Islamic State - The 2010s

October 7, 2015

Top News Stories –

Blatter faces 90-day suspension from FIFA, confidant says –
FIFA president Sepp Blatter faces an imminent 90 day suspension from soccer if the governing body’s ethics judge backs a prosecutor’s recommendation, a close friend and former advisor to Blatter told Reuters on Wednesday. Blatter’s long-term confidant Klaus Stoehlker said the decision by judge Hans-Joachim Eckert on the provisional suspension was expected by Friday. “There is no final decision, this is a recommendation from the lower part of the Ethics Committee to the upper part,” said Stoehlker, who added that Blatter had been informed of the development. [Reuters] In July FIFA turned down a request for Blatter to attend a U.S. Senate Panel Hearing
Sepp Blatter

Twitter launches Moments feature for ‘the day’s biggest and best stories’ –
Twitter’s launched a new feature called Moments to make it easier to see the day’s biggest and best stories. It works by grouping together interesting and important tweets on single subjects – which you can then read, even if you don’t follow the people tweeting them. Moments will appear in a special tab rather than on your timeline. It’s hoped this will appeal to people who find Twitter too confusing to start with. The Moments tab will be divided into sections including news, sports and entertainment. For now, it’s only being rolled out in America but will be heading to Europe soon. [BBC Newsbeat]

The Great British Bake Off 2015: the final – Nadiya crowned winner –
So the smallest baker had the biggest smile. In the final of The Great British Bake-Off (BBC One), 4ft 11in Nadiya Hussain’s face lit up with victory. It would have taken a hard-hearted viewer not to grin at her win too. After 10 weeks of fiendish challenges – popping dough into proving drawers, peering anxiously into ovens and wincing as tough-to-please judges poked at their pastry – just three of the original 12 contenders remained, their eyes on the title of Britain’s best amateur baker. Nadiya became the third consecutive female winner of that glass cake-stand trophy. It was a victory for women, for multicultural Britain and for brilliant baking. [Daily Telegraph] See Top Twitter Trends and List of the Day

Retired wrestler Hiroshi Hase appointed to Japanese cabinet by PM Shinzo Abe –
Shinzo Abe, the Japanese prime minister, has appointed a former television announcer and a retired wrestler who went by the ring name Viet Cong Express #1 to his new cabinet. Mr Abe retained around half his ministers in the first reshuffle of portfolios since he won the general election in December, but also has one eye on elections for the upper house of the Japanese parliament next summer. Hiroshi Hase, 54, was appointed minister of education, culture, sports, science and technology and the challenge of “education rebuilding”.

Video of the Day –

Honest Trailers – Aladdin

List of the Day –

Great British Bake Off Innuendos 2015

“The wobble should be like me backside” – Sandy on her crème brûlée (2015, episode 4)

“Stand away from your hot baps!” – Mel and Sue

“One crack bad, two cracks better” – Mel Giedroyc to Ugne about her Madeira cake (2015, episode 1)

“You have got two hours to pop Mary’s cherry” – Sue (the second half of the quote was “in the oven”)

“The terror of a soggy bottom has been keeping me up all night” – Season four finalist Kimberley

“Go on Mary, give it a good slapping” – Paul Hollywood

“Time to stop fiddling with Charlotte now” – Sue Perkins

“Oh no, you have some irregular-shaped balls” – Mary Berry

“He loves his buns”- Mary Berry, on Paul Hollywood

“It’s all in the wrist action” – Mary Berry

“Get those lady’s fingers soggy!” – Sue Perkins

“Messy top, tidy bottom” – Sue on Tamal

“Right bakers, time to reveal your cracks” – Sue

“I’m pinching my bottom seam” – Flora

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#QueMeFalteTodoMenos	#WCW	#GBBOFinal
2	#felizmiercoles	Roy Hibbert	Brian Blessed
3	#كم_واحد_يتابع�…	#BadInventions	#CameronSpeech
4	#MTVFANWARSDirectioners	Matt Barnes	#artsdigital
5	Edgar Allan Poe	#NerdUpATVShow	#Leaders15
6	Vin Diesel	Moana	Caspian Sea
7	Aziz Sancar	Victor Cruz	#WeWantOurCountryBack
8	#احترمك_جدا_اذا	#WalkToSchoolDay	#panorama
9	#هل_يحق_للزوجه_…	Draft Biden	Leon Brittan
10	#لو_الجامعه_اخ�…	#MTVFANWARSDirectioners	#ChewingGum

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- An FBI investigation has reportedly found that criminal networks specializing in nuclear smuggling in Eastern Europe, particularly in the nation of Moldova, have shipped radioactive material to ‘Middle Eastern extremists’, including the Islamic State (which in the recent past has threatened to unleash a nuclear holocaust to ‘wipe the West off the face of the Earth’). (AP via The Huffington Post)
Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- Russia launches an intense bombing campaign in the Syrian governorates of Idlib and Hama. The Syrian Army is conducting a ground offensive in the same area. (Jerusalem Post), (Reuters)
- Four Russian warships launch at least 26 cruise missiles at ISIS positions in Syria from the Caspian Sea. (RT)
- Russian airstrikes destroy the main weapons depots of a U.S.-trained rebel group, Liwa Suqour al-Jabal, in Syria’s Aleppo province. Last week, Russian raids hit Liwa sites in western and northern Syria, areas where the Islamic State group has no significant presence. (Reuters)
Boko Haram insurgency
- Boko Haram suicide bombers kill at least 15 people at a mosque in the northeastern Nigerian city of Damaturu. (AP)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) calls for activating the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission – for the first time since its 1991 creation under the Geneva Conventions – to investigate the deadly U.S. bombing of MSF’s hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan. MSF says it does not trust internal military inquiries into the bombing that killed at least 22 people, which it considers a war crime. (Reuters) (BBC)
- United States President Barack Obama telephoned MSF International President Joanne Liu to apologize for the U.S. bombing of the hospital in Afghanistan, express his condolences for the 22 people killed, commit to provide a transparent, thorough, and objective accounting of the facts and circumstances of the incident, and implement any changes to make tragedies like this one less likely to occur in the future.(Reuters) (Washington Post)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Saudi-led airstrikes kill at least 15 civilians and wound 25 others in Yemen at a wedding hosted by a tribal leader known to support the Houthi rebels. (AP via ABC News) (The New York Times)

Health and medicine

The World Health Organization announces that, since the Ebola outbreak began in March 2014, last week marked the first week of no new cases worldwide. (Time)

Law and crime

The High Court of Australia rules that the breast cancer gene BRCA-1 cannot be patented and the patent claimed by Myriad Genetics is invalid. (ABC News Australia)
China’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection announces their investigation of Fujian governor Su Shulin, the former chairman of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, on suspicion of serious disciplinary violations, the “euphemism for corruption.” This follows the massive anti-corruption drive President Xi Jinping launched when he came to power more than three years ago. (Reuters via Daily Mail) (South China Morning Post)
Brazil’s Federal Accounts Court (TCU), in a unanimous 8-0 decision, rules that President Dilma Rousseff’s government manipulated its accounts in 2014 to disguise a widening fiscal deficit. The ruling, while not legally binding, is expected to be used by opposition lawmakers who are calling for impeachment proceedings. (Reuters) (AP)

Science

Tomas Lindahl, Paul L. Modrich and Aziz Sancar win the 2015 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their work in DNA repair. (BBC)

Sport

2015 FIFA corruption case
- Fédération Internationale de Football Association ethics committee recommends FIFA President Sepp Blatter be suspended, re: the Swiss attorney general’s ongoing criminal investigation. The final decision will be made by Chairman of the Ethics Committee’s adjudication chamber, Hans-Joachim Eckert. (BBC) (Daily Mail)
The Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 in the MLB National League Wild Card Game. (ESPN)

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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 22, 2015

Top News Stories –

Wentworth golf club asks for six-figure membership fee –
One of the UK’s most exclusive golf clubs is to start charging £125,000 to new joiners. Wentworth, which was bought by the Beijing-based Reignwood Group in September 2014, has told existing members they must stump up £100,000. Annual fees on top of that are to rise from £8,000 to £16,000. James Wyatt said he and other members faced having to pay “an enormous amount”. The Surrey golf club said membership pricing “is a private club matter”. [BBC]

Working Enigma machine fetches world record price at New York auction –
An extremely rare and fully operational Nazi Enigma machine from Second World War has sold for $365,000 in New York, setting a new record at auction, Bonhams said on Thursday. The M4 machine, which was built between 1943 and 1945, is one of around 150 to have survived from an estimated 1,500 that were built as Nazi Germany fought to fend off the Allies. A spokeswoman for Bonhams said the $365,000 (£237,000) sale price set a new world record for an Enigma machine sold at auction. The purchaser at Wednesday’s sale was identified only as a private collector. [Daily Telegraph]

Rudely-named south-east London coffee shop ordered to remove its sign –
A crudely-named coffee shop in south-east London has been ordered by its landlord to remove the “offensive” sign bearing its name. Fuckoffee tweeted a picture of a letter it received from the landlord’s lawyers:

The letter read: “We are instructed that you have either erected or allowed your sub-tenant to erect an offensive sign on the exterior of the buliding… without the permission or authority from our client to do so and this constitutes a trespass.” According to the letter, the Bermondsey Street coffeeshop could face legal proceedings or the forfeiture of its lease if it does not remove the sign. It will also have to cover the costs of the legal steps taken so far. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

One Direction – Perfect

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	johan cruyff	#benghazicommittee	#evel
2	#laurenappreciationday	#whenamericawasgreat	Chip
3	o fandom acordou	#laurenappreciationday	#poptownsongs
4	#felizjueves	#ishouldntbragbut	Wale
5	#coneltiempoaprendi	#cerealsongs	#cerealsongs
6	#benghazicommittee	don mattingly	Meek Mill
7	#خيسي_عند_اهلك_…	#FACESONFILMTONIGHT	bugzy
8	daniel murphy	dior	carlton cole
9	world series	#deathofabachelor	johan cruyff
10	hakeem	angela bassett	uefa

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- The Associated Press reports that Kurds in Syria established a new administration in the Sunni–Arab town of Tal Abyad, which the Kurds wrestled from ISIS last June. (U.S. News and World Report)
- Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  - Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports at least a dozen people, including health-care workers, were killed when Russian aircraft attacked a field hospital in Sarmin, Idlib. (AFP via Yahoo News)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–present):
- A joint early-morning raid conducted by Iraqi and US forces on an IS-run prison in Hawija, Kirkuk Province has freed 70 hostages. One U.S. Delta Force soldier was reported killed – the first American combat death since the start of the US-led intervention against IS. (BBC)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- Taliban insurgents assassinate Mohammad Daud Sultanzoy, a district administrator in Afghanistan‘s eastern Ghazni province. (Voice of America)
Sinai insurgency
- Egypt‘s military says it has gained “full control” over the North Sinai areas of Arish, Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid after successful raids on terrorist strongholds and weapons caches. (Ahram Online)
At least 10 people are killed and 12 injured when a suicide-bomber attacks a Pakistani Shia Mosque and Imambargah during prayers in the District Bagh of Kachhi 300 Km from Quetta in Balochistan. (Pakistan Today)

Arts and culture

Robert Mugabe is awarded the Confucius Peace Prize. (CBS News)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- The death toll for Typhoon Koppu (Lando) in the Philippines rises to 54 with more than 1.2 million affected. (Rappler) (The Guardian)
2015 Pacific hurricane season
- Hurricane Patricia strengthens to Category 4 ahead of making landfall in Mexico. (Washington Post)
European migrant crisis
- Human Rights Watch says unidentified armed men have been disabling boats carrying migrants and asylum seekers in the Aegean Sea traveling from Turkey toward the Greek islands. Witnesses have described eight incidents this month in which masked assailants intercepted and disabled the boats by damaging engines or fuel systems, and in the case of inflatable boats, attempting to puncture hulls. (UPI) (Human Rights Watch)
- In a pair of incidents on Tuesday and Wednesday, two migrants were killed, 16 are missing, and 48 were rescued from boats heading to Greece from Turkey that capsized in the Aegean Sea. (Hürriyet Daily News)

International relations

European migrant crisis
- Authorities in Slovenia say around 2,000 migrants from a refugee camp at the Croatian border are traveling in four trains toward Austria, three to the overloaded crossing at Šentilj and the other to Jesenice. (Washington Post)
- U.N. human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein accuses the Czech Republic of committing systematic human rights violations by detaining refugees for up to 90 days and strip-searching them for money to pay for their own detention. Czech President Miloš Zeman rejected Zeid’s criticism “of his stance against migration and Islam.” (Reuters) (NYSE Post) (The Guardian)
Kuril Islands dispute
- Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu announces Russia plans to build a new military base on the Kuril Islands, a group of Pacific islands it seized from Japan at the end of World War II. (Business Insider)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015)
- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met today in Berlin with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding the recent spate of violence between Palestinians and Israelis. Kerry will meet on Saturday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas andKing Abdullah of Jordan in Amman. (Washington Post)

Law and crime

Trollhättan school attack
- A teacher and a student are killed, and another student injured, in an attack at a high school in Trollhättan, Sweden. The attacker was shot dead by police. (BBC) (The Guardian)
Chilean officers start to grant civil unions licences to both heterosexual and homosexual couples, marking the first time a same-sex relationship is officially recognized in the country. (BBC) (The Guardian)
A shooting late Thursday on the Tennessee State University campus in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., injures three people, one critically. The victims were transported to Vanderbilt University Medical Center. (New York Daily News) (NBC News)

Politics and elections

West Lothian question
- The UK House of Commons passes an “English votes for English laws” bill by 312 to 270 votes giving English MPs a greater say over legislation that only applies to England. The bill has been fiercely opposed by the opposition Labour Party and theScottish National Party. (BBC)
U.S. President Barack Obama vetoes the $612 billion annual defense authorization bill because of the way it would sidestep budget limitations for the military and because it would restrict the transfer of detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay. This is the President’s fifth veto since 2009. (Washington Post) (Reuters)
Paul Ryan announces that he will run to succeed outgoing Speaker of the United States House of Representatives John Boehner after receiving the support of a significant majority of members of the Republican Party. (NBC)

Sports

Baruto Kaito, former sumo wrestler who once reached ōzeki, the sport’s second-highest rank, announces he will compete in mixed martial arts and is set to make his debut at Rizin Fighting Federation. (Kyodo News)

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November 5, 2015

Top News Stories –

Facebook launches music sharing app called Music Stories –
Facebook has announced a new post format which allows people to listen to the first 30 seconds of a song shared on the site. It will be called Music Stories and Facebook says it is aimed at “enabling better music discovery and sharing”. The previews will be streamed from Spotify and Apple Music and fans can link through to buy or save the music. [BBC Newsbeat]
Facebook Music share tweet

Facebook ‘takes on Apple’s News with news app Notify’ –
Facebook will launch its own news aggregator app featuring stories drawn from numerous media partners next week, according to reports. The standalone new app, reported to be called Notify, will act as a direct rival to Apple’s News app, which recently launched in the UK. The social network has partnered with publishers including the BBC, the New York Times and NBC, according to the Financial Times. Users can subscribe to specific news organisations and receive notifications once stories are published. Reports first emerged the social network had been testing the app over the summer. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Le Petit Chef – Bouillabaisse from Skullmapping on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#8DaysUntilMITAM	5th of November	#BonfireNight
2	5th of November	#NationalDoughnutDay	#StressIn5Words
3	H&	#YouWereSoHotUntil	#museums2015
4	#CMAawards	#StressIn5Words	H&
5	#شي_جميل_يبداا_…	#8DaysUntilMITAM	#MillionMaskMarch
6	#StressIn5Words	Faisal Mohammad	Lewes
7	Elio Rossi	Martha Ford	Sam Burgess
8	#Empire	Chris Paul	Melissa Mathison
9	#مشكله_الاسكان…	Seth Rollins	Guy Fawkes
10	Rolling Stones	#TheSuperheroWeActuallyNeed	Benzema

