg wins the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans. (Fox Sports)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

June 21, 2015

Top News Stories –

India yoga: PM Narendra Modi leads thousands in celebration –
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has led thousands in a mass yoga programme in the capital, Delhi, on the first ever International Yoga Day. Mr Modi did stretches, bends and breathing exercises with 35,000 school children, bureaucrats and soldiers. Security was tight in the city with thousands of police and paramilitary deployed for Sunday morning’s event. Millions of others are expected to do yoga at similar events planned in hundreds of Indian cities and towns. Mr Modi, a yoga enthusiast who says he practises the ancient Indian art daily, lobbied the United Nations to declare 21 June International Yoga Day. Authorities said 35,000 people attended the 35-minute yoga session on Rajpath, aimed at setting a new Guinness World Record for the largest yoga class at a single venue.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi

Taylor Swift pulls 1989 album from Apple Music –
Taylor Swift has pulled her hit album 1989 from Apple’s new streaming music service and criticised the company. In an open letter to Apple, Swift said she was withholding the record as she was unhappy with the three-month free trial offered to subscribers. “I’m not sure you know that Apple Music will not be paying writers, producers, or artists for those three months,” she wrote. She said the plan was “unfair”, arguing Apple had the money to cover the cost. “I find it to be shocking, disappointing, and completely unlike this historically progressive and generous company,” the 25-year-old said, describing Apple as one of her “best partners in selling music”. “These are not the complaints of a spoiled, petulant child. These are the echoed sentiments of every artist, writer and producer in my social circles who are afraid to speak up publicly because we admire and respect Apple so much,” she continued. “We know how astronomically successful Apple has been and we know that this incredible company has the money to pay artists, writers and producers for the 3 month trial period – even if it is free for the fans trying it out. “Three months is a long time to go unpaid, and it is unfair to ask anyone to work for nothing.” She ended her letter by calling on Apple to change its policy, suggesting she would reinstate her album on the service if the company changed its mind. “We don’t ask you for free iPhones. Please don’t ask us to provide you with our music for no compensation.” Apple has yet to comment on the issue.
Taylor Swift

Video of the Day –

Remnants from Nate Atwater on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	FRASE DO MEU TÚMULO	#GoHomeDeray	Katie Hopkins
2	#FelizDiaDelPadre	#MyDadIn4Words	Broner
3	#HappyBirthdayLanaDelRey	Dads	#JamesBrokeTheDoor
4	#UnaVezEnPedo	Happy Fathers	Ramos
5	#NoEsTuPapaSi	#HappyBirthdayLanaDelRey	#FathersDay
6	레바 와카루	Chuck Todd	Daddy
7	파쿠리	#AndThenIWasAskedToLeave	#SummerSolstice
8	Dads	Father’s Day	#GetLoveMeSo
9	Jamaica	#FelizDiaDelPadre	#MyDadIn4Words
10	#BugünBabalarGünü	#SummerSolstice	#InternationalDayofYoga

Other News Stories –

Disasters and accidents

Ninety-four people die, and 45 others are hospitalized, after drinking moonshine in Mumbai (Bombay), India. (Reuters via News24)

Law and crime

Ten people are injured in a shooting at a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania block party. (AFP via News24) (NBC Philadelphia)
One person dies and nine others are injured in a shooting at a block party on a basketball court in Detroit, Michigan. (AP via News24) (ABC News)
A Palestinian teenager is in police custody after he stabbed in the neck and critically injured a policeman in Jerusalem and then was shot by the same policeman. (YNet)

Politics

Prime Minister of Greece Alexis Tsipras makes a new offer for reforms which could signal a late deal in the country’s debt talks. (ITV News)

Sport

2015 U.S. Open (golf)
- In golf, American Jordan Spieth wins his second major championship of the year winning the U.S. Open by a stroke and becomes the first golfer since Gene Sarazen to win two majors before the age of 22. (The Guardian)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

June 22, 2015

Top News Stories –

Apple Music changes policy after Taylor Swift stand –
Apple Music has reversed its payment policy, a day after the singer Taylor Swift said she was refusing to allow the company to stream her album 1989. In an open letter to Apple, Swift said she was withholding the record as she was unhappy with the three-month free trial offered to subscribers. Now Apple says it will pay artists for music streamed during trial periods. “We hear you @taylorswift13 and indie artists. Love, Apple,” tweeted executive Eddy Cue. Mr Cue said he did not know if the Shake It Off singer would now make her album available on Apple Music – but he praised her for taking a stand. “When I woke up this morning and I saw Taylor’s note that she had written, it really solidified that we needed to make a change,” he told Associated Press. [BBC]
Eddie Cue Tweet

Skinny jeans given health warning –
A 35-year-old woman had to be cut out of a pair after her calves ballooned in size, they described in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry. She had spent hours squatting to empty cupboards for a house move in Australia. By evening, her feet were numb and she found it hard to walk. Doctors believe the woman developed a condition called compartment syndrome, made worse by her skinny jeans. Compartment syndrome is a painful and potentially serious condition caused by bleeding or swelling within an enclosed bundle of muscles – in this case, the calves. The condition caused the woman to trip and fall and, unable to get up, she then spent several hours lying on the ground. [BBC]

Vine’s Carter Reynolds pressures his ex for oral sex in leaked video –
An x-rated video of Vine star Carter Reynolds leaked Sunday that purportedly shows him pressuring his ex-girlfriend for oral sex, raising issues of consent and spurring Internet backlash. The video is filmed from Reynolds’ point of view, with his pants pulled down and his erect penis exposed. His ex-girlfriend, Instagram celeb Maggie Lindemann, tells him “I don’t think I can” and repeatedly stresses “I am really uncomfortable.” Reynolds tells her to “do it,” and “just pretend (the camera) isn’t there.” Lindemann eventually curls up and stops looking at the camera. It ends with Reynolds saying, “Oh my gosh, Maggie.” Lindemann is 16 years old, and Reynolds recently turned 19, leaving issues of consent and statutory rape on the table depending when and where the clip was filmed, as well as child pornography issues depending on how old Reynolds is in the video. [Daily Dot] “Carter” tops Twitter trends Worldwide – See Top Twitter Trends below
Carter Reynolds Tweet @Carterreynolds

Video of the Day –

Remove cat before flight –

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Carter	Carter	Carter
2	#YoYMisSarpadasGanasDe	#MondayMotivation	#MondayMotivation
3	#WhenIJoinedTwitter	#WhenIJoinedTwitter	#WhenIJoinedTwitter
4	Léo Moura	N-word	Dustin Johnson
5	#MiProblemaEs	#HappyBirthdayDinahJane	Partick Thistle
6	#asklesbian	Pete Rose	Taylor Swift
7	#Superstar	#ItsWorthMentioning	#HappyBirthdayDinahJane
8	#GoodForYouAvailableNOW	#CannesLions	#CKG15
9	#妊娠からの予測変換	Diddy	#CannesLions
10	舞台化	#LHHATL	Cech

