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_ZuckerbergMark 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

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2 #3YearsRIPAvalanna #BatmanDay #PiggyFilms
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4 #ShowtimeKapamilyaDay #MySexLifeInAMovieTitleIs #LabWomen15
5 #1DPremiosTelehit Meow the Jewels #ComplainWithASong
6 Messi #PopeInPhilly #BatmanDay
7 #VerdadesSecretas #ALDubEBforLOVE #JapaneseGP
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September 29, 2015

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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-GryllsBear 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 first tweetEdward Snowden’s first tweet

Video of the Day –

Do It For Mom (Do it for Denmark)

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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

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October 5, 2015

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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 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

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2 #ArgentinaDebate #mondaymotivation #mondaymotivation
3 わたしの心 American Apparel #plasticbags
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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
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  • 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)
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October 6, 2015

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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_PythonJungle 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

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2 #EnTwitterSiempreEsta #AllDayBreakfast #NationalBadgerDay
3 Twilight #SeeTheMomentWhen #charitytuesday
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5 #MTVFanWars5SOSFam #NewSpaceFacts #IoDAC
6 Lolla Twilight #MTVFanWars5SOSFam
7 Lions Victor Cruz Busted
8 #شي_جميل_بحرف_ا… #WildCard #IsBritainRacist
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October 9, 2015

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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_mugshot,_frontJustin 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]
Apple Music 1D tweet

Video of the Day –

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

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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

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  • 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

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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 TylerSteven Tyler

Video of the Day –

INPUT/OUTPUT from Terri Timely on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Aerosmith Studio Album discography

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4 #Yastayız #SNL #RussianGP
5 OS WALKERS ESTÃO DE VOLTA The Hills Agnes
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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

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October 20, 2015

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‘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]
Australian cafe signFascine Coffee Lounge sign

Video of the Day –

Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer (Official)

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5 Drake #TacoTuesdayAlternatives Sajid Javid
6 Star Wars Ryan Kelly #charitytuesday
7 #الهلال_الاهلي #PerfectMusicVideo Canada
8 #صباحات_الهلال #ScaryStoryIn5Words #ChinaStateVisit
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  • 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

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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

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2 #CanYouRespectNiall Adele #FridayFeeling
3 #12hNerds Anthony Hamilton #SoundsGoodFeelsGood
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5 #HuracanPatricia Tennessee State University #CanYouRespectNiall
6 Hayırlı Cumalar Baby Hitler Adele
7 Jessica Jones #CanYouRespectNiall Jessica Jones
8 #النصر_الشباب #SpookyBands #bbcqt
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October 26, 2015

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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.

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1 #LouisYouMakeUsFeelLikeHome The Concealed-Carry Fantasy #mondaymotivation
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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
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October 30, 2015

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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]
Justin Bieber Instagram

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Nike: Snow Day

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5 #RespectForJustin #FashionTipsIn4Words Shaker Aamer
6 Olivia #HowDidWeEndUpHere Bob Ross
7 冬コミ #BuyFocusOniTunes Benedict Cumberbatch
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November 7, 2015

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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.
AdeleAdele

Video of the Day –

MASSIVE BLUE UFO OVER LOS ANGELES 11-7-15

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5 #7NFeminista Vandy #PutrajayaePrix
6 #ALDUBPerformsTogether #6DaysUntilMITAM #bbc4
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  • 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)
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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]

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HyperZooming through Hallstatt from geoff tompkinson on Vimeo.

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1 #1DayUntilMITAM #1DayUntilMITAM #1DayUntilMITAM
2 #1DayTillPURPOSE #1DayTillPURPOSE Pauline Cafferkey
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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
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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,_ParisBataclan 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_CoeLord Coe

Video of the Day –

Otto the skateboarding bulldog – Guinness World Records

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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

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

Video of the Day –

Kaleidoscope: See Things Differently

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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

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  • 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

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1 #Elecciones2015 #AMAs Lord’s Prayer
2 Celal Şengör #ThatsWhyHeGotWhacked #marr
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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
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December 1, 2015

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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_ZuckerberMark 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_CareyMariah Carey

Video of the Day –

Amazon Prime Air

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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

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  • 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)
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December 3, 2015

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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_PistoriusOscar 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.

