August 25, 2015

Top News Stories –

Italian woman, 46, arrested for locking ‘toy boy’ in basement over sex demands –
An Italian woman has been arrested after allegedly locking up her “toy boy” boyfriend for refusing to have sex with her, in a story that has evoked comparisons with the classic film The Graduate. The woman, 46, who was divorced, met the 25-year-old during a holiday romance in Campania in southern Italy. Initially they got on well but the young man reportedly became increasingly vexed by the amount of sex that the older woman was demanding. He declined her advances on several occasions but she then took revenge by locking him up, against his will, in the basement of her house at Arzano, near Naples. The young man managed to raise the alarm, calling for help from passers-by. [Daily Telegraph]

George Clooney photobombs Cindy Crawford as she takes romantic selfie with husband –
Does anyone enjoy looking at “romantic selfies” of couples kissing on Instagram? It’s worse than a public display of affection (PDA), as it is done purely to show off how in love you are with the person you’re smooching. Cindy Crawford and her husband Rande Gerber were taking a tender selfie together, when George Clooney decided to ruin it by pulling a strange face in the background. [Daily Telegraph]
Cindy Crawford Instagram with Rande Gerber and George Clooney

International bridge champions accuse teammates of cheating –
Two Israeli men, Lotan Fisher and Ron Schwartz, have been accused by their team mates of cheating in three matches including the Spingold tournament – one of the most famous of all.
A triumphant team of bridge players has been ripped apart by accusations that would, in the words of the whistleblower, “even make a Hollywood movie surreal.” Two Israeli men, Lotan Fisher and Ron Schwartz, have been accused by their team mates of cheating. Quite how they cheated is unclear, but Norwegian bridge professional Boye Brogeland, one of the world’s highest-rated bridge players, said the other four members of the team were handing back three titles they had won together. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Dismaland [See August 23, 2015]

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#5monthswithoutzayn	#SolveMyProblemsIn4Words	#ask5sos
2	#RelationshipGoalsIn3Words	#RelationshipGoalsIn3Words	#RelationshipGoalsIn3Words
3	#Tucumanazo	Vick	#charitytuesday
4	#فتاه_تغتصب_شاب	#5monthswithoutzayn	House of Fools
5	#NuncaMePasoEsoDe	Curt Schilling	#1YearOfMyEverything
6	BeliebersVoteHottest	Aaliyah	#5monthswithoutzayn
7	#SolveMyProblemsIn4Words	#ask5sos	#TravelTuesday
8	LANA EU TE AMO	#BornToRun	Colin Fry
9	#FelizMartes	You Oughta Know	Harvey Proctor
10	NCAE	Jorge Ramos	Greg Rutherford

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Boko Haram
- A teenage girl suicide bomber kills five people and injures fourteen in the Damaturu area in northeast Nigeria. (AP via Fox News)
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
- Fourteen people are arrested in Spain and Morocco for allegedly trying to recruit people to ISIL. (Times of Israel)
North Korea and South Korea agree to stop airing propaganda at the border and stand down preparations for war. (NPR)

Business and economics

The People’s Bank of China cuts interest rates and lowers minimum requirements for bank reserves for the second time in two months. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Goni makes landfall in southwestern Japan with at least 26 people injured but no people killed. The death toll in the Philippines rises to 21 while South Korea is on alert. (AP), (Yonhap)
A gas explosion in the Afghanistan city of Herat kills eleven people and injures 18. (AP via Ahram Online)

International relations

A record number of migrants crossing the Balkans results in a record number of people in Hungary despite the government building a wall on the border with Serbia. (AP via The Columbian)

Law and crime

A Federal Security Service court in Russia sentences Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov to 20 years in prison for plotting terrorist acts in Crimea, amid allegations of torture and US claims that he is being held hostage in Russia after having been abducted from Ukraine by Russian-backed separatists. (BBC)
4 people are killed and 3 others are severely injured in a shooting at a camp in Roye, Somme, France. (L’Express)
Protests by the Patidar community in Ahmedabad turn violent, sparking violence across the state of Gujarat, India.(DNA)

Politics and elections

The Parliament of Singapore is dissolved with a general election to be held on September 11. (AFP/Reuters via ABC Australia)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resourceAugust 23, 2015

September 5, 2015

Top News Stories –

Russia set to set up new police unit to deal with rowdy weddings –
Police in southern Russia have set up a new unit dedicated to keeping the peace at the region’s notoriously drunken wedding parties. A squad of 40 officers will be assigned to stop “uncontrolled expressions of joy” during marriages, during which well-wishers often have a habit of firing guns in celebration. The unit will operate in the North Caucusus region of Adygea, near the Black Sea coast, where one wedding reveller was fined 50,000 roubles last month (£500) for firing his pistol outside a registry office in the capital, Maykop. “The creation of the ‘wedding police’ should put an end to uncontrolled expressions of joy by people in wedding motorcades,” said Aleksandr Rechitsky, Adygea’s Interior Minister. [Daily Telegraph]

Sam Smith’s In The Lonely Hour makes chart history –
In the Lonely Hour has been in the UK top 10 for 67 weeks in a row – that’s the longest unbroken run of any debut album. It’s not left the top 10 since it was released in May 2014, when it debuted at number one with opening week sales of 101,000. The chart record was previously held by Emeli Sande, with her debut album Our Version Of Events. [BBC Newsbeat] See List of the Day
Sam Smith

Video of the Day –

The 9 BEST Scientific Study Tips

List of the Day –

List of albums which have spent the most weeks on the UK Albums Chart [List from Wikipedia]

Title	Artist	Released	Peak	Weeks
Queen’s Greatest Hits	Queen	1981	1	895
ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits	ABBA	1992	1	721
Legend	Bob Marley & The Wailers	1984	1	684
Rumours	Fleetwood Mac	1977	1	611
Bat Out of Hell	Meat Loaf	1978	9	517
The Dark Side of the Moon	Pink Floyd	1973	2	457
The Sound of Music	Original Soundtrack	1965	1	374
Queen’s Greatest Hits II	Queen	1991	1	367
The Immaculate Collection	Madonna	1990	1	338
Simon and Garfunkel’s Greatest Hits	Simon & Garfunkel	1972	2	329
Bridge over Troubled Water	Simon & Garfunkel	1970	1	328
South Pacific	Original Soundtrack	1958	1	315
Jeff Wayne’s Musical Version of The War of the Worlds	Jeff Wayne	1978	5	313
Nevermind	Nirvana	1991	7	301
Tracy Chapman	Tracy Chapman	1988	1	292
Tubular Bells	Mike Oldfield	1973	1	286
Thriller	Michael Jackson	1982	1	283
Face Value	Phil Collins	1981	1	275
Brothers in Arms	Dire Straits	1985	1	268
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band	The Beatles	1967	1	261
Appetite for Destruction	Guns n’ Roses	1987	5	261
Making Movies	Dire Straits	1980	4	252
Hot Fuss	The Killers	2004	1	247
Automatic for the People	R.E.M.	1992	1	245
My Way: The Best of Frank Sinatra	Frank Sinatra	1997	7	244
Guns n’ Roses’ Greatest Hits	Guns n’ Roses	2004	1	241
(What’s the Story) Morning Glory?	Oasis	1995	1	237
Queen’s Greatest Hits III	Queen	1999	2	234
Definitely Maybe	Oasis	1994	1	231
Back to Black	Amy Winehouse	2006	1	228
Off the Wall	Michael Jackson	1979	3	224
Number Ones	Michael Jackson	2003	3	223
Jagged Little Pill	Alanis Morissette	1995	1	220
Sigh No More	Mumford & Sons	2009	2	214
The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac	Fleetwood Mac	2002	6	213
Out of Time	R.E.M.	1991	1	212
Never Forget	Take That	2005	2	209
The Beatles 1962 – 1966	The Beatles	1973	3	206
Under a Blood Red Sky	U2	1983	2	204
The King and I	Original Soundtrack	1956	1	203
The Bends	Radiohead	1995	4	203
Love Over Gold	Dire Straits	1982	1	200

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1	#ALDUBBATTLEForACause	#WorldBeardDay	#rED15
2	#DragMeDownPromo	#DragMeDownPromo	#WorldBeardDay
3	#EMABiggestFans1D	Nadal	San Marino
4	#EuroBasket2015	#YouKnowSummersOverWhen	#EGGPLANT
5	#ماذا_تعرف_عن_ع…	Stanford	Freddie Mercury
6	#اشياء_اشتقتول…	Penn State	J Hus
7	Nadal	#EMABiggestFans1D	#savesyriaschildren
8	漢字1文字	#earthquake	#YodaSingsInTheShower
9	Bolivia	Notre Dame	Jamie Vardy
10	San Marino	#BYUvsNEB	Nadal

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Afghanistan War
- Gunmen killed 13 minority Hazara men, but spared the life of one woman among the traveling party, in usually tranquil Balkh Province. No group immediately claimed responsibility. (AFP via Times of Oman)
Syrian Civil War
- A battle in Mare’, Syria, in northern Aleppo Governorate near the Turkish border, killed at least 20 Syrian rebels and 27 ISIS fighters. (AFP via Lebanon Daily Star) (Reuters)

International Relations

European migrant crisis
- Following Austria’s and Germany’s decision to waive their asylum system rules, approximately 6,500 migrants – mostly from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan – arrive in Vienna. They traveled from Hungary by bus, train or on foot. The migrants were given the opportunity to register in Austria or move on to Germany. (The Star – Malaysia) (USA Today) (Washington Post) (Budapest Business Journal)
- The first group, 450 of an expected 10,000 migrants, arrive in Munich, Germany, after traveling through Hungary and Austria. (BBC)

Law and crime

Cross-Strait relations
- Former vice president Annette Lu of Taiwan files charges of treason against former vice president Lien Chan, accusing him of breaching national security when he attended the 2015 China Victory Day Parade. (Taipei Times)

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September 7, 2015

Top News Stories –

Italian chess player ‘cheats’ using Morse code and spy pendant –
An Italian chess player has been expelled from one of Italy’s most important tournaments after he allegedly used Morse code and a spy pendant containing a hidden camera to communicate with an accomplice. Arcangelo Ricciardi entered the International Chess Festival of Imperia ranked 51,366 in the world, but astonished rivals as he breezed through the early stages of the competition to reach the eighth and penultimate round. Jean Coqueraut, who refereed the tournament in Liguria, northern Italy, said he began to suspect something was wrong early on in the competition. “In chess, performances like that are impossible,” he told La Stampa newspaper. “I didn’t think he was a genius, I knew he had to be a cheat.” Tournament organisers then asked the 37-year old to pass through a metal detector and a sophisticated pendant was found hanging around his neck underneath a shirt. The pendant contained a tiny video camera as well as a mass of wires attached to his body and a 4cm box under his armpit. Mr Ricciardi claimed they were good luck charms. It is thought the camera was used to transmit the chess game in real time to an accomplice or sophisticated computer, which then suggested moves for Mr Ricciardi through a series of signals received in the box under his arm. [Daily Telegraph] In August two Israeli men were accused by their team mates of cheating in international Bridge competitions.

SeaWorld will no longer accept stolen whales after plea from One Direction star, Harry Styles –
The SeaWorld marine park has announced it will no longer accept whales stolen from the wild after a barrage of criticism, most recently from Harry Styles of One Direction. In a concert in San Diego, which hosts one of SeaWorld’s attractions, the pop star urged fans to boycott the company. SeaWorld was heavily criticised in Blackfish, a documentary released in 2013. The company had been waiting for US government approval for the import of 18 beluga whales which were captured in Russia. Several of the whales were due to be taken to SeaWorld’s own facilities. But earlier this week, SeaWorld said it was no longer willing to receive them.
Harry Styles

Sam Smith tweets Bond theme tease featuring mysterious ‘Spectre ring’ –
Sam Smith has all but confirmed that he will sing the theme tune for the new James Bond film, Spectre. The singer tweeted a picture of a finger with a ring featuring the movie’s logo. He had been tipped for the soundtrack several times but previously denied any involvement in the project.
Sam Smith/Twitter

‘Biggest’ Stonehenge site discovered –
Archaeologists have found around 100 huge standing stones buried near Stonehenge. Experts think the discovery could be the ‘biggest’ prehistoric monument ever built in Britain. Using special equipment to scan below the Earth’s surface experts were able to find evidence of seventeen previously unknown wooden or stone structures. The results suggest Stonehenge – which is 5,000 years old – did not stand alone. Scientists think the newly discovered sites were related to Stonehenge. One big surprise the research found was traces of up to 60 huge stones or pillars – part of an ancient “super henge”, about 1.5km wide.[BBC]

Video of the Day –

No-A [Short Film]

NO-A [Short Film] from Liam Murphy on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#terörelanetolsun	#MakeAChefMadIn3Words	#MondayMotivation
2	Jimmy Morales	Dex Osama	Radio X
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4	#GanasDe	#LaborDay	Kameda
5	#NoEsMentiraSiTeDigo	#SarahPalinMovieNight	#Carmichael
6	#اجمل_اسم_بنت	#BigLiesYouTellYourself	#DontBombSyria
7	Ruiz Mateos	#TheOneLineYouHateMost	Stonehenge
8	#DragMeDownPower	#ImHereForThe	Tony Hall
9	#LaborDay	Trump Is Right	Ghanaian
10	San Lorenzo	Stonehenge	Trainspotting 2

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Turkey–PKK conflict
- Turkish jets strike PKK militant positions across south-east Turkey and northern Iraq and deploy special forces to the Iraqi border following a deadly PKK attack which left at least 16 Turkish soldiers dead. (Reuters)

Business and economy

The patent office in India rejects Pfizer’s petition for a patent on an arthritis drug, tofacitinib, re-affirming their rejection of the same drug in 2011. The drug is a chemical reformulation of the active compound in the medicine and thus the Indian Patent Office says that the company would have to establish that the compound for which it is seeking a patent is therapeutically more effective than the active compound. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

Five people are killed as a small plane crashes in the western part of the American state of Colorado. (USA Today)

International relations

European migrant crisis
- The President of France François Hollande agrees to take 24,000 refugees out of the estimated 100,000 per month expected to arrive. (AP via ABC News)
- Hundreds of people, tired of waiting for promised transportation, broke out from Hungary’s first migrant holding center near the Serbian border, past police overwhelmed by their numbers, to start the march north toward Budapest. The asylum seekers / migrants, now accompanied by groups of police, advanced along the edge of the main highway to the capital. (AP via Global News)
The United Kingdom House of Commons passes a planned referendum in the United Kingdom‘s continued membership in the European Union. (Reuters via Daily Mail)

Politics and elections

Trinidad and Tobago general election, 2015
- Voters in Trinidad and Tobago go to the polls for a House of Representatives election with the result too close to call. (Reuters)
During U.S. Labor Day holiday activities in Boston, President Barack Obama announces a new executive order requiring federal government contractors to offer workers seven days of paid sick leave per year. On July 1st, Massachusetts became the third state, Connecticut and California being the others, with similar requirements. (Washington Post) (Huffington Post)
In an education scandal in Egypt, a top student, Mariam Malak, says she’s a victim of corruption and fraud with the school or the examination board swapping her final exam papers with another pupil, thus assigning her a “Zero”-grade for each of the seven subjects. 40,000 online rally for her via a Facebook support page while another top student reporting the same complaint. (BBC)
Hungary’s Defense Minister Csaba Hende resigns amid the refugee crisis. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán immediately replaced Hende with a member of his Fidesz party, Istvan Simicsko. (UPI)

Science and technology

A bolide or meteor fireball explodes over the Thai city of Bangkok. (The Telegraph)

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September 14, 2015

Top News Stories –

Switzerland holds ‘X Factor’ national anthem contest –
What does a country do if its national anthem is said to be so boring that no one can remember the words? The answer in Switzerland, it seems, is to hold a TV talent contest to find a better one. The country has just come to the end of a 20-month-long hunt for a new anthem that culminated in an X Factor style live television show over the weekend in which three finalists battled it out and viewers voted by text message. The winning entry was submitted, in French, German, Italian and Romansh, by Werner Widmer, a 62-year-old healthcare director from Zurich. The organisers say their next project is to convince the country to adopt Mr Widmar’s new version. [Daily Telegraph]

Australian prime minister Tony Abbott ousted by staunch republican Malcolm Turnbull –
Australian prime minister Tony Abbott has been ousted in a stunning coup by self-made millionaire Malcolm Turnbull, continuing the nation’s five-year run of leadership swaps. Winning a 54 to 44 Liberal party-room vote in Canberra on Monday, Mr Turnbull, 60, promised to unite the party and the nation with a new style of leadership that “respects the people’s intelligence”. The deputy Liberal leader, Julie Bishop, backed Mr Turnbull and easily won back her position in a 70 to 30 vote against cabinet minister Kevin Andrews. [BBC]
Malcolm Turnbull

Taylor Swift is being sued because she accused a radio host of touching her bottom –
Taylor Swift is being sued by a former Coloradoan radio DJ who claims that he lost his job because of claims the singer made about him allegedly grabbing her bottom. In June 2013, David Mueller, who is known on the radio as “Jackson”, went to a meet-and-greet with Taylor Swift, and brought along his girlfriend. Mueller and his girlfriend had their photo taken with Ms. Swift, and this is where things got ugly. Ms. Swift allegedly claimed that at this point he “lifted up her skirt and grabbed her bottom”. After this, he was escorted from the premises by security. Then, after a series of calls between Taylor Swift’s team and his radio station, he was fired. Mueller denies the claims that he touched her inappropriately. [Daily Telegraph]
Taylor Swift

Video of the Day –

Made for Bond 2015 advert

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#WeWillMeetAgain1D	#WeWillMeetAgain1D	#mondaymotivation
2	#libspill	#MondayMotivation	Tony Abbott
3	Cowboys	OD AM	#libspill
4	#HoyEstaPara	#IfTheZombiesAttack	#TUBill
5	고척돔	#libspill	John McDonnell
6	#aşkdediğin	Celebrity Apprentice	Brian Close
7	漢字1文字	Tony Abbott	#WeWillMeetAgain1D
8	Egipto	#AllForLove4DAYS	#UsOpenFinal
9	#MissAmerica	French Montana	#corbyncabinet
10	阿蘇山	#MusicMonday	#ROWYSOCELEBRATION

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen, Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- Five Saudi troops are killed following clashes with Houthi militants in the southern Najran region near the border with Yemen. (AFP via Yahoo!)
- Emirati troops advance on the Houthi controlled Yemeni capital, Sanaa after securing control of Marib, the capital of Marib province. (AP via Yahoo!)
- Ten people are killed, seven from the same family, in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike on a government building in a southern suburb of Sana’a, the Yemen capital. (Reuters)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- Taliban insurgents storm a prison in the central Afghan province of Ghazni killing at least four prison officers and freeing about 350 prisoners. The deputy provincial governor of the Ghazni province says the attackers were well-organised and wearing military uniforms. (BBC)
Syrian Civil War, Russia’s role in the Syrian Civil War
- The Pentagon says that Russia has deployed its domestic use only T-90 tanks and artillery pieces to Syria along with more troops in what one defense official described as the “first clear sign of offensive weapons arriving in Syria” and “the largest deployment of Russian forces outside the former Soviet Union since the collapse of the USSR“. (Fox News)

Business and economy

Brazil announces a $17 billion austerity package after Standard and Poors further downgrades its credit rating. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
A University of Notre Dame study finds significant correlation between substantial executive stock options and future product recalls. CEOs with abundant stock options get a huge payoff when the company performs well but endure minute consequences when it doesn’t. (Fortune)

Disasters and accidents

Kyushu island’s Mount Aso, Japan‘s largest active volcano, erupts. Numerous flights serving Kumamoto Airport are canceled. (Reuters via Trust), (CNN)
2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Tropical Storm Vamco makes landfall south of Da Nang, Viet Nam, causing flooding in the region. (Accu Weather)
At least seven people are dead and six missing after a flash flood in the American town of Hildale, Utah. (KUTV)

International relations

Relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma
- Takeshi Onaga, the governor of the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa, revokes approval for work on the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. (AFP via Straits Times)
European migrant crisis
- Germany reopens train services from Austria after reintroducing border controls. (Deutsche Welle)
- Slovakia announces renewed border controls with Hungary. (AP via The New York Times)
Colombia accuses Venezuela of violating its airspace for the second time in two days. (AFP via France 24)

Law and crime

Shannon Lamb, a professor at Delta State University who was suspected of two murders in the U.S. state of Mississippi—the woman he was living with in Gautier and a fellow professor at the Delta State campus in Cleveland—dies from a self-inflicted gunshot wound while being pursued by police. (Fox News)
Miller v. Davis
- In the U.S., Rowan County, Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis, involved in the litigation over same-sex marriage, states she will not block her deputies from issuing marriage licenses, but will not authorize them personally (her name will not appear on them, and they will state that they were given under a federal judicial order). (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Malcolm Turnbull launches a challenge for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Australia against incumbent Prime Minister Tony Abbott and wins 54–44. (ABC News Australia), (ABC News)
Guatemalan general election, 2015
- Manuel Baldizon drops out of the presidential race leaving Jimmy Morales and Sandra Torres in the runoff. (ABC Go)

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September 18, 2015

Top News Stories –

Rugby World Cup 2015 Opening Day celebrated with Google Doodle –
Google has marked the start of the 2015 Rugby World Cup with a special doodle. In the doodle, the “G” of Google is transformed into an animated rugby player running through the rain with a rugby ball under his arm.
According to Matt Cruickshank, who designed the doodle, it is intended to celebrate “the girth and gracefulness of the 2015 World Cup players”. “Having grown up playing rugby in England, I can still feel the muddy squelch in my boots lining up on the pitch for lessons,” he said. “After a few concepts I concentrated on the vice like grip of an arm around the ball and how this could be used as a ‘G’. I even added rain for the full effect.” [Daily Telegraph]

