Top News Stories –
Usain Bolt beats Justin Gatlin to win world 100m title –
Usain Bolt produced perhaps his greatest performance of all as he put a troubled build-up behind him to beat two-time doper and clear favourite Justin Gatlin to retain his world 100m title. The controversial Gatlin came into the final on a 28-race unbeaten run and apparently relishing his role as the sport’s bad guy. But at the same Bird’s Nest stadium in Beijing where Bolt announced himself to the world with two Olympic golds and two world records in 2008, the Jamaican superstar came past a faltering Gatlin at the death to snatch victory by one hundredth of a second. Bolt’s 9.79 seconds was more than two tenths off his world record, but this was a night for athletics to celebrate victories rather than times. [BBC] See List of the Day
Usain Bolt
Banksy’s ‘Dismaland’ in England: It’s a Strange World, After All –
WESTON-SUPER-MARE, England — Rain pelted down for much of Sunday afternoon on this drooping beachside resort town where “Dismaland,” the gloomy anti-Disneyland created by the artist Banksy, opened this weekend. “Dismaland,” a satirical take on a theme park, features grumpy guards, funereal theme park games and art by about 60 artists — including Banksy, Damien Hirst and Jenny Holzer. The exhibition had a “locals” day on Friday and opened to the public on Saturday; it runs through late September. The exhibition came largely as a surprise: Members of the British news media had spotted construction at the exhibition site — the abandoned grounds of a former family swimming pool — early last week, and had begun to speculate on what was taking place there. The exhibition includes new and old artwork by Banksy, including a pool with mobile boats full of figurine immigrants in what apparently is the English Channel, and a mural-style work in the his signature silhouette style, which shows a fat cat in a suit gorging himself while a gaunt woman with children stands across from him. [NY Times]
Logo_of_Dismaland
Met Office loses multi-million pound BBC weather contract –
The Met Office has lost its lucrative weather forecasting contract with the BBC after nearly a century of providing the service. Negotiations to renew the deal hit a dead end and a new firm is expected to take over next year. The BBC said it was legally required to open up the contract to outside competition and secure the best value for money for licence fee payers. Dutch and New Zealand firms are said to be in the running for the contract, which is believed to make up a sizeable share of the £32.5 million a year the Met Office receives from commercial organisations, according to the Mail on Sunday. [Daily Telegraph] See Top Twitter Trends
Mel Gibson accused of pushing female photographer –
Oscar-winning actor Mel Gibson has been accused of pushing a female photographer in Sydney. The Daily Telegraph’s Kristi Miller told Australian media she was pushed and verbally abused while taking pictures of Gibson and his girlfriend. She alleges Gibson’s tirade ended when his partner, 24-year-old US equestrian vaulter Rosalind Ross, intervened. “I thought he was going to punch me in the face,” Ms Miller said. “He was spitting in my face as he was yelling.” Police confirmed they are investigating reports a female photographer was pushed outside a cinema on Sunday night. [BBC] Gibson swore at a TV journalist in February 2010.
Mel Gibson
Video of the Day –
Subway Love
Subway Love from Max Stossel on Vimeo.
List of the Day –
Usain Bolt international competition record
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Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- Al-Qaeda militants take over parts of the strategic southern Yemeni port city of Aden. The militants reportedly raised their black flag above the city’s port and government buildings. (Reuters)
- A Saudi general is killed in cross-border fire from Yemen making him the highest-ranking officer to be killed in border attacks by Houthi militants since March. (Yahoo via AFP)
- A British hostage in Yemen is freed following a United Arab Emirates military intelligence operation. (BBC)
- Arts and culture
- Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant is reported to have blown up the ancient Baalshamin temple in Palmyra, Syria. (BBC)
- Disasters and accidents
- The death toll from floods in the Indian state of Assam rises to seven, with 650,000 people displaced. (Hindustan Times)
- 2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Goni leaves the Phillipines with 15 dead and 12 people missing. (AP)
- The number of fatalities in the 2015 Shoreham Airshow crash is “highly likely” to have risen to 11. (BBC)
- International relations
- Britain and Iran reopen embassies in each others’ capitals that had been closed after Iranian protesters stormed the British embassy on November 29, 2011. (Reuters)
- North and South Korea resume talks in the border village of Panmunjon in efforts to defuse recent tensions. (AP)
- Law and crime
- Malaysia finds the bodies of more than 20 people believed to be victims of human trafficking in mass graves buried near the border with Thailand. (Reuters via The Guardian)
- Two men from Iowa are arrested in Saugus, Massachusetts after heavy firearms are discovered in their hotel room. The two had made threats on social media targeting the 2015 Pokemon Video Game World Championships that are being held in Boston. (CNN)
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