Top Story –
Ultimate Lock-in –
About 30 guests celebrating new year at the Tan Hill Inn in North Yorkshire, the highest pub in England, finally left today after heavy snow left them stranded for three days.
The Tan Hill Inn
Tag Archives: japan
January 12, 2010
Top Story –
Bootiful –
Researcher Dr Konstantinos Manolopoulos, of Oxford University announces that carrying extra weight on your hips, bum and thighs is good for your health, protecting against heart and metabolic problems but fat around the tummy is bad.
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Toronto Lightning Storm from Sam Javanrouh on Vimeo.
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January 23, 2010
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Bad lip syncing –
Two Chinese pop singers face fines of up to $12,000 (£7,400) for allegedly miming at a concert. Miming was banned in China after a girl was revealed to have lip-synced at the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening ceremony.
Top Video –
Birds on the Wires
Birds on the Wires from Jarbas Agnelli on Vimeo.
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February 4th 2011
Tahrir square battles intensify in Egypt –
At least 7 anti-Mubarak protesters in Cairo died after night of violence as they fought to hold Tahrir square against pro-government fighters. Separately Vodafone claims the Egyptian authorities forced it to send pro-government text messages during this week’s protests.
Fry avoids Japan after joke –
Stephen Fry pulls out of going to film a documentary in Japan after comments he made about a survivor of the two atomic bombs during the second world war in the programme QI caused upset. Fry told the story of Tsutomu Yamaguchi who was on business in Hiroshima when it was destroyed by an atomic bomb on 6 August 1945. After surviving and spending a night in Hiroshima, Yamaguchi travelled by train back to his home town, Nagasaki. That city was bombed on 9 August as Yamaguchi was explaining his earlier near death experience to his manager. Fry had commented: “Well, this man is either the unluckiest or the luckiest, it depends which way you look at it.”
Stephen Fry
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September 29th 2014
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Max Verstappen: Teenager to drive in practice at Japanese Grand Prix –
Max Verstappen will become the youngest driver ever to take part in a grand prix weekend when he drives in first practice in Japan on Friday. The Dutchman, who is 17 on Tuesday, is making his debut for the Toro Rosso team, for whom he will race in 2015. He will drive Jean-Eric Vergne’s car in preparation for next season when he replaces the French driver. “To be already participating in a practice session is a dream come true,” Verstappen said. [BBC]
Max Verstappen
CIA Starbucks is the weirdest Starbucks –
Nestled in the heart of CIA’s high security Langley, Virginia headquarters is a branch of Starbucks. Its day-to-day operation runs a little different to that of a mall-based coffee shop however, for starters, baristas aren’t allowed to write customers’ names on their cups. Such is the level of secrecy at the agency that receipts for the café simply say “Store Number 1”, with staff affectionately calling it “Stealthy Starbucks”. There are no frequent customer reward cards – officials fear the data they contain could be mined by marketers and compromise undercover agents’ identity – and baristas have to go through thorough background checks before starting and be escorted on and off the work area by “minders”. [The Independent]
Video of the Day –
Why Starbucks Spells Your Name Wrong [Contains strong language]
List of the Day –
Youngest drivers to start an Formula One race
| Driver | Age | Place | Race | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Jaime Alguersuari |
19 years, 125 days | 15th | 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix |
| 2 |  Mike Thackwell |
19 years, 182 days | Ret | 1980 Canadian Grand Prix |
| 3 |  Ricardo Rodriguez |
19 years, 208 days | Ret | 1961 Italian Grand Prix |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso |
19 years, 218 days | 12th | 2001 Australian Grand Prix |
| 5 |  Esteban Tuero |
19 years, 320 days | Ret | 1998 Australian Grand Prix |
| 6 | Chris Amon |
19 years, 324 days | Ret | 1963 Belgian Grand Prix |
 Daniil Kvyat |
9th | 2014 Australian Grand Prix | ||
| 8 |  Sebastian Vettel |
19 years, 349 days | 8th | 2007 United States Grand Prix |
| 9 |  Eddie Cheever |
20 years, 53 days | Ret | 1978 South African Grand Prix |
 Jenson Button |
Ret | 2000 Australian Grand Prix | ||
|
Source:[2]
|
||||
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Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in Donbass
- Renewed clashes around the Donetsk International Airport between the pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government troops kill at least 12 people in the worst flareup of violence since the ceasefire accord earlier in September. (CBC)
- International Relations
- Argentina‘s central bank announces that it will pay the holders of its restructured debt Tuesday. Implicitly this indicates that it is ready to defy a U.S. federal court which has blocked such payments until the holders of hold-out bonds are included. (Reuters)
- Politics and Elections
- Ashraf Ghani is sworn in as new president of Afghanistan. (BBC)
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January 24, 2015
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Islamic State terrorists execute Japanese hostage –
Japanese prime minister Shinzō Abe has called the footage of Islamic State hostage Kenji Goto apparently holding a photograph showing the body of fellow captive Haruna Yukawa “outrageous and unacceptable”. On January 20th 2015 Islamic State said it would kill the two men unless Japan paid a ransom of $200m (£130m) within 72 hours.
Japanese prime minister Shinzō Abe
Where are the richest 1% in the world? –
According to Credit Suisse anyone who has assets worth over $798,000 (£530,000) is one of 1% of the richest people in the world. 18 million of the top 47 million richest people are in the US, 3.5m in France, 2.9m in the UK and 2.8m in Germany. Ten percent of Swiss residents, a total of 800,000, are in the top 1%.
50 years since the death of Winston Churchill –
Sir Winston Churchill, prime minister of England through World War II died 50 years ago today. He was Conservative prime minister from 10 May 1940 – 26 July 1945 and again in 26 October 1951 – 6 April 1955.
Winston Churchill
FA Cup upsets return –
In England and Wales the fourth round of the FA Cup sees some of the most surprising results for many years. Premier League leaders Chelsea are beaten on their own ground 4-2 by Bradford City after leading the League One team 2-0. Manchester City who are second in the Premier League also lose at home to Championship side Middlesborough. This followed Cambridge United holding on for a 0-0 draw against Manchester United yesterday.
Jose Mourinho
February 1, 2015
Top News Stories –
Patriots win the Super Bowl –
The New England Patriots become the first team in Super Bowl history to trail by double digits in the second half and win Super Bowl XLIX at the University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Arizona. The Patriots took the lead from the Seattle Seahawks with two minutes left and held on for a 28-24 victory. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, who completed a Super Bowl record 37 of 50 passes for 328 yards and four touchdowns, with two interceptions, was named Super Bowl MVP. The half-time show was fronted by Katy Perry, Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliot.
Tom Brady
Djokovic defeats Murray to win Aussie Open again –
Novak Djokovic wins his fifth Australian Open, beating Andy Murray 7-6, 6-7, 6-3, 6-0. Andy Murray’s fiancee Kim Sears laughed off the controversy over her colourful language caught on camera during Murray’s semi-final against Tomas Berdych on January 29th 2015 in Melbourne by wearing a ‘Parental Advisory: Explicit Content’ t-shirt at the Australian Open final.
Adding insult to injury –
Democratic Republic of Congo footballer Gabriel Zakuani is run into by the stretcher buggy during his team’s semi final against Congo in the Africa Cup of Nations. The defender was already injured when the buggy hit him. DR Congo went on to win 4-2 without Zakuani who also plays for Peterborough United in the UK, but he was not badly hurt.
February 3, 2015
Top News Stories –
Zoella leaves dressing room for kitchen –
Zoe Sugg the YouTube vblogger with 7 million subscribers is to appear on the celebrity edition of The Great British Bake Off. Zoella as she is known online (@ZozeeBo with 2.6m followers on Twitter) recently featured on Debrett’s list of the 500 most influential people in Britain.
Zoe Sugg A.K.A. Zoella
AKB48 proposed to open Olympic ceremony in 2020 –
The big debate in Japan today is whether to allow J-pop group AKB48 to perform at the opening ceremony of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Their creator, Yasushi Akimoto, proposed choosing the best of the 48 girls (who rotate according to social media popularity) to appear but the idea was ridiculed by Japanese TV celebrity and columnist Matsuko Deluxe, who said the group (named after the Akihabara district of Tokyo) would be “an embarrassment”. The group have sold more than 30m records and had sales exceeding $128m (£85m) in 2013.
Big United beat little United –
Despite the support of 6,000 away fans Cambridge United are finally beaten by Manchester United 3-0 at Old Trafford in the 4th round of the FA Cup. Man Uniteds starting 11 cost £231m in transfer fees, Cambridge’s cost £0. By forcing a repeat two weeks ago the small club will get around £1 million for their share of the attendance fee which the chairman intends to spend on upgrading the toilets at their ground.
Cut down on your jog life –
A report in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology finds that people who jog at a steady pace for less than two and a half hours a week were least likely to die over a 12-year period that was studied. Those who ran more than four hours a week or did no exercise had the highest death rates.
Video of the Day –
Zoella’s YouTube trailer
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February 16, 2015
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Lance Armstrong made to pay –
Lance Armstrong is forced to refund $10 million (£6.5m) to SCA Promotions a Dallas-based company that paid him around $12 million in bonuses during his career which included 7 Tour de France titles that were consequently revoked. When Armstrong’s drug doping cheating was exposed, SCA sued to get its money back and an arbitration panel has found in the company’s favour.
Snowman building world record set –
A new world record has been set in the city of Iiyama, north-west of Tokyo, Japan for the most snowmen built in one hour. Over 600 people helped to break the old record by making 1,585 snowmen to beat the previous record of 1,279 snowmen, set by more than 350 participants in the United States in 2011. The competition was part of the Iiyama Snow Festival and the Nozawa Onsen Snow Resort is near to city.
Nozawa Onsen Snow Resort
Amazon drones off –
The Federal Aviation Authority’s (FAA) sets draft rules for the use of drones in US airspace which state that pilots must remain within eyesight of their unmanned crafts. This would not allow Amazon to launch its Amazon Air delivery service which the firm said last year it had the technology in place to launch as soon as regulations were in place.
Video of the Day –
The Snowman
The Snowman from Neil Wrischnik on Vimeo.
