Top News Stories –

X Games biker and BMX star Dave Mirra dies –
Police in the US say X Games biker Dave Mirra has died aged 41. Officers in North Carolina say his body was found early on Thursday with an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. Dave Mirra was a former BMX champion and one of the most decorated athletes in X Games history. He won a medal every year from 1995 to 2008, picking up 14 golds. His one-time record of 24 career medals was only broken in 2013 by Bob Burnquist. Only Shaun White has won more X Games gold medals than him. [BBC Newsbeat] See Top Twitter Trends (UK)
Dave Mirra in 2010

New York crane collapse kills at least one person –
A large construction crane has collapsed in lower Manhattan in New York City, killing one person and injuring at least two others. The Fire Department of New York confirmed the fatality and is on the scene responding to the accident. The collapse happened along West Broadway early on Friday morning in the Tribeca neighbourhood. The downed crane, which filled the street, fell onto numerous parked cars. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the victim was sitting in a parked car at the time of the accident, and that it was caused by high winds. Workers were in the process of lowering the crane due to the high winds when it collapsed. No workers were injured. [BBC] See Video of the Day

1957 Ferrari 335 S Spider Scaglietti breaks auction sale for racing car at $32 million –
A 1957 Ferrari driven by the great British motor racers of the 1950s broke the record for the world’s most expensive racing car sold at auction after fetching just over €32 million (£24.7 million) on Friday. Despite the stratospheric price at the Artcurial auction in Paris, the buyer cannot use the vehicle on the roads as it was designed purely for racing. Only four Ferrari 335 S Spider Scagliettis were ever produced, and this one had been in the hands of a private French collector for more than 40 years – hence the feverish excitement at the Rétromobile classic car show in Paris, where the auction took place. The 335S is purely a racing car, unlike the 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO, which was a dual purpose vehicle also homologated for road use.[Daily Telegraph] See List of the Day

Video of the Day –

Crane collapse in New York – original footage by Glenn Zito

Copyright Glenn Zito.

List of the Day –

Cars sold at auction for over $10 million (source Wikipedia]

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian Civil War
  • The Syrian Army and its allies capture the town of Ataman, near the city of Daraa. (Reuters)
  • Fifteen thousand Syrians mass at the border with Turkey as a result of the Syrian Government offensive in the Aleppo Governorate. (BBC)
• Northern Mali conflict
  • The United Nations mission in Mali confirms that the Malian armed forces had retaken a UN Police base in Timbuktu from unknown assailants that attacked it earlier in the day. (The Daily Star)
• War in Somalia
  • al Shabaab militants claim to have captured the port of Merca (Marka) after African Union and Somali Armed Forces withdraw. (AAP via News Limited)
• Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
  • Clashes between local tribal forces and Sudanese fighters in Libya‘s southeastern Cyrenaica region around the town of Kufra leaves around 30 dead. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

• The President of Zimbabwe Robert Mugabe declares a state of disaster in most rural parts of the country due to a prolonged drought. (AAP via News Limited)
• One person is killed, and two are seriously injured when a construction crane collapses in Lower Manhattan‘s Tribeca district. (NY Daily News)
• Japan‘s Sakurajima volcano erupts prompting the Japan Meteorological Agency to issue a warning not to approach it. The volcano, located in the southern Kagoshima Prefecture, is situated 50km from theSendai Nuclear Power Plant. (RT)
• At least 37 people die in the Indian state of Gujarat after a passenger bus plunges off a bridge over the Purna River. (Hindustan Times)
• Three miners are missing but dozens have been rescued following a gold mine collapse in South Africa. (ABC)

Health

• Zika virus outbreak in the Americas (2015–present)
  • Three people die in Colombia after contracting the Zika virus and developing Guillain–Barré syndrome. (AFP via Daily Star)
  • Puerto Rico declares a state of emergency due to the ongoing Zika virus outbreak. At least 22 people have been reported to have been infected with the Zika virus in the U.S. territory. (ABC News)

Law and crime

• A shooting at a boxing match weigh-in between Jamie Kavanagh and Antonio João Bento in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, leaves one person dead and two others injured. The gunmen were reportedly dressed as police officers and armed with AK-47s. (BBC)

Politics and elections

• Wei Hong is removed as the Governor of China‘s Sichuan province due to perceived disloyalty to the Communist Party. (AP via Las Vegas Sun)
• White supremacists in the U.S. create a super PAC to support U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump‘s presidential campaign. (CNN)

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