September 26, 2015

Top News Stories –

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

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#ALDubEBforLOVE	#3YearsRIPAvalanna	#ENGvWAL
2	#3YearsRIPAvalanna	#BatmanDay	#PiggyFilms
3	#QueMeFalteTodoMenos	#GlobalCitizen	#Strictly
4	#ShowtimeKapamilyaDay	#MySexLifeInAMovieTitleIs	#LabWomen15
5	#1DPremiosTelehit	Meow the Jewels	#ComplainWithASong
6	Messi	#PopeInPhilly	#BatmanDay
7	#VerdadesSecretas	#ALDubEBforLOVE	#JapaneseGP
8	#BatmanDay	#ComplainWithASong	#3YearsRIPAvalanna
9	#SlipknotNoMultishow	#Popein3words	Bond
10	Newcastle	Chris Martin	#COYS

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Two Saudi border guards, including a district commander, are killed following clashes with Yemeni forces near the border with Yemen. (Reuters)
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
- 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)
A prominent Libyan Zuwarah militia leader and migrant smuggler, Salah Al-Maskhout, is reportedly killed in Tripoli by Italian special forces. The EU recently approved military action against people smuggling networks operating out of Libya. (Malta Today)
Turkey–PKK conflict
- Fighting in the south-eastern Şırnak Province kills thirty-four PKK militants, four civilians, and two Turkish soldiers. Also, the Turkish military conducts airstrikes on PKK camps in Iraq‘s northern Dohuk Governorate. (Al Jazeera)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Iraq says that Iran, Russia and Syria are assisting it in its fight with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific hurricane season
- 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)
A fire severely damages the Baitul Futuh Mosque, London, United Kingdom. (BBC News Online)
2015 Hajj stampede
- The death toll from the stampede near Mecca rises to 769, with 934 injuries. (ITV)

International relations

Russia-Estonia relations
- Russia and Estonia exchange two convicted spies. (BBC)

Law and crime

Ahmad Al Faqi is transferred to the International Criminal Court to face trial for the war crime of directing the destruction of cultural sites in Timbuktu, Mali when the city was under the control of Islamist groups in 2012. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

Bolivia‘s Plurinational Legislative Assembly passes legislation that would amend the constitution removing term limits for the President if passed in a referendum next year. (Reuters via Daily Mail)

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September 29, 2015

Top News Stories –

Barack Obama ‘flouted secret service rules’ for Bear Grylls challenge –
Bear Grylls has spoken of how President Obama flouted the protocol of his secret service to take up every challenge thrown at him, when he appeared on the survival guru’s television show last month. The British ex-SAS soldier and television host said Mr Obama’s security team were on tenterhooks, as he and the president spent the day trekking through the Alaskan wilderness filming a special episode of “Running Wild”. “We ended up doing everything and he loved it. Afterwards, I thought I was going to get a special telling off from the secret service guys, but they all laughed and had a good time.” Grylls said he was warned by Mr Obama’s protocol staff that he could not give the president any gifts. But at the end of the filming he gave him his knife and said that the president should keep it “as a last line of defence if anybody ever got through the secret service”. “I had a great email a few days later from his team saying that he absolutely loves the knife and he keeps playing with it! Boys love their toys,” he said. [Daily Telegraph]
Bear Grylls

Australia: Council seeks cash for kangaroo-proofing –
A drought-affected district in eastern Australia is asking for government help to protect its villages against a “plague” of thirsty kangaroos, it’s reported. The mayor of sparsely populated Barcoo Shire, in the state of Queensland, says hordes of kangaroos are causing concern among local people because they’re coming into residential areas looking for food and water, the Brisbane Times reports. “The sheer numbers, you can drive around and you’ll see a mob of kangaroos and you lose count after 120 or 130, they are in plague proportions,” says Mayor Julie Groves. The council has now applied for federal government funding to pay for about 55km (34 miles) of fencing to keep the animals out of villages, sports parks, cemeteries, and off the local air strip used by the flying doctor. [BBC]

Edward Snowden (@Snowden) joins Twitter –
American whistleblower Edward Snowden has joined Twitter, asking in his first tweet, “Can you hear me now?”. The 32-year-old immediately began following the National Security Agency’s (NSA) official account, the only organisation he has followed so far. Snowden, who is currently living at an undisclosed location in Russia after being granted asylum, links to Freedom of the Press Foundation’s Twitter account in his bio. The bio adds: “I used to work for the government. Now I work for the public.” He gained 100,000 followers within an hour of joining Twitter and has also been given a ‘verified’ blue tick. The former CIA contractor leaked tens of thousands of files from systems at the NSA in 2013 from which the techniques and methods of it and GCHQ were then exposed. He faces charges in the U.S. for leaking details of the once-secret surveillance programs. [Daily Telegraph]
Edward Snowden’s first tweet

Video of the Day –

Do It For Mom (Do it for Denmark)

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#NationalCoffeeDay	#NationalCoffeeDay	Log Lady
2	#FelizMartes	MacArthur	#InternationalCoffeeDay
3	Aaron Rodgers	#HappyBirthdayHalsey	#AutumnIn3Words
4	#NoTeOdioPero	#AutumnIn3Words	#WorldHeartDay
5	Ronaldinho	#StandWithPP	#LondonUpAFilm
6	#الهلال_الاهلي	#BLIK	#nb2015
7	#MePoneDeMalHumor	Ralph Lauren	#LeadersSpeech
8	#AutumnIn3Words	Derrick Rose	Aaron Rodgers
9	#ALDUBTheVoiceWithin	Larry Brown	#charitytuesday
10	Jim Carrey	#BeatLA	Callum Wilson

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- At least four people are killed in a bombing attack on Baghdad. (Euronews)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present), Battle of Kunduz
- Afghan National Security Forces start efforts to recapture the city of Kunduz. (CNN), (The News Hub)
- The U.S. Air Force launches air-strikes on Taliban forces within Kunduz. (The Washington Post)
2015 PKK rebellion
- Two police officers are gunned down by suspected PKK militants on the streets of Adana, southern Turkey. (Middle East Eye)
Gaza–Israel conflict
- At least one rocket is intercepted over Ashdod by Israel‘s Iron Dome missile defense system, and is believed to have come from the Gaza Strip. (Haaretz)
2015 Burkinabé coup d’état
- After a tense standoff, Burkina Faso’s military crushed the elite presidential guard and seized the coup’s abandoned headquarters. The former head of the guard, Gen. Gilbert Diendéré, had called on his men to lay down their weapons to avoid a bloodbath. Diendéré told Agence France-Presse (AFP) he feared “many deaths and injuries” in the operation. It is unclear whether there are casualties. (The New York Times) (BBC) (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Dujuan hits mainland China in Fujian province after hitting Taiwan, where it caused two deaths and injured 300. (AP via ABC News)

International relations

Amnesty International designates Cuban graffiti artist Danilo Maldonado Machado as a prisoner of conscience. (Reuters)

Law and crime

All 500 of the prisoners escape from the Ngaraba jail in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic. (Reuters), (The Guardian)

Science and technology

Researchers discover a biofluorescent hawksbill sea turtle, glowing bright red and green, near the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific Ocean. This is the first time scientists have found biofluorescence in a reptile in the wild. It is an critically endangeredspecies. (Live Science) (CNN)

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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 – (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

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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October 6, 2015

Top News Stories –

Kentucky pet store worker nearly crushed to death by python –
A man working at a Kentucky pet store has been seriously hurt after a massive python he was feeding nearly crushed him to death. Police said they were called to Captive Born Reptiles and found the snake wrapped around the man. Terry Wilkens was not breathing when the officers pried the snake off him but he resumed breathing shortly afterwards, officers said. The python weighed about 125lb (56kg) and measured 20ft (6m) long. “It was only by the grace of God that one of the officers knew how to deal with snakes,” Newport Kentucky Police Chief Tom Collins told the Cincinnati Enquirer. Officer Gregory Ripberger grabbed the snake by its head and uncurled the python from Mr Wilkens. [BBC]
Jungle Carpet python

Instagram says @music is just the start for music on the app –
The boss of Instagram has said “it’s just a matter of time before music becomes even more dominant” on the app. Kevin Systrom’s social media site has just turned five. But he told Newsbeat: “We never knew music would take off in the way it did but now 25% of our top [most followed] accounts are music related”. In April, Instagram launched @music, which Kevin explained set out to “feature off-the-beaten path, hard-to-find accounts.” [BBC Newsbeat]

Author jailed for flashing after prostitute disputes small penis claims –
A serial flasher has been jailed after a woman appeared in court and gave a detailed description of his penis. Hinton Sheryn, 68, had denied he would get his penis out in public – because he was embarrassed it was “unusually small”. But officers managed to find a prostitute he used who came to court at the last minute and contested his claims. The female sex worker described his manhood and told Plymouth Crown Court it was a “normal” size. Her late intervention helped convict the successful author, who has now been jailed for 17 years after being convicted of 18 crimes. The former pop promoter was so notorious for exposing himself in the village near Plymouth, Devon, where he lived in the 1970s and 1980s he was known as “the flasher”. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

The New Microsoft Band: Live Healthier and Achieve More

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#NiallsNewGirlfriend	Rachel Dolezal	Theresa May
2	#EnTwitterSiempreEsta	#AllDayBreakfast	#NationalBadgerDay
3	Twilight	#SeeTheMomentWhen	#charitytuesday
4	Theresa May	#NiallsNewGirlfriend	#RAW
5	#MTVFanWars5SOSFam	#NewSpaceFacts	#IoDAC
6	Lolla	Twilight	#MTVFanWars5SOSFam
7	Lions	Victor Cruz	Busted
8	#شي_جميل_بحرف_ا…	#WildCard	#IsBritainRacist
9	#البنات_ايش_يا�…	Chantal Akerman	#IDSMurder
10	#HoyEstaPara	Chris Archer	#TravelTuesday

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- A hotel where Vice President of Yemen and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah was staying in Aden which was also being used as a de-facto military base by Arab coalition forces is hit by multiple explosions killing at least 15 coalition soldiers. Although theHouthis were first suspected and accused of being behind the attack, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has since claimed responsibility, marking the first attack on Arab coalition forces in Yemen by the extremist group. (CNN) (Al-Arabiyah News)
- In the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital, Sanaa, at least seven people are killed following a suicide-bomb attack on the al-Nour mosque. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War, Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Russia’s pair of violations of Turkish airspace over the weekend do not look like accidents. Russia, which said it’s looking into claims of a second violation, reported the first violation lasted a few seconds and was due to poor weather. (BBC)
- Russian warplanes bomb Islamic State positions in the central Syrian city of Palmyra and in the northern Aleppo province, releasing videos that show them destroying 20 vehicles and 3 weapons depots. (Reuters)
- Turkey says its jets patrolling the Turkish-Syrian border were directly threatened by a Russian MiG-29 and later by an an anti-aircraft missile system which locked-radar on the Turkish jets. (Independent)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Russia says it would consider extending its air-strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria to Iraq if it receives such a request from the Iraqi government. Iraqi President, Fuad Masum has recently said he would welcome this assistance. (Reuters)
Boko Haram insurgency
- A Boko Haram attack near Lake Chad kills at least 11 Chadian troops while 17 Boko Haram militants are also reportedly killed in the fighting following the pre-dawn strike on Chadian army positions. (AFP via Yahoo)

Business and economy

The European Court of Justice decides an international agreement, generally known as a Safe Harbor rule, used by thousands of companies for moving people’s digital data between the European Union and the United States is invalid, effective immediately. The decision throws into doubt how global technology giants like Facebook, Amazon and Google can collect, manage, and analyze online information from their millions of users in the 28-member bloc. Decisions by this court, the highest legal authority in the EU, cannot be appealed. (The New York Times) (USA Today) (BBC) (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

Typhoon Mujigae (2015)
- Sixteen campers are missing in south China‘s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region following a flash flood in a camping reserve. (Xinhua)
October 2015 nor’easter, Hurricane Joaquin
- Thirteen people are reported to have died during this storm, 11 in South Carolina and two in North Carolina. At least 18 dams have breached or failed since Saturday. Communities downstream face a mass of water working its way toward the low-lying coast. (CNN)
- Hurricane Joaquin missed the East Coast but brought tropical moisture aimed directly at South Carolina. (ABC News)
2015 El Cambray Dos landslide
- The death toll from Thursday’s landslide in the Guatemalan village of El Cambray Dos increased to 152 with more than 300 people missing. No survivors have been found at the site. Search crews have found entire families who died huddled together and buried alive. The Guatemala’s National Disaster Reduction Commission, known as the Conred, declared the area uninhabitable. (BBC) (Reuters) (Press TV)

International relations

Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Israel destroys the homes of three Palestinian terrorists. Rassen and Udai abu-Jamal who committed the 2014 Jerusalem synagogue attack and Moatez Hijazi who committed the excavator rampage in Jerusalem during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.(Jerusalem Post)

Law and crime

2015 Burkinabe coup d’état
- Associated Press reports that coup leader General Gilbert Diendéré has been formally charged. (AP via ABC News America)
Former President of the United Nations General Assembly John William Ashe is charged with taking US$1.3 million in bribes from Chinese businessmen. (AFP via Channel News Asia)

Science and technology

Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald win the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of neutrino oscillations. (AP via Yahoo! News)

Sport

2015 FIFA corruption case
- South Korean FIFA presidential candidate Chung Mong-joon admits that he is facing charges before FIFA’s ethics committee but denies wrongdoing. (Reuters via Daily Nail)

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October 9, 2015

Top News Stories –

Justin Bieber’s lawyers demand nude photos are removed from US news website –
Justin Bieber’s legal team is demanding that media websites who have published naked photos of the star remove them immediately. The Hollywood Reporter claims to have seen a lawyer’s letter sent to the New York Daily News, which originally published the pictures of the star on holiday in French Polynesia. The photos of the singer in Bora Bora are still live on the US website. Bieber’s legal team says the publication of the photos represent a breach of the singer’s publicity and privacy rights. The photos also, according to the letter, infringe Bieber’s trademarks. The legal document is demanding action within 12 hours of receipt. [BBC Newsbeat]
Justin Bieber

One Direction announce new single “Perfect” and release date –
One Direction’s next Made in the A.M. single’s accidentally been announced as ‘Perfect’ thanks to a classic tweet-and-delete scenario from those crazy critters at Apple Music. Awkies. Yup – we already knew the Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson-penned tune had been registered; but now it looks like the track’s gonna be the second proper single off of the fifth album following ‘Drag Me Down.’ And ‘Infinity,’ if you wanna count that. [Sugarscape]

Video of the Day –

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES – Official UK Trailer #1 (2016)

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#Perfect	#Perfect	#FridayFeeling
2	#MissVenezuela	Raven Symone	#KissMe
3	マーニー	#FridayFeeling	John Lennon
4	Hayırlı Cumalar	#RedneckIn3Words	Pauline Cafferkey
5	#ConfidentMusicVideoTODAY	Northern Arizona University	#WorldEggDay
6	#BuenViernes	#SoundsLiveFeelsLive	#Perfect
7	#TheVoiceBrasil	Google Drive	#bbcqt
8	Raven Symone	John Lennon	#KloppLFC
9	Messi	#HardestPartAboutBreakingUp	Zoe Williams
10	#BuyRevivalOniTunes	#NobelPeacePrize	#firstdates

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Battle of Aleppo (2012–present)
  - Iranian state television says Revolutionary Guard brigadier general, Hossein Hamadani, has been killed on the outskirts of Syria’s Aleppo by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants. This is the latest in a string of high-ranking Iranian commanders killed in Iraq and Syria in the last six months. (Independent)
  - Islamic State militants launch an offensive north of Aleppo, seizing several rebel-held villages, as well as the strategic former Syrian Army base known as the ‘Infantry Academy’. (AP via The Washington Times)
  - United Nations condemns the killing of Anadolu Agency Turkish photojournalist Saleh Mahmoud Laila in Thursday’s ISIS suicide attack at a marketplace in Huraytan, north of Aleppo. (Daily Sabah) (Novinite)
- Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  - United States suspends its 500 million dollar Syrian rebel training program. The new strategy will shift toward supplying military aid “to a select group of vetted leaders and their units so that over time they can make a concerted push into territory still controlled by ISIL,” a U.S. official said. (CNN) (ABC News)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Hamas‘ leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, declares an “Intifada” against Israel in the West Bank and says, “Gaza will fulfil its role in the Jerusalem intifada and it is more than ready for confrontation” with Israel. Over 20 stabbing attacks have happened in the last 24 hours in Israel. (The Telegraph) (The Guardian)
- An Israeli stabs and injures two Bedouin arabs and two Palestinians in the southern city of Dimona. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “strongly condemned the harming of innocent Arabs.” (Washington Post)
- Israel Defense Forces kill six Palestinian protesters and wound 60 at the Gaza Strip border, according to Gaza medics. The protesters attempted to destroy the “border” fence between Gaza and Israel and IDF soldiers “responded with fire on the main instigators in order to prevent them progressing and to disperse the riot,” according to the IDF. (Reuters) (CNN)
- Riyad Mansour, Palestinian ambassador to the UN, urges Security Council President Román Oyarzun to hold an emergency meeting on the latest tensions with Israel. (AP via WHDH TV)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Iraqi police officials say at least 35 people have been killed following a mortar bombardment of villages near the eastern city of Baqubah, capital of the Diyala Governorate. Officials did not speculate on who may be responsible for the attack, however theIslamic State group has claimed responsibility for several recent attacks in the volatile province. (AP via ABC News)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Mina stampede
- A new tally by the Associated Press places the death count from the Mina stampede at 1,453 killed making it the deadliest disaster ever to occur during the Hajj. (AP via MSN)
2015 Guatemala landslide
- The death toll from the landslides in Guatemala rises to 253 with 374 people still missing. (Reuters via Melbourne Age)

International relations

Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- The United Nations envoy for Libya, Bernardino León, proposes a government of national unity for Libya led by Fayez Sarraj as Prime Minister. (BBC)
Australia is to send refugees from Nauru and Manus Island to the Philippines. (Sydney Morning Herald)
The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet wins the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize for its “decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011.” The Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT), theTunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA), the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH), and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers comprise the quartet. (BBC) (CNN) (Nobel Peace Prize)
Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- China says it will “not stand for violations of its territorial waters in the name of freedom of navigation“, following a statement from a Pentagon official, that the U.S. may consider sailing warships close to China’s disputed artificial islands in the South China Sea within the next two weeks. (Reuters)

Law and crime

School shootings
- One student is killed and three others wounded during an early morning shooting in a Northern Arizona University dorm in Flagstaff, Arizona. The suspected shooter was taken into custody. (New York Daily News) (NPR)
- One person is killed and another wounded, with a person in custody, in a shooting at an apartment complex near the Texas Southern University campus in southeast Houston, Texas. This is the second shooting involving TSU this week. A man is in serious, but stable, condition after being shot on the campus’s Tiger Walk on Tuesday. (Houston Chronicle) (Reuters)
WikiLeaks releases the intellectual property section of the finalized Trans-Pacific Partnership intended to be withheld until after October 19. (WikiLeaks) (International Business Times)

Politics and elections

European migrant crisis
- The southern German state of Bavaria threatens to take the Federal German government to court if it fails to take immediate steps to limit the flow of migrants to Germany. Over 200,000 migrants are estimated to have entered Germany since the beginning of September, the vast majority over the Austrian border into Bavaria. (Reuters)

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October 11, 2015

Top News Stories –

Vanuatu president’s anger as stand-in pardons himself –
The president of the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu has expressed his anger after his deputy pardoned himself and 13 other convicts while he was out of the country. Speaker Marcellino Pipite was one of 14 MPs – half of the country’s parliament – who were convicted last Friday of giving and receiving corrupt payments over a vote of no confidence in a previous government. With President Baldwin Lonsdale out of the country on Saturday, Pipite used his delegated powers to gazette a pardon for himself and his fellow defendants. Vanuatu’s constitution allows the speaker to assume presidential powers in the absence of the head of the republic, including the power of pardon. [BBC]

Aerosmith To Donald Trump: Stop Using Our Song –
Aerosmith lead singer Steven Tyler has asked Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to stop using the band’s power ballad Dream On at campaign events. Attorneys for Tyler have sent a second cease-and-desist letter to Mr Trump’s campaign committee, saying he does “not have our client’s permission to use Dream On or any of Tyler’s other songs”. The letter adds that it “gives the false impression that he is connected with or endorses Mr Trump’s presidential bid”. Tyler, a registered Republican, went to the GOP contenders’ first debate in August. Attorney Dina LaPolt said in a statement that the letter is not a “political” or “personal issue with Mr Trump”, but one of permission and copyright. [Sky News]
Steven Tyler

Video of the Day –

INPUT/OUTPUT from Terri Timely on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Aerosmith Studio Album discography

Aerosmith (1973)
Get Your Wings (1974)
Toys in the Attic (1975)
Rocks (1976)
Draw the Line (1977)
Night in the Ruts (1979)
Rock in a Hard Place (1982)
Done with Mirrors (1985)
Permanent Vacation (1987)
Pump (1989)
Get a Grip (1993)
Nine Lives (1997)
Just Push Play (2001)
Honkin’ On Bobo (2004)
Music from Another Dimension! (2012)

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#النفسيه_محتاجه	#NationalComingOutDay	#NationalComingOutDay
2	#lilokiss	Utley	#WhatIWantOnMyTombstone
3	Utley	#lilokiss	#royalparkshalf
4	#Yastayız	#SNL	#RussianGP
5	OS WALKERS ESTÃO DE VOLTA	The Hills	Agnes
6	#USAvMEX	#ChicagoMarathon	#USAvMEX
7	#شي_ماتقدر_تقا�…	#CALvsUTAH	Cara and Kendall
8	#NationalComingOutDay	#TheWalkingDead	#6hFuji
9	MATIAS CON VOS SIEMPRE	Julius Thomas	#INDvSA
10	#INDvSA	Charles Woodson	#XFactor

