February 3, 2010

February 4, 2010

Top News Stories –

John Terry in Wembley trouble –
The Daily Mail reveal that Chelsea player and former England football captain rents out his private box at Wembley stadium for £4,000 , despite the rules prohibiting it. This follows the revelation of Terry’s affair with his team-mate Wayne Bridge’s girlfriend on January 29th 2015.
John Terry

Tom Watson expects Tiger to show humility –
Tom Watson has called on Tiger Woods to “show some humility” and apologise for his behaviour before returning to golf. Woods has taken an indefinite break from golf after major speculation surrounding his private life at the end of November 2009 forced him to stop playing.
Tom Watson

Trial off, football on –
A New Orleans judge, Michael Bagneris, postpones a trial because he is believes that everybody in the city will be too distracted by New Orleans Saints forthcoming performance in the Super Bowl. It will be the Saints’s first ever Super Bowl appearance on Sunday, when they play the Indianapolis Colts.

Video of the Day –

Iron Man vs Bruce Lee from Patrick Boivin on Vimeo.

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February 6, 2010

Top News Stories –

UN to discuss Air Traffic Control for outer space –
An international air traffic control for outer space should be set up to prevent damage to satellites and spacecraft orbiting the Earth, according to proposal to be discussed at the United Nations next week. There are thought to be more than 19,000 pieces of debris larger than 4 inches across racing around the Earth at high speeds, while there are more than 500,000 bigger than a postage stamp. The number of particles smaller than this are thought to exceed tens of millions. Despite their relatively small size, most are travelling faster than 15,600mph and at these speeds a fleck of paint could do as much damage as a .22-calibre rifle bullet. [Daily Telegraph]

Treo the dog awarded animal VC –
A heroic military dog is to be honoured with the animal version of the Victoria Cross. Treo, an eight-year-old black Labrador, saved countless lives in Afghanistan last year by locating hidden roadside bombs. The search dog twice saved soldiers and civilians from catastrophe while out on patrol in Helmand province by sniffing out explosives which had been wired together in a daisy chain and hidden in the path. The medal was created by leading veterinary charity the PDSA and is recognised as the highest award an animal can receive for conspicuous gallantry or devotion to duty while serving in military conflict. (See List of the Day for human honours) [Daily Telegraph]

Cat owners ‘more educated than dog owners’ –
Cats have long been thought to be cleverer than dogs – and now it seems the same is true of their owners. People with cats are more likely to have university degrees than those with dogs, according to a scientific survey of pet ownership. The study also revealed that the combined cat and dog population of Britain is more than 20.8 million – 50 per cent higher than previously thought. Researchers at the University of Bristol say that the superior intelligence of cat owners is unlikely to be caused by their exposure to the famously cunning and selfish pets. Rather, more educated people tend to work longer hours and choose a pet to fit their lifestyles. Unlike dogs, cats require no walking and can manage with little human company.[Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

flight patterns from Charlie McCarthy on Vimeo.

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November 29, 2014

Top News Stories –

Did North Korea order hack on Sony Pictures computers? –
Sony Pictures Entertainment is said to be investigating whether North Korea was behind a hack of its computer network, over a Hollywood film depicting a plot to assassinate Kim Jong-un. The hermit state’s anger over the comedy about CIA plans to kill its leader may have been behind the attack on the company’s system, according to tech news website Re/code. A group calling itself #GOP (Guardians of Peace) posted a warning on employees computers on Monday saying “If you don`t obey us, we’ll release the data shown below to the world”, giving a deadline of 11:00 the same day and listing five data links. #GOP said Sony Pictures had been warned before but did not detail its demands. North Korea had threatened “a strong and merciless countermeasure” against the US if it released the Sony Pictures’ film The Interview.

Angelina Jolie ‘set to become a peer’ –
The dusty old House of Lords has been considerably enlivened in the past few weeks when a number of half-famous people have been officially sworn in as members of Parliament’s second chamber. But the most excitement came last week when Arminka Helic – best known as a highly-regarded special adviser to former foreign secretary William Hague – was formally welcomed into the House of Lords as Baroness Helic of Millbank. Elderly Parliamentarians dozing off a good lunch were startled to glance up to the public gallery and spot actress Angelina Jolie, an old friend of Lady Helic, gazing down benignly. Now tongues are wagging in Westminster that Miss Jolie is being lined up herself set on a seat in the House of Lords. The idea is not so far-fetched. Last month Miss Jolie was made an honorary dame by the Queen for her campaign work fighting sexual violence and for services to UK foreign policy. And last week it emerged that Miss Jolie has decided to retire from acting and focus her energies on her humanitarian work.[Daily Telegraph]
Angelina Jolie

Video of the Day –

Sounds of Paragliding from shams on Vimeo.

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December 2, 2014

Top News Stories –

(Nasty) Thought for the day –
Professor Stephen Hawking, the British scientist who suffers from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has said that efforts to create thinking machines pose a threat to our very existence. The BBC quotes him as saying “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race. It would take off on its own, and re-design itself at an ever increasing rate but humans, who are limited by slow biological evolution, couldn’t compete, and would be superseded.”
Stephen Hawling

Scarlett gets secretly married –
Scarlett Johansson has revealed that she and her partner Romain Dauriac got married in secret on October 1st 2015 in Philipsburg, western Montana.
Scarlett Johansson

Strike that off the list –
The UK Government has introduced legislation banning sex acts like spanking and caning from online porn videos filmed in the UK. A list of sex acts are now on a list of ‘harmful’ content that has been prohibited and paid-for online porn videos must now stick to the same rules as content produced for sex shop-type videos. (See List of the Day)

Video of the Day –

Scarlett Johansson banned commercial

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December 18, 2014

Top News Stories –

Putin’s point –
Russian President Vladimir Putin delivers a message of defiance and ire towards the West at an annual news conference in Moscow in the face of the financial turmoil that has gripped the country. Mr. Putin put the blame on “external factors,” including Western sanctions and falling oil prices, for the collapse of the ruble.
Vladimir Putin

Closed lot –
Sony have cancelled tours of their Los Angeles studios after it was found pass codes were part of the hack recently discovered and blamed on North Korea.

Republican dig heels in on Cuba –
Republicans in Congress are trying to find a way to stop or at least slow President Barack Obama’s plan to normalize U.S. relations with Cuba. The biggest obstacle to normal ties with Cuba is the 1996 embargo and with Republicans due to take control of both houses of Congress in January, the chances of changing this look unlikely.

Mandy Rice-Davies dies
Mandy Rice-Davies the woman who was at the centre of the so-called Profumo spy/sex scandal (along with her friend Christine Keeler) that threatened to topple Harold Macmillan’s government has died at the age of 70. Rice-Davies lived with Keeler, whose affair with war minister John Profumo prompted his resignation in 1963. She also claimed to have an affair with Lord Astor, but he denied it in court to which Rice-Davies famously replied “Well he would, wouldn’t he.”

Video of the Day –

Snooze

SNOOZE from molly dickson on Vimeo.

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December 20, 2014

Top News Stories –

New York police shot –
A gunman has shot dead two police officers sitting inside a patrol car in New York before killing himself. Officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu were shot by a Ismaaiyl Brinsley who apparently made online statements suggesting that he planned to kill police officers.

Sony hack: Is Idris Elba the next James Bond? –
The latest leaked memo from Sony Entertainment has revealed that Idris Elba, the British-born star of cult TV series The Wire and Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom, is a Sony executive’s favourite to replace Daniel Craig as 007. According to the Daily Beast, Amy Pascal, the co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment, said in an email that Elba, 42, “should be the next Bond”. [Daily Telegraph]

Ticking the boxes –
Real Madrid have beaten San Lorenzo 2-0 to win the Club World Cup which means that Cristiano Ronaldo has now won the same eight trophies with two different teams Real and Manchester United. He became the first player to achieve the feat and his manager Carlo Ancelotti equalled the record for the most European and international club competitions won by a manager.
Christiano Ronaldo

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December 21, 2014

Top News Stories –

Future arrests –
A former trader at Royal Bank of Scotland becomes the first UK banker to be arrested on suspicion of rigging the £3.5 trillion a day foreign exchange market. Six banks, including RBS and HSBC, were fined a total of £2.6 billion by UK and US regulators last month for the role they played in fixing the futures market.

Sir Elton John and David Furnish marry –
Sir Elton John and David Furnish have married at a ceremony, 9 years to the day after they had a civil partnership ceremony in Windsor’s Guildhall. David and Victoria Beckham, musician Ed Sheeran and actor David Walliams were among the guests at the wedding at the couple’s house, also in Windsor.
Elton John

Billie Whitelaw dies –
Actress Billie Whitelaw has died aged 82. Her film career started in 1954 in The Sleeping Tiger and last appeared in 2007 in the iconic Hot Fuzz alongside Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

Sony hack an act of terrorism? –
President Barack Obama says the US is considering putting North Korea back on its list of terrorism sponsors after the hacking of Sony Pictures.

Video of the Day –

A Tax on Bunny Rabbits from Nathaniel Akin on Vimeo.

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December 22, 2014

Top News Stories –

Sunny smile –
Kent student Jess Smith reveals that she was the baby who played the sun on the Teletubbies, a BBC TV show in the 80s & 90s.

Joe Cocker dies –
Joe Cocker, famous for his version of the Beatles “With A Little Help From My Friends” which reached number one in 1968, has died from cancer.
Joe Cocker

Total indulgence –
Costa Coffee in the UK is selling 100,000 sticky toffee latte a week during the festive season. The largest ‘massimo’ size has around 598 calories, contains up to 75g of sugar – nearly 19 teaspoons, or twice the amount in a can of Coke.

Beep-beep –
Google launch the second version of their self-driving car which has been described a toy police car.

Tit-for-tat attack? –
North Korea internet shut down for 9 hours and just days after the state was accused of a major hack on Sony Pictures in the state. Speculation is that the US government caused the outage in retribution.

Video of the Day –

Joe Cocker – With A Little Help From My Friends

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December 23, 2014

Top News Stories –

Tough to chew –
Netflix is to release a documentary film in 2015 which affirms that Michael Rockefeller, the youngest son of former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, was eaten by cannibals in New Guinea in 1961.

Tornado chaos in south USA –
At least five tornadoes were reported in the southern United States, leading to four deaths and fifty people injured. The twisters also caused massive damage to homes, commercial buildings and vehicles. Mississippi was among the worst hit. If the tornadoes are confirmed, it will be the deadliest December tornado outbreak since 1953. [The Weather Channel]

Video of the Day –

Biolapse

Carnivora Gardinum from chris field on Vimeo.

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December 24, 2014

Top News Stories –

Smithy OBE –
It’s announced that James Corden known for his role as Smithy in Gavin and Stacey, presenting Sky TV’s In A League of Their Own and now taking on hosting The Late Late Show in the US is to receive an OBE (Order of the British Empire) gong for his charitable work.
Ruth Jones & James Corden

Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton separate –
Helena Bonham Carter has announces that she has split from the film director Tim Burton after 13 years together and having 2 children.
Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter

Gloves off –
In the US Amazon and Walmart sell out of DVDs of Team America which parodied the former North Korea leader Kim Jong-il. The reason? Another film – The Interview – is about to get its cinema release after a major hacking situation at Sony. President Obama apparently approves of the delayed Christmas Day premiere. Kim Song, a North Korean diplomat to the United Nations, called the movie an ‘unpardonable mockery of our sovereignty and dignity of our supreme leader.’

Cash grab –
In Hong Kong a van carrying HK$35m – about $4.5m or £3m – in used notes crashed on a motorway – cue dozens leaving their cars and grabbing a bundle. About HK$15 disappeared.

You’d let him win wouldn’t you? –
Prince Harry led his Sandringham workers team to a 7-2 victory in a football (soccer) match against local villagers in Scotland sponsored by the Black Horse Inn. Top royal endorsement.
Prince Harry

Shaken and stirred –
In Russia vodka prices have been rising so much that President Vladimir Putin calls on his government to curb price rises on the spirit. Half a litre costs 220 roubles (about $4.10)

Feel good moment –
A homeless man is given $100 and hidden cameras follow him into a liquor store where he buys food which he shares with other homeless people. 12 million hits on YouTube (see Video of the Day)

Pub crawl goes viral –
And a fancy dress pub crawl in Old Conwyn, North Wales featuring made up props from the classic BBC comedy show Only Fools and Horses went viral(ish) on YouTube

Video of the Day –

How Does A Homeless Man Spend $100?

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January 19, 2015

Top News Stories –

US Cop gets 14 million hits singing to Taylor Swift in car –
A policeman with Dover Force in Delaware has received over 17 million views of a YouTube video showing him singing along to the Taylor Swift song “Shake It Off”. The video (see below) has gained mix reactions but Taylor Swift gave it her seal of approval through her Twitter account to her 51 million followers:

Actress Anne Kirkbride dies –
She played Deidre Barlow in the British soap Coronation Street since November 20th 1972 and died at the age of 60.

Takes a hack to spot a hack –
Two newspapers, The New York Times and Germany’s De Spiegel report that the US knew North Korea was behind the Sony Pictures hack because it had secretly infiltrated the country’s computer networks in 2010. The NY Times believe that software planted by the US intelligence in North Korea’s computers alerted them to hacking activity on Sony.

Sun drops Page 3 topless images –
For 44 years the UK tabloid newspaper The Sun has by synonymous with a large topless picture of a model but that has come to an end today when a picture of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley wearing lingerie appeared. The paper is reported to be planning to reinstate the topless feature if sales drop. Among those who found fame were Linda Lusardi, Jilly Johnson and Samantha Fox.
Samantha Fox

Video of the Day –

Dover Police DashCam Confessional (Shake it Off)

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February 7, 2015

Top News Stories –

Miss Universe asked to negotiate with rebels –
Newly crowned Miss Universe Paulina Vega is invited by the Colombian rebel group Farc militia to help their peace negotiations with the government in a statement on their website. During interviews prior to winning the title on January 25th 2015, Ms Vega, who is also Miss Columbia, had said she wanted to see peace in Colombia. So far she has not responded to the offer.
Paulina Vega

NBC Nightly News anchor embarrassment –
Brian Williams, “the most-watched” news presenter in the US temporarily steps down from his NBC Nightly News anchor role after he admitted his story about being in a helicopter that was shot down in Iraq was false. He revealed that he was actually in an aircraft following the one shot down after veterans who were in the helicopter recalled he wasn’t on the flight. Williams blamed a “fog of memory” for the lapse.
Brian Williams

Price gets it right –
Katie Price formerly known as the model Jordan wins UK TV Channel 5’s Celebrity Big Brother despite only being in the “house” for 10 days when other contestants had been in for a month. She beat ex-Apprentice candidate Katie Hopkins into second place; Calum Best came third.
Katie Price

Classic Ferrari sells for $16 million –
A classic California Spyder Ferrari found in a French farmhouse under a load of magazines is sold at a Paris auction for €14.2m (£10.5m; $16.2m). Only 37 of the 1961 Ferrari 250 GT SWB were made and this dark blue one had been owned by French actor Alain Delon but was hidden for over 50 years. In May 2008 British DJ Chris Evans paid a reported £5.6 million for a 1961 250GT short-wheelbase California Spyder that once belonged to Hollywood actor James Coburn.
A 1961 250 GT California Spyder
Alain Delon in 2013

Video of the Day –

Miss Columbia Paulina Vega’s Miss Universe interview

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February 17, 2015

Top News Stories –

Haitian carnival accident kills 16 –
At least 16 people are killed when a power-line connected with a carnival float in Haiti’s capital Port au Prince. Some died through electrocution, others in the panic that ensued. Around 78 others were injured.

