Top News Stories –

Southampton footballers set new world record for longest match –
A new world record for the longest football match has been set at St Mary’s, the home of Southampton FC, after a 102 hour-long charity game. The 36 players, from the Testlands Support Project, a Southampton charity, played on until 00:30 BST on Friday to break the previous record, of 101 hours. The players took turns to take breaks to eat, get physiotherapy and sleep. They began the 11-a-side match at 18:30 on Sunday, scoring over 1,600 goals. The Reds went on to beat the Whites 910-725. [BBC]

Surprising pop star facts revealed by YouTube –
YouTube reveals statistics, usually only visible to those behind the scenes, showing some bizarre trends about the world’s biggest stars. They show that Taylor Swift is twice as popular in Bangkok in Thailand than New York, for example. Or that One Direction are huge in Quezon City, the Philippines, as well as Mexico City. The Artist Insights service was unveiled on Wednesday. Google says it means musicians will be able to see the cities where they have the largest number of fans. The records go back to September 2014 and include original versions of the artist’s videos as well as fan shares and re-uploads. [BBC Newsbeat] See List of the Day

Taylor Swift

‘Female Viagra’ to boost women’s libido one step closer –
The development of a pill to boost women’s libido is one step closer after an American panel recommended the approval of the female equivalent of Viagra. A panel of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisers has voted in favour of recommending flibanserin, a daily pill nicknamed the “female Viagra”. The recommendation will be seen as a major coup for campaigners who have fought for women’s sex drives to receive the same level of medical attention as men’s. The decision will now be passed to the FDA itself, which will rule on whether the pill will be officially approved for public use later this year. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Trick Meter from Simeon Duncombe on Vimeo.

List of the Day –

Taylor Swift’s YouTube fanbase by country (September 2014 – June 5, 2015) – Data from YouTube Artist Insights

Top Twitter Trends –

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• A bomb explodes in a marketplace in Yola, Nigeria, killing 31 and injuring dozens of others. (AP), (CNN)
• Two people are killed and more than a hundred injured as bombs explode at rallies held by the pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party two days ahead of the general election in Diyarbakir. (AP)

Business and economy

• Nestlé temporarily removes its Maggi noodles product from the shelves in India following a health scare. (Economic Times)

Disasters and accidents

• Sinking of the Dong Fang Zhi Xing
  • The death toll from the sinking of the ship on the Yangtze River rises to 82 with officials giving up hope of finding more survivors. Only 15 out of over 450 people on the boat were rescued. (Sky News Australia)
• Two bodies have been removed from Borneo’s Mount Kinabalu following the 6.1 magnitude earthquake that hit Malaysia‘s Sabah province Friday morning. Previously-stranded climbers, reported at 137, have descended to the Laban Rata resthouse. (The Star) (CNN) (Asia Straits Times) (The Rakyat Post)
• 2015 Accra explosion
  • The death toll from an explosion at a gasoline station on Wednesday in the Ghanaian capital Accra rises to over 200. (Zee News)

Health

• 2015 Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus outbreak in South Korea
  • Four people have now died of MERS in South Korea with five new cases reported. (AFP via Bangkok Post)

International relations

• Benigno Aquino, the President of the Philippines, says that his government will start discussions with Japan about allowing Japan Self-Defense Forces to refuel at Filipino bases allowing the extension of operations into the South China Sea. (Reuters via Daily Mail)

Law and crime

• Eight out of the ten allegedly involved in shooting Pakistani schoolgirl and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai have been secretly set free.(BBC)
• Prosecutors in the state of Minnesota file criminal charges against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis for allegedly mishandling sexual abuse allegations by a priest. (New York Times)

Politics and elections

• Romania‘s National Anticorruption Directorate announces that it is investigating the Prime Minister Victor Ponta for alleged money laundering, forgery and corruption. Ponta denies the allegations and is refusing to stand down. (CNN)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource