December 6, 2014

Top News Stories –

Typhoon Hagupit hits the Philippines –
Typhoon Hagupit is sweeping across the eastern Philippines, threatening coastal areas with a powerful sea-surge. Roofs have been blown off in the city of Tacloban, where thousands were killed by Typhoon Haiyan a year ago and more than half a million people have fled coastal villages.

Slice of Prince William and Kate’s wedding cake sells for $6,000 at auction –
A wedding cake slice from the 2011 wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge has been sold at an auction in Beverly Hills for $6,000 (£4,000).
The buyer of this romantic slice of history was bought by Gee Chuang, the CEO of online marketplace Listia.com, who plans to give away the piece of wedding cake on the company’s website in April of next year to celebrate the royal couple’s fourth wedding anniversary. The eight-tiered wedding cake, made by pastry chef Fiona Cairns and her team, was adorned with icing flowers, petals and leaves. [Daily Telegraph]

iPhone crash landing protection –
Apple Inc was granted a patent last week on an innovation that can detect when a handset is falling – and rotates it to avoid the screen hitting the ground. If sensors calculate the screen or camera will hit the ground, a motor is instantly activated within the phone which moves an internal weight fast enough to affect the ‘rotational velocity’ of the device and spin it around so that it lands on a reinforced area. The idea could also work with iPads and other devices.

Al-Qaeda hostage killed during rescue mission –
Luke Somers, a US journalist who was being held captive in Yemen since 2013, has been shot by his captors during a a military operation to rescue him and later died. A video was released earlier this week showing a member of al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula (AQAP) threatening to kill Mr Somers unless unspecified demands are met.

Video of the Day –

I’ve fallen and I can’t get up – Crowd dynamics test using Miarmy for Maya

I've fallen, and I can't get up! from Dave Fothergill vfx on Vimeo.

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December 7, 2014

Top News Stories –

Foggy wins down under –
Former motorbike rider Carl Fogarty, four time winner of the World Superbike Championship, has won the British “I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here” in Australia. The 49-year-old known as Foggy beat former X Factor contestant Jake Quickenden and TV presenter Melanie Sykes in the final of the ITV show.
Carl Fogarty

LA Galaxy win MLS again –
Californian soccer team LA Galaxy have won a fifth Major League Soccer (MLS) title with a 2-1 victory over the New England Revolution in the championship-deciding MLS Cup. LA have won three of the last four league titles and Irish striker Robbie Keane grabbed an extra-time winner to give the Galaxy the victory after New England’s Chris Tierney had cancelled out Gyasi Zardes’ opener for LA. (See List of The Day)
Robbie Keane

Royal US visit starts –
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have arrived in New York for a tour of the east coast of the United States during which Prince William will meet President Barack Obama. The Royal couple previously met the Obama’s after their wedding in 2011.
The Royals meeting the President and Mrs Obama in London in 2011

Not out of the woods yet –
Tiger Woods return to competition golf ends badly as he finishes last in the 18 player Hero World Challenge tournament in Florida and is physically sick on the fairway. He has not played competitively for four months due to back pain.
Tiger Woods

Video of the Day –

SYNC from Hasraf HaZ Dulull on Vimeo.

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January 10, 2015

Top News Stories –

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

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

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

Video of the Day –

Gold and Grey from Kyle Camarillo on Vimeo.

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February 5, 2015

Top News Stories –

Moving to the BEET? –
UK communications giant Telecoms group BT buys the mobile operator EE for £12.5bn, with the deal covering fixed-line phones, broadband, mobile and TV. Deutsche Telecom will hold 12% in the new combined business and have a seat on the board. Orange will receive a 4% stake, as well as about £3.4bn in cash. BT says it plans to raise £1bn through a placing of new shares to fund the deal.

Argentine President Chinese faux pas –
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has tweeted an old joke during her visit to China, making fun at how the Chinese speak. She made reference to how some Chinese struggle to pronounce the letter “r”. Tweeting in Spanish, she wondered whether those at an event about trade were there for “lice” and “petloleum” which refers to critics accusing her supporters of attending party events only so they can get a free sandwich and a soft drink.

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner

Video of the Day –

formic

formic from Crave on Vimeo.

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February 18, 2015

Top News Stories –

F1 drivers banned from changing helmets –
Former Formula One drivers take to Twitter to criticise a new rule banning Formula 1 drivers from changing their helmet design during the season. Alex Wurz who chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, tweeted –

And Australian former Red Bull driver Mark Weber added –

The Boston Blizzard Challenge –
The mayor of Boston Martin Walsh has asked the public to stop jumping out of first floor windows into piles of snow left by the record levels of snow that has fallen in February. Bostonians are stripping down to their underwear and leaping into the snowdrifts in a trend called the Boston Blizzard Challenge, all for social media’s delight – a perfect Vine.