Where there’s make-up, there’s brass –
YouTube beauty blogger Zoe Sugg, known as Zoella, buys a five-bedroom £1 million home in Hove, East Sussex, England, with her boyfriend Alfie Deyes. Zoella has seven million subscribers on her beauty blogs and charges advertisers £20,000 a month to place ads on her vlogs. She also features in the celebrity edition of The Great British Bake Off.
Zoe Sugg A.K.A. Zoella

Sony start taking orders for SmartEyeglass –
Sony announce that their “augmented reality” smart glasses will go on sale in ten countries in March 2015 and pre-orders for the SmartEyeglass, costing $840 (£620), are now being taken in the UK and Germany. The glasses work with recent Android operating systems but also come with a software kit so developers can design apps for it. It includes an accelerometer, gyroscope, electronic compass, brightness sensor and two microphones.
Sony SmartEyeglass

Apple Watch not that exclusive –
Apple orders between 5 and 6 million Apple Watches to be produced in time for their release in April 2015. The Apple Watch is the first unique product Apple has launched since the iPad in 2010. There are 3 versions – Apple Watch, Apple Watch Sport and Apple Watch Edition.

Video of the Day –

The Apple Watch trailer

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March 2, 2015

Top News Stories –

Bill Gates still the richest man in the world –

Bill Gates has been declared the richest man in the world for the 16th time by Forbes magazine’s annual ranking of global billionaires. The Microsoft founder once again beat Mexican businessman Carlos Slim to the top spot. Mr Gates’ net worth rose by just over $3bn (£1.94bn) in the year to 13 February, to $79bn. There are a record 1,826 billionaires in the world, Forbes said, an increase of 181 in the past 12 months. See list below. [BBC]

New image for Queen on coins of the realm –
A new portrait of the Queen to appear on coins has been unveiled, but it might be some time before the new money starts appearing in people’s wallets. The effigy, designed by Jody Clark, is only the fifth definitive coin portrait to have been created during the Queen’s reign and the first since 1998.

^{The new coin}

The new portrait is revealed at a ceremony in London’s National Portrait Gallery. Coins carrying the design will now begin being struck, the Royal Mint said. [Daily Telegraph]
New Zealanders confiscating bad drivers keys –
Police are urging motorists not to take matters into their own hands, following the latest removal of car keys from drivers allegedly driving dangerously. While police are encouraging the use of *555 calls, the growing trend of motorists confronting bad drivers and removing keys is on the rise nationally – almost one a day during the past week. [New Zealand Herald]

Video of the Day –

Science explains the colour of “that dress”

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May 20, 2015

Top News Stories –

Record fines for currency market fix –
Five of the world’s largest banks are to pay fines totalling $5.7bn (£3.6bn) for charges including manipulating the foreign exchange market.
Four of the banks – JPMorgan, Barclays, Citigroup and RBS – have agreed to plead guilty to US criminal charges. The fifth, UBS, will plead guilty to rigging benchmark interest rates. Barclays was fined the most, $2.4bn, as it did not join other banks in November to settle investigations by UK, US and Swiss regulators. Barclays is also sacking eight employees involved in the scheme. [BBC]

Chinese professor accused in ‘Breaking Bad’ drugs plot –
Police in China have arrested a chemistry professor for his part in producing a psychoactive drug in a case that has been likened to US crime drama Breaking Bad. State agency Xinhua said 17 people were arrested including a Xian university professor alleged to have helped provide the recipe for methcathinone. Police seized 128kg (282lb) of the drug and more than 5m yuan ($806,095; £519,450). The drug lab was raided last year. [BBC]

David Letterman saluted by stars on final Late Show –
Four US presidents have joined stars including Steve Martin, Tina Fey, Jerry Seinfeld and Foo Fighters to pay tribute to TV host David Letterman on his final late night talk show. Letterman has bowed out after 33 years and 6,028 late-night broadcasts.He joked that physicist Stephen Hawking had calculated it “works out to about eight minutes of laughter”.He gave emotional thanks to his family, crew and viewers, saying: “There’s nothing I can ever do to repay you.”The 68-year-old began his late-night career on NBC in 1982, before moving to CBS’s Late Show in 1993.[BBC] See Video of the Day and List of the Day.
David Letterman

Video of the Day –

Celebrity Top Ten Things I’ve Always Wanted to Say To David Letterman

List of the day –

David Letterman’s final Top Ten list – “Top 10 things I’ve always wanted to say to Dave:”

10. Alec Baldwin: “Of all the talk shows, yours is the most geographically convenient to my home.”

9. Barbara Walters: “Did you know you wear the same cologne as Muammar Qaddafi?”

8. Steve Martin: Your extensive plastic surgery was a necessity…and a mistake.”

7. Jerry Seinfeld: “I have no idea what I’ll do when you go off the air. You know what, I just thought of something: I’ll be fine.”

6. Jim Carrey: “Honestly Dave, I’ve always found you to be a bit of an over-actor.” (He gesticulated wildly).

5. Chris Rock: “I’m just glad your show is being given to another white guy.” (Dave: “You know, I had nothing to do with that.”)

4. Julia Louis-Dreyfus: “Thanks for letting me take part in another hugely disappointing series finale.” (Seinfeld smirks). (Dave: “I had nothing to do with that either.”)

3. Peyton Manning: “Dave, you are to comedy what I am to comedy.”

2. Tina Fey: “Thanks for finally proving men can be funny.”

1. Bill Murray: “Dave, I’ll never have the money I owe you.”

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#DescribeYourselfIn3Words	#DescribeYourselfIn3Words	#DescribeYourselfIn3Words
2	#undiasinmusica	#HumpDay	#TDC15
3	#MTVBattle1D	Riley Curry	#SoftenAFilm
4	#MasterChefBR	#SoftenAFilm	#supportbaharmustafa
5	#MiVidaSeBasaEn	#MTVBattle1D	Bermuda
6	#EnQueIdiomaTeDigoQue	#StandWithRand	#HumpDay
7	PARABÉNS RANGEL	#Blackhawks	#5ONTHEWALL
8	#MiConsejoDeVida	#NXTTakeOver	#GeordieShore
9	Yiğit Bulut	#bucciovertimechallenge	Uwe Rosler
10	#JustinForMMVA	#NoWayThatsAHoliday	#TheFlashSeasonFinale

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
- Islamic State captures the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra from the Syrian Army with grave concerns held about its world heritage site. (The Hindu) (BBC)
The People’s Liberation Army Navy issues warnings eight times as a United States surveillance plane flies over manmade islands in the South China Sea. (CNN)

Arts and culture

Tools found near Lake Turkana in Kenya by Sonia Harmand and Jason Lewis of Stony Brook University are dated at 3.3 million years making them the oldest yet discovered. (AP via ABC News America)
The last edition of the Late Show with David Letterman goes to air on CBS Television in the United States. Following his retirement, David Letterman will be succeeded by Stephen Colbert on September 8, 2015. (CNN Money)

Disasters and accidents

A Shosholoza Meyl passenger train collides head-on with a goods train in Eastern Cape, South Africa, killing two people and injuring 20. (News24)
A rupture of an underground oil pipeline in California‘s Santa Barbara County near Refugio State Beach may have released 105,000 gallons ofcrude oil with tens of thousands gallons released into the Pacific Ocean. Jerry Brown, the Governor of California later declares a state of emergency. (Los Angeles Times), (ABC7 Los Angeles)
2015 Colombian landslide
- The death toll from Monday’s landslide in the town of Salgar rises to 80. (CNN)

International relations

South East Asian migrant crisis
- The foreign ministers of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand meet in Kuala Lumpur to discuss people smuggling and the migrant crisis. Malaysia and Indonesia agree to accept asylum seekers providing that they can be resettled or repatriated within a year. (Straits Times), (wires and ABC Online)
- Over 430 migrants are rescued off the coast of Indonesia‘s eastern Aceh province. (AP via New York Times)
North Korea
- North Korea abruptly cancels an invitation for Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, to visit. (AFP via Sydney Morning Herald)
- The Korean Central News Agency claims that North Korea has the ability to miniaturize nuclear weapons and place them on ballistic missiles.(CNN)

Law and crime

Zambia lifts a ban on hunting big cats imposed over corruption in hunting concessions in the past. (AFP via Yahoo News)
Five big banks Barclays, RBS, Citi, JP Morgan and UBS are fined $5.7 billion after a United States Department of Justice investigation into collusion by forex traders in several countries. (The Guardian)
An arrest warrant is issued for Daron Dylon Wint in the US capital Washington, D.C. in connection to the alleged murder of four people on May 14.(WJLA)
The legislature in the American state of Nebraska votes to abolish the death penalty. (Washington Post)

Sports

British driver Lewis Hamilton signs a three year contract with the German constructors Mercedes AMG. (CNN)

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August 7, 2015

Top News Stories –

George Cole, Arthur Daley in Minder, dies at 90 –
Stars of stage and screen have been paying tribute to “immaculate” and “unforgettable” Minder actor George Cole following his death at the age of 90. Cole, whose showbusiness career spanned 70 years, is best remembered for his portrayal of small-time wheeler dealer and crook Arthur Daley in the TV show Minder, alongside his likeable bodyguard Terry McCann, played by Waterman. He died yesterday in hospital with his family at his side after a short illness, it was announced today. [Daily Telegraph]

One Direction number one breaks streaming records –
One Direction have topped the UK singles chart with their new single Drag Me Down. The track broke streaming records, earning the highest first-week streams for a single in the UK with 2.03m plays. Drag Me Down is One Direction’s first single as a foursome since the departure of Zayn Malik. Its release came a surprise to fans who had not been expecting a new single. [BBC Newsbeat]
One Direction in 2013 before Zayn left

North Korea sets up own time zone in rebuke to ‘wicked Japanese imperialists’ –
The hermetic communist state of North Korea is often said to be locked in a Stalinist time warp. But it is now turning the clocks back – by 30 minutes a day – by official decree. The state news agency has announced the creation of a new Pyongyang time zone as a rejection of the legacy of “wicked Japanese imperialists”. North Korea will step back in time by half an hour on Aug 15th – the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean peninsula from Japanese rule at the end of the Second World War. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Uber meets Tinder

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#DragMeDownMusicVideo	#StraightOutta	#Compton
2	Spice Girls	#TheWorstPartOfDepressionIs	Spice Girls
3	#GOPDebate	#InternationalBeerDay	#FridayFeeling
4	Aldon Smith	#DragMeDownMusicVideo	#InternationalBeerDay
5	NASA	Aldon Smith	#GOPDebate
6	#JonVoyage	#MyMotherAlwaysToldMe	Jenson Button
7	#TheVoiceChile	#MakeAHorrorMovieHarmless	#ReligiousUpaMovie
8	#BuenViernes	#ReligiousUpaMovie	#DragMeDownMusicVideo
9	#LaVidaEsAburridaSin	James Holmes	Cassper
10	Hayırlı Cumalar	#CameronDallasPhotoShoot	Jonathan King

Other News Stories –

Armed conflict and attacks

Suspected Islamist militants stormed two hotels in central Mali where UN peacekeepers were housed, seizing at least ten hostages and killing three Malian soldiers and a U.N. peacekeeper. (Times of Oman) (Reuters)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- At least fifteen people are dead and 400 injured when a truck bomb explodes in Kabul. (BBC) (WSJ)
- A bombing outside the Kabul police academy kills at least 20 people with the Taliban claiming responsibility. (AFP via ABC News)
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
- Tadmur offensive (July–August 2015), Syrian Civil War
  - The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that ISIL has kidnapped at least 230 people, including at least 60 Christians, from Al-Qaryatayn in the Homs Governorate. (Reuters) (RFERL)
- Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants execute 19 women in Mosul, Iraq, for refusing to have sex with the group’s fighters. (Tribune) (Daily Caller)

Arts and culture

North Korea will change its time zone to UTC+08:30 on August 15, returning to the time used by the Korean Empireuntil Japanese occupation in 1910. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Taiwan evacuates hundreds of people ahead of Typhoon Soudelor (2015). (Reuters via WA Today)

International relations

Syrian Civil War
- The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts a resolution aimed at identifying those responsible for deploying chlorine and other chemical weapons in attacks in Syria. (Hindustan Times) (VOA)

Law and crime

Attacks on secularists in Bangladesh
- A Bangladeshi blogger known for his atheist views has been hacked to death by a gang armed with machetes, the fourth such incident this year, in the capital Dhaka, Bangla. (BBC) (The Telegraph) (The Hindu)
The jury in the penalty phase of the trial of Aurora theater shooter James Holmes reaches a verdict to sentence him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. (Reuters) (AP) (WABC)

Sports

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup
- FIBA announces that China will host the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. China was chosen over the Philippines, the only other candidate nation, for the hosting rights of the tournament. (The Japan Times)

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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 –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SonrioCuando	#WorldElephantDay	#WorldElephantDay
2	#NecesitariaYaMismo	The Artist	#YouthDay
3	#AlDubMaybeThisTime	Jimmy Carter	#CeCeIsA
4	#WorldElephantDay	#MyMemoirWouldBeCalled	#MyMemoirWouldBeCalled
5	바퀴벌레	#ShoutOutDay	Simon Danczuk
6	#MasterChefBR	Hump Day	#BiscuitsInAMovie
7	#الهلال_النصر	#SoundsGoodFeelsGood	The Artist
8	#FAceToFace	#YouthDay	#FAceToFace
9	#ايش_بتسمي_اول_…	Rex Ryan	Paulo Wanchope
10	鳩山元首相	The Hateful Eight	#Inglorious12th

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 massive explosion in the Chinese city of Tianjin results in at least 17 deaths, 11 people seriously injured and hundreds of people being hospitalised. (BBC)(NBC News) (CCTV)
- A CNN reporter is interrupted from reporting by upset friends and relatives of victims outside a Tianjin hospital. (CNN)
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)

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September 6, 2015

Top News Stories –

Finland: City hands out ‘survival box’ to new students –
A Finnish city is handing out “survival packs” to new students, taking inspiration from the country’s famous baby starter boxes. The city of Lahti has packaged up a selection of essentials for new arrivals to its universities and colleges, helped by contributions from local businesses, national broadcaster Yle reports. More than 1,000 students have received one of the kits so far. And just like the parcels given to expectant mothers across the country, Lahti’s offering comes in a modest cardboard box. Among the items new students will find inside is a bus pass for trips around the city, some locally produced sheets and socks, and a pack of porridge, Yle says. Students can also tuck into the popular Nordic snack salmiakki – a sour, salty liquorice. The survival pack is meant to introduce students to the delights of Lahti while also serving as a marketing opportunity for businesses in the city. [BBC]

BBC plans North Korea broadcasts –
The BBC is to propose an expansion of the World Service – including its first radio broadcasts to North Korea [on short wave radio] – as it sets out plans for its own future. A children’s iPlayer and a pool of 100 local reporters who would share work with newspapers are also planned. Director general Tony Hall will say the aim is to turn the BBC into “an open platform for British creativity”. The BBC is laying out its plans as part of negotiations with the government ahead of charter renewal in 2016. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

MOVEment

MOVEment: Chalayan x AyaBambi and Ryan Heffington from Jacob Sutton on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#OTRAMontreal	#NewMagic8BallAnswers	#UFC191
2	妹の日記念・妹10連…	Purdue	#WALvISR
3	#جيش_قطر_يتجه_ل…	Sarah Palin	#railwayupamovie
4	#BeyonceMadeInAmerica	#RejectedPopTarts	#respectharry
5	#LoQueMasQuiero	#MyBumperSticker	#ItalianGP
6	#LoQueDariaPor	Colin Powell	#BoyzNTheHood
7	마시기	#BeyonceMadeInAmerica	Didier Drogba
8	#FelizDomingo	#IBelieveBlackLivesMatter	#MadeInAmerica
9	#UFC191	#HappyBirthdayDinahDime	PETER HITCHENS
10	#画像フォルダの16��…	Cheetah Girls	#marr