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Israeli airstrikes targeting Hamas weapons facilities in the Gaza Strip result in an explosion that collapsed a nearby house, killing a 30-year old pregnant Palestinian woman and her two-year old daughter. Four others were wounded, including the woman’s husband and son, the Gaza Health Ministry said. The Israeli military said the airstrike was in response to Saturday’s pair of rocket launches from Gaza at Israel, as well as two large riots that succeeded in breaching the border fence. (Reuters) (AP via New York Times) (AFP via New Indian Express)
- Israeli traffic police stop a Palestinian woman transporting a small car bomb within Israeli territory near Jerusalem. She detonates the bomb, lightly wounding a police officer and critically wounding herself. (AP via Houston Chronicle) (AFP via NDTV)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- A suicide bomber targets a foreign forces convoy in the Joy Shir area of Kabul. Taliban insurgents claim responsibility. A statement from Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry reported at least three civilians were wounded. There are no report of casualties among the foreign forces. (AFP via Times of India) (Reuters)
- Five members of the NATO-led coalition die and five others are injured in a non-combat helicopter crash in Kabul. The Associated Press reported the chopper collided with a monitoring balloon on landing. Nationalities weren’t identified by NATO’sResolute Support; the British said two were Royal Air Force personnel. (BBC) (CNN) (USA Today)
Syrian Civil War
- Following Russian airstrikes, the Syrian army and allied Lebanese Hezbollah militia take control of a highland area in Idlib province close to insurgent-held positions, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (Reuters) (Malaysian Insider)
Boko Haram insurgency in Cameroon
- At least eight people are killed following a suicide bomb attack in northern Cameroon‘s Sangueleri region near the Nigerian border. Boko Haram have previously carried out attacks in the region. (Business Standard)
Turkey–PKK conflict
- The Turkish Air Force launches a wave of airstrikes against PKK targets in northern Iraq and southeastern Turkey. Turkish security officials have also rejected a PKK ceasefire declared on Saturday shortly after the bombings in Ankara, saying “The PKK ceasefire means nothing for us. The operations will continue without a break”. (Reuters)
- Thousands gather in Ankara to pay their respects to those killed in Saturday’s peace rally bombings. Marches and sit-ins protesting the attack were also held in Istanbul. No group has claimed responsibility. Turkey’s already polarized political parties traded accusations of responsibility for the attack. National elections are still scheduled for November 1, 2015. (Los Angeles Times) (The Guardian) (CNN)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Iraq’s military reports bombing a convoy possibly carrying Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The group was headed to a meeting in the western Al Anbar Governorate, close to the Syrian border. Eight senior ISIS figures were killed, but al-Baghdadi did not appear to be among them according to Iraqi officials. (Reuters) (New York Daily News)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- An Arab coalition airstrike on a prison in Yemen‘s central Al Bayda Governorate, reportedly kills 20 prisoners. The prison which held more than 100 prisoners was controlled by the Houthis. (Yahoo)

International relations

South Africa plans to leave the International Criminal Court (ICC) as the government faces criticism for, earlier this year, ignoring a court order to arrest Sudan’s president. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Iranian Students News Agency reports an undisclosed verdict has been reached in the espionage case of Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, who has been held by Iran for more than 14 months. The final closed door hearing on Rezaian’s case was on August 10, 2015. By not disclosing details, the Post stated that it seems Tehran could be working a political angle. Last month at the UN, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told journalists he would welcome quicker steps on mutual prisoner releases.(Washington Post) (Christian Science Monitor) (Reuters)
A shooting at a house in Omeath, County Louth in the Republic of Ireland leaves two men dead, including an on-duty police officer. (BBC)
A 15-hour protest about police-related deaths, in Thalang on Thailand’s Phuket Island in the Andaman Sea, turned into a riot when the crowd attacked the Thalang Police Station with rocks and fire bombs. Two young men were killed in a motorcycle crash while being chased by police. Fourteen police were injured, nine cars were torched, 13 others and five motorcycles damaged. While numerous people were inconvenienced by the blockade, a heart attack patient died on his way to Thalang Hospital when the ambulance couldn’t get through the crowd. (AP via Fox News) (Celebcafe.org) (Immortal.org) (PhuketWan Tourism News)

Politics and elections

Belarusian presidential election, 2015
- Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko won a fifth term by a landslide in today’s election. (Radio Free Europe), (Reuters) (Reuters)
Guinean presidential election, 2015
- Millions of Guineans vote peacefully in the West African country’s second free election since gaining independence from France nearly 60 years ago. Ballot counting started; the provisional outcome is not expected until the end of this week, an official said. Incumbent President Alpha Conde is expected to win reelection. (Deutsche Welle)

Sport

Bathurst 1000
- In motor sport, Australian driver Craig Lowndes wins the 2015 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 for the sixth time. He also appeared on the podium for the 13th time, setting a new record for the event. (NZ Newswire via Yahoo! 7)

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October 20, 2015

Top News Stories –

‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Crushes Presale Ticket Records –
Fan demand led to crash of multiple websites like Fandango and MovieTickets.com. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” broke the record for the highest number of first-day presale tickets for Fandango, AMC and IMAX. According to Fandango, the site has sold eight times as many tickets as it did on the first day for the previous record holder, “The Hunger Games” in 2012 — and that’s even before the 24-hour mark was reached. “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” in 2010 slipped to third place in first-day advance sales. Traffic on Fandango surged to seven times the site’s typical peak levels, a site spokesperson reported. Similarly, MovieTickets.com reported that the online ticketer saw traffic “three times higher than the highest peak in the company’s 15 plus year history.” Comparably, the advance ticket sales for “The Force Awakens” are already four times greater than advance tickets sold for “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.” [The Wrap] See Video of the Day

Fed-up cafe bans money from underwear –
In this tough economic climate, small business owners need every dollar they can get their hands on. Unless said dollar comes from a customer’s undies, apparently. Staff at a Carnarvon cafe were so fed up with patrons paying with money retrieved from undergarments they put the attached sign at the cash register for a six-week period. Fascine Coffee Lounge owner Robin Weeks said the straw that broke the camel’s back was a man who tried to pay his bill with money from his jocks. “My son thought people shouldn’t put money there and he shouldn’t have to touch it,” Weeks said. “We had four or five people that did it. A lot of women think their bra is the best place for their money because they don’t have pockets.” Weeks said while most people approved of the sign, there were some who refused to change their ways. [Western Australian]
Fascine Coffee Lounge sign

Video of the Day –

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer (Official)

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#ScaryStoryIn5Words	#WhyIWrite	#ScaryStoryIn5Words
2	#FelizMartes	Cha Cha	Hotline Bling
3	#vote5sos	#vote5sos	#vote5sos
4	De Narvaez	Rick Pitino	#canadavotes
5	Drake	#TacoTuesdayAlternatives	Sajid Javid
6	Star Wars	Ryan Kelly	#charitytuesday
7	#الهلال_الاهلي	#PerfectMusicVideo	Canada
8	#صباحات_الهلال	#ScaryStoryIn5Words	#ChinaStateVisit
9	Balón de Oro	#OutInHipHop	Star Wars
10	Harper	#TIDALX1020	Justin Trudeau

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present), American-led intervention in Iraq
- The United States Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford arrived in Iraq to discuss the ongoing battle against ISIS. (AP)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015)
- U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, during a surprise visit to Jerusalem today, calls for calm ahead of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in an effort to bring an end to the month-long wave of violence. (CNN) (Time)
Syrian Civil War
- Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  - Russian airstrikes in Syria’s coastal Latakia province have killed a top FSA commander, Basil Zamo and several other rebel fighters. (Reuters)
  - At least three Russian troops fighting along side the Syrian Army are reportedly killed after a shell hit their position in the coastal province of Latakia. If confirmed, the deaths would be the first Russian military casualties since intervening in the civil war in September. (Reuters)
Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- Warplanes of unidentified origin carry out airstrikes on ISIS camps in the Libyan city of Sirte. (The Daily Star)
Military intervention against ISIL
- The U.S. deploys around a dozen A-10 ground-attack planes to Turkey‘s southern Incirlik Air Base. A U.S. military official said the deployment had “added capability” to the coalition’s efforts against ISIL in Iraq and Syria. (AFP via Yahoo)
- Canada‘s prime-minister elect Justin Trudeau informs U.S. President Barack Obama that Canada will be withdrawing fighter jets from both Iraq and Syria, effectively ending Canada’s military participation in the war on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. (AFP via Yahoo)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- The Taliban kill 22 policemen and kidnap 19 others, including the district’s security chief, during clashes with Afghan troops who kill 12 of the insurgents in the battle in Faryab Province in northern Afghanistan. (New York Times) (Latin American Herald Tribune)
- Taliban forces advance on Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan, amid fierce fighting with government forces that threatens to cut off a major highway and has prompted many families to flee. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

Former BBC journalist Jacky Sutton is found hanged in a restroom at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport. Of late, she was the acting director of the Institute for War and Peace Reporting. (BBC)
Oslo’s city council announces plans to ban cars from the Norwegian capital’s city centre by 2019. (Reuters) (Christian Science Monitor)

Disasters and accidents

Hidden Pines Fire
- At least 70 homes have been destroyed by a raging wildfire in Bastrop County, central Texas. The Texas A&M Forest Service reports the blaze in Bastrop County is currently 80 percent contained. (AP via ABC News)

Health and medicine

The American Cancer Society recommends women at average risk of breast cancer should begin annual mammograms at age 45, and women 55 and older scale back screening to every other year. (USA Today) (Reuters)

International relations

Venezuelan parliamentary election, 2015
- Brazil pulls out of an electoral mission to observe crucial legislative elections in Venezuela over what it says are a lack of guarantees by the government of Venezuela and its veto of the choice to head the delegation. (ABC News)
European migrant crisis
- European Union members agree to provide 291 border guards to Greece and Italy to help identify and register migrants. (AP)
Saudi Arabia receives US State Department approval for the purchase of four Multi-Mission Combat Ships for $11.25 billion. (UPI)
Syrian Civil War
- The United States and Russia sign an agreement designed to avoid conflict between both countries’ warplanes in Syria. The Pentagon said the agreement will remain secret; a hotline will enable both countries to directly communicate. (CBS News)(UPI)

Law and crime

The Israeli Defense Force arrests senior Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef for alleged incitement to commit violence. (Jerusalem Post)
A French public prosecutor said charges against far-right leader Marine Le Pen should be dropped. Le Pen is being tried for comments she made five years ago comparing Muslim street prayers to Nazi occupation. Prosecutor Bernard Reynaud said, “Madame Le Pen in denouncing prayers in public space addressed not the entire Muslim community but a minority and was only exercising her freedom of expression.” (Al Jazeera) (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Democratic Party presidential candidates, 2016
- Former Virginia Senator Jim Webb announces his withdrawal from the race for the Democratic presidential nomination during a press conference at the National Press Club. He added that he would consider his other options in the coming weeks. Webb’s campaign said he is weighing an independent bid. (NBC News) (AP) (Washington Post)

Science

Research from University of California, Los Angeles scientists indicates that life on earth may have started 4.1 billion years ago – 300 million years earlier than previously thought. (Economic Times)
Research by the University of Central Florida indicates a common UV-filtering compound, oxybenzone, found in sunscreen lotion is killing coral, especially among reefs frequented by recreational divers and snorkelers. (UPI) (Time)

Sports

Lamar Odom, who had been hospitalized in grave condition after ingesting, in a binge, herbal Viagra, alcohol, and other substances in a 3-day, $75,000 stay at a legal brothel in Nevada, comes out of his coma, improves, and is able to have conversations, though he is still on dialysis to deal with the renal damage he suffered. He is released from intensive care and Sunrise Hospital, to a hospital closer to his Los Angeles home. (MSN via Sporting News)

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October 23, 2015

Top News Stories –

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

Video of the Day –

Cat gets scared by a sneaky cucumber

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Adele	#Patricia	#TalkTalk
2	#CanYouRespectNiall	Adele	#FridayFeeling
3	#12hNerds	Anthony Hamilton	#SoundsGoodFeelsGood
4	Amancio Ortega	#CamilaAppreciationDay	#wearitpink
5	#HuracanPatricia	Tennessee State University	#CanYouRespectNiall
6	Hayırlı Cumalar	Baby Hitler	Adele
7	Jessica Jones	#CanYouRespectNiall	Jessica Jones
8	#النصر_الشباب	#SpookyBands	#bbcqt
9	#SoundsGoodFeelsGood	Jessica Jones	#BringBackLukeIsAPenguin
10	BeliebersVoteEMA	#hurricanepatricia	Duppy Riddim

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Boko Haram
- Two suicide bombings kill at least 55 people and injure over 100 in the northeast Nigerian cities of Yola and Maiduguri. (Premium Times) (Reuters) (Media24) (AFP via Yahoo)
War in North-West Pakistan
- 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)
Syrian Civil War
- Islamic State fighters take control of a section of road running between the towns of Khanaser and Ithriya, southeast of Aleppo, according to a monitoring group. This threatens the Syrian army’s only supply route into the city. (Reuters)
Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- 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)

Arts and culture

Adele returns from a three-year hiatus with the new single “Hello” from the album 25. (Forbes) (BBC)

Business and economics

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)
Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc. announces it will begin selling $1 doses of the antimalarial drug used for HIV patients, pyrimethamine (generic drug name for Daraprim), whose price was recently raised to $750 per pill by Turing Pharmaceuticals followingMartin Shkreli’s purchase of its marketing rights this year. Imprimis also plans to start making inexpensive versions of other generic drugs whose prices have skyrocketed. (Chicago Tribune) (Toronto Star)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific hurricane season
- 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)
2015 Puisseguin road crash
- At least 43 people die after a bus collides with a truck near the French town of Puisseguin. (The Guardian)

International Relations

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)
The president of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe, is awarded the Confucius Peace Prize, sometimes characterized as a Chinese alternative to the Nobel Peace Prize. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

Trollhättan school attack
- Swedish police claim that the deceased attacker was driven by “racist motives”. (Reuters via Daily Mail)
European migrant crisis
- 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)
School shootings in the United States
- 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)

Politics and elections

United States presidential election, 2016
- Democratic Party presidential candidates, 2016,
  - Former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee announces his decision to end his campaign for the 2016 Democratic Party presidential nomination in Washington, D.C. (NBC News) (Christian Science Monitor)
- Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016
  - Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, no longer a front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, reduces the size of his Miami, Florida, presidential campaign operations, cuts staff salaries across the board, and refocuses efforts on the early voting states. The shake-up comes two days before Bush gathers with top political donors in Houston, Texas, and 100 days before the party’s first nominating contest in Iowa. (Bloomberg) (Miami Herald) (Washington Post)
The U.S. Department of Energy cancels a shipment of 100 pounds of spent nuclear fuel (estimated value $200 million per year) to Idaho after failing to agree on terms that required a waiver to their 1995 agreement. (AP)

Sports

2015 Major League Baseball postseason
- The Kansas City Royals win the 2015 American League Championship Series, defeating the Toronto Blue Jays 4-2. (Los Angeles Times)
The first World Indigenous Games begins in the Brazilian city of Palmas, Tocantins with the opening ceremony disrupted by a protest by native Brazilians. (AFP via Daily Mail)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

October 26, 2015

Top News Stories –

Dog named Trigger shoots owner in the foot in Indiana –
A dog named Trigger shot his 25-year-old owner in the foot in a bizarre accident that had Indiana officials on Monday reminding hunters to take safety lessons. Allie Carter of Avilla was wounded during a waterfowl hunt on Saturday morning at the Tri-County Fish and Wildlife Area in northern Indiana, according to Indiana Department of Natural Resources. She laid her 12-gauge shotgun on the ground while repositioning herself and her 11-year-old chocolate Labrador stepped on the gun, depressing the trigger, said Indiana Conservation Officer Jonathon Boyd. The safety of the shotgun was not on, so it went off and Carter was shot in the left foot, Boyd said. Carter, who had never completed a hunter education course, was hospitalized. She suffered non-life-threatening injuries from the bird shot pellets and was treated and released, Boyd said. [Reuters]

Saudi prince held after seizure of two tons of amphetamines at Beirut airport –
A Saudi prince has been detained at Beirut airport in Lebanon after two tons of an amphetamine drug popular with Syrian rebels was found on a private jet. Prince Abdel Mohsen Bin Walid Bin Abdulaziz and four other men were held after what was described as the biggest ever drugs bust at the city’s main Rafik Hariri International Airport, according to local media and security sources. They were allegedly “attempting to smuggle about two tons of Captagon pills and some cocaine”, a security source was quoted as saying. Captagon is a brand name for the widely used amphetamine phenethylline. Although this type of amphetamine has been prescribed in the past to treat childhood and other behavioural disorders, it is now used overwhelmingly as a stimulant in the Middle East. [Daily Telegraph]

11-year-old girl sets up business selling secure passwords for $2 –
Weak passwords are still the plague of the cybersecurity industry, with the most popular passwords of 2014 including “123456”, “password” and “qwerty”, making it easy for hackers to break into accounts and steal data. Now an 11-year-old girl from New York is offering a solution. Sixth-grader Mira Modi has started her own business making cryptographically secure passwords and selling them for $2 a pop. She generates the passwords using a system called Diceware to create strings of words that are easy to remember but difficult to crack. The system involves rolling a die to generate random numbers, which are matched to a list of short words from the Diceware dictionary. Those words are then combined into a non-sensical string, such as: alger klm curry blond puck horse. These six-word passphrases contain a lot of “entropy”, or randomness, which means that it would take a powerful computer a very long time to correctly guess them. They are also easier to memorise than strings of individual characters. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

OFFF Porto Main Titles from bif on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#LouisYouMakeUsFeelLikeHome	The Concealed-Carry Fantasy	#mondaymotivation
2	#FelizLunes	#LouisYouMakeUsFeelLikeHome	#HIAC
3	La OMS	Monster 2	Lisa Jardine
4	#HIAC	#mondaymotivation	#LouisYouMakeUsFeelLikeHome
5	#TheWalkingDead	#MySignificantOtherIn4Words	#earthquake
6	#ALDUBNewBeginnings	#AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh	Glenn
7	#تسجيل_السعيدي…	#TrumpTODAY	#bacon
8	#QueLindoEsoDe	World Health Organization	Artist Of The Year
9	Macri	#earthquake	Lesnar
10	Jimmy Morales	#IHonkedAtYouBecause	#taxcredits

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Spillover of the Syrian Civil War, Turkey–ISIL conflict
  - Four Islamic State militants and two Turkish policemen are killed during a raid on a house used by militants in the city of Diyarbakir in southeastern Turkey, according to the state-run Anadolu Agency. Four other police officers were injured. (AP via Fox News) (Reuters)
- United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reports at least 120,000 people have been displaced in Syria this month because of fighting. These displaced Syrians need tents, basic household items, food, water and sanitation services. The agency’s humanitarian partners are scaling up their response. (AP)
Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed it has deployed special forces to Syria over the past weeks supporting its mission to back-up the Bashar al-Assad regime. A Russian official added that the special forces, who are “akin to the Delta Force of theU.S.,” had been operating in pro-Russian rebel held areas of Ukraine before being called off to Syria. (Business Insider) (The Wall Street Journal)
A suicide-bomb attack at a Shia mosque in the Saudi Arabian city of Najran accounts for over a dozen casualties. (BBC)
Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- At least 50 people are killed, including seven civilians, in heavy fighting between Houthi rebels and forces loyal to ousted President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi near the city of Taiz. (Al-Jazeera)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present), American-led intervention in Iraq, Syrian Civil War, American-led intervention in Syria
- United States Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter indicates a more robust role ahead for the United States military in bolstering indigenous forces countering ISIS and in response to Russia’s increasing role in Middle East conflicts. (WSJ)
Colombian conflict (1964–present)
- At least 11 Colombian Army soldiers and one policeman have been killed in an ELN attack in northeast Colombia. (Colombia Reports)

Business

MTN Group is fined $5.2 billion dollars by the Nigerian Communications Commission for failing to disconnect non-registered SIM cards. (BBC)
Toyota is once again the world’s largest carmaker with 7.5 million units sold thus far in 2015, compared to Volkswagen‘s 7.43 million and General Motors‘ 7.2 million. (BBC)
Japanese tire manufacturer Bridgestone announced it would buy US auto parts retailer Pep Boys for $835 million. (Reuters)
Duke Energy announced it would buy Piedmont Natural Gas for $4.9 billion. (Reuters)
USAA, one of the largest financial services companies in the U.S., announced the ending of its long-term relationship with MasterCard. The tenth-largest credit card issuer in the U.S. will replace the old credit cards with Visa cards next year. (WSJ)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Hindu Kush earthquake
- An earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Moment magnitude scale (MMS) strikes in the Hindu Kush mountain range in northeastern Afghanistan, 158 miles from Kabul, in the remote province of Badakhshan, one of Afghanistan’s most inaccessible regions. Tremors reached as far as New Delhi, India. At least 263 are dead in Afghanistan and nearby northern Pakistan with more than 1,000 injured. The death toll will likely climb since communications in much of the affected areas are cut, and rescue teams had not yet reached districts closest to the epicenter, including some that are controlled by Taliban insurgents. (BBC) (Financial Express) (USGS) (Dawn) (Reuters) (L.A. Times) (AP)