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1 #QuintaDetremuraSdv #4YearsOf5SOS #4YearsOf5SOS
2 #4YearsOf5SOS #RJCForum Stan Collymore
3 #زد_رصيدك20 #MakeASportsMovieWorse #thingmonk
4 #PSYCrossroads #TheWiz #theTOMs
5 #MeDeprime #HolidayAdviceFromTheCat #BatmanvSuperman
6 #DiadelaDiscapacidad #TweepAMovieOrTVShow #SSATNC15
7 #ShotsCamcorder #thoughtsandprayers #OscarPistorius
8 #JanamJanam Oscar Pistorius #Content2015
9 #ALDUB20thWeeksary Muslim Killers #FolkloreThursday
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December 5, 2015

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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-KardashianKim 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_FreemanMorgan Freeman

Video of the Day –

Burnt Rice

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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
7 #EuNaoSouObgA #ActionDay #GrahamNorton
8 #اكبر_غلطه_ف_حي… #KIISJingleBall #BlueNeighbourhood
9 #حنا_الحكومه_و�… Baylor #TheExperience10
10 #توحيد_الزي_ال�… Anthony Davis Robert Loggia

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December 6, 2015

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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_PattisonVicky 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_BlatterSepp Blatter

Video of the Day –

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

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1 #6DCambiemosVzla Happy Hanukkah #tob15
2 #زد_رصيدك23 Ayesha Curry #WSWvBRI
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4 #ElAmorEs #6DCambiemosVzla #KIISJingleBall
5 #YouCanDoItLiam #YouAintNoMuslimBruv #1989TourBrisbane
6 #EnEl2016YoQuiero Morgan Freeman #Dubai7s
7 #ZaynsStill1DAF #MLSCup #endviolenceagainstwomen
8 #Em2016EuVou #ZaynsStill1DAF #FairgroundsFestival
9 #FelizDomingo #ThingsIShouldntAdmit #Stereosonic
10 #YouAintNoMuslimBruv #SEAvsMIN #BlueNeighbourhood

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December 7, 2015

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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

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Jedi Levitation Prank

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2 #ReasonWhyWeAreNotFriends #HackAHairDryer #mondaymotivation
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4 #7DElDebateDecisivo #PearlHarbor #SheWantsAManFromBrum
5 #امنيه_تتمنونه… Grammy #ReasonWhyWeAreNotFriends
6 #UnaVelitaPor Jose Fernandez #beforeandafter1d
7 #NuevaAsamblea Ralph Peters #HackAHairDryer
8 #MeGustasComoPara #YearInMusic #ontopictalkshow
9 #انترنت_السعود… #AvaBarbie #SelfieForNash
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December 8, 2015

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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_SchwarzeneggerArnold 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.

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1 #TercaDeSDVNoClubeDaTAG #VSFashionShow Eagles of Death Metal
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4 #CartaDoTemer #HappyBirthdayNickiMinaj #HappyBirthdayNickiMinaj
5 #PSYAwkward Don’t Glorify This Tragedy #CutTheCosts
6 #De2015MeLlevo #Somos112 #BritainAgainstCancer
7 #くと打ってクリス�… Bow Wow #InternetTheBeatles
8 #ALDUBPromiseRing #TrumpIsDisqualifiedParty #TravelTuesday
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10 #PabloPresidente20D #WorstResponders #LondonSpy

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December 9, 2015

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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_Times_Magazine_CoverAngela 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

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1 #CFKVerguenzaMundial #badenclay #PurposeWorldTour 13:10
2 #ConfessoQueEm2015 #ideasboom #masterchefprofessionals 11:25
3 #QuartaComOClubeSDV New Matilda #HipHopStarWars 10:50
4 #زد_رصيدك26 Grammy #VSFashionShow 10:35
5 #ParaEl2016Yo Stan Grant #newsnight 10:00
6 #PurposeWorldTour Saint West De Gea 09:00
7 #felizmiercoles #Run1stWin #ScreamQueensFinale 08:55
8 #رقص_سالم_الدو�… #HourOfCode Block Donald J Trump 08:55
9 #اسقاط_القروض_�… #homeandaway #potterythrowdown 08:50
10 #ALDUBIkawAtAko #SmallzysMerrySOSmas #thatssolastcentury

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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 Harrison Ford

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IMPACT from Bluearth production on Vimeo.

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4 #JornadaDeReflexion #Caturday #GrahamNorton
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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_Apr_2015Sepp 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_ShkreliMartin Shkreli

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

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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_CageNicolas_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 - The Summit 2013Elon Musk

Video of the Day –

Historic Landing of Falcon 9 First Stage at Landing Zone 1

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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]
Staue of Liberty Tweet

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

Isis

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1 #زد_رصيدك44 Peyton Manning #yorkfloods
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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
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December 30, 2015

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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

Source: Google

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1 #ParaEl2016Prometo #Thanks1DForAnAmazing2015 Oliver Letwin
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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
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January 3, 2016

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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_McKennaPaul 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.

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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)

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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
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January 4, 2016

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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

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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
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January 11, 2016

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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 MessiLionel 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.

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5 #LunesDeGanarSegidores Hunky Dory Young Americans
6 David Bowie #NAIAS #BringSnacksToAMovie
7 #من_علامات_الج�… #alayma David Bowie
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  • 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

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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 pageTwitter error page

Video of the Day –

NYC Gifathon from James Curran on Vimeo.

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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

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