Other News Stories –

Disasters and accidents

At least 10 people die and 8 are missing from a South Korean fishing charter that capsized Saturday night off the country’s southern coast. Coast Guard officers said three people survived by clinging to the wreckage for 10 hours. (Sydney Morning Herald) (AFP via New Delhi Television)

International Relations

European migrant crisis
- Pope Francis asks Catholic faithful in Europe to host refugee families fleeing death from war and hunger, and announces the Vatican’s two churches will welcome two families of refugees. (CNN) (NBC4 New York)

Politics and elections

Guatemalan general election, 2015
- Voters in Guatemala go to the polls for a general election. The presidential election appears headed for a runoff election. (AP)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

October 27, 2015

Top News Stories –

Halle Berry and Olivier Martinez announce divorce after two years of marriage –
Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry and her French actor husband, Olivier Martinez, said on Tuesday they are divorcing after two years of marriage. It is the third divorce for Berry, 49, who has a two-year-old son with Martinez. The couple cited irreconcilable differences, according to celebrity website TMZ.com. Berry in 2002 became the only black actress to win an Academy Award for a lead role, clinching the Oscar for her performance in Monster’s Ball. [Daily Telegraph]
Halle Berry

Darth Vader supporter Chewbacca arrested in Ukraine –
It’s a sentence we never thought we’d write, but here goes: Chewbacca has been arrested in Ukraine after police say they caught him campaigning for Darth Vader. A candidate, using the identity of the Star Wars Sith Lord has been running in local elections in the city of Odessa. It’s claimed the man dressed as Chewbacca had broken election day rules by campaigning on voting day. It’s being reported Chewbacca was fined the equivalent of a fiver. He’d arrived at a polling station along with the candidate when police stepped in. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Create & Explore 009 – Braden Lee x HWLS from Create & Explore on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#AMAs1D	#BlackCatDay	#BlackCatDay
2	#FelizMartes	#HappyBirthday1989	#AssaultAtSpringValleyHigh
3	#كلمه_تتحرك_في�…	#AMAs1D	#charitytuesday
4	Pujol	Don Lemon	Philip French
5	#شي_حلو_بحرف_ال…	Greenland Is Melting Away	Trigger
6	#TengoGanasDe	Halle Berry	#AMAs1D
7	Ravens	#AdviceForTeenagersIn4Words	Chris Grayling
8	처녀자리	Coke Zoo	#ScreamQueens
9	Bro Ocholla	#IWillOnlyDateYouIf	#3daysTilFocus
10	#UKVOTY1D	#IDontBelongToYou	#stateofthenorth

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- A Yemeni hospital in Saada run by Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) is destroyed by several Saudi-led coalition airstrikes overnight. The director of the hospital, Ali Mughli, reported “The air raids resulted in the destruction of the entire hospital with all that was inside – devices and medical supplies – and the moderate wounding of several people”. Another airstrike hit a nearby girls school and damaged several civilian homes according to local media. UNICEF said the Saada hospital was the 39th health center hit in Yemen since March. The Saudi-led coalition denies that its planes had hit the hospital. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War, Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports the Islamic State, on Sunday, executed three detainees in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra by strapping them to pillars and blowing them up with the antiquities. ISIL has yet to tell locals the identities of the three individuals or say why they had been killed. (BBC) (USA Today)
American-led intervention in Iraq (2014–present), American-led intervention in Syria
- United States Defense Secretary Ashton Carter says the U.S. will begin “direct action on the ground” against the ISIL forces in Iraq and Syria, aiming to intensify pressure on the militants as progress against the militants remains elusive. The U.S. has done some special operations raids in Syria, e.g., last week’s rescue operation with Kurdish forces in northern Iraq to free hostages held by ISIL. Carter also said the U.S. would intensify the air campaign against ISIL with heavier airstrikes and will focus on Raqqa, the group’s declared capital in Syria. (NBC News) (Al Jazeera) (AP via Boston Globe)
Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- A Libyan helicopter carrying cash for a local bank on the way out and returning to Tripoli with passengers is shot down near the coastal Almaya area west of the capital city, killing at least 14 of its 23 passengers including senior officers Hosein Bodaya and Duhain Al-Rammah, officials with Libya’s Dawn militias. (AP via ABC News) (BBC) (UPI)
Israeli-Palestinian conflict (2015)
- Three Palestinians are shot dead after attacking Israeli soldiers with knives in the occupied West Bank. Jerusalem’s Hadassah Hospital reports that 76-year old American-Israeli Richard Lakin, who was critically injured in a bus attack on October 13, 2015, died of his injuries. (Reuters) (Israel Hayom)
War in North-West Pakistan
- Pakistan says seven of its soldiers have been killed in the South Waziristan tribal region by fire from across the border with Afghanistan. The soldiers belonged to the Frontier Corps; the attack targeted a checkpoint northeast of the border village ofAngoor Adda. (UPI) (BBC)

Business and economics

In a plea bargain with U.S. federal prosecutors, Rohit Bansal, a former Goldman Sachs banker accused of using private information leaked by source inside the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, has agreed to plead guilty. The leaked information was said to have given Goldman an undue advantage regarding client advisement. Goldman also faces fines from the New York State’s Department of Financial Services. (New York Times)
Walgreens Boots Alliance agrees to buy Rite Aid for US$9.4 billion in a move which will create a retail pharmaceutical giant with 13,000 stores. (Dow Jones via Fox Business)
Northrop Grumman, the developer of the Air Force’s current bomber, the B-2, beats out the Boeing–Lockheed Martin team and is awarded the Pentagon contract to build a fleet of stealthy planes known as the Long Range Strike Bomber (LRS-B).(Washington Post) (CNN)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Hindu Kush earthquake
- Rescuers continue a search for survivors of the earthquake in Afghanistan and Pakistan including in areas controlled by the Taliban. The death toll from the earthquake is 339 with many thousands injured. (AFP via ABC News) (Himalayan Times)
- The Taliban, which effectively controls some of the worst-affected areas across multiple provinces, urged charity organizations not to hold back in delivering aid to Afghan victims of the quake, saying militants in the affected areas were ordered to provide “complete help.” (Reuters) (Daily Star)
2015 Southeast Asian haze
- Raging Indonesian forest fires have advanced into dense forest on Borneo and now threaten one third of the world’s remaining wild orangutans, say conservationists. (South China Morning Post) (ABC news)

International relations

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea, China–United States relations
- A United States Navy ship, the USS Lassen, sails near the Spratly Islands, challenging Beijing‘s claim that the islands are Chinese territory. China‘s Ministry of Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the actions of the United States in the South China Sea, saying “China will firmly react to this deliberate provocation”. (Wall Street Journal) (NPR) (The New York Times)
- Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui summons US ambassador Max Baucus to protest a US naval patrol close to Beijing’s man-made islands in the South China Sea. Zhang called the US patrol “extremely irresponsible” and urged Washington to cease actions that harm China’s sovereignty and security. (Hong Kong Standard) (The Guardian)
- Greg Poling, a director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, says the U.S. operation was aimed at testing control of the seas, not sovereignty over the disputed islands, to force a clarification of China’s claims. Undermaritime law, artificial islands were not usually afforded the 12-mile territorial zone, and that the U.S. Navy deliberately chose to send the destroyer near Subi Reef for this reason. (CNN)
Humanitarian International Services Group, an NGO founded by evangelical Christian Kay Miramine, was part of a secret Pentagon program devised by Lt. Gen. William Boykin used to spy on North Korea, according to an investigation by the online publication The Intercept. The program, which started in 2004, was shut down in 2012 by now-retired Admiral William McRaven, concerned with pushback if this became public. Some current and former American NGO staff with experience in North Korea have expressed doubts about key claims in the report. (The Intercept) (Christian Post) (NK News)
Syrian Civil War
- Iran is invited to attend the next round of talks over Syria’s future, along with the representatives from the United States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Britain, France, Germany, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Nations mediator forSyria, Staffan de Mistura. The next round of the “Vienna II” meeting is expected to start tomorrow and continue Friday in Vienna, Austria. (Irish Examiner) (Reuters) (Sputnik News) (New York Times)
- United Nations humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien tells the Security Council the worsening conflict in Syria has left 13.5 million people in need of aid and some form of protection, including more than six million children. (AP) (Arab News)
The United Nations General Assembly overwhelmingly condemns the U.S. embargo of Cuba in its first vote on the matter since the start of normalization of relations between the two countries. The largely symbolic tally on the unenforceable resolution was 191 to 2 (U.S., Israel). (UPI) (AP via ABC News)

Law and crime

Guatemala arrests 11 in a public hospital, medicine-buying kickback scheme. Two others remain at large, including Gustavo Alejos Cambara, the former private secretary to ex-President Álvaro Colom. A U.N. commission set up to tackle criminal networks in Guatemala participated in the investigation. (AP)

Politics and elections

Britain is reviewing the powers of the House of Lords after the unelected peers stalled legislation yesterday that would have eliminated some tax allowances for the nation’s poor. Senior Conservatives say the upper chamber of Parliament stepped out of their usual roles as technical overseers of legislation. However, Conservative MP David Davis warned that such a move was “bully politics” that would “disgust” the public. (BBC) (AP via Washington Post)
Ivorian presidential election, 2015
- Partial results from Sunday’s election give Ivory Coast’s President Alassane Ouattara an overwhelming lead (83.18 percent) on the way to a second five-year term. This weekend’s vote was judged to be peaceful and transparent by observers, making it the first in Côte d’Ivoire’s history not to be marred by serious rights violations or irregularities. (Reuters) (Financial Times) (Abidjan.net)

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December 9, 2015

Top News Stories –

Angela Merkel named as Time magazine’s person of the year –
Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, has been named by Time magazine as its person of the year – the first woman to receive the accolade in almost 30 years. Mrs Merkel, 61, was chosen for her leadership at a time of immense difficulty in Europe, and becomes the first woman to be named as person of the year since 1986. Last year’s winners were the Ebola fighters. “Not once or twice but three times there has been reason to wonder this year whether Europe could continue to exist – not culturally or geographically but as a historic experiment in ambitious statecraft,” said Nancy Gibbs, editor of the magazine. [Daily Telegraph] See List of the Day
Angela Merkel Time Magazine Cover

Knightsbridge to fine boy-racers up to £1,000 if they rev their supercar engines –
For years they have infuriated residents in London’s Knightsbridge with their incessant racing around the neighbourhood in noisy supercars. But boy-racers found guilty of wrecking the peace will now be fined £1000 after locals won a battle to make the uncouth behaviour a criminal offence. The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, which plays host to Harrods department store, has introduced a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) which hopes to restore peace to the neighbourhood. [Daily Telegraph]

Denmark: Nature agency offers free ponds to landowners –
Denmark’s nature agency is offering to pay for people to have ponds installed on their land in an effort to protect endangered wildlife. The government’s AgriFish Agency is offering to foot the bill for creating water features up to 1,000 sq m (10,764 sq ft) in size, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation reports. But such is the level of interest in the new scheme, officials say they probably won’t be able to meet demand. So far there have been more than 100 inquiries by interested landowners, the report says. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

YouTube Rewind: Now Watch Me 2015 | #YouTubeRewind [Over 13 million views in 24 hours]

List of the Day –

The Shortlist for Times Person of the Year 2015
Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi
Donald Trump
Black Lives Matter
Hassan Rouhani
Travis Kalanick
Caitlyn Jenner

Top Twitter Trends –

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

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015)
- An Israeli couple are injured in a drive-by shooting attack near Avnei Hefetz. (The Times of Israel)
- Israeli soldiers shoot dead a Palestinian teenager during an arrest raid on a refugee camp in the West Bank town of Bethlehem. (The Jerusalem Post) (Al Jazeera)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- A Taliban attack on Kandahar International Airport results in at least 37 civilian and Afghan National Security Forces personnel dead and 35 injured. (Reuters)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- Amnesty International reports that years of foreign military intervention, poor oversight on weapons sales, and lack of control over the international flow of weaponry have enabled ISIL to accumulate its vast armaments stockpile. Amnesty International calls for weapons embargoes and the ratification of the global Arms Trade Treaty by nations that have not already done so and, at the same time, are sources of weapons in the ISIL stockpile. (Agence France-Presse via AlJazeera America) (Agence France-Presse via Defense News)
Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- Russian President Vladimir Putin says he hopes nuclear warheads will not be needed to deal with terrorists, after Russia launched cruise missiles at Islamic State positions in Syria from one of its Kilo-class submarines in the Mediterranean. (Independent)
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
- Azeri tanks on the front line shell military positions in the breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh Republic for the first time since a Russian-brokered ceasefire ended fighting in 1994. At least one Nagorno-Karabakh Defense Army soldier is killed. (AFP via Yahoo)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Turkey calls on all its citizens to leave all areas of Iraq except Iraqi Kurdistan, due to “increased security risks”. (AFP via Daily Mail)

Arts and culture

Angela Merkel is named as Time‘s Person of the Year. (CNN International)

Disasters and accidents

2015 South Indian floods
- Heavy rains continue to lash Thanjavur and Thanjavur district, inundating urban areas and hundreds of acres of farmland. Many residential areas in Thanjavur have been marooned by rising water. (The Hindu)
Floods in the United States: 2001–present
- Governor of Washington Jay Inslee declares a state of emergency after severe flooding and high winds across the western part of the state close several major highways, damage homes and property, and impact electricity service. (Governor of Washington) (KIRO-TV)

International relations

The United States expands sanctions against North Korea over its alleged weapons breaches. (BBC)
Cuba–United States relations
- Government officials from Cuba and the U.S. met in Havana, beginning settlement discussions surrounding $1.9 billion worth of U.S. assets seized by Fidel Castro’s regime in the early 1960s. By law, the United States embargo against Cuba cannot cease until settlements are made. (Washington Post)

Law and crime

The Australian Federal Police raid the Sydney home of Craig Steven Wright – whom media today claimed was suspected to be Satoshi Nakamoto, the founder of Bitcoin – in relation to possible tax offences. (ABC News Australia)
Chinese state television reports Guo Youming, former deputy governor of Hubei province, is found guilty of taking bribes totaling more than 23.8 million yuan ($3.70 million). Guo is the latest to be convicted as a result of President Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaign that started when Xi took office three years ago. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

A group of mayors and officials from American cities such as Philadelphia, and New York City say that if they had their way Donald Trump would be banned from their cities for his comments on Muslims. (NBC)
The Republican Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell distance the party from presidential candidate Donald Trump’s recent comments calling for a ban on Muslims entering the United States. While not entering into a political fray – in view of U.S. partnerships with Muslim nations and Muslim personnel serving in the United States Armed Forces – The Pentagon press secretary calls anti-Muslim rhetoric a national security threat. (CNN) (Politico)
British police officers have today sensationally backed U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s controversial claim that parts of the country are no-go areas such as London and Birmingham because of growing Islamist extremism. (Express)
Congress is set to vote on Thursday on whether to prevent barring of potential immigration applicants based solely on religion. (Free Beacon)

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January 3, 2016

Top News Stories –

Paul McKenna: I chose my wife by Excel spreadsheet –
Paul McKenna, the hypnotist and self-help guru, has disclosed that he decided who to marry by using an Excel spreadsheet. The 52-year-old revealed the software – normally used by accountants and office administrators – helped him to choose his wife-to-be, his long-time personal assistant Kate Davey. McKenna, who is worth around £40m, said a friend had pointed out that although he had dated a “lot of beautiful women”, he “didn’t actually like them”. He was encouraged to “make an Excel spreadsheet” to find out who he loved – and it turned out to be Kate, who has worked with him for 20 years. The pair revealed their feelings to each other three years ago and are now engaged to be married. [Daily Telegraph]
Paul McKenna

Video of the Day –

Infinity Room – [TIEE] from Refik Anadol on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

100 Things we didn’t know last year – by the BBC (67-100)

67. MI5 erroneously suspected novelist Doris Lessing of running a brothel.

Find out more (Independent)

68. US Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders released a spoken-word folk album in 1987.

Find out more (Dangerous Minds)

69. It is possible to have orgasms in your left foot.

Find out more (New York magazine)

70. The formula for the perfect poohstick is PP = A x I x Cd.

Find out more

71. Silk can be made from the solidified saliva of a clam.

Find out more

72. Gorillas have individual tastes in music.

Find out more (Discover Magazine Blogs)

73. The simpler and more repetitive a song’s lyrics, the more likely it is to reach number one in the Billboard Hot 100, debut in the top 40 and climb the chart more rapidly.

