Top Stories – Entente non-concordial –
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has reacted to criticism of China in a speech on Internet censorship made by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, calling on the United States government “to respect the truth and to stop using the so-called Internet freedom question to level baseless accusations.”
One very big step for a man –
50 years since the American Joe Kittinger made the highest skydive by leaping from a balloon at 102,800ft, Austrian Felix Baumgartner, who is famous for stunts such as jumping off the Petronas Towers, plans to jump from a balloon sent up to 120,000 ft (37km) later this year. Red Bull will sponsor the attempt. Felix Baumgartner
Top Video –
Joe Kittinger’s record breaking skydive
Google gets down with the kids –
Google reveals it is developing child-friendly versions of some of its products and is likely to include the Chrome browser and YouTube (which it bought for $1.65bn (£883m) in October 2006). The intention is to make the internet safer for under-12s.
Boris plays peacemaker –
London mayor Boris Johnson attempted to calm down an abusive passenger on a Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Heathrow but the crew had to handcuff the man and strap him to his seat. The man was arrested when the plane landed. Boris Johnson
Pope dismissing head guard –
Colonel Daniel Anrig, the commander of the 110 Swiss Guards that protect the pontiff is losing his job when his commission ends at the end of January 2015. Although no official reason has been given, Pope Francis is apparently unhappy at the officer’s strict authoritarian style.
Sunny smile –
Kent student Jess Smith reveals that she was the baby who played the sun on the Teletubbies, a BBC TV show in the 80s & 90s.
Joe Cocker dies –
Joe Cocker, famous for his version of the Beatles “With A Little Help From My Friends” which reached number one in 1968, has died from cancer. Joe Cocker
Total indulgence –
Costa Coffee in the UK is selling 100,000 sticky toffee latte a week during the festive season. The largest ‘massimo’ size has around 598 calories, contains up to 75g of sugar – nearly 19 teaspoons, or twice the amount in a can of Coke.
Beep-beep –
Google launch the second version of their self-driving car which has been described a toy police car.
Tit-for-tat attack? –
North Korea internet shut down for 9 hours and just days after the state was accused of a major hack on Sony Pictures in the state. Speculation is that the US government caused the outage in retribution.
Plane crashes into Taipei river –
Dramatic video footage has been captured on a car dashboard camera of a TransAsia turboprop plane crashing into a river in Taiwan shortly after taking off from Taipei airport. The plane was carrying 58 people, mostly Chinese tourists, and initial figures show that 31 died, 15 survivors were pulled from the wreckage and 12 people remain missing.
Kim Kardashian tries to break the internet again –
A new picture of Kim Kardashian apparently leaked from a future edition of Love magazine, shows the reality star standing in a doorway, totally naked and glistening with baby oil. Her previous attempt on total internet meltdown was a naked shot on the cover of New York’s Paper magazine in November 2014. Kim Kardashian
Scherzinger and Hamilton split for fourth time –
The on-off romance between Pussycat Doll’s lead singer Nicole Scherzinger and Formula One World Champion Lewis Hamilton is officially over… again. The have been together for about 7 years and this is the fourth time they have split up, this time apparently over Hamilton’s refusal to settle down with her and start a family. Nicole Scherzinger
I don’t want a guinea pig, I want a Josephoartigasia monesi –
Researchers from York in the UK and Montevideo in Uruguay reveal that a 1000kg bull-sized cousin to the guinea pig known as Josephoartigasia monesi had huge front teeth like tusks and its bite was as strong as a tiger. Named Josephoartigasia monesi it died out around two million years ago, so you can’t have one as a pet.
Josephoartigasia monesi
Google starts to search tweets –
Twitter has done a deal with Google to make tweets part of the results from a web search. Tweets will immediately be included in searches as Google will have access to Twitter’s firehose the datastream of tweets created by Twitter’s 284 million users.
Sam Smith grabs a Grammy (or four) –
Hours after the BAFTAs in London saw favourite Eddie Redmayne pick up the top actor award, Grammy’s favourite Sam Smith wins four trophies at the Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles. Smith won record of the year and song of the year for “Stay with Me”, artist of year and best new artist. Beck won album if the year for “Morning Phase”. Sam Smith posted this photo in Instagram with the words “The best night of my entire life”. List of awards below
He later tweeted:
Dr Who is expert on exiting when being chased by a bear –
British actor David Tennant makes a successful debut as a contestant on BBC Radio 4’s Just a Minute making it through a full 60 seconds without repetition, hesitation or deviation. The former Doctor Who and Broadchurch star talked for one minute on the subject of “Exit, Pursued by a Bear” without once being interrupted on his very first appearance on the show and it is thought to be the first time in nearly 50 years of the show that a debutant has made it through the 60 second challenge. David Tennant DIY store prepares for Fifty Shades of Grey specialist advice –
With the film version of Fifty Shades of Grey about to open, Britain’s biggest DIY store B&Q have told their staff to prepare for a big rise in demand for rope, cable ties and tape. It is also providing copies of the book to all 359 stores which can be lent out to staff so they can be ready for “sensitive” questions about the products.
Samsung TVs are listening in –
Samsung warns that it’s smart TV voice activation feature could be recorded by Samsung or the developers of the software. Because the TV is always “listening” for instructions in voice mode and is likely to be connected to the internet any conversations could in theory be recorded.
Leonard Nimroy dies aged 83 –
US actor Leonard Nimoy, who played the half-human, half-Vulcan character Mr Spock in the cult sci-fi series Star Trek, dies at the age of 83 in Los Angeles. He had been taken to hospital on 19 February after suffering from chest pains and later tweeted: “A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory.” He signed off with “LLAP” – a reference to his character’s famous catchphrase, “Live long and prosper”. It was to be his final tweet. [BBC]
Internet brought to it’s knees by a dress and it’s not worn by Kim Kardashian-
Social media has been sent into spasms over the colour of a dress – is it black and blue or white and gold? Scottish singer Caitlin McNeill posed the question on Tumblr. What followed was an internet storm. Thousands took to Twitter to fight aggressively in either camp and even some celebrities stepped in on the debate. See Video of the Day.
George Clooney wants 12-seater cinema at his country estate by the Thames –
George Clooney wants to add a 12-seater home cinema and luxurious swimming pool to his 17th century country estate in Sonning-on-Thames, plans submitted on Friday revealed. A new pool house, pergola and hot tub will be built onto the back of the existing riverside boat house, allowing George and his new wife Amal to luxuriate by the estuaries of the River Thames. Plans have been submitted to South Oxfordshire District Council’s planning department to extend an annexe of Clooney’s countryside mansion in Sonning Eye, Berkshire. [Daily Telegraph] George Clooney
Facebook completes first drone flight above UK, Mark Zuckerberg confirms –
Solar powered drones which provide internet access to rural and remote areas have been trialled in UK for first time by Facebook. They “have a wingspan greater than a Boeing 737 but will weigh less than a car”, according to the social network’s chief Mark Zuckerberg. The drones, developed by Somerset-based company Ascenta which Facebook bought last March, will beam down laser-guided internet signals to those below. Solar panels attached to the wings of the drones mean that they will be able to keep going at altitudes of 60,000 ft for months at a time. Mark Zuckerberg
Dermot O’Leary quits the X Factor –
After eight years, Dermot O’Leary has announced through Twitter he is stepping down as presenter of the long-running talent show, and is now joint favourite to replace Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear – bookmakers William Hill currently has O’Leary joint with Jodie Kidd as the 4/1 favourite. O’Leary recently danced continuously for 24 hours to raise money for Comic Relief. Dermot O’Leary
Italy court clears Knox and Sollecito –
Italy’s top appeals court has overturned the convictions of Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito for the murder of UK student Meredith Kercher.
