January 10, 2015

Top News Stories –

France remembers gunmens’ victims –
Nearly a quarter of a million people held marches in France on Saturday to condemn the attacks by extremist gunmen on France that took place on Wednesday 7th January 2015 killing 17 people including 12 at the offices of the magazine Charlie Hebdo. Large crowds gathered in Paris, Orleans, Nice, Pau, Toulouse and Nantes, with people holding banners that read “I am against racism”, “unity”, or “Je suis Charlie” – the latter a reference to the magazine.

#JeSuisCharlie top hashtag –
#JeSuisCharlie has become one of the most popular hashtags ever used on Twitter with between 4 and 5 millions tweets containing the phrase in 4 days.
Je suis Charlie

Dart attack –
Rioting fans in fancy dress brawled and threw chairs and tables, stopping play at an Australian darts competition. Dutchman Michael ‘Mighty Mike’ van Gerwen was playing Australia’s Simon ‘The Wizard’ Whitlock in an invitational tournament at the Etihad Stadium in Melbourne when chaos broke out. Images show a man dressed as Batman’s sidekick Robin wrestling with an English knight, while security guards try to calm the situation down.
Simon Whitlock

Video of the Day –

Gold and Grey from Kyle Camarillo on Vimeo.

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February 21, 2015

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Razzies 2015 Winners: Cameron Diaz and Kirk Cameron Get Bashed at the 35th Annual Golden Raspberry Awards
Cameron-DiazCameron Diaz
 

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The Torch Tower, Dubai on fire –

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March 28, 2015

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Zoella turns 25 and Lady Gaga hits 29 –
Zoe Sugg gets a surprise cake party for her 25th birthday and tops the UK Twitter trend chart with #HappyBirthdayZoe. She shares her birthday with Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, better known as Lady Gaga who is 29 today.
Zoella_Instagram_25_birthday copyright @Zoella
Zoella_25_birthday copyright @zoella Zoella birthday party
Lady_GagaLady Gaga

Eiffel Tower goes dark in symbolic move for Earth Hour
The Eiffel Tower has gone dark briefly to mark Earth Hour, the campaign to raise awareness about climate change.The five-minute dark-out on Saturday night was a symbolic gesture in the City of Light. Cities around the world also marked the event, with other landmarks like the Kremlin and the Empire State Building going dark.France has been preparing for months to host an international climate conference in Paris at the end of the year, pressing nations to set attainable goals for reducing greenhouse gases and mobilizing international finances to fight climate change. [Daily Mail]
Base_of_Eiffel_Tower_at_Night

Andreas Lubitz planned spectacular gesture that would go down in history, claims ex-girlfriend –
Airbus crash pilot Andreas Lubitz had been planning a spectacular gesture to make everyone “remember” who he was, it has been claimed. An ex-girlfriend of the Germanwings pilot who crashed his plane in the French Alps, killing all 149 others on board, described him as “tormented” and able to hide secrets. Maria, 26 (not her real name), told Bild newspaper that when she heard about the crash she remembered that he had said he was going do something “that would change the system” and “make everyone remember” him. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Southpaw Trailer

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December 11, 2015

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Tokyo police are using drones with nets to catch other drones –
Tokyo’s police force has introduced an elite fleet of interceptor drones designed to chase and catch suspicious-looking drones in nets flying over sensitive locations amid concerns for the prime minister’s safety. Riot police will control the camera-equipped interceptor drones to chase after private drones they feel may be spying on buildings, including the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s office, and ensnare them in large nets before returning to the ground. Those controlling the force drone will first warn the suspicious drone’s operator to cease the flight, before pursuing them. A four-propellor drone carrying trace amounts of radioactive caesium was intercepted on the top of the prime minister’s office in April, raising terror concerns in the capital. Police said radioactivity levels were only a maximum of 1 microsievert of gamma rays per hour, a level that is not harmful to humans. [Daily Telegraph]

Google Chrome extension replaces all mentions of Donald Trump with Voldemort –
When JK Rowling said Donald Trump was worse than Lord Voldemort, after the former’s proposal that all Muslims should be banned from entering the US, the Harry Potter author inspired one person to take the idea that little bit further. A Google Chrome user has released an extension for the web browser that turns all mentions of Trump into various aliases for Harry Potter’s nemesis. A series of Trump-related Chrome extensions have filled the web. The Trumpweb inserts quotes from the man himself in between “Donald” and “Trump”, and another removes any mentions of him from Facebook. You can also change any mentions of Trump to “your drunk uncle”. [Daily Telegraph] A petition started on December 6 to ban Trump from entering Britain has now reached over half a million signatures.
Donald_TrumpDonald Trump

