Top News Stories –

Fifa’s Sepp Blatter resigns Fifa presidency and is ‘under investigation in US’ –
Fifa president Sepp Blatter is being investigated by US officials as part of their inquiry into corruption at the world football body, US media say.
The news came hours after Mr Blatter announced that he was stepping down from his role. US prosecutors launched a criminal inquiry last week, with seven Fifa officials arrested in Switzerland, part of a group of 14 people indicted. Two days after the arrests, Mr Blatter was re-elected president of Fifa. However, he said on Tuesday that it appeared the mandate he had been given “does not seem to be supported by everyone in the world”. [BBC]
Sepp Blatter at the 2014 FIFA Tournament Announcement in 2007

Kim Kardashian catches fire at awards dinner –
Kim Kardashian has already got enough on her plate, what with her expecting her second child and all. So it probably didn’t help when her first outing since announcing her happy news ended in flames. Not actual Kim Kardashian, but her dress at the CFDA Awards. The feathers on her see-through embellished dress brushed against a candle, and she needed some A-list emergency help to put her out. Luckily Pharrell (sans big hat) and his wife Helen were nearby to “jump” on her to pat Kim out. [BBC] See List of the Day
Kim Kardashian Instagram

Four teenagers air-lifted to hospital with serious injuries on roller-coaster crash at Alton Towers –
Five people were hospitalised and a further eleven required medical attention yesterday following a crash on an Alton Towers roller-coaster that the theme park described as the worst in its 35-year history. Two men aged 27 and 18 and two women aged 19 and 17, were airlifted to hospital after suffering serious leg injuries and another man aged 20 was treated for neck and abdominal injury before being taken to hospital by land ambulance. A dozen riders were released one at a time over four hours after being stranded 25ft in the air at an angle of 45 degrees when a carriage carrying 16 people crashed into an empty carriage on The Smiler ride, which has a top speed of 50mph. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Winners of the 2015 Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Awards

Semi-Permanent 2015 Opening Titles. from Raoul Marks – MARXº on Vimeo.

List of the day –

Womenswear Designer of the Year: Ashley Olsen and Mary-Kate Olsen for The Row

Menswear Designer of the Year: Tom Ford

Accessories Designer of the Year: Tabitha Simmons

Swarovski Award for Womenswear: Rosie Assoulin

Swarovski Award for Menswear: Shayne Oliver for Hood by Air

Swarovski Award for Accessory Design: Rachel Mansur and Floriana Gavrielfor Mansur Gavriel

Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award: Betsey Johnson

The Media Award in Honor of Eugenia Sheppard: Instagram

The Founder’s Award in Honor of Eleanor Lambert: Millard “Mickey” Drexler, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of J.Crew Group, Inc.

International Award: Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pierpaolo Piccioli for Valentino

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Yemeni Civil War (2015)
  • Armed tribesmen kill 18 Houthi fighters in an ambush in Yemen‘s Ibb Governorate. (Reuters)
• Communist insurgency in the Philippines
  • Adelberto Silva, the highest ranked leader of the Communist Party of the Philippines and New People’s Army, has been arrested. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
• Boko Haram
  • A suicide bombing in the city of Maiduguri in the north of Nigeria kills 20 people. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

• 2015 Indian heat wave
  • The official death toll from the Indian heat wave rises to 2,330 with meteorologists warning that relief from the monsoon season could still be days away. (CNN)
• Sinking of the Dong Fang Zhi Xing
  • Rescue efforts continue for people on board the ship that sank on the Yangtze River in China‘s Hubei province with over 450 people on board. So far, fewer than 12 have been rescued and five bodies recovered. (New York Times), (CNN)
• Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
  • Two brothers whose father was on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 last year when it disappeared receive compensation from the government ofMalaysia and Malaysian Airlines. (AP via Asian Correspondent)

Health

• Two people die of Middle East respiratory syndrome in South Korea. (NBC News)

Law and crime

• Beijing bans smoking in indoor public places, including offices, shopping malls, restaurants, bars and airports, and in outdoor public places, including hospitals and schools. (CNN)
• Thai Army Lieutenant General Manus Kongpan is suspended after police order his arrest on involvement in people trafficking. (Reuters via ABC Online)
• 2013 Boston Marathon bombings
  • Dias Kadyrbayev, a college friend of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, is sentenced to six years for obstruction of justice and conspiracy charges after Kadyrbayev removed incriminating evidence from Tsarnaev‘s college dorm room. (CBS Local)

Politics and elections

• The United States Senate passes the USA Freedom Act, which will transfer the responsibility of Americans’ bulk telephone metadata collection from the National Security Agency to telephone companies. (The Guardian)

Sport

• 2015 FIFA corruption case
  • Sepp Blatter announces that he will resign as President of FIFA as a result of the corruption scandals with an emergency congress to be called as soon as possible. (BBC) (RTÉ News)
  • In Cricket, New Zealand beats England by 199 runs to draw the test series. (Telegraph)

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