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March 4, 2015
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Blurred Lines makes $16.68m –
Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams made more than $5m (£3.26m) each from Blurred Lines, according to figures revealed during a copyright trial. Total profits for the biggest track of 2013 are $16.68m (£10.87m), with rapper TI getting a $704,000 (£459,000) share according to the Hollywood Reporter. The trio are being sued for copyright infringement by Marvin Gaye’s family, over similarities to Got to Give It Up. [BBC]
American footballers to donate brains to science –
Two American Football stars say they will donate their brains for medical research after their deaths. New York Giants punter Steve Weatherford and former Seattle Seahawks receiver Sidney Rice want to support studies into brain injuries. Many former players in the sport suffer degenerative brain disease. “There are a lot of issues that stem from brain injuries and it’s not just professional athletes. This affects everybody,” Weatherford said. Rice won the Super Bowl with the Seattle Seahawks last year before retiring – at the age of 27 – over fears for his long-term health after absorbing so many blows to the head. Both he and Weatherford said they hoped their commitment could persuade others to support research into brain injuries. [BBC]
Seattle Seahawks receiver Sidney Rice
Video of the Day –
NASA | Satellite Tracks Saharan Dust to Amazon in 3-D
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March 22, 2015
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Drone carrying drugs and weapons crashes into prison in smuggling bid –
A plot to smuggle drugs, mobile phones and weapons into a prison by flying them in on a drone failed after the operator crashed the remote-controlled aircraft into a jail wall. The device was spotted by guards at HMP Bedford after it crash landed into razor wire on top of the prison walls in the first incident of its kind. Guards quickly removed the drone – a DJI Phantom 2, which costs up to £900 – and found a package attached containing class A drugs, a knife, screwdriver and mobile phones. [Daily Telegraph]
Italian Job’s legendary Lamborghini discovered after almost half a century, now worth £1m –
It has a starring role in the classic movie The Italian Job – in one of the most memorable opening sequences in cinema history. A stunning orange supercar races through the Alps, before disappearing into a tunnel. Then, in a heartbreaking moment for car fans, the Lamborghini Miura crashes in a ball of flames. The smashed up wreckage is dragged out of the tunnel by the mafia and pushed into a ravine by a bulldozer – followed by a wreath for the driver. The millions who have seen the iconic film since it was made in 1969 must have assumed the car was an irrecoverable write-off, never to be driven again. The car’s new co-owner, Iain Tyrrell, received a tip-off at Christmas that the Miura had resurfaced.He said: ‘I was initially sceptical because no one had seen it for 46 years. But my source was a credible one so I started to pursue it.’ He was invited to see it – but given just three hours to verify the vehicle as the genuine article. ‘It was all very James Bond-ish – I had to go to Paris to inspect the car in a secret underground car park,’ he said. See Video of the Day. [Mail on Sunday]
Steven Gerrard sent off 38 seconds after coming on –
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard was sent off 38 seconds after coming on as a half-time substitute as Manchester United retained their grip on a top-four place with a vital win at Anfield. Gerrard was introduced for Adam Lallana at the start of the second half with United deservedly leading through Juan Mata’s early goal – but was gone almost as quickly after following up a thunderous tackle on the goalscorer with a reckless reaction to a challenge with a clear stamp on Ander Herrera. See List of The Day. [BBC]
Video of the Day –
April 18, 2015
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Tony Abbott filmed downing a beer in only seven seconds –
Some may say it is behaviour unbecoming of a prime minister. Others have applauded it. Footage has emerged of the Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, knocking back a large glass of beer in only seven seconds. But the incident is not a first in Australian politics – and is not all that unusual for Mr Abbott. The prime minister was at a bar in east Sydney on Saturday along with players from the UTS Bats Australian Rules football team. [BBC]
Tony Abbott
Kate Middleton’s friend holds orgies in sharia hotel –
Emma Sayle, owner of Killing Kittens, a members-only sex-club, said the Bermondsey Square hotel in London is one of her preferred destinations for the self-styled ‘sexual elite’. The Duchess of Cambridge’s friend has been staging sex parties in the country’s first sharia hotel. A friend of Kate Middleton’s, Miss Sayle, 36, who attended Downe House boarding school with Prince Michael’s daughter, Lady Gabriella Windsor, has used the four loft suites on the seventh floor of the hotel for her parties. According to Miss Sayle, who is a member of Kate’s rowing crew, The Sisterhood, the rules at Killing Kitten events state men can’t approach women at parties unless they know them, everyone wears a mask and single men aren’t allowed. [Daily Telegraph]
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
Zayn Malik collects Asian Award and thanks bandmates –
Zayn Malik has taken a step in a new direction, showing off a new look for his first public appearance since quitting One Direction. He was in London for the fifth annual Asian Awards, where he picked a gong for his contribution to music and paid tribute to his former bandmates. Malik also thanked God and his parents, “for making me Asian”. [BBC] He also had a radical change of look with an almost shaved head compared to the long hair he used to sport.
Zayn Malik (image – thecount.com)
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Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice – Official Teaser Trailer
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April 27, 2015
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Jay Z says Tidal is ‘doing just fine’ with 770k subscribers –
Jay Z is not one for writing a lot of tweets – but he’s just put out a “stream of consciousness” defending his music streaming service, Tidal. Launched last month with some very high profile backers, critics have said that the company has been a bit of a flop, with low subscriber numbers. But Jay Z says: “Tidal is doing just fine. We have over 770,000 subs. We have been in business less than one month. “We are here for the long haul.” Jay Z bought Tidal from a Swedish company, Aspiro, earlier this year, for $56m (£37m). There was a spike in interest when he re-launched it on 30 March but then dropped out of the top 50 for downloaded music apps on the US iTunes store. The company also got rid of its CEO and announced redundancies earlier this month but also said it was looking for new staff. [BBC]
Jay Z
Catch of the day: Fisherman reels in 76lb cod in biggest-ever catch by British angler –
A fisherman is celebrating after catching what is believed to be the largest cod ever caught by a British angler using rod and line. Matthew Lowery, a pharmacist from Newcastle, was on a fishing trip to Norway when the cod weighing 76lb 1oz went for his bait. The 39-year-old spent 10 minutes reeling it up through 40 metres of water before hauling it on board his boat half a mile off the island of Soroya. It was still 27lbs off the world record for a cod caught two years ago by German angler Michael Eisele. [Daily Telegraph]
George Clooney set to run London Marathon 2016 after losing bet –
George Clooney, the Hollywood actor, is poised to run next year’s London Marathon after losing a bet with a celebrity friend. The heart-throb reportedly promised Christy Turlington he would take part in the 2016 race if she finished in under four hours. Miss Turlington, a Calvin Klein model, completed the 26.2-mile course on Sunday for her charity Every Mother Counts in three hours and 45 minutes. Clooney is said to have claimed he will run next year while wearing one of her organisation’s T-shirts. [Daily Telegraph] In March Clooney applied for permission to build a 12-seater home cinema and luxurious swimming pool to his 17th century country estate in Sonning-on-Thames, England.
George Clooney
Video of the Day –
Antarctica from Kalle Ljung on Vimeo.
May 27, 2015
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Fifa officials corrupted football – US prosecutors –
US prosecutors have accused several officials from football’s governing body Fifa of racketeering, fraud and money laundering involving tens of millions of dollars over 24 years. Prosecutors said they had discovered a dozen schemes, including one awarding the 2010 World Cup to South Africa.
Fourteen people have been indicted, with seven held in Zurich on Wednesday. Those indicted in the US case are accused of accepting bribes and kickbacks estimated at more than $150m (£97m) over a 24-year period beginning in 1991. [BBC] President Sepp Blatter has not been implicated by the US Presecutors. In December 2014 a complaint by US lawyer Michael Garcia who spent two years investigating World Cup corruption claims for Fifa was dismissed by football’s governing body.
Sepp Blatter at the 2014 FIFA Tournament Announcement in 2007
London is getting a cannabis-inspired restaurant –
Grub Club and the chefs at Grub London have teamed up to create ‘Cannabistro’, a two night pop-up event coming to London in June.Diners at London’s first weed-themed restaurant will be treated to a four-course gourmet meal of dishes inspired by “hazy memories of teenage years combined with the clichés of getting high – ‘The Way Up’ – and coming down – ‘The Munchies’.” [Daily Telegraph]
SpaceX cleared for US military launches –
Billionaire Elon Musk’s firm SpaceX has won long-waited approval from the US Air Force to launch military satellites, opening the way to a lucrative market that has been a virtual monopoly for a Boeing and Lockheed Martin joint venture. With the certification, California-based SpaceX can now compete against the United Launch Alliance – the giant Boeing-Lockheed joint venture – for defence contracts valued at about $9.5bn over the next five years. In January 2015 Musk announced that he will build a test track for his “Hyperloop” transport system that could theoretically travel at speeds of up to 700 miles per hour. [news24.com]
Elon Musk
Video of the Day –
A Guy’s Understanding of Women’s Underwear – Robbie Sherrard
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Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
- Islamic State militants have carried out multiple suicide bombings targeting the Iraqi Army in Anbar Province killing at least 17 people. (AP)
- Disasters and accidents
- At least 12 people, associated with the Kangleyuan Rest Home in the Chinese city of Pingdingshan in Henan province which was destroyed by fire with the loss of 38 lives, are detained for questioning. (AP)
- A sixth person is found to have died in this week’s floods in Harris County, Texas, which contains the city of Houston. (Houston Chronicle)
- 2015 Indian heat wave
- The death toll in the two worst affected states Andhra Pradesh and Telangana passes 800. (Times of India)
- International relations
- Representatives from the United States, Japan and South Korea meet in Seoul on how to respond to North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.(AP)
- Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair resigns as the peace envoy of the Quartet on the Middle East. (ABC News)
- Law and crime
- FIFA corruption scandal
- Six FIFA officials are detained in Switzerland for extradition to the United States in relation to allegations of corruption between the 1990s and now. Those arrested include Jeffrey Webb, Jack Warner, Eduardo Li, Eugenio Figueredo and Jose Maria Marin. Fourteen people involved in world soccer. (AP), (BBC), (Washington Post)
- Swiss federal prosecutors open criminal procedures in relation to the awarding of the 2018 and 2022 FIFA World Cups. (AP)
- FIFA suspends eleven people from involvement in football over the scandal. (AP)
- The Legislature of the US state of Nebraska votes to outlaw the death penalty, overriding a veto by Governor Pete Ricketts. (Lincoln Journal Star)
- Politics
- The newly-elected British House of Commons commences its session with the State Opening of Parliament ceremony in which the Queen’s Speech will be delivered. (BBC)
- The Prime Minister of Denmark Helle Thorning-Schmidt calls an election for June 18. (Reuters via Straits Times)
- Rick Santorum announces he will be seeking the nomination of the Republican Party in the United States presidential election, 2016. (Washington Post)
- Science and technology
- Elon Musk‘s SpaceX wins U.S. Air Force approval to launch military satellites. (AFP via News24)
- Sport
- 2014–15 UEFA Europa League
- In association football, Sevilla FC of Spain becomes the first club to win the UEFA Europa League four times defeating Dnipro Dnipropetrovskof Ukraine 3-2 with Colombian striker Carlos Bacca scoring twice in the final. (CNN)
- Matheus Leite Nascimento collapses on the field of play during the 2015 UEFA Europa League Final in Warsaw. (SM)
- 2015 NBA Finals
- In basketball, the Golden State Warriors defeat the Houston Rockets 104-90 to win the Western Conference 104-90 and go to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1975. (Bleacher Report)
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June 5, 2015
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Southampton footballers set new world record for longest match –
A new world record for the longest football match has been set at St Mary’s, the home of Southampton FC, after a 102 hour-long charity game. The 36 players, from the Testlands Support Project, a Southampton charity, played on until 00:30 BST on Friday to break the previous record, of 101 hours. The players took turns to take breaks to eat, get physiotherapy and sleep. They began the 11-a-side match at 18:30 on Sunday, scoring over 1,600 goals. The Reds went on to beat the Whites 910-725. [BBC]
Surprising pop star facts revealed by YouTube –
YouTube reveals statistics, usually only visible to those behind the scenes, showing some bizarre trends about the world’s biggest stars. They show that Taylor Swift is twice as popular in Bangkok in Thailand than New York, for example. Or that One Direction are huge in Quezon City, the Philippines, as well as Mexico City. The Artist Insights service was unveiled on Wednesday. Google says it means musicians will be able to see the cities where they have the largest number of fans. The records go back to September 2014 and include original versions of the artist’s videos as well as fan shares and re-uploads. [BBC Newsbeat] See List of the Day
Taylor Swift
‘Female Viagra’ to boost women’s libido one step closer –
The development of a pill to boost women’s libido is one step closer after an American panel recommended the approval of the female equivalent of Viagra. A panel of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisers has voted in favour of recommending flibanserin, a daily pill nicknamed the “female Viagra”. The recommendation will be seen as a major coup for campaigners who have fought for women’s sex drives to receive the same level of medical attention as men’s. The decision will now be passed to the FDA itself, which will rule on whether the pill will be officially approved for public use later this year. [Daily Telegraph]
Video of the Day –
Trick Meter from Simeon Duncombe on Vimeo.