International relations

Saudi Arabia–United Kingdom relations
- Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United Kingdom Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, in an op-ed piece in the The Daily Telegraph, warns of “potentially serious repercussions” for the two countries’ relationship unless a more respectful discourse developed. At issue is London’s withdrawal from a £5.9m (US$9.1m) prison deal with Saudi Arabia which has been linked to London’s concerns about a death penalty case and a case involving Karl Andree, a 74-year-old Briton who faces 350 lashes. Today, the Saudi Supreme Court confirmed Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr’s death sentence. (Arab News) (BBC)
The United States is reportedly blocking a $400 million plan by South Korea to sell KAI T-50 Golden Eagle trainer jets, co-developed in 2006 with Lockheed Martin, to Uzbekistan, according to The Korea Times. The aircraft uses Lockheed Martin technologies — including avionics — and as such requires permission under the U.S. Arms Export Control Act for its sale to other countries. (UPI) (The Korea Times)
The U.S. Navy plans to send guided missile destroyer USS Lassen within 12 nautical miles of artificial islands built by China in the South China Sea. This first freedom of navigation challenge to China’s territorial claims in one of the world’s busiest sea lanesmay occur as soon as tomorrow, according to a U.S. defense official. (Reuters) (The Diplomat)

Law and crime

Indian fugitive gangster Chhota Rajan is arrested at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali. (BBC)
Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court upholds the death sentence of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was found guilty of sedition and other charges following his involvement in the 2011 Arab Spring Movement. (Jurist)
A member of the Saudi Royal Family and four other people are detained in Lebanon for attempting to smuggle about two tons of Captagon pills and some cocaine on a private jet. This is the largest drug seizure in the history of Beirut’s Rafik Hariri International Airport, according to Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. (Al Jazeera) (NBC News)

Politics and elections

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu orders a review of the status of certain Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem. Netanyahu said he’s considering revoking residency status for Palestinians living there, according to Israel’s Channel 2. (AP)(UPI)

Science

A new study by scientists finds that areas of the Persian Gulf could become uninhabitable to humans in less than 100 years due to rising temperatures. (The Telegraph)(New York Times)(Nature)

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October 31, 2015

October 30, 2015

Top News Stories –

China: Guangzhou warns zombies to stay off metro –
Halloween revellers are being urged to avoid the underground system in one southern Chinese city, in case they cause a panic. Transport police in Guangzhou say people in ghoulish fancy dress have been making other passengers nervous in recent days, and officers want travellers to report anyone they spot wearing spooky costumes. “Passengers’ strange behaviour may make some feel uneasy, cause onlookers to panic and could easily lead to security risks,” the force says in a statement posted on its Sina Weibo microblog account. “Therefore the subway does not encourage such acts.” [BBC]

Justin Bieber sorry for storming off stage after one song in Norway –
Justin Bieber’s been living up to the name of his new song Sorry by apologising to his fans for storming off stage in Norway. He said he was “done” and “I’m not doing the show” after performing one track during a TV recording in Oslo. In fan-filmed videos, Justin Bieber can be seen getting annoyed with people at the front of the stage while trying to wipe the floor. The singer later posted an apology on his Instagram account. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Nike: Snow Day

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#YaVieneNoviembreY	#HappyHalloween	#BuyFocusOniTunes
2	#HappyHalloween	#FridayFeeling	#FridayFeeling
3	貴サークル	Grantland	#scotlab15
4	#BuyFocusOniTunes	#YouMightBeSingleIn5Words	#HappyHalloween
5	#RespectForJustin	#FashionTipsIn4Words	Shaker Aamer
6	Olivia	#HowDidWeEndUpHere	Bob Ross
7	冬コミ	#BuyFocusOniTunes	Benedict Cumberbatch
8	#الهلال_الاتحاد	Piss On Your Grave	Olivia
9	Hayırlı Cumalar	Bob Ross	#TOPdebate
10	Grantland	Shaker Aamer	#HowDidWeEndUpHere

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- At least 65 people are killed and 250 injured in Syrian government airstrikes targeting a marketplace in the city of Douma, Syria. (WSJ) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera via Yahoo!)
- American-led intervention in Syria
  - U.S. President Barack Obama is set to send Special Operations forces to regions in northern Syria under Kurdish control to help local forces fight the Islamic State. (New York Times) (Reuters)
Andrew Parker, head of British security agency MI5, states that ISIS terrorists are planning attacks in Great Britain and current terror threat levels are the highest he’s witnessed in his career. (The Telegraph)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015)
- Two assailants are shot dead by Israeli police after knife-wielding Palestinians attacked Israelis in Jerusalem and in the occupied West Bank. Another four people, including a Palestinian assailant, are injured in incidents at an Israeli checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Nablus and at a tram station in East Jerusalem. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- The Iranian-funded Shi’ite Al-Mukhtar Army claims responsibility for Thursday’s deadly rocket attacks near the Baghdad International Airport that killed 23 members of an exiled Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mujahedin of Iran. (Reuters)

Arts and Culture

Happy Days actor Al Molinaro dies at 96. (Washington Post)

Business and economics

Quebec-based Valeant Pharmaceuticals International cut all ties with Philidor Rx Services. This comes in the wake of recent revelations that Valeant was looking to acquire Philidor, a relationship that raised questions from various quarters. Valeant is the subject of U.S. federal investigations. (New York Times)
- America’s two largest pharmacy benefit managers, CVS Health Corp. and Express Scripts, drop Philidor from their networks after an audit showed the company’s “noncompliance” with its provider agreement. Bloomberg reports Philidor had written instructions to, in some cases, change codes on prescriptions so it would appear physicians required or patients desired Valeant’s brand-name drugs — not less expensive generic versions. (Reuters via Business Insider) (Bloomberg)
Volkswagen emissions scandal
- U.K. transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin says Volkswagen has to start financially addressing this problem by compensating motorists with, the estimated total is £600m (US$925 million). (Sky News) (Bitterwallet)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Bucharest nightclub explosion
- At least 27 people are killed and more than 180 hospitalized with injuries after a fire in a nightclub in the Romanian capital Bucharest. Officials say a heavy metal band’s pyrotechnical show sparked a fire inside the Colectiv nightclub. (Sputnik News),(BBC) (Fox News)
2015 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
- Cyclone Chapala intensifies in the Arabian Sea as it heads towards Yemen and Oman which rarely experience tropical cyclones. The cyclone is expected to dump two years worth of rain on the normally arid Arabian Peninsula in two days. (Sydney Morning Herald via WA Today)
One construction worker dies and at least one more is under the rubble from the collapse of a building being demolished to make way for a Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide luxury boutique hotel in New York City. (AP via ABC News) (Reuters)
European migrant crisis
- Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras lashes out at European “ineptness” in handling the continent’s massive immigration crisis. The Associated Press reports 31 more people — mostly children — drowned in shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea near the islands of Kalymnos and Rhodes. Turkey’s state-run agency says four children drowned and two others are missing after two new accidents with boats headed to Greece’s Lesbos and Samos islands. The death toll in the Aegean Sea over the past three days is at least 50. The Greek coast guard says they rescued 600 people in the past 24 hours, while thousands more made it safely from Turkey to Greece’s southeastern islands. (AP via Huffington Post) (Reuters)
Storms hit the American state of Texas causing at least two deaths with one person reported missing. Rivers overflowed as more than a foot of rain fell in some areas while tornadoes ripped through buildings outside San Antonio. (NBC News) (Reuters)
A building collapse in Henan province in central China leaves 17 workers dead and 23 injured. (Xinhua via iCrossChina
A Virginia (U.S.) school bus overturns after being struck by a van, sending 28 students to local hospitals with five seriously injured. (Inside Edition)

International relations

Shaker Aamer, the last British resident held at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, is released. Aamer faces no charges in Britain; Scotland Yard detectives questioned him for three days during his detention. (BBC) (AP via Seattle Times)
Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- The European Union sides with the United States over Tuesday’s U.S.-Chinese patrolling incident in the South China Sea. (Reuters)
Syria peace talks in Vienna, Syrian Civil War
- Representatives from about 20 countries meet in Vienna, Austria, seeking a political solution to Syria’s four-year civil war that has killed more than 250,000 people, including dozens more today. For the first time Iran is at the table, where diplomats seek peace through a ceasefire plan followed by a transitional government. (USA Today) (Payvand.com)

Law and crime

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague rules it has jurisdiction to hear the Philippines‘ case against China over maritime disputes in the South China Sea. (The Diplomat) (BBC News)
U.S. Army judge Col. James Pohl denies Guantanamo detainee Walid bin Attash’s request to drop his legal counsel clearing the way for the trial’s continuation. (Military Times)
Polish Judge Dariusz Mazur rules the law forbids film director Roman Polanski’s extradition to the U.S. where he pleaded guilty nearly four decades ago to having sex with a minor. The prosecutors can appeal the ruling. (Sky News) (BBC)

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November 7, 2015

Top News Stories –

Cheese burglars who are driving French farmers rind the bend –
Farmers in France are being driven crackers after thieves launched a string of raids – to steal wheels of cheese. With consumer demand high in the run-up to Christmas, criminal gangs have spotted a lucrative opportunity. More than four tons of Comté cheese, worth at least €40,000 (£28,550), were stolen last week from a renowned producer in eastern France near the Swiss border. The burglars cut through a barbed wire fence at night to enter the Napiot dairy in Goux-les-Usiers and loaded a lorry with 100 90lb “wheels” of the cheese which the family has been making since 1860. A police source said: “The newspapers are calling it a record theft, but there have been at least two other thefts of similar quantities of cheese in recent times. The cheesemakers decided not to make their misfortune public.” [Daily Telegraph]

Adele says management banned her from tweeting after she ‘drunk tweeted’ –
Adele says she’s not allowed to send her own tweets any more after “drunk tweeting” a few years ago. The singer says her posts now go through two sets of people and are signed off before being posted but she says she still writes them. The 27-year-old was answering a question from the audience in her pre-recorded BBC interview and performance. Adele said the rule was brought in after she nearly landed herself in trouble “quite a few times”. The star now has almost 24 million Twitter followers. [BBC Newsbeat] In October 2015 Adele went to the top of the Official Singles Chart with her comeback single Hello.
Adele

Video of the Day –

MASSIVE BLUE UFO OVER LOS ANGELES 11-7-15

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#RespectLouis	#RespectLouis	#RespectLouis
2	#6DaysUntilMITAM	#JustinHatesHisFansParty	#6DaysUntilMITAM
3	合計種族値	Seth Curry	#JustinHatesHisFansParty
4	オフ会0人	Clemson	#mozfest
5	#7NFeminista	Vandy	#PutrajayaePrix
6	#ALDUBPerformsTogether	#6DaysUntilMITAM	#bbc4
7	#جيشنا_عز_وفخر	#MyComedyAlbumTitle	Stoke
8	HARRY CORTOU O CABELO	#LSUvsBAMA	#MarchForIndia
9	#SoyFelizCuando	#mozfest	Clive James
10	#SabadoDeTremuraComSdv	#PrehistoricMovies	#ThankYouBob

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- The Assyrian Human Rights Network (AHRN) reports Islamic State militants released 37 Syrian Christians, mostly women, who were among more than 200 people from the Assyrian minority group abducted in February. (AP)
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the death toll from an airstrike on an IS-controlled eastern city near the border with Iraq rose from 25 to 71. (AP)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Bombs in and around Baghdad kill at least nine people, police and medical sources say. There is no immediate claim of responsibility. (Reuters)

Art and culture

The University of Sydney‘s Australian Archaeological Mission, excavating at a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the southwest coast of the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, discover Cyprus’s oldest theatre. Located in the ancient city of Nea Paphos (capital of Cyprus at the time), it is a Hellenistic–Roman structure believed to have been in use for about six and a half centuries, from c. 300 B.C. until its final destruction in the earthquakes of A.D. 365. The Roman columns are made of granite from quarries in Troad,Turkey. (AFP, via MSN)
The Egyptian Ministry of Antiquities says infrared thermography indicates a hidden chamber in the tomb of King Tutankhamen, findings consistent with early theories his tomb included two concealed doorways and with the theory presented in archaeologist Nicholas Reeves‘ paper this summer. (UPI)

Business and economics

Takata Defective airbag recalls (2013-present)
- Nissan Motor Co. says it will not use airbag inflators made by Japanese auto parts supplier Takata Corp. in its cars, joining Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

Metrojet Flight 9268
- A sudden noise immediately before the “black box” flight data recorder went dark indicates the plane was brought down by a bomb, according to unnamed sources. Officially, Ayman el-Muqadem says the Egyptian investigative team is “considering all possible scenarios for the cause of the accident” and has not yet reached any conclusions. (BBC) (USA Today) (The Mirror)
European migrant crisis
- The Greek coast guard and the European Union border agency Frontex, in six separate operations, rescue a total of 383 migrants attempting to sail from Turkey to the eastern Greek islands. (AP)
Minas Gerais dam disaster
- As rescue teams labor to reach isolated communities, state officials are taking precautions to contain the environmental fallout from the burst dams. A state public prosecutor based in Mariana says he will seek 500,000 Brazilian reais (US$130,000) in personal damages for each of about 200 families most affected by the dam burst. (Reuters)

Health and medicine

In Iraq, a cholera outbreak prompts United Nations agencies UNICEF and the World Health Organization to launch a prevention and treatment campaign. So far, around 2,200 cases have been confirmed, and some infections have occurred in neighboring countries. (Al Jazeera English)
The WHO declares Sierra Leone free from Ebola transmissions. (France 24), (BBC), (New York Times)

International relations

Cross-Strait relations, 2015 Ma–Xi Meeting
- Chinese President Xi Jinping and Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou meet in Singapore, the first meeting between a Chinese and Taiwanese leader since the Chinese Communist Revolution. (CNN)

Law and crime

A manhunt is underway for a gunman who shot and seriously wounded presiding Travis County, Texas State District Judge Julie Kocurek at the driveway of her home in West Austin, Texas. It was unclear whether she and/or her family members were targeted (they were arriving home) or if it was a botched robbery. She was listed in serious condition at University Medical Center Brackenridge in Austin but is expected to recover. (USA Today, via MSN)
In Louisiana, United States, two law enforcement officers are arrested and charged with homicide of a six-year-old and attempted homicide of his father. (Al Jazeera English) (BBC)

Politics and elections

Portuguese legislative election, 2015
- Three leftist parties announce their ability to form a government, making it likely that Pedro Passos Coelho will no longer be Prime Minister. (BBC)
Myanmar general election, 2015
- Myanmar president Thein Sein says his government and the military, which gave up power only five years ago, will respect the results of Sunday’s historic elections that are expected to be won by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s NLD party. (AP)

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November 12, 2015

Top News Stories –

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]

Video of the Day –

HyperZooming through Hallstatt from geoff tompkinson on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#1DayUntilMITAM	#1DayUntilMITAM	#1DayUntilMITAM
2	#1DayTillPURPOSE	#1DayTillPURPOSE	Pauline Cafferkey
3	Fernando del Paso	#ItsNotAHolidayUntil	George Clooney
4	#MiMejorAmigaSiempre	#NerdBroadway	Sandi Thom
5	#لو_ترجع_للدرا�…	#MillionStudentMarch	#1DayTillPURPOSE
6	Arcadi Espada	#MadeInTheAM	Peep Show
7	#NoPuedoDejarDe	#InBlumWeTrust	#ModiInUK
8	#ThankYouForTheLove	Amber Rose	Marton Fulop
9	#EnSuPropiaTrampa	Uncle Drew	#mshuddle
10	#FelizJueves	#AHSHotel	#Odyssey

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present), Military intervention against ISIL
- American-led intervention
  - Kurdish forces, backed by U.S. airstrikes, capture several villages in an offensive to retake the Iraqi town of Sinjar from Islamic State militants, who overran it more than a year ago. The operation aims to cordon off the town, take control of Islamic State supply routes, and establish a buffer zone to protect the town from artillery, according to the Kurdish national security council. (Reuters) (NBC News)
2015 Beirut bombings:
- Lebanese Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk reports at least 43 people were killed and more than 239 wounded as two, simultaneous suicide bomb blasts hit a Shi’ite community center and a nearby bakery in the Beirut suburb of Bourj el-Barajneh, a section of the Lebanese capital controlled by Hezbollah. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for the attack. Machnouk said a third suicide bomber had been killed by one of the explosions before he could detonate his own bomb. The bombers struck as Lebanese lawmakers held a legislative session for the first time in over a year.(Daily Star) (Sky News) (Reuters)

Arts and culture

French-American Florent Groberg receives the Medal of Honor, becoming the first foreign-born Medal of Honor recipient of the War in Afghanistan. (CNN)

Business and economy

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)

International relations

The Valletta Summit on Migration concludes with European leaders setting up a fund to promote development in African countries, in return for help in the European migrant crisis. (Times of Malta)

Health and medicine

The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that maternal deaths will have fallen 44% between 1990 and 2015; although, this falls short of the United Nation‘s Millennium Development Goal of 75% reduction. (BBC)

Law and crime

Two nephews of Venezuelan First Lady Cilia Flores, who were arrested in Haiti by U.S. authorities on Tuesday, are indicted in New York for conspiring to smuggle cocaine into the United States. (USA Today) (Venezuelanalysis.com)
More than a dozen alleged ISIS-linked, terrorist members of Rawti Shax, a European offshoot of the Iraqi Kurdish jihadist network Ansar al-Islam, are arrested in a coordinated, multi-nation sweep by police across Europe. The operation dismantled an integrated cell in Italy, the United Kingdom, Norway, Finland, Switzerland, and Germany. The group is accused of radicalizing fighters, planning attacks targeting Norwegian and British diplomats in the Middle East, and planning to establish a caliphate inIraq’s Kurdistan region. (NBC News) (The Local) (CNN)
Human rights in Uzbekistan
- Uzbek political prisoner Murod Juraev is finally released after being imprisoned for 21 years. (New York Times)

Sport

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko says there will be no boycott of next year’s Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, and he is ready to own up to some of the charges leveled in the World Anti-Doping Agency commission’s massive report on doping, the Associated Press reports. (AP)

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November 13, 2015

Top News Stories –

Paris attacks –
Paris has suffered a night of deadly attacks, described by President Francois Hollande as “unprecedented”. Shootings, bomb blasts and a hostage siege have left at least 127 people dead and some 180 wounded. At least 80 are in critical condition. Six places were targeted, almost simultaneously. France has declared a state of emergency, imposed border controls and deployed 1,500 extra troops. [BBC]
Chronology –

21:20 – First explosion near Stade de France
21:25 – Shooting at Le Carillon bar and Le Petit Cambodge restaurant, rue Bichat
21:29 – More shooting in same area, avenue de la Republique
21:30 – Second explosion near Stade de France
21:38 – Shooting at La Belle Equipe bar, rue de Charonne
21:43 – Explosion at boulevard Voltaire, near Bataclan concert hall
21:49 – Shooting at Bataclan, then explosions
21:53 – Third explosion at Stade de France
22:00 – Shooting at boulevard Beaumarchais, near Bataclan

In January the offices of Charlie Hebdo were attacked by gunmen in Paris and in August train passengers overcame a gunmen on a train in France.
Bataclan Theatre, Paris

Jihadi John ‘dead’: MI5 on alert amid fears of Isil revenge attack –
MI5 is on high alert amid fears that Isil fanatics are already plotting revenge attacks for the reported killing of Jihadi John in a drone strike in Raqqa, Syria. The communications of known sympathisers are being monitored closely as surveillance is stepped up to prevent a terrorist outrage in revenge for the operation which is now widely acknowledged to have resulted in the death of Mohammed Emwazi– who as Jihadi John – earned global notoriety. [Daily Telegraph] See Top Twitter Trends

Athletics doping: Russia provisionally suspended by IAAF –
Russia’s athletics federation has been provisionally suspended from international competition – including the Olympic Games – for its alleged involvement in widespread doping. The IAAF took action after the publication of an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report that alleged “state-sponsored doping”. Its council members voted 22-1 in favour of Russia being banned. “This is a wake-up call for all of us,” said IAAF president Lord Coe. [BBC] Lord Coe became IAAF president in August 2015.
Lord Coe

Video of the Day –

Otto the skateboarding bulldog – Guinness World Records

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Jihadi John	Friday the 13th	Jihadi John
2	#purpose	Jihadi John	#MadeInTheAM
3	#FR1DAY13BR	#WorldKindnessDay	#purpose
4	#MadeInTheAM	París	#childreninneed
5	Friday the 13th	#YesSheCan	Friday the 13th
6	#Viernes13	#InternetThePast	#WorldKindnessDay
7	Sexta-feira 13	#PrayForJapan	#ModiAtWembley
8	#1DonSmallzy	#RuinMyLifeIn3Words	#friday13th
9	Hayırlı Cumalar	Jeezy	Herts
10	#رفع_سعر_الدخا�…	A.M.	#bbcqt

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
- The United States conducts airstrikes targeting Kuwaiti–British militant Jihadi John. Later, the U.S. says it is “reasonably certain” a drone strike in Syria killed Jihadi John, né Mohammed Emwazi. (BBC) (Reuters)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- November 2015 Sinjar offensive
  - Kurdish Peshmerga forces backed by U.S. airstrikes seize control of Sinjar in northern Iraq. Sinjar has been under Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant occupation since August 2014. (Reuters)
- Multiple bombings in Baghdad targeting Iraqi Shiites kills at least 26 people. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility. (AP via Yahoo)
November 2015 Paris attacks
- French police report multiple blasts and gunfire in Paris with at least 26 dead in a restaurant in the 10th arrondissement and an explosion near the Stade de France. (Daily Beast) (AP) (Washington Post)
- Police report the hostage siege is over at the Eagles of Death Metal concert at the Bataclan theatre in the 11th arrondissement. Approximately 100 people are dead in the Bataclan. (The Daily Beast) (Deadline)
- The President of France François Hollande declares a state of emergency across France. (The Guardian)
2015 Beirut bombings
- A day of mourning is held in Lebanon following two suicide attacks in the capital Beirut which killed at least 43 people. (Al Jazeera)
During an arrest attempt in Cairo, Egyptian security forces kill Aly Ashraf Hassanein al Gharabli, an ISIL-linked militant who masterminded the murder of Apache Corporation worker William Henderson in Egypt last year. (Fuel Fix)
At least 22 people are killed this week in a string of raids on villages in the Central African Republic. The escalation of violence threatens to derail a visit by Pope Francis and crucial elections scheduled for December 27, 2015. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

