Top News Stories –

How Facebook updated ‘six degrees of separation’ (it’s now 3.57) –
If you pick any two Facebook users, it’s been calculated there’s an average of 3.57 “degrees of separation” between them. The maths has been done using the social media giant’s handy data set of 1.6 billion people. Facebook wanted to test the age-old “six degrees of separation” theory to mark its 12th birthday. “This is a significant reflection of how closely connected the world has become,” the firm says. “When people connect, powerful things happen and lives are changed. “We see this on Facebook every day, whether it’s an exchange with an old friend that brings a smile to your face or a new connection that changes your life path, or even the world.” It means that each person in the world (at least among the 1.59 billion people active on Facebook) is connected to every other person by an average of three and a half other people. Find out your own degrees of separation at Facebook’s blog page. [BBC Newsbeat]

Video of the Day –

“NFL 2016: Part One” — A Bad Lip Reading of the NFL

Part 2 available here

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• An al Qaeda affiliate has freed Jocelyn Elliott, an Australian woman kidnapped in Burkina Faso along with her husband. (ABC News Australia)
• Syrian Civil War
  • Northern Aleppo offensive (2016)
    • The Syrian Army, backed by the Russian Air Force, takes control of the town of Ratyan in the Aleppo Governorate, after defeating Al-Nusra Front and Ahrar ash-Sham fighters. (Xinhua)

Arts and culture

• Queen Jetsun Pema of Bhutan gives birth to a son, the heir apparent of the Bhutanese throne. (Kuensel)

Disasters and accidents

• 2016 Kaohsiung earthquake
  • A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck southern Taiwan. Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported that 14 people were killed and 484 injured. (CNN) (Metro) (AP) (AFP/Reuters via ABC News Australia)
  • The earthquake toppled two high-rise buildings in the city of Tainan with at least 160 people rescued and many more trapped inside. (AP)
• Five people are killed in an avalanche that buried 17 Czechs in Austria. (NBC News)

International relations

• North Korea brings forward the date of a potential satellite launch to as early as tomorrow. (BBC)
• Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present)
  • Tunisia completes the construction of a 200km (125 mile) barrier along its border with Libya, intended to keep out terrorists trained in Libya. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Twitter claims to have closed down 125,000 accounts linked to ISIL. (Reuters via ABC News Australia)

Sports

• In American football, eight people are inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame including Oakland Raiders former quarterback Ken Stabler, Former San Francisco 49ers owner Edward J. DeBartolo, Jr., Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy, Green Bay Packers former quarterback Brett Favre, Los Angeles Rams former linebacker/defensive end Kevin Greene, Indianapolis Colts former wide receiver Marvin Harrison, St. Louis Rams former offensive tackle Orlando Pace and Detroit Lions and Washington Redskins former guard Dick Stanfel. (CNN)

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