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- The Afghan National Assembly building is attacked after a suicide bombing, all 6 of the gunmen are killed and 18 people are injured. (BBC)
Four people are killed and thirty injured in grenade attacks in Burundi. (AFP via Twitter), (BBC)
Syrian Civil War
- Hundreds of Syrian refugees return from Turkey to the border town of Tell Abyad after the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant are expelled byKurdish People’s Protection Units. (Reuters via Daily Star)
Boko Haram insurgency
- At least 20 people are killed after a female suicide bomber attacks a fish market in Nigeria’s north-eastern city of Maiduguri. The militant Islamist group Boko Haram is suspected to be behind the attack. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

Over 200 die of heatstroke in Pakistan‘s Karachi over the weekend in a record heatwave. (DAWN), (CNN)
A light plane belonging to American composer James Horner crashes in Ventura County, California resulting in his death. (KSBY), (Hollywood Reporter)

Health

2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak in South Korea
- The number of deaths from MERS in South Korea rises to 27 with three new cases reported. The government is taking unprecedented precautions in terms of public sanitation and quarantine.(Yonhap)

International relations

Japan announces plans to resume whale hunting in the Antarctic during the southern hemisphere summer. Whaling has been banned for over 30 years by the International Whaling Commission. (AFP via Straits Times)
2014 Israel–Gaza conflict
- A United Nations report finds evidence that both Hamas and Israel committed war crimes during the 2014 conflict. (Haaretz)
Office of Personnel Management data breach
- The CNN reports that the size of the Office of Personnel Management data breach could be as large as 18 million past, present and prospective employees of the United States Government. (CNN)

Law and crime

Charleston church shooting
- The Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley calls for the Confederate battle flag to be removed from the U.S. Civil War memorial on the grounds of the South Carolina State House. (Washington Post)
- Walmart, the largest store in the United States, announces that it will withdraw all merchandise featuring the Confederate flag from sale at its stores and online. (CNN)

Politics and elections

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan reveals that he has advanced stage lymphoma. (AP via ABC)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

June 24, 2015

Top News Stories –

Canada helicopter sex chat heard by Winnipeg public –
Canadian police have apologised after an explicit conversation was inadvertently broadcast from one of its helicopters. Whilst on patrol over Winnipeg, the chopper’s crew accidentally turned on its loudspeaker allowing members of the public below to hear them. Those listening say they heard pilots swearing and discussing oral sex. The officers were unaware that the loudspeaker was on due to the noise from the helicopter’s engine. Winnipeg Police Service say some of the “conversation was inappropriate” and have promised an internal review. [BBC]

5 Seconds of Summer fans go wild for ‘Doge Family’ hashtag after band change their Twitter profiles –
5SOS have changed their Twitter names and profile and the most bizarre hashtag is now trending. Fans have been tweeting #DogeFamily after the stars put up a photograph of a dog as their main images and changed their names, leaving us all asking: “WHAT IS GOING ON?!?” Well, we did some digging and found that ‘Doge’ is a internet meme based upon pictures of a Shiba Inus, and a slang word for dog. [Daily Mirror] See Top Twitter Trends below.
@SOS Twitter

An end to email shame? Gmail’s ‘Undo Send’ comes to the masses –
“Today we’re adding ‘Undo Send’ as a formal setting in Gmail on the web,”explained Google in a blog post as the change went live. The feature, which can prevent massive social embarrassment and help avoid long chats with the HR department about what you just mistakenly sent to a colleague, is to be a standard part of Google’s webmail. It can be turned on from within Gmail’s settings menu and enables people to set a “cancellation period” of five, 10, 20 or 30 seconds after sending any email, during which they can call it back. The feature has been available in Gmail’s experimental Labs settings for some time, and was recently added to the company’s Inbox mobile email app – so many of Gmail’s more tech-savvy users will have set it up already. [The Guardian]

Reddit celebrates its 10th birthday with a ton of wacky stats –
It’s been 10 years since Reddit first launched – basically an eternity in Web time – and it’s celebrating its birthday by looking back at its history, as well as some statistics on where the platform is today. In the ten years since its inception, Reddit has garnered over 16 billion upvotes, compared to ‘just’ 2.6 billion downvotes. It’s kind of nice to know that in a platform often infamous for its trolls, more feedback has been positive than negative. There have also been 190 millions posts, 64 percent of which are links. On these posts, there have been 1.7 billion comments, of which 0.36 percent have mentioned cats. That’s over 6 million cat comments. [The Next Web] See List of the Day

Video of the Day –

Lexus has created a real, rideable hoverboard

List of the Day –

Statistics from the first 10 years of Reddit [Reddit]

10 years, 0 months, 0 days
- (ok, fine, technically it’s 9 years, 11 months, 30 days, 22 hours, and 16 minutes at time of posting this at 10 am PDT)
- (also 5,258,776 minutes, 87,646 hours, 3651 days, or 521 weeks)
16,063,942,290 upvotes
- (and 2,563,574,752 downvotes)
1,715,454,785 comments
- (.36% of which mention cats)
334,626,161 monthly page views per Reddit engineer
- (also 7,637,686 unique monthly visitors per engineer, at 30 engineers—we’re hiring more!)
190,227,552 posts
- (36% self posts vs link)
36,136,190 user accounts
- (26,222 of which include some variation of “pm me” or “don’t pm me” requests)
$29,559,467.54 spent on 877,218 presents for RedditGifts exchanges
- (in 201 gift exchanges)
1,867,184 months of Reddit Gold purchased
- (804,952 of which you’ve gifted to someone)
853,824 subreddits created
- (9,601 of which were active yesterday)
213,078 lines of code total
- (1,081,873 lines of code added and 868,795 removed in 10,128 commits since Jan. 23, 2007, the second complete rewrite of Reddit)
and 1 genderless, raceless, time-traveling alien from the future named Snoo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Cristiano Araújo	Bobby Jindal	#LARRYISCOMINGBACK
2	#LARRYISCOMINGBACK	#dogefamily	Buckingham Palace
3	#dogefamily	Rick Ross	#dogefamily
4	Titanic	#1Dfragrance	#NationalUpcyclingDay
5	#MasterChefBR	#WatchNewStitchesVideo	Dapper Laughs
6	#1Dfragrance	Scott Storch	Firmino
7	たま駅長	#RegretfulSubjectLines	#saveILF
8	#FelizMiercoles	#WeLoveYouCarter	Frank Gehry
9	#MaskotaMaltrataAnimales	#LiberalsNextBan	#ToughEnough
10	#SosReFracaSi	Kevin Love	#FirminoLFC