The Anne Frank Fonds in Basel, Switzerland, announces that Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank, is editor and legally the co-author of “The Diary of Anne Frank.” (New York Times)
South Korean news agency Yonhap reports China’s mobile phone users are discarding 80 million devices annually, but almost none are being recycled. China’s recycling rate stands at 9-10 percent of the global recycling average. (UPI)

Disasters and accidents

The bodies of eight babies are found wrapped in towels and inside plastic bags in an apartment in the town of Wallenfels in Germany’s state of Bavaria. Authorities are looking for the apartment’s most recent occupant, Andrea G, a 45-year-old woman.(CNN) (Irish Times) (Reuters)
At least 18 people are injured, four critically, after a San Francisco (U.S.) double-decker tour bus loses control and crashes in traffic striking several vehicles and knocking over nearby construction scaffolding. (San Francisco Examiner) (Reuters)
At least four people are dead and 33 injured in a landslide in China‘s Zhejiang province. (CRI)

International Relations

Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- The first major survey in five years of the attitudes of British Jews toward Israel shows deep support of Israel as the Jewish state but heavy criticism of its politics and on the issue of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict: 75% see the expansion of settlements as a major obstacle to peace; 73% believe Israel’s approach to peace is damaging its standing in the world; 70% back Israel’s demand that the Palestinians recognize it as a Jewish state; and, 59 percent, down from 72% in 2010, describe themselves asZionist. (The Guardian) (Haaretz)
U.S. diplomats, amid growing international concern the violence could spiral into an ethnic conflict, push for peace talks in Burundi. The European Union advises non-essential staff to evacuate the Central African nation amid rising violence and an uptick in political rhetoric. The head of the opposition UPRONA group urges the United Nations to send peacekeepers quickly. Yesterday, the UN Security Council called on the Burundi Government to protect human rights and cooperate with regional African mediators to immediately convene “an inclusive and genuine inter-Burundian dialogue” to find a peaceful resolution of the crisis. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters) (UN)
European migrant crisis
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel asserts she still isn’t prepared to name an upper limit to the number of refugees who can come to Germany, despite mounting domestic political pressure. (AP)
- Oxfam’s Belgrade Center for Human Rights reports migrants coming through Bulgaria have faced beatings, threats and other abuses by police, though the country’s own refugee agency said it had received no such complaints. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War peace process
- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets in Vienna, Austria, with the foreign ministers of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, as well as the U.N. special envoy for Syria, ahead of Saturday’s next round of international summits on the Syrian Civil War. The talks, aimed toward a cease-fire in Syria’s devastating war and a political transition to a post-war government, will include senior officials from 19 nations/groups and, as in October, Iran will participate. (AP)
Metrojet Flight 9268
- As a temporary security measure, effective Saturday, Russia bans incoming flights by Egypt’s state-owned airline, EgyptAir, two weeks after an apparent terrorist bomb downed a Russian jet in the Sinai. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Police in the Dominican Republic raid a mansion owned by 30-year-old Francisco Flores de Freites, one of the two nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro facing charges for allegedly trying to traffic 800 kg of cocaine into the U.S., and found more than 280 pounds of cocaine and 22 pounds of heroin hidden inside the nephew’s posh Casa de Campo property and a 135-foot yacht named “The Kingdom” docked behind it. (Fox News)

Politics and elections

Myanmar general election, 2015
- Aung San Suu Kyi‘s National League for Democracy (NLD) wins an absolute majority with 348 seats taken in the country’s parliament, 19 seats more than the required 329, marking Myanmar’s first democratically-elected government since the 1962 Burmese coup d’état. (The Economist) (The Guardian)
Colombia plans to legalize medical marijuana in a further shift in drug policy after suspending aerial fumigation of illicit crops. A decree approving the therapeutic use of marijuana will be signed in the coming days. Growing, distributing and selling cannabis will remain illegal. (Reuters) (teleSUR)

Science and technology

WT1190F, an artificial satellite orbiting the Earth since before June 2009, impacts the Earth south of Sri Lanka. (CBC)

Sport

The International Association of Athletics Federations votes overwhelmingly to ban Russian athletes and the All-Russia Athletic Federation from international competitions following overwhelming evidence of widespread state sponsored doping in a World Anti-Doping Agency report. (Reuters via Sydney Morning Herald)
Yelena Isinbayeva, a former Russian Olympic pole-vaulting champion calls on the IAAF not to punish honest athletes in response to doping allegations against Russia. (Reuters)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

November 14, 2015

Top News Stories –

South Africa’s ‘Blade Runner’ Pistorius starts community service –
South Africa’s “Blade Runner” Oscar Pistorius on Saturday started performing community service as part of his parole conditions after being released from prison last month, local media reported. The Paralympic gold medalist was freed on parole less than a year into a five-year sentence for the “culpable homicide” of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, who he killed on Valentine’s Day in 2013. Pistorius, dubbed “Blade Runner” because of the carbon fiber prosthetic blades he uses to compete, was freed from prison in line with sentencing guidelines that say non-dangerous prisoners should spend only a sixth of a custodial sentence behind bars. [Reuters] Pistorius was originally refused early release in August 2015
Oscar Pistorius competing

Video of the Day –

Kaleidoscope: See Things Differently

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#espalheamor	#MTVStars	#TerrorismHasNoReligion
2	#TodosSomosParis	#MakePeaceIn5Words	#ViveLaFrance
3	#MTVStars	#DemDebate	#MTVStars
4	#PrayForWorld	#JackAndJackUSTixOnSale	#PrayForPeace
5	우리나라	#MuslimsAreNotTerrorist	#ParisAttacks
6	David Luiz	#EveningWithJB	Muslims
7	#ParisAttacks	Act of War	ISIS
8	Muslims	#strandedinUS	#PorteOuverte
9	#PorteOuverte	Monmouth	#PrayForJapan
10	광화문	#PurposeTheMovement	Paris

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

November 2015 Paris attacks, Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
- The death toll from the terrorist attacks in Paris stands at 129. (Reuters)
- Michel Cadot, the head of the Paris Police Prefecture, says that all the attackers are believed to be dead. (The Guardian)
- French President François Hollande announces the cancellation of his participation at the G-20 Antalya summit in order to focus on the attacks. (Reuters via Channel News Asia)
- Thousands are turning to social media (#PorteOuverte/twitter) to check-in on loved ones in the area, many using Facebook’s “Safety Check” feature. (CBS News)
- The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant releases an official statement and video, claiming responsibility for the attacks. (The Jerusalem Post)
- A Syrian passport is found near the body of one of the gunmen who died in Friday’s attacks in Paris. The holder passed through the Greek island of Leros on October 3 as a refugee, according to Greek officials. A Greek police source said the passport’s owner was a young man who had arrived in Leros with a group of 69 refugees and had his fingerprints taken by authorities there. Police declined to give his name. (Reuters) (ABC News Australia)
- Poland‘s recently elected government led by Law and Justice (PiS), declares it will no longer accept EU-mandate quotas for refugees following the terrorist attacks in France. (RT)
Military intervention against ISIL, Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- A U.S. airstrike on a compound in the Libyan port city of Derna is said to have killed Wisam al Zubaidi, also known as Abu Nabil al-Anbari, who commands the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant‘s branch in Libya. A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the operation, said the airstrike involved F-15 aircraft and was believed to have killed Zubaidi. He said the attack had been planned for some time. (The Washington Post) (BBC)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present), Persecution of Yazidis by ISIL
- Kurdish Peshmerga forces discover a mass grave believed to contain the remains of more than 70 members of Iraq‘s Yazidi minority, mostly women, east of the recently liberated town of Sinjar. (Reuters via The Huffington Post)
Spillover of the Syrian Civil War, Turkey–ISIL conflict
- Turkish forces engage Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants along the Syrian border:
  - Turkish troops kill four Islamic State militants in Turkey’s southeastern Gaziantep Province when two cars with ISIS passengers advanced on a Turkish armored vehicle near a border post in Oğuzeli. (Daily Sabah)
  - During a raid on a suspected ISIL hideout in the city of Gaziantep (Antep), a suicide bomber fires on Turkish police before he explodes, wounding five police officers, one seriously. (Al Jazeera)

Disasters and accidents

The U.S. Geological Survey reports a magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck off the southwest coast of Japan. The quake occurred 119 miles (191 km) west-southwest of Kagoshima. The Pacific Tsunami Center reported no major tsunami threat. A small tsunami, 30 centimeters (11.8 inches), was observed on the southern island of Nakanoshima. No reports of major damage or injuries. (Reuters) (AP via Marysville Appeal-Democrat)(AFP via Channel News Asia)
Eckwersheim derailment
- Ten people are dead and eleven injured after a high-speed TGV train catches fire and derails near the northeastern French city of Strasbourg. (Independent) (BBC)
Four people are killed after a light aircraft crashes near the village of Churchstanton in Somerset. (BBC)

International relations

China–Indonesia relations, Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- Indonesia announces that it is planning to take China to court over the Natuna Islands. (Forbes)

Law and crime

Scott N. Johansen, a Utah Juvenile Court judge, reverses his original order to remove a foster child from same sex-parents. The state Division of Child and Family Services and foster parents all filed motions asking for the reconsideration and promising an appeal. The new decision eliminates the phrase, “It is not in the best interest of children to be raised by same-sex couples” and strikes an order for the child to be placed with a non-same-sex couple. (New York Times)
Police in South Korea fire tear gas and water cannons at anti-government protesters in Seoul. Around 70,000 people took part in the protests, the largest in Seoul since the 2008 US beef protest in South Korea. (Christian Science Monitor).

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November 22, 2015

Top News Stories –

Yahoo stops some users accessing emails in ad-blockers row –
Yahoo has confirmed that it is preventing some people from accessing their email if they are using ad-blocking software in their browser. Some users in the US reported that Yahoo Mail was displaying a message asking them to disable their ad-blocker before they could access their inbox. Yahoo said it was testing a “new product experience” in the US. Members of one ad-blocking forum said they had already managed to circumvent the restriction. [BBC]

Moroccan solar plant to bring energy to a million people –
A giant plant using energy from the Sun to power a Moroccan city at night will open next month. The solar thermal plant at Ouarzazate will harness the Sun’s warmth to melt salt, which will hold its heat to power a steam turbine in the evening. The first phase will generate for three hours after dark; the last stage aims to supply power 20 hours a day. It is part of Morocco’s pledge to get 42% of its electricity from renewables by 2020. The UN has praised Morocco for the level of its ambition. The UK, a much richer country, is aiming for 30% by the same date. The Saudi-built Ouarzazate solar thermal plant will be one of the world’s biggest when it is complete. The mirrors will cover the same area as the country’s capital, Rabat. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Action Cam | Tony Hawk Skates First-Ever Horizontal Loop | Sony

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#Elecciones2015	#AMAs	Lord’s Prayer
2	Celal Şengör	#ThatsWhyHeGotWhacked	#marr
3	夫婦の日	#SurvivorSeries	#UFCMonterrey
4	Ohio State	Canelo	Jonathan Ross
5	R.I.Paramore	Turkish Airlines	#CottoCanelo
6	#زد_رصيدك9	#AskRicky	Liverpool
7	#الاتحاد_الاهلي	#UFCMonterrey	#MOTD
8	#FelizDiaDeLaMusica	#ICouldGoForSome	Will Hutton
9	#جني_يراسل_راق�…	Ariana	#COYS
10	#SeTermina2015YYo	Eagles	#XFactor

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2015 Nepal fuel crisis
- Nepalese police open fire on groups, who were protesting the new constitution proposals by blockading a highway. Two protesters were killed and at least 28 were hurt, including 15 police officers. A third protester was killed in Rajbiraj, the headquarters of the Saptari District. (AP via WTOP) (Singapore Today Online)
Insurgency in the North Caucasus
- Russian special forces kill 10 ISIS-linked militants in a counter-terrorist operation in a mountainous region near the city of Nalchik in Russia’s North Caucasus. (RT)
2015 Brussels lockdown
- Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel announces Brussels remains on the highest state of alert; concern a new, Paris-style mass attack may be imminent. (EuroNews)
- Belgian authorities announce 16 more arrests in anti-terror raids. Neither weapons nor explosives were discovered during the raids. Tomorrow, a judge will decide whether these people will continue to be detained. (Fox News) (Reuters via Yahoo News)
- The Canadian government announces its embassy in Brussels will be closed “until further notice” and will only be providing emergency consular services. (CBC)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Salahuddin campaign
  - Daesh (Islamic State) militants counter-attack in Iraq’s Saladin province and seize locations west, north and south of Baiji, home to Iraq’s largest oil refinery. In addition, the militants attack oilfields west of Tikrit, capture parts of the town of Seiniyah, portions of Mak’houl Mountain, and an abandoned fertilizer plant. (UPI)

Business and economy

United Kingdom withdrawal from the European Union
- The UK may not face a credit rating downgrade if it votes to leave the EU in a referendum due by the end of 2017, according to the lead UK analyst at Moody’s. (Irish Examiner)

Disasters and accidents

Hpakant jade mine disaster
- The death toll in a landslide near a jade mine in northern Myanmar rises to about 100 people, with up to 200 others missing. Most of the victims were villagers digging for jade in a mountain of displaced earth. (Reuters) (AP via Boston Globe)
A Turkish Airlines plane flying from New York City (U.S.) to Istanbul, Turkey, is diverted to Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, after authorities received information of a bomb threat. All 256 passengers and crew are safe. The flight (Turkish Airlines TYH2/TK2) leftJFK International Airport at 9 p.m. Saturday and landed just before 1 a.m. Sunday at Halifax Stanfield International Airport. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is investigating. (NBC News) (International Business Times)
- No explosives were found. The plane is cleared to continue its journey. (Reuters)
Sixteen (16) people are wounded in a gunfight between two groups that erupted in a New Orleans park’s Bunny Friend playground where hundreds of people gathered for a block party and filming of a music video. No fatalities were reported. The fighters ran from the park immediately after the shooting. (Reuters) (NOLA.com)

International relations

The ten members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations agree to set up an economic community to commence on January 1, 2016. (AP)
Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin says the United States was making political provocations with its patrols in the disputed South China Sea. He also says China is building military facilities on islands and reefs in the South China Sea as part of its national defense policy. Yesterday, U.S. President Barack Obama said, for the sake of regional stability, countries should stop building artificial islands and militarizing their claims in this sea. (The Nation Multimedia) (Reuters) (Oracle Herald)

Law and crime

Bangladesh executes two former members of parliament, Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, and Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mojaheed, of the Jamaat-e-Islami party, who were convicted in 2013 of war crimes committed during the country’s 1971 war of independence. (BBC) (Washington Post)
Iranian Judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei says an Iranian court sentenced Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian to a prison term, length unspecified, for espionage. Mohseni Eje said, “I cannot give details.” Post foreign editor Douglas Jehl said this might move the case closer to a final resolution in the judiciary, so it can then go to Iranian leaders who can make things right. (Reuters) (Washington Post)

Politics and elections

Argentine general election, 2015
- Voters in Argentina go to the polls for a presidential runoff between Daniel Scioli of the ruling Justicialist Party and Mauricio Macri of the opposition PRO. Mauricio Macri, the mayor of Buenos Aires, was elected with 53% of the vote. (AP via theWashington Post) (BBC). (BBC)
Former President Kim Young-sam, who formally ended decades of military rule in South Korea, dies in a Seoul hospital from a severe blood infection. He was 87. (AP via NBC News)
Egyptian parliamentary election, 2015
- Voters in many parts of Egypt including Cairo go to the polls for a parliamentary election. (AP)

Science and technology

Nola, a 41-year-old female northern white rhino, dies at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. She was euthanized after her health took a turn for the worse. Nola was rescued from violent poaching in the southern savanna woodlands of Sudan and came to the park in 1989. Only three animals of this endangered species are known left in the world. (ABC News) (San Diego Union Tribune) (F&F Photography-2014)

Sports

In motorsport, Kyle Busch wins the 2015 Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway to become the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion. He missed the first 11 races of the season with a broken leg and foot, becoming the first champion not to start the complete season since 1971. 4-time champion Jeff Gordon, who has scored the third-most NASCAR Cup wins of all-time, finishes in 6th position in his final race before retirement. (USA TODAY)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

December 1, 2015

Top News Stories –

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to give away 99% of shares –
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan say they will give away 99% of their shares in the company to good causes as they announce the birth of their daughter Max. Mr Zuckerberg made the announcement in a letter to Max on his Facebook page. He said they were donating their fortune to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to make the world a better place for Max to grow up in. The donation amounts to $45bn (£30bn) at Facebook’s current value. [BBC]
Mark Zuckerberg

Mariah Carey gets $300,000 for a one-hour store visit –
[Maria] Carey’s kicking off December with an appearance Tuesday night at a Pier 1 pop up store in New York, where Confidenti@l has learned she’s being paid a whopping $300,000 to attend the event for just one hour. “Let’s call it 45 minutes,” laughs our source, who adds that the “Hero” singer also had a few demands about her appearance. “She specifically wanted (it noted) that she was ‘appearing’ not ‘performing.’ They would have loved her to perform but just getting her is worth it.” Our insider adds that Carey gave final approval on the invite before it went out, requesting that she be called “The Queen of Christmas,” at the “Pier 1 Imports: Christmas Pop-Up Storybook” at 503 Broadway. [NY Daily News]
Mariah Carey

Video of the Day –

Amazon Prime Air

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Rosa Parks	#WorldAIDSDay	1st of December
2	#GivingTuesday	Rosa Parks	#PipKnit
3	#DiaMundialSida	ITS DECEMBER	#WorldAIDSDay
4	#BienvenidoDiciembre	#BreakUpIn5Words	#GivingTuesday
5	#WorldAIDSDay	#SnowmanDatingProblems	#christmascountdown
6	トリプルスリー	David Price	#newsnight
7	#1MesProAnoAcabarEEu	#WeLoveYouNiall	#adeletickets
8	#جوري_الخالدي	#GivingTuesday	Yorkshire Ripper
9	#BreakUpIn5Words	#Force4Ham	#LHHHReunion
10	Cameron Dallas	Mark Zuckerberg	Public Enemy

Other News Stories –

Armed conflict and attacks

Azerbaijan law enforcement agencies launch a special operation against Islamists in Nardaran, a suburb in the capital Baku. (Tass)
Syrian Civil War spillover in Lebanon
- The Lebanese Army and the al-Nusra Front conduct a prisoner exchange with Saja Dulaimi, former wife of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, being one of the prisoners released. The exchange was brokered byQatar. (Al-Jazeera) (Reuters)
Iraqi Civil War, Military intervention against ISIL, American-led intervention in Iraq
- The Iraqi government, via state TV, requests all civilians leave the ISIL-held city of Ramadi in Anbar province, after several days of U.S.-led coalition airstrikes against ISIL. Observers speculate this request precedes major ground operations to retake Ramadi, which fell to ISIL in May. (Deutsche Welle)
- U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said, in testimony before the House Armed Services Committee, the U.S. military is preparing to establish a new Special Operations task force of about 200 service members in Iraq to intensify pressure on Islamic State commanders and expand U.S. troops’ direct involvement in battling the militant group. There are now about 3,500 U.S. troops in Iraq, including some Special Operations forces who are advising Iraqi forces in northern and central Iraq. (The Washington Post) (The Hill)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Dozens of Houthi fighters are reportedly killed, according to Saudi state television and residents, following a major push by Yemen-based Houthi forces into the kingdom’s southern Najran Region. The Houthi-run Saba News Agency said that Houthi fighters had seized three Saudi military outposts near the city of Najran, destroying several armored vehicles, including two U.S.-made M1 Abrams tanks and three Bradley vehicles. (Reuters)
Allied Democratic Forces insurgency
- U. N. attack helicopters launched strikes against positions of Allied Democratic Forces. This comes a day after a series of clashes between rebels and soldiers in a town in eastern Congo killed at least 30 people. (Yahoo news), (Reuters), (Press TV)
Five people are injured, says Bayrampaşa mayor Atilla Aydiner, when a pipe bomb explodes on an overpass near his city’s central metro station in suburban Istanbul, Turkey. (The Guardian) (The Atlantic) (BBC)

Arts and culture

So called “White Student Unions” begin springing up at several Australian universities, including the University of Queensland, University of Southern Queensland, University of Technology Sydney, Macquarie University, Western Sydney University,University of New South Wales and the University of Western Australia. The groups say they are defending the interests of white students who they say are becoming marginalized from on-campus life and politics. (News Corp Australia)

Business and economics

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announces the plan to donate 99 percent of the company stock he and his wife Priscilla Chan own over their lifetimes, shares today worth about $45 billion, to “advance human potential and promote equality for all children.” (The Washington Post)

Disasters and accident

Indonesia AirAsia Flight 8501
- Indonesia releases a report into the crash of AirAsia Flight 8501 by the National Transportation Safety Committee. The report finds that crew error was responsible for the crash that claimed 162 lives. (Channel News Asia) (Sky News)

Health and medicine

The World Health Organization urges Ukraine’s health ministry to declare a state of emergency due to a polio outbreak, a move meant to prompt more action from the government in Kiev. Half of Ukraine’s children have not been vaccinated against polio, according to Dorit Nitzan, head of the WHO’s office in Ukraine. (AP via US News & World Report)
One of three people who contracted Legionnaires’ disease in Hannibal, Missouri, has died, according to health officials. Hannibal is about 20 miles from Quincy, Illinois, where a Legionnaires’ outbreak occurred earlier this year, contributing to 12 deaths and sickening dozens more. (AP via ABC News America) (ABC7 via WLS AM)
An American E. coli scare results in the recall of hundreds of thousands of products in a dozen states and covering major supermarket chains including Walmart, Safeway and Albertsons. (CNN)
The United States Centers for Disease Control announces the number of people newly diagnosed with diabetes declined in 2014 for the fifth consecutive year. Experts do not know whether efforts to prevent diabetes are finally started to work, or if the disease has simply peaked in the population. (NPR) (The New York Times)