Find out more (Psychology Today)

74. The producer who was Gordon the Gopher’s puppeteer ended up as the BBC’s head of editorial standards.

Find out more

75. Bill Cosby was the first choice to play Sam Malone in Cheers, ahead of Ted Danson.

Find out more (Hollywood Reporter)

76. In their spare time, US fighter pilots play a mash-up of pool and rugby called crud.

Find out more (New York Times)

77. Scots have 421 words for snow.

Find out more

78. Lies are more convincing when the person telling them needs to urinate.

Find out more (Daily Telegraph)

79. Spotify’s shuffle is not truly random but sprinkles different genres evenly across a playlist and alternates songs by the same artist.

Find out more

80. The English composer Benjamin Britten wrote a national anthem for Malaysia, only for it to be rejected in favour of a cabaret tune.

Find out more

81. Elephants almost never get cancer.

Find out more (Nature News)

82. Actor Brian Blessed says that he delivered a baby in a park, bit through the umbilical cord and then licked the infant’s face clean.

Find out more

83. People who like their coffee black are more likely to be psychopaths.

Find out more (Huffington Post)

84. American toddlers shoot one person a week on average.

Find out more (Washington Post)

85. Biff Tannen’s older self, as portrayed in Back to the Future Part II, was based on Donald Trump.

Find out more (Daily Beast)

86. The US used to relocate beavers by parachuting them out of planes.

Find out more (Mashable)

87. Dancing to Gangnam Style could raise people’s pain thresholds.

Find out more (Wired)

88. Pregnancies conceived in December have the best chance of success.

Find out more (Netmums)

89. Men with beards have a greater tendency to hold sexist attitudes than their clean-shaven counterparts.

Find out more (Mental Floss)

90. Footballers have worse teeth than the general population.

Find out more

91. It’s possible to hallucinate a foreign accent.

Find out more (Brain Decoder)

92. Victoria’s Secret Bombshell perfume is almost as good at repelling mosquitoes as commercial insect sprays containing Deet.

Find out more (Daily Beast)

93. Germaine Greer wrote a 30,000-word love letter to Martin Amis in 1976.

Find out more (the Guardian)

94. You’re So Vain definitely is about Warren Beatty (and two other men).

Find out more

95. A 17th Century scientist planned to paint the bubonic plague on to hats to create a biological weapon.

Find out more (New Scientist)

96. The Churchill household spent around £1,160 each year on wine, £104,400 in today’s money.

Find out more (the Economist)

97. A cow’s flatulence could fill a 55-gallon (250-litre) bag with methane in one day.

Find out more (Grist)

98. It would cost £11,602.25 to send a letter to Mars from the UK.

Find out more (Daily Mirror)

99. Text messages that end with a full stop are seen to be less sincere than those that don’t.

Find out more (Wired UK)

100. Employees who say they love following the rules are the ones who are most likely to be fired for breaking them.

Find out more (New York Magazine)

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#زد_رصيدك51	#OregonUnderAttack	Gary Anderson
2	#OregonUnderAttack	#MafiaGoogleSearches	#TheVampsBTS
3	#جيش_سلمان_30_مل…	#CactusBowl	#OregonUnderAttack
4	#FelizDomingo	#alamobowl	#UFC195
5	#DomingoDetremuraSdv	#AskEthanAndGrayson	#AUSvWI
6	#大切な人に触るな�…	#SEAvsAZ	#popgothefrench
7	Página 3 de 366	#FactsArentRacist	#takemeout
8	#SPSHello2016	#globedelivery	#MakeASongFrench
9	#UFC195	#PHIvsNYG	The Dark Knight
10	#ConfesionesNocturnas	#YallQaeda	#ANWTC3

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for a suicide bomb attack on a Iraqi Army base (Camp Speicher, now known as Tikrit Air Academy), near the town of Tikrit, north of Baghdad, that killed at least 15 and injured 22. (Reuters)
Terrorism in India
- 2016 Pathankot attack
  - Gunfire and loud explosions are heard at an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, Punjab, as anti-terrorist operations continue. A further two militants, for a total of six, are reported to have been killed; seven military and paramilitary personnel are reported to have been killed, with up to 20 other security personnel wounded. (DNA)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 South Pacific cyclone season
- Fiji warns residents to prepare for the impact of severe tropical cyclone Ula. (AFP via France 24)
In the United States, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo orders communities statewide to place homeless people in shelters when temperatures reach freezing. (The Washington Post)

Environment

The United Kingdom designates Ascension Island and its surrounding waters in the Atlantic Ocean as a Marine protected area. The reserve will be almost as big as the UK with just over half of the protected area completely closed to fishing. (BBC)

International relations

North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- North Korea may be preparing for an imminent thermonuclear weapon test at its Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, located in the country’s North Hamgyong Province where previous tests took place in 2006, 2009 and 2013, according to a South Koreanmilitary report. (Yonhap News Agency)
Saudi Arabia breaks off diplomatic relations with Iran after Sheikh Nimr’s execution. (BBC)

Law and crime

Mexican Drug War
- Two suspects are killed in a clash with police, and three others are arrested in connection with yesterday’s assassination of Temixco, Morelos’s newly inaugurated mayor Gisela Mota Ocampo. Governor Graco Ramírez, who attributed Mota’s killing toorganized crime, calls for three days of mourning. (AP via ABC news)

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January 6, 2016

Top News Stories –

Twitter closer to allowing longer tweets of up to 10,000 characters –
Twitter is considering ditching its 140-character limit in tweets. After 24 hours of speculation it seems the the social media company is considering a new 10,000 character limit – the same as for Direct Messages. It’s the latest effort by the firm to appeal to a wider audience. Twitter CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey has said he isn’t definitely set on sticking with 140 characters. [BBC] See Top twitter Trends

Netflix extends its service to almost all the world –
Netflix has gone live in nearly every country in the world. The firm announced it had switched on its service in 130 additional countries. It said it was still trying to expand to China. The other exceptions are North Korea, Syria and Crimea, where it is banned from operating by US law. The announcement was made by the firm’s chief executive Reed Hastings at his keynote speech at the CES tech show in Las Vegas. He also confirmed that Netflix would begin offering HDR (high dynamic range) content later this year. The company’s shares jumped to about 8% over their opening price following the announcements. [BBC]

‘Star Wars: Force Awakens’ Tops ‘Avatar’ to Become No. 1 Film of All Time in North America –
J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens is the highest-grossing film of all time in North America, not accounting for inflation. On Wednesday, the Disney and Lucasfilm mega-blockbuster overtook the $760.5 million earned by James Cameron’s Avatar. Force Awakens — which grossed $8 million on Tuesday for a domestic total of $758.2 million — achieved the milestone in only 20 days in release, a remarkable feat. [Hollywood Reporter]

Video of the Day –

Bei Hai / 北海‬ (animation Rob Jabbaz. music Howie Lee) from Rob Jabbaz on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

People’s Choice Television Award winners:
Favourite show: The Big Bang Theory
Favourite network comedy: The Big Bang Theory
Favourite comedic actor: Jim Parsons
Favourite comedic actress: Melissa McCarthy
Favourite network drama: Grey’s Anatomy
Favourite dramatic actor: Taylor Kinney
Favourite dramatic actress: Ellen Pompeo
Favourite cable comedy: It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Favourite cable drama: Pretty Little Liars
Favourite cable actor: Kevin Hart
Favourite cable actress: Sasha Alexander

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SoyMuyFelizCuando	#kroenkecomplaints	#Twitter10k
2	#زد_رصيدك54	#Twitter10k	North Korea
3	#QuartaSnapDetremuraSdv	Rosa Parks	#newsnight
4	#ALDUBONLYYou	#WasteHisTime2016	#woofwoofwednesday
5	#NoTeLoPerdonareJamasCarmena	#1lineWed	Gemma Collins
6	#حزب_الله_يقتل_…	#Powerball	Christopher Maloney
7	#Twitter10k	Griffey	Jonathan
8	#QuandoABadBateEu	#DmMeCarter	#ZaynStayStrong
9	#SeImpusoLaConstitucion	Pierre Boulez	Megan
10	#あなたの特殊能力	#IdolPremiere	Pat McFadden

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- The Islamic State‘s Libyan branch continues attacks on Libya‘s oil ports of Sidra and Ra’s Lanuf, resulting in at least 10 security personnel deaths and 40 injured. The National Oil Corporation (NOC) reports that fires continue to rage in both Sidra and Ra’s Lanuf after oil storage tanks were hit by shells. (Al-Jazeera) (BBC)
Bahrain says it has dismantled a terrorist cell allegedly linked to Iran‘s Revolutionary Guard and Lebanon‘s Hezbollah. (The National)

Arts and culture

Star Wars: The Force Awakens becomes the highest-grossing film ever in the United States and Canada, overtaking Avatar. (Hollywood Reporter)

Business and economy

TransCanada, the firm that unsuccessfully applied for cross-border permission to build the Keystone XL pipeline, files a lawsuit against the United States alleging that the refusal of permission violated theNorth American Free Trade Agreement. (Reuters)

International relations

2016 North Korean nuclear test
- A 5.1 magnitude earthquake near Sungjibaegam, North Korea, is suspected to be a nuclear explosion at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site. North Korea announces it has conducted a hydrogen bomb test. They claim to have tested a miniaturized bomb. If not true it would mean that the test partially failed. (AFP via ABC News Australia) (AP) (Bloomberg) (The Guardian)
- The Secretary-General of the United Nations Ban-Ki Moon demands that North Korea should cease any further nuclear activity. (ABC News Australia)

Law and crime

German police temporarely seal off the main entrance to the chancellery building because of a suspicious package. (Reuters) (AP via USA Today) (Al Arabia)
Texas state trooper Brian Encinia is charged with perjury in connection with the death of Sandra Bland. (AP via Fox 32)

Sport

In Major League Baseball, Ken Griffey Jr. and Mike Piazza are elected to the Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Griffey was named on all but three of the 409 ballots received, surpassing Tom Seaver for the highest voting percentage in Hall history. Griffey and Piazza will be formally inducted on July 24. (NBC News)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

January 19, 2016

Top News Stories –

North Korea claims to invent ‘alcohol which doesn’t give you hangover’ –
They already claim to have cured cancer, Aids and Ebola with a miracle drug produced from ginseng root.
Now North Korean scientists seem to have scaled new heights of greatness with their latest invention – a special blend of liquor which doesn’t give you a hangover. According to the state-controlled newspaper Pyongyang Times, the drink also relies on ginseng root for its medicinal qualities and has been hailed as a “national scientific and technological hit.” The recipe replaces sugar with burnt rice, supposedly eliminating the liquor’s bitter taste along with any risks of a hangover. The drink “is suave and causes no hangovers”, claimed the Pyongyang Times piece, which was entitled: “Liquor wins quality medal for preserving national smack.” It is the latest in a string of outlandish claims made by North Korea’s state media, which once congratulated its supreme commander for learning to drive at the age of three. [Daily Telegraph]

Twitter down in global outage –
Twitter went offline on Tuesday morning for users of both its website and mobile apps. Visitors to the social network were met with a “Something is technically wrong” message on a blue background. Twitter’s status page said: “Some users are currently experiencing problems accessing Twitter. We are aware of the issue and are working towards a resolution.” “Something is technically wrong,” a notice on the Twitter website said. “Thanks for noticing – we’re going to fix it up and have things back to normal soon.” At around 10am service resumed as usual, although was down again shortly before midday and at various times over Tuesday afternoon. [Daily Telegraph] The social network later said an “internal code change” had led to the problem, which lasted six hours 10 minutes. “We reverted the change, which fixed the issue,” it added.
Twitter error page

Video of the Day –

NYC Gifathon from James Curran on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#TercaDetremuraSdv	#NationalPopcornDay	#LHHNY
2	#FelizMartes	Sarah Palin	#NationalPopcornDay
3	#زد_رصيدك67	#TravelTuesday	#CharityTuesday
4	#ALDUBFirstCondition	#HowIStaySaneInMyWorkspace	#ThingsThatShouldBeIllegal
5	#كلمه_تعور_قلبي	#BeliebersDay	#universitychallenge
6	조경태	#1YearOfWorthIt	#BlueMonday
7	#CorridaMalucaNoClubeSDV	#twitterdown	#TheUndateables
8	#HrantDink	Edgar Allan Poe	Aunt Viv
9	#BeliebersDay	#MISOTS16	Angie
10	#NationalPopcornDay	#InequalityIs	Glenn Frey

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in North-West Pakistan
- At least 9 people are killed and 35 injured after a suicide bomber strikes near a security checkpoint near Peshawar, Pakistan. (Geo TV), (AFP via RTE)
Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that scores of Syrian Army troops have been killed in fighting with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant over the past few days with the fiercest battles near the city of Deir ez-Zor. (Jerusalem Post)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- The United Nations Commission on Human Rights releases a report stating that at least 18,802 civilians have been killed and another 36,245 wounded between 1 January 2014 and 31 October 2015 with approximately half the deaths occuring in Baghdad. (United Nations)

Arts and culture

Pakistan lifts a three year ban on YouTube after Google launches a local version that allows the government to demand removal of material it considers to be offensive. (Reuters via Youtube)

Business and economy

The price of oil drops below $28 a barrel, the lowest since 2003. (The Huffington Post via MSN)

Disasters and accidents

The roof of the renovated Hôtel Ritz in Paris is damaged by fire just weeks before the planned re-opening. (BBC) (Reuters)

International relations

OIC and Iran-Saudi relations
- Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister has left Tehran for Saudi Arabia for participation in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation ministerial meeting in Jeddah which was called for by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to discuss the consequence of attack at Saudi Embassy in Tehran following the execution of Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Nimr. (IRIB World Service) (OIC)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

February 7, 2016

Top News Stories –

Super Bowl 50: Denver Broncos beat Carolina Panthers –
The Denver Broncos produced a defensive masterclass to upset the Carolina Panthers 24-10 and win Super Bowl 50. Carolina were heavy favourites, having lost only once all season and with the league’s Most Valuable Player of the season Cam Newton at quarterback. But Newton was smothered by the Broncos defence and gave up three turnovers, including one that led to a touchdown. That helped Denver, quarterbacked by veteran Peyton Manning, open a 10-0 lead early on and they never lost it. It had been rumoured the game would be 39-year-old Manning’s last, but he said afterwards he would “take time to reflect”. [BBC]

Coldplay and Beyonce star in half-time show –
British group Coldplay were the main performers at the half-time and they were joined by Beyonce, Bruno Mars and Mark Ronson. Coldplay opened the show by singing ‘Yellow’ and ‘Viva La Vida’ as children carrying multi-coloured umbrellas and violins streamed onto the pitch. Mars and Ronson performed their hit ‘Uptown Funk’, before Beyonce sang her new song ‘Formation’. The artists closed the show by performing a mash-up of Coldplay’s hit ‘Fix You’ and Beyonce’s ‘Crazy In Love’. [BBC]

Twitter suspends 125,000 ‘terrorism’ accounts –
Twitter says it has suspended more than 125,000 accounts since mid-2015 “for threatening or promoting terrorist acts”. In a blog, the US-based firm said the accounts “primarily related to ISIS” (the so-called Islamic State group). “We condemn the use of Twitter to promote terrorism,” it said, adding that it had increased its report reviewing teams to react faster. Twitter has more than 500 million users around the world. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