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Boko Haram
- Over 42 people are shot dead by suspected Boko Haram gunmen in two attacks on villages in Nigeria‘s Borno state. (AFP via Dawn)
Xinjiang Conflict
- A police checkpoint on the outskirts of Kashgar in Xinjiang is attacked by ethnic Uighurs, with at least 18 killed according to U.S. government’sRadio Free Asia. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

Pakistani heat wave
- The death toll from the heat wave reaches nears 800 in Sindh province with 744 people dead in the city of Karachi alone. (BBC)

Health

Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak in South Korea
- The government of South Korea announces that it will provide maximum financial aid to hospitals and clinics affected by the MERS outbreak.(Yonhap)

International relations

The People’s Republic of China claims that the Golden Triangle regions of Laos, Myanmar and Thailand are the source of most of its imports ofheroin and methamphetamine. The region has been known for drug cultivation for centuries. (AP via ABC News America)
The President of France François Hollande warns that France “will not tolerate” acts that threaten its security following claims by Wikileaks that theUnited States spied on him and his two predecessors Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac between 2006 and 2012. (BBC)
Israel revokes permits for 500 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip to enter Jerusalem for Friday prayers following the murder of an Israeli man in the West Bank. (AFP via France 24)
Trans-Pacific Partnership
- The United States Senate approves a motion giving President Barack Obama fast track authority to complete trade negotiations with 11 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. (CNBC)

Law and crime

A Dutch court orders the Netherlands to reduce its carbon emissions by at least 25% by 2020. (BBC)
Boston Marathon bombing
- Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is formally sentenced to death in a federal court. He confirms his guilt and apologizes to the victims. (CNN)

Politics and elections

United States presidential election, 2016
- Bobby Jindal, the Governor of Louisiana, announces that he will be a candidate for the Republican Party nomination in the 2016 Presidential election.(New York Times)
The United States House of Representatives votes 247-180 to allow states to opt out of Barack Obama‘s carbon emissions reduction if the state governor believes compliance would increase electricity bills too much or have an adverse effect on reliability of supply. (AP)

Sports

In ice hockey:
- The National Hockey League announces that it has formally opened the process of expanding the league and will begin evaluating bids from interested parties. The most widely speculated expansion markets include Las Vegas, Seattle, Quebec City, and a second team in the Toronto area. (ESPN)
- Montreal Canadiens goaltender Carey Price wins the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s most valuable player, the Vezina Trophy as the league’s most outstanding goaltender, and the Ted Lindsay Award as the league’s most outstanding player as chosen by fellow players. Price becomes the first player to win both the Hart and Vezina Trophies in the same season since José Théodore, also of the Canadiens, in 2002. (AP via ESPN)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

June 28, 2015

Top News Stories –

Sam Smith best new artist at BET Awards as Nicki Minaj wins rap prize –
Sam Smith has won best new artist at this year’s BET Awards in LA. He wasn’t at the Black Entertainment Television ceremony, so the prize was picked up for him by actor Anthony Anderson. Nicki Minaj, who won her sixth best female hip-hop artist award in a row, brought her mum onstage. Rapping on top of a police car with a large American flag waving behind him, hip-hop star Kendrick Lamar kicked off the BET Awards. He later won best male hip-hop artist. Janet Jackson was honoured with the ultimate icon award as she made a rare public appearance. [BBC Newsbeat] See List of the Day below
Nicki Minaj

SpaceX Rocket Falls Apart on Way to Space Station –
An unmanned cargo ship destined for the International Space Station disintegrated minutes after being launched from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Sunday morning, NASA said, raising questions about how the agency and its partners will continue keeping the station supplied. It was the third loss of a cargo ship headed to the space station in the past eight months. However, NASA officials said they had prepared for such a mishap, and do not anticipate any major disruptions to the operations of the space station. The countdown had proceeded without a hitch or worries about weather, and the 208-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket, built by Space Exploration Technologies, better known as SpaceX, lifted off at 10:21 a.m. But 2 minutes, 19 seconds later, just as George Diller, the commentator during a NASA television broadcast said, “Data coming back shows vehicle on course, on track,” a white cloud emerged from the rocket’s midsection. Moments later, a rain of debris started falling toward the Atlantic Ocean more than 20 miles below. [NY Times] See Video of the Day

Greek debt crisis: Banks to remain shut all week –
The Greek government has confirmed that banks will be closed all week, after a decision by the European Central Bank not to extend emergency funding. In a decree, it cited the “extremely urgent” need to protect the financial system due to the lack of liquidity. Cash withdrawals will be limited to €60 (£42; $66) a day for this period, the decree says. Talks between Greece and the eurozone countries over bailout terms ended without an agreement on Saturday, and Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras then called a surprise referendum on the issue to be held on 5 July. Greece risks default and moving closer to a possible exit from the 19-member eurozone. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

SpaceX Falcon 9 Explosion – June 28th 2015

List of the Day –

Black Entertainment Television Awards 2015 winners

Ultimate Icon, Music Dance Visual Award: Janet Jackson
Humanitarian Award: Tom Joyner
Best New Artist: Sam Smith
Best Female Hip-Hop Artist: Nicki Minaj
Best Male Hip-Hop Artist: Kendrick Lamar
Best Female R&B/Pop Artist: Beyoncé
Best Male R&B/Pop Artist: Chris Brown
Best International Act UK: Stormzy
Best International Act Africa: Stonebwoy
Best Group: Rae Sremmurd
Best Collaboration: Common & John Legend, “Glory”
Best Actress: Taraji P. Henson
Best Actor: Terrence Howard
Youngstars Award: Mo’ne Davis
Best Movie: Selma
Best Gospel Artist: Lecrae
Video of the Year: Beyoncé, “7/11”
Video Director of the Year: Beyoncé, Ed Burke & Todd Tourso
Sportswoman of the Year: Serena Williams
Sportsman of the Year: Stephen Curry
Coca-Cola Viewers’ Choice Award: Nicki Minaj f/ Drake, Lil’ Wayne & Chris Brown, “Only”
Centric Award: The Weeknd, “Earned It”
Fandemonium Award: Chris Brown
Lifetime Achievement Award: Smokey Robinson

