Top News Stories –

‘Earth 2.0’ found in Nasa Kepler telescope haul –
A haul of planets from Nasa’s Kepler telescope includes a world sharing many characteristics with Earth. Kepler-452b orbits at a very similar distance from its star, though its radius is 60% larger. Mission scientists said they believed it was the most Earth-like planet yet. Such worlds are of interest to astronomers because they might be small and cool enough to host liquid water on their surface – and might therefore be hospitable to life. Nasa’s science chief John Grunsfeld called the new world “Earth 2.0” and the “closest so far” to our home. It is around 1,400 light years away from Earth. [BBC]

Taylor Swift apologises to Nicki Minaj –
Taylor Swift has apologised to Nicki Minaj following their Twitter row over the MTV VMA nominations. The singer’s admitted she misunderstood Nicki’s initial tweets, which attacked the music industry for favouring white females. “I thought I was being called out. I missed the point, then misspoke, I’m sorry, Nicki,” Taylor wrote. Nicki has accepted her apology by tweeting back: “That means so much Taylor, thank you.” It all started after Nicki voiced her disappointment at Anaconda not getting a nomination for video of the year. [BBC Newsbeat]

Nicki Minaj

Sony Pictures buys rights to make an emoji movie –
Sony Pictures Animation has bought the rights to turn emoji icons into a movie. The studio plans to create an animated feature film about the smiley, winky and unhappy characters used in texts and on social media. At this stage, it’s not clear how it will turn the static yellow round faces into a Hollywood blockbuster. Commentators claim the success of The Lego Movie showed that any subject matter can be turned into a hit. Emojis were developed in Japan in the late 1990s as smiley-faced emoticons. [BBC Newsbeat]

Video of the Day –

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Official Trailer – “We March Together”

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
  • Turkey scrambles fighter jets and Turkish tanks open fire on ISIS positions along the Syrian border following an exchange of fire which left one Turkish soldier dead and two injured. The clashes are the first direct combat between the Turkish military and ISIS forces. (Telegraph)
  • Turkey agrees to allow the United States access to İncirlik Air Base, near the city of Adana (in close proximity to the Syrian border) for the US-led coalition forces’ air strikes against ISIS. (Today’s Zaman)
• China’s People’s Liberation Army conducts a series of military exercises simulating an attack on Taiwan’s Presidential Office Building. (Focus Taiwan) (Quartz) (Wall Street Journal)

Business and economy

• Greek government-debt crisis timeline
  • A majority in the Greek parliament votes to approve a second bailout reform package. (Euronews)
• Pearson PLC agrees to sell Financial Times Group to Nikkei Inc. for £844 million. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

• At least 15 people are killed in a boat crash on Egypt‘s Nile. (BBC)

Law and crime

• Broken Arrow killings
  • Five people are killed and a girl is wounded in a stabbing at a home in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, U.S. Two teenage suspects are arrested.(CNN)
• 2015 Lafayette shooting
  • Seven people are wounded, and three are dead (including the shooter) after a 58 year-old gunman opens fire at the Grand 16 Movie Theater in Lafayette, Louisiana during a showing of Trainwreck. (NBC)[(CNN)

Science and technology

• NASA scientists announce the discovery of Kepler-452b, the first near-Earth sized exoplanet discovered orbiting the habitable zone of a Sun-like star. (NASA), (BBC)

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