List of the Day –
Taylor Swift’s YouTube fanbase by country (September 2014 – June 5, 2015) – Data from YouTube Artist Insights
1
United States
678,418,914 total views
2
United Kingdom
204,980,705 total views
3
Mexico
190,668,351 total views
4
Philippines
158,830,256 total views
5
Brazil
145,212,778 total views
6
Thailand
116,673,111 total views
7
Canada
100,100,885 total views
8
Japan
77,336,118 total views
9
France
67,362,320 total views
10
Republic of Indonesia
66,044,140 total views
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Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- A bomb explodes in a marketplace in Yola, Nigeria, killing 31 and injuring dozens of others. (AP), (CNN)
- Two people are killed and more than a hundred injured as bombs explode at rallies held by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party two days ahead of the general election in Diyarbakir. (AP)
- Business and economy
- Nestlé temporarily removes its Maggi noodles product from the shelves in India following a health scare. (Economic Times)
- Disasters and accidents
- Sinking of the Dong Fang Zhi Xing
- The death toll from the sinking of the ship on the Yangtze River rises to 82 with officials giving up hope of finding more survivors. Only 15 out of over 450 people on the boat were rescued. (Sky News Australia)
- Two bodies have been removed from Borneo’s Mount Kinabalu following the 6.1 magnitude earthquake that hit Malaysia‘s Sabah province Friday morning. Previously-stranded climbers, reported at 137, have descended to the Laban Rata resthouse. (The Star) (CNN) (Asia Straits Times) (The Rakyat Post)
- 2015 Accra explosion
- The death toll from an explosion at a gasoline station on Wednesday in the Ghanaian capital Accra rises to over 200. (Zee News)
- Health
- 2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus outbreak in South Korea
- Four people have now died of MERS in South Korea with five new cases reported. (AFP via Bangkok Post)
- International relations
- Benigno Aquino, the President of the Philippines, says that his government will start discussions with Japan about allowing Japan Self-Defense Forces to refuel at Filipino bases allowing the extension of operations into the South China Sea. (Reuters via Daily Mail)
- Law and crime
- Eight out of the ten allegedly involved in shooting Pakistani schoolgirl and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai have been secretly set free.(BBC)
- Prosecutors in the state of Minnesota file criminal charges against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for allegedly mishandling sexual abuse allegations by a priest. (New York Times)
- Politics and elections
- Romania‘s National Anticorruption Directorate announces that it is investigating the Prime Minister Victor Ponta for alleged money laundering, forgery and corruption. Ponta denies the allegations and is refusing to stand down. (CNN)
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June 17, 2015
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Angolan capital remains ‘most expensive city’ for expats –
The Angolan capital, Luanda, remains the world’s most expensive city for expatriates, according to an annual survey by consultancy Mercer. The city has held the number one spot for the past three years because of the high cost of rent, imported goods and security in the oil-rich nation. However, the rest of the cost of living rankings saw significant shifts due to exchange rate fluctuations. Asian cities now account for half of the top 10 costliest destinations. Hong Kong rose to second place and Singapore remained in fourth because of their expensive property and rental markets. Shanghai, Beijing and Seoul also made the top 10. [BBC] See List of the Day
Madonna premieres star-studded ‘Bitch I’m Madonna’ video on Tidal –
Madonna has unveiled her new video – complete with cameo appearances by Beyonce, Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry – on the new streaming service [launched in March] she runs with stars including Jay Z and Kanye West. The video for Bitch I’m Madonna, from her well-received Rebel Heart album, will be shown exclusively on the Tidal service for 24 hours before being released to the wider public. The line-up on the video, which was filmed in New York, also includes Nicki Minaj, new X Factor judge Rita Ora, Chris Rock and Madonna’s sons Rocco and David. [Daily Telegraph] See Video of the Day
Madonna
South Carolina church shooting: Nine die in Charleston ‘hate crime’ –
Nine people have died in a shooting at a historic African-American church in Charleston in the US state of South Carolina, officials say. City police chief Gregory Mullen said eight of the victims were killed inside the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church on Wednesday evening, while another person died shortly afterwards. Police are now searching for a white male suspect in his 20s. [BBC]
Video of the Day –
TIDAL | Madonna ft. Nicki Minaj | Bitch I’m Madonna Behind the scenes
List of the Day –
The 25 costliest cities for living abroad
| 2015 | 2014 | Change | City | Country |
| 1 | 1 | – | Luanda | Angola |
| 2 | 3 | +1 | Hong Kong | Hong Kong |
| 3 | 5 | +2 | Zurich | Switzerland |
| 4 | 4 | – | Singapore | Singapore |
| 5 | 6 | +1 | Geneva | Switzerland |
| 6 | 10 | +4 | Shanghai | China |
| 7 | 11 | +4 | Beijing | China |
| 8 | 14 | +6 | Seoul | South Korea |
| 9 | 8 | -1 | Bern | Switzerland |
| 10 | 2 | -8 | N’Djamena | Chad |
| 11 | 7 | -4 | Tokyo | Japan |
| 12 | 12 | – | London | United Kingdom |
| 13 | 20 | +7 | Kinshasa | Congo |
| 14 | 17 | +3 | Shenzhen | China |
| 15 | 24 | +9 | Guangzhou | China |
| 16 | 16 | – | New York City | United States |
| 17 | 13 | -4 | Victoria | Seychelles |
| 18 | 18 | – | Tel Aviv | Israel |
| 19 | 86 | +67 | Buenos Aires | Argentina |
| 20 | 25 | +5 | Lagos | Nigeria |
| 21 | 54 | +33 | Shenyang | China |
| 22 | 34 | +12 | Conakry | Guinea |
| 23 | 67 | +44 | Dubai | United Arab Emirates |
| 24 | 15 | -9 | Copenhagen | Denmark |
| 25 | 48 | +24 | Qingdao | China |
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Attacks and armed conflicts
- 2015 Charleston, South Carolina shooting
- Nine people are dead following a mass shooting at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. (CNN),(Post and Courier), (ABC News America)
- Arts and culture
- The American NBC network announces that Lester Holt will continue as the host of the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams returning in an undisclosed role. (The Wrap)
- Business and economy
- The United States announces that it will replace Alexander Hamilton on the ten-dollar bill with a woman chosen after public debate. (The Hill)
- In the United States, the California Labor Commission has ruled that a San Francisco Uber driver is a company employee, not a contractor. Uber is appealing this ruling, that would increase the company’s costs and liabilities, to the state’s court system. A hearing for a class certification of a similar lawsuit against Uber is scheduled for August 2015.(NPR) (Time Magazine)
- Disasters and accidents
- North Korea runs a campaign to fight water drought, which according to United Nations is the worst within the past 100 years. (Reuters)
- International relations
- The People’s Republic of China and Australia sign a free trade agreement in Canberra as Andrew Robb, Australia’s Minister for Trade and Investment, warns that the United States Congress only has weeks to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership. (CCTV via Twitter), (AP)
- Vietnam accuses China of attacking Vietnamese fishermen in three separate incidents in the South China Sea. (AP)
- Politics and elections
- Protesters gather outside the Hong Kong Legislative Council ahead of a contentious vote on election of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong.(Deutsche Welle)
- The National Diet of Japan votes to lower the voting age from 20 to 18. (Mainichi)
News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource
July 5, 2015
Top News Stories –
Greece votes ‘No’ and gambles its future –
Greek voters have delivered a defiant response to Europe. Political leaders and heads of government had lined up to warn the Greeks that a “No” vote would be a vote to leave the euro. It did not deter them. Indeed many voters seemed to revel in their resistance. The European Project is now facing its gravest crisis. [BBC]
USA beat Japan 5-2 in Women’s FIFA World Cup Final –
Carli Lloyd scored an incredible 13-minute hat-trick as the United States thrashed Japan to win their third Women’s World Cup title. In a repeat of the 2011 final, which Japan won on penalties, the Nadeshiko could not live with their stronger and quicker opponents, who went 4-0 up when Lloyd scored an astonishing third from the halfway line. The pulsating finale to an entertaining tournament was the highest-scoring final in the tournament’s history, and matched the highest scoring men’s final, when Brazil defeated Sweden by the same scoreline in 1958. [BBC] See Video of the Day
Carli Lloyd
Video of the Day –
List of the Day –
FIFA Women’s World Cup results [from Wikipedia]
| Year | Host | Champions | Score | Runners-up | Third Place | Score | Fourth Place | Teams | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 |  China |
 United States |
2–1 |  Norway |
 Sweden |
4–0 |  Germany |
12 | |||
| 1995 |  Sweden |
Norway |
2–0 | Germany |
United States |
2–0 |  China PR |
12 | |||
| 1999 | United States |
United States |
0–0 a.e.t. (5–4 pen) |
China PR |
 Brazil |
0–0 [A] (5–4 pen) |
Norway |
16 | |||
| 2003 | United States |
Germany |
2–1 asdet | Sweden |
United States |
3–1 |  Canada |
16 | |||
| 2007 | China |
Germany |
2–0 | Brazil |
United States |
4–1 | Norway |
16 | |||
| 2011 | Germany |
 Japan |
2–2 a.e.t. (3–1 pen) |
United States |
Sweden |
2–1 |  France |
16 | |||
| 2015 |  Canada |
United States |
5–2 | Japan |
 England |
1–0 a.e.t. | Germany |
24 |
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts
- American-led intervention in Syria
- A United States bombing campaign against ISIL has killed at least 30 people in the Syrian city of Al-Raqqah. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
- Iraq War (2014–present)
- Iraqi government air strikes kill at least 73 people in the ISIL held cities of Ramadi and Fallujah. (Al-Jazeera)
- War in North-West Pakistan
- A roadside bomb in North Waziristan kills at least three Pakistan Army soldiers and injures six others. (AFP via Daily Star)
- Boko Haram
- A suicide bomber attacks a church in the Potiskum area of Nigeria‘s Yobe State, killing five and raising the toll of Boko Haram attacks for the past week to 200. (BBC) (DailyStar via AP)
- Arts and culture
- UNESCO adds more sites to the World Heritage List including the San Antonio Missions National Historic Park in the US city of San Antonio, Texasand Scotland‘s Forth Bridge. (My San Antonio), (BBC)
- Disasters and accidents
- 2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Over 1000 people in the Philippines are stranded temporarily by Severe Tropical Storm Linfa (Egay) as landslides occur in Palawan province.(GMA Network)
- Canadian wildfires
- More than 60 wildfires start in the Canadian province of British Columbia over the weekend leading to several communities declaring a state of emergency. (CBC)
- Nearly 1,000 military personnel are sent to fight wildfires in Saskatchewan, (CTV)
- Politics and elections
- Greek bailout referendum, 2015
- Greek voters solidly rejected (61.3 percent) the latest austerity proposal of the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and theEuropean Central Bank. (Sky News), (The Guardian) (Reuters)
- The Chancellor of Germany Angela Merkel and the President of France Francois Hollande call for an international summit of Eurozone leaders to discuss the next moves. (Bloomberg)
- The Greek opposition leader Antonis Samaras resigns as leader of his party, New Democracy; the new temporary leader is Evangelos Meimarakis. (To Vima)
- Science and technology
- A Russian space capsule reaches the International Space Station allowing resupply of provisions after the crash of the SpaceX space capsule last week. (CNN)
- Sports
- 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup
- The United States defeats defending champion Japan, 5-2, to win the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Vancouver, British Columbia,Canada. (BBC) (AP via Washington Post)
- 2015 British Grand Prix
- In motorsport, Lewis Hamilton wins the race for the second consecutive year with team mate Nico Rosberg finishing second. (News24)
News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource
July 7, 2015
Top News Stories –
Fat people ‘are better at sniffing out food’ –
Fat people could be gaining weight because their sense of smell is stronger and more vivid, scientists have found. A study by Yale University showed a heightened ability to imagine odours was linked to food cravings and in turn to higher body weight. Researchers found the ability to vividly imagine the smell of popcorn, freshly baked biscuits and even non-food odours is greater in obese adults. They said most people can imagine the view of a favorite location or sing a song to themselves, but struggle to imagine smells associated with our favourite foods. [Daily Telegraph]
Bill Cosby admitted he gave woman drugs before sex –
US comedian Bill Cosby admitted he obtained sedatives with the intent of giving them to women he wanted to have sex with, court papers from 2005 show. The unsealed files, obtained by the Associated Press news agency, show Mr Cosby made the admission in a sex abuse civil case brought by a woman. That case was settled for an undisclosed sum in 2006. Mr Cosby, now 77, is facing a series of sexual assault accusations dating back decades. He has denied the claims. Mr Cosby has never been criminally charged. [BBC] See Top Twitter Trends
Bill Cosby in 2011
World’s oldest man dies in Japan aged 112 –
The world’s oldest man, Sakari Momoi, has died in Japan at the ripe old age of 112. Momoi, born months before the Wright brothers made their first successful flight, passed away late on Sunday, said the official at Saitama City, north of Tokyo, where he had lived for many years. The supercentenarian, recognised as the world’s oldest male at the age of 111 last year, died of kidney failure in a care home in Tokyo. [Daily Telegraph]
Video of the Day –
This Is Your Body Over 24 Hours
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- Saudi-led military intervention in Yemen (2015-present)
- Air strikes and combat kill 200 in Yemen, highest daily toll so far. (Reuters via SANAA)
- Terrorism in Kenya, War in Somalia (2009–present)
- Al-Shabaab militants kill 14 in northern Kenya. (US News)
- War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- A NATO convoy is hit by a suicide car bomb in Kabul. Three or four civilians are injured; no fatalities have been reported. (NBC News)
- Business and economy
- Greek debt crisis timeline
- Eurozone leaders hold a crisis meeting to discuss options on Greek debt following the referendum as Greek banks are near to running out of cash. For the last week Greek banks allowed to withdraw only 50 euros a day. (Reuters)
- The Government of Greece does not present any new proposals and Greek banks are unlikely to reopen this week. (AP)