“NFL 2016: PART TWO” — A Bad Lip Reading of the NFL

Part One available here

List of the Day –

List of Superbowl Champions [from Wikipedia]

Game	Date	Winning team	Score	Losing team	Venue	City	Attendance
50	February 7, 2016	Denver Broncos†	24–10	Carolina Panthers*	Levi’s Stadium	Santa Clara, California (2)^{[note 1]}	71,088
		(8, 3–5)		(2, 0–2)
XLIX	February 1, 2015	New England Patriots†	28–24	Seattle Seahawks*	University of Phoenix Stadium (2)	Glendale, Arizona (3)[note 1]	70,288
		(8, 4–4)		(3, 1–2)
XLVIII	February 2, 2014	Seattle Seahawks*	43–8	Denver Broncos†	MetLife Stadium	East Rutherford, New Jersey	82,529
		(2, 1–1)		(7, 2–5)
XLVII	February 3, 2013	Baltimore Ravens†	34–31	San Francisco 49ers*	Mercedes-Benz Superdome (7)	New Orleans, Louisiana (10)	71,024
		(2, 2–0)		(6, 5–1)
XLVI	February 5, 2012	New York Giants*	21–17	New England Patriots†	Lucas Oil Stadium	Indianapolis, Indiana	68,658
		(5, 4–1)		(7, 3–4)
XLV	February 6, 2011	Green Bay Packers*	31–25	Pittsburgh Steelers†	Cowboys Stadium	Arlington, Texas	103,219
		(5, 4–1)		(8, 6–2)
XLIV	February 7, 2010	New Orleans Saints*	31–17	Indianapolis Colts†	Sun Life Stadium (5)^{[note 3]}	Miami Gardens, Florida (10)[note 2]	74,059
		(1, 1–0)		(4, 2–2)
XLIII	February 1, 2009	Pittsburgh Steelers†	27–23	Arizona Cardinals*	Raymond James Stadium (2)	Tampa, Florida (4)	70,774
		(7, 6–1)		(1, 0–1)
XLII	February 3, 2008	New York Giants*	17–14	New England Patriots†	University of Phoenix Stadium	Glendale, Arizona (2)^{[note 1]}	71,101
		(4, 3–1)		(6, 3–3)
XLI	February 4, 2007	Indianapolis Colts†	29–17	Chicago Bears*	Dolphin Stadium (4)^{[note 3]}	Miami Gardens, Florida (9)[note 2]	74,512
		(3, 2–1)		(2, 1–1)
XL	February 5, 2006	Pittsburgh Steelers†	21–10	Seattle Seahawks*	Ford Field	Detroit, Michigan (2)^{[note 1]}	68,206
		(6, 5–1)		(1, 0–1)
XXXIX	February 6, 2005	New England Patriots†	24–21	Philadelphia Eagles*	ALLTEL Stadium	Jacksonville, Florida	78,125
		(5, 3–2)		(2, 0–2)
XXXVIII	February 1, 2004	New England Patriots†	32–29	Carolina Panthers*	Reliant Stadium^{[note 3]}	Houston, Texas (2)	71,525
		(4, 2–2)		(1, 0–1)
XXXVII	January 26, 2003	Tampa Bay Buccaneers*	48–21	Oakland Raiders†	Qualcomm Stadium (3)[note 3]	San Diego, California (3)	67,603
		(1, 1–0)		(5, 3–2)
XXXVI	February 3, 2002	New England Patriots†	20–17	St. Louis Rams*	Louisiana Superdome (6)	New Orleans, Louisiana (9)	72,922
		(3, 1–2)		(3, 1–2)
XXXV	January 28, 2001	Baltimore Ravens†	34–7	New York Giants*	Raymond James Stadium	Tampa, Florida (3)	71,921
		(1, 1–0)		(3, 2–1)
XXXIV	January 30, 2000	St. Louis Rams*	23–16	Tennessee Titans†	Georgia Dome (2)	Atlanta, Georgia (2)	72,625
		(2, 1–1)		(1, 0–1)
XXXIII	January 31, 1999	Denver Broncos†	34–19	Atlanta Falcons*	Pro Player Stadium (3)^{[note 3]}	Miami Gardens, Florida (8)[note 2]	74,803
		(6, 2–4)		(1, 0–1)
XXXII	January 25, 1998	Denver Broncos†	31–24	Green Bay Packers*	Qualcomm Stadium (2)^{[note 3]}	San Diego, California (2)	68,912
		(5, 1–4)		(4, 3–1)
XXXI	January 26, 1997	Green Bay Packers*	35–21	New England Patriots†	Louisiana Superdome (5)	New Orleans, Louisiana (8)	72,301
		(3, 3–0)		(2, 0–2)
XXX	January 28, 1996	Dallas Cowboys*	27–17	Pittsburgh Steelers†	Sun Devil Stadium	Tempe, Arizona^{[note 1]}	76,347
		(8, 5–3)		(5, 4–1)
XXIX	January 29, 1995	San Francisco 49ers*	49–26	San Diego Chargers†	Joe Robbie Stadium (2)[note 3]	Miami Gardens, Florida (7)[note 2]	74,107
		(5, 5–0)		(1, 0–1)
XXVIII	January 30, 1994	Dallas Cowboys*	30–13	Buffalo Bills†	Georgia Dome	Atlanta, Georgia	72,817
		(7, 4–3)		(4, 0–4)
XXVII	January 31, 1993	Dallas Cowboys*	52–17	Buffalo Bills†	Rose Bowl (5)	Pasadena, California (7)[note 1]	98,374
		(6, 3–3)		(3, 0–3)
XXVI	January 26, 1992	Washington Redskins*	37–24	Buffalo Bills†	Metrodome	Minneapolis, Minnesota	63,130
		(5, 3–2)		(2, 0–2)
XXV	January 27, 1991	New York Giants*	20–19	Buffalo Bills†	Tampa Stadium (2)	Tampa, Florida (2)	73,813
		(2, 2–0)		(1, 0–1)
XXIV	January 28, 1990	San Francisco 49ers*	55–10	Denver Broncos†	Louisiana Superdome (4)	New Orleans, Louisiana (7)	72,919
		(4, 4–0)		(4, 0–4)
XXIII	January 22, 1989	San Francisco 49ers*	20–16	Cincinnati Bengals†	Joe Robbie Stadium^{[note 3]}	Miami Gardens, Florida (6)^{[note 2]}	75,129
		(3, 3–0)		(2, 0–2)
XXII	January 31, 1988	Washington Redskins*	42–10	Denver Broncos†	Jack Murphy Stadium^{[note 3]}	San Diego, California	73,302
		(4, 2–2)		(3, 0–3)
XXI	January 25, 1987	New York Giants*	39–20	Denver Broncos†	Rose Bowl (4)	Pasadena, California (6)[note 1]	101,063
		(1, 1–0)		(2, 0–2)
XX	January 26, 1986	Chicago Bears*	46–10	New England Patriots†	Louisiana Superdome (3)	New Orleans, Louisiana (6)	73,818
		(1, 1–0)		(1, 0–1)
XIX	January 20, 1985	San Francisco 49ers*	38–16	Miami Dolphins†	Stanford Stadium	Stanford, California^{[note 1]}	84,059
		(2, 2–0)		(5, 2–3)
XVIII	January 22, 1984	Los Angeles Raiders†	38–9	Washington Redskins*	Tampa Stadium	Tampa, Florida	72,920
		(4, 3–1)		(3, 1–2)
XVII	January 30, 1983	Washington Redskins*	27–17	Miami Dolphins†	Rose Bowl (3)	Pasadena, California (5)[note 1]	103,667
		(2, 1–1)		(4, 2–2)
XVI	January 24, 1982	San Francisco 49ers*	26–21	Cincinnati Bengals†	Pontiac Silverdome	Pontiac, Michigan^{[note 1]}	81,270
		(1, 1–0)		(1, 0–1)
XV	January 25, 1981	Oakland Raiders†	27–10	Philadelphia Eagles*	Louisiana Superdome (2)	New Orleans, Louisiana (5)	76,135
		(3, 2–1)		(1, 0–1)
XIV	January 20, 1980	Pittsburgh Steelers†	31–19	Los Angeles Rams*	Rose Bowl (2)	Pasadena, California (4)[note 1]	103,985
		(4, 4–0)		(1, 0–1)
XIII	January 21, 1979	Pittsburgh Steelers†	35–31	Dallas Cowboys*	Miami Orange Bowl (5)	Miami, Florida (5)[note 2]	79,484
		(3, 3–0)		(5, 2–3)
XII	January 15, 1978	Dallas Cowboys*	27–10	Denver Broncos†	Louisiana Superdome	New Orleans, Louisiana (4)	76,400
		(4, 2–2)		(1, 0–1)
XI	January 9, 1977	Oakland Raiders†	32–14	Minnesota Vikings*	Rose Bowl	Pasadena, California (3)^{[note 1]}	103,438
		(2, 1–1)		(4, 0–4)
X	January 18, 1976	Pittsburgh Steelers†	21–17	Dallas Cowboys*	Miami Orange Bowl (4)	Miami, Florida (4)[note 2]	80,187
		(2, 2–0)		(3, 1–2)
IX	January 12, 1975	Pittsburgh Steelers†	16–6	Minnesota Vikings*	Tulane Stadium (3)	New Orleans, Louisiana (3)	80,997
		(1, 1–0)		(3, 0–3)
VIII	January 13, 1974	Miami Dolphins†	24–7	Minnesota Vikings*	Rice Stadium	Houston, Texas	71,882
		(3, 2–1)		(2, 0–2)
VII	January 14, 1973	Miami Dolphins†	14–7	Washington Redskins*	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (2)	Los Angeles, California (2)[note 1]	90,182
		(2, 1–1)		(1, 0–1)
VI	January 16, 1972	Dallas Cowboys*	24–3	Miami Dolphins†	Tulane Stadium (2)	New Orleans, Louisiana (2)	81,023
		(2, 1–1)		(1, 0–1)
V	January 17, 1971	Baltimore Colts†	16–13	Dallas Cowboys*	Miami Orange Bowl (3)	Miami, Florida (3)[note 2]	79,204
		(2, 1–1)		(1, 0–1)
IV	January 11, 1970	Kansas City Chiefs^	23–7	Minnesota Vikings‡	Tulane Stadium	New Orleans, Louisiana	80,562
		(2, 1–1)		(1, 0–1)
III	January 12, 1969	New York Jets^	16–7	Baltimore Colts‡	Miami Orange Bowl (2)	Miami, Florida (2)[note 2]	75,389
		(1, 1–0)		(1, 0–1)
II	January 14, 1968	Green Bay Packers‡	33–14	Oakland Raiders^	Miami Orange Bowl	Miami, Florida^{[note 2]}	75,546
		(2, 2–0)		(1, 0–1)
I	January 15, 1967	Green Bay Packers‡	35–10	Kansas City Chiefs^	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum	Los Angeles, California^{[note 1]}	61,946
		(1, 1–0)		(1, 0–1)

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#FelizDomingo	#1yearsinceOTRA	#StormImogen
2	#عنوان_كتابك_ا�…	#10YearsofAmazingPhil	#IREvWAL
3	#1yearsinceOTRA	Marshawn Lynch	#ImGoingTheVampsNewcastle
4	#DomingoDeMomoDeTreSdv	#TWDMarathon	#10YearsofAmazingPhil
5	#SePasaElTiempoYYo	#PepsiHalftime	#1yearsinceOTRA
6	#من_علامات_الج�…	#FootballASong	#Formation
7	UNION SELENATORS	#SB50	#VisitMyMosque
8	#LibertadDeExpresión	#Metallica	#B12hr
9	#UFCVegas	#SandraBland	#UFCVegas
10	#あなたの本名当て�…	Ashkelon	Beyoncé

Other News Stories –

Disasters and accidents

2016 Kaohsiung earthquake
- The death toll from yesterday’s earthquake in Taiwan rises to at least 29, with at least 120 trapped under collapsed buildings in Tainan, while 198 people have been rescued. (AP) (Taipei Times)
A man is killed and three other employees are injured following a suspected meteorite strike in a garden outside the Bharathidasan Engineering College in Tamil Nadu, India. Witnesses say they saw a mysterious object fall from the sky. If confirmed, this would be the first recorded fatality from a meteorite strike. (Metro) (The Indian Express)
One person is killed and six others injured in an explosion at JCG Farms, an American feed mill near Atlanta, Georgia. (AP)

International relations

North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- North Korea launches a long range rocket that critics claim is a test of banned technology for a long range missile that could hit the United States. South Korea’s military says the rocket released an object into orbit. (AP via Washington Post) (CNN) (Reuters)
- Japan‘s NHK news reports the rocket passed over the southern Japanese island of Okinawa. Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzō Abe, condemns the launch and says, “We absolutely cannot allow this. We will take action to totally protect the safety and well-being of our people”. The Japanese government says no rocket debris fell on Japanese territory and there are no reports of damage. The rocket reportedly falls into waters southwest of Jeju Island. (ABC News), (Yonhap)
- South Korea’s intelligence agency claims that North Korea is preparing for another nuclear test. (Yonhap)
- The United Nations Security Council condemns North Korea’s long-range missile launch, a violation of numerous U.N. resolutions. (CNN) (USA Today)
Syrian Civil War, Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War
- The United Arab Emirates (UAE) says it is ready to deploy ground troops to Syria as part of an international coalition to fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, if said coalition was led by theUnited States. (Al Jazeera)

Law and crime

Two people are killed and ten others are injured in a shooting outside an Orlando, Florida nightclub. (Click Orlando)
One person is killed and seven others are injured in a shooting outside a Rochester, New York sports bar. (ABC News)
Hamas reports it has executed one of its commanders, Mahmoud Eshtewi, for “moral and behavioral violations.” Human Rights Watch, contacted by Eshtewi’s family, had been monitoring the case. (AP viaThe Washington Post)

Politics and elections

Politicians in Haiti agree to a process to select an interim President to replace Michel Martelly. Presidential elections will be held on April 14 with the winner to be sworn in on 14 May. (BBC)
- Haiti delays Carnival celebrations over concern that anti-government protests might turn violent. (Reuters) (The Guardian)
The Parliament of Algeria considers a new constitution imposing term limits for the President and recognising Amazigh as an official language. (AP)

Sport

In American football, the Denver Broncos defeat the Carolina Panthers 24–10 in Super Bowl 50. Von Miller, an outside linebacker, is named as the game’s Most Valuable Player. (BBC), (ESPN)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

March 3, 2016

March 2, 2016

Top News Stories –

Kanye West appears to have torrent site Pirate Bay open in a photo he’s tweeted –
Kanye West is in trouble over his tweets – again – after the background to a photo he posted made it look like he was illegally downloading files. He sent out a picture on Twitter showing him listening to a Sufjan Stevens track on YouTube, but fans quickly spotted other tabs he had open. One of them says “Xfer Records Serum”, but is next to others saying “Pirate Bay Torrent Xfe” and “MediaDownloader”. Deadmau5 hit out at Kanye, saying: “@kanyewest – can’t afford Serum?” Kanye’s original tweet simply said “Day 3” alongside the photo. [BBC Newsbeat]
In September 2015 West announced he will be running for US President in 2020.
Kanye West

Emirates A380 makes longest non-stop flight as airlines launch long-haul battle –
An Emirates superjumbo touched down in Auckland, New Zealand, on Wednesday, after spending more than 17 hours in the air from Dubai – making it the world’s longest commercial scheduled flight. The Emirates A380 covered a route of about 8825 miles, before turning around and doing it all again on the way home. It beat the previous record – Qantas’s Dallas to Sydney route – by about 250 miles. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