The decision is the final ruling in the long-running case. The pair were found guilty in 2009, then freed in 2011 after the convictions were overturned. Their convictions were reinstated by another court last year. Ms Kercher was found dead in 2007 in a flat she shared with Ms Knox.
The couple had always maintained their innocence and the decision by the Court of Cassation puts an end to their long legal battle. [BBC]
Milan court shooting: Man kills lawyer, judge and co-defendant –
A gunman has killed three people in a shooting spree at the Palace of Justice in Milan in northern Italy. The suspect, Claudio Giardiello, was arrested in a suburb after fleeing the scene on a motorbike. He was reportedly a defendant in a bankruptcy case. He is believed to have shot dead a co-defendant, his former lawyer and a bankruptcy court judge. The newspaper La Repubblica, quoting officials and witnesses, said that the gunman had been attending a bankruptcy hearing when a fight broke out inside the third floor courtroom. He pulled out a weapon and shot the lawyer, named as Lorenzo Alberto Claris Appiani, as well as one of his co-defendants, named as Giorgio Erba. According to La Repubblica, Mr Appiani was a former lawyer for Mr Giardiello who was acting as a witness in the case. The gunman then left the courtroom and headed to the office of appeals court judge, Fernando Ciampi, shooting him dead. It is not known if the gunman had any links to the judge. [BBC]
Taylor Swift’s mum has cancer –
Taylor Swift has told her fans news about her mother no daughter ever wants to hear. “The results came in, and I’m saddened to tell you that my mom has been diagnosed with cancer,” she posted on her Tumblr page. The music industry’s best-selling star said she asked her mother, Andrea Finlay, to get screened for potential health issues as a Christmas present last year, “just to ease some worries of mine.” “There were no red flags and she felt perfectly fine, but she did it just to get me and my brother off her case about it,” Swift wrote. While the 25-year-old intends to keep her mother’s exact diagnosis and condition private, she said Finlay wanted to talk publicly to encourage others to get tested. [Daily Mail] #PrayForMamaSwift becomes one of the top trending hashtags of the day. (See Top Twitter Trends)
Richie Benaud: Australia cricket legend & commentator dies at 84 –
Former Australia captain and legendary cricket commentator Richie Benaud has died at the age of 84. A pioneering leg-spin bowler, Benaud played in 63 Tests, 28 as captain, before retiring in 1964 to pursue a career in journalism and broadcasting. His final commentary in England came during the 2005 Ashes series but he continued to work for Channel Nine in Australia until 2013. [BBC]
Google ‘looking at buying Twitter’ –
More than $1.5bn (£1bn) was added to the value of Twitter following reports Google could launch a bid for the social network. Shares in Twitter jumped 4.8pc on reports the US company had hired Goldman Sachs as an adviser to fend off approaches. Two companies are believed to have contacted Twitter with “serious” interest, according to Briefing.com, with Google identified as one of those firms. Twitter, which allows its users to post short messages online, has a market capitalisation of more than $34bn. Despite being less than 10 years old, the company has 288m monthly active users. Google launched its own social network, Google+, in 2011, but despite racking up around 300m monthly active users, it has struggled against rivals such as Twitter and Facebook. [Daily Telegraph]
Apple reveals new Music app to rival Spotify –
Apple has announced [at their Worldwide Developers Conference (#WWDC15 – see Top Twitter Trends)] a new app that combines a streaming song and music video library, an internet radio station and a way for artists to share unreleased tracks and other material. It includes a recommendation system that uses both human curators and computer algorithms to suggest songs. The [Apple Music] service is set to challenge Spotify, Tidal and other music apps. Apple also announced several new features that will appear in the next version of its Mac operating system, called OS X El Capitan. [BBC]
Fifa film flops at the box office –
A vanity film about the history of Fifa has flopped in the US, taking just $607 (£397) in its opening weekend. United Passions was funded by about £17m of Fifa cash, and was completed before corruption charges were made against 14 of its officials in May. Starring Tim Roth as Sepp Blatter and Gerard Depardieu as Jules Rimet, the hagiography of football’s governing body has had damning reviews. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the FilmBar cinema in Phoenix reported takings of just $9, meaning only one person bought a ticket. [BBC] See List of the Day Tim Roth
Video of the Day –
Ares 3: Farewell
List of the Day –
Biggest film losses adjusted for inflation (according to Wikipedia)
The Singaporean government declares June 8 be a national remembrance day with the Singaporean flag being flown at half-mast and a minute of silence being observed at the beginning of all 2015 SEA Games venues. This is as a mark of respect for the eight people who were killed in the earthquake, which consists of six Primary 6 students, one teacher and their adventure guide. (Straits Times)(Today)
Facebook unveils solar-powered drone that can beam the internet down to earth –
Facebook has unveiled a full-scale prototype of its Aquila drone – the high-altitude, long-endurance aircraft that the Californian tech giant wants to use to beam internet to people in parts of the world that are not yet connected. Aquila, which is solar-powered and named after the eagle in Greek mythology that carried Jupiter’s thunderbolts, is based on technology developed by Somerset-based company Ascenta, which Facebook bought in March 2014 for an estimated £12.5m. “Aquila has the wingspan of a 737 but weighs hundreds of times less, thanks to its unique design and carbon-fiber frame,” said Jay Parikh, vice president of global engineering and infrastructure at Facebook, in a blog post. [Daily Telegraph] See Video of the Day
Naomi Campbell guilty of assault on Sicilian paparazzo –
Naomi Campbell was convicted of assault by a Sicilian court on Friday after she scratched the eye of a paparazzo photographer who took pictures of her and her former boyfriend. The incident occurred in August 2009 when the British supermodel and her then partner Russian billionaire Vladimir Doronin moored their yacht off the Sicilian island of Lipari to visit the local town. They had just arrived from St Tropez. A photographer, Gaetano Di Giovanni, took several photos of Campbell as she walked through the narrow streets. Campbell then hit photographer with her handbag, scratching one of his eyes. [Daily Telegraph] Naomi Campbell
Beijing to host 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics –
Beijing has been chosen to host the 2022 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, beating the bid of Kazakhstan’s Almaty. Having hosted the 2008 Olympics, the Chinese capital will be the first city to host both a summer and winter Games. Beijing and Almaty were considered outsiders when the 2022 bid race opened two years ago. But after a host of European cities withdrew for political or financial reasons, the Chinese bid beat Almaty by 44 votes to 40 with one abstention. [BBC]
Two Turkish police officers and two PKK militants are killed following a PKK raid on a police station in the south-eastern town of Pozantı. Also, in the eastern province of Kars, PKK militants bombed a railway line and then fired at repair workers, leaving one dead. (BBC)
India and Bangladesh have swapped control of some 160 small pockets of land on each other’s territory. Residents were asked to choose where they wanted to live and which nationality they would prefer. Most of them decided to change nationality and stay where they live. (BBC)
Michigan motorist sets car, gas pump on fire trying to kill spider with cigarette lighter –
A motorist got more than he bargained for when he stopped at a Michigan gas station earlier this week and started a fire when he tried to kill a spider with a cigarette lighter. Surveillance video from the Mobil gas station in Center Line shows flames quickly engulfing the man’s car and the gas pump, Fox 2 Detroit reported Friday, while adding that luckily no one was hurt. The dopey motorist put out the flames with a fire extinguisher. He told authorities he spotted a spider on his gas tank and pulled out his lighter to get rid of it, the station said. He claimed to be deathly afraid of spiders. Calmly, Adams hit the gas automatic stop button and quickly called the Center Line Fire Department. The fire destroyed the gas pump. The motorist’s vehicle suffered little damage. [Fox News] See Video of the Day
Mark Zuckerberg calls for universal internet access to combat poverty –
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and a host of celebrities kicked off a campaign on Saturday to make internet access universal, saying this was critical to fulfilling the United Nations’ newly adopted agenda to combat global ills. Calling for efforts to ensure internet access for everyone globally by 2020, Mr Zuckerberg said internet connections are a dynamic tool for sharing knowledge, creating opportunities, lifting communities out of poverty and promoting peace. “A ‘like’ or a post won’t stop a tank or a bullet, but when people are connected, we have a chance to build a common global community with a shared understanding,” Mr Zuckerberg told at a private lunch with business leaders at the United Nations. [Daily Telegraph] Mark Zuckerberg
Switzerland bans sale of Volkswagen diesel cars –
Switzerland is banning sales of Volkswagen diesel engine cars which could be fitted with ‘cheating’ devices in the wake of the emissions-rigging scandal. Authorities said all VW models with diesel engines suspected of being able to trick emissions tests are affected. Other makes in the VW group, including Seat and Skoda, are also being banned from sale. In all, the move is expected to affect 180,000 cars, not yet sold or registered in Switzerland. Cars sold and already on the road will not be subject to the ban. [Daily Telegraph] On September 22 the CEO of VW’s American company admitted that they had “screwed up” and subsequently resigned.