- The European Union gives Greece a deadline of Thursday to develop new proposals for discussion at an emergency summit on Sunday.(BBC)
- Disasters and accidents
- A United States Air Force F-16 collides with a privately-owned Cessna to the north of Charleston, South Carolina. The pilot of the jet ejects safely, but the Cessna breaks up mid-air, killing the two unidentified occupants. (CNN)
- Law and crime
- 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal
- Malaysian authorities order a freeze on six accounts associated with alleged payments by development bank 1Malaysia Development Berhadto the Prime Minister Najib Razak. (Wall Street Journal)
- The FBI, U.S. Postal Service, and Indiana State Police seize electronics and other items from the Zionsville, Indiana home of Subway commercial spokesman Jared Fogle. The seizure comes two months after the former head of Fogle’s foundation was arrested on child pornography charges.(Indianapolis Star)
News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource
July 15, 2015
Top News Stories –
Kim Kardashian on the cover of Rolling Stone? It’s the death of rock’n’roll! –
Kim Kardashian has been accused of many things over the years, but this week brought a new addition to the charge sheet: killing rock’n’roll. The accuser? Sinéad O’Connor, who adduced that the presence of Kardashian and her cleavage on the cover of US magazine Rolling Stone was evidence that “music has officially died”. “Bob Dylan,” she added, “must be fucking horrified.” [Guardian]
Rolling Stone magazine cover
Donald Trump declares personal wealth of more than $10 billion –
Donald Trump, the property mogul turned US presidential candidate, has declared his personal wealth to be over 10 billion dollars (£6.4bn) in his official forms submitted to the US government’s election commission. In a typically flamboyant statement extolling his own vast wealth, Mr Trump complained that the Federal Election Commission forms did not have sufficient boxes to accommodate a man of his stature. “This report was not designed for a man of Mr. Trump’s massive wealth,” said a statement issued by Trump campaign headquarters. [Daily Telegraph]
Donald Trump
Video of the Day –
The Death Of Bees Explained – Parasites, Poison and Humans
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- Boko Haram
- At least 33 people are killed in Boko Haram attacks in recent days in northeastern Nigeria. (CNN)
- Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
- Loyalists of exiled President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi capture Aden International Airport after four months of being under Houthi control. (Al-Arabiyah)
- Disasters and accidents
- A preliminary report from the Dutch Safety Board of the investigation of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) disaster points to pro-Russian rebels as being responsible for the shooting down of the passenger flight on 17 July 2014. (CNN)
- Business and economy
- Greek government-debt crisis, Greek government-debt crisis timeline
- The Hellenic Parliament votes to approve the Greek bailout package despite many senior lawmakers from the ruling Syriza Party refusing to vote for the deal. (AP via New York Times), (BBC)
- Puerto Rico government debt crisis
- Standard & Poor’s cut the credit rating of Puerto Rico‘s Government Development Bank to ‘CC’, saying a near-term default is a virtual certainty.(Reuters)
- Pabst Brewing Company announces plans to brew again at their historic brewery located in Milwaukee. (JS)
- Spanish manufacturer Talgo announces Saudi Arabia’s cancellation of a $201-million contract for six high-speed trains. (Reuters via Arabian Business)
- Health
- Two South Korean airlines, Korean Air and Asiana Airlines, will resume flights to Japan after suspending flights during the recent MERS outbreak.(TASS)
- Law and crime
- Oskar Gröning, known as the “Auschwitz book-keeper”, is sentenced to four years imprisonment for being an accessory to the murder of 300,000Jews. (BBC)
- Politics and elections
- President of Russia Vladimir Putin signs a law that sets the date for an early parliamentary election on 18 September 2016. (Bloomberg)
- Science and Technology
- The circumnavigation attempt of Earth by the solar-powered Solar Impulse plane, currently in Hawaii, has been suspended for the rest of 2015 in order to perform necessary repairs. (BBC)
- NASA publishes the first close up photos of Pluto from the New Horizons spacecraft. They show geologically young mountains made of water ice.(The Guardian), (Wired)
News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource
July 16, 2015
Top News Stories –
German squirrel arrested after woman complained it was stalking her –
An “aggressive” squirrel has been arrested by German police officers after a woman complained it was stalking her. Police in North Rhine-Westphalia received the bizarre emergency call on Wednesday from a woman who claimed the rodent was chasing her. The woman, from Bottrop, tried to give the pursuant rodent the slip but eventually rang the police out of desperation. Officers captured the squirrel and “arrested it,” according to a message posted on the force’s Facebook page. [Daily Telegraph]
Tom Selleck to pay $20k settlement to California after he was accused of water theft –
Actor Tom Selleck will pay $21,000 (£13,500) to a Southern California water district, which voted to settle the lawsuit accusing the American TV actor and film producer of obtaining water he was not entitled to. Selleck, 70, who is most famous for his lead role in the television series Magnum P.I, was accused earlier this month by the Calleguas Municipal Water District in Ventura County of stealing water from a public fire hydrant in Calleguas. The water was purportedly used for his 60-acre avocado ranch in Westlake Village, just outside the region. [Daily Telegraph]
Tom Selleck
Bernard Tomic charged with trespassing and resisting arrest at Miami Beach hotel party –
Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic has been charged with trespassing and resisting arrest following complaints over a noisy penthouse party at a Miami hotel, police said on Thursday. Security guards were called to a £4,500-a-night penthouse in the W Hotel in South Beach early Wednesday following multiple noise complaints. Tomic was described as “aggressive and belligerent” by a Miami police report. The 22-year-old tennis player, ranked 25th in the world by the Association of Tennis Professionals, refused to turn down the music and slammed the door in the guards’ faces, according to an arrest affidavit. [Daily Telegraph]
Bernard Tomic
Video of the Day –
Animated Flyover of Pluto’s Icy Mountain and Plains [See story from July 15, 2015]
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- 2014–15 India–Pakistan border skirmishes
- India and Pakistan exchanged gunfire and mortar bombs along their disputed frontier, killing five civilians and injuring more than a dozen.(Reuters)
- Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
- Members of exiled President of Yemen Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi‘s Cabinet tour the southern city of Aden for the first time in several months.(Reuters via Daily Mail)
- Sinai insurgency
- The Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS) has claimed its first naval attack on an Egyptian patrol boat in the Mediterranean, just off the coast of Sinai. (Time) (Ahram Online)
- Boko Haram, Timeline of Boko Haram insurgency
- Twin blasts at a market in Gombe, Nigeria kill at least 49 people. (BBC)
- Boko Haram militants kill a dozen villagers in Niger. (Reuters)
- South Thailand insurgency
- Two Thai Army soldiers are killed in an ambush in Thailand‘s Narathiwat Province. (Bangkok Post)
- At least 11 people are killed and many others injured in a tribal fight in a remote area of Papua New Guinea. (AFP via ABC Australia)
- Arts and culture
- Nominations for the 67th Primetime Emmy Awards are announced with Game of Thrones receiving 24 nominations. (Variety)
- Business and economy
- The European Union launches an antitrust action against American semiconductor company Qualcomm, for possible abuse of a dominant market position, on the one hand, and predatory pricing, on the other hand. (European Union)
- Disasters and accidents
- Sixty-five thousand people in the Indian state of Assam are affected by floods and heavy rainfall. (NDTV)
- Ash from the Raung volcano closes five airports in Indonesia, while ash from the Gamalama volcano closes the Babullah Airport in Ternate.(Channel News Asia)
- 2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Nangka makes landfall on the Japanese island of Shikoku. (Weather.com)]
- The Nexen pipeline at the Long Lake facility near Fort McMurray, Alberta, spills 5,000,000 litres (1,100,000 imp gal; 1,300,000 US gal) of oil emulsion. (CBC)
- Law and crime
- 2015 Chattanooga shootings
- A shooting occurs at a United States Navy recruiting office and a Navy operational support center in Chattanooga, Tennessee, killing four U.S. Marines and the gunman and wounding a police officer, a Marine Corps recruiter and a sailor who is listed in serious condition. (Reuters via MSN) (The Tennessean), (NBC News), (WRCB) (CNN)
- James Eagan Holmes, a former University of Colorado neuroscience student, is found guilty of first-degree murder in the July 2012 Aurora movie theater massacre, which killed 12 and injured 70; he had plead not guilty by reason of legal insanity. (Reuters, via MSN)
- Politics and elections
- Japan’s lower house of parliament passes a pair of bills changing the country’s security laws, allowing Japanese soldiers to fight overseas for the first time since the end of World War II under certain conditions, over strong protests from opposition lawmakers, who walked out of the vote, and demonstrators outside the National Diet Building. (BBC) (NHK)
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July 23, 2015
Top News Stories –
‘Earth 2.0’ found in Nasa Kepler telescope haul –
A haul of planets from Nasa’s Kepler telescope includes a world sharing many characteristics with Earth. Kepler-452b orbits at a very similar distance from its star, though its radius is 60% larger. Mission scientists said they believed it was the most Earth-like planet yet. Such worlds are of interest to astronomers because they might be small and cool enough to host liquid water on their surface – and might therefore be hospitable to life. Nasa’s science chief John Grunsfeld called the new world “Earth 2.0” and the “closest so far” to our home. It is around 1,400 light years away from Earth. [BBC]
Taylor Swift apologises to Nicki Minaj –
Taylor Swift has apologised to Nicki Minaj following their Twitter row over the MTV VMA nominations. The singer’s admitted she misunderstood Nicki’s initial tweets, which attacked the music industry for favouring white females. “I thought I was being called out. I missed the point, then misspoke, I’m sorry, Nicki,” Taylor wrote. Nicki has accepted her apology by tweeting back: “That means so much Taylor, thank you.” It all started after Nicki voiced her disappointment at Anaconda not getting a nomination for video of the year. [BBC Newsbeat]
Nicki Minaj
Sony Pictures buys rights to make an emoji movie –
Sony Pictures Animation has bought the rights to turn emoji icons into a movie. The studio plans to create an animated feature film about the smiley, winky and unhappy characters used in texts and on social media. At this stage, it’s not clear how it will turn the static yellow round faces into a Hollywood blockbuster. Commentators claim the success of The Lego Movie showed that any subject matter can be turned into a hit. Emojis were developed in Japan in the late 1990s as smiley-faced emoticons. [BBC Newsbeat]
Video of the Day –
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Official Trailer – “We March Together”
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
- Turkey scrambles fighter jets and Turkish tanks open fire on ISIS positions along the Syrian border following an exchange of fire which left one Turkish soldier dead and two injured. The clashes are the first direct combat between the Turkish military and ISIS forces. (Telegraph)
- Turkey agrees to allow the United States access to İncirlik Air Base, near the city of Adana (in close proximity to the Syrian border) for the US-led coalition forces’ air strikes against ISIS. (Today’s Zaman)
- China’s People’s Liberation Army conducts a series of military exercises simulating an attack on Taiwan’s Presidential Office Building. (Focus Taiwan) (Quartz) (Wall Street Journal)
- Business and economy
- Greek government-debt crisis timeline
- A majority in the Greek parliament votes to approve a second bailout reform package. (Euronews)
- Pearson PLC agrees to sell Financial Times Group to Nikkei Inc. for £844 million. (BBC)
- Disasters and accidents
- Law and crime
- Broken Arrow killings
- Five people are killed and a girl is wounded in a stabbing at a home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, U.S. Two teenage suspects are arrested.(CNN)
- 2015 Lafayette shooting
- Seven people are wounded, and three are dead (including the shooter) after a 58 year-old gunman opens fire at the Grand 16 Movie Theater in Lafayette, Louisiana during a showing of Trainwreck. (NBC)[(CNN)
- Science and technology
- NASA scientists announce the discovery of Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth sized exoplanet discovered orbiting the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. (NASA), (BBC)
News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource
August 9, 2015
Top News Stories –
Australia proposes limiting Vegemite sales to prevent alcohol abuse –
Australia’s government says Vegemite sales should be limited in some communities to prevent the yeast-based spread being used to make home-made alcohol. Nigel Scullion, the indigenous affairs minister, said the spread – which is considered something of a national culinary staple – was a “precursor to misery” in communities suffering from alcohol abuse. He said he was not proposing a ban but wanted to restrict excessive sales of high-yeast products such as Vegemite in “dry” communities – typically remote Aboriginal townships where alcohol sales are banned. Vegemite, from the same family of spreads as Marmite, has been produced in Australia since 1923 and its advertising jingles have sometimes been said to be more widely known than the national anthem. [Daily Telegraph]
A woman’s bra wire saves her from bullet in German hunting accident –
A woman’s bra wire has saved her life after a bullet hit her during a hunting accident in north-eastern Germany. The tourist was cycling through woods with her husband in the Mecklenberg-Western Pomerania area of the country. According to newspaper the Gadebusch-Rehnaer Zeitung, the pair had inadvertently strayed into the middle of a boar hunt while crossing a field. The woman said she felt a pain in her chest, which turned out to be a bullet ricocheting off her bra underwire. She was taken to a doctor in nearby Gadebusch by a passing motorist and treated for severe bruising on her chest plus a small blood clot. The gun and ammunition from the hunt were also impounded and police with sniffer dogs and metal detectors searched the area. [BBC Newsbeat]
Video of the Day –
THE WILD from LIEBER FILMS on Vimeo.
