October 5, 2015

Top News Stories –

Thousands of NASA Apollo mission photos uploaded online –
Thousands of photos taken by Apollo astronauts on moon missions are now online. Around 13,000 scans of images from NASA’s archives, taken across ALL manned Apollo missions between 1961 and 1972 have been given to founder of the Project Apollo Archive Kipp Teague. He told Newsbeat “serious budget cuts” mean the organisation doesn’t have the resourses to publish them. Kipp launched the gallery in 1999, but following questioning about decisions to edit some images in the past, he was prompted to post unedited, high resolution images this time around. [BBC Newsbeat]
Apollo 11 Magazine 40/S Apollo 11 Magazine 40/S – (Color) / EVA; NASA photographs; unprocessed 1800 dpi Hasselblad film scans by Johnson Space Center, circa 2005

Extreme phone pinching is the strangest trend of 2015 –
Back in 2013 there was the Harlem Shake. In 2014, we had the Ice Bucket Challenge. Since then, social media trends have taken a bizarre turn, via some goats. Extreme phone pinching is the latest trend sweeping social media networks, and it involves holding your expensive phone over perilous locations. The only rule appears to be that you can only hold onto your gadget using only your thumb and forefinger. Photos and videos have been flooding the internet of phone users dangling their precious handsets over cliffs, toilets and drains. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Box Clever – Simon’s Cat

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide USA UK
1 #FelizLunes #WorldTeachersDay #WorldTeachersDay
2 #ArgentinaDebate #mondaymotivation #mondaymotivation
3 わたしの心 American Apparel #plasticbags
4 Air France Grace Lee Boggs Lord Adonis
5 #MTVFANWARSDirectioners CC Sabathia Jeremy Hunt
6 #سعوديه_تفضح_ز�… #StopGunViolence Henning Mankell
7 #شي_جميل_بحرف_ا… #TPP Ched Evans
8 Henning Mankell #MyGenitaliaIn4Words American Apparel
9 #ALDUBSwitch #WhatYouDontTellCustomers AstraZeneca
10 Independiente #MTVFANWARSDirectioners #ThisIsEngland90

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks
Business and economy
  • Clothing manufacturer and retailer American Apparel files for bankruptcy. The company said its 200+ retail stores will continue to operate without any interruptions. (New York Times) (Forbes)
  • The World Bank estimates that 9.6 percent of the world’s population is living in extreme poverty this year, down from 12.8% in 2012. The bank also updated its global poverty line from $1.25 per day to $1.90 per day to reflect inflation and changes in purchasing power around the world; it was last adjusted in 2008. (Time) (The Guardian)
Disasters and accidents
International relations
Law and crime
Politics and elections
Science

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March 18, 2016

Top News Stories –

Hulk Hogan awarded $115m in Gawker sex tape case –
A Florida jury has awarded Hulk Hogan $115m (£79m) after the gossip news website Gawker published a sex tape of the retired professional wrestler. Mr Hogan’s legal team argued the New York-based website violated his privacy and the video was not newsworthy. The case, which pitted freedom of the press against a celebrity’s right to privacy, has been closely watched. The video was posted in 2012 after Mr Hogan was secretly recorded having sex with his friend’s wife. Mr Hogan, whose given name is Terry Bollea, said the release of the sex tape hurt his career. He was one of the most popular professional wrestlers of the 1980s and 1990s and later starred in his own reality television show with his family. [BBC]
Hulk_Hogan_2014Hulk Hogan

Sport Relief raises ‘a record’ £55m –
More than £55m has been raised so far for charity on Sport Relief’s live TV show, ahead of a weekend of fundraising. David Walliams, Alesha Dixon, Gary Lineker and Greg James were among those who hosted the BBC show, broadcast from London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Highlights included a Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em sketch featuring tennis siblings Andy and Jamie Murray. The total of £55,444,906 breaks the previous on-the-night record of £51m. [BBC] See List of the Day
Sportrelief_logo

Iain Duncan Smith quits over planned disability benefit changes –
Iain Duncan Smith has dramatically resigned from the [UK] Government in protest at George Osborne’s proposed cuts to benefits for the disabled. The former Conservative leader said that plans to cut the benefits paid to the disabled by more than £1 billion were a “compromise too far” and said that welfare for pensioners should be cut instead. He added that they are “not defensible” when announced alongside a budget that benefits higher earning taxpayers. Mr Duncan Smith [a former Conservative Leader] also accused the Chancellor of forcing through cuts to welfare for “political” rather than national economic reasons. [Daily Telegraph]
Iain_Duncan_SmithIain Duncan Smith

Australia Senate passes reforms after farcical all-nighter –
Monty Python references, a colonoscopy analogy and a pyjama-clad senator featured during an all-night sitting of Australia’s upper house. The Senate has finally passed changes to how its members are elected after 28 hours of debate. The changes will disadvantage so-called micro parties that have gained increasing power in the Senate. The ruling conservative Coalition formed an unlikely partnership with the Greens party to pass the reforms. But the opposition Labor Party and micro party senators, who opposed the laws, dragged out the debate with filibuster tactics and amendments. During the all-night debate, Labor senators consistently spoke off-topic to delay votes to the legislation giving voters greater control over where their preferences were allocated. The laws eventually passed by a margin of 36-24. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Proof of evolution that you can find on your body

List of the Day –

Total charity donations “on the night” by BBC Sport Relief

2004 £11,078,359
2006 c. £18,000,000
2008 £19,640,321
2010 £31,633,091
2012 £50,447,197
2014 £51,242,186
2016 £55,444,906

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide USA UK
1 #SextaTopNoClubeSdv #FlashbackFriday #FridayFeeling
2 #BuenViernes Tray Walker #SportRelief
3 #VemPraDemocracia #WorldSleepDay #WriteAPoemAboutTories
4 #18Mart1915 #Daredevil #WorldSleepDay
5 #LasGordasNoMerecenAmor #DoYourJobFriday #CSEDay16
6 Día Mundial del Sueño #ULTRALIVE #AddOneLetterRuinAMovie
7 #SportRelief #NewMusicFriday #NUSScot16
8 #يوم_الجمعه Salah Abdeslam #SYP2020
9 Salah Abdeslam #SpringBreakIn4Words #TechNorthTalent
10 #LaMujerPerfecta #GetWellSoonDylan #SkyF1

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks
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