STREET SWEEPER from Rupert Walker on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#QuartaFeiraNoClubeSDV	#TwoWordTrump	High School Musical 4
2	#FelizMiercoles	#WCH2016	#WednesdayWisdom
3	#HaydiSURaAblukayıKaldır…	#TexasIndependenceDay	#HappyValley
4	#QuienMeConoceSabe	Sports Authority	#BackInTimeForTheWeekend
5	#ALDUBMysteryBox	#WednesdayWisdom	#DolanTwinsNewVideo
6	#PrendeOCunhaSTF	#TroyeOnHits1	#MorningsWouldBeBetterIf
7	#WednesdayWisdom	#StopTheSham	European Super League
8	#كفايات_المعلم…	#1linewed	#borntobedifferent
9	#حلوه_الحياه_لما	#ICON16	#digifest16
10	High School Musical 4	#ReadAcrossAmerica	#ExOnTheBeach

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

One Chinese national is killed and three others injured in a possible militant attack on a Chinese-invested company in Laos, the official Xinhua News Agency reports. (Reuters)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Two Palestinian teenagers, from the nearby village of Qaryout, got into a Jewish settlement and stabbed an Israeli settler at his home in the Eli settlement near Nablus in the occupied West Bank. They were stopped and killed by the army. The injured settler was taken to a hospital. (Reuters)(AFP via i24news)
Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
- Jordan says an overnight raid on an ISIL cell in the city of Irbid has left seven militants and one security officer dead, with five others injured. Those killed were planning to blow up civilian and military targets in the country, according to the General Intelligence Directorate (GID). (BBC)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- Nine people are killed in an attack on the Indian consulate In Jalalabad, Afghanistan. (NDTV)
Libyan Crisis (2011–present)
- The Tunisian Army kills five suspected ISIL militants near the town of Ben Gardane after they infiltrated across the border from neighboring Libya. (Reuters)

Business and economy

Mining company Samarco agrees to pay $4.4bn reais (£804m) in compensation to victims of the Bento Rodrigues dam disaster in Brazil. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

Iraqi engineers warn that the Mosul Dam could collapse at anytime, resulting in a catastrophic flash flood that could kill up to one million people along the Tigris, with the major Iraqi cites of Mosul, Tikrit,Samarra and Baghdad all at risk. The U.S. embassy in Baghdad has urged American citizens to leave the area. (The Guardian)
2016 Sumatra earthquake
- The Meteorological, Climatological and Geophysical Agency of Indonesia (BMKG) and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) issue tsunami warnings, after an undersea 7.9 magnitude earthquakestrikes southwest of Sumatra, in the Indian Ocean. (RT) (BOM)

International relations

South China Sea disputes
- Philippines Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario says Chinese coast guard ships that were sighted two weeks ago near the disputed Jackson Atoll in the northeast Dangerous Ground are no longer there today. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei said ships were dispatched to the area in late 2015 to salvage a fishing vessel that posed a risk to navigation. Chinese ships, “… persuaded fishing boats to leave the waters in an effort to ensure safety conditions for normal navigation,” Hong said. In addition to China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei also lay claim to theSpratly Islands waters. (AP via The Washington Post)
European migrant crisis
- The European Union launches a new aid program worth an initial 700 million euros (US$760 million) to address the growing refugee crisis in Greece. EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Christos Stylianides says the so-called Emergency Assistance Instrument will be used to help migrants trapped in Greece and, if needed, in other countries on the migration route front lines. Approval by a majority of EU members is required. The next EU meeting is scheduled for Monday. (The New York Times) (Reuters) (Kathimerini)
The Gulf Cooperation Council formally designates Lebanon‘s Hezbollah militia a terrorist organization. The GCC member states are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.(The Washington Post)
The United Nations Security Council adopts the toughest sanctions on North Korea in twenty years due to continued efforts to develop a nuclear weapons program. (Fox News)

Politics and elections

Spanish general election, 2015
- The conservative People’s Party (PP) and the left-wing Podemos party, which together hold 192 seats in Spain’s 350-seat parliament following December’s election, confirm they will vote against Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) leader Pedro Sánchez’s candidacy to form a new government. (AP via The Washington Post)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

March 6, 2016

Top News Stories –

Nancy Reagan dies –
Nancy Reagan, the former first lady, died on Sunday at home in Los Angeles at the age of 94. A much-loved figure in America, Mrs Reagan – who like her husband moved from being a Hollywood star to living in the White House – died from congestive heart failure. Born in New York, Mrs Reagan grew up in Chicago before moving to California to pursue an acting career. She met her future husband in Hollywood, when she was blacklisted for suspected Communist sympathies and she turned to Reagan, then president of the Screen Actor’s Guild, for advice. The couple married in 1952. [Daily Telegraph]
Nancy Reagan in 1983

Leicester City fan cashes out £72,000 on Premier League bet –
A Leicester City fan, who stood to win £250,000 from a £50 bet on his team winning the Premier League, has cashed out for £72,000. The Warwickshire man, who has chosen to remain anonymous, bowed out of the 5,000-1 wager on Saturday. Hours later his stake would have been worth £91,000 after the Foxes beat Watford 1-0, said Ladbrokes. The winner said: “It will mean so much if we win, so there’s no point in being greedy.” [BBC]

Video of the Day –

YETI Presents “Malloy Brothers” from Farm League on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#AsiaCupT20Final	#4DaysTilDangerousWoman	#4DaysTilDangerousWoman
2	#DomingoDetremuraSdv	#blackoutday	#UFC196
3	#شيء_جميل_بحرف_…	#AsiaCupT20Final	#AsiaCupT20Final
4	#FelizDomingo	#Kobalt400	#takemeout
5	MANANALO SI KATH	#MothersDay	Ghanaians
6	#قول_كلمه_لشيط�…	#RejectedTaxDeductions	#5daysTilDangerouswoman
7	#UFC196	Racists for Trump	#WalkInHerShoes
8	#CosasQueMeHacenReBien	Peyton Manning	#SuperSaturday
9	#HoyMasQueNuncaCABJ	Jay Pharoah	#EskimoDance
10	#الهلال_القادس…	#Fake1990sFacts	#AMVCA2016

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- A suicide bomber kills at least 60 people and wounds 70 others after ramming his explosives-laden truck into a security checkpoint at one of the entrances to the Iraqi city of Hillah, south of Baghdad. TheIslamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for the attack. (Reuters) (FOX News) (AP via Yahoo! News)
Syrian Civil War
- Battle of Aleppo (2012–present)
  - At least nine civilians are killed and dozens are injured after rockets and mortars hit the mainly Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsood in the city of Aleppo. The neighborhood is controlled by thePeople’s Protection Units (YPG). (Reuters)

Arts and culture

Former First Lady of the U.S. Nancy Reagan dies at age 94. (NBC News)

Disasters and accidents

Twelve coal miners are killed following a gas leak in a mine near the Chinese city of Baishan in Jilin province. (AAP via SBS)
European migrant crisis
- At least 25 migrants, including 10 children, drown after their wooden boat capsizes in the Aegean Sea near the seaside town of Didim, Turkey. The Turkish Coast Guard was able to rescue 15 people.(International Business Times) (AFP via Yahoo7 News)

Health and medicine

Zika virus outbreak (2015–present)
- Researchers publish findings on a possible mechanism for how the Zika virus may go about causing microcephaly in infected infants by infecting a certain type of early neural stem cell, specifically cortical neural precursor. (Health Day, via MSN), (full text in Cell Stem Cell), (Johns Hopkins University news release), (CDC)

International relations

North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- North Korea threatens a pre-emptive nuclear strike against South Korea and the United States in response to the two nations’ annual joint military exercise which Pyongyang considers is a pretext for an invasion. (The Washington Times)

Law and crime

Iranian billionaire Babak Zanjani is sentenced to death for corruption. Zanjani was arrested in December 2013 after accusations that he withheld billions in oil revenue channelled through his companies. He denies the allegations. (BBC)
Egyptian interior minister Magdy Abdel-Ghaffar accuses Hamas and the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood in the June 2015 assassination of Attorney General Hisham Barakat. (Latin American Herald Tribune)(Debkafile)

Politics and elections

Beninese presidential election, 2016
- Voters in Benin go to the polls for the first round of voting in a presidential election with 33 candidates vying to replace current President Thomas Yayi Boni. (Bloomberg)
Thousands of people gather in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi to protest against their government’s negotiations with Russian state-owned oil company Gazprom. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
United States presidential election, 2016
- Marco Rubio wins the Puerto Rican Republican Party primary. (BBC)
- Bernie Sanders wins the Maine Democratic caucuses. (AP)

Slovak parliamentary election, 2016
- Prime Minister Robert Fico’s Smer party won 28.3 percent of the vote, but with just 49 seats, lost its majority in the 150-member parliament. The Freedom and Solidarity party won 21 seats (12.1%), and the Ordinary People party took 19 seats (11.0%). (AP via Daily Sabah)
- The right scored first-time seats. The Slovak National Party won 15 seats; and, the Kotleba – People’s Party Our Slovakia won 14 seats, nearly three times more than predicted. (The Washington Post)(Irish Independent)
- Analysts indicate Fico may find it very difficult to form a new government. Political analyst Samuel Abrahám says coalition-building “could take weeks, even months. … Fico’s rhetoric strengthened the right in Slovakia.” (Daily Times) (Reuters via Azerbaijan State News Agency )

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March 9, 2016

Top News Stories –

Anti-PC Effort #TheTriggering Explodes on Twitter –
#TheTriggering, a hashtag meant to ridicule politically correct attitudes, exploded on Twitter and became a major trending topic in the United States. Activist Lauren Southern came up with the idea a few months ago: [mediaite.com]

See Top Twitter Trends

Kim Jong-un says North Korea has miniaturised nuclear warheads –
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un says his scientists have successfully miniaturised thermo-nuclear warheads to place on a ballistic missile and create a “true” deterrent, state media said on Wednesday. While Pyongyang has boasted of mastering miniaturisation before, this is the first time Kim has so explicitly claimed a breakthrough that experts see as a game-changing step for the North’s nuclear capabilities. Kim also stressed that the warheads were “thermo-nuclear” devices, echoing the North’s claim that the fourth nuclear test it conducted in January was of a more powerful hydrogen bomb. “The nuclear warheads have been standardised to be fit for ballistic missiles by miniaturising them,” Kim noted during a visit with nuclear technicians, the North’s official KCNA news agency said. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

The Most Interesting Man in the World Embarks on His Greatest Adventure Yet – Adios Amigo

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#QuartaDetremuraSdv	#TheTriggering	#TheTriggering
2	#TheTriggering	#1DayTilDangerousWoman	Lilly Wachowski
3	#WednesdayWisdom	Clara Rockmore	#SundayTrading
4	Welcome Purpose Tour	George Martin	#WednesdayWisdom
5	George Martin	#WednesdayWisdom	#nosmokingday
6	#FelizMiércoles	#DStrong	#SDinGov
7	#1DayTilDangerousWoman	#1linewed	#IfTrumpWins
8	#المغربيه_احلي…	#NationalMeatballDay	#JuniorDoctorsStrike
9	#CompiYogui	#GreenwoodExplosion	George Martin
10	#ALDUBTheCompromise	#IfTrumpWins	Nick Clegg

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- Taliban militants attack government offices in the southern Helmand Province of Afghanistan, with at least 10 killed, including seven of the attackers. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
War in Somalia (2009–present)
- U.S. special forces, landing in two helicopters, stage an overnight raid on the al-Shabaab-controlled town of Awdhegele in Somalia‘s Lower Shebelle region. Al-Shabaab spokesman, Sheik Abduasiz Abu Musab, confirmed the raid saying “The helicopters landed outside town and the ground forces entered, there was heavy fighting and they were forced to flee”.”They were masked and spoke foreign languages which our fighters could not understand,” Abu Musab told Reuters. “We do not know who they were but we foiled them.” (AFP via Yahoo! News)(Reuters)
North Caucasus clashes
- A group of nine human rights activists and journalists, heading to Grozny, Chechnya, in a small bus, are attacked on the Kavkaz federal highway near the Ordzhonikidzovskaya settlement at the Ingushetiaborder. About 20 masked men assaulted the group, confiscated some mobile phones, and set their vehicle on fire. Two of the journalists, the NGO lawyer, and the bus driver were hospitalized. A Committee to Prevent Torture representative said this is the first press tour that was not organized by the Chechen government. (AP via WSOC-TV) (AFP via Yahoo! News)(Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union)

Disasters and accidents

At least 30 people are killed after a five-storey building still under construction collapses in Lagos, Nigeria. (Reuters)
Seattle, Washington (U.S.), fire crews, responding to reports of a natural gas leak, are caught in an explosion that injures nine firefighters. The explosion blew out windows in businesses and storefronts in the surrounding blocks. Three businesses were destroyed and a fourth was heavily damaged. “There’s nothing but rubble and bricks,” a resident said. Search dogs are working to ensure no one else is under the rubble. The Seattle Police Arson Bomb Unit and Puget Sound Energy are investigating the cause of the explosion. (The Washington Post) (KING-TV) (Seattle Fire Department)

Health and medicine

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends physicians ask about basic needs to screen for poverty-related health risk factors, participate in programs that help children develop resilience, assist families in identifying and maximizing protective factors, and advocate for safety net programs that assist children. (The Washington Post) (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette) (2 Minute Medicine)

International relations

North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- North Korea’s state media reports Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un, in comments released today, states the country has miniaturized nuclear warheads to be mounted on ballistic missiles, and has ordered improvements in the power and precision of its arsenal. (Reuters)
European migrant crisis
- Macedonia says it will no longer let any migrants through its southern border with Greece, effectively blocking the Balkan route for migrants. The decision came after Slovenia barred access to migrants transiting the country. There are around 13,000 migrants now stranded at the Macedonia-Greece border. (BBC)

Law and crime

Shahbaz Taseer, the son of Pakistani Punjab governor Salmaan Taseer who was murdered in 2011 for criticizing the country’s blasphemy laws, is reunited with his family four-and-a-half years after his kidnapping. Tuesday, Shahbaz was rescued by Pakistani secret service and counter-terrorism operatives in Kuchlak, Balochistan Province. He had been abducted in Lahore in August 2011, seven months after his father’s murder by bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri. Qadri was executed on February 29, 2016. His death was claimed as the reason for the deadly Taliban suicide bombing in Shabqadar two days ago.(Reuters) (GEO TV Lahore) (The Express Tribune)
Niqāb in Egypt
- The Parliament of Egypt drafts a law which will ban women from wearing full-face veils such as the niqāb and burqa in public places and government institutions. The move comes after Cairo Universityrecently banned nurses and doctors from wearing veils in medical schools and in teaching hospitals, arguing the ban would “protect patients’ rights and interests”. (The Independent)

Politics

Peruvian general election, 2016
- Peru’s electoral court bans two leading candidates – Julio Guzman and César Acuña Peralta – from participating in next month’s election due to breaches of electoral law. (BBC)

Science

Solar eclipse of March 9, 2016
- A total solar eclipse occurs in Indonesia, and later, east of the international date line, in the northern Pacific Ocean. A partial eclipse occurs in northern Australia, South-East Asia, and the Pacific. (ABC News)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

March 11, 2016

Top News Stories –

Progressive rock legend Emerson dies –
Keith Emerson, the co-founder and keyboardist of progressive rock group Emerson, Lake and Palmer, has died aged 71, according to his former band mates. “We regret to announce that Keith Emerson died last night at his home in Santa Monica, Los Angeles,” read a statement on the band’s Facebook page. Yorkshire-born Emerson was one of the top keyboardists of the prog rock era. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, Santa Monica police confirmed to the BBC. His death was being investigated as a suicide, police added. [BBC]
Keith Emerson performs on his Hammond and Moog synthesizer during the Emerson & Lake Tour 2010.