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Arts and culture
- Japan commemorates the 70th anniversary of the atomic bomb dropped over the Japanese city of Nagasaki during World War II. (BBC)
- Disasters and accidents
- 2015 Pacific typhoon season
- At least 22 people are dead or missing in China and millions are without power after Typhoon Soudelor hit the nation yesterday. (USA Today)
- Law and crime
- An arrest warrant has been issued for the cousin of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Suleiman Hilal Al-Assad, who is accused of shooting and killing Colonel Hassan Al-Sheikh of the Syrian Armed Forces at what can be described as a traffic dispute. (The News Hub) (France 24)
- Shooting of Michael Brown
- Tyrone Harris, Jr is shot in Ferguson, Missouri one year after the death of Michael Brown after allegedly firing shots at police. He is in a critical condition.(St Louis Post-Dispatch)
- Politics and elections
- The Prime Minister of Iraq Haider al-Abadi calls for abolishing the positions of Vice President and Deputy Prime Minister and says he is opening graft investigations. The previous vice president Tariq al-Hashimi was sentenced to death in absentia over political murders. (Bloomberg)
- Sports
- NFL player and sportscaster Frank Gifford dies at the age of 84. (NBC)
News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource
August 12, 2015
Top News Stories –
China blasts: Shipment explodes in Tianjin port –
Massive explosions have hit China’s northern port city of Tianjin, reportedly injuring many people. According to Chinese state media, the blasts occurred when a shipment of explosives blew up at about 23:30 (16:30 GMT). Pictures and video shared on social media showed flames lighting up the sky and damage to nearby buildings. Latest reports in state media suggest that hundreds of people have been taken to hospital. The first explosion was followed by another 30 seconds later. [BBC] See Video of the Day
Twitter takes the chains off Direct Messages by removing 140-character limit –
Twitter is fairly conspicuous by its absence among the big messaging players. The service has allowed its users to send private messages back and forth for years, but for a long time, the feature seemed like an afterthought, with bugs such as unreliable notifications. This is slowly changing. On Wednesday, Twitter finally removed a 140-character limit on Direct Messages (DMs), meaning users can send up to 10,000 characters (which roughly allows space for 2,000 words). Sachin Agarwal, Twitter’s DM product manager, said this had been one of Twitter users’ most commonly-requested features. [Daily Telegraph]
RIP to LOL – the history of laughing out loud –
A Facebook study suggests that people are choosing to use “haha” and emojis over “LOL” to express laughter. The research claims more than half (51.4%) opt for “haha”, while just 1.9% are LOLers, although it didn’t look at direct messages. LOL was added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) in 2011, but the origin of the phrase can be traced back to the 1980s. The Facebook study suggests a third of people use emojis for laughter. [BBC Newsbeat]
Video of the Day –
直击天津滨海新区爆炸瞬间 现场响声震天
Massive explosions have hit China’s northern port city of Tianjin
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War
- At least 40 people are killed and more than 180 wounded in artillery strikes in Damascus during a visit by the Foreign Minister of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif. (The News Hub)
- Arts and culture
- New Zealand flag debate
- A government appointed panel chooses 40 finalist flag designs out of more than 10,000 submitted. (Miami Herald) (New York Post)
- Business and economy
- Pearson PLC agrees to sell its share in the Economist Group to Exor controlled by the Agnelli family for £469m. (BBC)
- 2015 Chinese stock market crash
- The People’s Republic of China devalues the yuan (Renminbi) by 1.62 per cent after devaluing by 1.92 per cent yesterday. This comes in the wake of a 30% drop of Chinese stocks last month. (BBC)(USA Today) (The Australian)
- Disasters and accidents
- 2015 Tianjin explosion
- A U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashes while landing on a U.S. Navy cargo vessel near the Japanese island of Okinawa, with seven people injured. (AP, via MSN)
- The death toll from a heat wave in Egypt this week rises to 60. (AP)
- Law and crime
- Kasur child sexual abuse scandal
- In a two years period, 280 to 300 children have been sexually abused and filmed doing forced sex acts in Pakistan by a gang consisting of 20 to 25 culprits. (CNN) (Anadolu Agency) (BBC)
- Politics and elections
- Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, aged 90, announces that recent liver surgery revealed that he is suffering from an as-yet unspecified form of cancer which has spread to other parts of his body. (Reuters, via MSN)
- North Korea‘s vice premier Choe Yong-gon is believed to have been executed by firing squad this year for voicing frustration at the policies of leader Kim Jong-Un. (Reuters) (AFP)
- A South Korean man is seriously injured after setting himself on fire during a protest against Japan‘s use of South Korean women as sex slaves during World War II. (New York Times)
- Desi Bouterse is sworn in for a second term as President of Suriname. (AP via StarTribune)
News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource
August 25, 2015
Top News Stories –
Italian woman, 46, arrested for locking ‘toy boy’ in basement over sex demands –
An Italian woman has been arrested after allegedly locking up her “toy boy” boyfriend for refusing to have sex with her, in a story that has evoked comparisons with the classic film The Graduate. The woman, 46, who was divorced, met the 25-year-old during a holiday romance in Campania in southern Italy. Initially they got on well but the young man reportedly became increasingly vexed by the amount of sex that the older woman was demanding. He declined her advances on several occasions but she then took revenge by locking him up, against his will, in the basement of her house at Arzano, near Naples. The young man managed to raise the alarm, calling for help from passers-by. [Daily Telegraph]
George Clooney photobombs Cindy Crawford as she takes romantic selfie with husband –
Does anyone enjoy looking at “romantic selfies” of couples kissing on Instagram? It’s worse than a public display of affection (PDA), as it is done purely to show off how in love you are with the person you’re smooching. Cindy Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber were taking a tender selfie together, when George Clooney decided to ruin it by pulling a strange face in the background. [Daily Telegraph]
Cindy Crawford Instagram with Rande Gerber and George Clooney
International bridge champions accuse teammates of cheating –
Two Israeli men, Lotan Fisher and Ron Schwartz, have been accused by their team mates of cheating in three matches including the Spingold tournament – one of the most famous of all.
A triumphant team of bridge players has been ripped apart by accusations that would, in the words of the whistleblower, “even make a Hollywood movie surreal.” Two Israeli men, Lotan Fisher and Ron Schwartz, have been accused by their team mates of cheating. Quite how they cheated is unclear, but Norwegian bridge professional Boye Brogeland, one of the world’s highest-rated bridge players, said the other four members of the team were handing back three titles they had won together. [Daily Telegraph]
Video of the Day –
Dismaland [See August 23, 2015]
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Boko Haram
- A teenage girl suicide bomber kills five people and injures fourteen in the Damaturu area in northeast Nigeria. (AP via Fox News)
- Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
- Fourteen people are arrested in Spain and Morocco for allegedly trying to recruit people to ISIL. (Times of Israel)
- North Korea and South Korea agree to stop airing propaganda at the border and stand down preparations for war. (NPR)
- Business and economics
- The People’s Bank of China cuts interest rates and lowers minimum requirements for bank reserves for the second time in two months. (Reuters)
- Disasters and accidents
- 2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Goni makes landfall in southwestern Japan with at least 26 people injured but no people killed. The death toll in the Philippines rises to 21 while South Korea is on alert. (AP), (Yonhap)
- A gas explosion in the Afghanistan city of Herat kills eleven people and injures 18. (AP via Ahram Online)
- International relations
- A record number of migrants crossing the Balkans results in a record number of people in Hungary despite the government building a wall on the border with Serbia. (AP via The Columbian)
- Law and crime
- A Federal Security Service court in Russia sentences Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov to 20 years in prison for plotting terrorist acts in Crimea, amid allegations of torture and US claims that he is being held hostage in Russia after having been abducted from Ukraine by Russian-backed separatists. (BBC)
- 4 people are killed and 3 others are severely injured in a shooting at a camp in Roye, Somme, France. (L’Express)
- Protests by the Patidar community in Ahmedabad turn violent, sparking violence across the state of Gujarat, India.(DNA)
- Politics and elections
- The Parliament of Singapore is dissolved with a general election to be held on September 11. (AFP/Reuters via ABC Australia)
News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resourceAugust 23, 2015
August 30, 2015
Top News Stories –
Oliver Sacks, neurologist – obituary –
Oliver Sacks, the neurologist who has died aged 82, wrote perceptive accounts of intriguing neurological disorders in books such as Awakenings (1973) and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (1985); away from his work he was variously a biker, weightlifter and wild swimmer. Sacks’s writing fascinated and inspired writers and film directors and showed how patients who are isolated by disease can still retain their dignity and humanity. In his best-known book, Awakenings, Sacks told the extraordinary story of a group of patients at Beth Abraham Hospital in the Bronx where he worked as a consultant neurologist. W H Auden declared Awakenings to be a masterpiece of medical literature. It inspired a play by Harold Pinter and an Oscar-nominated film starring Robin Williams as the dedicated doctor and Robert De Niro as a patient temporarily freed from years of catatonia. [Daily Telegraph] See Top Twitter Trends
Oliver Sachs in 2009
Video of the Day –
Los Angeles Hyperlapse/Timelapse Compilation from Vadim Tereshchenko on Vimeo.