Obama to nominate first openly gay service secretary to lead the Army –
President Obama, in a historic first for the Pentagon, has chosen to nominate Eric Fanning to lead the Army, a move that would make him the first openly gay civilian secretary of one of the military services. Fanning, 47, has been a specialist on national security issues for more than two decades and has played a key role overseeing some of the Pentagon’s biggest shipbuilding and fighter jet programs. Fanning’s nomination, which must go to the Senate for confirmation, reflects a major shift for the Pentagon, which only four years ago prevented openly gay troops from serving in the military. The policy didn’t extend to civilian leaders, such as Fanning. [Washington Post]
Eric Fanning

Video of the Day –

1 Question That Reveals a Narcissist: “The Science of Us” Episode 9

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#RWC2015	#NationalCheeseburgerDay	#fridayfeeling
2	#SiAlgoNecesitoEsQue	Lira	#RWC2015
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4	Meral Akşener	#IStandWithPP	#DavisCup
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7	#ALDUBOneMoreDay	Obama a Muslim	#DontPanic
8	#شخصيه_تاريخيه…	Baby Doe	#Fattening90sBands
9	Coritiba	#OppositeDay	#bbcqt
10	Andy Reid	#MakeAFilmAnxious	Peyton

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Israel deploys an extra 800 Israeli police officers as Palestinians call for a “day of rage” protests in Jerusalem over entry restrictions to Al-Aqsa mosque. A police vehicle in Jerusalem was attacked with assault rifle fire. (Jerusalem Post), (Al Jazeera America)
2015 Camp Badaber attack
- Two security personnel, 17 worshippers in a mosque, and 13 militants are killed following a Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan attack on a Pakistan Air Force base on the outskirts of Peshawar. (The Express Tribune), (Reuters via SBS)
Syrian Civil War
- Russia moves its first tactical fighter jets to Syria, according to American sources. (CNN)
- The United States Secretary of State John Kerry agrees to begin military to military talks with Russia concerning Russia’s military activities in Syria. (The New York Times)
- At least 26 people are killed following Syrian Arab Air Force air-raids on the Islamic State-held central Syrian city of Palmyra according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (Reuters)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Shells fired by Yemeni forces across the border from Yemen kill at least three people and wound 28 others in the Jizan region. (Daily Star)

Business and economy

European communications company Altice announces plans to buy US cable television company Cablevision for $17.7 billion. (NPR via KVCR)
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency orders Volkswagen to fix nearly 500,000 VW and Audi diesel cars from model years 2009-2015 that include software that circumvents EPA emissions standards. (AP via Fox News), (EPA)
In India, about 2.3 million people respond to the state of Uttar Pradesh’s announcement of 368 low-level government jobs openings that pay 16,000 rupees ($240) a month. At least 255 of the applicants had a doctorate and over 200,000 had master’s degrees. (AP)

Health

A national alert is issued in the United Kingdom about a strain of gonorrhea that is highly drug resistant after 15 cases are reported in northern England. (AAP via SBS)
Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa
- Ebola virus cases in the United States
  - United States authorities announce mandatory Ebola screening will end for travelers from Liberia to five U.S. airports, effective September 21, 2015. Screening of travelers from Sierra Leone and Guinea will continue. (USA Today)

International relations

The government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe moves to enact legislation allowing the Japan Self-Defense Forces to serve overseas. Yesterday, fist-fights erupted in the parliament over this legislation. (Reuters)
European migrant crisis
- Croatia closes seven out of eight border crossings with Serbia. Zoran Milanović, the Prime Minister, says that his country “will move migrants on”. (BBC), (BBC)
Cuba–United States relations
- The United States departments of Commerce and Treasury announce removal of a series of restrictions on Americans traveling to and doing business with Cuba effective September 21, 2015. The U.S. economic embargo, itself, remains in place untilCongress acts. (USA Today), (Reuters)
A Venezuelan Air Force Sukhoi Su-30MKK crashes near the Colombian border after an illicit aircraft, probably linked to illicit drugs, enters Venezuelan airspace. (Reuters via Daily Mail)

Law and Crime

Baby Doe, a toddler who was found washed ashore Deer Island in Massachusetts in a trash bag, is identified as Bella Bond. (CNN)
Phoenix freeway shootings
- Governor of Arizona Doug Ducey states that 21-year-old Leslie Allen Merritt Jr. is ballistically linked to four incidents and arrested in Glendale, Arizona after a SWAT raid. Merritt was previously charged twice in 2013, the first for failing to stop at the scene of a damaged vehicle, and the second for assault and criminal damage. Police state that he is known to hold anti-government and anti-police views. He is charged with four counts each of aggravated assault, criminal damage, disorderly conduct, discharging a firearm within city limits, carrying out a drive-by shooting, and intentional acts of terrorism; and his bail is set at $1 million. (ABC15), (KOB), (HEAVY), (ABC News), (Q13FOX), (AZ Central), (CNN), (Yahoo News), (NBC News)

Politics and elections

The President of the United States nominates Eric Fanning as the first openly LGBT Secretary of the Army. (Washington Post)

Sports

In football, Jérôme Valcke steps aside as Secretary General of FIFA while his alleged involvement in a ticketing scandal is investigated. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
In rugby union, the opening ceremony of the 2015 Rugby World Cup is held at Twickenham. (The Guardian)

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September 21, 2015

Top News Stories –

Apple ‘sets shipping date for electric car’ –
Apple has designated building an electric car as a “committed project” and has set a target shipping date for 2019, according to reports. The project has been codenamed Titan and its leaders have been given permission to triple the 600-person team, the Wall Street Journal claimed. For Apple, a “ship date” doesn’t necessarily mean the date that customers receive a new product; it can also mean the date that engineers sign off on the product’s main features. Reports in August revealed that Apple was developing a car and studying self-driving technology, but it was unclear if the iPhone maker was designing a vehicle that could drive itself. [Daily Telegraph]

Foo Fighters ‘kicked off’ performing at Emmys after disagreement with Fox –
Dave Grohl says Foo Fighters were “kicked off” performing at the Emmy’s after a disagreement with Fox. The singer said that the band had been approached to play at the ceremony. But he says their spot was pulled after they refused to play half of Sonic Highways and half of Learning To Fly. “The band and the Academy were extremely happy and excited to have Foo Fighters play as the first ever rock band on the Emmys,” the Foos said in a statement to Rolling Stone magazine. “Fox then refused to allow the band to play a full song from the Emmy-winning Sonic Highways. [BBC Newsbeat]
Dave Grohl

Video of the Day –

Movie Phone Super Call from Burger Fiction on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Happy Dhanteras	#StopTheGOP	#ThingsLongerThanOscarsSen…
2	#ThingsLongerThanOscarsSen…	#PLLHalloweenSpecial	Renee Zellweger
3	#NoMeSale	Renee Zellweger	#HurricaneGonzalo
4	#ZaynMalikSexiest	#ZaynMalikSexiest	Mike Read
5	Christophe de Margerie	Monica Lewinsky	#WelcomeToNewYork
6	Gough Whitlam	Christmas	Orton
7	Renee Zellweger	#ExplainAnAnimePlotBadly	#HIAC
8	#RIPOscarDeLaRenta	#RIPOscarDeLaRenta	#RAWKansasCity
9	#KwentongJEEPNEY	#ImprovedBaseball	BMTH
10	#marry	RIP Oscar de la Renta	Halloween

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War, Russia’s role in the Syrian Civil War
- U.S. officials say Russia has begun flying drones on surveillance missions over Syria in what would be Russia’s first military air operations in the country since the recent military build-up at a Syrian airbase in Latakia. (Reuters)
War in Somalia (2009–present)
- A car bomb in Somalia kills at least six people at the gates of the presidential palace in Mogadishu. (BBC)
Iraq War (2014–present)
- An Islamic State car bomb kills at least 12 people in Baghdad. (Reuters)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- A Saudi-led military coalition bombardment in the Yemeni capital, Sana’a, kills at least 50 people. (Reuters)
Moro conflict
- Gunmen abduct a Norwegian resort manager, two Canadians, and a Filipino from a resort in the southern Philippines. (AP)

Arts and culture

Pope Francis, on the second day of his journey in Cuba, leaves Havana for Holguin. He says a Mass at Revolution Plaza, blesses Holguin from the Loma de la Cruz area, arrives in Santiago de Cuba, flies to Santiago de Cuba, meets with the Cuban Bishops at Saint Basil the Great Seminary, and says a prayer with them at the Minor Basilica of the Basílica Santuario Nacional de Nuestra Señora de la Caridad del Cobre (Shrine of Our Lady of del Cobre). (CNN)

Business and economy

French regulator Commission nationale de l’informatique et des libertés (CNIL) rejects Google, Inc.’s appeal of their order that the company remove ‘Right to be forgotten (RTBF)‘ search results worldwide. Failure to comply could subject Google to sanctions, from €300,000 (US$465,060) to 5 percent of global operating costs. The Guardian, (PC World)
Apple Inc announces that it will speed up work on an electric car to be ready by 2019. (Wall Street Journal), (VentureBeat)
Many Skype users are unable to access the service. The Microsoft-owned company acknowledges the problem. (Reuters), (Skype)

Disasters and accidents

The toll of homes destroyed by Northern California wildfires reaches 1,600. (AP)

International relations

European migrant crisis
- Hungary‘s parliament passes a law allowing the Hungarian military to help handle the migrant crisis at its borders with Serbia and Croatia, including the right to use non-lethal force such as rubber bullets, pyrotechnical devices, tear gas grenades or net guns. (Reuters)
- The United States White House announces the U.S. will give $419 million more in humanitarian aid to assist Syrian refugees and the countries that are hosting them. (The Washington Post)

Law and crime

In Auckland, New Zealand, an extradition hearing for Kim Dotcom, former owner of a file sharing website, for alleged copyright infringement, racketeering, and money laundering begins, seeking to bring him to the U.S. (BBC)
At least eight people are killed and 45 wounded in shootings over the weekend across Chicago. (Fox Chicago)
A Denver, Colorado federal jury convicts Harold Henthorn of murder in the death of his wife Toni Henthorn, who fell off a cliff as they hiked in Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park to celebrate their wedding anniversary. His previous wife had died in suspicious circumstances also. (AP)
Peanut Corporation of America owner Stewart Parnell is sentenced to 28 years for Salmonella typhimurium-tainted peanut butter, the most severe punishment ever handed out to a producer in a foodborne illness case. In late 2008 and early 2009, nine people died and at least 714 people in 46 states, half of them children, fell ill. Parnell and his brother were convicted in September 2014 of 71 criminal counts. His brother Michael Parnell is sentenced to 20 years, and the plant’s former quality control manager Mary Wilkerson is sentenced to five years. (LA Times), (USA Today)

Politics and elections

Political parties in Northern Ireland hold talks to save a power-sharing agreement following claims that Irish nationalist militants were involved in the murder of a former operative. (Reuters)
United States presidential election, 2016
- Governor of Wisconsin Scott Walker quits his campaign for the Republican Party nomination. (The New York Times)
2015 Burkinabe coup d’état
- The coup leader General Gilbert Diendéré says that he is ready to hand over power to transitional authorities as the army marches on the capital Ouagadougou. (BBC)

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September 22, 2015

Top News Stories –

Robert Lewandowski scores fastest five goals in Budesliga history –
Robert Lewandowski scored five goals in nine minutes after coming on as a substitute for Bayern Munich in their Bundesliga victory against Wolfsburg. Bayern trailed 1-0 at half-time, when Lewandowski came on for Thiago. Six minutes later, the Poland international netted his first goal of the night from close range. Lewandowski added four more in quick succession to record the fastest five goals scored by one player in Bundesliga history. [BBC]
Robert Lewandowski

Volkswagen CEO: ‘We have totally screwed up’ –
The President and CEO of Volkswagen’s US group has admitted that the company “totally screwed up” in using software to rig emissions tests. Michael Horn told an audience in New York that Volkswagen had been “dishonest” and that their actions went against their own “values”. Last Friday, US regulators said VW diesel cars had much higher emissions than tests had suggested. Some other governments have announced they will also investigate. [BBC]

Heist havoc: US bank robber shot by customer –
A US bank robber has ended up in hospital after his heist went spectacularly wrong and he was shot by a customer of the bank he was trying to hold up. The drama unfolded in the Michigan city of Warren. The robber was in the middle of holding up the bank and was about to be given money by the teller when he was shot in both arms and a leg by a bank customer, according to the Local 4 news station. The robber fled the bank but was later found by police lying on the street, bleeding. The bank robber is now in hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The customer, who had a concealed weapon licence, is co-operating with police. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

The Big Short Trailer

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#ReContraDaPara	#IfICouldTimeTravel	#ThingsLongerThanOscarsSen…
2	#IfICouldTimeTravel	#ExplainAnAnimePlotBadly	Renee Zellweger
3	Renee Zellweger	Ben Bradlee	S Club 7
4	#OttawaShooting	Halloween	#IfICouldTimeTravel
5	Happy Deepavali	#OttawaShooting	Halloween
6	S Club 7	Renee Zellweger	London
7	Ben Bradlee	Christmas	#ExplainAnAnimePlotBadly
8	#ExplainAnAnimePlotBadly	#BryantAndNashNewVideo	#StillLoveYouNoMatterWhat
9	Parliament Hill	#WorldSeriesGame2	Christmas
10	#DahilSembreakNa	#PrayForOttawa	#artRAVEManchester

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2015 Burkinabé coup d’état
- The army of Burkina Faso arrives in Ouagadougou to seek the surrender of the Presidential Guard that staged the coup. (BBC)
- The coup leaders free President Michel Kafando and Prime Minister Yacouba Isaac Zida after the army entered the capital, Ouagadougou. Negotiations, seeking a peaceful resolution, between the chief of the army and the leader of presidential guardcontinue. (DW Akademie)
Moro conflict
- Filipino troops stage raids to attempt to capture six overseas-born hostages held by Abu Sayyaf militants. (AP)
Syrian Civil War, Russia’s role in the Syrian Civil War
- IHS Jane’s reports satellite photos, taken in mid-September, show Russian forces developing two additional military facilities near Syria’s Mediterranean coast. (Reuters)
- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says the type of Russian aircraft in Syria is consistent with that needed to protect their own forces. However, it is still not clear what Russia’s long-term intentions are. (Voice of America), (Reuters)

Arts and culture

Pope Francis arrives in the U.S. from his last stop in Cuba, Santiago de Cuba, at Joint Base Andrews (formerly, Andrews Air Force Base), near Washington D.C., to start his first tour of the United States. He is received by U.S. President Barack Obama, his wife, U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, Malia and Sasha Obama, Marian Lois Robinson, U.S. Vice President Joseph R. Biden, his wife, U.S. Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden, two Biden granddaughters, the Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S. Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, military and base leaders, and Washington’s Cardinal Donald Wuerl. He will be received tomorrow morning in a second arrival ceremony, at the White House, and will meet with the President there. (The Guardian)
U.S. District Judge of California George H. King rules that Warner/Chappell Music does not hold the copyright to the song Happy Birthday to You. (Hollywood Reporter), (NBC News)

Business and economy

Volkswagen emissions violations
- Volkswagen says that 11 million vehicles could have suspect emission control software and it has set aside 6.5 billion euros ($7.2 billion US dollars) for possible fines, repairs, and litigation. (NBC News)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Southeast Asian haze
- The haze from Indonesian forest fires worsens leaving Singapore and parts of Indonesia covered in smog. (Bloomberg via Business Times)
2015 California wildfires
- The President of the United States Barack Obama signs a disaster declaration for the Valley Fire which has claimed three lives in Lake County, California. (KCRA)

International relations

The President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro and the President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos agree to gradually reopen their common border which had been closed following a Venezuelan crackdown on smuggling. (BBC)
European migrant crisis
- European Union ministers meet in Brussels and reach agreement on a plan to distribute asylum seekers. (The New York Times), (AP via Fox News)
Two Cabinet ministers from the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) in Turkey’s interim government resign over the increased violence in Kurdish areas of the country. Their exit leaves no opposition figures in the government. (Reuters), (Al Arabiya)

Law and crime

1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal
- The United States Justice Department launches an investigation of money laundering associated with the 1Malaysia Development Berhad sovereign wealth fund, as well as the purchase of luxury properties in New York involving shell companies linked toMalaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak’s step-son Riza Aziz and businessman Jho Low. (Economic Times-India)
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos announces a new anti-drug plan involving the substitution of legal crops for coca plantations. In July, the National Narcotics Council suspended the United States-backed aerial spraying of the crop after the World Health Organization reclassified glyphosate, the herbicide used, as a probable carcinogen. (AP via ABC News), (EFE via Fox News Latino), (COHA)

Sports

American Major League Baseball Hall of Fame catcher, manager, and coach Lawrence Peter “Yogi” Berra, who played almost his entire 19-year baseball career (1946–65) for the New York Yankees, dies at the age of 90. (NBC News)

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September 26, 2015

Top News Stories –

Michigan motorist sets car, gas pump on fire trying to kill spider with cigarette lighter –
A motorist got more than he bargained for when he stopped at a Michigan gas station earlier this week and started a fire when he tried to kill a spider with a cigarette lighter. Surveillance video from the Mobil gas station in Center Line shows flames quickly engulfing the man’s car and the gas pump, Fox 2 Detroit reported Friday, while adding that luckily no one was hurt. The dopey motorist put out the flames with a fire extinguisher. He told authorities he spotted a spider on his gas tank and pulled out his lighter to get rid of it, the station said. He claimed to be deathly afraid of spiders. Calmly, Adams hit the gas automatic stop button and quickly called the Center Line Fire Department. The fire destroyed the gas pump. The motorist’s vehicle suffered little damage. [Fox News] See Video of the Day

Mark Zuckerberg calls for universal internet access to combat poverty –
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and a host of celebrities kicked off a campaign on Saturday to make internet access universal, saying this was critical to fulfilling the United Nations’ newly adopted agenda to combat global ills. Calling for efforts to ensure internet access for everyone globally by 2020, Mr Zuckerberg said internet connections are a dynamic tool for sharing knowledge, creating opportunities, lifting communities out of poverty and promoting peace. “A ‘like’ or a post won’t stop a tank or a bullet, but when people are connected, we have a chance to build a common global community with a shared understanding,” Mr Zuckerberg told at a private lunch with business leaders at the United Nations. [Daily Telegraph]
Mark Zuckerberg

Switzerland bans sale of Volkswagen diesel cars –
Switzerland is banning sales of Volkswagen diesel engine cars which could be fitted with ‘cheating’ devices in the wake of the emissions-rigging scandal. Authorities said all VW models with diesel engines suspected of being able to trick emissions tests are affected. Other makes in the VW group, including Seat and Skoda, are also being banned from sale. In all, the move is expected to affect 180,000 cars, not yet sold or registered in Switzerland. Cars sold and already on the road will not be subject to the ban. [Daily Telegraph] On September 22 the CEO of VW’s American company admitted that they had “screwed up” and subsequently resigned.