International relations

European migrant crisis
- The U.S. Health and Human Services Department’s Office of Refugee Resettlement notifies all 50 states that if they deny services to any group of refugees, states may risk losing resettlement funding altogether. More than half of the nation’s governors have said they will not accept Syrian refugees in their states. (The Washington Post)

Law and crime

Death of Jennifer Laude
- A Philippine Olongapo City Regional Trial Court convicts U.S. Marine Joseph Scott Pemberton of homicide over the death of a transgender Filipina woman. (Rappler) (Buzzfeed) (BBC)
Chicago, Illinois Mayor Rahm Emanuel asked for and received the resignation of that city’s police superintendant Garry McCarthy. Emanuel spoke of the loss of the public’s confidence in the city police and announced a task force on police accountability. The change comes in the wake of protests over the release of police footage showing the October 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald. (CNN)

Science and technology

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports brains do not really fit into “male” or “female” categories. Tel Aviv University’s Daphna Joel’s research team, in analyzing the MRI scans of some 1,400 individuals, found only a very small number of the brains studied had features that were entirely male, female, or intermediate between the two. The vast majority had a mosaic. (The Washington Post) (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences) (Daphna Joel)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

December 3, 2015

Top News Stories –

Oscar Pistorius verdict changed to murder –
Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has been found guilty of murder after a South African appeals court overturned an earlier manslaughter verdict. He killed his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in February 2013 after shooting her four times through a locked toilet door. He is currently under house arrest after spending one year of his original five-year sentence in jail. Pistorius will have to return to court to be re-sentenced, for murder. [BBC] Pistorius started community service in November 2015
Oscar Pistorius competing

UK Trading Standards officers seize 15,000 unsafe hoverboards –
More than 15,000 unsafe hoverboards – otherwise known as self-balancing scooters – have been seized at ports and airports around the UK. Trading Standards officers said the boards were in danger of overheating, exploding or catching fire. The London Fire Brigade said at least three house fires were caused by such devices over 10 days in October. Many have plugs without fuses, faulty cables or chargers that can burst into flames, according to Trading Standards. It said that 88% of the hoverboards it seized around the UK were found to be defective. [BBC]

Black Friday breaks record with 185K gun background checks –
More Americans had their backgrounds checked purchasing guns on Black Friday than any day on record, according to data released by the FBI this week. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System processed 185,345 requests on Nov. 27, one of the largest retail sales days in the country. “This was an approximate 5% increase over the 175,754 received on Black Friday 2014,” wrote Stephen Fischer, the FBI’s chief of multimedia productions. “The previous high for receipts were the 177,170 received on 12/21/2012.” [USA Today]

Video of the Day –

The First Hope from Jeremy David White on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#QuintaDetremuraSdv	#4YearsOf5SOS	#4YearsOf5SOS
2	#4YearsOf5SOS	#RJCForum	Stan Collymore
3	#زد_رصيدك20	#MakeASportsMovieWorse	#thingmonk
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6	#DiadelaDiscapacidad	#TweepAMovieOrTVShow	#SSATNC15
7	#ShotsCamcorder	#thoughtsandprayers	#OscarPistorius
8	#JanamJanam	Oscar Pistorius	#Content2015
9	#ALDUB20thWeeksary	Muslim Killers	#FolkloreThursday
10	#FrasesQueTdMelhorAmgFala	#ModernShakespeare	#PrayForSyria

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Military intervention against ISIL, Operation Tidal Wave II
- The United Kingdom‘s Royal Air Force bombs Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant-controlled oil wells in eastern Syria. At least four Tornado GR4 fighter jets, operating out of RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, were involved in raids. The Ministry of Defence said initial analysis “indicates that the strikes were successful”. (Sky News)
2015 Russian Sukhoi Su-24 shootdown
- Russian president Vladimir Putin addresses on Russian national television the shootdown of one of their jets in Syria by the Turkish Air Force. He goes on to say that “if anyone thinks Russia’s reaction will be limited to trade sanctions, they are deeply mistaken”. (BBC)
Iraqi Civil War (2014-present), American-led intervention in Iraq
- In the wake of Washington’s pledge of additional Special Operations troops to Iraq, several members of Iraq’s ruling alliance state that only the Iraqi Parliament can authorize the action, and political associates of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi report such a troop expansion would be unacceptable. Several members of Iraqi militias have also decried a deployment of more U.S. troops. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

Israel’s Holocaust and Remembrance Center posthumously adds U.S. Army Master Sergeant Roddie Edmonds to the list of the Righteous Among the Nations for his actions in 1945 at a Nazi prisoner of war camp. (NPR) (Yad Vashem)
Harvard Law School officials are reviewing the use of the school’s seal that includes three bushels of wheat, which also appears on Isaac Royall’s family coat of arms. Royall, a slaveholder whose father was known to be a cruel owner, left part of his estate to help found the law school. (MSNBC) (Boston Globe)

International relations

European migrant crisis
- EU ministers discuss suspending the Schengen passport-free travel zone for two years, on the basis that the migrant crisis has exposed “serious deficiencies” at the Greek border that endanger the overall area. (Financial Times) (BBC)
- The Swedish government wants to be able to close the Øresund Bridge connecting Sweden to Denmark if the country’s record refugee influx continues. (Local)
Germany‘s Federal Intelligence Service (BND) says Saudi Arabia is at risk of becoming a major destabilizing influence in the Arab world due to the diplomatic stance of some senior members of the House of Saud. (The Telegraph)
Iran–Russia relations
- Russia begins deliveries of its S-300 air defense systems to Iran. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Trial of Oscar Pistorius
- South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is convicted of the murder of girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp on appeal and faces a minimum of 15 years in prison. (NBC News)
2015 FIFA corruption case
- U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch announces criminal corruption charges against 16 FIFA officials in an indictment that expands Justice’s May filing that indicted 14 officials associated with FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) and related sports marketing companies. At U.S. authorities request, Swiss police arrest two South American FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) officials at the five-star Baur au Lac hotel in Zürich, on suspicion of accepting “millions of dollars” in bribes. In addition, eight of the defendants indicted in May have pleaded guilty. (CNN) (New York Daily News)
Upper Big Branch Mine disaster
- Donald Blankenship, former CEO of Massey Energy Company, is convicted of violating safety standards that led to the deaths of 29 Upper Big Branch mine workers in Montcoal, West Virginia in 2010. He is acquitted of making false statements anddeceiving regulators. Blankenship, who faces up to one year in prison and a fine of $250,000, is the most prominent American coal executive ever to be convicted of a charge connected to the deaths of miners. (The New Yorker) (NPR) (Christian Science Monitor) (The New York Times)
Defense Secretary Ash Carter announces that all combat roles in the U.S. military will be opened to women. (CNN)

Politics and elections

Danish European Union opt-out referendum, 2015
- Danish voters reject adopting EU rules on cross-border policing. (BBC)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

December 5, 2015

Top News Stories –

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West welcome new baby arrival –
Kim Kardashian has given birth to a baby boy. The news was announced on the reality television star’s website, with a short note that said: “Kim Kardashian West and her husband, Kanye West, welcomed the arrival of their son this morning. Mother and son are doing well.” The couple are already parents to daughter North who was born in June 2013. [Daily Telegraph]
Kim Kardashian

Actor Morgan Freeman in plane scare –
A private plane carrying Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman was forced to make an emergency landing, but the star and his pilot were unhurt. The plane blew a tyre on take-off from Clarksdale, Mississippi, on Saturday.
The SJ30 jet made a forced landing in Tunica, about 40 miles (65km) away, where it went off the runway. In a statement, the Shawshank Redemption star said: “Sometimes things don’t go as planned and a tyre blew on take-off, which caused other problems.” He continued: “But thanks to my excellent pilot Jimmy Hobson we landed safely without a scratch. [BBC]
Morgan Freeman

Video of the Day –

Burnt Rice

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SabadoComOClubeSDV	Niall and Selena	#SmallBizSatUK
2	#زد_رصيدك22	#PlaystationExperience	#StormDesmond
3	#FelizSabado	Kim and Kanye	#KIISJingleBall
4	#EnEste2016Planeo	#Solidarity	#KarachiVotesForMQM
5	#ALDUBRendezvous	#RepealDay	Cumbria
6	#KIISJingleBall	#SECChampionship	#MuslimApartment
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8	#اكبر_غلطه_ف_حي…	#KIISJingleBall	#BlueNeighbourhood
9	#حنا_الحكومه_و�…	Baylor	#TheExperience10
10	#توحيد_الزي_ال�…	Anthony Davis	Robert Loggia

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- The Government of Iraq calls on Turkey to withdraw its troops from northern Iraq, near the Islamic State-controlled city of Mosul. Iraq’s Foreign Ministry said Turkish forces had entered Iraqi territory without the knowledge of the central government inBaghdad. (AFP via Yahoo), (Reuters)
Islamist insurgency in Nigeria
- Three suicide bombers at Lake Chad kill at least 30 people and injure at least 80 others. Three women carried out the attack at a weekly market on an island on the Chadian side of the lake. No group claims responsibility; officials suspect the attacks were carried out by members of the Boko Haram militant group from neighboring Nigeria. (Al Jazeera), (BBC)
Terrorism in the United Kingdom
- Scotland Yard advises that it will be treating three non-fatal stabbings at the Leytonstone tube station in London as a terrorist incident. (BBC)
A bombing of people gathered at Kantajew Temple in Bangladesh leaves 10 injured. (India Today)

Arts and culture

America’s largest seven-day newspaper, The New York Times, breaking with the tradition that front pages belong to the news department, publishes Saturday morning’s edition with the first front page editorial since 1920. The editorial calls for tighter gun control laws after the shootings in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and San Bernardino, California, over the past eight days. (The New York Times), (The Washington Post), (The Guardian)
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announces the discovery of the Spanish galleon San José which sunk off that country’s coast over 300 years ago. The discovery was a joint venture between Colombia and U.S. firm Sea Search Armada, which filed a lawsuit when Colombia claimed the wreck as a heritage site. The wreck’s cargo is placed somewhere in the $4 to $17 billion range. (NPR)

Disasters and accidents

2015 South Indian floods
- Floods cut off power to the intensive care unit of a Chennai hospital leaving eighteen patients dead. (AP via ABC News)
- Residents in India’s southern Tamil Nadu State grapple with the aftermath of the worst deluge in decades, a disaster that claimed 280 lives, according to the official death toll. More than half of Chennai’s 859 city areas remain under water in the flat, coastal city of six million. The National Disaster Response Force’s Rekha Nambiar said, “Rescue work is over. We are focused on relief now.” (The Malay Mail), (The Gulf Today)
Storm Desmond
- The fourth named windstorm of the season makes landfall across the United Kingdom and Ireland, bringing high winds and serious flooding. (BBC)
- A person blown into the path of a bus by high winds in London dies. (BBC)
Authorities declare a state of emergency in the Greek town of Tripoli after the garbage has not been collected for three months. (The International New York Times)
An offshore oil platform operated by Azerbaijan‘s state energy company SOCAR catches fire in the Caspian Sea killing 32 workers. (CBC News), (The Daily Mail)

International relations

2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference
- Delegates at the 2015 Climate Change conference in Paris reach a draft agreement. (BBC)
Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
- The United Nations advises that Yemeni peace talks will start on December 15. (Reuters)

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December 6, 2015

Top News Stories –

Vicky Pattison wins I’m A Celebrity 2015 –
Vicky Pattison has been crowned queen of the jungle on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! The Geordie Shore star beat Union J’s George Shelley into second place. TOWIE star Ferne McCann finished third. On being crowned jungle queen, she said: “It doesn’t sound right. I think you have made a mistake!” The 28-year-old has been the favourite for most of the series, winning over viewers with her gutsy attitude and funny one-liners. [BBC Newsbeat]
Vicky Pattison

Finland is considering giving every citizen €800 a month –
Authorities in Finland are considering giving every citizen a tax-free payout of €800 (£576) each month. Under proposals being draw up by the Finnish Social Insurance Institution (Kela), this national basic income would replace all other benefit payments, and would be paid to all adults regardless of whether or not they receive any other income. Unemployment in Finland is currently at record levels, and the basic income is intended to encourage more people back to work. At present, many unemployed people would be worse off if they took on low-paid temporary jobs due to loss of welfare payments. [Daily Telegraph]

Fifa: FBI probing Sepp Blatter role in $100m bribery scandal –
The FBI is investigating the role played by Fifa president Sepp Blatter in a $100m (£66.2m) bribes scandal, a BBC investigation has discovered. Sports marketing company ISL paid a total of $100m to officials including former Fifa president Joao Havelange and ex-Fifa executive Ricardo Teixeira. In return, ISL was granted lucrative television and marketing rights throughout the 1990s. Blatter denied knowing about the bribes and took no action. He even allowed Teixeira to take part in the notorious vote for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. [BBC]
Sepp Blatter

Video of the Day –

Volvo Trucks – Look Who’s Driving feat. 4-year-old Sophie

Top Twitter Trends –

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9	#FelizDomingo	#ThingsIShouldntAdmit	#Stereosonic
10	#YouAintNoMuslimBruv	#SEAvsMIN	#BlueNeighbourhood

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- Jaafar Mohammed Saad, the governor of Yemen‘s southern Aden Governorate, along with six guards, are killed by a suicide bomber in the port city of Aden. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for the attack. (Reuters), (BBC)
Syrian Civil War, Military intervention against ISIL
- A series of air strikes in Syria’s Raqqa province, believed to be carried out by U.S.-led coalition warplanes, leaves at least 32 Islamic State fighters killed and 40 more wounded. The final toll could rise as casualty figures were collected from a single hospital. The jets hit IS headquarters and bases to the north, east, and southeast of provincial capital Raqqa city. (Reuters) (AFP via Dawn)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Iraq‘s government gives Turkey 48 hours to withdraw its forces from northern Iraq or face “all available options”, including recourse to the UN Security Council. (AFP via Yahoo)

Business and economy

The Bank for International Settlements, in Basel, cautions that the regulatory push to get all derivatives trading into central clearing systems may be creating a new group of Too Big to Fail financial institutions. This time, however, they will be international.(Reuters)
Basic income
- Finland‘s government plans to give all its citizens, rich or poor, a monthly payment of €800, with no strings attached. The Finnish government says it wants to launch a “universal basic income experiment” in 2017 to test the feasibility of this program, which would replace the country’s current benefits system. (The Christian Science Monitor via Yahoo)

Disasters and accidents

2015 South Indian floods
- Chennai International Airport is set to reopen as flood waters recede. The death toll currently stands at at least 280 people. (Indian Broadcast News live), (AAP via Special Broadcasting Service)
Storm Desmond
- The strongest windstorm of the season so far continues to bring flooding and high winds to the United Kingdom. (BBC)
- Flooding and landslides on the West Coast Main Line between Preston and Carlisle result in the suspension of all services between northern England and Scotland via the West Coast. (The Manchester Evening News)
A collision between a train and a minibus in Jakarta kills 14 people. (Channel News Asia)
Pollution in China
- Elementary and middle schools in the Chinese capital Beijing suspend outdoor activities due to heavy smog. (Bloomberg vs The Straits Times)

Health and medicine

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter announces that his latest medical tests show he is cancer-free. Carter, 91, announced in August that a melanoma for which he had been treated had returned. (The Atlantic Journal-Constitution), (NPR)

International relations

Turkey–Ukraine relations
- Turkish and Ukrainian firms talk out a cooperation deal to help modernize their country’s militaries in the wake of military actions by Russia. (Defense News)
Germany‘s vice-chancellor, Sigmar Gabriel, accuses Saudi Arabia of financing Islamic extremism in the West and warns that it must stop. He tells German media, “We have to make clear to the Saudis that the time of looking away is over, Wahhabi mosques all over the world are financed by Saudi Arabia. Many Islamists who are a threat to public safety come from these communities in Germany”. His comments come days after Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service released a report saying Saudi Arabia was “destabilizing” the Arab world. (The Telegraph)

Law and crime

Clashes erupt in Athens between left-wing demonstrators and Greek police with at least eighteen people arrested. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

2015 San Bernardino shooting
- President Barack Obama called the San Bernardino shootings “an act of terrorism designed to kill innocent people”. (LA Times)
Venezuelan parliamentary election, 2015
- Venezuelan opposition leaders say their Democratic Unity Roundtable has won control of the 167-seat legislature from the ruling Socialists for the first time since 1998. There is no confirmation on Sunday’s election from the national electoral board. An opposition victory would be a major setback for the socialist revolution started 17 years ago by the late Hugo Chávez. (AP) (Reuters) (AP)
Armenian constitutional referendum, 2015
- Voters in Armenia go to the polls to vote in a referendum to change from a presidential to a parliamentary form of government. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
French regional elections, 2015
- Voters in France begin voting in the first round of regional elections just three weeks after the deadly Islamic State militant attacks in Paris. Exit polls show strong gains for the far-right National Front which is leading in six regions and reshape the political landscape after decades of domination by the centre-left and the centre-right coalitions. Midday voter participation is 16.27 percent, marginally higher than five years ago. There are 44.6 million eligible voters. (Reuters), (France 24), (France24)
Libyan Civil War
- Rival governments in eastern and western Libya reach the initial phase of an agreement designed to foster elections that would bring about a single ruling entity in the North African country. The deal must be endorsed by the internationally-recognized government in Tobruk and the General National Congress in Tripoli. (UPI)

Science and technology

Following the previous explosion of Orbital Sciences‘ Cygnus CRS Orb-3 on October 28, 2014, an unmanned Atlas V 401 rocket carrying Orbital ATK‘s Cygnus CRS Orb-4 resupply mission to NASA‘s International Space Station launches from Cape Canaveral in the U.S. state of Florida. The mission includes 7,380 pounds of cargo. (Spaceflight Now)
Scientists warn a new strain of the Panama Disease fungus, which in the 1950s nearly wiped out the most popular banana in the world, the Gros Michel, is threatening today’s favorite, the Cavendish, according to a new study published in PLOS Pathogens. This untreatable fungal disease, called Tropical Race 4, has been active for decades in Southeast Asia. It recently has spread to other parts of Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Australia, and is expected to make its way to Latin America, where the vast majority of the world’s exported bananas are grown. (Tech Times) (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Sports

MLS Cup 2015
- The Portland Timbers win the championship game of the 2015 Major League Soccer season, winning 2–1 at Columbus Crew SC. (Daily Mail)

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December 7, 2015

Top News Stories –

Austria: Linz scraps gay pedestrian crossing lights –
The Austrian city of Linz has scrapped its gay-themed pedestrian crossing lights, which were adopted earlier this year with the aim of promoting tolerance. The red and green signals, depicting same-sex couples holding hands, were first introduced in Vienna to coincide with the the Eurovision Song Contest in May. Their popularity meant Salzburg and Linz later followed suit. But while the signals have become a permanent feature in the capital, they’ve now been removed from the streets of Linz. [BBC]

IBM pulls #HackAHairDryer campaign following Twitter backlash –
IBM has pulled the plug on its #HackAHairDryer campaign designed to encourage more female engineers and scientists after social media users turned against it. The initiative, which was centered around encouraging more women to apply for positions within the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) industries, was roundly derided after Twitter users claimed it was patronising and trivialised science. Angry users took issue with the use of a hairdryer, claiming the campaign belittled women’s scientific abilities. [Daily Telegraph] See Top Twitter Trends

Video of the Day –

Jedi Levitation Prank

Top Twitter Trends –

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9	#انترنت_السعود…	#AvaBarbie	#SelfieForNash
10	#お前らたまにはア�…	#MyXMasStripperName	#musicmonday

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Syria‘s government says a U.S.-led military coalition airstrike on a Syrian Army camp in the eastern Deir ez-Zor Governorate, killed three Syrian soldiers and wounded 13 others. A senior U.S. military official denied responsibility for the airstrike and said that the U.S. is certain it was a Russian airstrike. (Reuters) (AP)
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says at least 26 civilians have been killed in suspected U.S.-led coalition airstrikes near the ISIL-controlled town of Al-Hawl in Syria‘s northeast Al-Hasakah Governorate. A U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said the reports would be investigated. (BBC)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Turkey refuses to withdraw its forces from northern Iraq despite being giving a 48 hour ultimatum by Iraq to leave the country. Turkey says the troops are there as part of an international mission to train and equip Iraqi forces to fight against the Islamic State. The Iraqi government says it never invited such a force, and will take its case to the United Nations if they are not pulled out. (Reuters)

Business and economics

The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) files an administrative complaint challenging office-supplies giant Staples’ proposed $6.3 billion acquisition of top rival Office Depot. The FTC said the deal would significantly reduce national competition in the market for office supplies sold to large business customers. The companies plan to contest the FTC decision. (USA Today) (Bloomberg via Chicago Tribune)
General Electric announces that it has abandoned its plan to sell its appliances business to Sweden‘s Electrolux. The U.S. Department of Justice had filed an antitrust suit in summer 2015 to block the $3.3 billion acquisition. (The Wall Street Journal)