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Syrian Kurdish–Islamist conflict (2013–present)
  - Canada‘s Department of Foreign Affairs says it’s aware of reports that a Canadian national, John Robert Gallagher, has died while fighting in Syria. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, John Robert Gallagher was killed while fighting alongside the Syrian Democratic Forces against Islamic State militants in the northeast Al-Hasakah Governorate. (CBC News)
- Syrian rebels seize control of Murak, a town located north of the city of Hama on a strategic highway that is crucial to control of western Syria, following clashes with pro-government forces. Murak was the scene of heavy fighting last year when government forces took control of the town in October 2014. (Reuters)
- Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  - Russia sends antiaircraft missile systems to Syria, where more than 50 Russian aircraft are stationed and its bombing campaign in support of the Assad regime has been in progress since late September. (Radio Free Europe)
Military intervention against ISIL
- British Prime Minister David Cameron, under pressure from Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and the Foreign Affairs Committee, will not ask for a vote by Parliament to join the U.S. airstrikes in Syria. (Military.com)
- France announces that it will deploy its aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle to the eastern Mediterranean to boost its efforts against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Iraq and Syria. (Independent)

Disasters and accidents

Minas Gerais dam disaster
- An iron ore tailings dam bursts in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais flooding a valley, causing mudslides in the nearby village of Bento Rodrigues and causing up to 17 deaths and 45 missing. The dam is operated by Samarco Mineração, a joint venture between BHP Billiton and Vale. (Bloomberg), (Reuters via SBS Australia), (AFP via Yahoo! News), (Al Jazeera English)

Law and crime

European migrant crisis
- Greek police say they came under fire on the country’s northeastern border with Turkey during the arrest of two suspected migrant smugglers who had just ferried 22 people across the Evros river that runs along the Greek-Turkish border. (AP via New Europe)
NetCracker and Computer Sciences Corporation agree to pay fines amounting to over $12 million, settling a Justice Department investigation into the firms’ sub-contracting of computer coding work to Russian sources. The programs were subsequently installed on secure U.S. government computer networks. (The Daily Beast)
University of California, Merced stabbing attack
- The Merced County Sheriff identifies the attacker of four students at the University of California, Merced as freshman Faisal Mohammad. (Merced Sun Star)

Politics and elections

Belizean general election, 2015
- Belizean Prime Minister Dean Barrow wins a record third term in Wednesday’s snap general election in the Central American nation as his United Democratic Party (UDP) gains a clear majority in parliament. The UDP won 19 constituencies and Francis Fonseca’s People’s United Party (PUP) took 10, with two constituencies yet to report. Belize is a parliamentary constitutional monarchy with Queen Elizabeth II, the symbolic head of state. (Reuters) (Newsweek)
The President of the Maldives, Abdulla Yameen, declares a state of emergency suspending civil rights and giving sweeping powers to security forces. (The Guardian)
- The United States, Amnesty International, and the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), the country’s main opposition party, sharply criticize the state of emergency, concerned it might lead to a new crackdown on dissent. MDP had scheduled a protest rally for this Friday, demanding the release of its jailed leader, and former Maldivian President, Mohamed Nasheed. The government order cancels that action. (Washington Post) (AP via U.S. News & World Report)
Myanmar general election, 2015
- Myanmar opposition leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi says she would be “above the president” if her National League for Democracy party (NLD) gets the expected win in the Sunday, November 8, 2015, election. The 2008 constitution, drafted by the military without NLD participation, bars her from becoming President. (Reuters) (Time)

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November 10, 2015

Top News Stories –

Rowan Atkinson divorced in 65 seconds on grounds of his ‘unreasonable behaviour’ –
Actor Rowan Atkinson’s wife has been granted a divorce on the grounds of his “unreasonable behaviour” after he left her for a comedy actress half his age. The Mr Bean and Blackadder star was not present at the 65-second proceedings in central London. Estranged wife Sunetra was granted a decree nisi against the 60-year-old by a district judge at the Central Family Court. Atkinson married the make-up artist in 1990. He has been dating 32-year-old Louise Ford for 18 months. Listed as Atkinson S D v R S, the case was the fourth in a list of 26 before District Judge Stephen Alderson for decrees and orders to be made under the “quickie” procedure. The County Durham-born actor and his wife, who have two children, are reported to have split last year. [Daily Telegraph]
Rowan Atkinson

Jeb Bush says he would kill baby Hitler if he could time travel –
Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush says he once got an email asking whether he would kill the baby Adolf Hitler if it were possible. “It said, ‘If you could go back in time and kill baby Hitler, would you? I need to know,'” Mr Bush told a Huffington Post reporter on his campaign bus in New Hampshire last week. Mr Bush’s answer, according to the video clip: “Hell, yeah, I would. Look, you gotta step up man.” [Daily Telegraph]
Jeb Bush

Pat Eddery: Former champion jockey dies aged 63 –
Eleven-time Flat racing champion jockey Pat Eddery has died at the age of 63. Eddery, who rode more than 4,600 winners and won 14 British classics in a 36-year career, is regarded as one of the greatest jockeys of all time. Among his most famous victories were the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe of 1986 on Dancing Brave. Ireland-born Eddery, who retired in 2003 and was awarded an OBE in 2005, had been suffering from ill health. Only Sir Gordon Richards has ridden more winners in Britain than Eddery. [BBC] See List of the Day

Modigliani’s Nu Couché sold for record £113 million –
Amedeo Modigliani’s Nu Couché has sold for $170.4 million (£113 million) at Christie’s, making it the second-highest auction price for any artwork. Nu Couché (Reclining Nude) was sold in New York on Monday night after a protracted bidding battle. It was bought by Liu Yiqian, a former taxi driver who has gained a reputation for breaking records in his pursuit of priceless artworks to display in his own museums in Shanghai. The highest price for any artwork was the $300 million paid for Paul Gauguin’s Nafea Faa Ipoipo (When Will You Marry?) in February 2015. [Daily Telegraph]
Modigliani -Nu couché

Video of the Day –

Skier Miraculously Survives 1,600 Foot Fall

Pro skiing veteran, Ian McIntosh, narrowly escapes with his life after what TGR Co Founder, Todd Jones, says “was the most terrifying crash I’ve ever seen.” While filming for Paradise Waits up in the Neacola range of AK, Mac dropped into a line he thought he had studied thoroughly enough, only to fall into an unseen five foot deep trench on one of his first turns. “From there, my slough took over and their was no way to stop,

List of the Day –

Pat Eddery information (from Wikipedia)

Major racing wins
Born	18 March 1952 Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland
Died	10 November 2015 (aged 63)
British Classic Race wins as jockey: 2000 Guineas (3) 1000 Guineas (1) Epsom Derby (3) Epsom Oaks (3) St Leger Stakes (4)
Racing awards
British flat racing Champion Jockey 11 times (1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1996)
Honours
O.B.E.
Significant horses
Polygamy, Grundy, Scintillate, Detroit, Storm Bird, Kings Lake, Golden Fleece, Assert,Lomond, El Gran Senor, Rainbow Quest),Dancing Brave, Moon Madness, Warning,Zafonic, Quest for Fame, Toulon, Moonax,Bosra Sham, Lady Carla, Silver Patriarch

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	冬のボーナス	Tommy Hanson	Finding Dory
2	ポッキーの日	#FightFor15	#1DonGrimmy
3	#10Kasım	Finding Dory	#FutureDecoded
4	#3DaysUntilMITAM	#1dOnGrimmy	Busted
5	빼빼로	#LoveYouGoodbye	#3DaysTillPURPOSE
6	#1dOnGrimmy	#BadThingsToTellAJudge	Helmut Schmidt
7	Selamat Hari Pahlawan	#SemperFi	Allen Toussaint
8	#LoveYouGoodbye	Allen Toussaint	#UnderwearSongs
9	#5HGroupOfTheYear	#UnderwearSongs	#ImACeleb
10	#3DaysTillPURPOSE	Shia LaBeouf	Pat Eddery

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Sinai insurgency
- Egypt‘s Interior Ministry announces the death of a senior figure in the Islamic State’s “Sinai province.” Ashraf Ali Hassanein al Gharabli, killed in a Cairo shootout with police, was also linked to other extremist groups and terrorist activities. (The Long War Journal)(ARAnews)
Syrian Civil War
- Aleppo offensive (October–November 2015)
  - Syrian Army troops break an Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant siege of the Kweires airbase in the Aleppo Governorate. (Reuters via Times of Oman)
- A mortar attack on the coastal city of Latakia kills at least 23 and injures 65. (UPI)

Business and economics

Thousands of protesters take to the streets across the United States to demand a $15-an-hour minimum wage and union rights for fast food workers. The Fight for $15 organizers said thousands of low-wage workers walked off their jobs in some 270 cities, and vowed that demonstrators would descend on tonight’s Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (Reuters) (Huffington Post)
Technology news website Re/code reports Dell Incorporated’s $67 billion offer to buy data storage company EMC Corporation could be derailed by a tax bill of up to $9 billion if key aspects of the deal do not qualify for the sort of tax treatment the companies consider essential for the transaction. (Reuters) (Economic Times) (Re/code)

Disasters and accidents

All nine people aboard a Hawker H25 business jet are killed after the plane crashes into an apartment complex in the American city of Akron, Ohio. (Fox News) (WOIO via WNEW)

Health and medicine

Chinese state news agency Xinhua joins critics of Shenyang’s handling of serious pollution problems. “The city of Shenyang has failed to apply emergency measures that could have reduced smog, and didn’t provide advisories to residents to stay indoors,” Xinhua wrote. The BBC reported pollution readings in the northeastern Chinese city have been 50 times higher than levels considered safe by the World Health Organization (WHO). (UPI) (New York Times)

International relations

British Prime Minister David Cameron sets out his four-point EU re-negotiation agenda, including a demand to end Britain’s obligations to EU’s “ever closer union“. (Guardian)
Myanmar tops the 2015 Charities Aid Foundation’s World Giving Index which measures each country’s charitable behavior. Individuals indicate whether they have donated money, volunteered, or helped a stranger in the past month. The United States, which tied with Myanmar last year, is second, followed by New Zealand, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Sri Lanka, Ireland, and Malaysia. (Market Watch) (The Guardian) (CAF 2015 Report)
Syrian Civil War
- Reuters reports Russia’s eight-point proposal, drafted prior to this week’s international talks on Syria, wants the Syrian government and the opposition to agree on launching a constitutional reform process of up to 18 months, followed by early presidential elections. (Reuters)
Iran, P5+1 & European Union Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
- Iran stops dismantling decommissioned centrifuges in two uranium enrichment plants, according to state media reports. This comes days after Iran’s conservative lawmakers complained to President Hassan Rouhani that the process was too rushed.(Reuters)

Law and crime

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman sends cease and desist letters to DraftKings and FanDuel ordering them to stop operating in the state because they violate New York laws against illegal gambling. (NBC News) (New York Daily News)
The United States FBI foils an alleged plot by white supremacists in Virginia who were planning a reign of terror — shooting or bombing religious institutions, robbing jewelers and armored cars, purchasing land, stockpiling weapons, and training for the “coming race war.” (Washington Post) (WTVR)
Kenyan police arrest Daily Nation senior reporter John Ngirachu who wrote about corruption at the Interior Ministry. Reports alleging outrageous spending by civil servants has raised pressure on President Uhuru Kenyatta. (Reuters)
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia suspends district court judge Richard Leon’s ruling yesterday that found the U.S. National Security Agency’s phone data collection program is unconstitutional. Leon’s decision barred the agency from further collection of data on the plaintiffs in the case — California attorney J.J. Little and his law firm — but did not have sufficient authority to outlaw the practice against all Americans. The government plea for the injunction said it will take “at least several weeks” for the NSA to implement a technical change that would prevent collection of Little’s data and therefore the entire program would have to shut down early based on Leon’s order. (Politico) (UPI)
The Obama administration will ask the Supreme Court to overturn yesterday’s ruling by the New Orleans, Louisiana, federal Court of Appeals that blocks the deferred deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children. (UPI)

Politics and elections

Former West German chancellor Helmut Schmidt (1974 to 1982) dies at the age of 96. (The Guardian)

Sport

Lamine Diack, who is provisionally suspended as an honorary member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in connection with suspected involvement in the Russian doping scandal cited in yesterday’s World Anti-Doping Agency report, resigns as president of the Monaco-based International Athletics Foundation (IAF), according to the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAFF). Diack stepped down as president of the IAAF in August. The 82-year-old native of Senegal is under investigation in France on suspicion of corruption and money-laundering. (Reuters) (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]

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)

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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 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).

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

November 15, 2015

Top News Stories –

Ronda Rousey knocked out in UFC 193 title fight by Holly Holm in Australia –
Holly Holm pulled off a stunning upset over Ronda Rousey in the mixed martial arts championship, UFC 193. She knocked the women’s bantamweight champion out in the second round with a powerful kick to the head in Melbourne, Australia. Ronda Rousey, 28, was undefeated in her first 12 mixed martial arts fights with 11 wins in the first round. Holly Holm ended that run in front of a record Ultimate Fighting Championship crowd of around 75,000 fans. The UFC brought its showcase UFC 193 to Australia, with the Ronda Rousey-Holly Holm fight overshadowing the men as the main event. The stadium in Melbourne was transformed from a 56,000-seat Australian rules football venue to an auditorium holding close to 75,000 seats for the event. A full house would easily beat the 55,724 fans who attended UFC 129 at Toronto’s Rogers Centre in 2011. [BBC Newsbeat] Rousey starred in “Expendables 3” with Sylvester Stallone. See Top Twitter Trends
Ronda Rousey

Hundreds of Mormons resign in Utah same-sex policy protest –
Hundreds of Latter-day Saints mailed or handed in letters quitting the Mormon church on Saturday to protest a new policy barring children of married same-sex couples from being baptized until they are adults. Leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) approved the policy last week. It added same-sex marriage to acts considered to be a renunciation of the Mormon faith and thus subject to church discipline, including excommunication. The church has more than 15 million adherents and 85,000 missionaries around the world. [Reuters]

Video of the Day –

Darwin Deez- The Mess She Made from Oscar Hudson on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	5 Seconds Of Summer	5 Seconds of Summer	#UFC193
2	#UFC193	Nick Bockwinkel	#sadnessinhiseyes
3	#DemDebate	#Ask1D	Ronda Rousey
4	#Ask1D	Giants	#Ask1D
5	#زد_رصيدك2	Peyton Manning	#MTVStars
6	#WELOVELUKEBECAUSE	#WELOVELUKEBECAUSE	#DemDebate
7	#DomingoDetremuraSdv	Dana White	#AskZoella
8	Ali Koç	Lions	5 Seconds of Summer
9	Baylor	#UFC193	#BrazilGP
10	#السعوديه_دوله…	#HTTR	#PurposeTheMovement

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

November 2015 Paris attacks
- One of the Paris attackers is identified as Ismael Omar Mostefai, a 29-year-old who was born and raised in the Paris suburbs. (Fox News) (BBC)
- Paris prosecutor François Molins says three jihadist cells, apparently multinational teams with links to the Middle East, Belgium, and possibly Germany, as well as France, staged coordinated attacks at bars, a concert hall, and a soccer stadium, killing 129 people and injuring 352, including 99 who are in a serious condition. (Reuters)
- French authorities identify two of the suicide attackers; both French nationals living in Belgium, one age 20, the other 31. (AP)
Turkey–ISIL conflict
- Turkish police detain seven ISIS-linked suspects in simultaneous operations in Ankara. (Daily Sabah)
2015 Beirut bombings, Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
- Lebanon arrests nine people including seven Syrians over the recent Beirut bombings that killed at least 44 people. (Al Jazeera)
Egyptian security forces allegedly shoot dead at least 15 Sudanese asylum seekers in the Sinai Peninsula near the Israeli border. (Al-Jazeera)
Syrian Civil War
- France-led coalition intervention against ISIL
  - France launches a series of airstrikes on Raqqa, the Islamic State’s de facto capital in Syria, destroying a jihadi training camp and a munitions dump. (AP)
- American-led intervention in Syria
  - A government official says the United States made a fresh delivery of ammunition to Syrian Arab Coalition fighters battling Islamic State in northern Syria, pushing ahead with a strategy that initially unnerved ally Turkey. (Reuters)