Video of the Day –

LiveLeak – Crazy Man Set Fire To Gas Station To Kill Spider

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#ALDubEBforLOVE	#3YearsRIPAvalanna	#ENGvWAL
2	#3YearsRIPAvalanna	#BatmanDay	#PiggyFilms
3	#QueMeFalteTodoMenos	#GlobalCitizen	#Strictly
4	#ShowtimeKapamilyaDay	#MySexLifeInAMovieTitleIs	#LabWomen15
5	#1DPremiosTelehit	Meow the Jewels	#ComplainWithASong
6	Messi	#PopeInPhilly	#BatmanDay
7	#VerdadesSecretas	#ALDubEBforLOVE	#JapaneseGP
8	#BatmanDay	#ComplainWithASong	#3YearsRIPAvalanna
9	#SlipknotNoMultishow	#Popein3words	Bond
10	Newcastle	Chris Martin	#COYS

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Two Saudi border guards, including a district commander, are killed following clashes with Yemeni forces near the border with Yemen. (Reuters)
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
- At least four Armenian soldiers are killed following an Azeri attack near the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region. Yesterday, Azerbaijan shelled several ethnic Armenian villages, leaving three civilians dead. (Reuters)
- Armenia‘s Defense Ministry declares that it will “use artillery and missiles” to repel attacks by Azerbaijan following the deaths of four soldiers in the Nagorno-Karabakh region, raising fears of all-out war between the rival countries. (Fox News)
A prominent Libyan Zuwarah militia leader and migrant smuggler, Salah Al-Maskhout, is reportedly killed in Tripoli by Italian special forces. The EU recently approved military action against people smuggling networks operating out of Libya. (Malta Today)
Turkey–PKK conflict
- Fighting in the south-eastern Şırnak Province kills thirty-four PKK militants, four civilians, and two Turkish soldiers. Also, the Turkish military conducts airstrikes on PKK camps in Iraq‘s northern Dohuk Governorate. (Al Jazeera)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Iraq says that Iran, Russia and Syria are assisting it in its fight with the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific hurricane season
- Tropical Storm Niala forms off the coast of the Hawaiian islands with the likelihood of heavy rain on the island of Hawaii (Big Island) over the weekend. (Accuweather)
A fire severely damages the Baitul Futuh Mosque, London, United Kingdom. (BBC News Online)
2015 Hajj stampede
- The death toll from the stampede near Mecca rises to 769, with 934 injuries. (ITV)

International relations

Russia-Estonia relations
- Russia and Estonia exchange two convicted spies. (BBC)

Law and crime

Ahmad Al Faqi is transferred to the International Criminal Court to face trial for the war crime of directing the destruction of cultural sites in Timbuktu, Mali when the city was under the control of Islamist groups in 2012. (BBC News)

Politics and elections

Bolivia‘s Plurinational Legislative Assembly passes legislation that would amend the constitution removing term limits for the President if passed in a referendum next year. (Reuters via Daily Mail)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

October 5, 2015

Top News Stories –

Thousands of NASA Apollo mission photos uploaded online –
Thousands of photos taken by Apollo astronauts on moon missions are now online. Around 13,000 scans of images from NASA’s archives, taken across ALL manned Apollo missions between 1961 and 1972 have been given to founder of the Project Apollo Archive Kipp Teague. He told Newsbeat “serious budget cuts” mean the organisation doesn’t have the resourses to publish them. Kipp launched the gallery in 1999, but following questioning about decisions to edit some images in the past, he was prompted to post unedited, high resolution images this time around. [BBC Newsbeat]
Apollo 11 Magazine 40/S – (Color) / EVA; NASA photographs; unprocessed 1800 dpi Hasselblad film scans by Johnson Space Center, circa 2005

Extreme phone pinching is the strangest trend of 2015 –
Back in 2013 there was the Harlem Shake. In 2014, we had the Ice Bucket Challenge. Since then, social media trends have taken a bizarre turn, via some goats. Extreme phone pinching is the latest trend sweeping social media networks, and it involves holding your expensive phone over perilous locations. The only rule appears to be that you can only hold onto your gadget using only your thumb and forefinger. Photos and videos have been flooding the internet of phone users dangling their precious handsets over cliffs, toilets and drains. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Box Clever – Simon’s Cat

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#FelizLunes	#WorldTeachersDay	#WorldTeachersDay
2	#ArgentinaDebate	#mondaymotivation	#mondaymotivation
3	わたしの心	American Apparel	#plasticbags
4	Air France	Grace Lee Boggs	Lord Adonis
5	#MTVFANWARSDirectioners	CC Sabathia	Jeremy Hunt
6	#سعوديه_تفضح_ز�…	#StopGunViolence	Henning Mankell
7	#شي_جميل_بحرف_ا…	#TPP	Ched Evans
8	Henning Mankell	#MyGenitaliaIn4Words	American Apparel
9	#ALDUBSwitch	#WhatYouDontTellCustomers	AstraZeneca
10	Independiente	#MTVFANWARSDirectioners	#ThisIsEngland90

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War, Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
- Turkey says a Russian warplane violated its airspace near the Syrian border, prompting the Turkish Air Force to scramble two F-16 fighter jets to intercept it. The Foreign Ministry summoned Russia’s ambassador to protest the violation and urged Russia to avoid repeating such a violation, or it would be held “responsible for any undesired incident that may occur”. (Reuters)
- Unconfirmed reports claim that Russia is mobilizing 150,000 troops to attack the Islamic State (Express)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- At least 57 people are killed following car-bombings across Iraq, including a rare bombing in the southern Basra province leaving 10 people dead. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are suspected of being behind the attacks. (Reuters)
Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- Fighting rages between Houthi militants and Hadi loyalists backed-by Saudi-led coalition forces along Yemen’s Red Sea coast for control over the strategic Bab-el-Mandeb strait. Houthi officials said their forces had destroyed six opposing tanks and killed multiple pro-Hadi fighters. Also, the UAE announced another of its soldiers had died during fighting in Ma’rib. (Business Insider)

Business and economy

Clothing manufacturer and retailer American Apparel files for bankruptcy. The company said its 200+ retail stores will continue to operate without any interruptions. (New York Times) (Forbes)
The World Bank estimates that 9.6 percent of the world’s population is living in extreme poverty this year, down from 12.8% in 2012. The bank also updated its global poverty line from $1.25 per day to $1.90 per day to reflect inflation and changes in purchasing power around the world; it was last adjusted in 2008. (Time) (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

October 2015 nor’easter
- Additional search and rescue efforts take place in the American city of Columbia, South Carolina. (AccuWeather) (USA Today)
- In South Carolina, nine people are now reported dead in weather-related incidents and millions remain homebound. Rain is forecast to continue with parts of the state dealing with flooding for some time. (CNN) (AP via ACBS News)
Hurricane Joaquin
- The El Faro, missing since Thursday, is announced to have sunk on Thursday with 33 people on board during Hurricane Joaquin after a debris field is found. (NBC News)
2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Mujigae
  - At least nine people are dead as Typhoon Mujigae hits southern China in the midst of the country’s weeklong National Day holiday. Mujigae also generated several strong tornadoes and left dozens of fishermen missing. Nearly 200,000 people had been evacuated before the storm made landfall. Neighboring Guangxi Zhuang region orders 12,700 fishing boats and 35,400 offshore workers to return to port. (AP) (International Business Times)
  - Tropical Storm Kabayan (local name for then-Tropical Storm Mujigae) left at least two dead in the Philippines with two injured and 63 persons missing. The system intensified as it left the Philippine Area of Responsibility heading toward China. (Manila Sun Star) (Philippine Star)

International relations

The government of Nauru announces that the Nauru Detention Centre will become an “open facility” where people seeking asylum in Australia will be able to move freely around the island. (ABC News Australia)
North Korea repatriates a South Korean student held in detention since April. (Yonhap News)

Law and crime

Former Chief Executive of Hong Kong Donald Tsang is charged with corruption by the Independent Commission Against Corruption. (Hong Kong Free Press)
The Trans-Pacific Partnership between the United States and 11 Pacific Rim countries is finalized in the American city of Atlanta, Georgia. According to wikileaks, The main point of the deal will be that trans-national corporations will not be subjected to laws of individual countries. Instead an international system will be formed with the right to overrule national laws and legal decisions. (The Australian)

Politics and elections

Governor Jerry Brown signs legislation which would go into effect late 2016, legalizing euthanasia statewide in California.(CNN)

Science

William C. Campbell, Satoshi Omura and Tu Youyou win the 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their work on parasitic diseases. (AP) (Washington Post)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

October 6, 2015

Top News Stories –

Kentucky pet store worker nearly crushed to death by python –
A man working at a Kentucky pet store has been seriously hurt after a massive python he was feeding nearly crushed him to death. Police said they were called to Captive Born Reptiles and found the snake wrapped around the man. Terry Wilkens was not breathing when the officers pried the snake off him but he resumed breathing shortly afterwards, officers said. The python weighed about 125lb (56kg) and measured 20ft (6m) long. “It was only by the grace of God that one of the officers knew how to deal with snakes,” Newport Kentucky Police Chief Tom Collins told the Cincinnati Enquirer. Officer Gregory Ripberger grabbed the snake by its head and uncurled the python from Mr Wilkens. [BBC]
Jungle Carpet python

Instagram says @music is just the start for music on the app –
The boss of Instagram has said “it’s just a matter of time before music becomes even more dominant” on the app. Kevin Systrom’s social media site has just turned five. But he told Newsbeat: “We never knew music would take off in the way it did but now 25% of our top [most followed] accounts are music related”. In April, Instagram launched @music, which Kevin explained set out to “feature off-the-beaten path, hard-to-find accounts.” [BBC Newsbeat]

Author jailed for flashing after prostitute disputes small penis claims –
A serial flasher has been jailed after a woman appeared in court and gave a detailed description of his penis. Hinton Sheryn, 68, had denied he would get his penis out in public – because he was embarrassed it was “unusually small”. But officers managed to find a prostitute he used who came to court at the last minute and contested his claims. The female sex worker described his manhood and told Plymouth Crown Court it was a “normal” size. Her late intervention helped convict the successful author, who has now been jailed for 17 years after being convicted of 18 crimes. The former pop promoter was so notorious for exposing himself in the village near Plymouth, Devon, where he lived in the 1970s and 1980s he was known as “the flasher”. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

The New Microsoft Band: Live Healthier and Achieve More

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#NiallsNewGirlfriend	Rachel Dolezal	Theresa May
2	#EnTwitterSiempreEsta	#AllDayBreakfast	#NationalBadgerDay
3	Twilight	#SeeTheMomentWhen	#charitytuesday
4	Theresa May	#NiallsNewGirlfriend	#RAW
5	#MTVFanWars5SOSFam	#NewSpaceFacts	#IoDAC
6	Lolla	Twilight	#MTVFanWars5SOSFam
7	Lions	Victor Cruz	Busted
8	#شي_جميل_بحرف_ا…	#WildCard	#IsBritainRacist
9	#البنات_ايش_يا�…	Chantal Akerman	#IDSMurder
10	#HoyEstaPara	Chris Archer	#TravelTuesday

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- A hotel where Vice President of Yemen and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah was staying in Aden which was also being used as a de-facto military base by Arab coalition forces is hit by multiple explosions killing at least 15 coalition soldiers. Although theHouthis were first suspected and accused of being behind the attack, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has since claimed responsibility, marking the first attack on Arab coalition forces in Yemen by the extremist group. (CNN) (Al-Arabiyah News)
- In the Houthi-controlled Yemeni capital, Sanaa, at least seven people are killed following a suicide-bomb attack on the al-Nour mosque. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War, Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says Russia’s pair of violations of Turkish airspace over the weekend do not look like accidents. Russia, which said it’s looking into claims of a second violation, reported the first violation lasted a few seconds and was due to poor weather. (BBC)
- Russian warplanes bomb Islamic State positions in the central Syrian city of Palmyra and in the northern Aleppo province, releasing videos that show them destroying 20 vehicles and 3 weapons depots. (Reuters)
- Turkey says its jets patrolling the Turkish-Syrian border were directly threatened by a Russian MiG-29 and later by an an anti-aircraft missile system which locked-radar on the Turkish jets. (Independent)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Russia says it would consider extending its air-strikes against Islamic State militants in Syria to Iraq if it receives such a request from the Iraqi government. Iraqi President, Fuad Masum has recently said he would welcome this assistance. (Reuters)
Boko Haram insurgency
- A Boko Haram attack near Lake Chad kills at least 11 Chadian troops while 17 Boko Haram militants are also reportedly killed in the fighting following the pre-dawn strike on Chadian army positions. (AFP via Yahoo)

Business and economy

The European Court of Justice decides an international agreement, generally known as a Safe Harbor rule, used by thousands of companies for moving people’s digital data between the European Union and the United States is invalid, effective immediately. The decision throws into doubt how global technology giants like Facebook, Amazon and Google can collect, manage, and analyze online information from their millions of users in the 28-member bloc. Decisions by this court, the highest legal authority in the EU, cannot be appealed. (The New York Times) (USA Today) (BBC) (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

Typhoon Mujigae (2015)
- Sixteen campers are missing in south China‘s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region following a flash flood in a camping reserve. (Xinhua)
October 2015 nor’easter, Hurricane Joaquin
- Thirteen people are reported to have died during this storm, 11 in South Carolina and two in North Carolina. At least 18 dams have breached or failed since Saturday. Communities downstream face a mass of water working its way toward the low-lying coast. (CNN)
- Hurricane Joaquin missed the East Coast but brought tropical moisture aimed directly at South Carolina. (ABC News)
2015 El Cambray Dos landslide
- The death toll from Thursday’s landslide in the Guatemalan village of El Cambray Dos increased to 152 with more than 300 people missing. No survivors have been found at the site. Search crews have found entire families who died huddled together and buried alive. The Guatemala’s National Disaster Reduction Commission, known as the Conred, declared the area uninhabitable. (BBC) (Reuters) (Press TV)

International relations

Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Israel destroys the homes of three Palestinian terrorists. Rassen and Udai abu-Jamal who committed the 2014 Jerusalem synagogue attack and Moatez Hijazi who committed the excavator rampage in Jerusalem during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict.(Jerusalem Post)

Law and crime

2015 Burkinabe coup d’état
- Associated Press reports that coup leader General Gilbert Diendéré has been formally charged. (AP via ABC News America)
Former President of the United Nations General Assembly John William Ashe is charged with taking US$1.3 million in bribes from Chinese businessmen. (AFP via Channel News Asia)

Science and technology

Takaaki Kajita and Arthur B. McDonald win the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of neutrino oscillations. (AP via Yahoo! News)

Sport

2015 FIFA corruption case
- South Korean FIFA presidential candidate Chung Mong-joon admits that he is facing charges before FIFA’s ethics committee but denies wrongdoing. (Reuters via Daily Nail)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

October 10, 2015

October 11, 2015

Top News Stories –

Shia LaBeouf Arrested For Public Intoxication –
Transformers star Shia LaBeouf has been arrested in Austin, Texas for public intoxication. A video on the TMZ website appears to show the actor in handcuffs as police put him in the back of a patrol car. Witnesses told the site the actor was acting bizarrely, running down the street, jaywalking and ignoring police warnings. The Austin City Limits music festival is currently taking place in the city. Records show the 29-year-old was booked into Travis County Jail on Friday night and later released. [Sky News]
Shia Labeouf

Japan: Citizens clamour for Tokyo disaster manual –
A manual to help people in Tokyo prepare for disasters has proved so popular that local officials have complained that they are being sold on the internet for profit. The 340-page Tokyo Bousai (“Disaster Preparedness Tokyo”) appears in a startling yellow cover, and 7.5m copies are being distributed free of charge to Tokyo residents. It’s currently available to download in Japanese and English from the city government’s website, but for those who still crave a physical copy of the manual, the Tokyo government is considering selling it at cost price. [BBC]
Tokyo Disaster Manual

Video of the Day –

Living Rivers – Surf from Epic Montana on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#WorldMentalHealthDay	#WorldMentalHealthDay	#WorldMentalHealthDay
2	#EsViernesY	#WhatIWantOnMyTombstone	#nonleagueday
3	#Ankaradayız	#JusticeOrElse	#25Millionaires
4	과자전	Ankara	#ZaynTaughtUs
5	#ZaynTaughtUs	Shia LaBeouf	Geoffrey Howe
6	タイバニ	#HamOrCheeseMovies	Jim Diamond
7	#TengoGanasDe	#ZaynTaughtUs	#AUSvWAL
8	게살버거	As Told By Ginger	#BBC4
9	#EBDabarkadsPaMore	#IHaveToRemindMyself	#5sosonchattyman
10	#Felices24Lali	#MillionManMarch	#grahamnorton

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- Palestinian militants fire 3 rockets into Israel during the night after several violent riots throughout Israel and the West Bank. (BBC)
- Israeli security forces shoot dead two Palestinians aged 12 and 15 in protests along Gaza’s border fence. (Reuters)
- The death toll from Friday’s violence at the Gaza Strip border is now seven Palestinians. Of the 60 wounded, 10 were seriously injured. Massive riots managed to breach the border fence and enter Israeli territory and were dispersed by live fire. (Ynet News)
2015 Ankara bombings
- Twin bomb blasts in the Turkish capital Ankara near the main train station leave at least 97 people dead and over 400 wounded. The bombing occurred during a peace rally protesting the conflict between Turkey and the militant Kurdish PKK. (BBC),(CNN), (Sky News Australia)
Boko Haram insurgency
- Five suicide bombers target a village in Chad that is home to thousands of Nigerian refugees who have fled Boko Haram, killing at least 36 people. (AP)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- The U.S. Department of Defense will make payments to families of victims of last week’s U.S. airstrike that struck a Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) hospital in the Afghan city of Kunduz. At least 22 people were killed including 12 staff members and 10 patients, including three children. MSF says 33 people are still missing and presumed to have died in the fire. (Reuters) (NBC News) (AFP via ABC News)
Mali conflict
- Suspected jihadists attack Dioungani, a village in central Mali, killing a local official in front of his family. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

At least eight people have died in a major fire at a halting site for Irish travellers in the south of Dublin. (Irish Times)

International relations

Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
- China completes the construction of two lighthouses on the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea according to Chinese state media. The U.S. and the Philippines have opposed the construction efforts. (The Guardian)
North Korea holds a massive military parade in its capital, Pyongyang, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Workers’ Party of Korea rule in the country. (BBC)
Egypt–France relations
- During a state visit to Cairo by French prime minister Manuel Valls, Egypt officially signs a deal with France to purchase the two Mistral-class helicopter carriers that were originally destined for Russia but France refused to deliver due to the Ukrainian crisis. Russia will sell Egypt the helicopters originally intended for the ships. (Times of India)

Politics and elections

Over 100,000 people protest in Berlin against the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership accord between the European Union and the United States. (RT), (DW), (CNBC), (France24)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

October 15, 2015

Top News Stories –

Twitter goes down for 10 minutes, everybody panics –
Twitter went down for users in several parts of the world, causing widespread panic and much soul-searching across the UK, Japan and parts of America. The Twitter website, Tweetdeck – its service for power users, and its mobile apps were all down at 14:14 BST on Thursday. Service was restored roughly 10 minutes later. The website Down Detector, which registers reports of outages, registered a huge spike in queries for Twitter being down. Users in the UK, Japan, the US and the Middle East were among those affected. [Daily Telegraph]
Twitter down notice

Russia ‘tried to cut off’ World Wide Web –
Russia has run large scale experiments to test the feasibility of cutting the country off the World Wide Web, a senior industry executive has claimed. The tests, which come amid mounting concern about a Kremlin campaign to clamp down on internet freedoms, have been described by experts as preparations for an information blackout in the event of a domestic political crisis. Andrei Semerikov, general director of a Russian service provider called Er Telecom, said Russia’s ministry of communications and Roskomnadzor, the national internet regulator, ordered communications hubs run by the main Russian internet providers to block traffic to foreign communications channels by using a traffic control system called DPI. The objective was to see whether the Runet – the informal name for the Russian internet – could continue to function in isolation from the global internet. The experiment, which took place in spring this year, failed because thousands of smaller service providers, which Roskomnadzor has little control over, continued to pass information out of the country, Mr Semerikov said. [Daily Telegraph]

Porn during lunch breaks is OK but smoking cannabis can get you sacked, Italy’s highest court rules –
Employees cannot be sacked for watching porn during their lunch breaks if it does not impact upon their ability to do their work, Italy’s highest court has ruled. According to Italian media reports, the Court of Cassation ruled against major car manufacturer Fiat after it sacked a factory worker in Termini Imerese, a town in Sicily. Bosses had caught the man watching adult films at work, but he argued that his viewing was limited to “catching a glimpse of a movie during his lunch break”. But it wasn’t all bad news for Fiat, as in a separate ruling on Wednesday the court found the carmaker was within its rights to sack a man caught smoking cannabis during his lunch break – presumably because its effects continued into his working hours. [The Independent]

Video of the Day –

Back To The Future In ACTUAL 2015 – by College Humor

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#ImPerfect	#SpiritDay	#SNP15
2	#FelizJueves	#ProblemsTechnologyCantSolve	#EducationDay
3	Primark	Master P	Die Hard
4	#EstariaNecesitando	The Drone Papers	Oscar Pistorius
5	#شخصيه_كويتيه_�…	#OceanCelebs	#kidscompany
6	#5SOSMNL	Oscar Pistorius	Fantastic Four
7	Oscar Pistorius	#IDontMeanToScareYouBut	#GlobalHandwashingDay
8	#Empire	Theranos	Boris Johnson
9	#DiaDoProfessor	Fantastic Four	Danny Ings
10	#曲名に無職だけど�…	Evan Peters	King Kong

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- President of the United States Barack Obama announces that he will keep 5,500 troops in Afghanistan. (RT)
Internal conflict in Myanmar:
- The government of Myanmar signs a peace treaty with eight ethnic armed groups, although some powerful groups stay away. (AP via Star Tribune)
Yemeni Civil War (2015), Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Yemen‘s Sana’a-controlled forces fire a Scud missile at Saudi Arabia in retaliation to Saudi “war crimes”. A spokesman for Yemen’s military allied with Houthi militants said the missile hit a Saudi airbase and caused “widespread destruction”. There was no immediate comment from the Saudi side. (Reuters)
- Thousands gather in Aden‘s Al Ouroudh Square to thank coalition forces and to celebrate victory three months after pushing Houthi militants out of southern Yemen. (Gulf News)
European migrant crisis
- At least one person is reportedly killed after Bulgarian border guards open fire on a group of illegal migrants after they attempted to cross the border from Turkey. The incident happened near the southeastern town of Sredets. (AFP via Channel News Asia) (Yahoo)
Boko Haram insurgency
- A twin bombing near a mosque kills at least 26 people in the northeast Nigerian city of Maiduguri. (The Washington Post)
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- An Israeli is stabbed by a fellow Israeli Jew, because he is mistaken for an Arab. (New York Times) (The Guardian)

Business and economy

Volkswagen emissions scandal
- The German automotive watchdog KBA orders Volkswagen to recall 2.4 million cars in that country after the emissions scandal becomes public knowledge. (Reuters via SBS Australia)

International relations

Vietnam says a Chinese vessel rammed into and sank one of its fishing boats near disputed islands in the South China Sea. More than 20 Vietnamese fishing boats have been attacked by Chinese vessels this year causing tensions between both countries.(AP via Yahoo)

Disasters and accidents

Hurricane Joaquin & SS El Faro
- The United States National Transportation Safety Board (NSTB) has asked the U.S. Navy to resume the search ended by the U.S. Coast Guard for the merchant vessel SS EL FARO believed lost on Oct. 7 during Hurricane Joaquin. The loss of the ship – with its crew of 33 hands – is regarded as “the worst U.S. merchant marine disaster of recent memory.” (USNI News)