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- An air strike from a Saudi-led coalition kills 36 civilians working in a bottling plant in the northern Hajjah Governorate. (Reuters)
- Arts and culture
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that ISIL has blown up the ancient Temple of Bel in Palmyra. (Fox News)
- Disasters and accidents
- A fire at an Aramco housing complex in the Saudi Arabian city of Khobar kills at least two people and injures 105. (BBC)
- 2015 Atlantic hurricane season
- Dominican Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit declares disaster status for nine local areas where access by road is impossible after flooding and mudslides from Tropical Storm Erika which killed at least 20 people and left more than 50 missing. Skerrit also appealed for international aid. (Fox News)
- 2015 Pacific hurricane season
- Hurricane Ignacio, which has weakened to a Category 3 (115 mph) storm, is expected to side-step Hawaii this week though will still generate high surf, rain and powerful winds. The Big Island and Maui remain on a tropical storm watch. Ignacio may re-strengthen to a hurricane when he clears Oahu on Wednesday. (Inquisitr) (Reuters)
- European migrant crisis
- 65 girls and young women traveling to an annual dance festival are killed after an open truck smashes into the back of a van near Mbabane, Swaziland. (RT) (The Telegraph)
- Politics and elections
- 2015 Lebanese protests
- 2015 Iglesia ni Cristo protests
- Practitioners of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) Christian sect in the Philippines rally in the capital Manila against the Department of Justice for its ongoing investigation of INC leaders. (Channel News Asia) (Philippine Star)
- Bersih 4 rally
- There is a second day of rallies in Malaysia calling on Prime Minister Najib Razak to resign over the 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal. (BBC)
- Japanese anti-militarism protests
- Students and activists protest in Tokyo against a proposal to amend Japan‘s pacifist constitution. (U.S. News and World Report)
- Egyptian parliamentary election, 2015
- Voters in Egypt will go to the polls for parliamentary elections starting in October 2015. (Reuters via Mix Fargo)
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September 11, 2015
Top News Stories –
Mecca crane collapse: Saudi inquiry into Grand Mosque disaster –
Saudi Arabia has begun an investigation after a crane collapsed in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, killing at least 107 people. The huge red crane crashed into a part of the Grand Mosque [also known as Masjid al-Haram] – which was filled with worshippers at the time. The inquiry is taking place as criticism grows over safety standards at the holy site. It is unclear how many of the victims were killed by the collapse or the stampede that followed it. At least 230 people were injured in the incident.The collapse happened at 17:23 local time. [BBC]
Masjid al-Haram in 2014
Video of the Day –
Taser Impacts on Bare Skin at 28,000fps – The Slow Mo Guys
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- The People’s Liberation Army of China holds three days of live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait, while Taiwan holds exercises simulating Chinese submarines attacking Kinmen and being repelled by Taiwanese amphibious forces. (The Guardian) (AP via Yahoo)
- Boko Haram insurgency
- An improvised explosive device in a Yola, Nigeria displacement camp kills 7 people. (AP)
- Turkey–PKK conflict
- The Turkish Air Force strikes 64 PKK targets in northern Iraq reportedly killing up to 60 PKK militants. (Daily Sabah)
- 2015 Burundian unrest
- Burundi‘s army chief General Prime Niyongabo survives an assassination attempt after armed men attacked his motorcade on a busy road in the capital, Bujumbura. Six people are killed in the attack. (BBC) , (New York Times)
- Arts and culture
- Britney Spears announces a two-year extension in performing Britney: Piece of Me on the Las Vegas Strip. (USA Today)
- Disasters and accidents
- 2015 Pacific typhoon season
- At least three people die, 27 are injured, and 26 people are missing, the majority of them in and around Jōsō city in Ibaraki Prefecture, as a result of floods and landslides in Japan after heavy rainfall caused by Tropical Storm Etau. (Reuters) (The Independent-UK)
- Mecca crane collapse
- Strong winds cause a construction crane collapse at the Masjid al-Haram mosque killing 107 people and injuring 283 others. Most of the people killed were on the annual Islamic hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca. (RT), (USA Today), (AFP via ABC News Australia), (Daily Mail)
- International relations
- The UN General Assembly votes in favor of flying the flags of non-member observer states outside the headquarters in New York City. Palestine will raise their flag on September 30, while Vatican City has made no plans yet. (CNN)
- United States–Cuban Thaw
- Cuba announces it will release more than 3,500 prisoners in a goodwill gesture ahead of next week’s visit by Pope Francis. (BBC)
- European migrant crisis
- Foreign ministers from Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia meet with officials from the European Union and Germany to discuss differences over migrant quotas. (BBC)
- Law and crime
- Defense lawyers say the United States continues to block the release of 116 pages of the lawyers’ notes detailing the torture that Guantanimo Bay prisoner Abu Zubaydah says he experienced in CIA custody. Zubaydah has yet to be charged with any crime despite being held since 2002. (Reuters via Al Jazeera English Online) (Newsweek)
- Mark Karpelès, the CEO of defunct Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox, is charged with embezzlement in Japan. (AFP via France 24)
- 2006 Mumbai train bombings
- A Mumbai, India court convicts twelve men with one man acquitted for their roles in the bombing which killed 209 people and injured 714. (BBC) (Al Jazeera English Online)
- 2014 Chicago Air Route Traffic Control Center fire
- U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman sentences a Federal Aviation Administration contractor, Brian Howard, to 12 years in prison for willfully destroying a Chicago-area air navigation facility using a September 26, 2014, fire which caused $100 million in damage. (AP)
- The California State Legislature approves legislation allowing for assisted suicide. (New York Times)
- Politics and elections
- Singaporean general election, 2015
- Singapore’s elections conclude with more than 2.46 million voters casting ballots. The governing People’s Action Party (PAP), wins 83 out of 89 seats. Sydney Morning Herald) (AP via US News and World Report), (IANS via Daijiworld), (CNBC)
- Republican Party presidential debates, 2016
- CNN announces the September 16, prime time presidential debate panel. Carly Fiorina, who had sufficient poll support following the first debate, will join the top 10 leaders, such as Donald Trump, Jeb Bush, Scott Walker, and Ben Carson. The remaining four candidates, Rick Santorum, Bobby Jindal, George Pataki and Lindsey Graham, will appear earlier that evening. Because he did not get sufficient poll numbers, Jim Gilmore is now excluded. (CNN), (Boston Herald)
- Former Governor of Texas Rick Perry suspends his campaign for the presidential race. (ABC Go), (National Journal)
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September 12, 2015
Top News Stories –
Jeremy Corbyn wins Labour leadership contest and vows “fightback” –
Jeremy Corbyn has promised to lead a Labour “fightback” after being elected the party’s new leader by a landslide. The veteran left-winger got almost 60% of more than 400,000 votes cast, trouncing his rivals Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall. He immediately faced an exodus of shadow cabinet members – but senior figures including Ed Miliband urged the party’s MPs to get behind him. Mr Corbyn was a 200-1 outsider when the three-month contest began. But he was swept to victory on a wave of enthusiasm for his anti-austerity message and promise to scrap Britain’s nuclear weapons and renationalise the railways and major utilities. [BBC]
Jeremy Corbyn
Russian Cosmonaut Returns From Record-Breaking Space Mission –
Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka’s safe return from months aboard the International Space Station has put him in the record books for spending more time in space than any other human — the equivalent of nearly two and a half years on five different flights. Padalka, whose latest 168-day stay on the ISS gives him a total of 879 days in space, has smashed the previous record, which was set by fellow Russian Sergei Krikalev in 2005, by two months. [NPR]
Gennady Padalka
Floyd Mayweather beats Andre Berto to make it 49 straight wins –
Floyd Mayweather made it 49 straight wins with a wide points victory over Andre Berto in Las Vegas. The challenger was game but his fellow American, defending his WBC and WBA welterweight titles, was simply too difficult to hit at the MGM Grand. Mayweather, 38, was awarded the verdict 120-108, 118-110 and 117-111. Mayweather was adamant it was his last fight, but having equalled Rocky Marciano’s career record of 49-0, he might decide to have one more. “My career is over, that’s official,” said five-weight world champion Mayweather, widely regarded as the greatest fighter of his generation. Mayweather made $34m (£22m) for his latest outing but few expect him to fulfil his promise to retire. [BBC] In June Mayweather topped the Forbes Celebrity rich list
Floyd Mayweather
Harvard’s exclusive Spee club invites women to join after decades of resistance –
The barriers have fallen one by one at Harvard’s exclusive Spee Club. First Catholics were admitted at the start of the 20th century, then Jews in the 1930s and blacks in the 1960s. But female undergraduates were always a step too far. The Spee even moved off campus in the 1980s when the university ordered it and eight other clubs to open their doors to women. This week, things finally changed for a club that once counted John F Kennedy among its members. A number of female students reported waking on Friday to find invitations – set out in ornate calligraphy and sealed with an elaborate “S” – had been slid under their doors asking them to attend a reception next week, the first step to membership. [Daily Telegraph]
Video of the Day –
Bride puts a spell on her magician groom during first dance
List of the Day –
How much does the iPhone 6s cost around the world? [Daily Telegraph]
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- Al-Qaeda insurgency in Yemen, Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- A drone strike kills four suspected Al-Qaeda militants in northern Yemen. (Reuters via Trust)
- Medics claim that at least 16 other people have been killed in Saudi led airstrikes. (Reuters)
- Houthi militants backed by allied Yemeni troops seize control of four Saudi military bases in Saudi Arabia’s southern ‘Asir Region according to Yemeni state TV. (Press TV)
- Sino-Indian border dispute
- Chinese and Indian troops face-off in the Burtse region of northern Ladakh after Indian troops dismantled a disputed watchtower the Chinese were building close to the mutually-agreed patrolling line. (Economic Times)
- Sinai insurgency
- The Egyptian Armed Forces claim that an offensive against ISIS militants in northern Sinai over the past week has killed at least 164 insurgents with the loss of eight troops. (AFP via Sky News)
- Arts and culture
- Venezuelan director Lorenzo Vigas wins a Golden Lion award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival for Desde allá. (AP)
- Disasters and accidents
- An Indian Railways train derailment near Gulbarga in Karnataka state kills at least two people with several others injured. (AP via Star Tribune)
- Tropical Storm Etau (2015)
- Petlawad explosion
- A series of explosions involving propane triggering nearby illegally stored mining detonators in the Indian town of Petlawad in the state of Madhya Pradesh kills at least 104 people with over 150 missing. (News 18), (ABC News Australia), (AP via US News)
- 2015 California wildfires
- The Butte Fire has destroyed 60 homes in the rural counties of Amador and Calaveras and threatens 6000 residents. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)
- Politics and elections
- The outcome of the election for the next leader of the United Kingdom Labour Party is announced with Jeremy Corbyn winning the contest ahead of Yvette Cooper, Andy Burnham and Liz Kendall while Tom Watson is elected as the new deputy leader. (The Telegraph), (Evening Standard)
- Sport
- 2015 US Open (tennis)
- In tennis, Italian Flavia Pennetta defeats fellow countrywoman Roberta Vinci in two sets to win the 2015 US Open women’s singles title. During the awards ceremony, Pennetta announces her retirement from tennis. (AP) (BBC) (US Open)
- Major League Baseball
- David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox hits two home runs in the Sox’ 10–4 win over the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, making him the 27th player in MLB history with 500 career homers. (ESPN)
- In boxing, Floyd Mayweather, in what is expected to be the final fight of his career, defeats Andre Berto by unanimous decision to extend his record to 49–0. (ESPN)
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September 17, 2015
Top News Stories –
‘Universal urination duration’ wins Ig Nobel prize –
A study showing that nearly all mammals take the same amount of time to urinate has been awarded one of the 2015 Ig Nobel prizes at Harvard University. These spoof Nobels for “improbable research” are in their 25th year.
The team behind the urination research, from Georgia Tech, won the physics Ig. Using high-speed video analysis, they modelled the fluid dynamics involved in urination and discovered that all mammals weighing more than 3kg empty their bladders over about 21 seconds. Run by the science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research, this is a jubilantly irreverent affair. It has become world famous for recognising scientific achievements that “make people laugh, and then think”. This year’s Ig winners travelled from six continents to accept their trophies. The triumphant research included a chemical recipe to partially un-boil an egg, and the discovery that the word “huh?” occurs in every human language. [BBC] See List of the Day
Valcke’s reign at FIFA likely to be at an end –
For the second time in his career, Jerome Valcke leaves FIFA with a cloud hanging over him. Sepp Blatter’s lieutenant for the past eight years, Valcke became the highest profile figure in the corruption-plagued organization to fall during the current series of scandals when he was “released from his duties” on Thursday and it appears unlikely he will return. The Frenchman has not been formally dismissed but Blatter is standing down in February and Valcke had already suggested he would probably go at that time as well. The 54-year-old, however, is now being investigated by FIFA’s ethics committee after allegations he was involved in a plan to re-sell 2014 World Cup tickets for a lucrative profit. [Reuters]
Jérôme_Valcke
Sperm banks attract customers by offering them enough cash to buy a new iPhone –
Chinese sperm banks have been saying that there is no need to sell a kidney to afford an iPhone, just your bodily fluids. Renji Hospital in Shanghai is one among several facilities offering enough money to buy an iPhone if men donate sperm. The hospital wrote in an online posting: “No need to sell your kidneys – you can easily have a 6s,” which refers to cases where people actually sold their organs to be able to afford Apple products. The advert says that if a man passes a health test and then regularly donates his sperm, he can earn enough money to purchase an iPhone. This amounts to 6,000 yuan (£610) which is enough to buy the new iPhone 6s. [Daily Telegraph]
Video of the Day –
Does Your School Matter? – ASAP Science
List of the Day –
Winners of the Ig Awards 2015 [BBC]
Chemistry – Callum Ormonde (University of Western Australia) and colleagues, for inventing a chemical recipe to partially un-boil an egg.
Physics – Patricia Yang (Georgia Institute of Technology, US) and colleagues, for testing the biological principle that nearly all mammals empty their bladders in about 21 seconds (plus or minus 13 seconds).
Literature – Mark Dingemanse (Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, The Netherlands) and colleagues, for discovering that the word “huh?” (or its equivalent) seems to exist in every human language – and for not being quite sure why.
Management – Gennaro Bernile (Singapore Management University) and colleagues, for discovering that many business leaders developed in childhood a fondness for risk-taking, when they experienced natural disasters (such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and wildfires) that – for them – had no dire personal consequences.
Economics – The Bangkok Metropolitan Police (Thailand) for offering to pay policemen extra cash if the policemen refuse to take bribes.