Video of the Day –
LiveLeak – Crazy Man Set Fire To Gas Station To Kill Spider
At least four Armenian soldiers are killed following an Azeri attack near the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Yesterday, Azerbaijan shelled several ethnic Armenian villages, leaving three civilians dead. (Reuters)
Armenia‘s Defense Ministry declares that it will “use artillery and missiles” to repel attacks by Azerbaijan following the deaths of four soldiers in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, raising fears of all-out war between the rival countries. (Fox News)
Tropical Storm Niala forms off the coast of the Hawaiian islands with the likelihood of heavy rain on the island of Hawaii (Big Island) over the weekend. (Accuweather)
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]
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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)
‘Muggle’ becomes internet sensation after Democrat debate –
Amid the suited spin doctors and political professionals, one maverick in the Democratic Presidential Debate really stood out. And it wasn’t Bernie Sanders. The internet was abuzz with musings about who the striking white-haired person in the audience could be. Bathed in a blue light from the studio settings, the man was seemingly oblivious to the sensation he was creating. And his identity remains a mystery – for now – and so online jokers have come up with their own answers. [Daily Telegraph] Muggle at Democrat conference?
Kendrick Lamar and Big Sean both win three BET Hip Hop Awards –
Kendrick Lamar and Big Sean were the big winners at this year’s BET Hip Hop Awards. Both rappers won three prizes followed by Drake, J. Cole and Fetty Wap, who all won two. Lamar, who enjoyed success earlier this year with his third album To Pimp A Butterfly, was named lyricist of the year at the ceremony which took place in Atlanta, Georgia. He also won awards for impact track and hip hop video for his single Alright. [BBC Newsbeat] See List of the Day for full winners list. Kendrick_Lamar
Video of the Day –
Man cuts ball fired at 160 kmh with samaurai sword
From comments:
Assuming the radar gun reads the highest velocity, and taking drag into consideration, the ball hits the sword after around 211 ms. If he is using the sound for triggering his reaction the sound would take ~3 ms to reach him and using the average audio stimulus reaction time of ~170 ms would leave him ~38 ms to draw the sword and hit the ball. That’s 0.038 seconds.
List of the Day –
BET Hip Hop Awards Winners 2015
Best Hip-Hop Video
Big Sean feat. Chris Brown and Ty Dolla $ign – “Play No Games”
Big Sean feat. Drake and Kanye West – “Blessings”
Fetty Wap – “Trap Queen” Kendrick Lamar – “Alright” — WINNER
Nicki Minaj feat. Beyoncé – “Feeling Myself”
Best Collabo, Duo or Group Big Sean feat. Drake and Kanye West – “Blessings” — WINNER
Big Sean feat. E-40 – “IDFWU”
Fetty Wap feat. Monty – “My Way”
Nicki Minaj feat. Beyoncé – “Feeling Myself”
Nicki Minaj feat. Drake and Lil Wayne – “Truffle Butter”
Best Live Performer
Drake J. Cole — WINNER
Kanye West
Kendrick Lamar
Nicki Minaj
Lyricist of the Year
Big Sean
Drake
J. Cole Kendrick Lamar — KENDRICK LAMAR
Nicki Minaj
Video Director of the Year
Alan Ferguson Benny Boom — WINNER
Chris Robinson/Lil Chris
Colin Tilley
Director X
DJ of the Year
DJ Drama
DJ Envy
DJ Esco
DJ Khaled DJ Mustard — WINNER
Producer of the Year DJ Mustard — WINNER
J. Cole
Kanye West
Mike Will Made-It
Pharrell Williams
Timbaland
MVP of the Year
Big Sean Drake — WINNER
Future
J. Cole
Kendrick Lamar
Nicki Minaj
Track of the Year
“Alright” – Produced by Pharrell Williams and Sounwave (Kendrick Lamar)
“Blessings” – Produced by Boi-1da and Vinylz (Big Sean feat. Drake and Kanye West)
“Commas” – Produced by DJ Spinz and Southside (Future)
“IDFWU” – Produced by Dj Dahi, Dj Mustard, Kanye West and Key Wane (Big Sean feat. E-40) “Trap Queen” – Produced by Tony Fadd (Fetty Wap) – WINNER
Album of the Year
Big Sean – Dark Sky Paradise
Drake – If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late J. Cole – 2014 Forest Hills Drive — WINNER
Kendrick Lamar – To Pimp A Butterfly
Nicki Minaj – The Pinkprint
Wale – The Album About Nothing
Who Blew Up Award
Bobby Shmurda
DeJ Loaf Fetty Wap — WINNER
Rae Sremmurd
Tink
Hustler of the Year Dr. Dre — WINNER
Drake
J. Cole
Jay Z
Nicki Minaj
Made-You-Look Award (Best Hip-Hop Style)
A$AP Rocky DeJ Loaf — WINNER
Drake
Kanye West
Nicki Minaj
Best Club Banger Big Sean feat. E-40 – “IDFWU” (Produced by Dj Dahi, Dj Mustard, Kanye West and Key Wane) — WINNER
Dej Loaf – “Try Me” (Produced by Dds)
Fetty Wap – “Trap Queen” (Produced by Tony Fadd)
Future – “Commas” (Produced by DJ Spinz and Southside)
Rich Homie Quan – “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)” (Produced by DJ Spinz and Nitti Beatz)
Best Mixtape Future – 56 Nights – WINNER
Future – Beast Mode
Future – Monster
Lil Wayne – Sorry 4 The Wait 2
Travis Scott – Days Before Rodeo
Sweet 16: Best Featured Verse
Drake – “Blessings” (Big Sean feat. Drake and Kanye West) Drake – “My Way (Remix)” (Fetty Wap feat. Drake) — WINNER
E-40 – “IDFWU” (Big Sean feat. E-40)
Kendrick Lamar – “Classic Man (Remix)” (Jidenna feat. Kendrick Lamar)
Lil Wayne – “Truffle Butter” (Nicki Minaj feat. Drake and Lil Wayne)
Impact Track
Big Sean feat. Kanye West and John Legend – “One Man Can Change The World”
Common and John Legend – “Glory” (From The Motion Picture “Selma”)
J. Cole – “Apparently”
J. Cole – “Be Free” Kendrick Lamar – “Alright” — WINNER
People’s Champ Award Big Sean feat. Drake and Kanye West – “Blessings” — WINNER
Fetty Wap – “Trap Queen”
Future – “Commas”
Kendrick Lamar – “i”
Rae Sremmurd – “No Type”
Rich Homie Quan – “Flex (Ooh, Ooh, Ooh)”
Taliban insurgents overrun two security checkpoints near Kandahar in the southern Helmand Province, killing at least 29 border police officers, according to local officials. (Star Tribune)
A SwissBoeing F/A-18 military jet crashes in France while on a training mission, injuring the pilot. The Swiss defense ministry has said it did not know what caused the accident. (Reuters)
A temporary footbridge across the M1 motorway in Sandton near Johannesburg, South Africa, collapses, killing two people and injuring 23. Both carriageways of the motorway remain closed as rescue work continues. (News24)
Twitter goes down for 10 minutes, everybody panics –
Twitter went down for users in several parts of the world, causing widespread panic and much soul-searching across the UK, Japan and parts of America. The Twitter website, Tweetdeck – its service for power users, and its mobile apps were all down at 14:14 BST on Thursday. Service was restored roughly 10 minutes later. The website Down Detector, which registers reports of outages, registered a huge spike in queries for Twitter being down. Users in the UK, Japan, the US and the Middle East were among those affected. [Daily Telegraph] Twitter down notice
Russia ‘tried to cut off’ World Wide Web –
Russia has run large scale experiments to test the feasibility of cutting the country off the World Wide Web, a senior industry executive has claimed. The tests, which come amid mounting concern about a Kremlin campaign to clamp down on internet freedoms, have been described by experts as preparations for an information blackout in the event of a domestic political crisis. Andrei Semerikov, general director of a Russian service provider called Er Telecom, said Russia’s ministry of communications and Roskomnadzor, the national internet regulator, ordered communications hubs run by the main Russian internet providers to block traffic to foreign communications channels by using a traffic control system called DPI. The objective was to see whether the Runet – the informal name for the Russian internet – could continue to function in isolation from the global internet. The experiment, which took place in spring this year, failed because thousands of smaller service providers, which Roskomnadzor has little control over, continued to pass information out of the country, Mr Semerikov said. [Daily Telegraph]