Law and crime

2015 Parramatta shooting
- Rahan Alou and Talal Alameddine are charged with assisting Farhad Jabar to kill New South Wales Police Force accountant Curtis Cheng in Parramatta, Australia on 2 October 2015. (The Guardian) (ABC News Australia)
A cache of classified intelligence documents published from The Intercept, released by an anonymous whistleblower, highlight details surrounding post-September 11 attacks United States drone strikes in Afghanistan, Somalia, and Yemen, alleging that theUnited States conducts these strikes under extremely unreliable information and faulty pretenses. (Al-Jazeera America) (U.S. News) (Vice News)
Five individuals — four men and a teenage boy — are arrested in connection with the gang-rape of a 16-year-old girl at a Sydney, Australia, house party. (CNN)
Scottish and U.S. prosecutors identify two Libyans as suspects in the Lockerbie bombing. (CNN) (The Guardian)
The Nevada Gaming Control Board rules that daily fantasy sports leagues are a form of gambling that requires a license to operate in the state, including being offered to state residents. Due to Nevada’s status as a major gambling center, the decision is seen as potentially influencing other U.S. states’ stances on the leagues. (CBS News) (ESPN)

Politics and elections

2015 United Nations Security Council election
- Egypt, Senegal, Uruguay, Japan, and Ukraine are elected to two-year, non-permanent seats on the United Nations Security Council for 2016-17, replacing Chad, Chile, Jordan, Lithuania, and Nigeria. (New York Times)

Science

Astronomers say they have observed bizarre light patterns using the Kepler Space Telescope from a star that appears old, but is shrouded in debris like a much younger star, roughly 1,500 light-years away. This has led to speculation that these are an “artificial extraterrestrial mega-structure”, orbiting the star known as KIC 8462852 in the Cygnus constellation. KIC 8462852 lies just above the Milky Way between the constellations Cygnus and Lyra. It first attracted the attention of astronomers in 2009 when the Kepler Space Telescope identified it as a candidate for having orbiting Earth-like planets. (Independent) (Discovery News)

Sports

2015 MLB postseason
- In the U.S., the New York Mets defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3–2 in the deciding Game 5 of their National League Division Series. The Mets move on to face the Chicago Cubs in the best-of-seven 2015 National League Championship Series, which opens on October 17 at the Mets’ home of Citi Field. (AP via ESPN)

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November 3, 2015

Top News Stories –

Tin Man injured in Halloween fight with Scarecrow as Cowardly Lion runs off –
A man dressed as the Scarecrow managed to escape the police after allegedly punching his friend Tin Man in a Halloween bust-up. Police officers in Canadian state of Ontario responded to a call about a fight between revellers dressed as the characters from this Wizard of Oz this Halloween weekend. A lady dressed as Dorothy and two other women dressed as witches told the officers what had happened but the Tin Man decided not to press charges, police say. “Sometimes, our officers see things that are hard to believe,” South Simcoe Police said in a statement. “When they arrived on scene, they saw a man in costume as the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz, being treated by paramedics. “Three ladies, dressed as Dorothy, Glinda the Good Witch, and the Wicked Witch of the East, told the officer that the Tin Man had been punched by his friend the Scarecrow. It added: “The Scarecrow didn’t have the brains to stick around, and ran away with the Cowardly Lion. “Turns out the Tin Man didn’t have the heart to lay charges against his friend, and refused to tell the officers anything. He was treated for minor injuries.” [Daily Telegraph]
The Wizard of Oz

Melbourne Cup 2015: Prince of Penzance the first 100-1 winner since World War II –
It was a historic Melbourne Cup in numerous respects. Not least was the price of the winner – Prince of Penzance – who saluted with Michelle Payne in the saddle at 100-1, making it the equal fourth biggest outsider to win Australia’s most famous horse race. No horse had won at triple-figure odds since World War II. Old Rowley in 1940 was the winner at $101, with Wotan in 1936 and The Pearl in 1871 the only other horses to have provided such value. Michelle Payne became the first ever woman jockey to win the Melbourne Cup. It has taken 155 years, but Payne, one of the youngest of the famous Payne racing family, has galloped into history with a stunning performance aboard the Darren Weir trained gelding. [Melbourne Age]
Michelle Payne

Google ‘smart reply’ will suggest answers for your emails –
Clearing your inbox is about to get a little faster, if you are using Google’s Inbox app. A new feature called Smart Reply will suggest short responses, based on the contents of an email. Google described how the app uses machine learning to “recognise emails that need responses” and suggest some options in natural language. The company also claims the feature will improve over time, learning from a user’s choices of response. Google made its experimental Inbox app available to all users in May 2015. It includes several features designed to make the process of using email more streamlined. [BBC Newsbeat]

Google Project Wing to introduce drone deliveries by 2017 –
Project Wing, the drone delivery service from Google’s parent company Alphabet, will launch commercially in 2017, the executive in charge of the project has announced. David Vos, the leader for Alphabet’s Project Wing, said on Monday that the company is in talks with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US about setting up an air traffic control system for unmanned aerial vehicles. The system will use mobile and internet technology to coordinate the drones at altitudes of up to 500ft (152m), with the aim of having a commercial business up and running in 2017, he told an air traffic control convention near Washington. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Italian Road Trip Honeymoon from Mike Matas on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#ThingsToLeakInsteadOfTheA…	#My3WordHappiness	#RedCups
2	Andrew Luck	#NationalSandwichDay	Peter Donaldson
3	Matias Ale	#ElectionDay	#TDCMCR
4	Candy Crush	Candy Crush	His Dark Materials
5	#NuncaVoyAOlvidar	#CelebrityRestaurants	John Terry
6	#ALDUBTheVisitor	#E3Now	Colin Welland
7	#حفرالباطن_الان	Dusty Baker	#NationalSandwichDay
8	#الهلال_القادس…	The Warriors	Candy Crush
9	#CelebrityRestaurants	#ThingsToLeakInsteadOfTheA…	#My3WordHappiness
10	#انسحاب_المنتخ…	Jon Stewart	#sexontrial

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2014–15 India–Pakistan border skirmishes
- At least two Indian soldiers are killed after Pakistani forces opened fire along the de-facto border that divides Kashmir between the two countries. (BBC)
Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War, Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports Russia conducted multiple airstrikes on ISIS-held Palmyra. (Air Force Times)
- Russia‘s Defence Ministry says the Russian Air Force has bombed 2,804 “militant targets” in Syria so far since beginning its military intervention in September. (The Daily Star)
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
- ISIS claims responsibility for the deaths of two Syrian refugee activists who fled to Sanliurfa, Turkey, raising concerns about the group’s reach in countries outside of Syria and Iraq. Ibrahim Abdel Qader, a founder of Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently, and Fares Hammadi are said to have been killed by an acquaintance posing as a defector from ISIS. (New York Times)
- At least four people are killed and 15 injured in an ISIL attack in the Kurdish section of northern Iraq. (Al-Arabiyah)

Business and economics

British bank Standard Chartered announces that it will axe 15,000 jobs around the world as part of a restructure. (AFP via Manila Bulletin)
Takata Defective airbag recalls (2013-present)
- The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Japanese manufacturer of airbags Takata Corp. agree to a five-year consent decree where the company agrees to pay a civil penalty of $70 million dollars and faces as much as $130 million more in fines if it violates the settlement. Twelve automakers are ordered to speed up recalls that so far have only reached about a quarter of the affected cars. (Bloomberg) (USA Today)
- Honda, Takata’s biggest customer, announces it will not use airbag inflaters made by Takata Corp. for the driver or front passenger side in new Honda and Acura vehicles for any market, world-wide. (USA Today) (NASDAQ)
Volkswagen emissions scandal
- Volkswagen says it found faulty emissions readings for the first time in gasoline-powered vehicles, widening a scandal that so far had centered on diesel engines. (Bloomberg) (BizNews)

Disasters and accidents

At least seven people are dead and 35 others are injured as a bus overturns near Tula, Russia. (RT)
At least 30 people are killed and 35 injured after an overcrowded bus carrying passengers inside and on its roof veered off a mountain road in northwest Nepal. (USA Today)
2015 Southeast Asian haze
- Scientists report fires raging in Indonesia have hit Borneo’s orangutans particularly hard. Borneo is home to about 30 percent of the world’s wild orangutans, an endangered species. Smoke has already displaced many orangutans and caused health problems related to smoke inhalation, according to the Borneo Orangutan Survival Foundation (BOSF). (Live Science)
2015 North Indian Ocean cyclone season
- Cyclone Chapala
  - “Ravaged by months of war, Yemen now gets battered by the first tropical storm on record to make landfall.” Extremely Severe Cyclonic Storm Chapala slams into Yemen’s central coast, with maximum sustained winds of around 140 kph (85 mph) — the equivalent of a Category 1 hurricane. The storm floods coastal areas, brings down electricity lines and destroys houses, with severe threat of mudslides. Chapala is expected to pour over two or three years worth of rain, up to 300 millimeters (12 inches), in a single day. (CNN) (Abu Dhabi Media)

International Relations

China–United States relations
- In a Peking University speech in Beijing, US Pacific Command commander, Admiral Harry Harris, says the U.S. Navy’s freedom-of-navigation patrols in the South China Sea are routine operations intended to demonstrate respect for international law principles. Harris reiterated they should not be construed as a threat to any country while emphasizing America’s common ground with China. (South China Morning Post) (Bloomberg)
Libyan Crisis (2011–present)
- The New General National Congress (Libya Dawn) which controls the capital Tripoli, and much of western Libya, threatens to send ‘hundreds of thousands’ of refugees to Europe unless the European Union recognizes the Islamist-led government. (Daily Mail)
Territorial disputes in the South China Sea, Japan–Vietnam relations
- Japan has delivered two more ships to Vietnam that will be refurbished into patrol boats. The ships, which arrived in the port city of Da Nang, are the second delivery of a 2014 deal in which Tokyo is to provide Vietnam with six used fishing vessels that will be converted into patrol boats for Vietnam’s coast guard in the South China Sea. (Voice of America)
European migrant crisis
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel announces a plan to register and distribute incoming refugees evenly throughout the European Union. Refugees would be stopped at EU borders, have their application processed, and then, if accepted, sent to one of the Union’s 28 member states. (UPI)

Law and crime

Pakistani journalist Zaman Mehsud is shot dead by two motorcycle-riding gunmen in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, near the country’s northwestern tribal region. According to a 2014 report, at least 56 journalists have been killed in Pakistan since 1992. (UPI) (Xinhua)

Politics and elections

U.S. elections:
- Gubernatorial
  - In Kentucky, Republican Matt Bevin defeats Democrat Jack Conway and independent Drew Curtis with 52 percent of the vote to succeed term-limited Democrat Steve Beshear. (Fox News) (AP)
  - In Mississippi, incumbent Republican Phil Bryant easily wins re-election over Democratic, truck driver Robert Gray. according to the Associated Press. (AP via Huffington Post)
- State, city
  - Former five-term Bridgeport mayor Joe Ganim wins election to a sixth term as mayor of Connecticut’s largest city, topping the six other candidates in the poll. Ganim is, in American parlance, an “ex-con;” i.e., a Conviction on corruption charges|convicted felon. In 2003, He was convicted by a federal jury on 16 felony counts for racketeering, bribery, conspiracy, mail fraud, and tax evasion in an operation that also led to convictions of 10 of his associates. Ganim served seven years in federal prison; he was released from a Hartford halfway house in 2010. (Hartford Courant) (AP via CBSLocal.com)
  - Newcomer, businesswoman, and clinical psychologist Karen Weaver tops incumbent Dayne Walling in the non-partisan, Flint, Michigan, Mayor’s election. Flint, which is dealing with lead in drinking water, has been under State financial managementfor close to four full years, and is in the final stage where control will be returned to city officials. (AP) (Detroit News) (MLive Media)
- Ballot initiatives, referendums
  - In Ohio, a ballot initiative that would have established a legal oligopoly for the sale of recreational and medicinal marijuana is resoundingly defeated by voters, according to AP. (Los Angeles Times)
  - In Texas, the Equal Rights Ordinance that would have established nondiscrimination protections for gay and transgender people in Houston fails to win approval from voters. (AP via Washington Post) (Texas Tribune)
  - Voters in Denver’s suburban Jefferson County recall, by 64 to 36 percent, three conservative school board members who worked to weaken the local teachers union while boosting funding for charter schools and pushing through other market-driven policy changes. In Fall 2014, the conservative-led majority drew national attention when they wanted the AP U.S. history course to focus on citizenship and patriotism, while condemning civil disobedience and strike actions. (Washington Post) (AP via Huffington Post)
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issues a two-year investigative report finding the Palatine, Illinois, school district unfairly denied a transgender teenager — who was undergoing hormone therapy but had not undergonegender reassignment surgery — access to school facilities in violation of Title IX, that bars discrimination in federally funded education programs, causing her “isolation,” “ostracism” and at least one “tearful breakdown.” The school district has 30 days to reach an agreement with authorities or risk losing up to $6 million in federal funding and case-referral to the Department of Justice. The Washington Post report called this “The Palatine standoff”. (The Washington Post) (Chicago Tribune) (DOE report)

Sport

In Australian horse racing, Prince of Penzance wins the 2015 Melbourne Cup becoming the first 100-1 winner since World War II; Michelle Payne becomes the first female jockey to ride the winning horse. (Melbourne Age) (Huffington Post)

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November 13, 2015

Top News Stories –

Paris attacks –
Paris has suffered a night of deadly attacks, described by President Francois Hollande as “unprecedented”. Shootings, bomb blasts and a hostage siege have left at least 127 people dead and some 180 wounded. At least 80 are in critical condition. Six places were targeted, almost simultaneously. France has declared a state of emergency, imposed border controls and deployed 1,500 extra troops. [BBC]
Chronology –

21:20 – First explosion near Stade de France
21:25 – Shooting at Le Carillon bar and Le Petit Cambodge restaurant, rue Bichat
21:29 – More shooting in same area, avenue de la Republique
21:30 – Second explosion near Stade de France
21:38 – Shooting at La Belle Equipe bar, rue de Charonne
21:43 – Explosion at boulevard Voltaire, near Bataclan concert hall
21:49 – Shooting at Bataclan, then explosions
21:53 – Third explosion at Stade de France
22:00 – Shooting at boulevard Beaumarchais, near Bataclan

In January the offices of Charlie Hebdo were attacked by gunmen in Paris and in August train passengers overcame a gunmen on a train in France.
Bataclan Theatre, Paris

Jihadi John ‘dead’: MI5 on alert amid fears of Isil revenge attack –
MI5 is on high alert amid fears that Isil fanatics are already plotting revenge attacks for the reported killing of Jihadi John in a drone strike in Raqqa, Syria. The communications of known sympathisers are being monitored closely as surveillance is stepped up to prevent a terrorist outrage in revenge for the operation which is now widely acknowledged to have resulted in the death of Mohammed Emwazi– who as Jihadi John – earned global notoriety. [Daily Telegraph] See Top Twitter Trends

Athletics doping: Russia provisionally suspended by IAAF –
Russia’s athletics federation has been provisionally suspended from international competition – including the Olympic Games – for its alleged involvement in widespread doping. The IAAF took action after the publication of an independent World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) report that alleged “state-sponsored doping”. Its council members voted 22-1 in favour of Russia being banned. “This is a wake-up call for all of us,” said IAAF president Lord Coe. [BBC] Lord Coe became IAAF president in August 2015.
Lord Coe

Video of the Day –

Otto the skateboarding bulldog – Guinness World Records

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Jihadi John	Friday the 13th	Jihadi John
2	#purpose	Jihadi John	#MadeInTheAM
3	#FR1DAY13BR	#WorldKindnessDay	#purpose
4	#MadeInTheAM	París	#childreninneed
5	Friday the 13th	#YesSheCan	Friday the 13th
6	#Viernes13	#InternetThePast	#WorldKindnessDay
7	Sexta-feira 13	#PrayForJapan	#ModiAtWembley
8	#1DonSmallzy	#RuinMyLifeIn3Words	#friday13th
9	Hayırlı Cumalar	Jeezy	Herts
10	#رفع_سعر_الدخا�…	A.M.	#bbcqt

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
- The United States conducts airstrikes targeting Kuwaiti–British militant Jihadi John. Later, the U.S. says it is “reasonably certain” a drone strike in Syria killed Jihadi John, né Mohammed Emwazi. (BBC) (Reuters)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- November 2015 Sinjar offensive
  - Kurdish Peshmerga forces backed by U.S. airstrikes seize control of Sinjar in northern Iraq. Sinjar has been under Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant occupation since August 2014. (Reuters)
- Multiple bombings in Baghdad targeting Iraqi Shiites kills at least 26 people. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility. (AP via Yahoo)
November 2015 Paris attacks
- French police report multiple blasts and gunfire in Paris with at least 26 dead in a restaurant in the 10th arrondissement and an explosion near the Stade de France. (Daily Beast) (AP) (Washington Post)
- Police report the hostage siege is over at the Eagles of Death Metal concert at the Bataclan theatre in the 11th arrondissement. Approximately 100 people are dead in the Bataclan. (The Daily Beast) (Deadline)
- The President of France François Hollande declares a state of emergency across France. (The Guardian)
2015 Beirut bombings
- A day of mourning is held in Lebanon following two suicide attacks in the capital Beirut which killed at least 43 people. (Al Jazeera)
During an arrest attempt in Cairo, Egyptian security forces kill Aly Ashraf Hassanein al Gharabli, an ISIL-linked militant who masterminded the murder of Apache Corporation worker William Henderson in Egypt last year. (Fuel Fix)
At least 22 people are killed this week in a string of raids on villages in the Central African Republic. The escalation of violence threatens to derail a visit by Pope Francis and crucial elections scheduled for December 27, 2015. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

The Anne Frank Fonds in Basel, Switzerland, announces that Otto Frank, father of Anne Frank, is editor and legally the co-author of “The Diary of Anne Frank.” (New York Times)
South Korean news agency Yonhap reports China’s mobile phone users are discarding 80 million devices annually, but almost none are being recycled. China’s recycling rate stands at 9-10 percent of the global recycling average. (UPI)

Disasters and accidents

The bodies of eight babies are found wrapped in towels and inside plastic bags in an apartment in the town of Wallenfels in Germany’s state of Bavaria. Authorities are looking for the apartment’s most recent occupant, Andrea G, a 45-year-old woman.(CNN) (Irish Times) (Reuters)
At least 18 people are injured, four critically, after a San Francisco (U.S.) double-decker tour bus loses control and crashes in traffic striking several vehicles and knocking over nearby construction scaffolding. (San Francisco Examiner) (Reuters)
At least four people are dead and 33 injured in a landslide in China‘s Zhejiang province. (CRI)

International Relations

Israeli–Palestinian conflict
- The first major survey in five years of the attitudes of British Jews toward Israel shows deep support of Israel as the Jewish state but heavy criticism of its politics and on the issue of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict: 75% see the expansion of settlements as a major obstacle to peace; 73% believe Israel’s approach to peace is damaging its standing in the world; 70% back Israel’s demand that the Palestinians recognize it as a Jewish state; and, 59 percent, down from 72% in 2010, describe themselves asZionist. (The Guardian) (Haaretz)
U.S. diplomats, amid growing international concern the violence could spiral into an ethnic conflict, push for peace talks in Burundi. The European Union advises non-essential staff to evacuate the Central African nation amid rising violence and an uptick in political rhetoric. The head of the opposition UPRONA group urges the United Nations to send peacekeepers quickly. Yesterday, the UN Security Council called on the Burundi Government to protect human rights and cooperate with regional African mediators to immediately convene “an inclusive and genuine inter-Burundian dialogue” to find a peaceful resolution of the crisis. (Al Jazeera) (Reuters) (UN)
European migrant crisis
- German Chancellor Angela Merkel asserts she still isn’t prepared to name an upper limit to the number of refugees who can come to Germany, despite mounting domestic political pressure. (AP)
- Oxfam’s Belgrade Center for Human Rights reports migrants coming through Bulgaria have faced beatings, threats and other abuses by police, though the country’s own refugee agency said it had received no such complaints. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War peace process
- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets in Vienna, Austria, with the foreign ministers of Turkey and Saudi Arabia, as well as the U.N. special envoy for Syria, ahead of Saturday’s next round of international summits on the Syrian Civil War. The talks, aimed toward a cease-fire in Syria’s devastating war and a political transition to a post-war government, will include senior officials from 19 nations/groups and, as in October, Iran will participate. (AP)
Metrojet Flight 9268
- As a temporary security measure, effective Saturday, Russia bans incoming flights by Egypt’s state-owned airline, EgyptAir, two weeks after an apparent terrorist bomb downed a Russian jet in the Sinai. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Police in the Dominican Republic raid a mansion owned by 30-year-old Francisco Flores de Freites, one of the two nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro facing charges for allegedly trying to traffic 800 kg of cocaine into the U.S., and found more than 280 pounds of cocaine and 22 pounds of heroin hidden inside the nephew’s posh Casa de Campo property and a 135-foot yacht named “The Kingdom” docked behind it. (Fox News)

Politics and elections

Myanmar general election, 2015
- Aung San Suu Kyi‘s National League for Democracy (NLD) wins an absolute majority with 348 seats taken in the country’s parliament, 19 seats more than the required 329, marking Myanmar’s first democratically-elected government since the 1962 Burmese coup d’état. (The Economist) (The Guardian)
Colombia plans to legalize medical marijuana in a further shift in drug policy after suspending aerial fumigation of illicit crops. A decree approving the therapeutic use of marijuana will be signed in the coming days. Growing, distributing and selling cannabis will remain illegal. (Reuters) (teleSUR)

Science and technology

WT1190F, an artificial satellite orbiting the Earth since before June 2009, impacts the Earth south of Sri Lanka. (CBC)