Apple customer goes to the top for iPhone battery answer –
The head of Apple’s operating system iOS confirmed that open but unused apps do not affect iPhone battery life after a customer emailed boss Tim Cook. The customer from Ohio, known as Caleb, asked Mr Cook whether closing down “multitasking apps” improved battery life and whether it was something the chief executive did himself. Senior vice-president Craig Federighi replied “no and no”. However, other smartphone batteries can benefit from app closure. While many Apple users do shut down apps in the belief it extends the iPhone battery this is not advice explicitly given by the firm itself. It only recommends disabling apps from carrying out background refreshes in a list of tips about saving power. [BBC]

Rafael Benitez: Newcastle United appoint Spaniard as Steve McClaren’s successor –
Rafael Benitez has been named as Newcastle’s new manager, following the sacking of Steve McClaren. The former Liverpool, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and Valencia boss takes over with the Magpies a point from safety with 10 games left. The Spaniard, 55, has signed a three-year contract, which is understood to contain a break clause should Newcastle be relegated at the end of the season. “C’mon Toon Army. The club and I need your total involvement,” he said. [BBC]
Rafael Benitez

Video of the Day –

Drawcard from Antonio Oreña-Barlin on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Clubs Managed by Rafael Benitez [Wikipedia]

Teams managed
1993–1995	Real Madrid B
1995–1996	Valladolid
1996	Osasuna
1997–1999	Extremadura
2000–2001	Tenerife
2001–2004	Valencia
2004–2010	Liverpool
2010	Internazionale
2012–2013	Chelsea (interim)
2013–2015	Napoli
2015–2016	Real Madrid
2016–	Newcastle United

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SextaDetremuraSdv	#FridayFeeling	#MemeHistory
2	#OMundoSeriaMelhorSe	#FlashbackFriday	#IWillSmileTodayBecause
3	#BerkinElvan	#IWillSmileTodayBecause	Ben Carson
4	#MemeHistory	#SnapchatDay	#FridayFeeling
5	#ALDUBAngPagdalaw	#SSAC16	#FlashbackFriday
6	#MeDuele	#SXSW2016	#bbcqt
7	#IWillSmileTodayBecause	Joe’s Crab Shack	#newmusicfriday
8	#يوم_الجمعه	Dog Whisperer	#BuyDangerousWomanOniTunes
9	#GloboGolpista	#LIKEIWOULDTONUMBER1	Archbishop of Canterbury
10	#東日本大震災	#TLConf2016	LGBT FANS DESERVE BETTER

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present)
- The Algerian Army kills three suspected Islamist militants near the eastern city of El Oued and seizes a large quantity of weapons, including six anti-aircraft missiles. (Reuters)
Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
- More than 50 people have died in fighting in the Yemeni city of Taiz. (Al-Arabiya)

Business and economics

American veterans’ nonprofit charity The Wounded Warrior Project board of directors removes chief executive officer Steven Nardizzi and chief operation officer Al Giordano after an independent investigation confirms earlier news reports about lavish spending on employee perks, high overhead, and other perceived malfeasance. (The New York Times)
Bangladesh Bank money laundering case
- Bangladeshi bank officials say unknown hackers installed malware in the bank’s computer systems in last month’s attempt to steal nearly $1 billion from the central bank’s account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. (Reuters via Business Insider)
General Motors acquires Cruise Automation, a three-year old software company that’s been testing self-driving cars on the streets of San Francisco. (AP via Business Insider)

Disasters and accidents

Japan’s emperor and prime minister attend a memorial service marking the fifth anniversary of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in which 15,894 people died and caused the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Many people remain displaced and recovery efforts are ongoing. (The New York Times)
At least 15 people are killed by flooding and mudslides in and around São Paulo, Brazil, following heavy rain. (Reuters via Channel News Asia)

International relations

North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- Kim Jong-un, the supreme leader of North Korea, orders the country to conduct more tests of nuclear weapons to improve its capacity. (Reuters via Daily Mail)
South Sudanese Civil War
- A new United Nations report on South Sudan describes one of the most horrendous human rights situations in the world, in particular by Government forces, including use of rape as a widespread weapon of war and recommends the U.N. Security Council consider imposing a comprehensive arms embargo on South Sudan and referring the matter to the International Criminal Court. (Newsweek (AP viaThe Washington Post)
The Arab League declares the Lebanon-based Shiite group Hezbollah a terrorist organization. (Reuters)
Syrian peace process
- The High Negotiations Committee, Syria’s main opposition group, will attend Monday’s U.N.-brokered peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland, a day shy of the fifth anniversary of the start of the conflict, and two-plus weeks into the ceasefire agreement. Although fighting continues, a significant drop in violence has been seen during the truce. The first round of Geneva talks collapsed on Feb. 3 during agovernment offensive against rebels in Aleppo. .(CBS News) (Reuters) (Deutsche Welle)
- UN envoy Staffan de Mistura says new elections should be held 18 months from the start of talks, i.e., in September 2017. (AFP via Firstpost)

Politics and elections

United States presidential election, 2016, Donald Trump presidential campaign endorsements, 2016
- Retired American neurosurgeon and former presidential candidate Ben Carson formally endorses Donald Trump at the Mar-a-Lago landmark estate in Palm Beach, Florida. (Fox News)
- Donald Trump postpones a rally at the University of Illinois at Chicago due to security issues amid fights between protestors and supporters. Five people are arrested, and two officers injured, according toChicago police. (AFP vis ABC News Australia) (CNN) (NBC News)
  - Rival Republican presidential candidates Ted Cruz, John Kasich, and Marco Rubio state Mr. Trump bears some responsibility for the disturbance. (Los Angeles Times)
  - Thirty-two people are arrested, all but one charged with general peace disturbance, at an earlier Trump event at the Peabody Opera House in St. Louis, Missouri. (Chicago Tribune)
  - A Donald Trump supporter is charged with assault after social media videos show him sucker punching a protester at Wednesday’s campaign rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina. [(The Washington Post) (The Christian Science Monitor)
- Marco Rubio OK’s supporters voting for John Kasich in Ohio since the state’s former governor, “… is the only one who can beat Donald Trump in Ohio.” (The Washington Post) (Politico)

Science and technology

A report by a team of Japanese scientists, published in the American Association for the Advancement of Science journal Science, has identified bacteria — isolated from outside a bottle recycling facility — that can break down and metabolize plastic. The microbe appears to have evolved a pair of enzymes it uses to break down polyethylene terephthalate or PET, the most common thermoplastic polymer resin in consumer products. (LiveScience via CBS News) (The Washington Post) (Science)
Astronaut Scott Kelly announces his retirement from NASA effective April 1. Kelly holds the record for the American who has spent the most time in space. (NASA)
A report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine states climate science progress makes it possible to accurately detect global warming’s fingerprints on certain extreme weatherevents. There is “high confidence” in studies looking for climate change connections between extreme hot and cold temperatures, while efforts trying to attribute droughts and extreme rainfall has medium confidence. (AP via Business Insider) (USA Today via WLTX) (National Academies)

Sport

Newcastle United F.C. (NUFC) appoint Rafael Benítez as manager on a three-year deal after sacking Steve McClaren. (The Telegraph)

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March 14, 2016

March 13, 2016

Top News Stories –

Paris St-Germain score 9 as they win French title –
Paris St-Germain were crowned French champions with two months to spare as Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored four in a 9-0 demolition of bottom side Troyes. Edinson Cavani, Javier Pastore and Adrien Rabiot put them 3-0 up inside 19 minutes before Ibrahimovic struck three within 10 minutes in the second half. Matthieu Saunier scored an own goal and Cavani made it 8-0 before Ibrahimovic added his fourth. [BBC]

Paris St-Germain won the league with 62 days and eight games to spare, a record for any of Europe’s ‘big five’ domestic leagues.
In 115 appearances in Ligue 1, Zlatan Ibrahimovic now has 102 goals and 35 assists.
This win was the sixth time this season that PSG have scored four goals or more in a Ligue 1 game.
This title is PSG’s sixth overall and their fourth in a row

Zlatan_Ibrahimovic

Video of the Day –

Jailbreak from HouseSpecial on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

French Ligue 1 title winners

Year	Winner^[2]^[21]^[22]	Runner-up	Third place
2015–16	Paris Saint-Germain
2014–15	Paris Saint-Germain	Lyon	AS Monaco
2013–14	Paris Saint-Germain	AS Monaco	Lille
2012–13	Paris Saint-Germain	Marseille	Lyon
2011–12	Montpellier	Paris Saint-Germain	Lille
2010–11	Lille	Marseille	Lyon
2009–10	Marseille	Lyon	Auxerre
2008–09	Bordeaux	Marseille	Lyon
2007–08	Lyon	Bordeaux	Marseille
2006–07	Lyon	Marseille	Toulouse
2005–06	Lyon	Bordeaux	Lille
2004–05	Lyon	Lille	AS Monaco
2003–04	Lyon	Paris Saint-Germain	AS Monaco
2002–03	Lyon	AS Monaco	Marseille
2001–02	Lyon	Lens	Auxerre
2000–01	Nantes	Lyon	Lille
1999–2000	AS Monaco	Paris Saint-Germain	Lyon
1998–99	Bordeaux	Marseille	Lyon
1997–98	Lens	Metz	AS Monaco
1996–97	AS Monaco	Paris Saint-Germain	Nantes
1995–96	Auxerre	Paris Saint-Germain	AS Monaco
1994–95	Nantes	Lyon	Paris Saint-Germain
1993–94	Paris Saint-Germain	Marseille	Auxerre
1992–93	— ^{[nb 3]}	Paris Saint-Germain	AS Monaco
1991–92	Marseille	AS Monaco	Paris Saint-Germain
1990–91	Marseille	AS Monaco	Auxerre
1989–90	Marseille	Bordeaux	AS Monaco
1988–89	Marseille	Paris Saint-Germain	AS Monaco
1987–88	AS Monaco	Bordeaux	Montpellier
1986–87	Bordeaux	Marseille	Toulouse
1985–86	Paris Saint-Germain	Nantes	Bordeaux
1984–85	Bordeaux	Nantes	AS Monaco
1983–84	Bordeaux	AS Monaco	Auxerre
1982–83	Nantes	Bordeaux	Paris Saint-Germain
1981–82	AS Monaco	Saint-Étienne	Sochaux
1980–81	Saint-Étienne	Nantes	Bordeaux
1979–80	Nantes	Sochaux	Saint-Étienne
1978–79	Strasbourg	Nantes	Saint-Étienne
1977–78	AS Monaco	Nantes	Strasbourg
1976–77	Nantes	Lens	Bastia
1975–76	Saint-Étienne	Nice	Sochaux
1974–75	Saint-Étienne	Marseille	Lyon
1973–74	Saint-Étienne	Nantes	Lyon
1972–73	Nantes	Nice	Marseille
1971–72	Marseille	Nîmes	Sochaux
1970–71	Marseille	Saint-Étienne	Nantes
1969–70	Saint-Étienne	Marseille	Sedan
1968–69	Saint-Étienne	Bordeaux	Metz
1967–68	Saint-Étienne	Nice	Sochaux
1966–67	Saint-Étienne	Nantes	Angers
1965–66	Nantes	Bordeaux	Valenciennes
1964–65	Nantes	Bordeaux	Valenciennes
1963–64	Saint-Étienne	AS Monaco	Lens
1962–63	AS Monaco	Stade Reims	Sedan
1961–62	Stade Reims	RCF Paris	Nîmes
1960–61	AS Monaco	RCF Paris	Stade Reims
1959–60	Stade Reims	Nîmes	RCF Paris
1958–59	Nice	Nîmes	RCF Paris
1957–58	Stade Reims	Nîmes	AS Monaco
1956–57	Saint-Étienne	Lens	Stade Reims
1955–56	Nice	Lens	AS Monaco
1954–55	Stade Reims	Toulouse	Lens
1953–54	Lille	Stade Reims	Bordeaux
1952–53	Stade Reims	Sochaux	Bordeaux
1951–52	Nice	Bordeaux	Lille
1950–51	Nice	Lille	Le Havre
1949–50	Bordeaux	Lille	Stade Reims
1948–49	Stade Reims	Lille	Marseille
1947–48	Marseille	Lille	Stade Reims
1946–47	Roubaix–Tourcoing	Stade Reims	Strasbourg
1945–46	Lille	Saint-Étienne	RC Roubaix
1939–45	Suspended due to World War II
1938–39	Sète	Marseille	RCF Paris
1937–38	Sochaux	Marseille	Sète
1936–37	Marseille	Sochaux	RCF Paris
1935–36	RCF Paris	Lille	Strasbourg
1934–35	Sochaux	Strasbourg	RCF Paris
1933–34	Sète	Fives	Marseille
1932–33	Olympique Lillois	Cannes	—

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#FelizDomingo	#WeNeedMusicBecause	Bonkaz
2	#13MValencia	#DaylightSavingTime	#WeNeedMusicBecause
3	#GetWeirdTourCardiff	Proud of Obama’s Presidency	#GetWeirdTourCardiff
4	#احب_اشوف_سناب�…	#GetWeirdTourCardiff	#ldconf
5	#VemPraRuaBrasil	#SelectionSunday	#WhyIDidntGetIntoHeaven
6	#나한테_평소에_못��…	Someone Will Die	#ArianaOnSNL
7	#DaylightSavingTime	#GoodSam500	#WWERoadblock
8	#هل_تتزوجين_ولد	#NASPA16	#TheVoiceUK
9	#DomingoDetremuraSdv	#WhyIDidntGetIntoHeaven	#bathhalf
10	#لا_تتزوج_معلمه	#ArianaOnSNL	Lukaku

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

March 2016 Ankara bombing
- An explosion occurs in central Ankara, Turkey, with at least 34 people killed and 125 wounded. (The Independent) (The Telegraph)
Turkey–PKK conflict (2015–present)
- Turkey declares a curfew in the town of Yüksekova on the border with Iran as Turkish forces prepare an offensive against the PKK. (AP)
2016 Grand-Bassam shootings
- Gunmen attack two hotels in the Ivory Coast town of Grand-Bassam. At least 15 people are reportedly killed. Witnesses claim the attackers shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is [the] greatest”) during the gunfire. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) claim responsibility for the attack. (CNN) (The Telegraph) (Daily Nation)
Syrian Civil War
- The al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate, assaults the Free Syrian Army’s 13th Division in Maarrat al-Nu’man, killing seven FSA fighters with 40 captured. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Nusra seized anti-tank missiles, armored vehicles, a tank, and other arms from the U.S.-backed division. (AP via ABC News)

Disasters and accidents

Five people are dead after a building collapses in the Indian city of Meerut caused by heavy rain. (India Today)
Heavy rain in Pakistan has led to fifteen deaths in two days including at least eight deaths in a coal mine collapse in the Orakzai Tribal Area. (AP via Fox News)
Six people have been killed in Louisiana, Texas, and Oklahoma, with two Mississippi fishermen missing, in this week’s flooding in the America’s Deep South. More than 24 inches of rain has fallen in some of the hardest-hit areas with more rain today that is expected to lead to additional flooding later this week. (Fox News) (UPI)
A Pacific Northwest windstorm strikes Western Washington, killing at least one person, leaving 300,000 residents without power, and closing several bridges. (KING-TV)
A six-seat Cessna 206 crashes into a market in the Beni Department of northeastern Bolivia, killing all four aboard the plane and injuring three others. (Another report states seven were killed with 15 injured). The plane was flying from Santa Ana del Yacuma to Trinidad, Bolivia. (AP via ABC News) (Reuters via Hindustan Times)

