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 – (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 –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War, Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
  • Turkey says a Russian warplane violated its airspace near the Syrian border, prompting the Turkish Air Force to scramble two F-16 fighter jets to intercept it. The Foreign Ministry summoned Russia’s ambassador to protest the violation and urged Russia to avoid repeating such a violation, or it would be held “responsible for any undesired incident that may occur”. (Reuters)
  • Unconfirmed reports claim that Russia is mobilizing 150,000 troops to attack the Islamic State (Express)
• Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
  • At least 57 people are killed following car-bombings across Iraq, including a rare bombing in the southern Basra province leaving 10 people dead. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are suspected of being behind the attacks. (Reuters)
• Yemeni Civil War (2015)
  • Fighting rages between Houthi militants and Hadi loyalists backed-by Saudi-led coalition forces along Yemen’s Red Sea coast for control over the strategic Bab-el-Mandeb strait. Houthi officials said their forces had destroyed six opposing tanks and killed multiple pro-Hadi fighters. Also, the UAE announced another of its soldiers had died during fighting in Ma’rib. (Business Insider)

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

• October 2015 nor’easter
  • Additional search and rescue efforts take place in the American city of Columbia, South Carolina. (AccuWeather) (USA Today)
  • In South Carolina, nine people are now reported dead in weather-related incidents and millions remain homebound. Rain is forecast to continue with parts of the state dealing with flooding for some time. (CNN) (AP via ACBS News)
• Hurricane Joaquin
  • The El Faro, missing since Thursday, is announced to have sunk on Thursday with 33 people on board during Hurricane Joaquin after a debris field is found. (NBC News)
• 2015 Pacific typhoon season
  • Typhoon Mujigae
    • At least nine people are dead as Typhoon Mujigae hits southern China in the midst of the country’s weeklong National Day holiday. Mujigae also generated several strong tornadoes and left dozens of fishermen missing. Nearly 200,000 people had been evacuated before the storm made landfall. Neighboring Guangxi Zhuang region orders 12,700 fishing boats and 35,400 offshore workers to return to port. (AP) (International Business Times)
    • Tropical Storm Kabayan (local name for then-Tropical Storm Mujigae) left at least two dead in the Philippines with two injured and 63 persons missing. The system intensified as it left the Philippine Area of Responsibility heading toward China. (Manila Sun Star) (Philippine Star)

International relations

• The government of Nauru announces that the Nauru Detention Centre will become an “open facility” where people seeking asylum in Australia will be able to move freely around the island. (ABC News Australia)
• North Korea repatriates a South Korean student held in detention since April. (Yonhap News)

Law and crime

• Former Chief Executive of Hong Kong Donald Tsang is charged with corruption by the Independent Commission Against Corruption. (Hong Kong Free Press)
• The Trans-Pacific Partnership between the United States and 11 Pacific Rim countries is finalized in the American city of Atlanta, Georgia. According to wikileaks, The main point of the deal will be that trans-national corporations will not be subjected to laws of individual countries. Instead an international system will be formed with the right to overrule national laws and legal decisions. (The Australian)

Politics and elections

• Governor Jerry Brown signs legislation which would go into effect late 2016, legalizing euthanasia statewide in California.(CNN)

Science

• William C. Campbell, Satoshi Omura and Tu Youyou win the 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work on parasitic diseases. (AP) (Washington Post)

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