Disasters and accidents

A powerful, magnitude 7.2 earthquake has shaken Tajikistan. It was felt as far away as India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. No damage or casualties have been reported as the epicenter lies within the vast Badakhshan national park. The US Geological Surveydescribes the area as one of the “most seismically hazardous regions on Earth” because of tectonic activity along shifting fault lines. (AP) (USGS) (The Independent)
Pollution in China
- Beijing’s city government issues its first red alert for pollution, ordering schools to close, halting outdoor construction, and restricting car use due to hazardous air quality. (CNN)
2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season
- Storm Desmond
  - Storm Desmond shatters U.K. rainfall records as an incredible 13.44 inches of rain fell in 24 hours at Honister Pass in the Lake District in North West England. The 15.94 inches of rain at Thirlmere — also in the Lake District — set a new record for the 48-hour period. (The Washington Post)
  - Desmond’s fury and flooding has resulted in at least two deaths. Cumbria Police say about 5,000 properties were flooded and around 3,000 remain without power. (Sky News) (ITV)
  - Flooding that’s devastated parts of northwest England, on Sunday temporarily brought a 260-foot high waterfall in the Yorkshire Dales National Park back to life for the first time in residents’ living memory. But by today, it stopped. (Sky News)
A blaze, sparked by a quick succession of between 15 and 20 gas cylinder explosions, in the Kandivali suburb of Mumbai, India, kills at least two and injures 11 while destroying around 1,000 hutment homes. (Sky News) (The Hindu)

International relations

Russia–Turkey relations
- Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu accuses Russia of provoking military gestures as a sailor aboard a Russian naval vessel wielded a rocket launcher as the ship passed through the Bosphorous Strait in the wake of Russia’s imposing sanctions on Turkey for that country’s downing of a Russian aircraft (Reuters)
- Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in a televised speech, states that it is possible to find alternatives to Russian energy sources following his return from Qatar where he arranged a deal for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and the Turkish Prime Minister’s visit to Azerbaijan where energy matters were reportedly discussed. Turkish officials have reportedly discussed energy deals with other countries as well. (Radio Free Europe)
Russia’s envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency says he expects the historic nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, the P5+1, to be implemented in January. Before the end of the year, Iran will exchange its stockpile of low-enriched uraniumfor Russia’s non-enriched forms of uranium, he said. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Iran’s Cyber Police Chief announces the arrest of some 53 people for allegedly running websites supportive of the Islamic State militant group. (Reuters)
The United States Supreme Court declines (Friedman v. Highland Park) to review the ability of cities and states to prohibit semiautomatic, high-capacity assault weapons that have been used in some of the nation’s most deadly recent mass shootings. Thenationwide assault weapons ban law expired in 2004. Since the District of Columbia v. Heller decision in 2008 found the Second Amendment provides the right for an individual to keep a weapon in the home, the court has avoided all cases that might clarify if that right is more expansive. (The Washington Post) (Reuters)
The United States Department of Justice will investigate the Chicago, Illinois police department. Long concerned with Chicago police department practices, the investigation is precipitated by the recent release of a video of the shooting death of Laquan McDonald. The Chicago police are set to release another video showing the police killing of Ronald Johnson in October of 2014. (New York Times) (CNN)
United States Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson says the Obama administration will announce a new terror alert system “in the coming days,” that will better inform the public about threats to the United States. This will be the third terror alert system put in place since the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. (AP via MLive.com)
Whaling in Japan
- Australia is threatening to take legal action against Japan over its resumption of its controversial whale hunt in the Antarctic Ocean. A whaling fleet set sail last week, ignoring international condemnation, and last year’s ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) prohibiting these hunts. (AP via The Seattle Times) (Voice of America)

Politics and elections

Venezuelan parliamentary election, 2015
- Venezuela’s National Electoral Council announces the opposition Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) has won at least 99 seats in the 167-member National Assembly in Sunday’s elections. The previous-ruling United Social Party of Venezuela (PSUV) picked up 46. Results for 22 contests remain to be determined. Voter turnout was a stunning 74.3 percent. “Within seconds,” President Nicolás Maduro recognized the opposition’s win, saying that despite (his party’s) adverse result, Venezuela’s democracy has triumphed. (AP) (BBC) (BBC)

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December 8, 2015

Top News Stories –

Arnold Schwarzenegger: ‘Go part-time vegetarian to protect the planet’ –
Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger says people should go meat-free one or two days a week to protect the climate. Meat-eating was an environmental problem, with farming creating an estimated 28% of global greenhouse gases, the body-builder and movie star told BBC News. Asking people to go totally vegetarian would be too demanding, he said. It would better to suggest giving up meat once or twice a week, he added. When asked how young men would achieve a body like The Terminator – the cyborg assassin in the film of the same name – without steak, he said many successful body-builders avoided meat. [BBC]
Arnold Schwarzenegger

Saint West: Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West name their baby boy –
Many of her fans had been hoping she would choose “South” but Kim Kardashian West surprised them once again by calling her new baby “Saint”. Saint West, who weighed in at eight pounds one ounce, arrived at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on Saturday. But Mrs West, and rapper husband Kanye, waited for two days before announcing the name on Twitter and her app. The couple’s first child, daughter North West, was born in 2013. [Daily Telegraph]

Kuala Lumpur airport seeks owner of ‘abandoned’ jets –
Officials at Malaysia’s main airport have taken out a newspaper advert seeking the owner of three Boeing 747 jets they say have been left unclaimed. The notice said if the owners “fail to collect the aircraft within 14 days…, we reserve the right to sell or otherwise dispose of the aircraft”. It said fees for landing and parking were also owed. An airport official was quoted as saying they had tried to contact the jets’ last known owners. He added that in the past decade a few other planes, mostly smaller aircraft, have been abandoned, with one that was left in the 1990s eventually being bought and turned into a restaurant in a Kuala Lumpur suburb. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

The Trial of Barnaby Finch from Sorrel Brae on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

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10	#PabloPresidente20D	#WorstResponders	#LondonSpy

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2015 San Bernardino attack investigation
- A $28,500 deposit was made to Syed Farook’s bank account two weeks before he and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, carried out the San Bernardino massacre, a source close to the investigation says. Investigators are exploring whether the transaction was a personal loan or something else. (SBS) (Fox News)
- According to the FBI, the couple that perpetrated the attack had long been radicalized, and had been practicing at a target range days before their murder spree. (New York Times)
- FBI agents found an empty GoPro package, shooting targets, and tools inside a car belonging to the mother of San Bernardino mass-shooter Syed Farook. (Daily Mail)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Iraqi officials say the country’s forces have managed to retake large parts of the key city of Ramadi from Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants. (Press TV)
Military intervention against ISIL
- U.S. television network NBC has calculated that ISIS and its sympathizers killed 525 people in six attacks in six countries outside its alleged caliphate since October 10, 2015. (NBC)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- Several Taliban insurgents storm into Kandahar International Airport and engage Afghan security forces in a firefight. (Al Jazeera)
Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, targeting Houthi rebels battling pro-government fighters, killed and wounded dozens in the port city of Mocha, according to Yemeni security officials. Around 35 fighters on both sides were killed in the battle over a key military base near the city of Taiz. (AP via Miami Herald)
Syrian Civil War
- Russian military intervention
  - For the first time, Russia strikes Islamic State targets in northern Syria with 3M-54 Klub (Kalibr) cruise missiles launched from a Kilo-class submarine in the Mediterranean, according to the Russian Minister of Defence, Sergey Shoygu. (RT)
- Rebels in Homs and the Syrian government agree to a local ceasefire that is to include the withdrawal of opposition fighters from the al-Waer neighborhood, the only area of the heavily damaged city still under rebel control. The evacuation is expected to start Wednesday. Residents are hoping to return in the next few days. (Daily Mail) (CBS News via Hawaii News Now)
Egyptian Sinai insurgency
- Four Egyptian security personnel are killed and another four are injured by a roadside bomb near the border town Rafah in the Sinai Peninsula. Islamist militants are suspected to have remotely detonated the device as an armored vehicle drove by the town’s center, near the border with the Gaza Strip and Israel, security sources told Ahram Online. (UPI) (Ahram Online) (Anadolu Agency)

Business and economy

UK-based Anglo American plc (AAUKF) announces plans to slash 85k jobs and shed 60% of assets over the next several years; it will also halt dividend payments for the rest of 2015-16 and cut capital expenditures. The company cited depressed commodity prices for its actions. (CNNMoney)
U.S. airplane manufacturer Boeing unveils the first Boeing 737 MAX airplane at its factory in Renton, Washington. (The Seattle Times) (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season
- Storm Desmond
  - The United Kingdom’s Met Office issues two new severe weather warnings for wind and rain covering across much of Scotland and Northern England beginning 6 a.m. Wednesday. (The Daily Telegraph)

Health and medicine

The United States Food and Drug Administration approves marketing of a cooling cap system to reduce hair loss in female breast cancer patients during chemotherapy. The DigniCap scalp cooling system, a product first available in Sweden in the 1990s, produces near-freezing temperatures that make it harder for cancer-fighting drugs to reach and harm hair follicles. (AP via U.S. News and World Report) (FDA) (DigniCap)

International relations

The United States agrees with Singapore on a first deployment of the U.S. P8 Poseidon surveillance aircraft in Singapore this month, in a fresh response to China over its pursuit of territorial claims in the South China Sea. (UPI) (Reuters)
The prime ministers of Britain and France joined condemnation around the globe of U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s call for a “total and complete ban” on Muslims entering the United States. (The Washington Post)
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power says the United States is investigating reports that Iran launched a medium-range ballistic missile in November, and if confirmed, will bring the issue to the U.N. Security Council and seek appropriate action. (Reuters)
Cross Border Xpress, a privately owned and operated airport terminal located in the Otay Mesa suburb of San Diego, California, United States, will open tomorrow with a connecting walkway to Tijuana International Airport in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. This facility, the final step of a project first proposed in the early 1990s, will be just the second cross-border airport in the world. U.S. Customs will operate a checkpoint on the bridge for those entering the country. (AP via USA Today) (AP Q&A via San Francisco Chronicle) (Los Angeles Times)

Law and crime

South African athlete Oscar Pistorius is granted bail while he appeals his murder conviction. (The Telegraph)

Politics and law

The U.S. Supreme Court rules that a lawsuit challenging Maryland’s congressional redistricting plan following the 2010 Census on grounds of unconstitutional gerrymandering may proceed. The suit, which alleges that congressional district boundaries were changed to make it easier for Democrats to win in seven of the state’s eight districts, had been rejected by both district and circuit courts due to lack of standing. (The Washington Post)
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump early Tuesday rejected criticism of his call to “shut the door” on Muslims entering the U.S. during a heated round of interviews in which he said he was not worried about being compared to Hitler. (The Hill)

Science and technology

New research by a team of British archaeologists, published in the current issue of the journal Antiquity, revives an older theory of Herbert Henry Thomas that Stonehenge may have stood in Wales hundreds of years before it was dismantled and transported to Salisbury Plain in Wiltshire in South West England. (Discovery) (National Geographic) (The Antiquaries Journal)

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December 9, 2015

Top News Stories –

Angela Merkel named as Time magazine’s person of the year –
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has been named by Time magazine as its person of the year – the first woman to receive the accolade in almost 30 years. Mrs Merkel, 61, was chosen for her leadership at a time of immense difficulty in Europe, and becomes the first woman to be named as person of the year since 1986. Last year’s winners were the Ebola fighters. “Not once or twice but three times there has been reason to wonder this year whether Europe could continue to exist – not culturally or geographically but as a historic experiment in ambitious statecraft,” said Nancy Gibbs, editor of the magazine. [Daily Telegraph] See List of the Day
Angela Merkel Time Magazine Cover

Knightsbridge to fine boy-racers up to £1,000 if they rev their supercar engines –
For years they have infuriated residents in London’s Knightsbridge with their incessant racing around the neighbourhood in noisy supercars. But boy-racers found guilty of wrecking the peace will now be fined £1000 after locals won a battle to make the uncouth behaviour a criminal offence. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which plays host to Harrods department store, has introduced a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) which hopes to restore peace to the neighbourhood. [Daily Telegraph]

Denmark: Nature agency offers free ponds to landowners –
Denmark’s nature agency is offering to pay for people to have ponds installed on their land in an effort to protect endangered wildlife. The government’s AgriFish Agency is offering to foot the bill for creating water features up to 1,000 sq m (10,764 sq ft) in size, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation reports. But such is the level of interest in the new scheme, officials say they probably won’t be able to meet demand. So far there have been more than 100 inquiries by interested landowners, the report says. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

YouTube Rewind: Now Watch Me 2015 | #YouTubeRewind [Over 13 million views in 24 hours]

List of the Day –

The Shortlist for Times Person of the Year 2015
Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi
Donald Trump
Black Lives Matter
Hassan Rouhani
Travis Kalanick
Caitlyn Jenner

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	Australia (USA unavailable)	UK
1	#CFKVerguenzaMundial	#badenclay	#PurposeWorldTour	13:10
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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015)
- An Israeli couple are injured in a drive-by shooting attack near Avnei Hefetz. (The Times of Israel)
- Israeli soldiers shoot dead a Palestinian teenager during an arrest raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. (The Jerusalem Post) (Al Jazeera)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- A Taliban attack on Kandahar International Airport results in at least 37 civilian and Afghan National Security Forces personnel dead and 35 injured. (Reuters)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- Amnesty International reports that years of foreign military intervention, poor oversight on weapons sales, and lack of control over the international flow of weaponry have enabled ISIL to accumulate its vast armaments stockpile. Amnesty International calls for weapons embargoes and the ratification of the global Arms Trade Treaty by nations that have not already done so and, at the same time, are sources of weapons in the ISIL stockpile. (Agence France-Presse via AlJazeera America) (Agence France-Presse via Defense News)
Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- Russian President Vladimir Putin says he hopes nuclear warheads will not be needed to deal with terrorists, after Russia launched cruise missiles at Islamic State positions in Syria from one of its Kilo-class submarines in the Mediterranean. (Independent)
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
- Azeri tanks on the front line shell military positions in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh Republic for the first time since a Russian-brokered ceasefire ended fighting in 1994. At least one Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army soldier is killed. (AFP via Yahoo)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Turkey calls on all its citizens to leave all areas of Iraq except Iraqi Kurdistan, due to “increased security risks”. (AFP via Daily Mail)

Arts and culture

Angela Merkel is named as Time‘s Person of the Year. (CNN International)

Disasters and accidents

2015 South Indian floods
- Heavy rains continue to lash Thanjavur and Thanjavur district, inundating urban areas and hundreds of acres of farmland. Many residential areas in Thanjavur have been marooned by rising water. (The Hindu)
Floods in the United States: 2001–present
- Governor of Washington Jay Inslee declares a state of emergency after severe flooding and high winds across the western part of the state close several major highways, damage homes and property, and impact electricity service. (Governor of Washington) (KIRO-TV)

International relations

The United States expands sanctions against North Korea over its alleged weapons breaches. (BBC)
Cuba–United States relations
- Government officials from Cuba and the U.S. met in Havana, beginning settlement discussions surrounding $1.9 billion worth of U.S. assets seized by Fidel Castro’s regime in the early 1960s. By law, the United States embargo against Cuba cannot cease until settlements are made. (Washington Post)

Law and crime

The Australian Federal Police raid the Sydney home of Craig Steven Wright – whom media today claimed was suspected to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin – in relation to possible tax offences. (ABC News Australia)
Chinese state television reports Guo Youming, former deputy governor of Hubei province, is found guilty of taking bribes totaling more than 23.8 million yuan ($3.70 million). Guo is the latest to be convicted as a result of President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign that started when Xi took office three years ago. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

A group of mayors and officials from American cities such as Philadelphia, and New York City say that if they had their way Donald Trump would be banned from their cities for his comments on Muslims. (NBC)
The Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell distance the party from presidential candidate Donald Trump’s recent comments calling for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. While not entering into a political fray – in view of U.S. partnerships with Muslim nations and Muslim personnel serving in the United States Armed Forces – The Pentagon press secretary calls anti-Muslim rhetoric a national security threat. (CNN) (Politico)
British police officers have today sensationally backed U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s controversial claim that parts of the country are no-go areas such as London and Birmingham because of growing Islamist extremism. (Express)
Congress is set to vote on Thursday on whether to prevent barring of potential immigration applicants based solely on religion. (Free Beacon)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

December 19, 2015

Top News Stories –

Harrison Ford nets £23m from Star Wars –
Hollywood veteran Harrison Ford will rake in more than £23 million for his role in the new Star Wars blockbuster, The Mail on Sunday can reveal. Insiders say Disney producers were so determined to get the 73-year-old to reprise his role as Han Solo for The Force Awakens that they agreed a £16.7 million fee. Ford will also get a 0.5 per cent share of the film’s gross earnings, which are expected to break records by hitting at least £1.3 billion. It means the actor’s share could be worth £6.5 million. His salary is more than 76 times greater than that of British newcomers Daisy Ridley and John Boyega. They received £300,000 each for their starring roles in the movie. However, once worldwide box-office takings have topped the $1 billion mark, the pair will also start to receive a small cut. [Daily Mail]
Harrison Ford

Video of the Day –

IMPACT from Bluearth production on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SabadoAmigosDaTiaDeSdv	#DemDebate	#Gogglebox
2	#زد_رصيدك36	#WeAreAllLiam	#DNGala
3	#FelizSabado	#CelebrationBowl	#UnappealingCities
4	#JornadaDeReflexion	#Caturday	#GrahamNorton
5	#ALDUBAngPagtatagpo	#IShouldveBeenArrested	#TwitterYuleBall2015
6	#WeAreAllLiam	#BYUvsUTAH	Jesy
7	#SoniaRahulHazirHo	#UFCOrlando	Germaine Greer
8	#عطنا_صوره_من_ت…	#Dancember	#2015In5Words
9	#PapaNoelTraeme	#FestiveBands	Con Air
10	#라고_말하던_시절��…	#FLZJingleBall	#AppStoreChat

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–present)
- Iraqi Defense Minister Khaled al-Obaidi updates the death toll from Friday’s friendly fire airstrike near Fallujah to 10, one officer and nine soldiers. U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter says it appears an American jet conducted the strike. Carter called Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to express condolences. (The Washington Post)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Turkey’s foreign ministry says it will continue to move some of its troops out of a military base at Bashiqa in Nineveh province in northern Iraq. (Reuters via The Washington Post)
Turkey–PKK conflict
- The Turkish army says 69 Kurdish insurgents and two Turkish soldiers were killed in four days of fighting in Cizre and Silopi, near the Syrian and Iraqi borders, in southeast Turkey. (Reuters)
A car bomb explosion outside a shopping mall in the Somali capital Mogadishu kills at least three and injures at least eight. The al Qaeda-linked Al Shabaab militants claim responsibility. (Reuters) (CNN)

International relations

Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
- Iran nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi says nine tons of Iran’s enriched uranium will be exported to Russia in the next few days, as the country moves to implement the nuclear deal and secure relief from international sanctions. (Reuters) (Ya Libnan)
European migrant crisis
- Germany’s refugee crisis coordinator Peter Altmaier says, in an interview with German magazine Focus, that he and Austrian special minister Josef Ostermayer are working on a proposal for a common European asylum law. He added other countries such as France and The Netherlands would be approached soon. (Reuters) (Sputnik News)

Law and crime

Swiss Attorney General Michael Lauber announces criminal proceedings are underway against an unnamed Islamic Central Council of Switzerland (ICCS) board member for spreading jihadist propaganda. ICCS reports the individual is their head of multimedia, Naim Cherni, who released a videotape of his trip to Syria which included interviews with Islamist leaders. (Reuters) (Deutsche Welle) (Blick) (de)

Politics and elections

Rwandan constitutional referendum, 2015
- Rwandans vote overwhelmingly to lift constitutional restrictions that will allow President Paul Kagame to run for more terms in office. The National Electoral Commission reports more than 98 percent of voters approved the referendum. Final official results will be released Monday. (BBC) (AP via Huffington Post)

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December 21, 2015

Top News Stories –

Fifa: Sepp Blatter and Michel Platini get eight-year bans –
Fifa president Sepp Blatter and Uefa boss Michel Platini have been suspended for eight years from all football-related activities following an ethics investigation. They were found guilty of breaches surrounding a £1.3m ($2m) “disloyal payment” made to Platini in 2011. The Fifa ethics committee found Blatter and Platini had demonstrated an “abusive execution” of their positions. “I will fight for me and for Fifa,” Blatter, 79, said at a news conference. Platini said the decision was a “masquerade” intended to “dirty” his name. Both men continue to deny wrongdoing and intend to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas). Swiss Blatter and 60-year-old Frenchman Platini have also been fined £33,700 ($50,000) and £54,000 ($80,000) respectively. [BBC] In September Swiss police opened a separate investigation into criminal mismanagement or misappropriation over a TV rights deal.
Sepp Blatter

Martin Shkreli fired from drug firm KaloBios following arrest –
Martin Shkreli has been fired as chief executive from the drug company KaloBios Pharmaceuticals. It comes just days after his arrest by the FBI for securities fraud. In a short statement, the company said he had also stepped down voluntarily from the board. Mr Shkreli, who came to prominence after his company raised the price of a lifesaving HIV drug by 5,000%, has pleaded not guilty to the fraud charges. He has already resigned as head of the company which made the drug, Turing Pharmaceuticals. The FBI has accused Mr Shkreli of using assets from his former company, Retrophin, to illegally pay off debts at MSMB, the hedge fund he managed. He was released on $5m (£3.53m) bail. [BBC]
Martin Shkreli

Video of the Day –

Fire-breathing Backflip with Steve-O – The Slow Mo Guys

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#EsHermosoCuando	#blackoutday	Hermione
2	#EuJaFuiCarrota	#mondaymotivation	#RHOA
3	#زد_رصيدك38	#HandsToMyselfVideoTODAY	#MissUniverse2015
4	#SegundaComOClubeSDV	#ChristmasWeek	#mondaymotivation
5	#FelizLunes	#MiamiBeachBowl	#WeAreAllZayn
6	#HandsToMyselfVideoTODAY	Louis and Danielle	#PeopleWhoMadeMy2015
7	#ChristmasWeek	#Kimoji	#BigThankYou
8	Hermione	#WeAreAllegiant	#ChristmasWeek
9	#WeAreAllZayn	#FelizLunes	#SPOTY
10	#EnEsteVeranoYo	Hermione	#AFCvMCFC