Business and economics

Daily fantasy sports companies DraftKings and FanDuel, who are fighting New York’s cease-and-desist order that their industry is gambling in the U.S. state, apparently are OK with that label in the United Kingdom. DraftKings obtained a British gambling license in August and FanDuel applied for one earlier this month. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

The death toll from a landslide on Friday in China‘s Zhejiang province rises to 16 with 21 still missing. (New York Times)
Heavy rain leads to warnings of floods in mid and north Wales. (BBC)

International relations

2015 G-20 Antalya summit
- The leaders of nations with the top 20 economies vow to use all their policy resources to bolster a sagging global economic environment. While the European migrant crisis and terrorism were high on the agenda of this economic summit the terror attacks in Paris dominate conversations and meetings. In the wake of the attacks and during ongoing investigation, French President François Hollande remains in Paris. (Reuters) (CNN Money) (New York Times)
- United States President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a G20 working lunch meeting, traded views on Syria’s civil war: where they agreed, i.e. UN negotiations, cease-fire, and Syrian-led political transition; and where they disagreed, i.e. President Bashar al-Assad’s future role. Obama reiterated his support for the full implementation of the Minsk agreements on Ukraine, including Ukraine’s control of its borders. (AP) (RT) (Reuters) (NBC News)
November 2015 Paris attacks
- The top of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper, is lit up in the red, white and blue of the French flag, in tribute to France and those killed in the attacks in Paris. Other landmark buildings in the United Arab Emirates, including the sail-shapedBurj Al Arab building, also paid tribute. (AP)
European migrant crisis
- Swedish police increase checks of asylum facilities in the country’s southwest amid reports refugees are leaving to avoid being registered by immigration officials. (AP)
Reuters reports Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and Philippine President Benigno Aquino are set to agree on a deal paving the way for Tokyo to directly supply Manila with used military equipment. An announcement is expected this week during theAsia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Manila. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Myanmar general election, 2015
- Aung San Suu Kyi holds talks with parliament’s outgoing chairman, Shwe Mann, seeking his help in the transition to the National League for Democracy (NLD) government. Mann, who was ousted as head of the Union Solidarity and Development Party in August, lost his house seat in the November 8 vote. The current parliament will have at least one more session. (Reuters)
- Myanmar’s President Thein Sein promises a smooth transfer of power following the National League for Democracy winning a majority of parliamentary seats in last week’s elections. (UPI)

Sport

UFC 193
- Holly Holm defeats Ronda Rousey in a women’s bantamweight title match at Etihad Stadium in the Australian city of Melbourne, Victoria. (News Limited) (Los Angeles Times)
In a suit filed by two former American professional football (NFL) players, the Ohio Supreme Court upholds a lower court ruling that Cleveland’s formula for taxing visiting professional athletes, the so-called “jock tax,” violates players’ due process rights. A spokesman says the city will begin issuing refunds to players. (AP)
2015 Fed Cup
- In tennis, the Czech Republic retains the Fed Cup defeating Russia 3-2 in the final played at the O2 Arena in Prague. This is the Czech Republic’s fourth title in five years. (Yahoo News)

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November 17, 2015

Top News Stories –

Charlie Sheen confirms he is HIV positive –
Hollywood star Charlie Sheen has confirmed he is living with HIV in a US television interview. “I am here to admit that I am HIV positive,” he said. The former star of sitcom Two And A Half Men appeared on NBC’s Today show, ending days of intense media speculation. Sheen revealed to Matt Lauer he had paid “enough to take it into the millions” to keep people from going public about his illness. “I have to put a stop to this onslaught, this barrage of attacks and of sub-truths,” he said, adding he was diagnosed four years ago. [BBC] In March 2015 Sheen launched a racist Twitter attack on Barack Obama.
Charlie Sheen

Bangkok sets record for longest half-marathon after route blunder –
The 6,000 runners who just completed the Bangkok half-marathon will have a special mention in sporting trivia quizzes for years to come, after they were forced to run an extra four miles to reach the finish line. Mark Kent, the British ambassador to Thailand, was among those who finished the longest half-marathon in history after a route blunder by organisers. The mishap occurred as the wrong gate was opened on a main road for the runners to complete a U-turn, some two miles further on than planned. The organisers have apologised profusely for the mistake and offered all competitors a free commemorative T-shirt bearing the message: “Finisher of 27.6 km”. An actual half-marathon should last 21.1 kms, or about 13 miles. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

ACROSS THE SKY – a world record slackline in the utah desert from Camp 4 Collective on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#1DMX	#IKWYDLSAtMidnight	#1DUK
2	#جده_الان	#BEFOUR	#CharityTuesday
3	#1DPL	#PrisonBooks	Oxford Dictionaries
4	#ReinadoColombia	#1DonGMA	Charlie Sheen
5	#FelizMartes	Bobby Jindal	Mitchell Johnson
6	Pampita	#BadFirstDateActivities	FHM and Zoo
7	#السعوديه_تيمور	#6YearsOfMyWorld	#WorldPrematurityDay
8	Leyla Zana	Charlie Sheen	#EngvFra
9	上原亜衣	#Our4WordFuture	#IKWYDLSAtMidnight
10	#6YearsOfMyWorld	JJ Watt	#Barney

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Metrojet Flight 9268
- Russia’s Federal Security Service announces that the plane was destroyed by a bomb. (The Guardian) (Reuters)
- In a broadcast meeting from The Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin vows retribution to those responsible for last month’s downing of the aircraft. Putin orders the Russian Navy to coordinate military operations in Syria with the French Navy. Russia’s Federal Security Service offers a $50 million bounty for the bombers. (Reuters)
Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- The Russian military launches cruise missile strikes from the Mediterranean on ISIS positions in Al-Raqqah, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant‘s de-facto capital in Syria, as well as Aleppo and Idlib. A U.S. official confirmed that Russia has conducted a significant number of strikes in Syria using both sea-launched cruise missiles and long-range bombers. Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged to escalate his military campaign in Syria after it was confirmed that a bomb brought downMetrojet Flight 9268 over Egypt‘s Sinai Peninsula. (RT) (Independent)
Boko Haram insurgency
- A blast at a market in the northeastern Nigerian city of Yola, kills at least 32 people and wounds 80 others. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

American actor Charlie Sheen confirms he has HIV. (CBS) (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

A 6.5-magnitude earthquake strikes southwest of Ioannina in Greece, at a depth of 10 kilometers. At least two people are killed, the main road in the southwestern part of Lefkada has also been damaged. (RT)
In the United States, the National Weather Service issues a blizzard warning for northeastern Colorado and western Kansas with an expected snowfall by midday of 12 inches in Denver, Colorado. As of 6:00 a.m. Mountain Time, 143 arriving and departing flights are cancelled for busy Denver International Airport. Several tornadoes were spotted overnight in northern Texas, western Kansas, and southern Nebraska. (Reuters) (USA Today)
2015-16 Australian bushfire season
- There are fears that up to four people have died during bushfires burning near Esperance on the coast of Western Australia. (ABC)

International relations

APEC Philippines 2015
- The Human Rights Watch reports that the Philippine government is detaining street children and homeless people as part of preparations for an international summit. (The New York Times)

Law and crime

The Israeli government outlaws the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, declaring it “an illegal organization”. The northern branch of the Islamic Movement is led by Raed Salah, who has been convicted in court of numerous activities, including funding Hamas, contacting an Iranian agent, assaulting a police officer, and leading a violent protest. (The Jerusalem Post)
The Japanese government officially sues the governor of Okinawa, Takeshi Onaga, over his denial of permits to allow work to begin on the Relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Refugees of the Syrian Civil War
- More than half of the state governors in the United States reject accepting asylum seekers from Syria after the attacks in Paris. All except one of them are Republicans. (CNN)
- Obama administration officials hold a conference call with 34 governors to assure them, “refugees would undergo the most rigorous screening and security vetting of any category of traveler to the United States.” A spokesperson for Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder said he asked federal officials for “more robust data” and an “enhanced flow of information.” (Reuters) (AP via ABC News)
The president of the Czech Republic, Miloš Zeman, marks the 26th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution by attending an anti-Islam rally in Prague with the “Bloc against Islam” group which supports the president. The rally was also attended by observers from the German protest movement, PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident) and Tommy Robinson, a prominent British anti-Islam activist. Zeman told the crowd of several thousand that they aren’t extremists for advocating closing the Republic’s borders to Muslim migrants. (AP via ABC News) (Breitbart)
United States presidential election, 2016
- The Governor of Louisiana Bobby Jindal ends his campaign for the Republican Party nomination. (The Guardian) (Fox News)

Sport

Cancellation of football matches
- Belgium‘s football association calls off today’s friendly (non-competitive) football game with Spain due to concerns over security following the November 2015 Paris attacks. (AP)
- A friendly match between Germany and the The Netherlands is cancelled after a suspicious object is found in the Niedersachsenstadion in the German city of Hanover. (The Guardian)

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November 18, 2015

Top News Stories –

Jonah Lomu: New Zealand rugby union great dies aged 40 –
New Zealand rugby union great Jonah Lomu has died aged 40. Lomu, who scored 37 tries in 63 matches for New Zealand between 1994 and 2002, had been diagnosed with a rare and serious kidney condition by 1996. It forced him to quit the game and he had a kidney transplant in 2004, but the organ stopped functioning in 2011. Despite never winning the World Cup, he is the joint top try-scorer in its history – alongside South Africa wing Bryan Habana, scoring 15 tries in 11 games. He was at his best at the 1995 and 1999 World Cups, terrifying defensive lines with his speed and size – 192 cm tall (6 feet 4 inches) and weighing about 119 kilograms (18 stone 10 pounds). [BBC]
Jonah Lomu in 2014

Australian police search for men on park-bench vehicles –
Australian police are looking to identify a group of men filmed riding motorised park benches on public roads in Perth. Footage of the nine men casually rolling through an intersection in Scarborough on Sunday has gone viral. While witnesses said they were amused by the spectacle, police said there were real dangers involved. They said the men could face several charges, including driving an unlicensed and unroadworthy vehicle. “Police are concerned for the safety of those riding on the tables with no protective clothing, especially when on roads alongside motor vehicles,” Western Australian police said in a Facebook post. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Can You Survive Only Eating Bacon?

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Jonah Lomu	#LoveTheatreDay	Jonah Lomu
2	Mega Filmes HD	#IStillFacebookBecause	#OurDay
3	#SaintDenis	#IWouldSleepMoreBut	#LoveTheatreDay
4	#LaMateriaQueMasOdioEs	#SaintDenis	Ken Livingstone
5	#1DonGMA	David Beckham	#housingday
6	#SeVieneElVeranoY	#HungryGames	#BieberOnCapital
7	Kevin McHale	Kevin McHale	#PMQs
8	Hamza Hamzaoğlu	Taye Diggs	#GeordieShore
9	Carmen Lomana	#refugeeswelcome	Red Button
10	#السعاده_في_كل�…	#IKWYDLSoniTunes	#IKWYDLSAtMidnight

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Moro conflict
- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak condemns the Phillipine-based Abu Sayyaf’s beheading of a Malaysian man. Businessman Bernard Then and a woman were kidnapped in May from the Malaysia-island Sabah; the woman was released last week. Philippine Colonel Restituto Padilla said the killing followed a “failure of the negotiations about money.” (ABC) (BBC) (AFP via Yahoo) (International Business Times)
November 2015 Paris attacks, Islamic terrorism crisis in France
- At least two suspects die, including a female suicide bomber, and eight are arrested in a raid by French police in the Paris suburb of Saint-Denis. (CNN) (France 24) (AP) (NNC News)
- Abdelhamid Abaaoud, the ringleader of the Paris terrorist attacks, is killed during the Saint-Denis police raid, officials confirm. (Independent) (CNN)
- French prosecutor Bruce Robin says three Islamic State supporters stabbed a 56-year-old French Jew and history teacher in Marseille, France. The attackers were interrupted by a car and fled. The teacher’s wounds are not life-threatening. (International Business Times) (Time)
Boko Haram insurgency
- At least fifteen people are killed in a twin-suicide bombing of a mobile phone market in the northern Nigerian city of Kano. (BBC)
- Associated Press reports that Boko Haram was the world’s deadliest terrorist organisation in 2014 responsible for 6,664 deaths as compared to 6,073 for Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. (BBC)
Syrian Civil War
- Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  - The Russian Air Force has destroyed around 500 fuel tanker vehicles used by ISIS and other extremist groups for transporting illegal oil from Syria to Iraq, according to Russian General Staff spokesman Andrey Kartapolov. (RT)
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says a local 15-day ceasefire between Syrian rebels and government forces in the Eastern Ghouta area near Damascus will be announced shortly. (Reuters)
Two Bosnian Army soldiers are shot dead by a gunman inside a betting shop near their army barracks in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. The gunman committed suicide after police surrounded his house. (Reuters)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant says that it has killed a Chinese hostage and a Norwegian hostage. (AP via ABC News)
- Both the FBI and New York City police say they are aware of a newly released Islamic State video suggesting America’s most populous city is a potential target of attacks. The agencies said there were no specific threats, they will investigate, and will remain at a heightened state of vigilance. (Reuters)
- The United States warns travelers in Italy that St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, the La Scala opera house in Milan, and the Milan Cathedral, as well as “general venues” like churches, synagogues, restaurants, theaters and hotels, have been identified as “potential targets” for terrorist attacks. The message added the Italian authorities are aware of these threats. (AP)

Art and culture

Ta-Nehisi Coates wins the National Book Award’s top prize for nonfiction for his bestselling depiction of America’s race problem, Between the World and Me. Adam Johnson’s Fortune Smiles took home the National Book Award for fiction. (The Guardian)

Business and economy

An auction for the acquisition of chipmaker PMC-Sierra continues, with a new bid by Microsemi Corp., topping the previous bid from Skyworks Solutions. The latest bid values PMC at $2.3 billion. (Reuters)
Reuters reports the U.S. Treasury Department will clamp down further on corporate income tax-avoiding inversion deals by U.S. companies with foreign rivals. A major inversion deal is in the works between U.S. drug maker Pfizer Inc. and smaller Irishcompetitor Allergan, Plc. (Reuters)
Airport workers at seven of the busiest U.S. hubs plan to strike tonight and Thursday over bad wages and threats against unionizing. The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) says some 2,000 plane cleaners, baggage handlers and other workers will strike at New York City’s Kennedy and LaGuardia airports, as well as Newark Liberty, Chicago O’Hare, Boston, Philadelphia and Fort Lauderdale. (Reuters) (Philly Voice)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season
- Some 25,000 households in Ireland lose power as a result of Storm Barney. (Independent Ireland)
2015–16 Australian bushfire season
- Four people, including three German backpackers, are confirmed dead in southern Western Australia near the town of Esperance as a result of bushfires burning out of control. (ABC News Australia)
An explosion at a steelworks plant in Cardiff, South Wales leaves two people dead and five injured. (BBC)

International relations

APEC Philippines 2015, Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- U.S. President Barack Obama calls on China to stop constructing artificial islands in the South China Sea. Obama’s comments to reporters came after a meeting with Philippine President Benigno S. Aquino III. The U.S. president is in Manila for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit where the Trans-Pacific Partnership is the central topic of conversation. China attempts to keep the topic of the islands off the agenda. (New York Times)(The Diplomat)
U.S. and Cuban officials sign an environmental accord in Havana, the first such agreement since the countries renewed diplomatic relations this summer. (UPI)

Law and crime

Sweden‘s terror threat level is raised to ‘high’ for the first time in history, as national security service Säpo says that police are hunting a suspected terrorist. (Local)
Washington College, on the U.S. Delmarva Peninsula, closes until Sunday, November 30, as police search for an upset, potentially armed student who just returned to campus. His Pennsylvania high school is on alert. (WBAL) (Washington Post) (NBC 10)

Politics and elections

Police in the Democratic Republic of the Congo fire teargas at students protesting increases in school fees in the capital Kinshasa, The students had started throwing stones. (ENCA)
Glen Casada, a top Republican Tennessee lawmaker who is the chair of the state’s House Republican Caucus suggests activating the Tennessee National Guard to ’round up’ Syrian refugees and remove them from the southeastern state, saying “Tennessee is a sovereign state, if the federal government is forsaking the obligation to protect our citizens, we need to act”. (The Tennessean)

Sport

2015 FIFA corruption case
- Sergio Jadue resigns as the head of the Football Federation of Chile and travels to the United States to speak with the Federal Bureau of Investigation about corruption at FIFA. (AAP via Yahoo! News)

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November 19, 2015

Top News Stories –

World’s second-largest diamond ‘found in Botswana’ –
The world’s second-largest gem quality diamond has been discovered in Botswana, the Lucara Diamond firm says. The 1,111-carat stone was recovered from its Karowe mine, about 500km (300 miles) north of the capital, Gaborone. It is the biggest diamond to be discovered in Botswana and the largest find in more than a century. The 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond was found in South Africa in 1905 and cut into nine separate stones, many of which are in the British Crown Jewels. [BBC]
copyright Lucara Diamond Corp.