Porn during lunch breaks is OK but smoking cannabis can get you sacked, Italy’s highest court rules –
Employees cannot be sacked for watching porn during their lunch breaks if it does not impact upon their ability to do their work, Italy’s highest court has ruled. According to Italian media reports, the Court of Cassation ruled against major car manufacturer Fiat after it sacked a factory worker in Termini Imerese, a town in Sicily. Bosses had caught the man watching adult films at work, but he argued that his viewing was limited to “catching a glimpse of a movie during his lunch break”. But it wasn’t all bad news for Fiat, as in a separate ruling on Wednesday the court found the carmaker was within its rights to sack a man caught smoking cannabis during his lunch break – presumably because its effects continued into his working hours. [The Independent]
Video of the Day –
Back To The Future In ACTUAL 2015 – by College Humor
Yemen‘s Sana’a-controlled forces fire a Scud missile at Saudi Arabia in retaliation to Saudi “war crimes”. A spokesman for Yemen’s military allied with Houthi militants said the missile hit a Saudi airbase and caused “widespread destruction”. There was no immediate comment from the Saudi side. (Reuters)
The German automotive watchdog KBA orders Volkswagen to recall 2.4 million cars in that country after the emissions scandal becomes public knowledge. (Reuters via SBS Australia)
International relations
Vietnam says a Chinese vessel rammed into and sank one of its fishing boats near disputed islands in the South China Sea. More than 20 Vietnamese fishing boats have been attacked by Chinese vessels this year causing tensions between both countries.(AP via Yahoo)
The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NSTB) has asked the U.S. Navy to resume the search ended by the U.S. Coast Guard for the merchant vessel SS EL FARO believed lost on Oct. 7 during Hurricane Joaquin. The loss of the ship – with its crew of 33 hands – is regarded as “the worst U.S. merchant marine disaster of recent memory.” (USNI News)
Five individuals — four men and a teenage boy — are arrested in connection with the gang-rape of a 16-year-old girl at a Sydney, Australia, house party. (CNN)
The NevadaGaming Control Board rules that daily fantasy sports leagues are a form of gambling that requires a license to operate in the state, including being offered to state residents. Due to Nevada’s status as a major gambling center, the decision is seen as potentially influencing other U.S. states’ stances on the leagues. (CBS News)(ESPN)
Astronomers say they have observed bizarre light patterns using the Kepler Space Telescope from a star that appears old, but is shrouded in debris like a much younger star, roughly 1,500 light-years away. This has led to speculation that these are an “artificial extraterrestrial mega-structure”, orbiting the star known as KIC 8462852 in the Cygnus constellation. KIC 8462852 lies just above the Milky Way between the constellations Cygnus and Lyra. It first attracted the attention of astronomers in 2009 when the Kepler Space Telescope identified it as a candidate for having orbiting Earth-like planets. (Independent)(Discovery News)
Wentworth golf club asks for six-figure membership fee –
One of the UK’s most exclusive golf clubs is to start charging £125,000 to new joiners. Wentworth, which was bought by the Beijing-based Reignwood Group in September 2014, has told existing members they must stump up £100,000. Annual fees on top of that are to rise from £8,000 to £16,000. James Wyatt said he and other members faced having to pay “an enormous amount”. The Surrey golf club said membership pricing “is a private club matter”. [BBC]
Working Enigma machine fetches world record price at New York auction –
An extremely rare and fully operational Nazi Enigma machine from Second World War has sold for $365,000 in New York, setting a new record at auction, Bonhams said on Thursday. The M4 machine, which was built between 1943 and 1945, is one of around 150 to have survived from an estimated 1,500 that were built as Nazi Germany fought to fend off the Allies. A spokeswoman for Bonhams said the $365,000 (£237,000) sale price set a new world record for an Enigma machine sold at auction. The purchaser at Wednesday’s sale was identified only as a private collector. [Daily Telegraph]
Rudely-named south-east London coffee shop ordered to remove its sign –
A crudely-named coffee shop in south-east London has been ordered by its landlord to remove the “offensive” sign bearing its name. Fuckoffee tweeted a picture of a letter it received from the landlord’s lawyers:
The letter read: “We are instructed that you have either erected or allowed your sub-tenant to erect an offensive sign on the exterior of the buliding… without the permission or authority from our client to do so and this constitutes a trespass.” According to the letter, the Bermondsey Street coffeeshop could face legal proceedings or the forfeiture of its lease if it does not remove the sign. It will also have to cover the costs of the legal steps taken so far. [Daily Telegraph]
In a pair of incidents on Tuesday and Wednesday, two migrants were killed, 16 are missing, and 48 were rescued from boats heading to Greece from Turkey that capsized in the Aegean Sea. (Hürriyet Daily News)
Authorities in Slovenia say around 2,000 migrants from a refugee camp at the Croatian border are traveling in four trains toward Austria, three to the overloaded crossing at Šentilj and the other to Jesenice. (Washington Post)
A teacher and a student are killed, and another student injured, in an attack at a high school in Trollhättan, Sweden. The attacker was shot dead by police. (BBC)(The Guardian)
Chilean officers start to grant civil unions licences to both heterosexual and homosexual couples, marking the first time a same-sex relationship is officially recognized in the country. (BBC)(The Guardian)
The UKHouse of Commons passes an “English votes for English laws” bill by 312 to 270 votes giving English MPs a greater say over legislation that only applies to England. The bill has been fiercely opposed by the opposition Labour Party and theScottish National Party. (BBC)
Cats are terrified of cucumbers and no one knows exactly why –
People on the internet have been playing a charming joke on/causing uncalled-for distress to their cats by placing cucumbers behind them while they eat. It has to be specifically a cucumber. Pet owners have been trying it out for themselves and filming the responses. In order for the trick to work, you apparently have to place a cucumber quietly behind a cat while it is eating. When the cat turns around and notices the cucumber, you get quite an interesting response. They don’t see it first, but when they do, look out. The trend has reached reddit, and there is a dedicated thread called ‘cucumbers scaring cats’. [Daily Telegraph] See Video of the Day
A bomb detonates in a Muharram procession in Jacobabad killing twenty-four people, including 10 children & 6 women and several others injured. (Dawn)(Samaa News)
At least nine people are killed and dozens injured in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi after several mortar shells hit a protest against a UN proposal for a unity government to end the four-year long crisis in the country. (Reuters)
Lockheed Martin embarks on corporate overhead cost cutting reviews, another initiative following business selloffs and personnel layoffs. In the face of U.S. budget constraints, Lockheed’s actions are in step with those of other major U.S. defense contractors. (Zacks)
Hurricane Patricia makes landfall at Playa Perula in Mexico‘s western Jalisco state . The storm strengthens into a powerful Category 5 hurricane with winds of 200 mph and gusts up to 245 mph. The NHC has called the storm “potentially catastrophic” for Mexico. Patricia is expected to produce total rainfall accumulations of 6 to 12 inches, with isolated maximum amounts of 20 inches, through Saturday. These rains could produce life-threatening flash floods and mud slides. (National Hurricane Center)(Reuters), (AFP via ABC News Australia)