Video of the Day –

TIMEDRIFT II from Martin Heck | Timestorm Films on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide USA UK
1 #SextaCampuseirosClubSdv #FlashbackFriday Ian Bell
2 #ParaEl2016MeEncantariaQue #ICantStopSmilingBecause Arnold Peralta
3 #زد_رصيدك28 #CouldBeOniTunes #FridayFeeling
4 #من_عيوب_تويتر #WomenInMusic #DanielHoltzclaw
5 #ALDUBMaiDenMoment #WelcomeToCanada #RuinAChristmasMovie
6 #PraNamorarComigoÉPreciso #XMenApocalypse #SNERVOUS
7 #BirŞeySöyleyeceğim #ewaGlobal #pantoday
8 #WatchBoomChaOnAnahiVEVO #RuinAChristmasMovie #InternationalMountainDay
9 #MiFraseDeBorracho #YouAreInDenialIf #bbcqt
10 #XMenApocalypse #NewMusicFriday #DiamondBall

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Armed conflicts and attacks
Business and economy
Disasters and accidents
  • 2015 South Indian floods
    • Major UK-based reinsurance broker Aon Benfield estimates India has suffered over US$3 billion (over Rs. 200 billion) worth of losses as a result of the flooding, and rates them as the costliest floods and the eighth-costliest natural disaster of 2015.(Business Standard)
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February 11, 2016

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Einstein’s gravitational waves found at last –
One hundred years after Albert Einstein predicted the existence of gravitational waves, scientists have finally spotted these elusive ripples in space-time. In a highly anticipated announcement, physicists with the Advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) revealed on 11 February that their twin detectors have heard the gravitational ‘ringing’ produced by the collision of two black holes about 400 megaparsecs (1.3 billion light-years) from Earth.“Ladies and gentlemen, we have detected gravitational waves,” David Reitze, the executive director of the LIGO Laboratory, said at a Washington DC press conference. “We did it!” One black hole was about 36 times the mass of the Sun, and the other was about 29 solar masses. As they spiralled inexorably into one another, they merged into a single, more-massive gravitational sink in space-time that weighed 62 solar masses, the LIGO team estimates. [Nature] See Video of the Day
Nature tweet

Star Wars prosecuted over Harrison Ford injury –
The production company behind Star Wars: The Force Awakens is being prosecuted over the incident in which Harrison Ford broke his leg. The actor was struck by a hydraulic metal door on the Pinewood set of the Millennium Falcon in June 2014. The Health And Safety Executive has brought four criminal charges against Foodles Production (UK) Ltd – a subsidiary of Disney. Foodles Production said it was “disappointed” by the HSE’s decision. Following the incident, Ford was airlifted to hospital for surgery. [BBC] Harrison Ford received more than £23 million for his role in the new Star Wars blockbuster and last year crashed his light aircraft for a third time.
Harrison-Ford Harrison Ford

Video of the Day –

LIGO Gravitational Wave Chirp

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1 #SONA2016 #ReasonWhyIDoNotHaveAValen… #SONA2016
2 #QuintaDetremura200kSDV #WomenInSTEM The Life of Pablo
3 #FelizJueves #SONA2016 Adam Johnson
4 #YaCasiEs14YYo Meryl Streep #Sprint16
5 OLHA ELAAAAAAAAA OK Go #FastFoodBooks
6 #WomenInSTEM #LIGO #WomenInSTEM
7 #SiYoFueraCupido John Lewis #ImGoingTheVampsBELFAST
8 Pangako Ng Karma #HealthPolicyValentines Jeremy Hunt
9 #مالذي_لاتستطي… #AAASmtg #IAlwaysGetAnnoyedWhen
10 #TipicoDeSolteros #TGIT #IfIHadTrumpsMoney

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March 3, 2016

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Italian parliament bar clamps down on bill-dodging –
The bar inside Italy’s lower house of parliament has deployed “receipt inspectors” to ensure that MPs pay their bills, it’s reported. The establishment at Palazzo Montecitorio, home to the Chamber of Deputies, has lost a significant chunk of revenue because some politicians have been failing to settle up, Corriere della Sera reports. The company that took over running the bar last year noticed that takings were 30% lower than expected. Staff have now been told that customers must pay for their order and show their receipt to the barista before actually being served any refreshments – something that is done in some Italian bars. They’ll be backed up by a team of receipt-checkers, whose job will involve being “discreet, but inflexible”, observing patrons and intervening if anyone fails to pay up, the paper says. [BBC]
Palazzo_Montecitorio,_RomePalazzo Montecitorio, Rome