Scientists have trained pigeons to diagnose breast cancer –
Doctors train for years in order to be able to correctly diagnose cancer – but could they soon be replaced by pigeons? Well, no. Obviously not. However, scientists have now discovered that pigeons are surprisingly adept when it comes to spotting cancerous cells. In a study led by Professor Richard Levenson of the University of California, pigeons were shown microscope images of breast tissue, and then rewarded with food if if they correctly pecked a coloured button that corresponded to either cancerous or healthy tissue. [Daily Telegraph]

Bangladesh: Government ‘mistakenly’ cuts off internet –
An internet shutdown in Bangladesh which lasted for more than an hour was a “mistake”, according to the authorities. Officials announced on Wednesday that access to Facebook, Viber and WhatsApp had all been blocked in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling upholding death sentences for two men convicted of war crimes. But the country’s Telecommunication Regulatory Commission says it accidentally cut off access to the internet across the whole country. The web blackout started at around 13:00 local time and lasted at least 75 minutes, according to the Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star. “We restored the internet as soon as we realised the mistake,” says Shahjahan Mahmood, the commission’s chairman. The messaging services were blocked as originally planned in order to maintain security, he says. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Zoolander 2 Trailer – Paramount Pictures

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#TemporaryFixProject	#InternationalMensDay	#InternationalMensDay
2	#InternationalMensDay	#JaredFogle	#WorldToiletDay
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4	#Empire	#SexyHolidays	Richie McCaw
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7	Marta Domínguez	#TemporaryFixProject	#SixWordSciFi
8	Luis Miguel	#LatinGRAMMY	#juniordoctors
9	#CosasQueTerminanMal	Abdelhamid Abaaoud	Peter Robinson
10	#DiaInternacionalDelHombre	Jimmy Butler	Birms

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Killing of captives by ISIL
- China vows to “bring to justice” those responsible for executing one of its citizens after the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant said it had killed a Chinese hostage. China’s Foreign Ministry also confirms the hostage’s identity for the first time, naming him as Fan Jinghui. (Channel News Asia)
Metrojet Flight 9268
- According to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant‘s official propaganda magazine, a “Schweppes bomb” was used to destroy the Russian airliner. (Reuters)
November 2015 Paris attacks
- The French National Assembly approves President François Hollande‘s request to extend the current state of emergency for three months. The Senate must still approve the measure. (NPR)
- U.S. officials say at least four of the Paris attackers were listed in a central counter-terrorism database maintained by the United States Intelligence Community. (Reuters) (UPI)
- United States authorities report dozens of suspected radicals in the U.S. are under “tight surveillance” to preclude a Paris copycat. Federal officials are aware of a possible second ISIL video threatening Washington, D.C. Again, no credible plot has been identified. The U.S. beieves this is a part of a propaganda campaign to scare the American public. (ABC News)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015)
- A Palestinian kills three people, including an American student and another Palestinian, and injures four others, after opening fire at Israeli cars and then ramming his vehicle into a group of pedestrians, injuring several more near Alon Shvut in the West Bank. (The Times of Israel)
- A Palestinian kills two men and wounds another outside an office building synagogue in southern Tel Aviv. (Ynet), (The Times of Israel)
A gunman shoots dead two Saudi Arabian policemen while they are on patrol in their vehicle in Saihat, located in Saudi Arabia’s restive Eastern Province, which is predominantly Shia. (BBC)
U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehend five Pakistani nationals and one Afghan national trying to sneak into Arizona through the Mexico-U.S. border. (Fox 10 Phoenix)

Arts and culture

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reports more than 500,000 people – a quarter of them children – were homeless this year amid scarce affordable housing across much of the nation. Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Oregon, andHawaii all recently declared emergencies over the rise of homelessness. (Reuters)
16th Annual Latin Grammy Awards
- The Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences members present the Latin Grammy Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Paradise, Nevada. (newser)
  - “Hasta la Raíz” wins Song of the Year and Record of the Year. (ABC News)
  - Todo Tiene Su Hora performed by Juan Luis Guerra wins Album of the Year. (Miami Herald)

Business and economy

The World Economic Forum in its annual Global Gender Gap Report says that it would take 118 years before women and men have equal pay for similar occupations, such as white collar jobs. (BBC), (The Huffington Post), (The Guardian)
The New York State Department of Financial Services fines Barclays $150m (£98.2m) for the way it treated its foreign exchange customers. (The Guardian)

Health and medicine

In connection with World Toilet Day, the United Nations reports that 2.4 billion people lack adequate sanitation, and nearly one billion have no toilet facilities and are forced to relieve themselves in areas without facilities. (AP)
The U.S. clears genetically-modified salmon for human consumption. (Reuters)
The American Medical Association urges Congress and/or the FDA to ban direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs and medical devices. The AMA says that the ads increase demand for inappropriate, expensive treatments even if cheaper ones have the same potentials. (The Washington Post), (The Science Times)

International relations

APEC Philippines 2015
- Asia-Pacific leaders, in the Philippines for the 2015 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, which has been overshadowed by the concurrent Paris attacks, call on governments to urgently increase cooperation in the fight against terrorism.(AP)
- Local labor and farmer groups protest in Manila over talks on inclusive growth during the APEC meeting. (The Economic Times)
A Pew Research Center report finds, from 2009 to 2014, more Mexicans, including unauthorized immigrants, are leaving the United States than entering it. An increasing share of Mexicans says life north of the border is neither better nor worse than life in Mexico. (Reuters)
The United Nations General Assembly humanitarian committee adopts, by a 112-19 vote with 50 abstentions, a resolution that condemns North Korea for gross violations of human rights and supports referring the country and its leaders to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The resolution will be sent to the full General Assembly, where it is expected to pass, given the committee vote. (Reuters via CBS News) (UPI)
The United States State Department expresses deep frustration over the lack of democratic progress in Thailand after last year’s military coup, saying a new constitution there won’t pass the “smell test” unless civil society helps to draft it. (AP) (US Dept of State)

Law and crime

A court sentences former restaurant spokesperson Jared Fogle to over 15 years imprisonment for sex with minors and the possession of child pornography. (NPR)
Convictions for sex offenses against minors accounts for the largest group of military inmates in U.S. military prisons. (AP via The Star Tribune)
Israeli agent Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. intelligence analyst convicted to a life sentence for providing top secret classified information to Israel, will be released on parole Friday after serving 30 years in U.S. federal prison. He will be given an ankle monitor while he completes five years of parole in America. (CNN) (AP) (Jerusalem Post)

Politics and elections

2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference
- A mass rally due to be held on November 29, 2015 in Paris on the eve of climate change talks is called off due to the threat of terrorism. (ABC News)
Peter Robinson announces he will step down as Northern Ireland‘s First Minister and as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party, corresponding with recent tensions in the area and a murder linked with the Irish Republican Army. (ITV News)
The U.S. House of Representatives, defying a veto-threat by President Barack Obama, overwhelmingly passes legislation to suspend the Obama administration’s program to admit 10,000 Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the country. The bill will now face a vote in the U.S. Senate. (Reuters)

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November 20, 2015

Top News Stories –

Indian Railways holds disabled recruitment drive on top floor – with no lifts –
A bid to recruit more disabled employees to work on India’s railways has ended in farce after test centres were set up on the top floors of buildings with no lifts or ramps. Many candidates who arrived at recruitment offices across India on Thursday either had to be carried or drag themselves up the stairs to their designated computers. Some were forced to abandon their applications entirely. [Daily Telegraph]

Vengeful surfer vows to eat the shark that bit him –
Don’t get on the wrong side of Allen Engelman – he has exacted the ultimate revenge on a shark that bit him. The Florida surfer was bitten by a shark, so the next day went out on a vengeful hunt. He killed a shark which he believes to be the same one that bit him. Not only did he kill it, but he now vows to eat it in order to punish the animal for the bite inflicted upon him. The surfer received 15 stitches, and from then on he was hell-bent on revenge. Him and his five-year-old son went back to the beach the following day and caught a shark with the same markings as the one which bit him. [Daily Telegraph]

New York follows UK in banning ‘hoverboards’ in public places –
New York has become the latest city to ban self-balancing scooters, known as “hoverboards”, warning that anyone caught riding them in public places could face a fine of up to $500. The two-wheeled electric vehicles, which use gyroscope technology to keep the rider upright, have exploded in popularity over the last few months – with celebrities including Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, Lily Allen and Jamie Foxx all spotted riding them. However, according to the the New York City Police Department, hoverboards are prohibited by New York state law since they are considered “motor vehicles that cannot be registered with the Department of Motor Vehicles”. [Daily Telegraph] October 21 2015 was the Back to the Future Day that featured real hoverboards

Video of the Day –

Blue Hue
Blue Hue

Top Twitter Trends –

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1	#LatinGrammys2015	#Adele25	#HappyBirthdayMichael
2	#BuenViernes	Mali	#FridayFeeling
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4	Corinthians	#PerfectMomentIn4Words	#Mali
5	基本給	#ThanksgivingIn5Words	Blac Chyna
6	1 in the UK	#JessicaJones	#bbcqt
7	#HappyBirthdayJaxonBieber	Woodrow Wilson	1 in the UK
8	#Mali	#HappyBirthdayMichael	Eddie Jones
9	Hayırlı Cumalar	#TDOR	Katie Hopkins
10	#DosPalabras	Tyga	Baker Street

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Military intervention against ISIL
- Cyprus offers France the use of its airbase facilities to bomb the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant in Syria. Cypriot airbases are being used by British and Canadian air forces. (The Guardian)
Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- Russian warships launch cruise missiles from the Caspian Sea against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant positions in Syria‘s eastern Deir ez-Zor. Russian Defense Minister, Sergey Shoigu, reported over 600 terrorists were killed in the strikes. Video footage also emerged of Russian ground crew servicemen writing the words “For Paris” on bombs to be dropped on ISIL targets in a show of solidarity with France in the wake of the November 13 terror attacks that left 130 people dead in Paris. (RT)(Sky News)
2015 Bamako hotel attack
- Ten gunmen storm the five-star Radisson Blu Hotel in the Malian capital Bamako, taking 170 hostages with at least 27 people killed. The grenade-toting assailants free captives who are able to recite the Quran. The hotel is “often used” by Air Francestaff. (France 24), (NBC News), (The New York Daily News), (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
- Mali security forces launch an assault on the gunmen and all surviving hostages are freed. (UPI) (BBC)
- Mali declares a 10-day state of emergency following the attack. (i24 News)
- African militant jihadist organization Al-Murabitoun and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claim responsibility. (CNN) (Reuters).
Xinjiang conflict
- Chinese security forces have killed 28 members of a supposed terrorist group in the mainly ethnic Uyghur Xinjiang region. (BBC)
November 2015 Paris attacks
- Officials report three people died in the Saint-Denis raid. The body of a second woman is found at the apartment where a woman and Paris attacks ringleader Abdelhamid Abaaoud were killed. (Sky News)
- The French Senate approves President François Hollande’s request to extend the state of emergency until the end of February 2016. The National Assembly passed the three-month extension yesterday. (AP) (Radio France Internationale)
- Fugitive ISIS gunman Salah Abdeslam called three friends saying he is hiding in the Brussels area and is desperately trying to get to ISIS territory in Syria. He said local ISIS members are unhappy with him since he failed to detonate his suicide vest. His brother Mohamed Abdeslam has publicly pleaded with Salah to turn himself in. (ABC News)
A newly released ISIS video threatens attacks on the White House in the U.S., monuments in France, U.S. President Obama, French President François Hollande, and targets in Italy. (Reuters) (CNN)
Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- Two attacks on security checkpoints by ISIS militants in Yemen‘s historic Shibam town and Al Qatn District in the central Hadhramaut Governorate leave at least 15 pro-Hadi government soldiers dead. (The National)

Art and culture

A New York City businesswoman, who wanted to bring a “grander scale” to her yearly charitable giving, bought a toy store’s entire inventory to donate to homeless kids. (UPI)
The world’s second-largest diamond of gem quality, Karowe AK6, is found in the Karowe mine located north of the Botswanan capital Gaborone by the Lucara Diamond Corp. The 1,111-carat diamond is second only to the 3,106-carat Cullinan diamond (Star of Africa) found in South Africa in 1905. (Forbes)

Business and economy

Britain’s National Union of Journalists announces a strike against the Financial Times, protesting the changes in pension arrangements since the acquisition of the FT by a Japanese media group, Nikkei. (BBC)

International relations

European migrant crisis
- Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, and Slovenia shut their borders to so-called economic migrants, those not coming from war-torn countries such as Syria, Afghanistan, or Iraq, leaving thousands stranded at Balkan border crossings. Around 500 migrants fromIran, Morocco, and Algeria gather on the border between Greece and Macedonia to protest the closure. (The Irish Independent)
- European Union ministers, in light of the attacks in Paris last week, gather in Brussels for an emergency security summit on the need to strengthen border checks on travelers. (AFP via NDTV)
- French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said some of the Paris attackers exploited Europe’s refugee crisis to “slip in” to France unnoticed. Valls warns the passport-free Schengen zone is at risk if Europe fails to “take responsibility” over border controls. (Sky News)
North Korea–South Korea relations
- North Korea and South Korea agree to hold talks next week. (Yonhap)

Law and crime

Sweden‘s national security service Säpo are questioning terrorist suspect Moder Mothama Magid, a 22-year-old Iraqi, who is accused of planning to launch a terror attack on the Swedish capital Stockholm. (Local)
The family of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who saved tens of thousands of Jews from the Holocaust only to languish in a Russian prison, have asked authorities to officially declare him dead. (Times of Israel)
The United States releases on parole convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, a former U.S. intelligence analyst, who served 30 years in federal prison. His parole, approved on July 28, 2015, is for five years during which time he has to remain in the United States. A supporter said Pollard will have a curfew and will wear a GPS unit. (The Globe and Mail) (The Globe and Mail-2)
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Pollard’s lawyers, two Democratic members of Congress from New York, Eliot Engel and Jerrold Nadler, and others have requested Pollard be able to travel immediately to Israel so he can live with his family. The White House has said it has no intention of altering the conditions of Pollard’s parole. (The Globe and Mail)
The U.S. Justice Department files criminal charges against three individuals and three companies–Black Elk, Grand Isle Shipyard and oil field services company Wood Group–in connection with a 2012 oil platform incident in the Gulf of Mexico that left three workers dead. The charges range from manslaughter to violations of the federal Clean Water Act. (UPI)
USPlabs and S.K. Laboratory are indicted following a U.S. Department of Justice investigation finds synthetic ingredients manufactured in China were added to workout boosters and weight-loss products the firms claimed to be natural. Supplements from these companies were previously implicated in consumer illnesses and death. Several other defendants from the companies face additional charges. (Military Times)