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- 2015 Bagram suicide bombing
  - A suicide-bomb attack on a joint Afghan-U.S. patrol near Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan‘s Parwan Province, kills at least six U.S. soldiers and wounds another six. The Taliban‘s spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid, claims responsibility for the attack in a message on Twitter. (Reuters) (The Washington Post)
- Taliban forces overrun the Sangin District in Afghanistan‘s southern Helmand Province following clashes with Afghan security forces which left dozens dead. Taliban militants have reportedly surrounded the local police compound with around 170 officers trapped inside the compound, according to a local official. (FRANCE 24)
- At least three rockets hit the capital Kabul, with two landing in the diplomatic zone of the Wazir Akbar Khan neighbourhood near the U.S. embassy building, while the other struck near the presidential palace complex. There were no reports of any casualties. (Reuters) (RT)
Terrorism in Kenya, War in Somalia
- At least two people are killed in a attack, near the north-eastern village of El Wak in Mandera County near the Somali border. A group of Kenyan Muslims traveling on a bus ambushed by suspected Al-Shabaab insurgents, protected Christian passengers by refusing to be split into groups, according to eyewitnesses. (BBC)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present), Military intervention against ISIL
- Around 20 people, including civilians and Islamic State militants, are killed in airstrikes on Mosul in northern Iraq. (Reuters)
2015 PKK rebellion
- Fighting continues to rage between the Turkish Army and PKK militants across southeastern Turkey, with the Kurdish-majority cities of Cizre and Silopi both becoming war zones as street-to-street fighting takes place. Turkish tanks shelled civilian houses in Silopi, while a Turkish military helicopter was damaged by PKK fire as it attempted to land in Cizre. Also, two Turkish soldiers were killed and six others wounded in a roadside bombing near the town of Bitlis. Many within Turkey are saying a civil war is now underway. (Al Jazeera)
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says military operations will continue in southeast Turkey and vowed that Kurdish rebels (PKK) along with their supporters, “will be buried in the trenches they have dug”. The state-run Anadolu Agency reports at least 115 PKK militants have been killed since December 15. (The Guardian)

Arts and culture

Pope Francis, in his annual pre-Christmas speech, urged the Roman Curia (cardinals and bishops who direct Holy See actions), to follow his “catalogue of virtues,” e.g., to show more maturity, honesty, humility, and sobriety in their tasks. He listed “Curial antibiotics” to treat the “15 ailments of the Curia” he outlined last year and which still plague the Vatican. (AP via Berlin Record) (National Catholic Reporter)

Health and medicine

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lifts the 32-year-old, lifetime ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. Men can donate if they haven’t had sex with another man in the previous year. The FDA stance is in line with other countries, such as Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.K., and is consistent with rules on recent blood transfusion or accidental exposure to another individual’s blood. (The Guardian) (The Washington Post) (FDA)

International relations

Armenia–Russia relations
- Russia reinforces the joint Armenian–Russian run Erebuni Airport, home to the Russian 3624th Air Base, with six attack and transport helicopters. The Russian Defence Ministry said the Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters had been transferred from a military base in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar Krai to the air base in Erebuni, Armenia. (Radio Free Europe)
War in Donbass
- The European Union extends Russian sanctions for interference in Ukraine another six months, until 31 July 2016. The EU says it’s extending the sanctions because the Minsk peace accords would not be fully implemented by the end of this year.(Bloomberg) (Voice of America)

Politics and elections

Slovenian same-sex marriage referendum, 2015
- Slovenian voters reject a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the country with only 36% of registered voters supporting it, while over 63% of voters voted against the bill. (CNN)
Spanish general election, 2015
- In Sunday’s elections, Spain’s center-right ruling People’s Party (PP) wins 123 seats (35.1%), and the center-left Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) takes 90 (25.7%) of the 350 seats in parliament, thereby ending Spain’s two-party system since neither major party won an absolute majority. Turnout was 73 percent. Spain’s new political forces, Podemos and Ciudadanos (C’s), get 69 and 40 seats, respectively. Smaller parties split the remaining 28 seats, 17 to Catalonia parties which favor secession. It appears that a coalition government will be necessary. PSOE has declined to join the PP, which actually doesn’t want that either. King Felipe, who ascended the throne in June 2014, is constitutionally empowered to mediate. (Stratfor) (Fortune)(International Business Times) (BBC)
United States presidential election, 2016, Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016
- South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham ends his campaign for the Republican Party nomination for President. During his campaign he has failed to poll above single digits nationally or in the early voting states. (USA Today)
Israeli Vice Prime Minister Silvan Shalom (Likud party) resigns because of allegations he sexually harassed several women during his career. Israel’s attorney general has started an investigation of Shalom, who also resigned his Interior Minister position andKnesset seat. (Reuters) (UPI)

Sports

2015 FIFA corruption case
- FIFA’s ethics committee issues an eight-year ban on President Sepp Blatter and UEFA President Michel Platini from any football-related activity for a CHF 2,000,000 (£1.3m/US$2.02m) payment to Platini that Blatter approved. Ethics judges decided the pair, who were also fined, broke rules on conflict of interest, breach of loyalty, and offering or receiving gifts. Both men deny wrongdoing and intend to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). (BBC Sport) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera) (FIFA text via Channel NewsAsia)

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December 22, 2015

Top News Stories –

Actor Nicolas Cage returns stolen dinosaur skull he bought –
Hollywood actor Nicolas Cage has agreed to turn over a rare stolen dinosaur skull he bought for $276,000 to U.S. authorities so it can be returned to the Mongolian government. The office of Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney in Manhattan, filed a civil forfeiture complaint last week to take possession of the Tyrannosaurus bataar skull, which will be repatriated to Mongolia. The lawsuit did not specifically name Cage as the owner, but Cage’s publicist confirmed that the actor bought the skull in March 2007 from a Beverly Hills gallery, I.M. Chait. The “National Treasure” actor is not accused of wrongdoing, and authorities said he voluntarily agreed to turn over the skull after learning of the circumstances. Cage outbid fellow movie star Leonardo DiCaprio for the skull, according to prior news reports. [Reuters]
Nicolas_Cage

SpaceX succeeds in historic rocket launch and landing –
SpaceX successfully landed its powerful Falcon 9 rocket late on Monday night for the first time, a major milestone in the drive to cut costs and waste by making rockets as reusable as planes. Its engines burning bright orange against the dark night sky, the Falcon 9 made a graceful arc back to Earth and touched down upright at Cape Canaveral, Florida, minutes after launching a payload of satellites to orbit, video images showed. “I still can’t quite believe it,” Musk said in a teleconference after the landing. “I think this is a revolutionary moment. No one has ever brought an orbital class booster back intact.” Previous attempts to land the Falcon 9’s first stage on a floating ocean platform have failed – with the rocket either colliding with the autonomous drone ship or tipping over. [Daily Telegraph] In June 2015 a SpaceX rocket carrying cargo to the International Space Station exploded minutes after take-off. See Video of the Day
Elon Musk

Video of the Day –

Historic Landing of Falcon 9 First Stage at Landing Zone 1

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#TercaNatalTaíTremuraSdv	#FirstDayOfWinter	#WeAreAllNiall
2	#زد_رصيدك39	#SandraBland	#2YearsAndStillHere
3	#FelizMartes	#GolpeAlVoto	#SpaceX
4	#TuFraseCumbia	#DearSantaSorryFor	Brendon McCullum
5	#PSYOneSweetNight	#iHeartJLo	#charitytuesday
6	#MevlidKandili	#TWUG	Arsenal
7	#WeAreAllNiall	#AllTogetherNow	#SandraBland
8	#MinhaVidaSeResumeEm	#TravelTuesday	#universitychallenge
9	#اول_لاعب_عشقت�…	#WinterOfficiallyBeginsSo	#MadeInChelsea
10	#CrestaRoja	#BrandNewByAustinMahone	#Slammy

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present), Battle of Ramadi
- The Iraqi Army advances into the center of Ramadi, the latest development in the effort, which began in November, to regain the city from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. (Reuters)
Islamist insurgency in Nigeria
- More than 1 million children have been forced out of school as a result of Boko Haram terrorism in northeastern Nigeria and its neighboring countries, which leaves the children more susceptible to violence, poverty and child marriage, Manuel Fontaine,UNICEF’s West and Central Africa regional director, said in a statement. (Huffington Post) (Reuters)
Mali declares a 10-day state of emergency effective at midnight, following a series of threats from unnamed jihadist groups, and last month’s siege at a Bamako hotel, where 20 people were killed. (DW) (TV360Nigeria) (NDTV)

Disasters and accidents

An Indian Border Security Force plane headed to Ranchi crashes just outside New Delhi, killing all 10 on board. The Super King Air turboprop aircraft hit an airport wall and landed in a small body of water. (Reuters) (AP via Fox News)

Health

The Philippines becomes the first country in Asia, and second in the world (after Mexico), to approve use of the dengue vaccine. (Rappler) (CNN)
According to industry sources, the Indian health ministry is considering Sanofi Pasteur’s dengue fever vaccine for large-scale clinical trial exemption which would accelerate approval for marketing. India reported a record number of dengue fever cases this year. (The Economic Times)
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos signs a decree fully legalizing medical marijuana. Growers must apply to the National Narcotics Council for a license. Earlier, Colombia decriminalized personal possession of up to 20 grams. (BBC) (VICE News)

Politics and elections

Philippine presidential election, 2016
- The Philippine Commission on Elections disqualifies presidential frontrunner Grace Poe, who is a rival of Mar Roxas, the candidate favored by President Benigno Aquino III. The move is widely believed to be politically motivated. (Inquirer), (GMA News),
- Petitioners alleged Poe doesn’t meet the residency and citizenship requirments. The actual decision is still to be released. (CNN)
Central African constitutional referendum, 2015
- Central African Republic’s National Election Authority announces voters approved (93%) the new constitution in the December 13 referendum. Amid sporatic violence, 39 percent of registered citizens voted in the two-day poll. The first round of the presidential elections and Parliamentary elections now can be held on December 27, 2015. Acting President Catherine Samba-Panza and current members of the legislature cannot participate. (Deutsche Welle) (Toronto Metro News)
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring announces, effective February 1, 2016, that Virginia will no longer recognize concealed carry handgun permits from 25 (of the 30) states with reciprocity agreements with the commonwealth whose concealed handgun regulations are weaker than Virginia’s. The state agreements with the other five states will not change. Virginia’s concealed carry permits will not be recognized by at least six states because they require mutual recognition of permits. (The Washington Post) (AP via Chicago Tribune)
Haitian presidential election, 2015, Haitian parliamentary election, 2015
- Haiti’s Provisional Electoral Council postpones presidential and legislative runoff elections scheduled for Sunday, December 27, 2015. Authorities are waiting for findings from the not-yet-installed special commission evaluating the widely criticized first round of elections before determining how to proceed. (AP via The Washington Post) (Haitian-Caribbean News Network)

Science

American actor Nicolas Cage agrees to return to Mongolia a stolen dinosaur skull he bought in 2007 for $276,000. Cage says he was unaware the skull had entered the country illegally. (Reuters) (USA Today)
Falcon 9 Flight 20
- American aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company SpaceX makes history by sending the first orbital rocket into space and landing the first stage back on the ground at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. (NBC News)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

December 27, 2015

Top News Stories –

Eiffel Tower joins Twitter and receives a warm welcome from Statue of Liberty and Taj Mahal –
When a 126-year-old woman took to Twitter for the first time this week, the Taj Mahal and the Statue of Liberty were so impressed that they sent her tweets to congratulate her. But this was no ordinary old lady – it was the Eiffel Tower, the world’s most visited monument, taking its first steps on the wildly popular microblogging site. “Parisian since 1889, now I am sparkling on Twitter!” said one of the first tweets, in both English and French, on the official account of the 1,063 ft-high tower nicknamed La Grande Dame by its creator, Gustave Eiffel. The tower that each year attracts more than seven million visitors from across the globe, already has around 1.7 million fans on its Facebook account but until this week had kept away from Twitter. Its arrival there this week, under the username @LaTourEiffel, was quickly hailed by direct tweets from the official accounts of other world-renowned monuments. [Daily Telegraph]

Star Wars: The Force Awakens becomes fastest to take $1bn –
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has become the fastest film to take $1bn (£674m) at the global box office. JJ Abrams’ film achieved the feat in 12 days, beating the previous record of 13 days set by Jurassic World in June.
But while Jurassic World had the benefit of record takings in China over the period, The Force Awakens has yet to open there. Star Wars also scored the biggest US Christmas Day box office takings in history with $49.3m (£33.2m). The film took $153.5m (£103.5m) in the US in its second weekend, bringing its total domestic haul to $544.6m (£367m). [BBC]

Christmas time storms, tornadoes kill at least 43 in U.S. –
Storms hit the U.S. South, Southwest and Midwest over the Christmas holiday weekend, unleashing floods and tornadoes that killed at least 43 people, flattened buildings and snarled transportation for millions during a busy travel time. The bad weather, or the threat of it, prompted the governors of Missouri and New Mexico to declare a state of emergency for their states. Flash floods killed at least 13 people in Missouri and Illinois. In Missouri, emergency workers have evacuated residents from their homes and conducted dozens of water rescues, Governor Jay Nixon said on Sunday. He said at least eight people had been killed and numerous roadways had been closed. [Reuters]

British soldiers aid evacuation in flood-hit northern England –
British soldiers helped evacuate hundreds of people from rising floodwaters in the historic city of York on Sunday, after heavy rainfall inundated towns and cities across northern England. Prime Minister David Cameron pledged more military help for the region as the army was deployed to move 300 to 400 people from their homes in York, where the River Ouse was expected to continue rising until Monday, the local council said. Some 100 soldiers were also helping emergency services in the hardest hit areas of West Yorkshire, including Leeds, police said, after the region suffered its worst flooding in 70 years. [Reuters]

Video of the Day –

The Christmas Human – Wishing you a very Christmas merry! from Andre Maat on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Google Trends 2015 –
Top Searches – Global News

1 Charlie Hebdo

2 Paris

3 Hurricane Patricia

4 Isis

5 Nepal

6 El Chapo

7 Greece

8 Baltimore Riots

9 San Bernardino

10 Hurricane Joaquin

Source: Google

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#زد_رصيدك44	Peyton Manning	#yorkfloods
2	가요대전	#DepressABeatlesSong	#RecipeWizard
3	#ANECUP	#GBvsAZ	#AndThenThereWereNone
4	#ÚltimoDomingoDoAnoSdvDTr	#MichaelIsOurSafetyPin	#BigGame8
5	#FelizDomingo	#mattylovesya	#DepressABeatlesSong
6	#TeamBernardoFordGoesToJapan	Chyna	#SAvENG
7	#MyBebeLoveDay3	#5SOSIsDeadParty	#2015bestnine
8	#حكمه_انت_ماشي_…	#PlatonicActivity	#5SOSIsDeadParty
9	#علمتني_الرياض…	#2016PopCulturePredictions	Lynton Crosby
10	#5SOSIsDeadParty	#ThinkBIGSundayWithMarsha	COBRA

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Battle of Ramadi
  - The Iraqi Army declares victory over Islamic State militants as their forces retake an important government compound in Ramadi. (Reuters) (CNN)
Boko Haram insurgency
- Boko Haram militants attack the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri with rocket-propelled grenades and multiple suicide bombers. At least 15 people are reportedly killed but the death toll is expected to be much higher. (AP via The Washington Post)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season
- Storm Eva
  - Thousands of people are evacuated from their homes as flood waters continue to rise across large parts of northern England, with York particularly badly affected. (BBC)
Tornadoes of 2015, 2015–16 North American winter, 2015–2016 El Niño event
- At least 11 people are killed as tornadoes strike Dallas, Texas, and five people die in a flash flood in Illinois. A total of 34 people have died in this week’s smörgåsbord of storms that started Wednesday. Mark Wiley of the National Weather Service says this rare run of December tornado storms in the South and Midwest, and spring-like temperatures across much of the North and East, in part to a strong El Niño. (USA Today) (AP via The Greeneville Sun)
- Missouri governor Jay Nixon declares a state of emergency as widespread flash flooding continues to impact the midwestern state. (Fox2Now)

Sports

Olympic champion swimmer Michael Phelps will coach the sport at Arizona State University upon his presumed retirement following the 2016 Olympics. (NPR) (The Arizona Republic)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

December 30, 2015

Top News Stories –

Freak storm pushes North Pole 50 degrees above normal to melting point –
A powerful winter cyclone — the same storm that led to two tornado outbreaks in the United States and disastrous river flooding — has driven the North Pole to the freezing point this week, 50 degrees above average for this time of year. From Tuesday evening to Wednesday morning, a mind-boggling pressure drop was recorded in Iceland: 54 millibars in just 18 hours. This triples the criteria for “bomb” cyclogenesis, which meteorologists use to describe a rapidly intensifying mid-latitude storm. A “bomb” cyclone is defined as dropping one millibar per hour for 24 hours. NOAA’s Ocean Prediction Center said the storm’s minimum pressure dropped to 928 millibars around 1 a.m. Eastern time, which likely places it in the top five strongest storms on record in this region. [Washington Post]

Uber claims one billion journeys in five years since launch –
Uber claims to have made one billion journeys since its launch in 2010, underlining the massive growth of the ride-sharing service and its challenge to the traditional taxi industry. The company said its billionth trip was completed in London on Christmas Eve – five and a half years after its first journey in San Francisco. The figure suggests that Uber has averaged more than 600,000 rides a day since its driver-hailing app went online, although the figure today is much higher. Uber said last year that it was arranging 1 million trips per day, and has since expanded in dozens of new cities around the world. [Daily Telegraph]

Canadian Bad Santa pulls Christmas Eve heist, escapes in Hummer –
A man dressed as Santa Claus robbed a small-town Canadian jewelry store at gunpoint on Christmas Eve, before dashing away in a Hummer, police said on Wednesday. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the red-and-white-garbed robber entered a jewelry store in Stettler, Alberta, in late afternoon last Thursday. He demanded jewelry and diamonds from a clerk and left with a bag of them. No one was hurt. An employee at the store declined to comment. [Daily Mail]

Video of the Day –

How To Prevent Hangovers (With Science)

List of the Day –

Google Trends 2015 –
Top Searches – Movies

1 Jurassic World

2 Furious 7

3 American Sniper

4 Fifty Shade of Grey

5 Minions

6 Spectre

7 Straight Outta Compton

8 Mad Max

9 Prem Ratan Dhan Payo

10 Birdman

Source: Google

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#ParaEl2016Prometo	#Thanks1DForAnAmazing2015	Oliver Letwin
2	#QuartaComOClubeSDV	#NewYearsResolutionIn5Words	#SUNLIV
3	#زد_رصيدك47	#baconday	Barney
4	#TomaraQueEm2016OCrush	#BillClintonSitcoms	David Beckham
5	#Thanks1DForAnAmazing2015	Bill Cosby	#morrisseykitchen
6	#اشياء_تتمناها…	#BlackTwitterTheBestTwitter	#SchoolDiscoMemories
7	#FelizMiercoles	Cleveland’s Terrible Stain	#Thanks1DForAnAmazing2015
8	Página 364 de 365	#BelkBowl	Guru Josh
9	#СНаступающим�…	#BirminghamBowl	Lemmy
10	#あなたに絶対似合�…	#WhatItDoByMahone	#TylerOakleyThankYouFor

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- 2015 al-Qamishli bombings
  - Several suicide-bomb attacks targeting Assyrian Christians celebrating New Year’s Eve at restaurants in the Kurdish-controlled Syrian city of Al-Qamishli, Al-Hasakah Governorate, leave at least 16 people dead and 35 wounded. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are suspected to be behind the bombings. (RT)
2015 Burundian unrest
- Burundi‘s President, Pierre Nkurunziza, says Burundians will fight against any African Union peacekeepers sent into the country in response to the ongoing crisis, “everyone has to respect Burundian borders,” Nkurunziza said. The African Union said this earlier this month it was ready to send 5,000 peacekeepers to protect civilians caught up in months of violence. (Reuters)

Business and economy

South China Sea disputes
- The Philippines says it will join the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank despite disputes between it and the bank’s founder, China. (Rappler)
Governor Alejandro García Padilla indicates Puerto Rico will default on bonds issued by the island’s Infrastructure Financing Authority and Public Finance Corporation. (New York Times)

Disasters and Accidents

2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season
- Storm Frank hits the United Kingdom and Ireland, contributing to the 2015 Great Britain and Ireland floods following previous heavy rainfall. (ITV News)

International relations

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present), Iraq–Turkey relations
- Iraq‘s Foreign Minister, Ibrahim al-Jaafari, renewed demands that Turkey fully withdraw its troops from northern Iraq, asserting that Turkey must respect Iraq’s sovereignty or face potential military action. (Reuters)
War on Terror
- Belgium cancels New Year’s Eve firework celebrations in Brussels amid fears of an Islamic terrorist attack in an unspecified European capital city. (Sky News)

Law and crime

Bill Cosby sexual assault allegations
- American entertainer Bill Cosby is charged with aggravated indecent assault in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. The county’s District Attorney-elect said his office is also examining evidence related to other cases. The current charges relate to one particular 2004 incident. (New York Times)
2015 Brussels lockdown
- Two Belgian policewomen and eight soldiers reportedly held an orgy at a police station in the Brussels neighbourhood of Ganshoren while colleagues hunted for the Paris terror attacks suspects. The police station was near Molenbeek, where anti-terror raids had been taking place. Police spokesman, Johan Berckmans, said “we have launched an investigation to find out what exactly happened”. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

Central African general election, 2015–16
- Voters in the Central African Republic are heading to the polls for the rescheduled parliamentary elections and the first round of the presidential election, where 30 candidates are running to replace Acting President Catherine Samba-Panza. The presidential runoff election is scheduled for 31 January 2016. The Central African Republic has been rocked by unrest since the March 2013 coup of president François Bozizé by Séléka, a mostly Muslim alliance of anti-government groups. Thousands have died and about one million people have been displaced in the ongoing sectarian violence between Séléka and the Christian anti-balaka militia. The United Nations peacekeeping mission has promised a heavy security presence today. (AP via The Washington Post) (Pulse News Agency)
- Ballot counting is underway after a peaceful election day in this country plagued by years of sectarian violence. National Elections Authority President Marie-Madeleine Koue says at least 65 percent turnout was expected. (EuroNews) (Bloomberg viaThe National)

Science and technology

The freak weather system responsible for heavy rain and tornadoes in the U.S., and high winds and rainfall in the British Isles, also has impacted the Arctic where the average winter temperature is normally around 20 degrees(F) below zero. Temperatures around the North Pole have been fifty degrees higher than usual for December, and today, at least for a brief moment, surpassed the 32-degree threshold, according to the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Ocean Prediction Center.(The Washington Post) (South China Morning Post) (Sputnik News)

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January 3, 2016

Top News Stories –

Paul McKenna: I chose my wife by Excel spreadsheet –
Paul McKenna, the hypnotist and self-help guru, has disclosed that he decided who to marry by using an Excel spreadsheet. The 52-year-old revealed the software – normally used by accountants and office administrators – helped him to choose his wife-to-be, his long-time personal assistant Kate Davey. McKenna, who is worth around £40m, said a friend had pointed out that although he had dated a “lot of beautiful women”, he “didn’t actually like them”. He was encouraged to “make an Excel spreadsheet” to find out who he loved – and it turned out to be Kate, who has worked with him for 20 years. The pair revealed their feelings to each other three years ago and are now engaged to be married. [Daily Telegraph]
Paul McKenna

Video of the Day –

Infinity Room – [TIEE] from Refik Anadol on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

100 Things we didn’t know last year – by the BBC (67-100)

67. MI5 erroneously suspected novelist Doris Lessing of running a brothel.

Find out more (Independent)

68. US Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders released a spoken-word folk album in 1987.

Find out more (Dangerous Minds)

69. It is possible to have orgasms in your left foot.

Find out more (New York magazine)

70. The formula for the perfect poohstick is PP = A x I x Cd.

Find out more

71. Silk can be made from the solidified saliva of a clam.

Find out more

72. Gorillas have individual tastes in music.

Find out more (Discover Magazine Blogs)

73. The simpler and more repetitive a song’s lyrics, the more likely it is to reach number one in the Billboard Hot 100, debut in the top 40 and climb the chart more rapidly.