Hurricane Patricia becomes the most intense hurricane ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere with winds of 200 mph (320 km/h). (NBC)
Kuwait and France sealed a deal whereby the Gulf nation will upgrade its defense capabilities with $2.8 billion worth of military equipment. Defense experts cite the ongoing conflict in Iraqi Civil War, the June 2015 terror attack claimed by ISIS in Kuwait City, and a reluctance by the U.S. to supply Kuwait as reasons for the deal. (Vice News)
Police in Bamberg, Germany arrested three people said to be involved in a far-right extremist terror plot to attack refugee shelters, shelter staff and public officials supportive of refugees. (The Telegraph)
Nineteen-year old Cameron Selmon died during last night’s shooting on the Tennessee State University campus when a fight erupted during a dice game, in which a player pulled out a gun and started firing. One of the three injured 18-year-old female students remains hospitalized. The suspect fled the scene on foot and is still at large. The school is closed today but will re-open with Monday classes. (The Tennessean)(Fox News)
Tycoon buys $48m blue diamond at auction for daughter –
A 12.03-carat blue diamond has been auctioned in Geneva for a record $48.4m (£31.7m) to a Hong Kong tycoon. Joseph Lau confirmed he bought the ring-mounted, cushion-shaped stone for his seven-year-old daughter, renaming it “Blue Moon of Josephine” after her. Auction house Sotheby’s said the sale had set “a new world auction record for any diamond of any colour”. It is not the first time Lau, a property billionaire, has bought precious stones for his daughter. The businessman – who was convicted of bribery and money laundering in 2014 – is also confirmed as the buyer of a 16.08-carat pink diamond, which Christie’s sold for $28.5m on Tuesday. It has been renamed “Sweet Josephine”, a spokeswoman for Mr Lau told BBC News. [BBC]
FBI accused of paying US university for dark net attack –
Anonymity network Tor, notorious for illegal activity, has claimed that researchers at US Carnegie Mellon university were paid by the FBI to launch an attack on them. Tor claimed that the FBI was “outsourcing police work” and paid the university “at least $1m (£675,000)”. Tor is a so-called dark net – a hidden part of the internet that cannot be reached via traditional search engines. It gained notoriety in late 2014 when a big operation carried out by the FBI took down dozens of Tor sites, including the Silk Road 2, which was one of the world’s largest online drug-selling sites. It was this attack that the Tor Project is claiming was undertaken by researchers at Carnegie Mellon, which is based in Pittsburgh. [BBC]
British Museum opens to whole world after 262 years as it invites Street View indoors –
It was founded in 1753 on the founding principles of the Enlightenment: showing off its extensive collections, free, to the whole world. It has taken a not-inconsiderable 262 years, but the British Museum has finally realised that aim after becoming the first major UK institution to open up its entire galleries and collection to Google Street View. From today, fans of the British Museum will be able to avoid the crowds to snoop through more than 4,500 objects online, peering inside glass cabinets to inspect their finest artefacts. It will be the largest indoor Street View project in the world, allowing virtual entrance into the entire London institution as well as specially-curated digital collections. [Daily Telegraph]
Mario Draghi, head of the European Central Bank, tells the European parliament in prepared testimony that the outlook for inflation is “weakening.” The comment was taken to suggest the ECB will soon take a more stimulative stance on interest rates or money quantity. (Bloomberg)
The city of Montreal in Canada begins dumping 2 billion gallons of raw sewage into the Saint Lawrence River, an action the mayor, Denis Coderre, says is necessary to make repairs and improvements to the city’s wastewater system. The move has caused outrage among residents and environmentalists, while the hashtag “#flushgate” is being used on social media sites to voice opposition to the dumping effort. (CNN)
World’s second-largest diamond ‘found in Botswana’ –
The world’s second-largest gem quality diamond has been discovered in Botswana, the Lucara Diamond firm says. The 1,111-carat stone was recovered from its Karowe mine, about 500km (300 miles) north of the capital, Gaborone. It is the biggest diamond to be discovered in Botswana and the largest find in more than a century. The 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond was found in South Africa in 1905 and cut into nine separate stones, many of which are in the British Crown Jewels. [BBC] copyright Lucara Diamond Corp.
Scientists have trained pigeons to diagnose breast cancer –
Doctors train for years in order to be able to correctly diagnose cancer – but could they soon be replaced by pigeons? Well, no. Obviously not. However, scientists have now discovered that pigeons are surprisingly adept when it comes to spotting cancerous cells. In a study led by Professor Richard Levenson of the University of California, pigeons were shown microscope images of breast tissue, and then rewarded with food if if they correctly pecked a coloured button that corresponded to either cancerous or healthy tissue. [Daily Telegraph]
Bangladesh: Government ‘mistakenly’ cuts off internet –
An internet shutdown in Bangladesh which lasted for more than an hour was a “mistake”, according to the authorities. Officials announced on Wednesday that access to Facebook, Viber and WhatsApp had all been blocked in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling upholding death sentences for two men convicted of war crimes. But the country’s Telecommunication Regulatory Commission says it accidentally cut off access to the internet across the whole country. The web blackout started at around 13:00 local time and lasted at least 75 minutes, according to the Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star. “We restored the internet as soon as we realised the mistake,” says Shahjahan Mahmood, the commission’s chairman. The messaging services were blocked as originally planned in order to maintain security, he says. [BBC]
United States authorities report dozens of suspected radicals in the U.S. are under “tight surveillance” to preclude a Pariscopycat. Federal officials are aware of a possible second ISIL video threatening Washington, D.C. Again, no credible plot has been identified. The U.S. beieves this is a part of a propaganda campaign to scare the American public. (ABC News)
A Palestinian kills three people, including an American student and another Palestinian, and injures four others, after opening fire at Israeli cars and then ramming his vehicle into a group of pedestrians, injuring several more near Alon Shvut in the West Bank. (The Times of Israel)
A gunman shoots dead two Saudi Arabian policemen while they are on patrol in their vehicle in Saihat, located in Saudi Arabia’s restive Eastern Province, which is predominantly Shia. (BBC)
A Pew Research Center report finds, from 2009 to 2014, more Mexicans, including unauthorized immigrants, are leaving the United States than entering it. An increasing share of Mexicans says life north of the border is neither better nor worse than life in Mexico. (Reuters)
A court sentences former restaurant spokesperson Jared Fogle to over 15 years imprisonment for sex with minors and the possession of child pornography. (NPR)
‘Li-fi 100 times faster than wi-fi’ –
A new method of delivering data, which uses the visible spectrum rather than radio waves, has been tested in a working office. Li-fi can deliver internet access 100 times faster than traditional wi-fi, offering speeds of up to 1Gbps (gigabit per second). It requires a light source, such as a standard LED bulb, an internet connection and a photo detector. It was tested this week by Estonian start-up Velmenni, in Tallinn. Velmenni used a li-fi-enabled light bulb to transmit data at speeds of 1Gbps. Laboratory tests have shown theoretical speeds of up to 224Gbps. It was tested in an office, to allow workers to access the internet and in an industrial space, where it provided a smart lighting solution. [BBC]