Politics and elections

New Zealand flag referendum
- The first stage of the voting process to potentially select a new flag of New Zealand starts. (BBC)

Science and technology

NASA orders its first commercial crew mission from private company SpaceX. (The Verge)
A jury in a Texas federal court finds for Apple Inc., in a lawsuit brought against Apple by a subsidiary of Pendrell Corporation. Pendrell has charged that Apple infringed patents on techniques that help restrict the use of web content to authorized persons, i.e.anti-piracy software. (Reuters)

Sport

Russian pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva, who has two Olympic gold medals and 30 world records, told Sky News she is going to fight for what she believes to be her right to compete at the 2016 Olympics. She calls on the IAAF, at the world governing track and field organization’s annual meeting on 26 November, to rescind their ban on clean Russian athletes. (Sky News)
In association football, Corinthians win their sixth Campeonato Brasileiro Série A title with four games remaining of the season. (Yahoo! via AFP)

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November 21, 2015

Top News Stories –

Ban bathtubs, says Sweden’s ‘green king’ –
The king of Sweden wants to ban all bath-tubs in an effort to save water. King Carl XVI Gustaf, who in recent years has put past scandals relating to his reputation as a lothario behind him to become better known as a dedicated environmentalist, has given a frank interview to describe his determination to turn the royal palace in Stockholm green. He also suggested that having given up taking baths himself his people should follow where he has led. “We should ban all baths, imagine that,” he said when asked about his suggestions for everyday energy saving. The question arose when he confessed he had recently been forced to run himself a bath when staying somewhere that lacked showers. “That’s when it hit me how much water and energy it used,” he said. “I thought ‘I can’t believe I’m having to do this’. I felt quite ashamed.” [Daily Telegraph]
King Carl Gustaf

Video of the Day –

Fire Tornado in Slow Motion – The Slow Mo Guys

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#2016IsZaynsYear	Justin and Selena	Red Cadeaux
2	#ALDUBSumptuousLunch	#ElClasico	#Blogfest15
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7	#ElClasico	Bulls	#ElClasico
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9	Liverpool	Les Miles	Justin and Selena
10	MAÑANA CAMBIEMOS	#HelloBtchzItsCL	Liverpool

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2015 Brussels lockdown
- Belgium raises its terror alert level to the highest level in the capital Brussels and deploys soldiers on the streets of major Belgian cities such as Brussels, Antwerp and Ghent. As part of the emergency measures, the Belgian government is advising people in the Brussels area to avoid crowded places, which includes concerts, train stations, airports, public transportation, and busy shopping streets, warning of an “imminent threat”. (France 24) (BNO News)
- The Brussels Metro is closed as part of the state of alert. (Reuters via Daily Mail)
November 2015 Paris attacks
- Recruitment in the French Army increases after the attacks. (Channel News Asia)
- Ahmet Dahmani is detained by Turkish police in the resort of Antalya on suspicion of being an ISIL scout ahead of the Paris attacks. (Sky News)
- French police release seven of the eight people arrested during Wednesday’s raid of a flat where the suspected mastermind of the Paris attacks was hiding. The man who said he was in charge of the property is still being held. (Reuters)
2015 Bamako hotel attack
- Olivier Salgado, a spokesman for the U.N. mission in Mali, says at least 19 people were killed in the attack along with two of the attackers. Earlier reports indicated that 27 people died. (CNN)
Ukrainian crisis
- Crimea is without power after transmission towers in Ukraine‘s Kherson Oblast were blown up by unknown people. The Crimean Emergencies Ministry declares a state of emergency due to the power outage and puts rescue teams on high alert. (RT)
Boko Haram insurgency
- A suicide bomb attack in Fotokol, a town in Cameroon‘s Far North Region near the Nigerian border kills at least nine people. (Daily Mail)

Arts and culture

British singer Adele‘s album 25 is released. (Billboard)
Miss World 2015
- Miss World Canada Anastasia Lin says that she is prevented from competing in China by the Chinese authorities after she spoke up against human rights abuses in the country. (BBC)
Muslim cleric Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the head of al-Azhar in Egypt, says violence has no link to authentic Islam, terrorism is a life philosophy whose adherents were willing to die and is an intellectual and psychological disease that uses religion as a front.(Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

Seven people, including the pilot, are killed in a helicopter crash on Fox Glacier in New Zealand. (stuff.co.nz)
A fire in a coal mine in China‘s northeast Heilongjiang province results in 21 deaths and one person missing. (AP)
Hpakant jade mine disaster
- A landslide near a jade mine in northern Myanmar kills up to 60 people with more than a hundred missing. (AP via ABC News America)
The U.S. Geological Survey reports a magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck the central Chilean coast, south of the town of Coquimbo, at 6:05 PM EST. No immediate reports of damage or casualties; no tsunami alerts are in effect. (Reuters) (BNO News)(USGS)

Health and medicine

Research conducted by Columbus, Ohio’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital and published in the American Journal of Epidemiology suggests moderate caffeine consumption during pregnancy does not harm a baby’s future intelligence or behavioral health.(UPI)

International relations

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- Japan‘s prime minister Shinzō Abe says he is considering sending Japanese Navy warships to the South China Sea to back-up U.S. naval operations, saying, “With regard to activity by the Self-Defense Forces in the South China Sea, I will consider it while focusing on what effect the situation has on Japan’s security.” In response, China‘s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, Hong Lei, told Chinese state media that China will remain on “high alert for intervention by Japan in the South China Sea issue”. (Bloomberg) (The Diplomat)
Reactions to the November 2015 Paris attacks
- Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak denounces the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant as an “evil” terrorist group. He said his Muslim-majority country is ready to join others to defeat it, cautioning that a military solution alone is not enough and that it is also necessary to vanquish the ideology of the group. (AP via Fresno Bee)
Refugee crises
- United States President Barack Obama vows to keep United States borders open to refugees, “as long as I’m president,” as he visited a Malaysian humanitarian center and met migrant children, many of whom escaped violence in homelands that includeMyanmar, Pakistan, and Syria. (UPI)

Law and crime

A student, whose disappearance with a gun caused the precautionary closing of Washington College in Maryland (U.S.) this week, is found dead in Pennsylvania of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The campus will reopen after Thanksgiving. (Washington Post) (Washington College)

Politics and elections

Elections in the United States; Louisiana gubernatorial election, 2015
- Democratic state Representative John Bel Edwards, the surprise winner of the October 24 open primary, is elected governor of Louisiana over Republican U.S. Senator David Vitter. Edwards’ margin is 140,931 votes (56.11 percent), all 3,945 precincts reporting. Edwards will replace former Republican presidential candidate Bobby Jindall, who was not eligible to seek another term. (NOLA.com) (Washington Post)
- Republican David Vitter says he will not run for reelection to the U.S. Senate in 2016. (AP)

Sport

In motor sport, the team of Timo Bernhard, Brendon Hartley and Mark Webber win the FIA World Endurance Championship. (Reuters via Yahoo News Australia)
In baseball, South Korea defeats the United States in the 2015 WBSC Premier12. (Yahoo Sports)
Boxing
- Anthony Crolla of England wins the World Boxing Association lightweight title defeating Darleys Perez in a title fight in Manchester. (BBC)
- Saúl Álvarez of Mexico defeats Miguel Cotto of Mexico to win the World Boxing Council middleweight championship. (AP)
Ireland beat Australia in the 2015 International Rules Series at Croke Park. (Guardian)
The Athens derby match between Superleague Greece’s top two football teams, Panathinaikos and Olympiakos Piraeus, is called off before play could start. There were scuffles between riot police and fans outside the Apostolos Nikolaidis Stadium. Flares were also tossed onto the pitch. (Reuters)
Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao F.C. win the AFC Champions League for their second time, after defeating Al-Ahli in the final. (Channel News Asia)

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November 23, 2015

Top News Stories –

Belgians tweet cat pictures during #BrusselsLockdown –
On Sunday night, as a major anti-terror police operation was under way in Brussels, authorities asked the public to not report officers’ movements online. The Belgian capital has been on lockdown since Saturday amid a search for suspected Paris attacks gunman Salah Abdeslam. On Twitter, the hashtag #BrusselsLockdown had been the term of choice for people discussing the raids. But on Sunday night, the term was overtaken by Twitter users posting pictures and videos of cats, to make sure that any leaking of operational details were drowned out. After the raids, and the arrest of 16 people across the country, authorities thanked Belgians for their co-operation:”To all the cats who helped us last night: help yourselves! #BrusselsLockdown” [BBC]
Jayce le Satirique tweet

Sepp Blatter says he was close to death after being taken to hospital earlier this month –
Sepp Blatter has said he was “close to dying” upon being hospitalised this month following a health scare. The Fifa president, who is facing a multi-year ban from football and is currently serving a 90-day provisional suspension, spent several days being treated for stress before being discharged from hospital a week and a half ago. In his first interview since his release, the 79-year-old told Swiss broadcaster RTS: “I was close to dying. I was between the angels who were singing and the devil who was lighting the fire, but it was the angels who sang. [Daily Telegraph]

Genetically modified mosquito no longer infects humans with malaria –
A mosquito has been genetically modified so that it can no longer pass on malaria to humans in a breakthrough which could save millions of lives. The insect was biologically engineered by scientists to produce antibodies that interfere with the malaria parasite’s life cycle and prevent it being transmitted. Importantly, the heritable trait was passed on to 99.5 per cent of the mosquito’s offspring, a result described as ‘astonishing’ by the scientists. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Wizard Cops

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	La Nación	#BlackFridayIn3Words	#mondaymotivation
2	#FelizLunes	#mondaymotivation	#AMAs
3	#قبيله_تحبها_و�…	Anti-Muslim Is Anti-American	#LoveSUs
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6	#AMAs	Prince Charles	#OddThingsToFindInBed
7	#SurvivorSeries	Amanda Blackburn	Jon Snow
8	The Weeknd	Bill Walton	The Sun
9	LACRE DO ANO EU FUI	Les Miles	#BrusselsLockdown
10	Camren e Larry	#MarathonsICouldFinish	#AskBoris

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Maguindanao massacre
- Human rights activists and families of the victims decry the lack of justice six years after the murder of around 58 people, including journalists and politicians, in Maguindanao, Mindanao. They criticize the regime of Philippines President Benigno Aquino IIIfor the lack of convictions in the trial. (ABC News), (Voice of America), (Fox News)
Israeli-Palestinian conflict (2015)
- A Palestinian kills a 20 year-old Israeli and wounds two women in a stabbing attack at a gas station near the town of Modi’in; the Palestinian assailant is shot and killed by an officer at the scene. (Ynet News) (Times of Israel)
- Two Palestinian teenage girls, ages 14 and 16, use scissors to stab a 70-year-old Palestinian man whom they misidentified as an Israeli, and other Israeli civilians, near Jerusalem’s Mahane Yehuda market; one of the attackers is killed and the other wounded while being subdued, and an Israeli civilian is wounded by police gunfire. (Times of Israel)

Business and economy

American pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Allergan, Plc announce plans to merge to form a $220 billion company, the world’s largest drug company. (The Washington Post)

Disasters and accidents

An explosion at Japan’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine for the war dead in Tokyo damages the ceiling and a wall of a public bathroom near the shrine’s southern entrance. No one was injured. (Japan Times) (AP via ABC News)
Seven people are feared dead after a helicopter crashes in the Indian town of Katra, Jammu and Kashmir, near the Hindu shrine of Vaishno Devi. (NDTV)
A U.S. Apache helicopter crashes in South Korea‘s Gangwon Province, killing the pilot and one crew member. (Reuters)
A highway traffic accident due west of Mexico City kills 20 people and injures at least 15 others. (Reuters)
All four crew members aboard a United States military helicopter (UH-60) are killed when their chopper crashes at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. (NBC News)

International relations

The United States issues a worldwide travel alert due to heightened activity by Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (aka Da’esh/ISIS), Boko Haram, al-Qa’ida and other terrorist groups through February 24, 2016. (US State Department)

Politics and elections

Hong Kong local elections, 2015
- Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement gets a boost with Umbrella Soldiers winning at least four seats in Sunday’s election although the distribution of political power over the district council seats remains broadly the same vis-a-vis the Hong Kong local elections, 2011. (Reuters) (AFP via Yahoo)

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November 25, 2015

Top News Stories –

Adele’s album 25 breaks US record previously held by *NSYNC –
It’s not that much of a surprise, it was widely predicted, but Adele’s new album is doing quite well (understatement.) It’s broken the record for first week album sales in the US, selling 2.4 million copies since Friday.
The record was previously held by boy band *NSYNC and their second album, No Strings Attached, from 2000. Adele won’t be making the album available on music streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music for now.
It takes a powerful artist to still do well despite not being on the big streaming services. Taylor Swift did it last year, withdrawing her material from Spotify. [BBC Newsbeat]
Adele

The condom challenge is the latest bizarre trend sweeping the internet –
It’s been at least a few weeks since the last ridiculous internet trend, so let us introduce the condom challenge. In apparent homage to the long-forgotten Ice Bucket Challenge, the new trend involves people filling up condoms with water and dropping it on the head of a friend, significant other or loved one. Videos of people dropping condoms full of water have been flooding social media feeds in recent weeks. [Daily Telegraph]
Condom Challenge

Queen asks judges to decide if DNA evidence can ‘uncover affair’ in Scottish hereditary title dispute –
Accountant Murray Pringle, 74, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, and Simon Pringle, 56, a businessman who lives near Hastings, East Sussex, both lay claim to the baronetcy of Pringle of Stichill. The Queen has asked senior judges to make a decision on the dispute under a piece of legislation dating back more than 150 years. The men are both members of a Scottish family fighting over the rights to the baronetcy. Seven judges are now analysing evidence at a hearing of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. The hearing was expected to finish on Wednesday but judges, who are all Supreme Court justices, are not expected to publish a ruling until next year. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Happy Place from sharp & jenkins on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#NoalaViolenciadeGenero	Stedman Bailey	Civil War
2	#LaquanMcDonald	Civil War	#spendingreview
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9	#WelcomeToMexico1D	Happy Thanksgiving Eve	Roma
10	Civil War	#8MonthsWithoutZayn	#ThanksgivingClapBack

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir
- Insurgents attack an Indian Army base in northern Kashmir. At least three attackers are killed. (NDTV) (Reuters)
Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- Russian Defense Minister, Sergey Shoigu, says Russia will deploy its S-400 defense missile system at the Khmeimim Air Base in Syria‘s Latakia Governorate. (RT)
- Several trucks are left burning at a rebel-run border crossing on the Syrian-Turkish border after a Russian airstrike hit what was reported to be an aid convoy in the town of Azaz. At least seven people are reportedly killed. (Reuters) (Daily Sabah)
Balochistan conflict
- Unidentified gunmen abduct 22 passengers from a coach in Kandasool near the city of Pasni. (Daily Times)
Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present)
- The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claim responsibility for yesterday’s attack on Tunisia‘s presidential guard in Tunis that killed 14 people. (AP)
Germany will deploy up to 650 troops to Mali as part of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Mali (MINUSMA). (The Daily Star)
Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- The United Arab Emirates has recruited several hundred Central and South American mercenaries to fight the Houthis in Yemen. (New York Times)
November 2015 Paris attacks
- The French Senate votes 325-0 to extend the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. (AP)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- Several American personnel are suspended after an official report finds that human error was to blame for an airstrike on a Doctors without Borders hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz in October that killed 30 people. No criminal charges were filed.(CNN)