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#HollywoodChoice	#HollywoodChoice	#HollywoodChoice
2	#OnurYürüyüşü	#BETAwards2015	Kanye
3	거짓말 탐지기	Chris Squire	#Lionesses
4	Thiago Silva	#DontAskMe	Kayne
5	#MeRePuedeEsoDe	LA Beliebers	Jonathan Pearce
6	#DiadelOrgullo	#NYCPride2015	Chris Squire
7	#DomingoDeGanarSeguidores	#dead50	Vidal
8	AMANHÃ A VEVO VAI TRAVAR	#SundayFunday	Lionel Richie
9	탄생화	John Wick	#UFCFlorida
10	#10MentirasDeUnaMujer	#RejectedMarriageProposals	#RoadChamps

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2015 Sousse attacks
- Tunisia deploys an additional 1000 police in resorts and beaches following the attack on tourists on Friday. (AP)
- With the number of British dead expected to exceed 30, the U.K. warns its citizens about traveling to certain parts of Tunisia, including the south and near the Libyan border. (AP), (BBC)
2015 Kuwait mosque bombing
- Kuwait claims that the suicide bomber responsible for the attack that killed 27 people was Fahd Suleiman Abdulmohsen al-Qaba’a, a citizen ofSaudi Arabia. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
Operation Zarb-e-Azb
- At least 24 militants are killed in Pakistan Air Force air strikes on positions in the Khyber Agency and North Waziristan. (IANS via the Hindu)
In Istanbul, Turkish police forces interrupt the LGBT pride parade, which was refused this year due to the holy month Ramadan, by firing water cannons and rubber pellets. (Reuters UK)

Business and economy

Greek government-debt crisis
- The BBC reports that the European Central Bank will cap lending to Greece‘s struggling banks, causing the run on the nation’s banks to become even worse. Next week a referendum will be held about leaving the Euro currency. (BBC), (BBC), (Irish Times)
- Greece announces that it will close banks until July 6, with limits being placed on automatic teller machine withdrawals. The Athens Exchangeis also closed as financial conditions worsen. (Reuters), (CNBC)
The Governor of Puerto Rico, Alejandro García Padilla, says that Puerto Rico‘s debts are “not payable”. (New York Times)

Health

2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome outbreak in South Korea
- The number of deaths from MERS in South Korea rises to 32, with the number of cases stabilizing at 182. (Yonhap)
A six-year-old boy whose parents refused to have him vaccinated dies of diphtheria, the first case in Spain since 1987. (AFP via MENA-FN)(Fox News Latino)

Law and crime

2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape
- Remaining escapee David Sweat is shot and captured in upstate New York near the border with Canada. (NBC News)
The Federal Bureau of Investigation and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are investigating a series of fires at black churches in the states of Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia with three of the four cases confirmed as arson. (Buzzfeed)

Politics and elections

Danish general election, 2015
- Lars Løkke Rasmussen forms Denmark’s first single-party government in 33 years, and Rasmussen himself becomes the first prime minister in 33 years to serve in two non-consecutive terms; Kristian Jensen becomes the sixth foreign minister since 2010. (The Local) (Copenhagen Post)

Science and technology

An unmanned Space-X Falcon 9 space rocket explodes 2 minutes after take-off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rocket was on a resupply mission to the International Space Station. This is the third such incident in a year. (Reuters via News24) (CNN)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

June 29, 2015

Top News Stories –

Floyd Mayweather tops the 2015 Forbes Celebrity Rich List –
Since 1999 Forbes have been ranking the wealth and influence of the world’s biggest stars. Factors taken into account include income, Google hits, fan base, press clips and magazine covers. But for the the first time, this year’s list has ranked the world’s top earning entertainers by annual income only. Mayweather’s $300 million year shatters the record for athlete earnings, which was previously held by Tiger Woods who banked $115 million in 2008. Mayweather earned an estimated $180m from his fight with Manny Pacquiao on May 2, 2015. Katy Perry has been crowned the highest earning female celebrity. [Daily Telegraph] See List of the Day below
Floyd Mayweather

Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris top highest paid couple list –
Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris have become the highest paid celebrity couple, overtaking Beyonce and Jay Z. The relatively new romance of Swift with her superstar DJ boyfriend see them top this year’s Forbes list; with a combined income of $146m (£92m). It means Queen Bey and her rapper husband slip down to second place with earnings of $100m (£70m). The power couple have been number one on the list since 2013. [BBC]
Taylor Swift

Video of the Day –

Avril Lavigne says having Lyme disease has been the ‘worst time’ of her life –
Avril Lavigne has opened up about her struggle with Lyme disease, calling it the “worst time” of her life. The 30-year-old singer contracted the disease, spread by infected ticks, whilst touring last year. The Canadian says she became “bedridden” in October but is now expected to make a full recovery. She told Good Morning America: “I was seeing every specialist and every doctor. They’d say ‘chronic fatigue syndrome?’ or ‘are you depressed?’ “I woke up and had night sweats and felt like I had the flu. She says it took took months for someone to finally figure out that she had Lyme Disease. [BBC Newsbeat]
Avril Lavigne

Video of the Day –

Do We Have to Get Old and Die? – Minute Earth

List of the Day –

The World’s Highest-Paid Celebrities 2015 according to Forbes Magazine

Rank	Name	Age	Earnings	Category
#1	Floyd Mayweather	38	$300 M	Athletes
#2	Manny Pacquiao	36	$160 M	Athletes
#3	Katy Perry	30	$135 M	Musicians
#4	One Direction	–	$130 M	Musicians
#5	Howard Stern	61	$95 M	Personalities
#6	Garth Brooks	53	$90 M	Musicians
#7	James Patterson	68	$89 M	Authors
#8	Robert Downey Jr.	50	$80 M	Actors
#8	Taylor Swift	25	$80 M	Musicians
#10	Cristiano Ronaldo	30	$79.5 M	Athletes

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Zeca Camargo	#MondayMotivation	#Wimbledon2015
2	#WhereAreUNowMusicVideoTODAY	#NashsNewVideo	#MondayMotivation
3	#StopTerorismInChina	#SignsYoureInTheUSA	#BETAwards2015
4	#FelizLunes	#AskELJames	#AskELJames
5	#BestFandom	Bo Ryan	Rihanna
6	#BETAwards2015	You’re Fired	#Slammiversary
7	#FormasFrikisDeDecirTeQuiero	#DirtyWorkJuly10	Diddy
8	Big Sean	#Wimbledon2015	Paulinho
9	K Michelle	#WhoIsBurningBlackChurches	The Who
10	#OdioEternoA	#ROWYSOPerth	Olympics