Sport

The International Association of Athletics Federations votes overwhelmingly to ban Russian athletes and the All-Russia Athletic Federation from international competitions following overwhelming evidence of widespread state sponsored doping in a World Anti-Doping Agency report. (Reuters via Sydney Morning Herald)
Yelena Isinbayeva, a former Russian Olympic pole-vaulting champion calls on the IAAF not to punish honest athletes in response to doping allegations against Russia. (Reuters)

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November 30, 2015

Top News Stories –

New Zealand: Auckland aims to become trilingual city –
New Zealand’s largest city, Auckland, has announced plans to encourage the entire population to speak English, Maori and a third language. The initiative, launched by the council-controlled educational organisation COMET, aims to get all of Auckland’s 1.4 million residents speaking the national language of Te Reo Maori, Radio New Zealand reports. Currently, only 2.3% of Aucklanders speak the language, the lowest rate in the country, while over 1m of the city’s residents are monolingual – usually English, the radio says. Some 377,000 residents already have two languages as a result of the city’s diverse ethnic mix, where 40% of Aucklanders were born overseas, but their languages tend to be overlooked in favour of English. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Domestic Appliances from Lewis Firth Bolton on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#CyberMonday	#CyberMonday	Sam Pepper
2	#FelizLunes	#mondaymotivation	#CyberMonday
3	Kobe	#PopeBars	#mondaymotivation
4	水木先生	Tomorrow is December	#StAndrewsDay
5	#SoulTrainAwards	#RejectedReindeer	Kobe Bryant
6	Balón de Oro	#COP21	#AuthorDay
7	水木しげる先生	Sam Pepper	75% of Labour
8	#TheWalkingDead	#ISurvivedHighSchoolBy	Overweight Haters Ltd
9	#الهلال_التعاون	Clay Helton	#PAKvENG
10	Sam Pepper	Anne of Green Gables	#TWDMidSeasonFinale

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Paris attack aftermath
- French intelligence services are reportedly operating under the theory that Paris-attacks suspect Salah Abdeslam has escaped to Syria despite country-wide martial law in 3 different countries. (CNN)
Iraqi Civil War, Military intervention against ISIL, American-led intervention in Iraq
- With the support of Combined Joint Task Force – Operation Inherent Resolve, Iraqi Armed Forces have launched operations to retake Ramadi from ISIL. (Military Times)
Syrian Civil War, Military intervention against ISIL
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that at least 50 United States military instructors have deployed to northern Syria from Turkey and Iraq to train Kurdish forces ahead of an assault on ISIL‘s de-facto capital Al-Raqqah. (Deutsche Welle)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- At least three Saudi border guards are killed following clashes with Yemeni forces in the kingdom’s southern Jizan Region near the border with Yemen. (Reuters)

Business and economics

Responding to reports, the American Tribune Publishing Co. states it is not in talks to sell the company. (Chicago Tribune) (Wall Street Journal)
Canadian BlackBerry Limited announces plans to shut down operations in Pakistan at year’s end because it cannot comply with the Pakistani government’s monitoring orders which would result in a massive invasion of user privacy. (CNET)
The International Monetary Fund modifies its benchmark currency basket to include the yuan of the People’s Republic of China. The basket also includes the U.S. dollar, the euro, the pound sterling, and the Japanese yen. (Reuters)
The United States Federal Reserve Board approves a rule prohibiting the government from extending emergency loans to “too big to fail” companies, a practice deemed essential during the global financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. (UPI)

Health and medicine

The capitals of the world’s two most populous nations, China and India, are blanketed in hazardous, choking smog. Beijing, on the second-highest pollution alert, is closing highways, halting or suspending construction while warning residents to stay indoors. The U.S. New Delhi embassy’s monitoring station recorded an air quality index of 372, putting air pollution levels into “hazardous” territory. No action by the New Delhi government. (Hindustan Times)
A UNICEF report finds AIDS is now the leading cause of death for African teenagers and the second most common killer for adolescents across the globe. While the Asia Pacific region has seen a 31 percent drop in new HIV infections, and 28 percent decline in AIDS-related deaths, the estimated number of adolescents dying of AIDS in the region has more than doubled since 2005. Tomorrow is World Aids Day. (AP via Huffington Post) (Reuters)

International relations

Martyrs’ Day (United Arab Emirates) is being observed in United Arab Emirates as Commemoration Day this year on November 30, 2015, recognising the sacrifices and dedication of Emirati martyrs who have given their life in the UAE and abroad in the field of civil, military and humanitarian service. (GulfNews)
South Korea’s parliament approves a free trade pact with China after opposition lawmakers, concerned that deal that would hurt agriculture and fisheries, secured a $1.4 billion relief package for farmers. (AP via Fox News)
2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference
- Around 150 world leaders attend the UN Climate Change Conference in Paris, aiming for a global deal on limiting greenhouse gas emissions. (CNN)
Pope Francis’ 2015 visit to Africa
- Pope Francis travels to a besieged Muslim neighborhood known as PK5 in the Central African Republic, a country wracked by sectarian violence. This visit is part of Francis’s message of peace and reconciliation. As a result of the violence over the last two years, most of the capital Bangui’s 100,000-plus Muslims have fled; now only 15,000 remain. (AP via Bastrop Daily Enterprise)
- Pope Francis tells a crowd in a mosque in Bangui that “Christians and Muslims are brothers and sisters.” (BBC)
Israel will open a diplomatic mission to the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena), the headquarters of which are located near the capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi. Israel will be the first Irena member to open such a mission; other member nations work Irena relations from their missions to the UAE, which Israel does not have. (New York Times)
Arctic Joint Strategic Command (Russia)
- A Russian Airborne Troops spokesman says the VDV is planning to expand their military exercises into the North Pole area of the Arctic in 2016. (UPI)

Law and crime

The University of Chicago cancels classes for the day, and asks students, faculty, and non-essential staff to stay away from its main campus after being informed by the FBI of a threat of gun violence. (Reuters via The Jerusalem Post) (USA Today)
- One suspect, a student from the University of Illinois at Chicago is arrested. The University of Chicago announces classes remain canceled for the day. (Chicago Tribune)
Russian undesirable organizations law
- Russia bans two George Soros-run foundations, including the Open Society Foundations, for posing a threat to “Russian national security”. The Open Society Foundation and the Open Society Institute’s Assistance Foundation, both financed by business magnate Soros, are the latest additions to a list of “undesirable organizations”, a list the Russian government says is necessary to stop foreign governments from interfering in Russia’s internal affairs. (The Guardian)
Jury selection begins for the trial of William Porter, a Baltimore, Maryland police officer charged with manslaughter and other charges surrounding the April 19 death of Freddie Gray. Porter is the first of six officers to be tried. (CNN)

Politics and elections

Venezuelan parliamentary election, 2015
- Venezuela announces it will suspend the sale of alcoholic beverages, fireworks and weapons before Sunday’s parliamentary elections, starting Friday at 6 p.m. until next Monday at 6 p.m. Civilian permits for the possession and use of firearms and kniveswill be also be suspended for the same period. (UPI)
Burkinabé general election, 2015
- Former prime minister Roch Marc Kaboré appears on course for a commanding victory in Burkina Faso’s election, one large enough to eliminate the need for a run-off. According to the Independent National Electoral Commission, with results from about 72 percent of the country counted, Kaboré has 54 percent of the vote with his closest challenger, former finance minister Zéphirin Diabré, getting 29 percent. (The Globe and Mail)
Saudi Arabia elections, 2015
- For the first time in the country’s history, Saudi Arabian women are allowed to vote and to stand for office in the December 12, 2015, elections. Candidacy filings opened yesterday. In two days, more than 900 women have signed up to run for various local government positions in the Arab nation. (UPI)

Science and technology

Researchers at North Carolina State University discover a new diamond-like, solid phase of carbon, called Q-carbon, that can be attained at room temperature. The result is a uniquely crystalline material, harder than a real diamond and likely boasting a variety of new properties, most unknown or unstudied. (UPI)

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December 11, 2015

Top News Stories –

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 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

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- The Taliban claims responsibility for a car bomb attack near the Spanish embassy in Kabul. At least one Spanish security officer is killed. (Reuters)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015),
- Three Palestinians are killed by Israeli forces, two in Hebron, one of whom reportedly tried to ram his car into soldiers and the other during a violent demonstration in the West Bank city. A third Palestinian died in clashes with Israeli troops at the border fence between the Gaza Strip and Israel. (Today) (AP via Stars & Stripes)
2015 Burundian unrest
- Burundi’s army repels attacks on military barracks in the capital, Bujumbura, in the worst violence since this spring’s unrest that developed after President Pierre Nkurunziza decided to seek a third term in office. According to an army spokesman, at least 12 gunmen are killed and 20 captured. Reports that at least five soldiers have been killed are denied by the army, which says the soldiers were wounded. Two southern sites, a police station and an army camp, were also attacked, with no report on casualties. Kenya Airways and RwandAir cancels its flights to Bujumbura. (Al Jazeera) (Bloomberg)
Syrian Civil War, Syrian Kurdish–Islamist conflict (2013–present)
- A triple truck-bomb attack on the Kurdish YPG militia-controlled town of Tell Tamer in Syria‘s northeast Al-Hasakah Governorate leaves as many as 50 people dead and 80 others wounded. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for the attacks, saying in an online statement that three of its fighters driving three separate vehicles had detonated the suicide bombs targeting “bases” belonging to Kurdish fighters. (Reuters via NBC News)
Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant‘s branch in Libya (Libya Province) seizes control of the western Libyan town of Sabratha, after storming it in retaliation after two of their men were arrested in a house nearby; however they then set up checkpoints around the town, with little opposition from the local militias that were supposed to be in control of the area. There are now fears that the militant group could destroy the town’s Roman amphitheatre, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. (The Telegraph)
Swiss police in Geneva, following yesterday’s CIA tip, arrest two Syrian nationals. Apparently, traces of explosives were found in their car. President Simonetta Sommaruga says, “There is currently no indication that there was a concrete attack planned.”(Sky News)

Business and economy

Chinese tycoon Guo Guangchang, founder and chairman of Fosun, is reported missing amid the Chinese anti-corruption campaign. (The Guardian)
Two of the U.S.’s oldest and largest companies, DuPont and Dow Chemical Company, will merge in an all-stock deal valued at $130 billion. The deal, which includes future plans for DowDuPont to split into three independent, public companies, is expected to face intense scrutiny from federal antitrust regulators, who will examine the impact on prices and the availability of vital seeds and herbicides.(Reuters) (The Washington Post)
China’s Alibaba Group Holding Limited acquires Hong Kong’s largest English-language newspaper, the South China Morning Post, in a deal reported to be worth about $100 million. (UPI)

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)

International relations

2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference
- French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius announces the world climate talks (COP 21) will be extended to at least Saturday. (AP)
Syrian Civil War
- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says he will not negotiate with armed groups, a day after the Syrian opposition’s multi-group, two-day meeting in Riyadh agreed on a framework for future negotiations to end the conflict. Assad’s statement also appears to put a damper on peace talks Russia and the United States are working to set up. (Reuters) (Syria Online)
War in Donbass
- The United States and Russia exchanged charges concerning U.N. Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Šimonović’s presentation at the U.N. Security Council meeting on Ukraine. While violence between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian rebels has lessened since September’s agreement, Šimonović warned of the massive civilian toll if major hostilities re-erupt. OCHA’s John Ging said locals face unacceptable physical hardships and indignities, and that the suspension of humanitarian programs and expulsion of humanitarian workers in non-government controlled areas must end. (Reuters) (UN)

Law and crime

Hannibal Gaddafi, son of Libya’s late leader Muammar Gaddafi, who was kidnapped by militants, is released in Baalbek, Lebanon. Gaddafi’s abductors said they were seeking information on the fate of Shiite cleric Imam Moussa al-Sadr, who disappeared during a trip to Tripoli in 1978. (AP via ABC News) (Epoch Times) (AP via NBC News-update)

Politics and elections

Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- Martin Kobler, United Nations envoy to Libya, announces the country’s two rival parliaments agreement to set a target date of Dec. 16 to sign a U.N.-sponsored agreement on forming a national unity government. (AP via ABC News) (Reuters)

Science and technology

Washington State University researchers report in the Journal of the American Chemical Society that they have invented a new catalyst that promises to enable production of bio-based chemicals and plastics. In the future, products could be made from bio-based ethanol rather than superheated crude oil. Other uses for this new catalyst are being explored. (UPI) (Phys.org)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

December 25, 2015

Top News Stories –

UK astronaut Tim Peake calls wrong number from space –
British astronaut Tim Peake tweeted an apology on Christmas Day from the International Space Station after calling a wrong number. He wrote “I’d like to apologize to the lady I just called by mistake saying ‘Hello, is this planet Earth?’ — not a prank call — just a wrong number!” The 43-year-old former army helicopter pilot did not say who he was calling.
Timothy Peake

Video of the Day –

The Talk

THE TALK (2015) from Joe Otting on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#BeautyAndTheBestieNowShowing	Happy Birthday Jesus	LCD Soundsystem
2	#9MonthsWithoutZayn	#9MonthsWithoutZayn	#QueensSpeech
3	#FelizNatalComOClubeSDV	#LifelineOniTunes	HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS
4	#CiteUmFilmeComPeru	#IGotCoalBecause	#EastEnders
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7	#MiRegaloFue	SANTA CAME	#joinin
8	#ALDUBMyBebeLoveSaPASKO	Merry Christmas	#notgoingout
9	#MerryChristmas1DFamily	#WhyImHashtaggingOnXmas	#Barfest2016
10	#크리스마스인데_기…	#KingStaysKing	#9MonthsWithoutZayn

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  - Amnesty International reports at least 200 civilians have been killed in Russian air strikes in Syria, indicating “serious failures by Russia to respect international humanitarian law”. Moscow denies causing civilian deaths. (BBC)
Boko Haram insurgency
- An overnight raid by suspected Boko Haram militants on Niger‘s southern border town of Abadam, kills two Nigerien Army soldiers and three civilians. And, separately, a suicide-bomb attack on Lake Chad killed three of the attackers but no one else. A military convoy was also ambushed by militants in northern Cameroon, although there were no reported deaths. (Reuters)
Israeli-Palestinian conflict (2015)
- Two Palestinian attackers stab passers-by at the Old City’s Jaffa Gate in Jerusalem, Israel, killing two and injuring one; the attackers are shot and killed by two Israeli Border Police officers. (CNN) (The Jerusalem Post)
2015 PKK rebellion
- Clashes continue between PKK militants and Turkish Army troops in the Kurdish-majority city of Diyarbakır in southeastern Turkey. At least one Turkish soldier is killed and several are wounded in a bomb attack. (Reuters)
Hacktivist collective Anonymous declares a cyber-war on Turkey, and claims responsibility for the major week-long cyber-attack between 14 and 21 December on Turkey, which it accuses of supporting the jihadist Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), and threatened additional attacks in case the alleged support continues. “We will continue attacking your internet, your root DNS, your banks and take your government sites down,” it said. “After the root DNS, we will start to hit your airports, military assets and private state connections. We will destroy your critical banking infrastructure,” the group added. (Hurriyet Daily News) (Independent)
Terrorism in Australia
- Australian police in Sydney arrest two men who, police say, were planning attacks on locations such as naval bases and police headquarters. New South Wales Deputy Police Commissioner Catherine Burn said Wednesday’s activity brings the number of people arrested in connection with last year’s Operation Appleby to 13. (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) (Reuters)

Arts and culture

The governments of Somalia, Tajikistan and Brunei ban celebrations of Christmas, with punishments ranging up to a five-year jail term. Each country has a majority-Muslim population. (The Guardian)

Disasters and accidents

Tornadoes of 2015
- At least six people die and dozens injured as major storms, packed with tornadoes, move through the American South and Midwest. Three people died when a tornado hit northern Mississippi, one was killed in Arkansas and two more in Tennessee. Officials continue searching into the night for the missing. (CNN) (AP via The Washington Post) (Weather.com) (Reuters)

Health

South Korean MERS outbreak
- South Korea announces an end to the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) outbreak that has killed 36 people since May 2015. The virus infected 186 people, with nearly 17,000 people confined to their homes and thousands of schools temporarily closing at the peak of the largest MERS outbreak outside Saudi Arabia, where it first appeared in 2012. (AFP via FRANCE 24)

Brazilian health officials announce 2,400 babies (up from 147 in 2014) have been born this year with microcephaly, a neurological disorder that can result in incomplete brain development which can be caused by the mosquito-borne Zika virus, and advise would-be parents, especially in the country’s northeast where most of the cases occurred, to avoid pregnancy. (CNN) (The Washington Post) (Medical Daily)

International relations

Yemeni Crisis
- The United Nations Security Council expressed “deep concern” at the number of violations of Yemen’s ceasefire. U.N. envoys warned that a fledgling peace process was hanging by a thread, and that Yemen faces permanent fragmentation if the conflict is not ended soon. (Reuters) (Time) (Saudi Gazette) (UN)

Law and crime

The public interest non-profit Cause for Action files a Freedom of Information Act request for United States Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter’s personal emails following his disclosure of using that account for official government emails, this in the wake of the former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton email controversy and the Office of Personnel Management data breach. The U.S. Federal Records Act restricts use of personal email for official business. (Federal Times)
A Metropolitan Police Department of the District of Columbia report reveals that an agent with the Presidential Protective Service of the United States Secret Service had his weapon, shield, and other professional equipage stolen from his vehicle in broad daylight in downtown Washington, D.C. (CNN)
Russia issues an international arrest warrant for former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky on charges of organizing the murder of Vladimir Petukhov, mayor of Nefteyugansk in 1998. (The Guardian)

Politics and elections

Spanish general election, 2015
- Pedro Sánchez, leader of Spain‘s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) rejects a pact with the ruling People’s Party (PP). “We say ‘no’ to Rajoy and his policies,” Sánchez told a news conference after meeting with Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy. (Reuters)
Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Garibashvili unexpectedly announces his resignation, without giving any specific reason for his decision. (Civil Georgia)
Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović selects Israel-based Teva Pharmaceuticals executive Tihomir Orešković to be the new prime minister following the inconclusive November 8 election. The “technocrat” is the choice of conservatives and reformists, who have 78 parliamentary seats, enough for confirmation.

Science and technology

The United States National Center for Health Statistics reports the rate of twin births has hit an historic high. Researchers say the increase in twin births may be affected by changes in reproductive technology, including in vitro fertilization, and by more women giving birth later in life–a time when the occurrence of twins is higher. (Science World Report) (Daily Mail)

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December 29, 2015

Top News Stories –

Russia: Book of Putin quotes ‘given to officials’ –
Officials across Russia have been given a 400-page book of “prophetic” quotes by President Vladimir Putin as a new year gift, it’s reported. The collection, entitled Words That Change The World, was sent to as many as 1,000 people by one of Mr Putin’s top aides, Vyacheslav Volodin, according to the business newspaper RBK. Recipients include MPs, regional governors and civil society representatives. In an accompanying letter, Mr Volodin says the book should be seen as a guide to the Kremlin’s “values and guiding principles”. He’s also reported to have recommended it to a recent meeting of officials as “required reading for any politician”. [BBC]
Vladimir-Putin

Russia ‘unlikely’ to return by Rio Olympics –
Russia are unlikely to return to international competition in time for next year’s Rio Olympics, says European Athletics president Svein Arne Hansen. Russia’s athletics federation was banned by the International Association of Athletics Federations for alleged involvement in widespread doping. An IAAF inspection committee is due to visit Russia in January. “For the moment they have to fulfil the conditions, but I cannot really see them competing in Rio,” Hansen said. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

VertiGo – A Wall-Climbing Robot Including Ground-Wall Transition

List of the Day –

Google Trends 2015 –
Top Searches – Global Sporting Events

1 Copa America

2 Wimbledon

3 Tour de France

4 Rugby World Cup

5 Super Bowl

6 Mayweather vs Pacquiao

7 Indian Premier League

8 US Open

9 ICC Cricket World Cup

10 Australian Open

Source: Google

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#زد_رصيدك46	#MessageForMyCrush	Dappy
2	#ConEsteCalorYo	#TWUG	#LHHNY
3	#FelizMartes	#1YearWithoutO2L	Lemmy
4	#TercaDetremuraSdv	#IdGiveYou	#MessageForMyCrush
5	#MessageForMyCrush	#TravelTuesday	Cellino
6	#ALDUBFLASHBack2015	#AndThenISaid	#IWantToBeSoRich
7	#MentirasMasUsadas	Ethan Couch	#MOTD
8	#YoTeDigo	#KidQuestionsForHillary	#TamirRice
9	#닉네임의_받침을_��…	#ARMYSelcaDay	#StormFrank
10	#НасосДляИспо�…	#TWDMarathon	#TravelTuesday

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in North-West Pakistan
- A suicide-bomb attack outside the regional office of the National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) in the northwestern Pakistani city of Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, leaves at least 26 people dead and 45 wounded. The militant Islamistgroup Jamaat-ul-Ahrar, a Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan splinter group, claims responsibility for the attack. (AP via New York Times)
Syrian Civil War, Military intervention against ISIL
- The United States military announces that a key Islamic State leader with ties to the Paris attack terrorists was killed in a coalition airstrike on December 24, 2015. Charaffe al Mouadan is the tenth ISIL leader killed by an airstrike since December 7. (The Washington Post) (International Business Times)
The French newspaper Le-monda claims that the November 13, 2015 Paris attacks were coordinated from Belgium by a single unidentified suspect.(Lemonde.fr)