Find out more (Psychology Today)

74. The producer who was Gordon the Gopher’s puppeteer ended up as the BBC’s head of editorial standards.

Find out more

75. Bill Cosby was the first choice to play Sam Malone in Cheers, ahead of Ted Danson.

Find out more (Hollywood Reporter)

76. In their spare time, US fighter pilots play a mash-up of pool and rugby called crud.

Find out more (New York Times)

77. Scots have 421 words for snow.

Find out more

78. Lies are more convincing when the person telling them needs to urinate.

Find out more (Daily Telegraph)

79. Spotify’s shuffle is not truly random but sprinkles different genres evenly across a playlist and alternates songs by the same artist.

Find out more

80. The English composer Benjamin Britten wrote a national anthem for Malaysia, only for it to be rejected in favour of a cabaret tune.

Find out more

81. Elephants almost never get cancer.

Find out more (Nature News)

82. Actor Brian Blessed says that he delivered a baby in a park, bit through the umbilical cord and then licked the infant’s face clean.

Find out more

83. People who like their coffee black are more likely to be psychopaths.

Find out more (Huffington Post)

84. American toddlers shoot one person a week on average.

Find out more (Washington Post)

85. Biff Tannen’s older self, as portrayed in Back to the Future Part II, was based on Donald Trump.

Find out more (Daily Beast)

86. The US used to relocate beavers by parachuting them out of planes.

Find out more (Mashable)

87. Dancing to Gangnam Style could raise people’s pain thresholds.

Find out more (Wired)

88. Pregnancies conceived in December have the best chance of success.

Find out more (Netmums)

89. Men with beards have a greater tendency to hold sexist attitudes than their clean-shaven counterparts.

Find out more (Mental Floss)

90. Footballers have worse teeth than the general population.

Find out more

91. It’s possible to hallucinate a foreign accent.

Find out more (Brain Decoder)

92. Victoria’s Secret Bombshell perfume is almost as good at repelling mosquitoes as commercial insect sprays containing Deet.

Find out more (Daily Beast)

93. Germaine Greer wrote a 30,000-word love letter to Martin Amis in 1976.

Find out more (the Guardian)

94. You’re So Vain definitely is about Warren Beatty (and two other men).

Find out more

95. A 17th Century scientist planned to paint the bubonic plague on to hats to create a biological weapon.

Find out more (New Scientist)

96. The Churchill household spent around £1,160 each year on wine, £104,400 in today’s money.

Find out more (the Economist)

97. A cow’s flatulence could fill a 55-gallon (250-litre) bag with methane in one day.

Find out more (Grist)

98. It would cost £11,602.25 to send a letter to Mars from the UK.

Find out more (Daily Mirror)

99. Text messages that end with a full stop are seen to be less sincere than those that don’t.

Find out more (Wired UK)

100. Employees who say they love following the rules are the ones who are most likely to be fired for breaking them.

Find out more (New York Magazine)

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#زد_رصيدك51	#OregonUnderAttack	Gary Anderson
2	#OregonUnderAttack	#MafiaGoogleSearches	#TheVampsBTS
3	#جيش_سلمان_30_مل…	#CactusBowl	#OregonUnderAttack
4	#FelizDomingo	#alamobowl	#UFC195
5	#DomingoDetremuraSdv	#AskEthanAndGrayson	#AUSvWI
6	#大切な人に触るな�…	#SEAvsAZ	#popgothefrench
7	Página 3 de 366	#FactsArentRacist	#takemeout
8	#SPSHello2016	#globedelivery	#MakeASongFrench
9	#UFC195	#PHIvsNYG	The Dark Knight
10	#ConfesionesNocturnas	#YallQaeda	#ANWTC3

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on a Iraqi Army base (Camp Speicher, now known as Tikrit Air Academy), near the town of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, that killed at least 15 and injured 22. (Reuters)
Terrorism in India
- 2016 Pathankot attack
  - Gunfire and loud explosions are heard at an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, Punjab, as anti-terrorist operations continue. A further two militants, for a total of six, are reported to have been killed; seven military and paramilitary personnel are reported to have been killed, with up to 20 other security personnel wounded. (DNA)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 South Pacific cyclone season
- Fiji warns residents to prepare for the impact of severe tropical cyclone Ula. (AFP via France 24)
In the United States, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo orders communities statewide to place homeless people in shelters when temperatures reach freezing. (The Washington Post)

Environment

The United Kingdom designates Ascension Island and its surrounding waters in the Atlantic Ocean as a Marine protected area. The reserve will be almost as big as the UK with just over half of the protected area completely closed to fishing. (BBC)

International relations

North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- North Korea may be preparing for an imminent thermonuclear weapon test at its Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, located in the country’s North Hamgyong Province where previous tests took place in 2006, 2009 and 2013, according to a South Koreanmilitary report. (Yonhap News Agency)
Saudi Arabia breaks off diplomatic relations with Iran after Sheikh Nimr’s execution. (BBC)

Law and crime

Mexican Drug War
- Two suspects are killed in a clash with police, and three others are arrested in connection with yesterday’s assassination of Temixco, Morelos’s newly inaugurated mayor Gisela Mota Ocampo. Governor Graco Ramírez, who attributed Mota’s killing toorganized crime, calls for three days of mourning. (AP via ABC news)

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January 4, 2016

Top News Stories –

Sexy China TV drama busted, returns to air more sedate –
A Chinese television drama that was pulled off the air after the female characters appeared on screen showing cleavage has returned to the screen, though this time showing only the actresses’ heads, state news agency Xinhua said on Saturday. The drama, “The Empress of China” also known as the “Saga of Wu Zetian”, was removed by commercial satellite station Hunan TV for “technical reasons” in late December, Xinhua said. Chinese Internet users responded by complaining about the censorship on Weibo, China’s version of Twitter. Several complained that they would not be able to see the hundreds of costume changes by Fan Bingbing, one of China’s most popular actresses, who plays the Empress Wu. [Reuters]

Video of the Day –

Behind Eugene • Making A Viral BuzzFeed Video

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#PrimeiraSegundaDoAnoSdvDTr	#mondaymotivation	#backtowork
2	#mondaymotivation	#NationalSpaghettiDay	#StolenOnStolen
3	#WeLoveYouSelena	#backtowork	#PennySparrow
4	#زد_رصيدك52	#TheBachelor	#mondaymotivation
5	#1DHistoryVideo	#1DHistoryVideo	#reshuffle
6	Página 4 de 366	#My4WordMotto	#My4WordMotto
7	#ALDUBNewJourney	#MusicMonday	#Deutschland83
8	#حمله_رجع_تلفو�…	#30Under30	#UKBA16
9	#あなたの薄い本で�…	#njwk10	#WarAndPeace
10	#2016DeseoQue	Zidane	BBC Three

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Two Sunni mosques are bombed in central Iraq and a muezzin is killed amid fears of renewals of sectarian strife following Saudi Arabia‘s execution of Shi’ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia. (AFP via Straits Times)
Killing of captives by ISIL
- The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) releases a video showing the killing of five men accused of committing espionage on the militant group for the United Kingdom. The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office released a statement saying that they are examining the content of the video. (AFP via ABS-CBN News) (CBS News)
2016 Pathankot attack
- Five of the terrorists who attacked an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, Punjab are reported to have been killed; mopping-up and search operations continue. National Security Guard officials state the operations will continue until the air base is made safe. (Indian Express)
Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant‘s branch in Libya attacks the Libyan oil port of Sidra, which is Libya’s largest oil depot. Two members of the Petrol Facilities Guard militia, which is defending Sidra, were reportedly killed in clashes. Islamic State militants were reportedly pushed back from the port, but the group now says it controls the town of Bin Jawad, 30km west of Sidra on the road from its stronghold in Sirte. (BBC)

Business and economy

2015 Chinese stock market crash
- Trading on the Shanghai Stock Exchange and the Shenzhen Stock Exchange are suspended for the day after stock indices plummeted by 6.85% and 8.1% respectively. (CNBC)
- In the United States, the Dow Jones industrial average closes 275 points down due to concerns over the Chinese economy. (NBC News)
Nokia, the telecommunications giant based in Finland, announces that it has gained control of French counterpart Alcatel-Lucent, and sets the date for formal consolidation as January 14. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Northeast India earthquake
- At least six people are killed and dozens injured from a 6.7 magnitude earthquake that struck 20 miles from the city of Imphal, the capital of the Indian state of Manipur, near the border with Myanmar. (NBC News) (The Times of India), (Ap), (AFP via Yahoo! News)

International relations

Foreign relations of Iran
- Sudan and Bahrain follow Saudi Arabia‘s lead and cut diplomatic relations with Iran, and the United Arab Emirates downgrades diplomatic ties. (BBC)
- Saudi Arabia will end all air traffic and trade links with Iran, and demands that Iran must “act like a normal country” before it would restore severed diplomatic relations. (Reuters)
- Syria‘s political opposition in-exile urges all Arab countries to sever diplomatic ties with Iran. The Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition declared its support for Riyadh‘s move, calling on “all Arab and Islamic countries to take a similar step”, and criticized what it said was Iran’s support for Shia militias in Syria and Iraq. (Jerusalem Post)
European migrant crisis
- In efforts to control an influx of migrants, Denmark introduces ten days of identity checks on its southern border with Germany, while Sweden introduces similar measures on the Øresund Bridge between itself and Denmark. All three countries are subject to the Schengen Agreement on the free movement of people. (BBC)

Law and crime

The President of the United States Barack Obama announces executive orders to expand background checks for firearms and toughen regulation of firearms. (The New York Times)
New Year’s Eve Cologne sex attacks
- German police begin investigations into a gang of up to 1,000 men of North African and Arab appearance who committed sexual assaults on women in Cologne‘s main square on New Year’s Eve. (AFP via The New York Times)

Politics and elections

Marshallese general election, 2015
- Casten Nemra is elected President of the Marshall Islands by the Nitijela. Nemra narrowly defeated Alvin Jacklick by a 17-16 vote. (Marshall Islands Journal)
Former “Peking University prodigy” Li Shulei is named the Secretary of the Discipline Inspection Commission of the municipality of Beijing. (SCMP)

Science and technology

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry confirms the addition of four new chemical elements to the periodic table after scientists from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratoryin Livermore, California, United States provided sufficient evidence to fill the elements 113, 115, 117 and 118, which were temporarily named ununtrium, ununpentium, ununseptium and ununoctium, respectively. (The Guardian)

Sports

In association football, La Liga powerhouse Real Madrid sack manager Rafael Benítez, replacing him with former Real and France great Zinedine Zidane. (ESPN FC)
In American football, the National Football League receives relocation applications from the San Diego Chargers, St. Louis Rams and Oakland Raiders to relocate to Los Angeles. (ESPN)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

January 11, 2016

Top News Stories –

Lionel Messi wins Ballon d’Or over Ronaldo & Neymar –
Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has won the Ballon d’Or award for the world’s best player for the fifth time. The 28-year-old Argentine had 41.33% of the vote, with Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo (27.76%) second and Barca’s Neymar (7.86%) third. Either Messi or Ronaldo, who became a three-time winner last year, have won the past eight awards. United States midfielder Carli Lloyd, who scored a hat-trick in the World Cup final, won the women’s award. England coach Mark Sampson was beaten to the women’s football coach of the year award by USA boss Jill Ellis. [BBC] See List of the Day
Lionel Messi

Video of the Day –

EHANG184, world’s first Autonomous Aerial Vehicle

List of the Day –

Past Ballon d’Or winners

2014: Cristiano Ronaldo	2008: Cristiano Ronaldo
2013: Cristiano Ronaldo	2007: Kaka
2012: Lionel Messi	2006: Fabio Cannavaro
2011: Lionel Messi	2005: Ronaldinho
2010: Lionel Messi	2004: Ronaldinho
2009: Lionel Messi	2003: Zinedine Zidane

Messi’s 2015 in numbers

61 games, 52 goals and 26 assists.
A goal every 101 minutes and an assist every 202 minutes.
Best minutes-per-goal rate – 80 – of anyone scoring a minimum of 10 goals across Europe’s top five leagues during 2015.
Directly involved in 49 goals in La Liga – 34 scored and 15 assists – which was the joint-most with Ronaldo in 2015 across the top five European leagues.
Scored in all six club tournaments in 2015, as Barcelona won five of them.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SegundaDetremuraSdv	David Bowie	#BallondOr
2	#زد_رصيدك59	#BallondOr	#MondayMotivation
3	#FelizLunes	#NationalChampionship	#GoldenGlobes
4	#BallondOr	Alice Paul	#TUBill
5	#LunesDeGanarSegidores	Hunky Dory	Young Americans
6	David Bowie	#NAIAS	#BringSnacksToAMovie
7	#من_علامات_الج�…	#alayma	David Bowie
8	#FracasasteSi	$1.4 BILLION	Rebel Rebel
9	DAIGO	#IWriteAboutItBecause	#FACupDraw
10	#VHMCensurado	#WorkTogether	Davey Cameron

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- At least 51 people are reportedly killed in an attack on a shopping centre in Iraq‘s capital, Baghdad, and a car bombing outside an illegal casino in Miqdadiyah, east of Baghdad, with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claiming responsibility for both attacks. (BBC), (AAP via SBS) (Reuters)
American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–present)
- A U.S. airstrike destroys an ISIL money and payroll hub in central Mosul. (CNN)
Militia occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
- Armed militiamen, also known as the Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, who are occupying the USFWS administered Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon, tear down a part of a fence that they claim was erected by the federal government in order to allow privately owned cattle to graze on the adjacent public land. USFWS condemns the actions through a written statement which states that, “Removing fences, damaging any refuge property, or unauthorized use of equipment would be additional unlawful actions by the illegal occupiers. Any movement of cattle onto the refuge or other activities that are not specifically authorized by [the Fish and Wildlife Service] constitutes trespassing.” (The Guardian), (The Oregonian)

Business and economy

Arch Coal, the second largest coal-mining concern in the United States, files for chapter 11 protection because it has been hit hard by the collapsing market demand for that commodity. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

The Metropolitan Fire Brigade in the Australian city of Melbourne warn residents about haze from a large industrial fire burning in the suburb of Broadmeadows. (Melbourne Age)
2015–16 Great Britain and Ireland floods
- Philip Dilley, chairman of the UK‘s Environment Agency resigns after receiving heavy criticism for not returning from a family holiday in Barbados during the recent heavy floods in Northern England andScotland. (Belfast Telegraph)

Law and crime

New Year’s Eve sexual assaults in Germany
- Thousands of protesters in Leipzig demonstrate against a record refugee influx they blame for mass sexual violence at New Year’s Eve events in Cologne and other German cities. Many chanted ‘We are the people’, ‘Resistance!’ and ‘Deport them!’. The rally was organized by a local chapter of PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident). Six Pakistani men and one Syrian man were also attacked by so-called vigilantes in Cologne, following calls on social media for “revenge” in the wake of the New Year’s Eve assaults. (Daily Mail)

Sport

In association football, Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona and Argentina wins the 2015 FIFA Ballon d’Or, his fifth such award. (AP via Sportsfan)
In Australian football, 34 current and former players with the Essendon Football Club are banned from playing in the Australian Football League during the 2016 AFL season after the Court of Arbitration for Sport finds that they took the banned substance thymosin-beta 4. (AAP and The Australian)
2016 College Football Playoff National Championship
- In American football, the Alabama Crimson Tide defeat the Clemson Tigers 46-40 to win the College Football Playoff National Championship. (NCAA)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

January 19, 2016

Top News Stories –

North Korea claims to invent ‘alcohol which doesn’t give you hangover’ –
They already claim to have cured cancer, Aids and Ebola with a miracle drug produced from ginseng root.
Now North Korean scientists seem to have scaled new heights of greatness with their latest invention – a special blend of liquor which doesn’t give you a hangover. According to the state-controlled newspaper Pyongyang Times, the drink also relies on ginseng root for its medicinal qualities and has been hailed as a “national scientific and technological hit.” The recipe replaces sugar with burnt rice, supposedly eliminating the liquor’s bitter taste along with any risks of a hangover. The drink “is suave and causes no hangovers”, claimed the Pyongyang Times piece, which was entitled: “Liquor wins quality medal for preserving national smack.” It is the latest in a string of outlandish claims made by North Korea’s state media, which once congratulated its supreme commander for learning to drive at the age of three. [Daily Telegraph]

Twitter down in global outage –
Twitter went offline on Tuesday morning for users of both its website and mobile apps. Visitors to the social network were met with a “Something is technically wrong” message on a blue background. Twitter’s status page said: “Some users are currently experiencing problems accessing Twitter. We are aware of the issue and are working towards a resolution.” “Something is technically wrong,” a notice on the Twitter website said. “Thanks for noticing – we’re going to fix it up and have things back to normal soon.” At around 10am service resumed as usual, although was down again shortly before midday and at various times over Tuesday afternoon. [Daily Telegraph] The social network later said an “internal code change” had led to the problem, which lasted six hours 10 minutes. “We reverted the change, which fixed the issue,” it added.
Twitter error page

Video of the Day –

NYC Gifathon from James Curran on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#TercaDetremuraSdv	#NationalPopcornDay	#LHHNY
2	#FelizMartes	Sarah Palin	#NationalPopcornDay
3	#زد_رصيدك67	#TravelTuesday	#CharityTuesday
4	#ALDUBFirstCondition	#HowIStaySaneInMyWorkspace	#ThingsThatShouldBeIllegal
5	#كلمه_تعور_قلبي	#BeliebersDay	#universitychallenge
6	조경태	#1YearOfWorthIt	#BlueMonday
7	#CorridaMalucaNoClubeSDV	#twitterdown	#TheUndateables
8	#HrantDink	Edgar Allan Poe	Aunt Viv
9	#BeliebersDay	#MISOTS16	Angie
10	#NationalPopcornDay	#InequalityIs	Glenn Frey

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in North-West Pakistan
- At least 9 people are killed and 35 injured after a suicide bomber strikes near a security checkpoint near Peshawar, Pakistan. (Geo TV), (AFP via RTE)
Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that scores of Syrian Army troops have been killed in fighting with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant over the past few days with the fiercest battles near the city of Deir ez-Zor. (Jerusalem Post)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- The United Nations Commission on Human Rights releases a report stating that at least 18,802 civilians have been killed and another 36,245 wounded between 1 January 2014 and 31 October 2015 with approximately half the deaths occuring in Baghdad. (United Nations)

Arts and culture

Pakistan lifts a three year ban on YouTube after Google launches a local version that allows the government to demand removal of material it considers to be offensive. (Reuters via Youtube)

Business and economy

The price of oil drops below $28 a barrel, the lowest since 2003. (The Huffington Post via MSN)

Disasters and accidents

The roof of the renovated Hôtel Ritz in Paris is damaged by fire just weeks before the planned re-opening. (BBC) (Reuters)

International relations

OIC and Iran-Saudi relations
- Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister has left Tehran for Saudi Arabia for participation in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation ministerial meeting in Jeddah which was called for by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to discuss the consequence of attack at Saudi Embassy in Tehran following the execution of Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Nimr. (IRIB World Service) (OIC)

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The 2010s

The story of a decade

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