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- The Turkish military is reportedly preparing for an imminent invasion of northern Syria following a National Security Council meeting. The aim is to establish a buffer zone for refugees and drive back Islamic State militants. The Kurdish militia group YPG have said they will oppose any Turkish intervention in Syria. (Telegraph)
Four Israelis were shot and injured in a drive-by shooting attack near Shilo, as a manhunt begins for the suspects. (YNet)
A Palestinian woman was arrested after stabbing and seriously wounding a female IDF soldier at a checkpoint near Bethlehem. (Haaretz)
Five Chadian security officials and six militants have been killed during an explosion in a raid in the capital N’Djamena. (BBC)
Egypt‘s state prosecutor Hisham Barakat dies in a bomb attack in Cairo. (AP via Fox News)
Afghan Civil War:
- According to witnesses who fled fighting in Nangarhar province, fighters loyal to Islamic State seize substantial territory in Afghanistan for the first time, wresting areas in the east from rival Taliban insurgents in a new threat to stability, scorching opium poppy fields that help to fund the Taliban’s campaign to overthrow the Afghan government. (Newsweek)
Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
- A car bomb explodes behind a military hospital in the Yemeni capital Sanaa causing 28 casualties. Islamic State has claimed responsibility.(AP), (AFP via France 24)

Arts and culture

Chinese state-run media reports the Great Wall losing around 30% of its structure due to natural conditions and human activities. (AFP via Discovery)

International relations

The Israeli Navy intercepts and takes control of the lone ship still involved in Freedom Flotilla III and pilots it to Ashdod. The other three ships involved had already turned back after being intercepted. Israel offered all ships to unload their humanitarian aid cargo in Israeli ports and transport it into Gaza for free but the ships refused. (Israel National News)(Times Of Israel)
The United States Office of Personnel Management closes down its system for employee background checks following the theft of millions of records in a computer hacking incident suspected to be conducted by Chinese hackers. (Breaking News)

Law and crime

The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the use of capital punishment by lethal injection involving midazolam. (USA Today)
The Supreme Court of the United States strikes down the Environmental Protection Agency‘s limit on mercury emissions from power plants because it did not take costs of the regulations into consideration. (Wall Street Journal)
The California State Legislature passes a bill which would enact a state requirement for the vaccination of children enrolled in schools. The bill is now pending Governor Jerry Brown‘s approval before going into law. (Los Angeles Times)

Politics and elections

Burundian legislative election, 2015
- Voters in Burundi go to the polls for a legislative election with several polling places attacked overnight. (Al-Jazeera)
Puerto Rico government-debt crisis
- Governor Alejandro García Padilla said the region has failed attempts and is unable to pay off the $72 billion debt. (USA Today)

Sports

Guus Hiddink, the head coach of the Netherlands national football team, prematurely resigns before the end of his term. (Espnfc)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

July 3, 2015

Top News Stories –

Solar Impulse completes epic flight to Hawaii –
Solar Impulse, the aeroplane that is powered only by the sun, has landed in Hawaii after making a historic 7,200km flight across the Pacific from Japan. Pilot Andre Borschberg brought the vehicle gently down on to the runway of Kalaeloa Airport at 05:55 local time (15:55 GMT; 16:55 BST). The distance covered and the time spent in the air – 118 hours – are records for manned, solar-powered flight. The duration is also an absolute record for a solo, un-refuelled journey. Mr Borschberg’s time betters that of the American adventurer Steve Fossett who spent 76 hours aloft in a single-seater jet in 2006. [BBC] See Video of the Day
Solar Impulse

Music streaming reaches a record high in 2015 –
Music streaming has reached a record high in the UK, with the number of songs played rising by 80% compared to this time last year. New figures from the British Phonographic Industry show there have been 11.5 billion streams in the first six months of 2015. That’s compared to 14.8 billion for the whole of 2014. Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk is the most streamed track of the year, with 45 million plays. [BBC Newsbeat]
Mark Ronson

BP reaches £12bn record settlement over Gulf oil spill –
British Petroleum has agreed to pay the largest settlement by a single company in US history over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. deal, which is still awaiting approval, will be worth $18.7bn (£12bn). Over 125 million gallons of oil were spilt into the Gulf after an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in 2010. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Solar Impulse Airplane: Landing in Hawaii

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	サマーウォーズ	#SingleBecause	#100DaysSinceZaynLeft
2	#SingleBecause	#NothingMoreAmericanThan	#SingleBecause
3	#LoUnicoQuePidoEs	#ThingsIRevoltAgainst	#fridayfeeling
4	#100DaysSinceZaynLeft	#ToughenUpACartoon	#ThingsIGetAlot
5	#استشهاد_رجل_ا�…	Humana	#NothingMoreAmericanThan
6	#JustinBiberSatanista	#1Droasts	Falcao
7	#BuenViernes	#4thofJulyweekend	Kids Company
8	Hayırlı Cumalar	Serena	#bbcqt
9	BuyCoolForTheSummerOniTunes	#USMNT	Kyrgios
10	#NaMinhaInfanciaEu	Happy 4th of July	#celebritymasterchef

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Turkey deploys additional troops along its border with Syria as fighting intensifies. (france24 with Reuters)
Boko Haram insurgency
- Toll of Boko Haram massacre in northeastern Nigeria rises to nearly 170.(News 24)(Naij)

2015 Sousse attacks
- The United Kingdom holds a minute of silence at midday to commemorate the 38 people – including 30 Britons – killed in Tunisia a week ago.(BBC)
Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
- A United States drone strike kills at least four militants in Yemen. (AFP via Frnce24)

Arts and culture

The XV International Tchaikovsky Competition concludes with a ceremony awarding top prizes to Dmitry Masleev in piano, Yu-Chien Tseng in violin, Andrei Ionuț Ioniță in cello, as well as Yulia Matochkina and Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar in voice. (medici.tv) (Reuters)

Business and economy

American health insurer Aetna agrees to buy competitor Humana in a $37 billion deal. (AP)
A UBS whistle blower is assisting the government of Brazil in its investigation of currency manipulation by global banks, according to a Brazilian paper. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

Six people are dead following an explosion at a chemical plant in Ulsan in South Korea. (Yonhap), (AP via ABC News America)
2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Chan-hom strengthens as it heads towards the Pacific island of Guam. (Accuweather)
At least four people are dead and 48 injured following a 6.5 magnitude earthquake in Pishan County in China‘s Xinjiang region. (BBC)
Sinking of the Kim Nirvana
- The death toll from yesterday’s capsizing of the M/B Nivana off the coast of the Philippines rises to 56 as murder charges are filed against the owner and crew. (AP via USA Today), (AFP via Straits Times)

Health and medicine

Research shows that during the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa, the ReEBOV Antigen Rapid Test, developed by Corgenix, showed promise as a bedside rapid Ebola test, successfully detecting Ebolavirus. (Harvard), (Corgenix), (The Lancet)
At least 29 people have died in a cholera outbreak in South Sudan. (AFP via Daily Star)

Law and crime

Phil Walsh, the coach of the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League, is stabbed to death in his home with his son charged with murder. (ABC News Australia)
Dutch police detain 200 young people in The Hague for not following curfew as violence continues in the Schilderswijk district for a fourth night.(AFP via Daily Star)
Jeffrey Webb, a former Vice President of FIFA and President of CONCACAF, is reportedly charged with healthcare fraud in his native Cayman Islands. (Eurosport via Yahoo!)