Business and economics

American chemical giant DuPont announces that, in early 2016, it will cut 1,700 jobs in Delaware, about 28 percent of its home state workforce, and thousands more globally in connection as a result of the Dow Chemical Company merger. (The Washington Post) (AP via NBC news) (Delaware Online)

Disasters and accidents

2015–16 UK and Ireland windstorm season
- 2015 Great Britain and Ireland floods
  - The 18th century Tadcaster Bridge, in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire, partially collapses into the River Wharfe as a result of flooding. British Army soldiers evacuated people from nearby homes. (The Guardian)
2015 Flood in Missouri
- Missouri Governor Jay Nixon warns residents that the state faces historic flooding that likely will rival Great Flood of 1993 levels. Swollen rivers are still rising and won’t crest for days. The Mississippi River is expected to reach nearly 15 feet above flood stage on Thursday. Nixon pleaded with drivers to stay off inundated roadways. Twelve of the 13 people killed from these recent storms died after their vehicles were swept from flooded roadways. (NBC News) (UPI)

Health and medicine

For the first time since March 2014, Guinea is declared free from Ebola virus transmissions by the World Health Organization. (New York Times)

Law and crime

Ethan Couch, the so-called “affluenza” teen who violated probation for killing four people when driving while intoxicated when he disappeared from Tarrant County, Texas, is taken into custody in Mexico. Mexican officials will remand Couch and his mother, with whom he fled, to the U.S. Marshals Service. (Reuters)
Lebanese Customs seize five tonnes of Captagon amphetamine pills and Hashish, concealed in primary school desks that were to be shipped to Egypt, at Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport. Meanwhile, security forces in northern Lebanon found two workshops producing Captagon and other drugs during a series of raids. The drug is infamous as being used by Islamist militants in the Syrian civil war. (Channel News Asia)
Chicago, Illinois police officer, Jason Van Dyke, enters a not guilty plea regarding the charges of the 2014 shooting death of Laquan McDonald. (New York Times)
El Salvador‘s murder rate surges by 70% in 2015, an increase that may lead to the Central American nation edging out Honduras as the world’s most murderous nation. (Reuters via Daily Mail)

Politics and elections

Eloy Inos, the Governor of the Northern Mariana Islands since 2013, dies in office.(Saipan Tribune)
- Lieutenant Governor Ralph Torres will be sworn in as Governor on December 29th. Victor Hocog will succeed Torres as Lieutenant Governor.(Marianas Variety)
United States presidential election, 2016, Republican Party presidential candidates, 2016
- Former Governor of New York, George Pataki, ends his campaign for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States. (USA Today)
North Korea‘s state media says Kim Yang-gon, a top aide to supreme leader Kim Jong-un and secretary of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK), who was also in charge of ties with South Korea, dies in a car crash. (BBC)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

January 17, 2016

Top News Stories –

Russia may nuke asteroids –
The European Commission funded Russian scientists to develop plans to save the world from rogue asteroids by blowing them up with nuclear weapons. Scientists from the Russia’s top space research institute teamed up with missile and rocket engineers to look at ways of sending a warhead into space under a European Commission funded program called NEOShield. “Work was distributed among various participants from different countries and organisations, and work on deflecting dangerous space objects with nuclear explosions was conducted by Russia” between 2012 and 2015, the Central Scientific Research Institute of Machine Building, part of the Russian space agency Roscosmos, said in a press release on Saturday. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Miike Snow “Genghis Khan” // Dir: Ninian Doff from Ninian Doff on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

The winners for the Critics’ Choice Awards 2016
BEST PICTURE: Spotlight
BEST ACTOR: Leonardo DiCaprio – The Revenant
BEST ACTRESS: Brie Larson – Room
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR: Sylvester Stallone – Creed
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS: Alicia Vikander – The Danish Girl
BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS: Jacob Tremblay – Room
BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE: Spotlight
BEST DIRECTOR: George Miller – Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY: Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy – Spotlight
BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY: Charles Randolph and Adam McKay – The Big Short
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY: The Revenant – Emmanuel Lubezki
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN: Mad Max: Fury Road – Colin Gibson
BEST EDITING: Mad Max: Fury Road – Margaret Sixel
BEST COSTUME DESIGN: Mad Max: Fury Road – Jenny Beavan
BEST HAIR & MAKEUP: Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST VISUAL EFFECTS: Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST ANIMATED FEATURE: Inside Out
BEST ACTION MOVIE: Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE: Tom Hardy – Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE: Charlize Theron – Mad Max: Fury Road
BEST COMEDY: The Big Short
BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY: Christian Bale – The Big Short
BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY: Amy Schumer – Trainwreck
BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE: Ex Machina
BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM: Son of Saul
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE: Amy
BEST SONG: Furious 7 – “See You Again”
BEST SCORE: The Hateful Eight – Ennio Morricone

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#FelizDomingo	#IfTwitterWasntAThing	#takemeout
2	#DomingoNoClubeSDV	#DemDebate	#IfTwitterWasntAThing
3	#IfTwitterWasntAThing	#PITvsDEN	Celine Dion
4	#من_علامات_الج�…	#FaceTimeMeNash	#AUSvIND
5	Meek	#PurpleReign	#GBvsAZ
6	#ازاي_تستفز_شخ�…	#SEAvsCAR	Purple Reign
7	#1ÇiftSözümVar	Meek	#SAvENG
8	#JesusEstaVoltando	#FakeGrownUpFacts	#snow
9	#ConsejosParaUnTuitero	#askkendallschmidt	#GetawayCar
10	#ConLaBerisoTeDigoQue	Adam Driver	#ChangeAConsonantSpoilAMovie

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2016 Jakarta attacks
- The death toll from this week’s attacks rises to eight. (Reuters via Jerusalem Post)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- A suicide bomber kills at least thirteen people and injures 14 in the Afghan city of Jalalabad. (Reuters via LBC Australia), (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Syrian Civil War
- ISIL militants abduct at least 400 civilians from the eastern Syrian city of Deir ez-Zor. (Sky News)

Disasters and accidents

At least five people are killed and ten injured in a microbus crash in Egypt‘s New Valley Governorate. (Ahram Online)

Health

Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa
- Sierra Leone imposes quarantine on hundreds of people following a recent death from the Ebola virus. (AFP via ABC News)

Politics and elections

Iran–Saudi Arabia relations
- Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif and army chief General Raheel Sharif will visit Riyadh on Monday and Tehran on Tuesday to launch mediation efforts between Iran and Saudi Arabia for normalization of relations and to ease the tensions in the region after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr and an attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. (DAWN) (Pakistan Today) (India Times)
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
- Europe and the United States lift sanctions imposed on Iran regarding its nuclear programme, and Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action begins to be implemented. (BBC)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

February 3, 2016

Top News Stories –

Britain suffers ‘biscuit drought’ following McVities factory flood –
“The fact that you can’t have a ginger nut with your cup of tea at the end of the night … it’s the end of the world, isn’t it?” So said one disgruntled biscuit lover in a BBC report on the ongoing biscuit drought currently gripping the nation. Many of Britain’s best-loved biscuits remain absent from shop shelves after floods forced the closure of the United Biscuits factory in Carlisle in December. The factory produces numerous well-known brands of biscuit, including McVitie’s ginger nuts, Crawford’s custard creams and Carr’s water crackers. [Daily Telegraph]
McVitie’s chocolate digestive biscuit

Lord Lucan death certificate granted –
Lord Lucan is now presumed to be dead, a High Court judge has ruled. A death certificate has been issued 42 years after the peer vanished when his children’s nanny Sandra Rivett was bludgeoned to death in London. He was declared dead in 1999, despite dozens of unverified sightings, but the new ruling gives his son the right to inherit the family title. His son, Lord Bingham, said: “I am very happy with the judgment of the court in this matter.” [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Exercise vs Diet – ASAP Science

List of the Day –

Daily telegraph’s 28 Best Biscuits in the World

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#زد_رصيدك82	#NationalSigningDay	Jackson Martinez
2	恵方巻き	#Pit2Pub	#SarahReed
3	#FelizMiercoles	#MillennialBillOfRights	#BeforeFacebookI
4	#اوغلو_يدنس_قد�…	#NSD2016	#LT16uk
5	#ParaEl14DeFebrero	#RivalsNSD	#SAvsENG
6	#VoteKathrynFPP	#BetterWaysToElectPOTUS	#NZvAUS
7	豆まき	#NGWSD	#pmqs
8	#QuartaDetremuraSdv	#Trumpertantrum	George Shelley
9	D’Alessandro	#MosqueVisit	#obsessedwithmybody
10	#VotaLaliEsposito	#1linewed	#ArianaforLipsy

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015–present)
- Three Palestinian assailants launch a shooting and stabbing attack near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, killing one policewoman and seriously injuring another, and lightly injuring a civilian, before being shot and killed by other security forces at the scene. Pipe bombs were discovered on their bodies. (The Times of Israel)
- Two Hamas militants die after a tunnel they were digging from the Gaza Strip into Israel collapses. (AP)
Russian military intervention in the Syrian Civil War
- Sergey Lavrov, the Foreign Minister of Russia, says that Russia‘s bombing campaign will continue until terrorist organisations like ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusra are defeated; the Syrian opposition’s High Negotiations Committee has voiced outrage at an ongoing government offensive backed by Russian air power and called for a halt to air strikes against civilians, among other demands. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Syrian Civil War
- Siege of Nubl and Al-Zahraa
  - The Syrian Army and its allies break a three-year rebel siege of two Shi’ite towns in northwest Syria, Nubl and Al-Zahraa. (Reuters)
- At least 15 people are killed and 58 injured after rockets reportedly fired by rebels hit pro-government neighborhoods in the southern city of Daraa. (RT)

Business and economy

China‘s state owned ChemChina offers to buy Swiss pesticide and seed manufacturer Syngenta for $43 billion. (AP)

Disasters and accidents

Daallo Airlines Flight 159
- A Daallo Airlines operated commercial plane, bound for Djibouti, makes an emergency landing at Aden Adde International Airport in Mogadishu, following an unexplained explosion that left a gaping hole in its fuselage. (BBC)

International relations

North Korea and weapons of mass destruction
- Japan puts its military on alert to shoot down any North Korean rocket that threatens it following an announcement by North Korea of a planned “Earth observation launch”. (Reuters)
- South Korea warns North Korea of “searing consequences” if it doesn’t abandon plans to launch a long-range rocket that violates United Nations Security Council resolutions that prohibits the country from engaging in any ballistic activities. (Fox News)

Law and crime

John Bingham, 7th Earl of Lucan, wanted for murder since 1974, is officially declared dead so that his son can inherit the title. (BBC)

Politics and elections

United States presidential election, 2016
- Kentucky Senator Rand Paul suspends his campaign for the Republican Party nomination for President of the United States. (Vox) (Politico)
- Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum withdraws from the race. (Washington Post)
Irish general election, 2016
- Voters in Ireland will go to the polls on February 26 after the President dissolves the current Dail or parliament. (AAP via News Limited), (BBC)

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April 8, 2016

Top News Stories –

Springsteen cancels North Carolina concert over bathroom bill –
Rock star Bruce Springsteen on Friday canceled a concert scheduled for this weekend in North Carolina to protest a new state law restricting bathroom use by transgender individuals, as country music stars decried similar legislation proposed in Tennessee. Springsteen said in an online statement that the North Carolina law was “an attempt by people who cannot stand the progress our country has made in recognizing the human rights of all of our citizens to overturn that progress.” Tickets for the concert that was to be presented on Sunday in Greensboro, North Carolina, would be refunded, according to Springsteen’s website. PayPal Holdings Inc (PYPL.O) cited the discriminatory nature of the law when it canceled on Tuesday a new operations center that was to employ 400 workers in Charlotte. [Reuters] In March Springsteen signed a late note for a schoolboy who came to one of his concerts
Bruce Springsteen

SpaceX reusable rocket lands on ocean platform –
The US aerospace company SpaceX has successfully landed a resusable rocket on an ocean platform, after four previous attempts failed. Mission controllers cheered as the Falcon 9 rocket remained upright on the platform off Florida. It was returning from delivering an inflatable habitat into space for Nasa. The inflatable room will attach to the International Space Station (ISS) for a two-year test and become the first such habitat to for humans in orbit. It is due to reach the ISS around 09:00 GMT on Sunday along with other freight aboard the Dragon capsule. Built by Nevada company Bigelow Aerospace, the habitat is intended to pave the way towards the use of such rooms for long space trips, including to Mars. [BBC] See Video of the Day

Video of the Day –

SpaceX lands rocket at sea, makes history –

	Worldwide	USA	UK (London)
1	#SextaDetremuraSdv	#FlashbackFriday	#FridayFeeling
2	#سعادتي_هي	Josh Pastner	#AskZac
3	#resigncameron	#NewMusicFriday	#resigncameron
4	#8AnosAtrás	#resigncameron	#FlashbackFriday
5	#BuenViernes	#ColorofSurveillance	#dontstreamanddrive
6	#EsDePobres	#OpeningDayDET	#NewMusicFriday
7	#AmaneciConGanasDe	Sanders Over the Edge	#SLFLLondon2
8	#ALDUBProblemaNiLola	Vatican	Danny DeVito
9	#FridayFeeling	#FridayFeeling	#LadiesDay
10	#جسر_الملك_سلمان	#lovesick7days	#IAMW16

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Sinai insurgency
- At least seven people are killed, including five Egyptian Army soldiers, a military officer and a civilian woman in two separate blasts in Egypt‘s Sinai Peninsula. ISIL’s Sinai branch claimed responsibility for the attacks on several websites. (Reuters)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- Hīt offensive (2016)
  - The Iraqi Army recaptures the western town of Hīt, Al Anbar Governorate, after driving out hundreds of ISIL militants. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War
- Damascus offensive (April 2016)
  - ISIL militants reportedly execute 175 workers who were captured earlier this week at a cement factory situated to the east of Damascus. (RT) (Daily Mail)
2016 Armenian–Azerbaijani clashes
- An ethnic Armenian soldier dies in overnight clashes. (News Armenia)

Arts and culture

Pope Francis issues Amoris Laetitia or the Joy of Love, a document on the Roman Catholic approach to love, sex, marriage and family life. (AP)
- In the 256-page document, the Pope encourages the clergy to embrace sinners as well as saints, opens the door a bit for divorced and civilly remarried Catholics, and stresses that Catholics, with their own informed consciences guided by the light of the Gospel, address tricky moral questions in their life, and not only be guided by dogmatic rules from above. Francis also asserts the right to a natural deathwithout aggressive treatment; firmly rejects the death penalty; and reiterates the Church’s opposition to same-sex marriage. (AP²) (The Washington Post) (Vatican)
North Carolina bathroom bill
- Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band cancels their Sunday night concert in Greensboro, North Carolina, to protest the state’s controversial “bathroom bill.” (Rolling Stone)

Business and economics

Both Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide and Marriott International shareholders approve Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood, which will create the world’s largest hotelier. The deal has cleared the pre-merger antitrust reviews in the United States and Canada; approvals from the European Union and China is pending. Last week, Anbang Insurance Group topped Marriott’s bid, then withdrew their offer three days later. (Reuters) (UPI)

Disasters and accidents

At least 50 people are reportedly injured following a head-on collision between two commuter trains in San José, Costa Rica. (WRAL)
Three people are killed, and there was one survivor, following the crash of a small plane headed to Angoon in Southeast Alaska, United States. (KTUU-TV)

International relations

North Korea–South Korea relations, North Korean defectors
- A group of 13 North Koreans working at a restaurant in an unidentified country defect en masse to South Korea, according to Seoul‘s Ministry of Unification. (USA Today)
Egypt–Saudi Arabia relations
- King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud announces, during his trip to Cairo, that a bridge crossing the Red Sea will be built, linking Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi says the bridge will be named after the Saudi monarch. A Saudi–Egypt Causeway project has been in the works for years. (BBC)
Syria–United States relations
- Syria releases American freelance photographer Kevin Patrick Dawes who was kidnapped in 2012. (Washington Post)
NATO–Russia relations
- NATO announces it will hold a meeting of the NATO–Russia Council at the ambassadorial level at NATO headquarters in Brussels in the next two weeks after a two-year break since NATO cut all practical cooperation with Russia in 2014. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Egypt–Italy relations, Murder of Giulio Regeni
- Italy recalls its ambassador to Egypt for consultations in protest over the lack of progress in a probe into the fate of murdered Cambridge University student Giulio Regeni. “We want only one thing, the truth about what happened to Giulio,” Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Friday. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
China-Russia relations
- Russia postpones a transfer of missile engines to China. There is concern the technology could be passed on to a third country, such as North Korea. China is not a member of the Missile Technology Control Regime, a voluntary, informal partnership between 34 countries to prevent proliferation of missile delivery systems that could carry weapons of mass destruction. (UPI)
Bangladesh–United States relations
- U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner condemns Wednesday’s “barbaric murder” of Nazimuddin Samad, and says federal officials are considering granting refuge to a select number ofBangladeshi writers who are under “imminent danger” because of their critical views of radical Islamists. (UPI)

Law and crime

At least two people are reported dead following a shooting at Lackland Air Force Base, in the U.S. state of Texas. (CNBC)
Aftermath of the November 2015 Paris attacks
- Mohamed Abrini, wanted in connection with the 2015 Paris attacks, is arrested in Belgium. (Reuters via Ynet)
Panama Papers
- El Salvador officials seize documents and equipment during a raid of the local offices of Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. Attorney General Douglas Melendez says authorities interviewed seven employees, and confiscated 20 computers and some documents. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

The French occupy movement known as Nuit debout enters its ninth day, “March 40,” spreading across dozens of French cities and to Belgium, Germany, and Spain. (The Guardian)
Djiboutian presidential election, 2016
- Voters in Djibouti go to the polls for the first round of voting in a presidential election with current President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh winning a fourth term in office. (BBC), (AFP via Daily Mail)
A Myanmar court releases 69 jailed student activists in the first wave of amnesty for the country’s political prisoners, with more releases expected. This comes after State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi vowed to push for the release of all the political prisoners in Myanmar. (Al Jazeera)
The Prime Minister of Madagascar Jean Ravelonarivo and his cabinet resign from office with no explanation given. (The Guardian)
Macedonian opposition leader Zoran Zaev pledges to boycott the early Macedonian parliamentary elections, saying it is due to a lack of government reforms. (Business Insider)
LGBT rights in the United States
- A group of United States mayors forms “Mayors Against Discrimination” in the wake of recent discriminatory laws enacted in North Carolina and Mississippi against LBGT individuals. The founding members are city leaders from Honolulu, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland, Oakland, San Francisco, Sante Fe, Seattle, Tampa, and Washington, D.C. (AP) (Huffington Post) (Mayor Edward Murray)
United States presidential election, 2016
- The Colorado Republican Party continues choosing its delegates to the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland. Ted Cruz has swept all of the delegates available so far. The process which began last Saturday (April 2, 2016) will conclude tomorrow. (Washington Post)

Science and technology

SpaceX CRS-8
- SpaceX launches a NASA cargo run to the International Space Station, and in a spaceflight first, successfully lands its reusable main-stage booster on an autonomous spaceport drone ship. (The Verge)(Reuters)

Sport

Russian Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko says they will not open up a formal investigation into the doping scandals that were reported by the World Anti-Doping Agency last November, where it documented Russian athletes systematically taking banned performance-enhancing drugs with state support. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)

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April 11, 2016

Top News Stories –

Bryan Adams cancels Mississippi concert over new religious law –
Bryan Adams has cancelled a concert in Mississippi over the US state’s new controversial religious liberty law. The law, which allows some private businesses and religious groups to refuse service to gay people, was passed last week. The singer issued a statement saying he could not “in good conscience” perform in the state. He added he found it “incomprehensible that LGBT citizens are being discriminated against”. He was due to play the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi on Thursday. Adams’s cancellation comes after Bruce Springsteen cancelled a show in North Carolina last week because of a new law in that state. [BBC]
Bryan Adams

Video of the Day –

Game of Thrones Season 6: Trailer #2

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide	USA
#FelizLunes	#NationalPetDay
#ÇarşıYavşAKlaraKarşı	#OpeningDaySTL
#SegundaDaDetremuraSdv	Bryan Adams
#الحضن_حب_ولا_ق…	#FenwayOpener
#NationalPetDay	#My2WordNightmare
#11ANoVolvera	Quilly
#BeşiktaşınMaçıVar	#DemocracySpring
#My2WordNightmare	#BBMAs
#ALDUBSummerLOVE	#LoveMySchoolDay
#DiaMundialDelParkinson	#FelizLunes

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

2016 Stavropol bombings
- At least three suicide bombers attack a police station in Stavropol, Russia. (Sputnik News)
Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
- Clashes and air strikes are reported in Yemen despite a fragile truce between the government and Houthis taking effect. However, the truce appears to be largely holding as members from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement are granted unhindered access to give humanitarian aid and personnel across the country. (BBC)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- A suicide bomber kills 12 new police recruits in the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. The Taliban claims responsibility for the attack. (BBC)
War in Somalia (2009–present)
- At least five people are killed and seven are wounded following a car bomb attack near a government building in Somalia‘s capital, Mogadishu. Al-Shabaab claims responsibility for the attack. (BBC)

Business and economics

2008 financial crisis
- Goldman Sachs agrees to pay $5.06 billion to settle allegations that it sold packages of shoddy mortgages prior to the global financial crisis.. The U.S. Justice Department settlement includes a $2.385 billion civil penalty, and $1.8 billion for distressed borrowers and communities affected by the housing crisis. (The Washington Post) (UPI)