Spain’s Princess Cristina denies role in tax fraud at ‘trusted’ husband’s company –
Princess Cristina of Spain denied any involvement in tax fraud on Thursday when she gave evidence in the first criminal trial held in the country with members of the royal family among the accused. King Felipe’s sister said that she had been completely unaware of the business operations at a company she owned jointly with her husband, Iñaki Urdangarin, who is accused of a series of crimes including embezzlement of public funds and money laundering. Asked by her defence lawyer why she became the co-proprietor of the company called Aizoon, Princess Cristina it had been Mr Urdangarin’s idea and she had agreed: “Out of trust. He asked me and I accepted.” The 50-year-old princess, who has been stripped of her aristocratic title of Duchess of Palma by King Felipe, said that Aizoon existed “to channel my husband’s income”. “He was the administrator and he took the decisions”, she added. The public prosecutor has requested a 19.5-year jail sentence for Mr Urdangarin, who, along with his business partner, is accused of diverting €4.5 million of public money from a non-profit organisation to private accounts. [Daily Telegraph]
Infanta_Cristina,_Duchess_of_Palma_de_MallorcaInfanta Cristina Duchess of Palma de Mallorca

Video of the Day –

KEN BLOCK’S GYMKHANA EIGHT: ULTIMATE EXOTIC PLAYGROUND; DUBAI

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1 #QuintaFeiraNoClubeSDV #WorldBookDay #WorldBookDay
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4 #AnaPaulaNaoDesiste Marvin Harrison #5liveaside
5 #WorldBookDay #ThingsHillarySupportersThink #NHFCOMMS16
6 #HappyBirthdayCamilaFromBr… #CPAC2016 #bccconf
7 #الباث_معلق #BadJobIn5Words #EconPride
8 #FrasesSabias Mitt Romney #StopYouthViolence
9 #NicomaineAt21 #303Day #UniMentalHealthDay
10 #SocialismoConstructor #Ghostbusters #ntsummit

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks
Disasters and accidents
  • A nationwide power outage hits Syria. The Syrian government says shortly before the power outage, militants had hit part of a power-generating station with rockets in the city of Hama, though it hasn’t said whether this damage was linked to the nationwide outage. Also, it isn’t clear how many people are affected by the power outage as many cities outside of the government’s control already weren’t being served by the government-run power grid. (CNN)
  • At least 31 people are killed in Kwekwe, Zimbabwe, when a bus, with a blown front tire, switches lanes and slams into an oncoming public transport minibus. (AP ia Fox News)
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June 11, 2016

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Bicycle thief suspect lassoed by rancher in Oregon –
A rancher in the US state of Oregon has used his lassoing skills to nab a would-be thief, police say. Robert Borba told local media he reacted when he heard a woman scream that someone was trying to steal her bicycle from a bike rack outside a Walmart store in Eagle Point. Mr Borba said he got his horse out of its trailer and cornered the suspect before lassoing him around the legs. He said he got on his horse and rode over to the man who was apparently struggling with the bike gears and then decided to flee on foot. “I just roped him and the rope went down around his feet and I just rode off like I would if I’d roped a cow or something by myself”. The rancher said the would-be thief then tried to grab a tree and escape, but he managed to keep the rope tight until police arrived and arrested the suspect. [BBC]

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Aberdeen : A Montage of Kurt Cobain's Artwork & Journals from Tourist Pictures on Vimeo.

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January 2, 2017

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Argentina: Uproar as new year message omits disputed Falklands –
A new year’s message by Argentina’s social development ministry has caused uproar after it excluded the disputed Falkland Islands from the country’s map. Former combatants and social media users said the message was offensive to those who died in the 1982 war. The ministry has apologised, saying it was a mistake by the design team. The islands are a British territory in the Atlantic claimed by Argentina, where they are known as the Malvinas. President Mauricio Macri, who took office in December 2015, promised a “new kind of relationship” with the UK, a step seen as aimed at boosting Argentina’s flagging economy. [BBC]

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Armed conflicts and attacks
Disasters and accidents
Law and crime
  • 2017 Manaus prison riot
  • In New Haven Connecticut, two men are suspected of approaching a man claiming to have a gun, took his cellphone and wallet. Then they stole his SUV and apparently lost control as they were killed when their stolen SUV accidentally crashed into and seriously damaged a synagogue (Hartford Courant)
  • In Dearborn Michigan the driver and passenger of a minivan being pursued by police for missing plates were killed when they struck a car, lost control and hit several parked vehicles. (Huron Daily Tribune)
  • In Detroit, Michigan an African American man was shot in the head driving a car which crashed, police are searching for two men who ran from the car after the crash (WXYZ)
  • A first-year New Rochelle Police officer crashed his Jeep into a tree, killing passenger Isaac “Hooshie” Ward. He will be charged with vehicular manslaughter as his Blood Alcohol Content was above the legal limit (newrochelletalk)
  • Huzaifa Shafeeq was arraigned on burglary charges after police say the stole from a Long Island mosque charity box on Christmas and New Years Day. Islamic Center board member said the amount taken wasn’t large, but called police as the thief needed help. (ABC7NY)

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