Politics and elections

Danish general election, 2015
- Pia Kjærsgaard becomes the first woman to be elected speaker of the Danish parliament, the Folketing. (Politiko.dk/Berlingske)

Science and technology

The U.S. Air Force‘s outgoing chief scientist, Mica Endsley, announces plans for an unmanned hypersonic flying weapon by 2023, which could travel at least up to Mach 5. (CNN)
Solar Impulse project
- The solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse 2 landed in Hawaii from Japan, completing the longest leg of its circumnavigation trip starting in Abu Dhabi. (BBC)

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July 4, 2015

Top News Stories –

Matt Stonie beats Joey Chestnut in Fourth of July hot dog eating contest –
America’s Independence Day celebrations were overshadowed on Saturday by the shock defeat of the country’s champion hot dog eating star. Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, 32, began strongly at the annual Nathan’s Famous contest in Coney Island, New York, before being overhauled and beaten by Matt “Megatoad” Stonie, who polished off 62 frankfurters and buns in 10 minutes (to add to a bacon eating record he claimed earlier this year). Mr Chestnut, unbeaten for eight years, fell two short. He managed a smile as he conceded defeat in front of thousands of fans. [Daily Telegraph] See List of the Day
Joey Chesnut

Chile beat Argentina on Penalties to win Copa America –
Chile secured the first major trophy in their history on home soil courtesy of a penalty shootout win over Argentina in the Copa America final.
Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez slotted in the winning spot-kick after Argentina’s Gonzalo Higuain fired over and Ever Banega was denied by Claudio Bravo.
Higuain had earlier missed from close range after 90 minutes of few chances. Sanchez came closest in extra time for Chile, who scored all four of their penalties in the shootout. [BBC]
Alexis Sanchez (playing for Arsenal)

England finish third in the Women’s World Cup beating Germany 1-0 –
Fara Williams’s extra-time penalty ensured England beat Germany for the first time in 31 years to finish third at the Women’s World Cup. The performance was the second best by an England team following the 1966 win by the men’s side and eclipsed the 1990 men’s team, who finished fourth in Italy. The Lionesses had not beaten two-time World Cup winners Germany in 20 attempts but they more than matched their opponents and won the spot-kick in the second period of extra-time after substitute Lianne Sanderson was brought down by Tabea Kemme. Williams, who is England’s record cap holder and was homeless at one point in her England career, beat retiring German goalkeeper Nadine Angerer for her third penalty of the tournament. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Car Chase by Vania Heymann

List of the Day –

Joey Chesnut World Eating Records (as of July 4, 2015)

Deep Fried Asparagus Eating Championship in Stockton, California, May 2014: 12.8 lbs. deep fried asparagus in 10 minutes.
Pork ribs: 13.76 pounds pork rib meat in 12 minutes at John Ascuaga’s Nugget Casino Resort during the Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-off in Sparks, Nevada on August 28, 2013.
(Hot Dogs) Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs and buns (HDB): 69 HDB in 10 minutes during the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, New York on July 4, 2013.
Matzoh Balls: 78 matzoh balls in 8 minutes at Kenny & Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen Restaurant in Houston, Texas on March 2, 2008
Bratwurst: 70 bratwursts in 10 minutes at Oktoberfest Zinzinnati in Cincinnati, OH on September 22, 2013.
Hard Boiled Eggs: 141 hard-boiled eggs in 8 minutes at the Radcliff Fall Festival in Radcliff, KY on October 5, 2013.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Happy 4th of July	Happy 4th of July	Happy 4th of July
2	#MeEncantaQue	Joe Budden	#IndependenceDay
3	#HarrysFriendIsMissing	#BeastInTheEast	#storm
4	#VamosVamosArgentina	#MakeABandUnhealthy	#ToughenUpACartoon
5	#EsMuyComunEnMiQue	#dontjudgechallenge	Skepta
6	Çinli	#CookoutNewsNetwork	#MakeABandUnhealthy
7	#IndependenceDay	#HarrysFriendIsMissing	#BeastInTheEast
8	#LasMinasQueremos	#americanproblemsnight	#HarrysFriendIsMissing
9	#musicday	Roy Hibbert	Fawkes
10	Beligoy	#DescribeYourSexLifeWithAMeal	Joe Budden

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Donbass
- A rally of war veterans in Kiev calls for Ukraine to abandon the Minsk II ceasefire agreement and to declare war on pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region. Despite two ceasefire agreements since September combat operations, including the use of heavy artillery and ballistic missiles, never stopped.(BBC)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Yemen‘s Houthi rebels shell the Saudi Arabian cities of Jizan and Najran with claims of several Saudi soldiers being killed. (Reuters via Daily Star)
Second Libyan Civil War
- At least ten civilians are killed when three separate car bombs exploded simultaneously in the eastern coastal city of Derna. (Yahoo news via AP)
Sinai insurgency
- A shell kills a woman and her two children as fighting continues on the Sinai Peninsula between the Egyptian Army and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants. (AFP via Times of India)
Syrian Civil War
- Mosque bombing in northern Syria kills 15 members of Al Qaida’s affiliate Nusra Front. (Fox News via Associated Press)
- The Syrian Army and Hezbollah launch an offensive to capture the rebel-held Syrian city of Zabadani. (Al-Arabiyah)
- Kurdish People’s Protection Units advance on the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant de-facto capital city of Raqqa. (ALJazeera)
- ISIL militants execute 25 Syrian Army soldiers in the ancient city of Palmyra. (Al-Arabiya)
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
- The Azerbaijani military shoots down two Armenian drones over Azeri positions according to Azerbaijan’s defense ministry. (TREND)

Arts and culture

The Republic of China (Taiwan) holds a large military parade in Taipei to commemorate World War II in support of its claims that Kuomintangforces led by Chiang Kai-Shek played a leading role in the defeat of the Empire of Japan with the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Tse-Tungplaying a minor role. (AP)
UNESCO adds new sites to the World Heritage List including the French wine producing regions of Champagne and Burgundy. (AFP via Straits Times)

Disasters and accidents

At least nine people have been killed and 30 injured following a factory collapse in the city of Wenling in Zhejiang province. (AP via Star Tribune)
A wildfire in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan forces 8,000 people from their homes. (CBC)