Medicine – joint award: Hajime Kimata (Kimata Hajime Clinic, Japan) and also Jaroslava Durdiaková (Comenius University, Slovakia) and her collagues, for experiments to study the biomedical benefits or biomedical consequences of intense kissing (and other intimate, interpersonal activities).
Mathematics – Elisabeth Oberzaucher and Karl Grammer (University of Vienna, Austria) for trying to use mathematical techniques to determine whether and how Moulay Ismael the Bloodthirsty, the Sharifian Emperor of Morocco, managed, during the years from 1697 through 1727, to father 888 children.
Biology – Bruno Grossi (University of Chile) and colleagues, for observing that when you attach a weighted stick to the rear end of a chicken, the chicken then walks in a manner similar to that in which dinosaurs are thought to have walked.
Diagnostic medicine – Diallah Karim (Stoke Mandeville Hospital, UK) and colleagues, for determining that acute appendicitis can be accurately diagnosed by the amount of pain evident when the patient is driven over speed bumps.
Physiology and entomology – Awarded jointly to two individuals: Justin Schmidt (Southwest Biological Institute, US) for painstakingly creating the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, which rates the relative pain people feel when stung by various insects; and to Michael L. Smith (Cornell University, US), for carefully arranging for honey bees to sting him repeatedly on 25 different locations on his body, to learn which locations are the least painful (the skull, middle toe tip, and upper arm). and which are the most painful (the nostril, upper lip, and penis shaft).
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- Iraq War (2014–present)
- At least 21 people are killed in multiple attacks in Baghdad with more than 70 others injured. (BBC), (Headlines & Global News)
- Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Houthi militants parade captured Saudi soldiers on pro-Houthi Al Masirah TV. (AFP via Yahoo)
- Arab Coalition warplanes bomb Yemen‘s capital Sanaa targeting a high-profile Houthi leader’s house. At least nine civilians are killed in the attack. (Reuters)
- Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that the government has used barrel bombs resulting in the deaths of 21 people in the rebel held town of Bosra in the Daraa Governorate. (AFP via France 24)
- Business and economy
- The United States Federal Reserve decides to leave interest rates at a record low. (Reuters)
- US car maker General Motors pays $900 million fine to settle a criminal lawsuit over problems with the ignition system in its small cars. (AP via Yahoo! Autos)
- Disasters and accidents
- 2015 Illapel earthquake
- Thousands of people in the Chilean town of Illapel sleep outside following yesterday’s 8.3 magnitude earthquake as the death toll rises to 11. (CBS News), (Reuters)
- Waves of up to 4.5 meters are recorded at Coquimbo, Chile. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, the U.S. National Tsunami Warning Center, etc., issue tsunami advisories for Pacific Ocean coastlines. (The Guardian), (Westside Today)
- Nearly 180 people are killed in South Sudan after an oil tanker truck veers off the road and explodes. (RT), (The Independent), (Voice of America)
- 2015 California wildfires
- The death toll rises to five in the Butte and Valley Fires. Most bodies have been found in mandatory evacuation areas. The Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office says the majority of missing persons have been located at shelters or evacuation centers.(Sacramento Bee), (Reuters)
- American Airlines halts flights for 90 minutes at its major hubs in Chicago, Dallas, and Miami because of a computer glitch. The incident produces a cascading effect of delays throughout all US airlines. (UPI)
- Health
- Fourteen people have died of dengue fever in the Indian city of Delhi. (NDTV)
- International relations
- European migrant crisis
- Seven thousand migrants arrive in Croatia with the President of Croatia Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic placing the army on standby. (WA Today)
- The European Parliament approves (372–124 with 54 abstentions) a European Commission plan to relocate 120,000 asylum seekers around the EU. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation), (EuroNews)
- Politics and elections
- 2015 Burkinabé coup d’état
- The provisional government of Burkina Faso is overthrown in a military coup. (The Daily Telegraph), (BBC)
- Coup leaders announce on national television and radio that General Gilbert Diendéré is now the head of state of a new transitional body, the “National Council for Democracy”. (AP via Huffington Post), (Al Jazeera America)
- At least three people were killed and more than 60 injured after members of the presidential guard acted to disperse crowds protesting the takeover. (Irish Times)
- Fist-fights erupt between legislators in the National Diet of Japan over a security bill that would allow Japan Self-Defense Forces to fight abroad. Japan had previously sent only a small amount of troops to Iraq. (AFP via StraitsTimes), (BBC)
- Brazil’s Supreme Court issues a decision that bans corporate money in elections. This ruling comes as a major investigation is underway in the country on a campaign financing bribery and corruption scandal. (Singapore Today Online), (AP via Fox News)
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September 19, 2015
Top News Stories –
Novelist Jackie Collins dies aged 77 –
The novelist Jackie Collins has died of breast cancer at the age of 77, her family said in a statement. “It is with tremendous sadness that we announce the death of our beautiful, dynamic and one-of-a-kind mother,” the statement said. The British-born writer, sister of actress Joan Collins, died in Los Angeles, her spokeswoman said. Collins’s raunchy novels of the rich and famous sold more than 500 million copies in 40 countries.
In a career spanning four decades, all 32 of her novels appeared in the New York Times bestseller list. [BBC]
Jackie Collins
Japan shocks the rugby world and Twitter erupts –
80-1 outsiders to beat South Africa, Japan’s win over the two-times world champions has sent Twitter into a frenzy. Japan’s utterly well-deserved conquering of the mighty Springboks [32-34] has, unsurprisingly, made Twitter’s rugby community quite excited.The bookmakers usually know a thing or two about these things, yet more than a few people would have thought this morning that even 40-1 for the Brave Blossoms to win against the Boks was rather generous. For those who don’t understand how big a shock this was, @Burgerboxx provided an interesting, and somewhat useful, analogy. [Daily Telegraph]
Guinness World Record judicator hit in head by robot at giant Belfast Meccano bridge opening –
Engineering students have set a new world record with a 100ft footbridge made from Meccano. The temporary structure – weighing in at approximately 1,300lbs – has been built 100 feet long across Belfast’s Clarendon Dock and was unveiled at an event on Saturday. Representatives from Guinness World Records were on site to confirm it had set a record for the world’s largest ever Meccano construction. However the event did not go quite as smoothly as organisers hoped, with a giant Meccano robot believed to have malfunctioned and swiped a Guinness World Record judicator round the head.Dr Danny McPolin from the school of Planning, Architecture and Civil Engineering, who led the project, said: “If you count all the nuts and bolts and washers, there is approximately 70,000. “In terms of the longer pieces, if they’re all laid out end-to-end I think it would be about 3.8kms – approximately 10,000 or 11,000 pieces. [Daily Telegraph]
Video of the Day –
Inferno – Time Slice (Bullet Time) Camera Array from Mitch Martinez on Vimeo.
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- Syrian Civil War
- Islamist rebels execute 56 Syrian Army personnel following the capture of the Abu al-Duhur airbase in the Idlib Governorate according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (Telegraph), (The News Hub)
- Turkey–PKK conflict
- At least 55 are killed when Turkish warplanes hit Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) camps in northern Iraq, according Turkey’s security sources. (Reuters)
- Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- A Saudi-led military coalition bombards government buildings and residential neighborhoods in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, killing about 30 people, including civilians. Rescuers continue searching for other possible victims buried under the rubble. (AP viaOrange County Register), (Xinhuanet)
- Arts and culture
- Pope Francis departs from Rome to begin his Apostolic Visit to Cuba, where he will visit Havana, Holguin, and Santiago de Cuba, and meet with Raul Castro. The visit is his first there, and the third to the country by a reigning Pope. Francis will then visit the US, also his first visit there as Pope. In the US, he will address a joint session of Congress (the first by an incumbent Pope), meet with President Obama, canonize Junipero Serra, tour a prison and the World Trade Center site, hold Masses in New York, Washington, and Philadelphia, and preside over the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. (Vatican), (USCCB), (The New York Times)
- Sábado Gigante, the world’s longest running variety show in television history, ends after 53 years on air. (USA Today)
- Disasters and accidents
- Heavy rain triggers flash floods killing 10 people in Tehran and southern Iran with eight others missing. (AP via CP24)
- Ten Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad ethanol tanker cars derail and two catch fire in southeast South Dakota between the towns of Scotland and Lesterville. No injuries are reported and no nearby structures are threatened by the fire. (AP via ABC News)
- Health
- 2015 Dengue fever outbreaks
- Authorities in the Dominican Republic issue an alert as the number of deaths (57 this year) and cases of dengue fever continue to rise. (AP via ABC News)
- The Delhi government defers elective surgery to free up 1000 hospital beds to treat a dengue fever outbreak. (Times of India)
- International relations
- Japanese Self-Defense Forces
- Japan’s upper chamber of Parliament approves controversial legislation, which the lower chamber passed in July, that expands the role of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces overseas. (CNN), (Mainichi Daily News)
- European migrant crisis, Croatia–Hungary relations
- Hungarian security forces confiscate a Croatian train carrying 1000 migrants and disarm 40 Croatian police officers accompanying the migrants. Hungarian authorities repatriate the officers. (Sky News)
- Croatian prime minister Zoran Milanović says Croatia will ‘force’ Hungary to accept migrants by sending them to the Hungarian border. Hungary responded angrily calling Milanović “pathetic” and accused Croatia of human smuggling. (BBC)
- Croatia allows some asylum seekers to move on past its borders into Hungary and Slovenia. (Washington Post)
- European migrant crisis
- Italy rescues thousands of refugees in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya. (Al-Jazeera)
- A five-year-old Syrian girl dies and several other refugees are missing after their boat sinks in the Aegean Sea near the Greek island of Lesbos. The Greek Coast Guard says it rescued 11 people from the boat carrying 26 people. (AFP via Asian Age),(Reuters)
- Egypt’s new Cabinet is sworn in before President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, a week after the previous administration resigned following a corruption scandal, and a month before parliamentary elections. The 33-member body has 16 new ministers, including two women. Sherif Ismail, petroleum minister in the last cabinet, is the new prime minister. (Egyptian Streets), (Reuters)
- Law and crime
- 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal
- The Federal Bureau of Investigation launches an investigation of money laundering associated with the 1Malaysia Development Berhad sovereign wealth fund. (Wall Street Journal)
- Sports
- 2015 Rugby World Cup
- In what media called “the greatest shock in rugby history”, Japan defeat two-time World Cup champion South Africa 34–32 in Brighton. (ESPN (UK))
- In another result viewed as a surprise, Georgia defeat Tonga 17–10 in Gloucester. In the match, Georgia’s 18-year-old Vasil Lobzhanidze becomes the youngest player ever to appear in a Rugby World Cup match. (PA via ESPN (UK))
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October 15, 2015
Top News Stories –
Twitter goes down for 10 minutes, everybody panics –
Twitter went down for users in several parts of the world, causing widespread panic and much soul-searching across the UK, Japan and parts of America. The Twitter website, Tweetdeck – its service for power users, and its mobile apps were all down at 14:14 BST on Thursday. Service was restored roughly 10 minutes later. The website Down Detector, which registers reports of outages, registered a huge spike in queries for Twitter being down. Users in the UK, Japan, the US and the Middle East were among those affected. [Daily Telegraph]
Twitter down notice
Russia ‘tried to cut off’ World Wide Web –
Russia has run large scale experiments to test the feasibility of cutting the country off the World Wide Web, a senior industry executive has claimed. The tests, which come amid mounting concern about a Kremlin campaign to clamp down on internet freedoms, have been described by experts as preparations for an information blackout in the event of a domestic political crisis. Andrei Semerikov, general director of a Russian service provider called Er Telecom, said Russia’s ministry of communications and Roskomnadzor, the national internet regulator, ordered communications hubs run by the main Russian internet providers to block traffic to foreign communications channels by using a traffic control system called DPI. The objective was to see whether the Runet – the informal name for the Russian internet – could continue to function in isolation from the global internet. The experiment, which took place in spring this year, failed because thousands of smaller service providers, which Roskomnadzor has little control over, continued to pass information out of the country, Mr Semerikov said. [Daily Telegraph]
Porn during lunch breaks is OK but smoking cannabis can get you sacked, Italy’s highest court rules –
