Top News Stories –
2015 was hottest year ever recorded ‘by far’ –
Blistering heat blanketed the Earth last year like never before, making 2015 by far the hottest year in modern times and raising new concerns about the accelerating pace of climate change. Not only was 2015 the warmest worldwide since 1880, it shattered the previous record held in 2014 by the widest margin ever observed, said the report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “During 2015, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.62 Fahrenheit (0.90 Celsius) above the 20th century average,” said the NOAA report. “This was the highest among all years in the 1880-2015 record.” Compared to 2014, last year was 0.29 Fahrenheit (0.13 Celsius) warmer, the “largest margin by which the annual global temperature record has been broken.” [Daily Telegraph]
New evidence suggests a ninth planet lurking at the edge of the solar system –
Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology announced Wednesday that they have found new evidence of a giant icy planet lurking in the darkness of our solar system far beyond the orbit of Pluto. They are calling it “Planet Nine.” Their paper, published in the Astronomical Journal, estimates the planet’s mass as five to 10 times that of the Earth. But the authors, astronomers Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin, have not observed the planet directly. Instead, they have inferred its existence from the motion of recently discovered dwarf planets and other small objects in the outer solar system. Those smaller bodies have orbits that appear to be influenced by the gravity of a hidden planet – a “massive perturber.” The astronomers suggest it might have been flung into deep space long ago by the gravitational force of Jupiter or Saturn. [Washington Post]
Video of the Day –
Australia Day Lamb 2016 | Commence Operation Boomerang
List of the Day –
National Television Awards 2016, London
Talent Show
Winner: Strictly Come Dancing
Britain’s Got Talent
The Voice UK
The X Factor
Challenge Show
Winner: The Great British Bake Off
Bear Grylls: Mission Survive
MasterChef
The Apprentice
Serial drama
Winner: EastEnders
Coronation Street
Emmerdale
Hollyoaks
Comedy
Winner: Peter Kay’s Car Share
Benidorm
Birds Of A Feather
Not Going Out
Drama
Winner: Downton Abbey
Broadchurch
Casualty
Doctor Who
New drama
Winner: Doctor Foster
Humans
Ordinary Lies
Poldark
Factual entertainment
Winner: Gogglebox
DIY SOS: The Big Build
Paul O’Grady: For The Love Of Dogs
Top Gear
Live magazine show
Winner: This Morning
BBC Breakfast
Loose Women
The One Show
Drama performance
Winner: Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster)
Sheridan Smith (Black Work)
David Tennant (Broadchurch)
Aidan Turner (Poldark)
Entertainment programme
Winner: I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!
Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway
Celebrity Juice
The Graham Norton Show
Newcomer
Winner: Shayne Ward (Coronation Street)
Gemma Atkinson (Emmerdale)
Richard Blackwood (EastEnders)
Parry Glasspool (Hollyoaks)
Serial drama performance
Winner: Danny Dyer (EastEnders)
Alison King (Coronation Street)
Michael Parr (Emmerdale)
Rakhee Thakrar (EastEnders)
International
Winner: The Big Bang Theory
Game Of Thrones
Orange Is The New Black
Daytime
Winner: The Chase
Pointless
The Jeremy Kyle Show
The Paul O’Grady Show
TV presenter
Winner: Ant & Dec
Graham Norton
Mel & Sue
Rylan Clark
Impact/TV moment
Winner: Aiden Turner, Poldark
Special recognition award
Winner: Billy Connolly
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Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in North-West Pakistan
- 2016 Charsadda university attack
- Gunmen attack a university in Charsadda, Pakistan. At least 21 people are reportedly killed. (BBC News)
- 2016 Charsadda university attack
- Iraqi Civil War (2014–present), Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL
- Satellite images released by the Associated Press reveal the historic Saint Elijah’s Monastery near the Iraqi city of Mosul, the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq that predates Islam, has been completely razed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants. (Independent)
- A suicide bomber in Kabul targets Tolo News, killing four and wounding 20. (BBC News)
- Science and technology
- NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announce that 2015 was the hottest year on record since the beginning of meteorological records in 1890. (Mashable)
- A team of astronomers at Caltech infer the existence of a potential new planet (Planet Nine) in the outer Solar System (Washington Post)
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