International relations

Malaysia bans the recruitment of foreign workers after protests over plans to recruit 1.5 million people from Bangladesh. (Economic Times)
China–Pakistan relations
- China‘s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will be deployed in Pakistan to protect the China–Pakistan Economic Corridor that connects the Chinese-operated Gwadar Port in Balochistan, Pakistan to China’sXinjiang region. Neighboring India has voiced concern about the planned move. (NDTV)
United States officials say North Korea has apparently lost contact with one of its submarines. The U.S. was watching the sub off North Korea’s eastern coast when it vanished earlier this week. Officials are unsure whether the missing vessel is adrift or has sunk. (STV) (The Guardian)
Israel–Palestine relations
- The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs says Israel prevented Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi from entering the West Bank to meet with Palestinian officials. The Israeli spokesman would not comment. Israel and Indonesia do not have formal diplomatic relations. (AP via The Washington Post) (AFP via Business Standard)

Law and crime

Israeli–Palestinian conflict

- Israeli Defence Forces arrest 15 Palestinian suspects overnight. (Jerusalem Post)
Authorities in Belarus detain prominent businessman Yury Chyzh, once a close adviser to Alexander Lukashenko and included in the EU’s sanctions list, on suspicion of large-scale tax evasion. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

Politics and elections

Elections in Germany
- Regional elections take place in the German states of Baden-Württemberg, Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt with the governing Christian Democratic Union performing poorly, the centre-left Social Democratic Party of Germany winning in Rhineland-Palatinate, and the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany performing well in all three states. (BBC), (AP via International Business Times)
Hundreds of thousands in Brazil’s major cities, some estimates say more than 3 million people, protest the weak economy and political corruption, and call for President Dilma Rousseff’s impeachment.(Reuters) (Bloomberg) (Bloomberg Business)

Sports

2016 Six Nations Championship
- Scotland’s win over France gives England the title. (The Guardian)
2015–16 Ligue 1
- Paris Saint-Germain win the title with eight games to spare, after a 9–0 win at Troyes. (BBC Sport)
2015–16 NCAA Division I men’s basketball season
- The field of 68 teams for the NCAA Tournament is announced. Kansas is the top overall seed, with North Carolina, Oregon, and Virginia rounding out the #1 seeds. In a minor controversy, the brackets for the South and West regions are leaked several minutes before being officially announced. (ESPN, overall field) (ESPN, bracket leak)

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March 14, 2016

Top News Stories –

Ninjas wanted as Japan region promotes ‘warlord tourism’ –
Sharpen your shuriken, Japan’s Aichi prefecture is looking to hire six ninjas in a bid to boost tourism. The roles are full time and the pay is ¥180,000 ($1,600; £1,100) a month, the job ad says (in Japanese). Physical fitness and acrobatic skills are a must says Aichi prefecture, which hopes to promote “warlord tourism”. Ninjas were 15th Century Japanese mercenaries specialising in espionage, assassination, sabotage and other forms of irregular warfare. [BBC]

Saudi Arabia: All female Brunei crew in historic flight –
Three Royal Brunei Airlines pilots have made history by being the company’s first all-female flight crew, making their first journey to Saudi Arabia, where women are not allowed to drive. The women flew the Boeing 787 Dreamliner from Brunei to Jeddah. The milestone coincided with Brunei’s National Day to celebrate independence. February’s flight Captain was Sharifah Czarena, assisted by Senior First Officers Sariana Nordin and Dk Nadiah Pg Khashiem. Captain Czarena trained in the UK and in December 2013 became the first Royal Brunei pilot to fly out of London Heathrow in its flagship Boeing 787 Dreamliner. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

The Drum Doctor from Media Bird on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#PiDay	#mondaymotivation	#CommonwealthDay
2	#FelizLunes	#nationalnappingday	#PiDay
3	#SegundaDetremuraSdv	#Bam4Ham	Stone Roses
4	#هل_تتزوج_بنت_ت…	Happy Pi	#ReinventACliche
5	#YerinDibineBatsın	#PiDay	#TopGear
6	#MutluOlamıyoruzÇünkü	#314Day	Help to Save
7	#nationalnappingday	What’s Wrong With Hillary	Missguided
8	#くって打ってでた�…	#BestFirstDateQuestions	Payet
9	#TeJuroQue	#BringBackTheBees	#ExoMars
10	#من_اهم_اسباب_ف…	#kimkchallenge	#GetWeirdTourCardiff

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

March 2016 Ankara bombing
- Turkey’s Interior Minister Efkan Ala says the results of the investigation into yesterday’s bombing in Ankara will be made public later today. Health Minister Mehmet Müezzinoğlu says 125 people were transported to a hospital, with 19 in critical condition. Two Kurdish militants have been blamed for the bombing. (BBC) (News.com.au), (Fox News)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015–present)
- Three Palestinians are shot and killed by Israeli Defence Forces after attempting to run over Israeli soldiers. Multiple guns were found in their car. (AP via The New Zealand Herald)
Mexican Drug War
- At least nine suspected cartel members are killed in gunfights with government forces during an anti-cartel operation in the city of Reynosa, Mexico. (Appeal Democrat)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- A United Arab Emirates Air Force fighter jet crashes in a mountainous area near the southern Yemeni city of Aden, killing both pilots. (BBC)
Syrian Civil War, Russian military intervention
- Russian President Vladimir Putin orders Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu to start the withdrawal of Russian Armed Forces from Syria, saying during a meeting with Shoygu, “I consider the objectives that have been set for the Defense Ministry to be generally accomplished. That is why I order to start withdrawal of the main part of our military group from the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic starting from tomorrow.” (RT) (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

Flood warnings are put in place and roads are closed after a heavy rain continues to fall in the northern parts of the Australian state of Queensland. (AAP via NineMSN)
Siam Commercial Bank reports eight people were killed and seven others injured in the basement of its Bangkok, Thailand, headquarters during an upgrade of the building’s fire safety system Sunday evening. It appears that workers mistakenly activated a system that released pyrogen, a chemical that deprives a fire of oxygen. (AP) (BBC)
An Amtrak passenger train derails west of Dodge City in the American state of Kansas. (CBS News)

International relations

North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- North Korea‘s supreme leader Kim Jong-un says his country will soon conduct a nuclear warhead test and test launch ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads, according to North Korea’sstate media. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Status of press freedom worldwide
- Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says the government is very concerned about Saturday’s arrest and detention of two Australian Broadcasting Corporation journalists who attempted to interviewMalaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. The pair, who are in Malaysia to investigate allegations of corruption and bribery involving the prime minister, were detained by Malaysian police for six hours, and told not to leave the country. (AP via The Washington Post) (Reuters) (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Science and technology

The joint European Space Agency and Russian Federal Space Agency ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter blasts off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. (BBC)

Sport

The National Football League‘s top health and safety official acknowledges a link between American football and chronic traumatic encephalopathy. (ESPN)
2015–16 NCAA Division I women’s basketball season
- The field of 64 teams for the NCAA Tournament is announced. Unbeaten Connecticut is the top overall seed, with Baylor, Notre Dame, and South Carolina rounding out the #1 seeds.(ESPN)

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March 18, 2016

Top News Stories –

Hulk Hogan awarded $115m in Gawker sex tape case –
A Florida jury has awarded Hulk Hogan $115m (£79m) after the gossip news website Gawker published a sex tape of the retired professional wrestler. Mr Hogan’s legal team argued the New York-based website violated his privacy and the video was not newsworthy. The case, which pitted freedom of the press against a celebrity’s right to privacy, has been closely watched. The video was posted in 2012 after Mr Hogan was secretly recorded having sex with his friend’s wife. Mr Hogan, whose given name is Terry Bollea, said the release of the sex tape hurt his career. He was one of the most popular professional wrestlers of the 1980s and 1990s and later starred in his own reality television show with his family. [BBC]
Hulk Hogan

Sport Relief raises ‘a record’ £55m –
More than £55m has been raised so far for charity on Sport Relief’s live TV show, ahead of a weekend of fundraising. David Walliams, Alesha Dixon, Gary Lineker and Greg James were among those who hosted the BBC show, broadcast from London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Highlights included a Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em sketch featuring tennis siblings Andy and Jamie Murray. The total of £55,444,906 breaks the previous on-the-night record of £51m. [BBC] See List of the Day

Iain Duncan Smith quits over planned disability benefit changes –
Iain Duncan Smith has dramatically resigned from the [UK] Government in protest at George Osborne’s proposed cuts to benefits for the disabled. The former Conservative leader said that plans to cut the benefits paid to the disabled by more than £1 billion were a “compromise too far” and said that welfare for pensioners should be cut instead. He added that they are “not defensible” when announced alongside a budget that benefits higher earning taxpayers. Mr Duncan Smith [a former Conservative Leader] also accused the Chancellor of forcing through cuts to welfare for “political” rather than national economic reasons. [Daily Telegraph]
Iain Duncan Smith

Australia Senate passes reforms after farcical all-nighter –
Monty Python references, a colonoscopy analogy and a pyjama-clad senator featured during an all-night sitting of Australia’s upper house. The Senate has finally passed changes to how its members are elected after 28 hours of debate. The changes will disadvantage so-called micro parties that have gained increasing power in the Senate. The ruling conservative Coalition formed an unlikely partnership with the Greens party to pass the reforms. But the opposition Labor Party and micro party senators, who opposed the laws, dragged out the debate with filibuster tactics and amendments. During the all-night debate, Labor senators consistently spoke off-topic to delay votes to the legislation giving voters greater control over where their preferences were allocated. The laws eventually passed by a margin of 36-24. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Proof of evolution that you can find on your body

List of the Day –

Total charity donations “on the night” by BBC Sport Relief

2004	£11,078,359
2006	c. £18,000,000
2008	£19,640,321
2010	£31,633,091
2012	£50,447,197
2014	£51,242,186
2016	£55,444,906

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SextaTopNoClubeSdv	#FlashbackFriday	#FridayFeeling
2	#BuenViernes	Tray Walker	#SportRelief
3	#VemPraDemocracia	#WorldSleepDay	#WriteAPoemAboutTories
4	#18Mart1915	#Daredevil	#WorldSleepDay
5	#LasGordasNoMerecenAmor	#DoYourJobFriday	#CSEDay16
6	Día Mundial del Sueño	#ULTRALIVE	#AddOneLetterRuinAMovie
7	#SportRelief	#NewMusicFriday	#NUSScot16
8	#يوم_الجمعه	Salah Abdeslam	#SYP2020
9	Salah Abdeslam	#SpringBreakIn4Words	#TechNorthTalent
10	#LaMujerPerfecta	#GetWellSoonDylan	#SkyF1

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Insurgency in the Maghreb (2002–present)
- Boko Haram and al-Qaeda kill four security force personnel in two separate attacks in Niger. (BBC)

International relations

North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- The South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff and a U.S. defense official report that North Korea fired two ballistic missiles from the South Pyongan Province. One flew 800 kilometers (497 miles) into the Sea of Japan. The other disappeared at an altitude of about 17 kilometers (10.5 miles). (Sky News) (CNN)
European migrant crisis
- European Union leaders offer Turkey a detailed package of cash and incentives to agree that all migrants attempting to cross the Aegean Sea by raft or boat would be sent back to Turkey which, in effect, becomes the region’s migrant holding center. A number of stumbling blocks remain, such as raising the amount of aid from 3 billion euros to at least 6 billion euros; reducing the “72 arduous conditions” the Turks must meet to implement visa-free travel for Turkish citizens; Europe agrees to accelerate talks with Ankara on its EU bid; etc. Human Rights Watch protests the proposed fast-track collective expulsions that fail to take individual circumstances into account and breach peoples’ right to seek asylum. (The Washington Post) (Journal of Turkish Weekly)
- European Union and Turkish officials agree on how to handle the flood of refugees. The deal, to return irregular migrants to Turkey, includes acceleration of the country’s long-stalled bid for membership in the union; billions of euros in extra aid, 3 billion euros now, another 3 billion by 2018; and, visa-free travel for Turks once the country satisfies the EU criteria. Europe will be taking in thousands of Syrianrefugees directly from Turkey. Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) strongly condemns the deal as “ugly and illegal.” The agreement is set to go into effect Sunday, March 20, 2016.(CNN) (Middle East Eye) (Reuters)

Health and medicine

Swiss research, published in the medical journal The Lancet, found that paracetamol — sold as Tylenol and as a generic, acetaminophen, in the United States — was not effective at reducing pain or improving movement in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee or hip. The analysis examined 74 randomly-selected trials published between 1980 and 2015 with 58,556 patients who had osteoarthritis. The study did find the prescription drug diclofenac, sold in the U.S. as Cataflam or Voltaren, is the most effective NSAID available. McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the makers of Tylenol, disagree with the study’s conclusions.(CBS News) (The Lancet)
2016 United States Elizabethkingia outbreak
- A rare bacterial infection from bacterium Elizabethkingia anophelis may have contributed to the deaths of 17 people since November 2015. (Patch) (Star Tribune)

Law and crime

Geert Wilders, the leader of the Dutch far-right political party Party for Freedom, goes on trial again for making anti-Islam remarks. He is being accused of inciting hatred against the Moroccan-Dutch minority.(The Guardian)
2016 Brussels police raids
- Salah Abdeslam, the alleged suspect and primary perpetrator of the November 2015 Paris attacks is shot and arrested by Belgian authorities in a Brussels raid. (The Guardian)
Censorship in China
- Jia Jia, a columnist for China’s Tencent media company is reported missing after not being heard from since Tuesday, when he was on his way to Hong Kong. He was last heard from when he tried to warn a friend about publishing an anonymous letter calling for President Xi Jinping’s resignation. (BBC)
Donald Trump presidential campaign, 2016
- The FBI‘s Joint Terrorism Task Force, United States Secret Service and New York City Police Department are investigating a letter containing a suspicious white powder and a threatening note which was sent to the home of Eric Trump, son of Donald Trump, in New York City. The handwritten note within the letter said: “If your father does not drop out of the race, the next envelope won’t be a fake.” It was signed “X”. (ABC News)
Bollea v. Gawker
- A Florida jury awards Hulk Hogan $115m after the gossip news website Gawker published a sex tape of the retired professional wrestler. Mr Hogan’s legal team argued that the New York City-based website violated his privacy and that the video wasn’t newsworthy. (BBC)

Politics and elections

Former President Pervez Musharraf travels to Dubai for medical treatment of his back and leg, before moving on to either the U.S. or U.K. for additional treatment, spokesperson Aasia Ishaque said. Musharraf, 72, will return to Pakistan to face all pending legal cases. Earlier this week, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s government implemented the Supreme Court ruling, and lifted the 2013 ban that barred Musharraf from international trips. (Bloomberg)
Iain Duncan Smith resigns his position as the United Kingdom‘s Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, in opposition to cuts in disability benefit proposed by George Osborne, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. (BBC)
2015–16 protests in Brazil, Operation Car Wash
- Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Gilmar Mendes rules Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva should be stripped of a ministerial role in President Dilma Rousseff’s Cabinet so he can be investigated in connection with the state oil company Petrobras’s alleged kickback scheme. Earlier today, injunctions suspending Lula’s appointment as chief of staff were overturned at Attorney General José Eduardo Cardozo’s request for a Supreme Court ruling on the motions. (The Globe and Mail) {Toronto Star)
- Brazil’s lower house of Congress, which yesterday overwhelmingly approved (433-1) a 65-member investigatory, presidential impeachment committee, was in session today — unusual since lawmakers are generally away from the capital on Fridays. The charge alleges President Rousseff broke budget rules to boost public spending in the run-up to her re-election in 2014. The president has 10 lower house sessions to present her defense. Friday’s session means that clock has started and she now has nine sessions. (Reuters) (Reuters via Swiss Broadcasting Corporation)
- Supporters of the governing Workers’ Party took to the streets, in a sense answering the massive anti-government gatherings since Sunday, in all of Brazil’s 26 states. Organizations from both sides of the protests have called for people opposed to the Workers’ Party to stay home Friday to avoid a repeat of Thursday’s clashes. (The Washington Post) (Fox News Latino)

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The 2010s

The story of a decade

Tag Archives: North Korea

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