Arts and culture

An 18th-century pink Indian diamond worth at least $5 million and a Cartier diamond tiara are discovered in the jewelry recovered from Imelda Marcos. (The Guardian)
The Gambia bans female genital mutilation with President Yahya Jammeh saying it is not required in Islam. (BBC)

Business and economics

The new 20 euro note, the third in the Europa series, enters into circulation today. The European Central Bank says the banknote has a “refreshed look and more vibrant colours,” and includes a new kind of security feature: a “portrait window” near the top of the hologram stripe which becomes transparent when seen against the light. (Sofia Globe)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 Australian bushfire season
- A bushfire burns out of control near the South Australian town of Wasleys with authorities warning of significant risk to lives and property. Two deaths have been confirmed with another person feared dead, (ABC News Australia), (ABC News)

Health and medicine

Pope Francis’ 2015 visit to North America
- A one-year old baby girl with an apparently incurable illness, who was kissed by Pope Francis during his visit to Philadelphia in September, gets MRI results showing her brain tumor has shrunk significantly. Some friends and family call it the “Miracle onMarket Street.” (NBC News) (Philadephia Daily News

International relations

Russia–Ukraine gas disputes
- Russia‘s Gazprom halts gas supplies to Ukraine until the Ukrainian government pays in advance for future supplies to replenish the current supplies of gas that it has used up; Ukraine says it has stopped buying from Gazprom because it can get cheaper gas from Europe. Roughly 15% of the gas used in Europe travels through Ukraine, and a previous cut-off of gas supplies in 2009 caused serious disruptions in shipments to EU countries at the height of winter. (Sky News) (BBC)
Ukraine bans all Russian planes from using its airspace. (BBC)
Pope Francis’ 2015 visit to Africa
- Pope Francis makes his first official visit to Africa. (Reuters)
- Francis encourages Kenyans to work for peace and forgiveness amid a wave of extremist violence on the continent which has threatened to disrupt his trip. His six-day pilgrimage will also take him to Uganda and the Central African Republic. (AP via The Salt Lake Tribune)
The Associated Press reports that Russia’s crackdown on Muslims is fueling their exodus to ISIS. For example, Russia’s southernmost republic of Dagestan keeps devout Muslims under surveillance, routinely raids their homes, and hauls them to police stations to give DNA samples and fingerprints. Regional police say nearly a third of the estimated 3,000 Russians who are believed to have gone to fight alongside IS militants in Syria are from Dagestan. The AP added, “Few efforts are made by Russian authorities to stop young men from leaving.” (AP)
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctions Syrian businessman George Haswani who “serves as a middleman” for oil purchases by the Syrian government from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. His company, an engineering and construction firm, is also sanctioned. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Former world cruiserweight boxing champion O’Neil Bell is shot to death in a robbery in the American city of Atlanta, Georgia. (Daily Mail)
Sergey Mironov, leader of the Russian opposition party, A Just Russia, submits a bill to the State Duma on holding to account anyone who denies that the 1915 mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turkish forces was a “genocide”. (Reuters)
General Motors ignition switch scandal
- U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman rules General Motors Co., and its outside law firm King & Spalding, do not have to turn over lawyer-client documents from previously settled ignition switch lawsuits to plaintiffs’ lawyers in pending cases. (The Detriot News)

Sports

Ukrainian marathon runner Tetyana Hamera-Shmyrko is given a four-year ban for a doping offence. (AP)
Former U.S National Football League star, Frank Gifford, who died last August at age 84, suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a brain disease linked to head injuries commonly found in football, Gifford’s family announced. (CNN)(New York Times)

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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
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4	#BienvenidoDiciembre	#BreakUpIn5Words	#GivingTuesday
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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)

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December 2, 2015

Top News Stories –

British parliament votes to bomb Islamic State in Syria –
Britain’s parliament voted on Wednesday to launch bombing raids against Islamic State in Syria, supporting Prime Minister David Cameron’s case that the country needs to help destroy militants who are “plotting to kill us”. After more than 10 hours of tense debate, lawmakers voted in favour of air strikes, by 397 to 223. British Tornado GR4 bombers could leave an air base in Cyprus within hours to launch the country’s latest military action in the Middle East. [Reuters] See Top Twitter Trends.
David Cameron

Video of the Day –

The Dreams of an Astronaut – with Helen Sharman from The Royal Institution on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SyriaVote	#SyriaVote	#terroristsympathiser
2	JELENA IS BACK	#SanBernadino	#SyriaVote
3	男根のメタファー	Samurai Jack	Gary Neville
4	#معلمه_تعض_تلم�…	#MillenialChristmasSongs	Mark Zuckerberg
5	#MAMA2015	#WeLoveYouLiam	#GeordieShore
6	Gary Neville	#FirstDraftCartoons	#RSAMake
7	#MeSobraTalentoPara	Sandy Hook	#TWU15
8	#FNS歌謡祭	Inland Regional Center	#NUSNEC
9	DEMI LOVATO CONFIDENT	#CelebrityChristmasCarols	#AAOOD3
10	#زد_رصيدك19	#CMTAOTY	Stella Creasy

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War, Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- Russia expands its military presence in Syria with an additional airbase that can accommodate fixed-winged military aircraft. The U.S. Department of Defense also confirms that Russia added S-400 surface-to-air missiles to its Syrian stockpile and armed its military aircraft with air-to-air missiles. According to Military Times, “A Pentagon spokesman expressed concern” these moves indicate Russia’s commitment to aiding the embattled Assad regime as opposed to combating ISIL. No Syrian opposition groups including ISIL have combat-ready aircraft that require air-to-air missiles. (Fox News) (Military Times)
Yemeni Civil War (2015), Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen
- Al-Qaeda militants seize control of Zinjibar, capital of Yemen‘s southern Abyan Governorate, as well as the town of Jaʿār, following fierce clashes with pro-Hadi government forces. (CNN)
2015 West African offensive, Islamist insurgency in Nigeria
- Cameroon’s army, backed by a regional taskforce, has killed at least 100 members of the militant Islamist Boko Haram group and freed 900 people it had held hostage, the west African country’s defence ministry has said. Regional taskforce conducts sweep along border with Nigeria. (The Guardian), (Yahoo news),
Military intervention against ISIL
- The Parliament of the United Kingdom votes 397-223 to authorize Royal Air Force air strikes on ISIL in Syria. (The Journal)
2015 San Bernardino shooting
- As many as three people open fire in San Bernadino, California (U.S.) at a center for people with developmental disabilities, killing at least 14 people and injuring 14 others in what the city’s police chief described as an act of domestic terrorism.(Reuters), (Los Angeles Times), (AFP via The Australian), (CNN), (Fox News), (The Washington Post)
- A second shooting incident near 1757 Richardson in San Bernardino unfolded around 3:00 p.m. PST, with police requesting a BearCat and medical assistance. A suspect was shot on-scene around 3:16 p.m. PST and another taken into custody shortly afterwards. (The New York Times), (Los Angeles Times)

Arts and culture

The Institute of Contemporary History in Munich announces a publication of a two-volume set of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. The new edition, which contains 3,500 scholarly annotations, is intended, The New York Times reports, “To set the work in historical context, to show how Hitler wove truth with half-truth and outright lie, and thus to defang any propagandistic effect while revealing Nazism.” This is the first printing in Germany since the end of World War II. (The New York Times) (The Week)

Business and economics

Janet L. Yellen, chairperson of the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank, states that economic conditions improved to the point where a rise in the Fed’s benchmark interest rate is likely when the Federal Open Market Committee meets in mid-December. (New York Times)

Disasters and accidents

2015 South Indian floods
- Days of heavy rain in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu causes floods with many areas in the city of Chennai under water. The death toll from rain-related incidents has reached 188. (The Hindu)
- The Indian Navy and Army are conducting rescue operations in low lying areas. (NDTV)
- India’s National Disaster Response Force sends 600 officers to Chennai to assist. (IBN Live)

International relations

Hearings begin in the legal battle between the Japanese government and local officials in Okinawa over plans to move a U.S. military air base on the southern island. This fall, Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga revoked his predecessor’s authorization for aUS Marine Corps air base. (AP) (Financial Times)
Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha orders officials to improve aviation safety standards after the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded Thailand’s safety ratings. The lower rating is for failure to tackle commercial aviation standards shortcomings found in an audit this year. The European Aviation Safety Agency is due to announce the results of its own audit later in December. (Reuters)
Enlargement of NATO
- NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announces the invitation sent to Montenegro to join the military alliance, 16 years after the alliance bombed the country, as part of Yugoslavia, in the Kosovo War. Montenegro’s accession would result in “retaliatory actions”, according to a spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin. (BBC News) (CNN)
Kuril Islands dispute
- Russia is reportedly constructing hundreds of buildings for military use on the disputed Kunashir and Iturup islands in the Sea of Okhotsk. The Russian Defence Ministry said the new military buildings would help “raise the combat readiness of troops on the eastern frontiers of Russia”. (The Japan Times)

Law and crime

Four men, alleged jihadists from Kosovo are arrested, three in Italy and one in Kosovo, for making nonspecific threats against Pope Francis and the former U.S. Ambassador to Kosovo. The men are described by police as highly dangerous and as having celebrated the November 2015 Paris attacks. (The Independent, via MSN)

Politics and elections

Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah rejects a cabinet reshuffle ordered by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, another sign of the deepening rift between the two leaders. These problems started in March after the president appointed the minister of health as acting foreign minister without consulting the prime minister. (Reuters)
Myanmar general election, 2015
- Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi discusses the smooth transfer of power to her National League for Democracy (NLD) party with President Thein Sein, their first public meeting since the November election. The new administration will be sworn in early next year. (Reuters)
2015 protests in Brazil
- Brazil‘s lower house of Congress opens impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff over a corruption scandal involving the state-owned oil giant, Petrobras. (BBC)

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December 4, 2015

Top News Stories –

British astronaut set to be the first man to run a marathon in space –
A British astronaut is set to become the first man to run a marathon in space. Tim Peake is due to take on 26.2 miles on a tredmill at the same time as the London Marathon in April 2016. This will make him the first person to run a marathon in space. He is due to blast off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on December 15 and will stay in space for 173 days until June 5 next year. He will be attached to the treadmill when he takes on the marathon by a harness in order to combat weightlessness and will be watching a video of the London course on a big screen. [Daily Telegraph]
Timothy Peake

Norway newspaper publishes Father Christmas ‘obituary’ –
A Norwegian newspaper has apologised to its readers after publishing a death notice for “Father Christmas”. The fictional death announcement was for “Dear Father Christmas, born 12 December 1788”, said to have died on 3 December in Nordkapp, Norway’s northernmost point. The funeral was to be held on 28 December at the “North Pole Chapel”. Norway’s second-biggest selling newspaper blamed an error in its internal procedures. Aftenposten said it had removed the classified advertisement from its website after it was made aware of its error. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Snow Cat – Simon’s Cat (A Festive Special)

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#WelcomeToBrazilJackAndJack	#NationalCookieDay	#FridayFeeling
2	#زد_رصيدك21	#FlashbackFriday	#StormDesmond
3	#SextaDetremuraSdv	#FridayFeeling	#FutureBook15
4	#FridayFeeling	Scott Weiland	#Forthroadbridge
5	#1DLateLateShow	Stitches	#facebookdown
6	#الهلال_نجران	#TwitterAwakens	Psychonauts 2
7	Scott Weiland	#pitmad	#NationalCookieDay
8	#الحضن_علاج_ول�…	#BlueNeighbourhood	Scott Weiland
9	#BuenViernes	#1DLateLateShow	#SAScon
10	#라고_말하던_시절��…	#Canathon	#TheWiz

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- At least 12 people are killed in a mortar attack in Afghanistan‘s central Wardak province. (Tolo News)
Military intervention against ISIL
- In an act of solidarity with France following the Paris massacre, Germany’s parliament (the Bundestag) approves measures to move past the military’s primary defensive role, to send six of its 29 operational, yet aged, Tornado reconnaissance aircraft, and as many as 1,200 soldiers to support the coalition missions against Islamic State militants in Syria. The airplanes will be limited to support activities; they will not fly combat missions. (The Los Angeles Times), (Reuters), (CNN)
2015 San Bernardino shooting
- Tashfeen Malik, the female suspect in the San Bernadino, California shootings reportedly pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant online. (BBC)
2015 Cairo restaurant fire
- At least 16 people are killed after a firebomb is thrown into a restaurant in the Egyptian capital of Cairo. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2015 South Indian floods
- Many parts of Chennai still remain flooded, including almost all of South Chennai. Food and other basics are in short supply throughout the city. (The Times of India)

Law and crime

The Obama Administration and the International Rescue Committee ask a federal judge to reject attempts by Texas to block Syrian refugees from resettling in the state. Later, the Texas Attorney General withdraws the state’s December 2, 2015, request for atemporary restraining order. (The New York Daily News), (AP via The Washington Post)
The U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear an appeal case concerning Puerto Rico‘s restructuring of debt. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Shi Taifeng is named Acting Governor of Jiangsu province in China, replacing Li Xueyong, who retired due to age. (Sina)

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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 –

	Worldwide	USA	Australia (UK not available)
1	#6DCambiemosVzla	Happy Hanukkah	#tob15
2	#زد_رصيدك23	Ayesha Curry	#WSWvBRI
3	Ayesha Curry	#beforeandafter1d	#CODWorldLeague
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

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 –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SegundaComOClubeSDV	#ReasonWhyWeAreNotFriends	#TurnerPrize
2	#ReasonWhyWeAreNotFriends	#HackAHairDryer	#mondaymotivation
3	#زد_رصيدك24	#NuevaAsamblea	#TCDisrupt
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
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 –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#TercaDeSDVNoClubeDaTAG	#VSFashionShow	Eagles of Death Metal
2	#ToHellAndBack	#JohnLennon	Donald Trump
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4	#CartaDoTemer	#HappyBirthdayNickiMinaj	#HappyBirthdayNickiMinaj
5	#PSYAwkward	Don’t Glorify This Tragedy	#CutTheCosts
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8	#ALDUBPromiseRing	#TrumpIsDisqualifiedParty	#TravelTuesday
9	#커피를_마셨다로_��…	#HANGOUTFEST	#MadeInChelsea
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
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
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10	#ALDUBIkawAtAko	#SmallzysMerrySOSmas	#thatssolastcentury

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)

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December 13, 2015

Top News Stories –

Ed Sheeran ‘quits’ social media –
Singer Ed Sheeran has announced he is “taking a break” from social media as he is “seeing the world through a screen and not my eyes”. Writing on his Instagram account, the singer explained he was “taking the opportunity of not having to be anywhere… to travel the world”. He also confirmed to fans that his third album is “on its way” and “is the best thing I have made thus far”. Sheeran has 16 million Twitter and 5.5 million Instagram followers. He has just completed a world tour of his number one album x (pronounced “multiply”) in Auckland, New Zealand. Before the final show, he also tweeted that he was “buggering off for a while”. [BBC]

Ed Sheeran

UFC 194: Conor McGregor knocks out Jose Aldo after 13 seconds –
Conor McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo after just 13 seconds at UFC 194 to win the featherweight title in Las Vegas. Irishman McGregor, 27, beat the long-time champion by landing a strong left hand with his first connecting punch to secure the fastest ever knockout in a UFC title fight. McGregor claimed in the build up to the fight that he would “embarrass” Aldo with a first-round knockout. “Precision beats power, timing beats speed,” McGregor said afterwards. “I feel for Jose. He’s a phenomenal champion. He deserved to go a little bit longer.” It was also Brazilian Aldo’s first defeat in 10 years after winning 18 straight fights. [BBC]
Conor McGregor