Disasters and accidents

2014–16 El Niño event
- A severe heat wave grips Malaysia as much of Southeast Asia struggles with unusually hot and dry weather created by the El Niño season. Temperatures in Malaysia soared above 37°C, prompting more than 250 schools to close. (Al Jazeera)

International relations

G7 foreign ministers meeting
- John Kerry, along with the other Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers, laid wreaths at Japan’s Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum to the victims of the 1945 U.S. nuclear attack. Kerry is the firstSecretary of State to visit the memorial. Then-U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi was previously the highest-ranking U.S. official to visit the memorial, in 2008. The Hiroshimaforeign ministers meeting is part of the preparations for the 42nd G7 summit the end of next month at Japan’s Kashiko Island, Shima, Mie Prefecture. (Reuters) (Channel NewsAsia)
Houthi insurgency in Yemen, Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
- Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the United Nations special envoy for Yemen, says he welcomes the tentative truce that started at midnight Yemen time. The truce opens unhindered access for relief aid to all of Yemen. Peace talks are set to start later this month. (Reuters)
North Korea–South Korea relations, North Korean defectors
- South Korea announces that a colonel from North Korea‘s military spy agency defected to the south last year. Senior-level defections are rare, most being low level operatives. (AP)
European migrant crisis
- The Italian Coast Guard rescues 1,850 in the Strait of Sicily. (AFP via Daily Star)

Law and crime

CIA Director John Brennan, in an exclusive interview to air on NBC News tonight, says the United States intelligence agency will not use harsh, enhanced interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, even if ordered by a future president. Presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have discussed using waterboarding if elected. (The Hill via MSN.com) (NBC News)
Kollam temple fire
- Five workers from the company that supplied fireworks to the Puttingal Temple have been detained by Indian police with the death toll rising to 106. (CNN)
Israeli–Palestinian conflict (2015–present)
- Israeli security forces arrest 18 Palestinians on the West Bank for alleged terrorism related offences. (Jerusalem Post)

Politics and elections

Hundreds of arrests are reported in the U.S. capitol in response to the Democracy Spring protests. (CNN) (Democracy Spring)

The Prime Minister of Kyrgyzstan Temir Sariyev announces he will resign from his post. This comes after several Parliament members accused Sariyev and his cabinet of corruption. The Kyrgyz presidential press service said President Almazbek Atambayev accepted his resignation. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Darfurian status referendum, 2016
- Voting for a referendum begins in Darfur, Sudan. Voters will be asked during the three-day referendum to decide on the permanent administrative status of the region. The choices are for the creation of a Darfur Region composed of the States of Darfur, or the retention of the status quo states system. Darfur is currently divided into five states. Voters will decide this week whether the area should go back to being one region, as it was until 1994. However, there are fears of voter apathy and if the referendum will be credible. (Al Jazeera)
The President of the Georgian breakaway state of South Ossetia Leonid Tibilov announces his plan to hold a referendum on whether to become part of Russia or to keep its de facto independence before August of this year. This comes after South Ossetia signed various agreements further integrating the region with Russia. (TASS)
2015–16 protests in Brazil
- A committee of Brazil‘s Chamber of Deputies votes 38-27 to recommend the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff, who faces charges of breaking budget laws to support her re-election in 2014.(Reuters)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

April 20, 2016

Top News Stories –

Harriet Tubman to be first African-American on U.S. currency –
Anti-slavery crusader Harriet Tubman will become the first African-American on the face of U.S. paper currency, and the first woman in more than a century, when she replaces former President Andrew Jackson on the $20 bill. The U.S. Treasury Department said on Wednesday that Tubman, who was born into slavery in the early 1820s and went on to help hundreds of slaves escape, would take the center spot on the bill, while Jackson, a slave owner, would move to the back. Introduced alongside a slew of changes to the $5 and $10 notes as well, the redesign gives the Treasury “a chance to open the aperture to reflect more of America’s history,” Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said. A new $10 bill will add images of five female leaders of the women’s suffrage movement, including Sojourner Truth and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, to the back, while keeping founding father Alexander Hamilton on the front. The reverse of a new $5 note will show former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., officials said. Former President Abraham Lincoln will remain on the front. [Reuters]

Victoria Wood dies aged 62 after cancer battle –
Comedian, singer and writer Victoria Wood has died after “a short but brave” battle with cancer aged 62. Her publicist said the star “died peacefully at her north London home with family” on Wednesday. Wood’s long-time comedy partner Julie Walters said she was “too heart sore to comment – the loss of her is incalculable”. Wood found fame in the 1980s and was best known for her BBC sketch Acorn Antiques and comedy Dinnerladies. She won five Baftas including two for her one-off ITV drama Housewife, 49. [BBC]
Victoria Wood in 2012

Video of the Day –

Clockwork | A Time-Lapse & Hyper-Lapse Reel – In 4K from Tyler Fairbank on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Victoria Wood’s best One-liners [The Independent]

“Sexual harassment at work. . . is it a problem for the self-employed?”

“My children won’t even eat chips because some know-all bastard at school told them a potato was a vegetable.”

“My boyfriend had a sex manual but he was dyslexic. I was lying there and he was looking for my vinegar.”

“Jogging is for people who aren’t intelligent enough to watch television.”

“People think I hate sex. I don’t. I just don’t like things that stop you seeing the television properly.”

“In my day we didn’t have sex education, we just picked up what we could off the television.”

“We’d like to apologise to viewers in the north. It must be awful for them.”

“I sometimes think that being widowed is God’s way of telling you to come off the Pill.”

“I once went to one of those parties where everyone throws their car keys into the middle of the room. I don’t know who got my moped but I’ve been driving that Peugeot for years.”

“Life’s not fair, is it? Some of us drink champagne in the fast lane, and some of us eat our sandwiches by the loose chippings on the A597.”

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide	USA
#QuartaDetremuraSdv	#HairMusicVideo
#FelizMiercoles	#WednesdayWisdom
#WednesdayWisdom	#NationalLookAlikeDay
Happy 420	Happy 420
#شي_تفتخر_فيه	#1linewed
#CuandoLlueveMeDanGanasDe	#WaysToUniteUsAll
#TodoBienHastaQue	Bob Marley
#ALDUBLoveOnCue	Harriet Tubman
#ImpeachmentDaAnatel	#FoodTank
#あなたは何故モテ�…	Prince George

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- April 2016 Kabul attack
  - The death toll from yesterday’s Taliban attack on the National Directorate of Security in Kabul rises to 64, with 347 others wounded, according to the Afghan Interior Ministry. (Reuters)
War in Donbass
- A Ukrainian military spokesman says three of its soldiers were killed by a mortar attack in the country’s east, the heaviest toll reported in the region in nearly two months. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
War in North-West Pakistan
- Pakistani Taliban militants, in two attacks, kill seven police officers who were guarding medical workers administering polio vaccinations in Karachi. (The Guardian)

Arts and culture

Former slave Harriet Tubman replaces Andrew Jackson on the United States twenty-dollar bill while Alexander Hamilton keeps his place on the ten after the public consultation process. (The New York Times) (Reuters)

Business and economics

The Kuwait Oil Workers Union ends their three-day strike that had cut Kuwait’s crude production by nearly half. (Gulf News) (CNBC)
Mitsubishi admits that its fuel efficiency tests broke Japanese rules for about 625,000 “ultrasmall” vehicles sold in Japan. (BBC) (UPI)
The European Union accuses Google of abusing the dominance of its Android by preloading its own apps. (Irish Times)
Volkswagen emissions scandal
- Volkswagen and United States officials agree in principle on a deal where the automaker could buy back up to 500,000 diesel cars. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Ecuador earthquake
- A magnitude-6.1 aftershock has struck off the coast of Ecuador at 3:33 a.m. local time, the US Geological Survey says, in the same area as the massive earthquake on Saturday. (USGS), (Reuters via Asia-Pacific News)
- People in Ecuador start burying their dead as the death toll from the earthquake passes 500. (AP)
- President Rafael Correa announces a sales tax increase, and a one-time levy on millionaires as the country deals with the enormous damage from this disaster. (AP)
- The death toll rises to 570 with 163 people listed as missing. Those made homeless climbs to over 23,500. (AP)
European migrant crisis
- Up to 500 people are feared to have drowned off the coast of Libya in the Mediterranean last week, in what would be the deadliest migrant shipwreck in months. (The Guardian)
A small-plane crashes near Chugiak, Anchorage in Alaska, killing at least four people, according to the Anchorage Fire Department. (Alaska Dispatch News)
Hundreds of people are evacuated following a large explosion at an oil facility in Coatzacoalcos in southern Mexico. (BBC)

International relations

Yemeni Crisis
- The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the United States agree to carry out joint naval patrols to prevent Iranian arms shipments reaching Yemen, the Gulf bloc’s secretary general Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani said on Wednesday, following a meeting with United States Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. Iran denies it supplies weapons to the Houthis in Yemen. (Reuters)
Ukraine–European Union relations
- The European Union proposes offering Ukraine visa-free travel to its members. However, it is still unclear how fast the liberalization process will be dealt with in the European Parliament and European Council, where some EU member states might want to slow down the process. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
NATO–Russia relations
- NATO reopens informal talks with Russia for the first time in nearly two years. According to the Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg “NATO and Russia have profound and persistent disagreements, today’s meeting did not change that.” (Euronews)
United Kingdom–United States relations
- The United Kingdom’s Foreign Office issues a travel advisory for gay people concerning travel to parts of the United States due to new legislation in North Carolina and Mississippi. (The Independent)

Law and crime

A women’s rights group files a lawsuit in the Philippine Commission on Human Rights against Rodrigo Duterte for his rape remarks. (The New York Times)
Australian media reports that a deal has been reached on an alleged kidnapping case against Tara Brown and the Australian 60 Minutes crew. (9 News)
The Federal Constitutional Court of Germany rules that an anti-terrorism law is unconstitutional and violates right to privacy. (DPA)
The U.S. state of Utah declares pornography a “public health risk” in a move Governor of Utah Gary Herbert says is to “protect our families and our young people”. The bill, signed by the governor, does not ban pornography in the state but does call for greater “efforts to prevent pornography exposure and addiction”. (BBC)
Anders Behring Breivik, a convicted mass murderer in the 2011 Norway attacks, wins a human rights case against the government of Norway. (BBC)
Flint water crisis
- The first criminal charges are laid against three people, two state officials and a municipal official, involved in the Flint water crisis. (New York Times)
Panama Papers
- In a letter to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the United States Department of Justice announces it is opening a criminal investigation into tax avoidance schemes exposed by the Panama Papers with U.S. attorney Preet Bharara asking the ICIJ for help. (BBC)
Two people are burned alive amid xenophobic riots in Lusaka, Zambia. The riots started after rumours spread that Rwandans were behind recent ritual killings in the city. More than 250 people have been arrested after more than 60 Rwandan-owned shops were looted in two days of violence. (BBC)
Drug policy of Canada
- Canada‘s Minister of Health Jane Philpott says federal legislation to legalize marijuana will be introduced in spring of 2017. (CBC)
The United States Supreme Court rules that almost $2 billion in frozen Iranian assets must be turned over to American families of people killed in attacks blamed on Iran, including the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Yasri Khan, a senior member of Swedish Green Party (part of the Government coalition), who was refusing to shake hands with a female reporter on grounds that it violated his Muslim faith, announces that he is quitting politics. (The Local)
Philippine presidential election, 2016
- Philippine presidential candidate Rodrigo Duterte reneges on his apology and denies a statement by his party, PDP-Laban, which said he was sorry for his rape comments. (The Manila Bulletin)
2016 Macedonian protests
- Protests continue against President Gjorge Ivanov in Skopje, Macedonia. Opposition leader Zoran Zaev said he will only take part in EU-brokered negotiations with the government if certain conditions are met. (The Irish Times)

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April 30, 2016

Top News Stories –

Russia challenges US after Baltic jet face-off –
Russia says it was right to confront a US Air Force reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea on Friday. The Pentagon said a Russian jet fighter acted in an “unsafe and unprofessional manner”, and performed a barrel roll over its plane. Russia said that the American jet had turned off its transponder signal, which helps others identify it. It is the second incident in the Baltic this month in which the US has accused Russian planes of flying aggressively. US jets “regularly” try to approach Russia’s borders with transponders switched off, the statement said. Over the past 18 months, Russia has been repeatedly accused of the same practice over the Baltic and near UK waters. It is not clear how close to Russia’s waters Friday’s incident occurred. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

The magic ingredient that brings Pixar movies to life | Danielle Feinberg

Top Twitter Trends –

Worldwide	USA
#zanmai	#TableTopDay
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#ALLINLaSalle	Connor Cook
#TopMentirasParaTerminar	#IfIMadeAMovie
#طبخه_تبدع_فيها	#IdLoveItIfYouWould

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- April 2016 Baghdad bombing
  - A car bombing in southeastern Baghdad kills at least 19 and injures nearly 50 Shi’ite pilgrims. ISIL has claimed responsibility. (AP) (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that twenty air strikes have hit the northern areas of Aleppo. Bombardments by both sides have killed nearly 250 people since April 22. (Reuters)
Attacks on secularists in Bangladesh
- A Hindu man is hacked to death in Tangail district. He is alleged to have made comments against Prophet Muhammad. Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant claims responsibility for the attack. (Washington Post) (Reuters)

Arts and culture

Sweden celebrates the 70th birthday of their King Carl XVI Gustaf, whose celebration was attended by fellow European royals, including Denmark’s Margrethe II, former King of Spain Juan Carlos I and formerQueen of the Netherlands Beatrix. (Euronews)

Disasters and accidents

A heatwave in India has claimed 300 lives in April with daytime cooking banned in some parts of the country to prevent fires which have claimed an additional 80 lives. (AP)
2016 Kenya floods
- Search and rescue efforts continue in Nairobi after the collapse of a building yesterday. Kenyan police have confirmed seven deaths so far. (AP via Daily Mail)
- The death toll from the Kenya floods including the Nairobi building collapse rises to fourteen. (Capital FM)
A three-storey building collapses in the Indian city of Mumbai, resulting in six deaths and trapping many others. (Times of India)
At least five people are killed by floods in the U.S. state of Texas. (FOX News)
A mosque under refurbishment in Mogadishu, Somalia, collapses, killing at least 15 people and injuring around 40. Hundreds more are thought to be buried under the rubble. (BBC)
European migrant crisis
- According to survivors, at least 70 migrants are missing after their dinghy sank off the coast of Libya. 26 people were rescued by the Italian coast guard. (BBC)
Five people are killed in a military plane crash in Sudan. (Reuters)

International relations

China denies a Hong Kong port call by the U.S. Carrier Strike Group 3, which includes the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis (CVN-74) and accompanying vessels. (CNN) (AP via USA Today)
Destruction of ivory
- Kenya burns 105 tonnes of elephant ivory and 1.05 tonnes of rhinoceros horn in order to call for a total ban on the ivory trade. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
According to the United States Department of Defense, an airstrike that hit a hospital in Kunduz, Afghanistan, last October did not amount to a war crime because the airstrike was “unintentional” and that those involved would face suspension but not criminal charges. In response to the briefing, a president of the organization which operated the hospital described it as “an admission of an uncontrolled military operation in a densely populated urban area, during which US forces failed to follow the basic laws of war.” (BBC)
Russia-United States relations
- Russia says it intercepted a U.S. Air Force plane approaching its border over the Baltic Sea on Friday because the aircraft had turned off its transponder which is needed for identification. The Pentagon says the U.S. RC-135 was flying a routine route in international airspace when the Russian SU-27 fighter intercepted it in an “unsafe and unprofessional” way. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Police in Stuttgart, Germany, arrest at least 400 left-wing demonstrators after they attempted to stop a conference by the Alternative for Germany from being held. The protest grew violent when they began to throw stones and use fireworks against the police. (The Guardian)
Egypt tries 237 activists, who face jail terms of up to three years, arrested for protesting without permits against President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Thousands demonstrated this month following the Sisi government’s decision to hand over two uninhabited islands in the Straits of Tiran to Saudi Arabia. Human Rights Watch says at least 382 had been arrested. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Philippine presidential election, 2016
- The influential Christian sect Iglesia ni Cristo endorses Grace Poe for president and Bongbong Marcos for vice president. (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Serbian parliamentary election, 2016
- Roughly 2,000 people protest in Belgrade against alleged fraud in the country’s recent election. The protesters accuse Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić of manipulating the results in order to prevent the far-right Dveri party from reaching the 5-percent threshold and gaining seats in the National Assembly. A repeat vote is expected on May 4 in locations where voting irregularities have been found. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
2015–16 Iraqi protests
- Iraqi officials declare a state of emergency for all of Baghdad after protesters loyal to popular Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr stormed into Iraq’s parliament in the Green Zone. (The News Hub) (NBC News) (Washington Post)

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May 11, 2016

May 12, 2016

Top News Stories –

High heels row: Firm accused of sexism changes policy –
A firm that sent home a temp without pay for refusing to wear high heels has changed its policy. London receptionist Nicola Thorp, 27, says she was told to wear shoes with a “2in to 4in heel” when she arrived at finance company PwC in December. When she refused and was sent home she set up a petition calling for the law on dress code to be changed. Outsourcing firm Portico said “with immediate effect all our female colleagues can wear plain flat shoes”. The company initially said Ms Thorp, from Hackney, had signed its “appearance guidelines” but said it would review them. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Nightmare in the Morning from Yonatan Tal on Vimeo.

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
- Al Qaeda militants kill at least 13 Yemeni government troops near the city of Mukalla. (AFP via Daily Mail)
Iraqi Civil War (2014–present)
- A twin suicide bombing attack at a police station in Baghdad kills five people. Yesterday 93 people had been killed and 165 injured in the deadliest day of attacks in Iraq this year. (AP via Fox News)

Business and economy

Nissan announces that it will buy 34% of fellow Japanese car manufacturer Mitsubishi Motors for 237.4 billion yen ($2.2 billion). (The Independent)
The Bank of England issues an unusually sharp warning about the possible economic consequences of an “Out” vote in the upcoming Brexit referendum. (Reuters)

Disasters

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
- The Government of Malaysia confirms that two more pieces of debris found in South Africa and Rodrigues Island off the coast of Mauritius are “almost certainly” from Malaysia Airlines 370 that disappeared two years ago. (AP via New York Times)

International relations

Syrian Civil War
- Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan threatens unilateral action against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria inside Syria. (Hurriyet Daily) (WSJ)

Law and crime

A criminal investigation is launched by the New Hampshire attorney general against law enforcement officials after news footage showed Massachusetts/New Hampshire police appear to beat a man who was surrendering at the end of a bi-state car chase. (Washington Post via MSN)

Politics and elections

Impeachment process against Dilma Rousseff
- The Brazilian Senate votes (55-22) to begin the impeachment process against the President of Brazil Dilma Rousseff and suspend her from office while the trial takes place. (BBC)
Baltimore, Maryland, primary election, 2016
- Maryland state elections officials decertify the results of Baltimore’s April 26, 2016, primary election because, for example, the number of ballots cast was hundreds more than the number of voters who checked in at polling places. (The Washington Post)

Science

Longevity claims
- A 120-year old woman is found living in the Astrakhan Oblast of Russia, which would make her the world’s oldest living person. However, her birth year remains internationally unverified. Thus, 116-year old Italian Emma Morano is still listed as the oldest verified living person. (TASS)
- The world’s oldest person, American Susannah Mushatt Jones, dies at the age of 116. (Wave 3)
Researchers from Konkoly Observatory in Budapest, Hungary, reveal that (225088) 2007 OR10 is the third largest dwarf planet in the solar system. (Gizmodo)

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June 18, 2016

Top News Stories –

UK astronaut Tim Peake returns to Earth –
UK astronaut Tim Peake is back on Earth after a historic six-month stay on the International Space Station. A Soyuz capsule carrying Major Peake and two other crew members touched down in Kazakhstan at 10:15 BST. He called the journey back “the best ride I’ve been on ever”, adding: “The smells of Earth are just so strong.” Maj Peake is the first person to fly to space under the UK banner since Helen Sharman in 1991 and made the first spacewalk by a UK astronaut. During the 186-day mission, Maj Peake also remotely steered a robot on Earth and ran the London Marathon. Just before 15:00 BST, Maj Peake landed by helicopter on the runway at Karagandy airport. [BBC]
Timothy Peake

Video of the Day –

WALT from justinclifton on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Ten longest human space flights [Wikipedia]

#	Time in space	Crew	Country	Launch date (Launch craft)	Landing date (Landing craft)	Space Station or mission type
1	437.7 days	Valeri Polyakov	Russia	1994-01-09 (Soyuz TM-18)	1995-03-22 (Soyuz TM-20)	Mir
2	379.6 days	Sergei Avdeyev	Russia	1998-08-13 (Soyuz TM-28)	1999-08-28 (Soyuz TM-29)	Mir
3	365.0 days	Vladimir Titov Musa Manarov	Soviet Union	1987-12-21 (Soyuz TM-4)	1988-12-21 (Soyuz TM-6)	Mir
4	340.4 days	Mikhail Korniyenko Scott Kelly	Russia United States	2015-03-27 (Soyuz TMA-16M)	2016-03-01 (Soyuz TMA-18M)	International Space Station
5	326.5 days^[	Yuri Romanenko	Soviet Union	1987-02-05 (Soyuz TM-2)	1987-12-29 (Soyuz TM-3)	Mir
6	311.8 days	Sergei Krikalev	Soviet Union/ Russia	1991-05-18 (Soyuz TM-12)	1992-03-25 (Soyuz TM-13)	Mir
7	240.9 days	Valeri Polyakov	Soviet Union	1988-08-29 (Soyuz TM-6)	1989-04-7 (Soyuz TM-7)	Mir
8	237.0 days	Leonid Kizim Vladimir Solovyov Oleg Atkov	Soviet Union	1984-02-08 (Soyuz T-10)	1984-10-02 (Soyuz T-11)	Salyut 7
9	215.4 days	Mikhail Tyurin Michael López-Alegría^]	Russia United States	2006-09-18 (Soyuz TMA-9)	2007-04-21 (Soyuz TMA-9)	International Space Station
10	211.4 days	Anatoli Berezovoy Valentin Lebedev	Soviet Union	1982-05-13 (Soyuz T-5)^[19]	1982-12-10 (Soyuz T-7)^[19]	Salyut 7