Law and crime

A South Korean navy officer is charged with leaking confidential information to China. (RTHK)(AFP via Sky News)
Abdul Gani Patail, the Attorney General of Malaysia, says that a probe of troubled state owned investment bank 1Malaysia Development Berhadhas uncovered documents that show the transfer of money into private accounts of the Prime Minister Najib Razak. (Market Watch)

Politics

2015 Sousse attacks
- Tunisia’s President Beji Caid Essebsi declares state of emergency. (VOA News)
Tupou VI is officially crowned as the King of Tonga. (BBC)
Fidel Castro makes his first public appearance at a Cuban cheese factory since February 2015. (UPI)

Sport

2015 Tour de France
- In cycling, the 2015 Tour de France gets underway in the Dutch city of Utrecht with an individual time trial. (The Guardian)
2015 Super Rugby season
- The Highlanders from the New Zealand region of Otago defeat the Hurricanes from the New Zealand capital Wellington in the Super Rugby final 21-14. It is the Highlanders first Super 15 final. (The Age)
2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup
- In association football, England defeats Germany 1-0 through a extra time penalty goal by Fara Williams to win third place in the FIFA Women’s World Cup. (BBC)
2015 Copa América
- In football, the Chile national football team win the Copa América for the first time, defeating Argentina 4–1 in a penalty shoot-out following a 0–0 draw.(The Guardian), (BBC)

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July 5, 2015

Top News Stories –

Greece votes ‘No’ and gambles its future –
Greek voters have delivered a defiant response to Europe. Political leaders and heads of government had lined up to warn the Greeks that a “No” vote would be a vote to leave the euro. It did not deter them. Indeed many voters seemed to revel in their resistance. The European Project is now facing its gravest crisis. [BBC]

USA beat Japan 5-2 in Women’s FIFA World Cup Final –
Carli Lloyd scored an incredible 13-minute hat-trick as the United States thrashed Japan to win their third Women’s World Cup title. In a repeat of the 2011 final, which Japan won on penalties, the Nadeshiko could not live with their stronger and quicker opponents, who went 4-0 up when Lloyd scored an astonishing third from the halfway line. The pulsating finale to an entertaining tournament was the highest-scoring final in the tournament’s history, and matched the highest scoring men’s final, when Brazil defeated Sweden by the same scoreline in 1958. [BBC] See Video of the Day
Carli Lloyd

Video of the Day –

List of the Day –

FIFA Women’s World Cup results [from Wikipedia]

Year	Host	Champions	Score	Runners-up	Third Place	Score	Fourth Place	Teams
1991	China	United States	2–1	Norway	Sweden	4–0	Germany	12
1995	Sweden	Norway	2–0	Germany	United States	2–0	China PR	12
1999	United States	United States	0–0 a.e.t. (5–4 pen)	China PR	Brazil	0–0 ^[A] (5–4 pen)	Norway	16
2003	United States	Germany	2–1 asdet	Sweden	United States	3–1	Canada	16
2007	China	Germany	2–0	Brazil	United States	4–1	Norway	16
2011	Germany	Japan	2–2 a.e.t. (3–1 pen)	United States	Sweden	2–1	France	16
2015	Canada	United States	5–2	Japan	England	1–0 a.e.t.	Germany	24

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#ToNoTwitterPq	Happy 5th of July	#greekreferendum
2	#QueLindoEstariaQue	#USAvJPN	Chile
3	デスノート	#dontjudgechallange	Messi
4	#Grefenderum	#ImThatGirlfriend	#UKBuyWorthIt
5	AGUANTE MESSI CARETAS	#YouMightBeARacist	#PutWalesinaFilm
6	Dragon Ball Super	#WeLoveYouHalsey	Argentina
7	#كم_رصيد_حسابك	#BadCharitiesToDonateTo	#YouMightBeARacist
8	#شي_مانستغني_عنه	#MakeAMovieMoreAmerican	Sanchez
9	Messi	Best 4th of July	#BritishGP
10	Vidal	Take Jackson Off the $20 Bill	#marr

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts

American-led intervention in Syria
- A United States bombing campaign against ISIL has killed at least 30 people in the Syrian city of Al-Raqqah. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Iraq War (2014–present)
- Iraqi government air strikes kill at least 73 people in the ISIL held cities of Ramadi and Fallujah. (Al-Jazeera)
War in North-West Pakistan
- A roadside bomb in North Waziristan kills at least three Pakistan Army soldiers and injures six others. (AFP via Daily Star)
Boko Haram
- A suicide bomber attacks a church in the Potiskum area of Nigeria‘s Yobe State, killing five and raising the toll of Boko Haram attacks for the past week to 200. (BBC) (DailyStar via AP)

Arts and culture

UNESCO adds more sites to the World Heritage List including the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park in the US city of San Antonio, Texasand Scotland‘s Forth Bridge. (My San Antonio), (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Over 1000 people in the Philippines are stranded temporarily by Severe Tropical Storm Linfa (Egay) as landslides occur in Palawan province.(GMA Network)
Canadian wildfires
- More than 60 wildfires start in the Canadian province of British Columbia over the weekend leading to several communities declaring a state of emergency. (CBC)
- Nearly 1,000 military personnel are sent to fight wildfires in Saskatchewan, (CTV)

Politics and elections

Greek bailout referendum, 2015
- Greek voters solidly rejected (61.3 percent) the latest austerity proposal of the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and theEuropean Central Bank. (Sky News), (The Guardian) (Reuters)
- The Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and the President of France Francois Hollande call for an international summit of Eurozone leaders to discuss the next moves. (Bloomberg)
- The Greek opposition leader Antonis Samaras resigns as leader of his party, New Democracy; the new temporary leader is Evangelos Meimarakis. (To Vima)

Science and technology

A Russian space capsule reaches the International Space Station allowing resupply of provisions after the crash of the SpaceX space capsule last week. (CNN)

Sports

2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup
- The United States defeats defending champion Japan, 5-2, to win the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Vancouver, British Columbia,Canada. (BBC) (AP via Washington Post)
2015 British Grand Prix
- In motorsport, Lewis Hamilton wins the race for the second consecutive year with team mate Nico Rosberg finishing second. (News24)

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August 1, 2015

Top News Stories –

One Direction release surprise single, Drag Me Down –
It’s a good day to be a Directioner. The four boys have surprised fans with their first single since Zayn Malik left the band. The song, Drag Me Down, premiered on iTunes and Spotify at 6.30am UK time. There’s no suggestion of *who* might have been dragging them down. Twitter, the home of any self-respecting One Direction fan, erupted. The hashtag #DragMeDown has been tweeted two million times in the seven hours since its release. [BBC Newsbeat]