Video of the Day –

Tiny Hamster Agility Course – Dumptruck Vs Porkchop

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#زد_رصيدك30	#ExplainAFilmPlotBadly	#HappyBirthdayTaylor
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10	#اريد_من_الوزي�…	Bucks	Robert Dyas

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in North-West Pakistan
- At least 25 people are killed and dozens injured in a bombing at a second-hand clothes market in the city of Parachinar in the Kurram Valley. (Pakistan Tribune) (The News)
Syrian Civil War
- Syrian rebels fire volleys of mortar shells into Damascus, killing three people and wounding at least 30. Government forces respond with airstrikes into rebel-controlled Douma, just northeast of the capital, and surface-to-surface missiles into Eastern Ghouta and Saqba, that kill at least 35 people and injure many more, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (AP via The Washington Post) (Reuters)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- Israel says an Arab-Israeli man who served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has joined Islamic State militants in Syria. (Reuters)
2015 Burundian unrest
- The U.S. State Department issues a travel advisory for Burundi and advises its citizens there to leave as soon as possible due to the increased violence in the capital Bujumbura where 87 people were killed this weekend. Families of U.S. government personnel and non-emergency personnel have been ordered to leave immediately. (UPI) (US State)
Gaza–Israel conflict
- Israeli Air Force planes hit two Hamas targets in Gaza in retaliation for rocket fire from the Palestinian territory. (Ynet News) (The Times of israel)

Disasters and accidents

At least 23 patients are killed and 23 injured in a psychiatric hospital fire in the Voronezh Oblast in western Russia. The remaining 24 patients were safely evacuated. (ABC News America) (AP via The Charlotte Observer)

International relations

European migration crisis
- On the eve of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party’s convention in Karlsruhe, Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel says, “We want to noticeably reduce the number of people who come to us, but not through unilateral national measures alone.” She acknowledges the crisis could overwhelm Germany if it went on much longer. Merkel warded off pressure from immigration skeptics within the CDU to include a quota in the refugee policy motion the convention will vote on. (Jerusalem Post)(Bloomberg) (Reuters via International Business Times) (The Financial Times)
Russia–Turkey relations
- A Russian warship fires warning shots at a Turkish vessel in the Aegean Sea to “avoid a collision”, according to the Russian Defence Ministry. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Houston mayoral election, 2015
- Veteran Texas lawmaker Sylvester Turner edges out businessman Bill King by just over 4,000 votes in Houston’s runoff mayoral election. Turner, a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives since 1989, took 51 percent of the vote. King conceded defeat and encouraged Houston citizens to support the incoming mayor. Turner succeeds Annise Parker who was not eligible to run for re-election. (Reuters) (KHOU)
Saudi Arabian municipal elections, 2015
- Unofficial results show at least 17 Saudi Arabian women won municipal council seats in the kingdom’s third-ever election, and the first to allow female participation. Voters elected representatives for two thirds of the municipal council seats. The government announced that 979 women were candidates. (Reuters) (NPR) (Daily Pakistan)
French regional elections, 2015
- With most of the votes counted, the opposition conservatives of former president Nicolas Sarkozy’s party win in six of the country’s 13 regions and lead in the Paris region. The ruling Socialists of President François Hollande’s party capture five regions. The winner in Corsica is not affiliated with a major party. France’s far-right National Front (FN) fails to win a single region but did record its best showing in its history. Voter turnout was 58 percent. Definitive results are expected Monday. (The Guardian)(Politico) (The Straits Times) (Sky News) (Reuters)
Central African Republic constitutional referendum, 2015
- While voters in Central African Republic cast their ballots in a constitutional referendum aimed at ending years of sectarian strife, clashes erupt in the capital Bangui’s PK5 Muslim neighborhood, killing at least two and injuring over 20. PK5 residents, visited by Pope Francis two weeks ago, marched to the U.N. headquarters in the country to complain they were unable to cast their ballots. The proposed constitution would limit a president to two terms, add an upper house to go along with the National Assembly, and fight institutional corruption. (France24) (Reuters) (Al Jazeera)
2015 protests in Brazil
- Tens of thousands of Brazilians protest in cities around the country to demand that Congress impeach President Dilma Rousseff. The lower house of Congress opened impeachment proceedings on 2 December 2015. (Reuters) (AP via ABC News)(Reuters-Congress)

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December 31, 2015

Top News Stories –

BBC Website And iPlayer Crippled Following Massive DDoS Attack –
Have you ever seen a dog chase its own tail? That pretty much describes what’s going on at BBC News this morning. The site suffered a pretty large distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack earlier today, one that knocked out the company’s entire network and iPlayer streaming service, causing grief for web visitors who grew impatient with how long it took to restore service. As for the image of a dog chasing its own tail, it’s based on BBC’s reporting of the situation. The site posted a statement on Twitter in the early morning hours saying it was “aware of a technical issue” affecting its website, but declined to elaborate. A BBC News journalist for the site’s Technology section posted an article saying that internal sources blamed the issues on a DDoS attack, then a few paragraphs down notes that “BBC has yet to confirm or deny that such an attack was responsible for the problems.” So there you have it — BBC acknowledged a technical issue (duh) while one of its own journalists heard from people within the organization that it was a DDoS attack, but for some unknown reason the site won’t go on record as saying so. The good news is order has been restored and, despite claims to the contrary on Twitter, this is not the end of the world. [Hot Hardware]
BBC Error 500

Dubai seeks cause of massive hotel fire at New Year –
The authorities in Dubai are trying to find out what caused a spectacular fire to engulf a 63-storey luxury hotel in the city centre on New Year’s Eve. Firefighters managed to subdue the blaze, but part of the Address Downtown Hotel is still smouldering. A BBC reporter says a significant fire is still visible on the 20th floor, where the blaze apparently started. The tower was evacuated and 16 people were hurt. But a fireworks show went ahead at the Burj Khalifa tower nearby. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Gym Wildlife

List of the Day –

Google Trends 2015 –
Top Searches – Music

1 Adele

2 Sia

3 Eagles of Death Metal

4 Sam Smith

5 Meghan Trainor

6 Fetty Wap

7 N.W.A

8 Eazy-E

9 Hozier

10 Chris Stapleton

Source: Google

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#Adios2015	Page 365 of 365	#Remember1D2015
2	#زد_رصيدك48	#BestMemoriesOf2015	Harry and Kendall
3	Hasan Karakaya	#PeachBowl	#BestMemoriesOf2015
4	#HappyNewYear	Happy New Year	#NYE2016
5	#FimDeAnoSrTwitteiroSdv	#Feliz2016	Goodbye 2015
6	#2016YılındanBeklentim	#ImAlwaysMixingUp	Here’s to 2016
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8	#HojeEuVou	#RIZIN	#PeopleWhoMadeMyYear
9	#SeFueElAñoYYo	Carrot Top	#NewYearsResolutionsIn5Words
10	#2015medejo	Here’s to 2016	Happy Hogmanay

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Terrorism in the European Union
- Belgian house raids result in the arrest of six people concerning a New Year’s Eve celebrations’ plot in Brussels, the nation’s capital. (Reuters)
- Munich’s main train station and the station in the city’s western district of Pasing, are evacuated during New Year’s Eve celebrations, and train service is stopped, because of potential ISIS suicide threats. A foreign security service, which wasn’t identified, passed on information that five to seven suicide attackers are involved in the plot. (NBC News) (CNN)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- Rochester, New York, police arrest 25-year-old Emanuel Lutchman who allegedly planned to attack a local bar with knives and machetes and a pressure cooker bomb to prove he was worthy of joining the Islamic State group. Rochester cancels New Year’s Eve fireworks. (AP via WITN) (Waltonian)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Missouri flooding
- Record flooding along the Mississippi River and its tributaries that has closed major highways, forced evacuations, and overflowed levees, continues to threaten the Midwestern United States where at least 24 have died. The Mississippi is expected to crest in the next few days in Thebes, Illinois, at 47.5 feet, breaking the 1995 record by more than a foot and a half (46 cm). And now periods of below-freezing air will cause some flooded areas to turn icy. (Reuters) (AccuWeather) (Chicago Tribune)
Air Canada Flight 88, a scheduled flight from Shanghai to Toronto, diverts to Calgary International Airport after the aircraft, a Boeing 777, encountered violent turbulence. Twenty-one passengers, including three children, were taken to hospital. (CBC)
A fire breaks out at The Address Downtown Dubai hotel. Fourteen people are reported as injured, with one indirect casualty. (CNN)

Law and crime

Russian President Vladimir Putin signs an amendment to Russia’s law regarding the regulation of the use of weapons, giving the FSB the authority to use lethal force on crowds in order to “prevent acts of terrorism, rescue hostages, or repel attacks on public buildings.” (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
The Indonesian government plans an appeal to a South Sumatra court’s rejection of a Rp 7.8 trillion (SGD 780 million) lawsuit against a pulp and paper company accused of contributing to the recurring Southeast Asian hazes, particularly the recent incident of hazes in 2015. (BBC News) (AFP via The Straits Times)

Politics and elections

The Venezuelan Supreme Court bars four incoming lawmakers (three from the opposition and one from the ruling Socialist party) from taking office, putting the opposition’s two-thirds legislative “supermajority” at risk, won via a landslide victory in the December 6 election by just one seat. The court is yet to specify the quorum for the new House, which would determine the number of seats needed for a two-thirds majority. The new National Assembly convenes Tuesday. (AP via Fox News Latino) (Latin American Herald Tribune)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

January 8, 2016

Top News Stories –

Secret Netflix code unlocks thousands of hidden genres –
Netflix’s incredibly niche, personalised subgenres have long captivated movie nerds, from “Steamy Crime Movies from the 1970s” to “Period Pieces About Royalty Based on Real Life”.
The genres, based on a complicated algorithm that uses reams of data about users’ viewing habits to recommend exactly what a particular user is into, number in the tens of thousands. When Netflix thinks you’ll like sentimental Spanish-language dramas or gritty tearjerkers, they’ll show up on your home screen, but aside from that, they’re not easy to find. But a simple web address trick has emerged showing how you can find any one of these genres simply by switching a number in a URL. If you’re logged into Netflix, enter:
http://www.netflix.com/browse/genre/XXXX
where “XXXX” is a series of digits – into your browser’s toolbar to bring up one of the thousands of genres in Netflix’s library. 1089 is “Mind-bending Movies”, for example; while 354 is “Movies Starring Matthew McConaughey” – currently a genre of one film. Not all numbers will result in a subgenre, and given Netflix’s ever-changing algorithms, they might move around every now and then, while there may be regional differences meaning that some codes don’t work. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

James Corden and Meghan Trainor: All About That Change

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SrDasTagsDaMafiaNoSDV	#Its2016AndWeStillDont	#FridayFeeling
2	#EnTuiterSoy	#FlashbackFriday	#LoseAFriendIn3Words
3	#KathNielFaceOfTheYearVietnam	Untitled 2	#LipSyncBattle
4	#FridayFeeling	#FridayFeeling	#FirstLineToMyNovel
5	#Enem	#BundySnackMovieTitles	#alcoholguidelines
6	#زد_رصيدك56	#LoseAFriendIn3Words	Winston
7	#LoseAFriendIn3Words	Deadwood	#UnpopularMusicOpinionhour
8	#ALDUBTrust	Peach	#AskOzil
9	#يوم_الجمعه	#ElvisPresley	#ageofloneliness
10	#يارب_انا_محتاج	#jobsreport	#Jericho

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2016 Hurghada attack
- Two suspected ISIS militants are killed and three tourists injured in an unsuccessful attack on a hotel in the city of Hurghada. (BBC)
2016 Philadelphia police officer shooting
- A gunman stating to have sworn allegiance to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) shoots and seriously wounds a Philadelphia police officer before being arrested. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 Australian bushfire season
- Three people are unaccounted for and at least 135 structures are destroyed, including the historic Yarloop Workshops, following a bushfire in the small Western Australian town of Yarloop. Reports coming out of the area suggest the town of Yarloop has been almost completely destroyed with one local official, Murray Cowper, saying, “A big fireball came through and there was no way they were going to stop it. This could well be the end of the town”. (SBS) (BBC)

Law and crime

New Year’s Eve sexual assaults in Germany
- The chief of Cologne‘s police force, Wolfgang Albers, is relieved of his duties following criticism of his handling of violent clashes and sexual assaults by migrant gangs in the city on New Year’s Eve. (The Independent)
Mexican Drug War
- The Mexican Navy recaptures escaped drug lord Joaquín Guzmán, also known as “El Chapo”, in Los Mochis, Sinaloa. (RT)
Dragan Vasiljković, a former Serbian paramilitary commander, is charged with war crimes in Croatia. (ABC News Australia)

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January 16, 2016

Top News Stories –

Obama issues order lifting nuclear-related sanctions on Iran –
U.S. President Barack Obama signed an executive order on Saturday lifting sanctions on Iran related to its nuclear program after Tehran fulfilled requirements under a nuclear agreement with world powers, the White House said. Obama determined that Iran’s implementation of the pact “marks a fundamental shift in circumstances with respect to Iran’s nuclear program,” he wrote in the order, released by the White House. [Daily Mail]

Video of the Day –

Sia | Draw My Life

List of the Day –

100 jokes by 100 comedians

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Burkina Faso	Tony Stewart	#MakeMeThinkIn5Words
2	#زد_رصيدك64	#ChangeAConsonantSpoilAMovie	Lord Bramall
3	#FelizSabado	#StartupIndia	Burkina Faso
4	I LOVE ZAYN	#IranDeal	#fab16
5	#StartupIndia	#ImplementationDay	#PutNamesInSongs
6	#MakeMeThinkIn5Words	Aaliyah	Alan Rickman
7	#ALDUB6thMonthsary	I LOVE ZAYN	#StartUp2016
8	#SabadoDetremuraSdv	#MakeMeThinkIn5Words	#NationalHatDay
9	#MeEnfermaEsoDe	Hagelin	Nancy
10	ちんぽ10連ガチャ	#DoYourJob	#ZoellaTo10MillionMeetUp

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2016 Ouagadougou attack
- Burkina Faso security forces storm the Hotel Splendid which had been under attack by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb militants. Over 126 people have been freed and at least 29 people have died. (AP via the Daily Mail), (BBC), (CNN), (AFP via Daily Star)
- At least 10 bodies have also been found in the Cappucino cafe which was also attacked by the militants. (AP via Miami Herald)
- Two Australians, a doctor and his wife, have been abducted in northern Burkina Faso. The Al Qaeda-linked, Mali-based “Emirate of the Sahara” is responsible, according to SITE. (AP) (AFP via Yahoo! News)
2016 Jakarta attacks
- Indonesia blocks access to radical Islamist websites and social media sites after the recent terror attacks in Jakarta. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War
- At least 75 Syrian Army soldiers and pro-Assad militiamen are killed following a multi-front attack on the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant forces. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports ISIL fighters had advanced into the northern tip of Deir ez-Zor city, and captured the suburb of Al-Baghaliyeh. The pro-government Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reports that government forces had repelled an attack on the city leaving dozens of militants dead. (AFP via the Daily Mail)
- Hundreds of civilians are reportedly killed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants throughout the city of Deir ez-Zor. Syria‘s state news agency SANA, quoting residents, said “around 300 civilians” were killed. If confirmed it would be one of the deadliest days in Syria’s nearly five-year war. (AFP via Yahoo)
Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen, Drone strikes in Yemen
- A U.S. drone strike on a vehicle in Yemen‘s Shabwah Governorate kills three suspected Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) militants. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

A suspected gas explosion in the Italian town of Arnasco kills at least five people. (Business Insider)
U.S. President Barack Obama declares the city of Flint, Michigan, to be in a federal public health state of emergency due to an ongoing crisis that involves lead contamination (and possibly Legionella which has caused 87 cases of Legionnaires’ disease which lead to 10 deaths) in its local water supply. (The Flint Journal on MLive)

