Top News Stories –

China blasts: Shipment explodes in Tianjin port –
Massive explosions have hit China’s northern port city of Tianjin, reportedly injuring many people. According to Chinese state media, the blasts occurred when a shipment of explosives blew up at about 23:30 (16:30 GMT). Pictures and video shared on social media showed flames lighting up the sky and damage to nearby buildings. Latest reports in state media suggest that hundreds of people have been taken to hospital. The first explosion was followed by another 30 seconds later. [BBC] See Video of the Day

Twitter takes the chains off Direct Messages by removing 140-character limit –
Twitter is fairly conspicuous by its absence among the big messaging players. The service has allowed its users to send private messages back and forth for years, but for a long time, the feature seemed like an afterthought, with bugs such as unreliable notifications. This is slowly changing. On Wednesday, Twitter finally removed a 140-character limit on Direct Messages (DMs), meaning users can send up to 10,000 characters (which roughly allows space for 2,000 words). Sachin Agarwal, Twitter’s DM product manager, said this had been one of Twitter users’ most commonly-requested features. [Daily Telegraph]

RIP to LOL – the history of laughing out loud –
A Facebook study suggests that people are choosing to use “haha” and emojis over “LOL” to express laughter. The research claims more than half (51.4%) opt for “haha”, while just 1.9% are LOLers, although it didn’t look at direct messages. LOL was added to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) in 2011, but the origin of the phrase can be traced back to the 1980s. The Facebook study suggests a third of people use emojis for laughter. [BBC Newsbeat]

Video of the Day –

直击天津滨海新区爆炸瞬间 现场响声震天

Massive explosions have hit China’s northern port city of Tianjin

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian Civil War
  • At least 40 people are killed and more than 180 wounded in artillery strikes in Damascus during a visit by the Foreign Minister of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif. (The News Hub)

Arts and culture

• New Zealand flag debate
  • A government appointed panel chooses 40 finalist flag designs out of more than 10,000 submitted. (Miami Herald) (New York Post)

Business and economy

• Pearson PLC agrees to sell its share in the Economist Group to Exor controlled by the Agnelli family for £469m. (BBC)
• 2015 Chinese stock market crash
  • The People’s Republic of China devalues the yuan (Renminbi) by 1.62 per cent after devaluing by 1.92 per cent yesterday. This comes in the wake of a 30% drop of Chinese stocks last month. (BBC)(USA Today) (The Australian)

Disasters and accidents

• 2015 Tianjin explosion
  • A 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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