Duchess of Cambridge qualifies as advanced diver –
Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge, has taken an advanced diving course that means she can keep up with her husband when he goes shark-diving in Mustique. The Duke of Cambridge has been diving for much of his life, encouraged by his father the Prince of Wales, whom he succeeded last year as president of the British Sub-Aqua Club. The Duchess’s pursuit of advanced diving qualifications, to enable her to dive to the same depth as the Duke, has until now remained a secret. Kensington Palace confirmed to The Telegraph that the Duchess has passed a Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) Advanced Open Water Diver qualification, meaning she can dive to a depth of 30 metres (98ft). [Daily Telegraph]
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge

Video of the Day –

Bill Nye Reading Mean Tweets– The Bill Nye Film

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Bienvenido Agosto	#NationalGirlfriendDay	Bin Laden
2	#MePoneDeMalHumor	#SaidNoOneEver	1st of August
3	#OTRAIndianapolis	#3YearsOfAsLongAsYouLoveMe	#YorkshireDay
4	#3YearsOfAsLongAsYouLoveMe	Stone Mountain	Michelle Mone
5	#قوه_الانثي_في	How High	#SaidNoOneEver
6	#فوبيا_غريبه_ت�…	#Z100Loves1D	#BrightonPride
7	몰랑이	Bang 3	#OTRAIndianapolis
8	#TodoDeDiezHastaQue	#NBAAfricaGame	#3YearsOfAsLongAsYouLoveMe
9	#ZergeleKöyündeKATLİAM	ITS AUGUST	#BeTheDifference
10	Rombai	#OTRAIndianapolis	#RIPRoddyPiper

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Operation Martyr Yalçın
- Turkey has killed around 260 members of the Kurdistan Workers Party in recent bombing campaigns in Turkey and northern Iraq. Officially the operation was started to attack ISIL but over 90% of attacks were against the PKK. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Arab–Israeli conflict
- Two 17-year-old Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces in separate incidents in violent riots protesting an arson attack that burned an infant to death. (Reuters) (RT (TV network))
Internal conflict in Peru
- The Peruvian Army rescues 15 people from Shining Path guerillas. (AFP via France 24)

Arts and culture

The speech by Japanese Emperor Hirohito announcing the unconditional surrender of Japan is released in digital form. (AP)
The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, places the ancient historic site of Chersonesus under the control of the Russian federal government after a local government made a controversial appointment as site manager. (AP via The Republic)

Business and economy

Puerto Rico fails to make a $58 million bond repayment due today. Gubernatorial Chief of Staff Víctor Suárez said the government still hopes to reach an agreement with creditors on renegotiating its debts. (AP via MyWay) (Analyst Rating Reports)

Disasters and accidents

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
- Debris suspected to be from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that disappeared last year arrives in France for investigation in Toulouse. (Reuters)
The President of Myanmar Thein Sein declares a state of emergency in four regions: Chin State, Magwe Region, Sagaing Region and Rakhine State after floods kill at least 27 people. (BBC)
A landslide in India‘s Manipur state near the border with Myanmar buries a village and kills at least twenty people. (The Times of India)

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August 3, 2015

Top News Stories –

Ronaldo ‘gives football agent Mendes Greek island’ –
The multi-millionaire Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo has given his agent Jorge Mendes a Greek island as a wedding present, media reports say. The island has not been named but the price tag could run into the millions, reports say. Spain’s Mundo Deportivo website says Ronaldo knows the Greek islands well from holidays. Mr Mendes married his partner Sandra in Portugal on Sunday. Sir Alex Ferguson was among the celebrities there. [BBC]
Jorge Mendes

Trader jailed for 14 years over Libor rate-rigging –
Former City trader Tom Hayes has been found guilty at a London court of rigging global Libor interest rates. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison for conspiracy to defraud. The 35-year old is the first individual to face a jury trial for manipulating the rate, which is used as a benchmark for trillions of pounds of global borrowing and lending. Many of the world’s leading banks have paid heavy financial penalties for tampering with the key benchmark. The jury found Hayes guilty on all eight charges of conspiracy to defraud. Hayes, a former star trader originally from Fleet in Hampshire, rigged the Libor rates daily for nearly four years while working in Tokyo for UBS, then Citigroup, from 2006 until 2010. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Turn your Smartphone into a 3D Hologram | 4K

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#PreguntasParaLaPrimeraCita	#MondayMotivation	#SHESKINDAHOTMUSICVIDEO
2	#YoPierdoLaPacienciaCuando	#NationalWatermelonDay	#IfJeremyCorbynWins
3	Carmona	#IfAnythingSchoolTaughtMe	#MondayMotivation
4	Briana	Darren Wilson	#IfAnythingSchoolTaughtMe
5	ファッションホモ	#CleanPowerPlan	#3YearsOfTheVamps
6	José Dirceu	#SHESKINDAHOTMUSICVIDEO	#waggytails
7	#SHESKINDAHOTMUSICVIDEO	will and jada	Ted Heath
8	Silvio Santos	Ciara	#OTRAPittsburgh
9	Calleri	Jack Ü	#SHESKINDAHOTEP
10	#OhWaitItWasHarry	Gwen and Gavin	OVO Fest

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian civil war
- At least 31 people are dead and dozens injured after a Syrian fighter jet crashes into a marketplace in the town of Ariha. (TC via AP)(ABC)(YNET News)

Business and economy

British bank HSBC agrees to sell its Brazilian banking business to Banco Bradesco for $5.2 billion. (AFP via HSBC)
Nokia sells its mapping application Here to German car makers BMW, Audi and Mercedes-Benz for 2.8 billion euros. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
The Athens Stock Exchange reopens after more than a month with share values falling by 22 percent in early trading. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

Flooding caused by heavy monsoon rains has caused over 100 deaths in India over the past week with tens of thousands of people taking shelter in refugee camps. (BBC)
Twenty people are injured when two cranes overturn whilst installing part of the Julianabrug at Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands. (NL Times)
At least twelve people are killed with many feared trapped in the rubble as a fifty year old building collapses in the Indian city of Thane after days of heavy rain. (NDTV), (AP)

Law and crime

2012 Aurora shooting
- In an unanimous decision, the jury ruled that James Eagan Holmes, convicted for the shooting, is still eligible for the death penalty. (CNN International)

Sports

2015 World Aquatics Championships
- Katie Ledecky of the United States breaks her own world record for the 1,500 metres (4,900 feet) freestyle clocking 15:27.71 in the final inKazan, Russia. (Sportsmole)

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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 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)

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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!)

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