International relations

Iran–United States relations
- Iran releases four Iranian-American prisoners including Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian and Christian pastor Saeed Abedini. The United States is to release seven Iranian-Americans held in the United States for violating sanctions against Iran. (New York Times), (IRNA) (Reuters) (Washington Post)
Nuclear program of Iran
- The International Atomic Energy Agency states that Iran has complied with its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, paving the way for international sanctions to be lifted by theUnited States and European Union. (IEAE), (New York Times), ” (BBC)
European migrant crisis
- Austria is to deploy its army on its borders with Germany and Slovenia in the wake of surging numbers of migrants entering the Central European country. (Local Austria)

Politics and elections

Taiwanese general election, 2016
- Tsai Ing-wen of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is elected the first female President of Taiwan. Eric Chu, the ruling Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) candidate concedes defeat and announced his resignation as party leader. Ms. Tsai vowed to preserve the status quo in relations with China. The DPP supports independence for the island. (BBC) (CNN)
- Current ruling party Kuomintang (Chinese Nationalist Party) lost its majority in the Legislative Yuan, a first since the country’s founding in 1911 (The Guardian)
Argentinian left wing lawmaker Milagro Sala is detained at her home for allegedly instigating public disturbances. (Telesur TV)

Sports

In motor sport, The 2016 Dakar Rally finishes with Stephane Peterhansel of France winning his 12th victory in the cars and Toby Price of Australia winning his first victory in the motorcycles. (AFP via Yahoo! News)

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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 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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January 20, 2016

Top News Stories –

2015 was hottest year ever recorded ‘by far’ –
Blistering heat blanketed the Earth last year like never before, making 2015 by far the hottest year in modern times and raising new concerns about the accelerating pace of climate change. Not only was 2015 the warmest worldwide since 1880, it shattered the previous record held in 2014 by the widest margin ever observed, said the report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “During 2015, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.62 Fahrenheit (0.90 Celsius) above the 20th century average,” said the NOAA report. “This was the highest among all years in the 1880-2015 record.” Compared to 2014, last year was 0.29 Fahrenheit (0.13 Celsius) warmer, the “largest margin by which the annual global temperature record has been broken.” [Daily Telegraph]

New evidence suggests a ninth planet lurking at the edge of the solar system –
Astronomers at the California Institute of Technology announced Wednesday that they have found new evidence of a giant icy planet lurking in the darkness of our solar system far beyond the orbit of Pluto. They are calling it “Planet Nine.” Their paper, published in the Astronomical Journal, estimates the planet’s mass as five to 10 times that of the Earth. But the authors, astronomers Michael Brown and Konstantin Batygin, have not observed the planet directly. Instead, they have inferred its existence from the motion of recently discovered dwarf planets and other small objects in the outer solar system. Those smaller bodies have orbits that appear to be influenced by the gravity of a hidden planet – a “massive perturber.” The astronomers suggest it might have been flung into deep space long ago by the gravitational force of Jupiter or Saturn. [Washington Post]

Video of the Day –

Australia Day Lamb 2016 | Commence Operation Boomerang

List of the Day –

National Television Awards 2016, London

Talent Show

Winner: Strictly Come Dancing

Britain’s Got Talent

The Voice UK

The X Factor

Challenge Show

Winner: The Great British Bake Off

Bear Grylls: Mission Survive

MasterChef

The Apprentice

Serial drama

Winner: EastEnders

Coronation Street

Emmerdale

Hollyoaks

Comedy

Winner: Peter Kay’s Car Share

Benidorm

Birds Of A Feather

Not Going Out

Drama

Winner: Downton Abbey

Broadchurch

Casualty

Doctor Who

New drama

Winner: Doctor Foster

Humans

Ordinary Lies

Poldark

Factual entertainment

Winner: Gogglebox

DIY SOS: The Big Build

Paul O’Grady: For The Love Of Dogs

Top Gear

Live magazine show

Winner: This Morning

BBC Breakfast

Loose Women

The One Show

Drama performance

Winner: Suranne Jones (Doctor Foster)

Sheridan Smith (Black Work)

David Tennant (Broadchurch)

Aidan Turner (Poldark)

Entertainment programme

Winner: I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here!

Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway

Celebrity Juice

The Graham Norton Show

Newcomer

Winner: Shayne Ward (Coronation Street)

Gemma Atkinson (Emmerdale)

Richard Blackwood (EastEnders)

Parry Glasspool (Hollyoaks)

Serial drama performance

Winner: Danny Dyer (EastEnders)

Alison King (Coronation Street)

Michael Parr (Emmerdale)

Rakhee Thakrar (EastEnders)

International

Winner: The Big Bang Theory

Game Of Thrones

Orange Is The New Black

Daytime

Winner: The Chase

Pointless

The Jeremy Kyle Show

The Paul O’Grady Show

TV presenter

Winner: Ant & Dec

Graham Norton

Mel & Sue

Rylan Clark

Impact/TV moment

Winner: Aiden Turner, Poldark

Special recognition award

Winner: Billy Connolly

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Unavailable	#PenguinAwarenessDay	Unavailable
2	Unavailable	#NationalCheeseLoversDay	Unavailable
3	Unavailable	#1lineWed	Unavailable
4	Unavailable	#BachaKhanUniversity	Unavailable
5	Unavailable	Stacey Dash	Unavailable
6	Unavailable	#MuseumSelfie	Unavailable
7	Unavailable	Ricardo Durán	Unavailable
8	Unavailable	#YouCouldntPayMeTo	Unavailable
9	Unavailable	#ImSoEstablishment	Unavailable
10	Unavailable	#WEF16	Unavailable

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in North-West Pakistan
- 2016 Charsadda university attack
  - Gunmen attack a university in Charsadda, Pakistan. At least 21 people are reportedly killed. (BBC News)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present), Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL
- Satellite images released by the Associated Press reveal the historic Saint Elijah’s Monastery near the Iraqi city of Mosul, the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq that predates Islam, has been completely razed by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants. (Independent)
A suicide bomber in Kabul targets Tolo News, killing four and wounding 20. (BBC News)

Science and technology

NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announce that 2015 was the hottest year on record since the beginning of meteorological records in 1890. (Mashable)
A team of astronomers at Caltech infer the existence of a potential new planet (Planet Nine) in the outer Solar System (Washington Post)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

January 23, 2016

Top News Stories –

Blizzard blankets eastern seaboard of US in deep snow –
A huge blizzard has blanketed the US eastern seaboard in snow, bringing New York and Washington DC to a standstill and affecting some 85 million people. Up to 40in (102cm) of snow settled in parts, paralysing rail and air links, and cutting power to 200,000 people. A travel ban in New York, which saw its second highest snowfall on record, is set to be lifted later on Sunday. At least 18 deaths, from road accidents but also snow shovelling, have been blamed on the weather since Friday. New York’s Central Park received 26.8in, the second-biggest fall recorded since 1869 and just shy of the all-time high, 26.9in, recorded in February 2006. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Tian Tian in the Snow Jan. 23, 2016

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Unavailable	#jonasblizzard	#WelcomeHistory
2	Unavailable	#6abcAction	#MakeMeFeelAwkwardIn7Words
3	Unavailable	#ChelseaDoes	#FirstDates
4	Unavailable	#WeWillAlwaysBeThereJustin	#MyRoutineIn5Words
5	Unavailable	#CongratulationsLouis	#ukgc16
6	Unavailable	#CBS3Snow	Steve Harper
7	Unavailable	#NationalPieDay	#bbws
8	Unavailable	#OneCarolina	#DespiteBeingTaughtInWelsh
9	Unavailable	#WelcomeHistory	#blizzard2016
10	Unavailable	Tian Tian	#GrahamNorton

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Deir ez-Zor offensive (January 2016)
- Airstrikes on Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant-controlled areas in Syria‘s eastern Deir ez-Zor Governorate, leaves at least 47 civilians dead, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (Sky News Australia)
Jordanian–Syrian border incidents during the Syrian Civil War
- Jordanian soldiers kill 12 “infiltrators” and wound several others, on the border with Syria, foiling an attempt by dozens of smugglers to cross into the kingdom. The soldiers also confiscated more than 2 million narcotics pills that were left behind. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

January 2016 United States winter storm
- This potentially record storm, which is predicted to generate blizzard conditions through a third day on Sunday, has caused at least 10 deaths, knocked out power to hundreds of thousands, led to more than 8,300 canceled flights, stranded many travelers on major highways and, with up to 70 mph winds, produced record-high tides along the Delaware and New Jersey shores. (NBC News) (Reuters)(ESPN)

International relations

China–Iran relations
- China and Iran agree to expand trade ties between the countries worth $600 billion over the next decade following Chinese President Xi Jinping‘s visit to Tehran. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, said the trade deal marked “the beginning of an important era” in Iran-China relations. (Bloomberg)

Law and crime

European migrant crisis
- Around 200 migrants storm the French port of Calais,near the underground tunnel to Britain, after a demonstration in support of migrants living in the nearby Calais jungle camp, with approximately 50 of them boarding the P&O Ferries operated MS Spirit of Britain cross-border ferry. The port was closed following the incident. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

United States presidential election, 2016
- Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is seriously considering a possible independent presidential run if Donald Trump or Texas Senator Ted Cruz would face Vermont Senator Bernie Sandersin the general election. (The New York Times) (CNN) (NBC News)
Polish Constitutional Court crisis, 2015, Committee for the Defence of Democracy
- Poland surveillance law plan angers protesters: Thousands of Poles have taken part in marches in Warsaw and other cities to protest about plans of the conservative government, which they say will curtail privacy and freedom. (BBC News)

Science and technology

Blue Origin‘s rocket New Shepard has been reflown in Texas. (BBC)

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February 25, 2016

Top News Stories –

Queen’s pigeon rescued after fleeing royal loft –
Animal welfare officers who rescued a lost pigeon in East Lothian were surprised to discover it had a royal owner – the Queen. The Scottish SPCA was called when the exhausted bird was spotted at Traprain Terrace in Haddington on February 2. Staff traced it back to its owner and the racing pigeon has now been returned to the royal loft 407 miles away at Sandringham estate in Norfolk. The charity’s animal rescue officer Connie O’Neill said: “I’ve rescued many pigeons during my career with the Scottish SPCA but this was certainly a first for me. “We were able to identity where the pigeon had come from using the ring number on its leg and arrangements were made for it to be collected.” [Daily Telegraph]

Islamic State hackers take aim at Facebook’s Zuckerberg and Twitter’s Dorsey –
Islamic State has released a new video featuring photographs of Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg riddled with digitally added bullet holes and mocking the social media websites’ attempts to block terrorist content from their platforms. Hackers known as the Sons Caliphate Army, the self-styled hacking division of Islamic State, uploaded a video on Tuesday entitled “Flames of the Supporters” in which the group challenges the efforts of Facebook and Twitter to shut down its digital operations. The video begins displays screen grabs of some of the 10,000 Facebook accounts, 150 Facebook groups and 5,000 Twitter profiles the terrorist group claims to control. It takes aim at the recent campaigns by the two social media websites to take down accounts controlled or connected to the terrorist group and used to spread their message. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

How to Win an Election from The New York Times – Video on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#OTWOLTheLastChance	#WhichHillary	#YOUTHvideo
2	#دشتي_يطالب_بض�…	#NationalChiliDay	Tony Blackburn
3	#FelizJueves	#May20	#ThursdayThoughts
4	#WhichHillary	#MFW	#FlyingScotsman
5	#May20	#enditmovement	#NorthernPowerhouse16
6	#QuintaDetremuraSdv	Joe Johnson	#scotbookconf
7	#اليوم_الوطني_�…	#2TitleMovieSentences	#AutocorrectedMusic
8	#ALDUB32ndWeeksary	George Harrison	#BRITVIDONEDIRECTION
9	#ميول_ابوك_في_ك…	#EddieWouldGo	Leicester Square
10	#RailBudget2016	David Duke	#MFW

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Donbass
- The Ukrainian military retakes control of the strategic village of Shyrokyne. (Ukraine Today)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Two ISIL suicide bombers attack a Shiite mosque in Baghdad, killing at least 15 people. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Army, backed by Russian airstrikes, recaptures the town of Khanasir from ISIL militants in the Aleppo Governorate. (AP via ABC News)

Arts and culture

Celebrations are held to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the People Power Revolution in the Philippines that led to the downfall of dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ 21-year reign, and the rise of President Corazon Aquino. (The Philippine Star)

Business and economy

Brookfield Asset Management, a Canadian asset manager, agrees to buy the U.S. REIT Rouse Properties for about $2.8 billion. (Reuters)
The Nikkei reports that Japan‘s Sharp Corporation has accepted a 700 billion Japanese yen ($6.2 billion) takeover bid from Taiwan‘s Foxconn Technology Group. (Bloomberg)
Australian electronics retailer Dick Smith, placed in administration by creditors in January, will close 301 stores in Australia and 62 in New Zealand with nearly 3000 people to lose their jobs. (News Limited)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 South Pacific cyclone season
- Cyclone Winston
  - Fiji’s known casualties are 42 dead, one missing, and more than 100 injured. Authorities say five percent of the country (45,245 people) is staying in evacuation centers and about 80 schools have been damaged. UNICEF reports at least 120,000 of Fiji’s children have been affected. The current identified destruction is more than $1 billion. About 80 percent of the plantations were damaged, especiallysugar fields. However, tourism’s infrastructure has escaped serious damage. (La Prensa de San Antonio) (Daily Mail) (Fijivillage.com)

International relations

2016 North Korean nuclear test
- The United States will present the draft resolution, resulting from yesterday’s meeting with China, to the United Nations Security Council expanding sanctions on North Korea over its nuclear program.(Jerusalem Post) (Reuters)
China–United States relations
- At an event hosted by Center for Strategic and International Studies, Foreign Minister Wang Yi expresses China‘s concerns that the planned deployment of the THAAD missile defense system and the X band radar for which the South Korea and the United States have started talks to secure its approval in order to counter the growing threat of North Korea’s weapons capabilities could jeopardize the country’s “legitimate national security interests.” At the Pentagon, Harry Harris, the commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, said that if China wanted to prevent consideration of the THAAD system’s deployment, it should lean on Pyongyang saying, “If China wanted to exert a lot of influence on somebody to prevent THAAD from being considered going into Korea, then they should exert that influence on North Korea.” (Reuters) (Bloomberg)
Foreign relations of Saudi Arabia, Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
- The European Parliament adopts a resolution calling for the introduction of an arms embargo against Saudi Arabia, saying the United Kingdom, France and other EU governments should no longer sell weapons to a country accused of targeting civilians in Yemen. (Reuters)
Austria–Greece relations
- Greece recalls its ambassador to Austria in response to Austria’s hosting of a meeting with Balkan states, to which Greece was not invited, about European migrant crisis policies that would make it harder for migrants to head north across Europe. Greece’s foreign ministry called the move an “unfriendly act.” More than 100,000 migrants have entered the EU illegally so far in 2016, nearly all of them arriving in Greece. (BBC) (Reuters)
Morocco–European Union relations
- Morocco suspends contact with the European Union over a European court ruling that invalidates the bloc’s farm trade deal with Rabat, and saying it should exclude the disputed Moroccan-controlled territory of Western Sahara. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Jimmy Savile sexual abuse scandal
- A report by Dame Janet Smith finds that management at the BBC staff knew of complaints against Jimmy Savile but did not advise senior management due to a “culture of fear“. (BBC)
2016 Hesston shooting
- A series of shootings in and near the American town of Hesston, Kansas, results in at least four deaths, including the shooter, at an Excel Industries building, with up to 20 people injured. The shooter is Cedric Ford, a convicted felon. (KWCH) (USA Today), (KAKE)

Politics and elections

Jamaican general election, 2016
- Voters in Jamaica go to the polls for a general election, with the Jamaican Labour Party, led by Andrew Holness, winning a narrow victory. (Bloomberg) (Reuters)

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The 2010s

The story of a decade

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