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Terrorism in the European Union
- Twelve people are arrested and three men are subsequently charged with terrorism offences in Belgium after dozens of raids were carried out mainly in the Brussels region. (BBC)
Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports at least eight people, including four children, are shot and killed, and another eight wounded by Turkish border guards. The group was trying to cross from northwestern Syria into Turkey’s Hatay Province. (The Times of Israel) (AP)

Disasters and accidents

A week of heavy rains and flooding in south China results in at least 25 deaths, six people missing and 33,000 people displaced. (ABC News)
Six people are killed and 10 injured when a van crashes in the U.S. state of Virginia. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Death of Jo Cox
- Thomas Mair from the town of Birstall, West Yorkshire, is charged with the murder of British MP Jo Cox. (West Yorkshire Police), (BBC)
A 73-year-old gunman shoots dead a police officer, and seriously wounds another before shooting himself dead in Vihti, Finland. Finnish broadcaster Yle reports it is the first time a police officer in Finland has been killed in the line of duty since 2007. (AP via Daily Mail)
Mohamed Morsi, former President of Egypt, is sentenced to life imprisonment and another 15 years for his role in allegedly leaking government secrets to Qatar. Six people, including two Al-Jazeeraemployees, are sentenced to death. (Daily News Egypt), (Al-Jazeera)
At least six people have been shot dead and 12 injured as a result of 18 shootings in the American city of Chicago, Illinois. (ABC7 Chicago)

Politics and elections

Sudanese conflict in South Kordofan and Blue Nile
- Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir declares a four-month ceasefire in the states of Blue Nile and South Kordofan in order to give rebels of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-North a chance to join the peace process and to lay down arms in order to end the conflict which has been ongoing since 2011. (Al Jazeera)
United States presidential election, 2016, 2016 Republican National Convention
- Apple Inc. notifies the GOP that this year it will not fund or provide other support for the party’s 2016 presidential convention, citing Donald Trump’s controversial comments about women, immigrants and minorities. (Politico)

Science and technology

Three astronauts return from a mission to the International Space Station, Briton Tim Peake of the European Space Agency, Timothy Kopra of NASA and Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko. (BBC)

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July 8, 2016

Top News Stories –

Christina Estrada: Former supermodel wins £53m divorce settlement –
A former supermodel has been awarded a £53m ($69m) lump sum after a divorce battle with her billionaire ex-husband. Berkshire-based Christina Estrada, 54, had wanted £196m from Saudi businessman Sheikh Walid Juffali, 61, to meet her “needs” – including £1m a year on clothes – the High Court was told. The total settlement, which takes into account her own assets, is about £75m. Her lawyers said this makes it “by more than £50m, the largest needs award ever made by an English court”. Ms Estrada, who is is currently living at the matrimonial home bordering Windsor Great Park, had rejected an offer that, when added to her own assets, would have given her £37m to live on. Ms Estrada was cross-examined in court on her needs, which she said included:

£40,000 a year for fur coats
£109,000 a year for haute couture dresses
£21,000 a year on shoes
£60m to afford a luxury London home
A £4.4m countryside home in Henley-on-Thames
£495,000 for five cars – three in London and two in the US

[BBC]

Video of the Day –

If you couldn’t die, what would happen?

A G A I N from Nico Gao on Vimeo.

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Insurgency in the North Caucasus
- At least eight unidentified militants and one security officer are killed in ongoing clashes in rural Dagestan, Russia. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Boko Haram insurgency
- According to a Nigerian Army spokesman, a Boko Haram suicide bomber kills six people inside a mosque in the town of Damboa, Borno State. A second suicide bomber attempted to enter the same mosque but failed to gain entry and detonated his belt, killing only himself. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War
- Airstrikes hit Darkush in Idlib Province near the Turkish border, killing at least 23 people, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. At least 25 died when rebels shelled government-held areas of Aleppo. Friday is the last day of a 72-hour Syrian Army-sponsored ceasefire. (Reuters) (Reuters²)
South Sudanese Civil War
- Five soldiers between the two rival Sudan People’s Liberation Army factions are killed in clashes in the capital Juba, with reports of heavy gunfire continuing, despite President Salva Kiir Mayardit and rebel leader Riek Machar having reached a peace deal back in April. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Nepartak hits eastern Taiwan causing three deaths so far, 124 injuries, thousands of people to be evacuated, disrupting transport and power supplies. (Reuters) (CNN)

Health and medicine

Zika virus epidemic
- The death of an elderly Utah woman with a Zika virus infection in late June is the first reported Zika-related death in the continental United States. The woman had traveled to an area where Zika is spreading. The exact cause of death has not been determined; the lady had an underlying medical condition. (NBC News) (Time)

International relations

Abdul Sattar Edhi, Pakistani philanthropist and Chairman of the Edhi Foundation, passes away in Karachi at Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation. (Dawn News) (Pakistan Today)
2016 Warsaw summit
- NATO members gather in Warsaw, Poland, for a two-day summit. Much of the focus will be on Russia and NATO’s commitments in bolstering its presence in Eastern Europe. Other issues to be discussed will include Europe’s migrant crises, ISIL extremists, and the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union. (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
South Korea–United States relations
- American and South Korean military officials agree to deploy a U.S. Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system in the country to counter North Korea‘s growing threats and use of ballistic missile and nuclear tests. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

Human rights in the Philippines; Philippine Drug War
- The left-wing political party, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, which is part of the current government, asks Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to investigate the recent vigilante killings of suspected drug pushers. (GMA News)
- Opposition senator and human rights lawyer Leila de Lima has condemned the killings and urged the Philippine Congress to investigate. (Channel News Asia)
2016 shooting of Dallas police officers
- Police kill Micah X Johnson, the gunman believed responsible for the killing of five police officers and shooting of seven more in Dallas, Texas following a standoff. (Los Angeles Times)

Politics and elections

2016 Zimbabwe protests
- Protests in Harare and elsewhere in the country continue despite police intimidation and pleas by President Robert Mugabe for them to stop. (Voice of America Zimbabwe)
- President Mugabe, in a live national television broadcast from a stadium in Bindura, blames Western sanctions for his country’s inability to pay government workers on time. (AP via The Washington Post) (AFP via Yahoo! News)
- #ThisFlag protest leader Pastor Evan Mawarire says the movement, which uses WhatsApp, Facebook, and Twitter, will hold a two-day strike next week if demands, that include sacking corrupt ministers, payment of delayed salaries, lifting of roadblocks that residents say are used by police to extract bribes, etc., are not met. A drought has aggravated the country’s situation as have banks that have a daily withdrawal ceiling as low as $50. (Reuters via CNBC Africa) (Ventures Africa)

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August 13, 2016

Top News Stories –

Gary Lineker pants: Match of the Day presenter keeps Twitter promise –
Gary Lineker kept his promise and introduced the opening Match of the Day of the new season in his underpants. Former England captain Lineker, 55, pledged to “do the first MOTD of next season in just my undies” if former club Leicester won the Premier League. The Foxes went on to win their first top-flight title by 10 points. “It is a one-off and a sporting miracle that has landed me in my underwear,” said Lineker, who scored 95 goals in 194 appearances for Leicester. “When I tweeted that silly bet back in December, I categorically knew there was zero chance of Leicester winning the league. Zero chance. It happened but it was magical, it was great.” Lineker managed to keep a straight face, while MOTD pundits Alan Shearer and Ian Wright giggled in the background, as he opened the programme. Lineker stayed in his underwear as Shearer and Wright analysed Leicester’s opening-day defeat by Hull. But as the programme moved on to the second match, he told viewers: “Enough of this nonsense – I’m going to get dressed!” [BBC]
Gary Lineker on MOTD with Alan Shearer and Ian Wright(BBC)

Video of the Day –

NEW YORK, NEW YORK from LMJ on Vimeo.

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)
- At least 10 children are killed and 28 injured in an air attack on a school in northern Yemen. The Houthi group claims that the Saudi Arabia led coalition is responsible. (Reuters via ABC News)
Syrian civil war
- The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that at least 51 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Aleppo. (AFP via Yahoo! News)

Disasters and accidents

2016 Louisiana floods
- Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards declares a state of emergency as over 17 inches of rain (43 cm) causes unprecedented flooding across the region and takes at least three lives in his state, with more rain expected through Sunday. (Reuters), (AP)
The death toll from Thursday’s explosion in a Silver Spring, Maryland, apartment building rises to three with others still missing. The cause of the blast has not yet been officially determined. (Reuters)

Law and crime

Six people are injured by a knifeman who also set fire to a train at Salez, Switzerland. (BBC News Online)
A lone gunman shoots a Muslim cleric and an associate to death in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens, New York City. Both were still wearing religious garb following afternoon prayers. No arrests have been made. (Reuters)
2016 Milwaukee riots
- Violence breaks out in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, following a fatal police shooting of a 23-year-old male criminal armed with a handgun earlier in the day. The Milwaukee Police Department says an officer was injured after being struck in the head by a brick, while a police car and gas station were set on fire. (NBC News)

Sport

2016 Summer Olympics
- Darya Klishina, Russia‘s sole track and field competitor at the Rio Olympics, has her exemption to Russia’s blanket ban revoked. Reportedly, new evidence emerged in relation to a World Anti-Doping Agency report. Klishina is appealing the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. (Reuters)
- The United States becomes the first nation to win 1000 gold medals at the Olympic Games when its 4 × 100 medley relay team of Kathleen Baker, Lilly King, Dana Vollmer and Simone Manuel wins. (USA Today)

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February 27, 2017

February 26, 2017

Top News Stories –

Oscars mistake: Moonlight wins best picture after announcement mix-up –
Moonlight has won best picture at the Oscars – but only after Faye Dunaway initially said La La Land had won. Warren Beatty was handed the previous winner’s envelope, containing a card saying “Emma Stone, La La Land”, resulting in the error. The team from La La Land was in the middle of its acceptance speeches when the mistake was discovered. Stone said backstage afterwards: “Is that the craziest Oscar moment of all time? Cool! It’s going to be history.” PriceWaterhouseCooper, the accountancy firm responsible for counting the ballots, said in a statement: “We sincerely apologise to Moonlight, La La Land, Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, and Oscar viewers for the error that was made during the award announcement for best picture. “The presenters had mistakenly been given the wrong category envelope and when discovered, was immediately corrected. We are currently investigating how this could have happened, and deeply regret that this occurred.” [BBC]

Video of the Day –

La La Land as directed by David Lynch – Trailer Mix

List of the Day –

Winners of the 89th Academy Awards [BBC]

Best picture

Winner: Moonlight
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester by the Sea

Best actress

Winner: Emma Stone – La La Land
Isabelle Huppert – Elle
Ruth Negga – Loving
Natalie Portman – Jackie
Meryl Streep – Florence Foster Jenkins

Best actor

Winner: Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling – La La Land
Viggo Mortensen – Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington – Fences

Best supporting actress

Winner: Viola Davis – Fences
Naomie Harris – Moonlight
Nicole Kidman – Lion
Octavia Spencer – Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams – Manchester by the Sea

Best supporting actor

Winner: Mahershala Ali – Moonlight
Jeff Bridges – Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges – Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel – Lion
Michael Shannon – Nocturnal Animals

Best director

Winner: La La Land – Damien Chazelle
Arrival – Denis Villeneuve
Hacksaw Ridge – Mel Gibson
Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan
Moonlight – Barry Jenkins

Best original screenplay

Winner: Manchester by the Sea – Kenneth Lonergan
20th Century Women – Mike Mills
Hell or High Water – Taylor Sheridan
La La Land – Damien Chazelle
The Lobster – Yorgos Lanthimos and Efthimis Filippou

Best adapted screenplay

Winner: Moonlight – Barry Jenkins and Alvin McCraney
Arrival – Eric Heisserer
Fences – August Wilson
Hidden Figures – Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi
Lion – Luke Davies

Best original score

Winner: La La Land – Justin Hurwitz
Jackie – Mica Levi
Lion – Dustin O’Halloran and Hauschka
Moonlight – Nicholas Britell
Passengers – Thomas Newton

Best original song

Winner: La La Land – City of Stars by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
La La Land – Audition by Justin Hurwitz, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul
Moana – How Far I’ll Go by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Trolls – Can’t Stop the Feeling by Justin Timberlake, Max Martin and Karl Johan Schuster
Jim: The James Foley Story – The Empty Chair by J Ralph and Sting

Best cinematography

Winner: La La Land – Linus Sandgren
Arrival – Bradford Young
Lion – Greig Fraser
Moonlight – James Laxton
Silence – Rodrigo Prieto

Best foreign language film

Winner: The Salesman – Iran
A Man Called Ove – Sweden
Land of Mine – Denmark
Tanna – Australia
Toni Erdmann – Germany

Best costume design

Winner: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Colleen Atwood
Allied – Joanna Johnston
Florence Foster Jenkins – Consolata Boyle
Jackie – Madeline Fontaine
La La Land – Mary Zophres

Best make-up and hairstyling

Winner: Suicide Squad – Alessandro Bertolazzi, Giorgio Gregorini and Christopher Nelson
A Man Called Ove – Eva Von Bahr and Love Larson
Star Trek Beyond – Joel Harlow and Richard Alonzo

Best documentary feature

Winner: OJ: Made in America
13th
Fire At Sea
I Am Not Your Negro
Life, Animated

Best sound editing

Winner: Arrival – Sylvain Bellemare
Deepwater Horizon – Wylie Stateman and Renee Tondelli
Hacksaw Ridge – Robert Mackenzie and Andy Wright
La La Land – Ai-Ling Lee and Mildred Iatrou Morgan
Sully – Alan Robert Murray and Bub Asman

Best sound mixing

Winner: Hacksaw Ridge – Kevin O’Connell, Andy Wright, Robert Mackenzie and Peter Grace
13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi – Gary Summers, Jeffrey J Haboush and Mac Ruth
Arrival – Bernard Gariepy Strobl and Claude La Haye
La La Land – Andy Nelson, Ai-Ling Lee and Steve A Morrow
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – David Parker, Christopher Scarabosio and Stuart Wilson

Best animated short

Winner: Piper – Alan Barillaro and Marc Sondheimer
Blind Vaysha – Theodore Ushev
Borrowed Time – Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj
Pear Cider and Cigarettes – Robert Valley and Cara Speller
Pearl – Patrick Osborne

Best animated feature

Winner: Zootopia
Kubo and the Two Strings
Moana
My Life as a Zucchini
The Red Turtle

Best production design

Winner: La La Land – David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco
Arrival – Patrice Vermette and Paul Hotte
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Stuart Craig and Anna Pinnock
Hail, Caesar! – Jess Gonchor and Nancy Haigh
Passengers – Guy Hendrix Dyas and Gene Serdena

Best visual effects

Winner: The Jungle Book – Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R Jones and Dan Lemmon
Deepwater Horizon – Craig Hammack, Jason Snell, Jason Billington and Burt Dalton
Doctor Strange – Stephane Ceretti, Richard Bluff, Vincent Cirelli and Paul Corbould
Kubo and the Two Strings – Steve Emerson, Oliver Jones, Brian McLean and Brad Schiff
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story – John Knoll, Mohen Leo, Hal Hickel and Neil Corbould

Best film editing

Winner: Hacksaw Ridge – John Gilbert
Arrival – Joe Walker
Hell or High Water – Jake Roberts
La La Land – Tom Cross
Moonlight – Nat Sanders and Joi McMillon

Best documentary short

Winner: The White Helmets – Orlando von Einsiedel and Joanna Natasegara
4.1 Miles – Daphne Matziaraki
Extremis – Dan Krauss
Joe’s Violin – Kahane Cooperman and Raphaela Neihausen
Watani: My Homeland – Marcel Mettelsiefen and Stephen Ellis

Best live action short

Winner: Sing – Kristof Deak and Anna Udvardy
Ennemis Interieurs – Selim Azzazi
La Femme et le TGV – Timo Von Gunten and Giacun Caduff
Silent Nights – Aske Bang and Kim Magnusson
Timecode – Juanjo Gimenez

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- The Syrian Army recaptures the strategic town of Tadef from ISIL, south of al-Bab, securing key transportation routes in eastern Aleppo Governorate. (Xinhuanet)

Arts and culture

89th Academy Awards
- The 89th Academy Awards are held in Los Angeles, California. (ABC)
- Moonlight wins the Academy Award for Best Picture, moments after La La Land was mistakenly announced as the winner. (ABC News Australia)
- Mahershala Ali wins the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Moonlight. He is the first Muslim American to win the award. (The Guardian)
- La La Land ‘s director Damien Chazelle wins the Oscar for Best Director and Emma Stone wins the Academy Award for Best Actress. (The Guardian)
- Casey Affleck wins the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Manchester by the Sea. (ABC)
- Viola Davis wins the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Fences. (ABC)
- The Salesman directed by Asghar Farhadi won Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. Farhadi and other film crew did not attend the ceremony in protest of Donald Trump‘s visa ban. First Iranian in space Anousheh Ansari and scienist Firouz Naderi attended in place of Farhadi. (The Guardian)
- O.J.: Made in America wins the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. (ABC)
- The Netflix documentary The White Helmets, a film about the Syrian Civil War, wins the Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject). Its cinematographer was unable to recieve the award due to the immigration policy of the Donald Trump administration.(CNN)
- Zootopia wins the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. (ABC)

Disasters and accidents

Millions of residents in the Chilean capital Santiago are left without access to running water after the Maipo River is contaminated by flooding and landslides. At least four people have died in the floods. (BBC)
16 people dead in northern India after a truck carrying villagers to church overturned on a mountain road. (DW)

Politics and elections

Tens of thousands of people march through Moscow, Russia, to commemorate the two-year anniversary of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov’s assassination. (The Guardian) (Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Political appointments of Donald Trump
- Philip Bilden, nominee for Secretary of the Navy, withdraws his name from consideration. Mr. Bilden says his business interests created complications. (CNN)

Sport

2017 EFL Cup Final
- Manchester United beat Southampton 3–2 at Wembley Stadium to win the 2016–17 EFL Cup. (BBC)
2017 Daytona 500
- Kurt Busch wins his first Daytona 500. (Orlando Sentinel)

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October 3, 2017

Russian-bought Facebook ads ‘seen by 10 million in US’ –
An estimated 10 million people in the US saw Facebook adverts bought in Russia before and after the US presidential election. The company published the numbers in a blog post as it turned over 3,000 Russian-bought ads to federal investigators on Monday. It said most ads focused on “divisive social and political messages” on issues like immigration and gun rights. Russia has denied trying to influence the election. The ads violated Facebook’s policies because they came from inauthentic accounts. Facebook said that many did not violate its content policies. The tech giant used modelling to estimate the number of users who had seen the Russian-bought ads, which it said appear to have come from a Russian entity called the Internet Research Agency.
It said that 44% of the ads surfaced before the US election. [BBC]

Other News –

Armed attacks and conflicts

Syrian Civil War
- ISIL releases video footage of two alleged Russian soldiers it captured. However, Russia denies the claims. (Newsweek)

Business and economy

Hydraulic fracturing in the United Kingdom
- The Scottish Government Energy Minister Paul Wheelhouse announces that he will seek an indefinite ban (an existing moratorium has been in place since 2015) on crude oil recovery in Scotland by means of the process of hydraulic fracturing. (BBC)
Yahoo! data breaches
- Yahoo! reports that all three billion of its accounts were hacked in the August 2013 data theft. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

Hurricane Maria
- Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rosselló‘s office reports that the number of deaths related to Hurricane Maria has risen to 34. (Reuters)

International relations

Iran–United States relations
- U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia Judge Ellen S. Huvelle awards Amir Mirza Hekmati, a U.S. Marine who was imprisoned in Iran as a falsely accused CIA spy, a default judgment of $63 million for his ordeal. (The Washington Post)
Cuba–United States relations
- The Trump administration, through the Department of State and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, expels 15 Cuban diplomats, after pulling half of its own embassy staff from Havana on Sept. 29, due to the alleged failure of Cuba to take appropriate steps to protect American personnel against the mysterious health attacks. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

2017 Spanish constitutional crisis
- Catalan general strike
  - Pro-independent trade unions, businesses, and schools in Catalonia hold a general strike to protest Spanish police brutality during the October 1 independence referendum. (CNBC)
Politics of Portugal
- Former Prime Minister of Portugal Pedro Passos Coelho steps down as the leader of the opposition Social Democratic Party in local elections. (Politico)
Abortion in the United States
- The U.S. House of Representatives passes legislation (Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act) which would criminalize abortions made 20 weeks into a pregnancy, except for cases endangering the mother’s life, rape, or incest. (CNN)
Politics of Iraq
- Former President of Iraq, Jalal Talabani, dies at the age of 83. He was the first non-Arab president of Iraq. (Reuters), (BBC)

Science and technology

Nobel Prize in Physics
- The Nobel Prize committee awards Americans Rainer Weiss, Barry Barish, and Kip Thorne the Nobel Prize in Physics for their work in the LIGO Scientific Collaboration that discovered gravitational waves. (Nobel Prize.org), (The Washington Post)

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