Employees cannot be sacked for watching porn during their lunch breaks if it does not impact upon their ability to do their work, Italy’s highest court has ruled. According to Italian media reports, the Court of Cassation ruled against major car manufacturer Fiat after it sacked a factory worker in Termini Imerese, a town in Sicily. Bosses had caught the man watching adult films at work, but he argued that his viewing was limited to “catching a glimpse of a movie during his lunch break”. But it wasn’t all bad news for Fiat, as in a separate ruling on Wednesday the court found the carmaker was within its rights to sack a man caught smoking cannabis during his lunch break – presumably because its effects continued into his working hours. [The Independent]
Video of the Day –
Back To The Future In ACTUAL 2015 – by College Humor
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- President of the United States Barack Obama announces that he will keep 5,500 troops in Afghanistan. (RT)
- Internal conflict in Myanmar:
- The government of Myanmar signs a peace treaty with eight ethnic armed groups, although some powerful groups stay away. (AP via Star Tribune)
- Yemeni Civil War (2015), Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Yemen‘s Sana’a-controlled forces fire a Scud missile at Saudi Arabia in retaliation to Saudi “war crimes”. A spokesman for Yemen’s military allied with Houthi militants said the missile hit a Saudi airbase and caused “widespread destruction”. There was no immediate comment from the Saudi side. (Reuters)
- Thousands gather in Aden‘s Al Ouroudh Square to thank coalition forces and to celebrate victory three months after pushing Houthi militants out of southern Yemen. (Gulf News)
- European migrant crisis
- At least one person is reportedly killed after Bulgarian border guards open fire on a group of illegal migrants after they attempted to cross the border from Turkey. The incident happened near the southeastern town of Sredets. (AFP via Channel News Asia) (Yahoo)
- Boko Haram insurgency
- A twin bombing near a mosque kills at least 26 people in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri. (The Washington Post)
- Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- An Israeli is stabbed by a fellow Israeli Jew, because he is mistaken for an Arab. (New York Times) (The Guardian)
- Business and economy
- Volkswagen emissions scandal
- The German automotive watchdog KBA orders Volkswagen to recall 2.4 million cars in that country after the emissions scandal becomes public knowledge. (Reuters via SBS Australia)
- International relations
- Vietnam says a Chinese vessel rammed into and sank one of its fishing boats near disputed islands in the South China Sea. More than 20 Vietnamese fishing boats have been attacked by Chinese vessels this year causing tensions between both countries.(AP via Yahoo)
- Disasters and accidents
- Hurricane Joaquin & SS El Faro
- The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NSTB) has asked the U.S. Navy to resume the search ended by the U.S. Coast Guard for the merchant vessel SS EL FARO believed lost on Oct. 7 during Hurricane Joaquin. The loss of the ship – with its crew of 33 hands – is regarded as “the worst U.S. merchant marine disaster of recent memory.” (USNI News)
- Law and crime
- 2015 Parramatta shooting
- Rahan Alou and Talal Alameddine are charged with assisting Farhad Jabar to kill New South Wales Police Force accountant Curtis Cheng in Parramatta, Australia on 2 October 2015. (The Guardian) (ABC News Australia)
- A cache of classified intelligence documents published from The Intercept, released by an anonymous whistleblower, highlight details surrounding post-September 11 attacks United States drone strikes in Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen, alleging that theUnited States conducts these strikes under extremely unreliable information and faulty pretenses. (Al-Jazeera America) (U.S. News) (Vice News)
- Five individuals — four men and a teenage boy — are arrested in connection with the gang-rape of a 16-year-old girl at a Sydney, Australia, house party. (CNN)
- Scottish and U.S. prosecutors identify two Libyans as suspects in the Lockerbie bombing. (CNN) (The Guardian)
- The Nevada Gaming Control Board rules that daily fantasy sports leagues are a form of gambling that requires a license to operate in the state, including being offered to state residents. Due to Nevada’s status as a major gambling center, the decision is seen as potentially influencing other U.S. states’ stances on the leagues. (CBS News) (ESPN)
- Politics and elections
- 2015 United Nations Security Council election
- Egypt, Senegal, Uruguay, Japan, and Ukraine are elected to two-year, non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council for 2016-17, replacing Chad, Chile, Jordan, Lithuania, and Nigeria. (New York Times)
- Science
- Astronomers say they have observed bizarre light patterns using the Kepler Space Telescope from a star that appears old, but is shrouded in debris like a much younger star, roughly 1,500 light-years away. This has led to speculation that these are an “artificial extraterrestrial mega-structure”, orbiting the star known as KIC 8462852 in the Cygnus constellation. KIC 8462852 lies just above the Milky Way between the constellations Cygnus and Lyra. It first attracted the attention of astronomers in 2009 when the Kepler Space Telescope identified it as a candidate for having orbiting Earth-like planets. (Independent) (Discovery News)
- Sports
- 2015 MLB postseason
- In the U.S., the New York Mets defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3–2 in the deciding Game 5 of their National League Division Series. The Mets move on to face the Chicago Cubs in the best-of-seven 2015 National League Championship Series, which opens on October 17 at the Mets’ home of Citi Field. (AP via ESPN)
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October 29, 2015
Top News Stories –
Jeremy Clarkson threatened with three years in jail as Argentina reopens Falklands row probe –
Jeremy Clarkson’s hopes of putting the infamous Top Gear Falklands row behind him were dashed last night after a court probe was reopened in Argentina. A judge in the southern city of Ushuaia had thwarted attempts to have the former BBC presenter charged with falsification in April after the controversial number-plate on the Porsche he drove was swapped ahead of a riot. But state prosecutors appealed Maria Cristina Barrionuevo’s decision not to press ahead with a full-scale criminal investigation against Clarkson and his ex-Top Gear team. Last night the probe was back on – and Clarkson and programme chiefs facing a worst case scenario of three years in prison – after three appeal judges sided with prosecutors and ordered Barrionuevo to reactivate the case. [Daily Telegraph] In March 2015 Russia’s army TV channel issued an offer to Jeremy Clarkson to present a motoring show, noting his interest in tanks, aircraft carriers and other hardware.
Jeremy Clarkson
Video of the Day –
Balmain x H&M
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
- Armed conflicts and attacks
- Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- The death toll from a rocket attack on a camp containing members of an Iranian opposition group next to Baghdad International Airport rises to 23. (Jerusalem Post)
- Art and culture
- Adele‘s “Hello” beats Miley Cyrus‘s “Wrecking Ball” as the fastest video on Vevo to reach 100 million views and is also certified as the official Vevo Record holder. (The Daily Mail)
- Saudi Arabian blogger Raif Badawi, who has been sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in jail for insulting Islam and for cyber crime, wins the European Union’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. The Sakharov award ceremony will be held in Strasbourg, France on December 16, 2015 while the laureate remains imprisoned. (Reuters) (Al Jazeera) (EU)
- Business and economics
- The largest lender in Europe’s most robust economy, Deutsche Bank AG, will cut 35k jobs in an effort to counter falling profits. (WSJ)
- Sony announces $278.2 million in net profits for the quarter ending Sept. 30, beating market expectations. (WSJ)
- Google announces that Project Loon – to provide wireless access to four billion unconnected people around the globe in rural and remote areas via Internet-beaming helium balloons in the stratosphere – will be tested in Indonesia in 2016. Currently, one in three Indonesians are connected to the web, mostly via slow connections, in this 17,508-island archipelago of over 250 million people (and about 319 million mobile phones). The company, which also tested Loon-delivered internet in Chile, New Mexico(U.S.), and Sri Lanka, hopes to deliver LTE-speed to more than 100 million unconnected Indonesians in five years. (ZDNET) (AFP via Khmer Times) (AP via Chicago Tribune) (Google)
- Disasters and accidents
- European migrant crisis
- An extensive search is underway in the northeastern Aegean Sea off the Greek island of Lesbos for at least 34 people missing from a boat that sank yesterday. Some 242 people were rescued but eight died, five children, two men and a woman.(Reuters) (AP via Kathimerini)
- Britain’s Ministry of Defence says the Royal Navy has rescued 541 people this week as they scoured the Mediterranean Sea in operations to counter refugee smugglers. The HMS Enterprise, a survey vessel, rescued 439 migrants, and HMS Richmond, aType 23 frigate, rescued 102 migrants. The asylum-seekers were transferred to the Norwegian support ship Fiem Pilote. (AP via Houston Chronicle)
- An engine burst into flames on a Dynamic International Airways Boeing 767 passenger jet bound for Caracas, Venezuela, while taxiing for takeoff at Fort Lauderdale–Hollywood International Airport (Florida, U.S.). A Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue spokesman said 15 people were taken to the hospital after the fire. There were 110 people, including crew, on board. (Reuters) (AP via Lompoc Record)
- International Relations
- Amnesty International accuses Australian border protection officials of illegally paying people smugglers and endangering lives in a bid to prevent boats of asylum seekers from reaching the country via Operation Sovereign Borders. Australia’s governmentrejects Amnesty’s report and denies any wrongdoing.(Sky News via Fox News) (International Business Times)(AI)
- Saudi Arabia–United Kingdom relations
- British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond says 74-year old Karl Andree, who was facing 350 lashes in Saudi Arabia after being caught with homemade wine in his car, will be released within a week. (Sky News) (The Telegraph)
- South Sudanese Civil War
- A long-awaited report released by an African Union investigative team led by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo describes atrocities and the discovery of mass graves in South Sudan, citing government forces and their allies as responsible parties. (Al Jazeera America)
- The European Union narrowly votes (285–281) to recommend that its 28 member nations drop criminal charges against Edward Snowden and protect him from U.S. extradition and to recognize him as a defender of human rights because of his revelations regarding U.S. and British spying. (UPI) (Foreign Policy)
- Territorial disputes in the South China Sea, China–United States relations
- As a result of talks between U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral John Richardson and Chinese Commander of the People’s Liberation Army Navy Admiral Wu Shengli about a U.S. warship’s transit with 12 nautical miles of China’s man-made islandsin the South China Sea, the United States and China agree to maintain dialogue and follow Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea protocols, according to a U.S. official. (Reuters) (The International News)
- Lockheed Martin vice president of air and missile defense Mike Trotsky tells the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., that the United States and South Korea are holding both formal and informal discussions on THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System deployment. South Korea’s Defense Ministry and the U.S. Department of Defense deny the report. (UPI) (Yonhap News)
- The carrier USS Ronald Reagan, during a military exercise with South Korea in the Sea of Japan’s international waters, scrambled four fighter jets to intercept approaching Russian warplanes, according to the U.S. Navy. IHS Jane’s Defence Weekly said encounters such as these were common during the Cold War, subsided with its end but picked up again under current Russian President Vladimir Putin. (Reuters) (CNN)
- Law and crime
- One-child policy
- China has decided to end its controversial one-child policy after 36 years. It is to be replaced by a new two-child policy. (BBC News) (Al Jazeera English)
- The Oklahoma Department of Corrections says a drone carrying mobile phones, drugs, and hacksaw blades crashed at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester before inmates could grab the contraband. This is fourth reported drone-attempt in theUnited States; the others were at prisons in Ohio, Maryland, and South Carolina. (Sky News) (UPI)
- Politics and elections
- The U.S. House of Representatives passes, by a vote of 266 to 167, a two-year federal budget that is both amenable to the White House and expected to pass in the Senate. (Defense News)
- Speaker of the United States House of Representatives election, October 2015
- The U.S. House of Representatives elects Paul Ryan of Wisconsin as the 62nd Speaker of the House replacing John Boehner of Ohio. (New York Times)
- The Parliament of Moldova passes a no-confidence vote against pro-EU incumbent prime-minister Valeriu Streleț‘s cabinet amidst growing political turmoil in the country. (Seenews)
- Science and technology
- Astronaut Scott Kelly sets another record; this time for the single-longest spaceflight (216 days) by an American. His ISS year long mission is a scientific research project to study the health effects of long term spaceflight. Astronaut Michael López-Alegríaspent 215 consecutive days as Expedition 14 commander in 2006. Both are nowhere close to Valeri Polyakovs 437 days record. (NBC News) (NASA)
- The United Nations‘ World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announces that, earlier this month, the Antarctic ozone hole widened to one of its largest sizes on record. A colder than usual stratosphere widened the hole to a peak of 28.2 million square km (10.9 million square miles). (USA Today via WTSP) (Reuters)
- Sports
- In artistic gymnastics, Simone Biles of the United States becomes the first female gymnast to win three successive all-around championships at the 2015 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships held in Glasgow. (Reuters) (NBC News)
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