US space rocket debris found in sea off Scilly –
A large chunk of an American space rocket has been found in the sea off the Isles of Scilly. The section of the spacecraft, measuring about 10m (32ft) by 4m (13ft), was spotted on the surface between Bryher and Tresco. Coastguards believe it is from the unmanned SpaceX Falcon 9 which exploded after take-off in Florida in June. However many astronomers believe it is from a different mission due to the size and markings. Local boatmen towed the section to Tresco where it has now been removed from the beach. [BBC]
Malianforces arrest two men in their early 30s linked to a cell phone found at the scene of last week’s deadly hotel attack. No details are provided on what their exact role was. (CNN)
Two Palestinian drivers drive their vehicles into groups of Israeli soldiers in two separate attacks in the occupied West bank. Both drivers are shot dead. In this current wave of violence that began in October, 19 Israelis, one U.S. citizen, and 93 Palestinians have died. (Reuters)
Pirates attack a Polish-owned cargo ship off the coast of Nigeria, kidnapping its captain and four crew. Polish Foreign Minister, Witold Waszczykowski, said the as yet unidentified kidnappers have made no demands so far and Poland was currently liaising with Nigerian authorities. (Reuters)
At least 87 homes have been lost in the fires that started in Pinery, South Australia which also claimed two lives and hospitalised 90 with five people in a critical condition. (ABC News Australia)
The appellate prosecutors office in the Polish city of Krakow decides not to appeal a decision against extraditing filmmaker Roman Polanski to the United States to face prosecution for historic child sex offences. (Reuters)
Detroit, a city in which neighborhoods are disappearing, banks aren’t lending, and property values are among the lowest in the nation, is looking to reverse these trends. The Detroit Land Bank Authority is moving aggressively to demolish structures that are beyond repair and auction (bids start at $1,000) ones that are salvageable. Some community banks are helping new buyers. (Washington Post)
Chinese President Xi Jinping announced a major overhaul of China’s military to make the world’s largest army more combat ready and better equipped to project force beyond the country’s borders. Under the reorganization, all branches of the armed forces would come under a joint military command, Xi told a meeting of military officials in Beijing, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Bloomberg in September reported details of the plan, which may also seek to consolidate the country’s seven military regions to as few as four. The Chinese president said the reform aimed to “build an elite combat force” and called on the officials to make “breakthroughs” on establishing the joint command by 2020, Xinhua said. (Bloomberg)
News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource
Donald Trump: petition to ban presidential candidate from the UK becomes most popular ever –
An online petition calling for Donald Trump to be blocked from entry to the UK has broken the parliamentary website record and is approaching half a million signatures. It currently has more than 470,000 names, beating the previous high of 446,482. The Petitions Committee is expected to discuss the petition at its meeting on 5 January. [BBC] Donald Trump
Famous Moscow cemeteries to install free wi-fi –
Three of Moscow’s most-visited cemeteries are about to enter the digital age, with the installation of full wi-fi connectivity. Visitors will be able to browse the internet for free at the Novodevichy, Troyekurovskoye and Vagankovo cemeteries starting from the first half of 2016, according to the Moscow city website. The head of the city’s funerary services office, Artem Yekimov, says the aim is to help visitors find out more about famous people buried there and their graves – and make visiting the cemeteries more “comfortable”. Telecommunications company YS System says it offered to install the wi-fi networks after hearing about plans to create rest areas – dubbed “zones of psychological comfort” – at the cemeteries. [BBC]
Hajj stampede killed three times Saudi Arabia’s official number, says report –
The September Hajj stampede killed at least 2,411 pilgrims, a new count shows, three times the number of deaths acknowledged by Saudi Arabia. The figures establish the crush on September 24 as the deadliest in the history of the annual pilgrimage. Saudi’s official death toll of 769 people has not changed since September 26, and officials have yet to address the discrepancy. The kingdom rebuffed criticism from its regional rival Iran and efforts by other countries to join a probe into the deaths. Saudi’s King Salman ordered an investigation into the tragedy almost immediately, yet few details have been made public since and hundreds of pilgrims remain missing. [Daily Telegraph]
Bollywood superstar Salman Khan cleared over hit-and-run crash –
An Indian court on Thursday cleared Bollywood superstar Salman Khan of killing a homeless man in a hit-and-run crash 13 years ago, acquitting him of all charges after he appealed his conviction. The Bombay High Court said a lower court had erred in finding Khan guilty of culpable homicide at the end of his trial in May, when he was subsequently sentenced to five years in prison. [Daily Telegraph] Salman Khan
Pro-Hadi government forces backed by Arab coalition air and naval forces, seize control of the Hanish Islands off the coast of Yemen, near the strategic Bab-el-Mandeb strait from troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The islands have been subject to heavy shelling by coalition forces for weeks according to local fishermen. (Reuters)
Swiss officials say police, based on a CIA tip, are hunting for at least four Islamic State-associated suspects believed to be plotting an attack in Geneva. (AP)
Syrian opposition politicians and rebels, attending a two-day meeting hosted by Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, agree on a framework that would guide proposed talks to end Syria’s nearly five-year conflict: a civil, democratic Syria with a transitional government that would respect human rights and the territorial integrity of the country; and, safeguard state institutions while restructuring security forces. Ahrar ash-Sham, a Saudi-backed ultraconservative group, withdrew from the talks at the end of the meeting.(BBC)(AP)
Amazon tells customers: Get rid of your exploding hoverboards –
Customers who bought hoverboards as Christmas gifts have been urged to “dispose” of them and accept refunds after three of Britain’s biggest retailers suspended sales. In an email seen by The Telegraph, internet giant Amazon has asked customers to take the self-balancing, two-wheeled scooters to a local recycling point for electronic equipment. Estimates suggest around 500,000 people in Britain have bought hoverboards as Christmas gifts. A further million are considering it, according to the watchdog Electrical Safety First. More than 15,000 of 17,000 self-balancing scooters analysed at borders since October 15 have been deemed unsafe and detained. [Daily Telegraph]
Germany: Star Wars-themed service at Berlin church –
A church in Berlin has announced it will hold a special pre-Christmas service devoted to Star Wars. Excitement is building in Germany ahead of the release of the franchise’s latest installment, The Force Awakens, on Thursday. But the Zion Church, located in the capital’s central Mitte district, is taking inspiration for its Sunday morning service from one of the classics – Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Those attending the event will be shown scenes from the 1983 film, and there’s also the promise of organ music inspired by the score, the local church district says on its website.
The idea came from two young pastors-in-training, Ulrike Garve and Lucas Ludewig, who see parallels between the George Lucas films and the Bible. “In the key scene of Episode VI, Luke Skywalker is drawn onto the side of the emperor, of evil,” says Mr Ludewig, described as a theologian and Star Wars expert by the church. “Luke resists with the words: I will never belong to the dark side.” That sentiment, he says, is reminiscent of a passage from Romans: “Do not let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.” [BBC]
Last round pound coin minted –
The Royal Mint is producing the final round pound coin on Wednesday. It is more than 30 years since the now familiar gold-coloured coins were first minted. The new-look replacement will be brought into circulation in 2017. [BBC]
Video of the Day –
Jimmy Fallon, The Roots & “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” Cast Sing “Star Wars” Medley (A Cappella)
Pakistan says it was surprised to learn of the country’s inclusion in Saudi Arabia‘s so-called “Islamic anti-terrorist alliance”, and that Pakistan was not consulted before inclusion in the alliance by the Saudis. Pakistan’s Foreign SecretaryAizaz Ahmad Chaudhry says he has asked the country’s ambassador in Riyadh to get a clarification from Saudi Arabia on the matter. Malaysia has also denied any involvement in Saudi Arabia’s military coalition to counter terrorism. (BBC)(DAWN)
Japan‘s Supreme Court upholds a 19th-century law that requires married couples to have the same surname, but struck down another law that barred women from remarrying within six months of a divorce as unconstitutional. (The Guardian)
A bank in Minnesota (U.S.) is robbed by the same person a second time while an Iowatelevision station was doing a live update on the first robbery. The robber was arrested shortly afterwards. (Associated Press)
After the jury fails to reach a unanimous decision, a Baltimore, Maryland, judge declares a mistrial in the trial of police officer William Porter, the first officer to be charged in the death of Freddie Gray. (NBC News)(ABC News)
About 100 men in more than 50 machine gun-mounted trucks kidnap at least 26 Qataris, including members of the royal family, from a hunting camp in Iraq near the Saudi border. (Sky News)
Igloo built in middle of downtown Chicago road stumps the internet –
An igloo built in the middle of a busy road in downtown Chicago has captivated the internet and left people passing by a little confused. Internet users speculated the 5ft-tall igloo home built under a streetlight near a busy intersection had been constructed by a homeless person. However the person who created the home from slabs of ice has been identified as local resident David Sudler. He built the chilly fort over two nights using the ice blocks and a milk crate to stack the slabs and create the roof. [Daily Telegraph] Adam Robinson Tweet
Facebook wants to kill off your phone number –
The days of the phone number are, quite literally numbered, thanks to the inexhorable rise of the company’s Messenger app, according to David Marcus, Facebook’s vice president of messaging products. “Think about it: SMS and texting came to the fore in the time of flip phones. Now, many of us can do so much more on our phones; we went from just making phone calls and sending basic text-only messages to having computers in our pockets,” Marcus wrote in a blog post. “With Messenger, we offer all the things that made texting so popular, but also so much more,” he said. “Yes, you can send text messages, but you can also send stickers, photos, videos, voice clips, GIFs, your location, and money to people. You can make video and voice calls while at the same time not needing to know someone’s phone number.” [Daily Telegraph]
People’s Choice Music Award winners:
Favourite male artist: Ed Sheeran
Favourite female artist: Taylor Swift
Favourite group: Fifth Harmony
Favourite breakout artist: Shawn Mendes
Favourite male country artist: Blake Shelton
Favourite female country artist: Carrie Underwood
Favourite country group: Lady Antebellum
Favourite pop artist: Taylor Swift
Favourite hip-hop artist: Nicki Minaj
Favourite R&B artist: The Weeknd
Favourite album: Title by Meghan Trainor
Favourite song: What Do You Mean? by Justin Bieber
Favourite music icon: Madonna
Gunmen open fire on tourists at a hotel close to the Giza pyramids. There were no casualties in the attack, which caused some damage to the hotel, and the attackers were arrested shortly afterwards.(BBC)
Saudi-led coalition airstrikes today reportedly hit the presidential palace and a mountain military base to the south of Sana’a, causing children and teachers in several schools to flee. There were no immediate reports of casualties. (Reuters)
Tribal chair Charlotte Rodrique of the local Burns Paiute Tribe has joined in asking the occupiers to leave saying “The protesters have no claim to this land”. Charlotte further cites a treaty that was never ratified by the United States Congress giving ownership of the land to the tribe. (The Washington Post) via MSN)
French police shoot dead a knife-wielding man, who was shouting “Allahu Akbar”, outside a police station in Goutte d’Or, located in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. A piece of paper with an Islamic State flag and claim for the attack written in Arabic was found on his body. The incident is noted for taking place on the anniversary of last year’s Charlie Hebdo shooting. (BBC)
In the United States, a swarm of 30 (and counting) earthquakes of magnitude 2.5 or greater struck Oklahoma from Wednesday evening through Thursday mid-afternoon. The biggest, a magnitude 4.8, happened yesterday at 10:27 p.m. CST, 32 kilometers (20 miles) northwest of Fairview, Oklahoma. (The Weather Channel)
Scotland Yard confirms that they are investigating a triple murder in relation to the death of British actress Sian Blake and her two sons after the discovery of their dead bodies on Tuesday. (AAP via News Limited)
News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource
Wikipedia Celebrates its 15th birthday –
If you want a modern wonder of the internet, look no further than Wikipedia, which turns 15 years old today. It’s gigantic (more than five million articles in English alone), and gigantically useful for those seeking a grounding in any topic. It has illustrated how the internet and the power of the crowd can disrupt established businesses: both the book-based Encyclopaedia Britannica and Microsoft’s CD-based Encarta fell before the onslaught of a simple collaborative document that anyone could edit and enhance. Even Google failed with its rival, launched in 2008 and killed amid indifference in 2012. It even has a creation myth; people think it was the effort of Jimmy Wales alone, but in fact he and Larry Sanger (an “internet project developer” – thanks, Wikipedia) were working on the idea of an online encyclopedia called Nupedia, which began in 1999. [Daily Telegraph] [This web site is a supporter of Wikipedia] Jimmy Wales
Video of the Day –
22×22 rubik’s cube World Record
List of the Day
15 amazing things since the idea of Wikipedia was launched to the world on January 15, 2001. [Wikipedia]
Millions of people have gathered all this knowledge by working together from everywhere around the world.
Ward Cunningham designed the wiki, the first internet platform that allowed many people to work on a document at the same time. He named it ‘wiki,’ a Hawaiian word that means ‘quick.’ (There is even a wiki-wiki shuttle in Honolulu.)
2
You know the encyclopedia, but there’s so much more.
It was held at the Göttingen University Library in Germany.
4
Behind the scenes, bots do some of the repetitive jobs so that volunteers don’t have to.
There are almost 2,000 bots approved for use on the English Wikipedia alone, and they even have names. PhotoCatBot helps people find articles that need images.
5
Wikipedia became one of the top 10 websites in the world in 2007.
It’s the only non-profit anywhere near the top.
6
People who work on Wikipedia are called “Wikipedians”.
Building the world’s largest database of information with people from all over can be challenging. Wikipedians write rules, guidelines and essays to help other people understand being a Wikipedian. “No angry mastodons” suggests that you shouldn’t edit when you’re hungry or intoxicated.
7
The first photo ever uploaded to Commons was a pair of quail.
…while this scan of the world’s first photograph uploaded to Wikimedia Commons is entirely inscrutable. Speaking of birds and photos, there is such a thing as pigeon photography: “A homing pigeon was fitted with an aluminium breast harness to which a lightweight time-delayed miniature camera could be attached.” (There was even a stamp for pigeon mail. It’s adorable and shaped like a triangle.)
It simply said, “A dog by which all others are measured.” The English Wikipedia page for poodleis now more than 5,000 words, and includes the many names that people have invented for poodles crossed with other dog breeds: Labradoodle, Poochon, Cockapoo, Spoodle, Maltipoo, Goldendoodle, Schnoodle, Pekapoos, Cavapoo, and Bernedoodle.
9
Wikipedia helps keep the Internet open and free.
In 2012, the Wikipedia communities blacked out the site to protest SOPA.
“Lieutenant General Sir Adrian Paul Ghislain Carton de Wiart VC, KBE, CB, CMG, DSO (5 May 1880–5 June 1963) was a British Army officer and recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration awarded for valour “in the face of the enemy” in various Commonwealth countries. He served in the Boer War, First World War, and Second World War; was shot in the face, head, stomach, ankle, leg, hip, and ear; survived two plane crashes; tunnelled out of a prisoner-of-war camp; and bit off his own fingers when a doctor refused to amputate them. Describing his experiences in the First World War, he wrote, ‘Frankly I had enjoyed the war.’”
“Researchers from Los Alamos National Laboratory were able to make extremely accurate forecasts about the spread of dengue fever in Brazil and flu in the U.S., Japan, Poland and Thailand by examining three years’ worth of Wikipedia search data.”
Gunmen armed with heavy weapons attack a restaurant called Cappuccino and the Splendid Hotel, taking hostages, in the heart of Burkino Faso‘s capital, Ouagadougou. At least 20 people are reportedly killed. (BBC)(The Guardian)
Three men are arrested in the outskirts of Jakarta in connection with the attacks. Police have identified the attackers killed in the raid with two of the men having been imprisoned for terrorism related offences. (AP via Newser)
A trial of the facts regarding allegations of child abuse against 12 former residents of children’s homes in Leicester by British lord Greville Janner ends due to his death. (BBC)
American rapper Mos Def is banned from South Africa for five years, having been living illegally in the country since 2013 on a tourist visa. (BBC)
A special court is set up at The Hague to try Kosovo Liberation Army suspects for alleged war crimes against ethnic minorities and political opponents. (BBC)
DON’T set your iPhone to 1 January 1970 or you’ll break it –
Apple is warning iPhone users not to fall for an internet hoax that leaves handsets useless and irreparable. A fake advertisement claims that changing the date on your iPhone to 1 January 1970 will give you a retro Apple design – it doesn’t. And the date change will cause your phone to become permanently stuck while rebooting if it’s switched off or runs out of battery. The bug affects the likes of the iPad Air, Mini 2 and any iPhone 5s onwards. The glitch was discovered last week, but a fake photo has been circulating on social media encouraging people to switch the date on iPhones 5s and upwards. Users were meant to be able to discover an Easter egg in the form of a 1970s-style multicoloured Apple logo and design. Unfortunately, going retro on your iPhone won’t change the design. Instead, when the phone is turned off and turned on again, it refuses to reboot, displaying the Apple home screen and going no further. [BBC Newsbeat]
Apple ordered to help FBI break into San Bernardino gunman’s phone –
An American judge on Tuesday ordered Apple to help the Federal Bureau of Investigation break into a phone belonging to Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the killers in the December shooting rampage in San Bernardino, California. Sheri Pym of the US District Court in Los Angeles ruled Apple must provide “reasonable technical assistance” to investigators seeking to unlock the data on Farook’s iPhone 5C. This includes bypassing its auto-erase function and passcode protection so investigators can try an unlimited number of passcode guesses. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling. The company has five business days to contest the order if it believes compliance would be “unreasonably burdensome,” Ms Pym said in her decision. [Daily Telegraph]
World’s largest lottery winners come forward to claim share of $1.58bn jackpot –
The winners of the world’s largest ever lottery have finally come forward to claim their ticket, more than a month after the $1.5 billion Powerball jackpot sent America into a frenzy. David Kaltschmidt, 55, and his wife Maureen Smith, 70, won a $528.7 million (£370m) share of the jackpot – splitting their winnings with John and Lisa Robinson, who purchased their winning ticket in Tennessee, and a California winner who has yet to come forward. But the Florida pair, who announced their win at a press conference on Wednesday, said they did not even tell their children at first. “That was hard,” said Ms Smith. Her husband said they were determined the win wouldn’t change them. They decided to take the $327.8m lump sum rather than receiving the $528m sum in instalments. The odds of winning the $1.58 billion jackpot were 1 in 292.2 million. [Daily Telegraph]
Google Patents Sticky Car Hood to Trap Pedestrians in a Collision –
Google has a solution to help mitigate injuries in the event a pedestrian and a self-driving car collide: human flypaper. In a patent issued this week, the search giant describes a “system for protecting a colliding object from a secondary impact, after an initial impact with a vehicle.” The patent calls for a giant sticker to be placed on the front end of a vehicle, with a special coating over the layer that is only broken when something collides with the vehicle, exposing the adhesive and helping the colliding object to remain on the vehicle. [ABC] Google car fly paper patent diagram
German churches to get wi-fi ‘Godspots’ –
Worshippers at Protestant churches in central Germany will soon be able to access the internet via free wi-fi hotspots – billed as “Godspots” by the church. Wi-fi is being installed at 220 churches across the Berlin and Brandenberg region, with plans to expand coverage to all 3,000 churches in the region, the RBB broadcaster reports. Among the first to get connected will be Berlin’s French Cathedral on the central Gendarmenmarkt square, and the city’s iconic Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. People will be able to access the “Godspots” both inside and outside, and the church is promising a secure network with no advertising. Users will first be greeted by a home page with information about the building, community and faith-related material, but then they’ll be free to browse the wider web. [BBC]
Video of the Day –
These Lizards Have Been Playing Rock-Paper-Scissors for 15 Million Years
US ready to ‘hand over’ the internet’s naming system –
The US has confirmed it is finally ready to cede power of the internet’s naming system, ending the almost 20-year process to hand over a crucial part of the internet’s governance. The Domain Naming System, DNS, is one of the internet’s most important components. It pairs the easy-to-remember web addresses – like bbc.com – with their relevant servers. Without DNS, you’d only be able to access websites by typing in its IP address, a series of numbers such as “194.66.82.10”. More by circumstance than intention, the US has always had ultimate say over how the DNS is controlled – but not for much longer. It will give up its power fully to Icann – the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers – a non-profit organisation. The terms of the change were agreed upon in 2014, but it wasn’t until now that the US said it was finally satisfied that Icann was ready to make the change. Icann will get the “keys to the kingdom”, as one expert put it, on 1st October 2016. From that date, the US will lose its dominant voice – although Icann will remain in Los Angeles. Icann was created in 1998 to take over the task of assigning web addresses. Until that point, that job was handled by one man – Jon Postel. He was known to many as the “god of the internet”, a nod to his power over the internet, as well as his research work in creating some of the systems that underpin networking. [BBC] Jon Postel in 2008
A Malaysian oil tanker, MT Vier Harmoni, is hijacked off the coast of Malaysia and is believed to have been taken to Indonesian waters near the island of Batam, according to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency. The identity of the hijackers is not yet known. (BBC)
Judge Keyla Blanc, of Brazil‘s Special Tribunal for Fans and Major Events, orders Brazil police to question U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte over inconsistencies describing the armed robbery of himself and three other US Olympians. Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger are later removed from a plane returning to the United States. (Reuters), (Daily Telegraph)
Disasters and accidents
Eight people are seriously injured when a passenger train collides with a tree that had fallen across the railway line at Saint-Aunès, Hérault, France. (BBC News Online)
Cuba announces military exercises following Trump’s win –
The Cuban government has announced it will hold five days of nationwide military exercises to prepare for “a range of enemy action”. Cuba did not link the exercises to the victory of Republican candidate Donald Trump in the US presidential election. But analysts say such exercises have in the past been held at times of tension or to send a signal to the US. During his campaign, Mr Trump said he would reverse the recent thaw in relations between Cuba and the US. Cuba’s Ministry of Defence announced the move in the government-run newspaper Granma. [BBC]
Stolen statue of beloved Istanbul cat returned –
A statue honouring one of Istanbul’s most famous felines which went missing earlier this week has been returned after a social media outcry. The bronze sculpture is of Tombili, a tubby cat who became the subject of countless internet memes when a photo of him reclining on the pavement went viral. The statue immortalising his famous pose vanished on Monday night, only a month after being unveiled. Perhaps the guilt was too much for whoever took it, as on Thursday the statue reappeared. Sculptor Seval Sahin shared a photo of herself with it, thanking everyone on social media and the press and TV coverage which she says helped bring about the happy ending. [BBC] The Tombili cat sculpture
Video of the Day –
GoPro: Epic Lines: Speedflying with Jamie Lee — Line 1
Felix Baumgartner