Video of the Day –

Little Dreams from Wilkie Branson on Vimeo.
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April 26, 2015

Top News Stories –

Nepal earthquake: International aid effort increased –
The international aid effort for Nepal is gathering pace, with Saturday’s massive earthquake now known to have killed 3,726 people and injured 6,500. China, India, Pakistan and Britain are among the countries contributing to the effort, alongside major aid agencies. Nepal has asked for more help, saying it needs everything from helicopters and blankets to paramedics and drivers. At least 200 climbers have now been rescued around Mount Everest, after the quake triggered avalanches. Foreign climbers on Everest and their Nepalese guides were caught by the tremors and a huge avalanche that buried part of the camp (See Video of the Day). At least 18 were killed by avalanches. China has meanwhile announced a halt to all spring expeditions to Mount Everest from the north face of the mountain on its side of the border, state media reports.

Rich List 2015: Super rich’s wealth soars as new money floods in from abroad –
he combined wealth of the 1,000 richest men and women in Britain has more than doubled in the last ten years, according to the Sunday Times Rich List. (See List of the Day) The wealthiest 1,000 individuals and families now have a combined fortune of £547.126 billion, up from £249.615 billion in 2005, despite the world economy being gripped by a punishing recession over much of the last decade. Plain old millionaires increasingly struggle to count themselves among the mega-rich, with a fortune of £100 million now required to make it into the top 1,000. That is £15 million higher than last year’s minimum, while in 1997 it took a personal wealth of ‘just’ £15 million to make the grade. The list includes 117 billionaires, up from 104 last year. They account for a total wealth of £325.131 billion and 80 of them are based in London. It means the capital has more sterling billionaires than any other city in the world. [Daily Telegraph]
Roman Abramovich – Owner of Chelsea FC and 10th richest man in Britain

Paula Radcliffe runs the London Marathon for the last time –
Briton Radcliffe, 41, ran the 26.2-mile course in two hours 36 minutes 55 seconds, less than three years after surgery on a serious foot injury.
“It was just amazing the whole way round,” the world-record holder said. “I wore the sunglasses to keep a lid on my emotions and they definitely hid some tears along the way,” she added. Radcliffe won the London Marathon in 2002, 2003 and 2005, and her 2003 winning time of 2:15:25 remains the world record.
Paula Radcliffe

Video of the Day –

Hit by Avalanche in Everest Basecamp 25.04.2015 –

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June 12, 2015

June 11, 2015

Top News Stories –

Sir Christopher Lee death announced –
In one of his final interviews, Sir Christopher Lee declared his intention never to retire. “When I die, I want to die with my boots on,” he said.
The actor remained true to his word. He was preparing for his latest film role – a drama called The 11th, co-starring Uma Thurman – when he died on Sunday morning [June 7, 2015] at London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital. Sir Christopher was one of the greats of the 20th century, but his career hit new heights in the last 15 years of his life. He will be best remembered by those of a certain age for playing Count Dracula in his Hammer Horror days, but to younger film fans he was a star of two of the biggest franchises ever made: Saruman in Lord of the Rings and Count Dooku in Star Wars. [Daily Telegraph] He appeared in over 200 films (See List of the Day)
Sir Christopher Lee (1922-2015)

Female scientists post ‘distractingly sexy’ photos –
Female scientists have been sharing “distractingly sexy” photos of themselves after a feminist website encouraged them to respond to comments by a Nobel laureate. Nobel Prize winner Tim Hunt was roundly criticised when he detailed his thoughts about the “trouble with girls” at a conference of science journalists. “Three things happen when they are in the lab,” he said, “you fall in love with them, they fall in love with you, and when you criticise them they cry.” He said his comments were meant to be “light-hearted, ironic comment”, but whatever the intention, it went over like a heavy metallic dirigible in a field with some widely acknowledged gender issues. Hunt has now resigned from his position at University College London. On Thursday the hashtag #DistractinglySexy began taking off, with more than 10,000 tweets in a matter of hours. [BBC Trending] See Top Twitter Trends (UK)

Video of the Day –

Saruman the White – from Lord of the Rings [from Youtube]

List of the Day –

Sir Christopher Lee film appearances (including voiceovers) [List from Wikipedia]

#	Year	Film	Role	Notes
1	1948	Corridor of Mirrors	Charles
2	1948	One Night with You	Pirelli’s Assistant
3	1948	Hamlet	Spear Carrier	Uncredited
4	1948	Penny and the Pownall Case	Jonathan Blair
5	1948	A Song for Tomorrow	Auguste
6	1948	My Brother’s Keeper	Second Constable	Deleted scenes
7	1948	Saraband for Dead Lovers	Bit Part	Uncredited
8	1948	Scott of the Antarctic	Bernard Day
9	1949	Trottie True	Bongo
10	1950	They Were Not Divided	Chris Lewis
11	1950	Prelude to Fame	Newsman
12	1951	Valley of Eagles	Det. Holt
13	1951	Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N.	Spanish Captain
14	1951	Quo Vadis	Chariot Driver	Uncredited^[1]
15	1952	The Crimson Pirate	Joseph (attache)
16	1952	Top Secret	Russian Agent	Uncredited
17	1952	Paul Temple Returns	Sir Felix Raybourne
18	1952	Babes in Bagdad	Slave Dealer
19	1952	Moulin Rouge	Georges Seurat
20	1953	Les vacances de Monsieur Hulot	Voice	Uncredited
21	1953	Innocents in Paris	Lieutenant Whitlock	Uncredited
22	1954	Destination Milan	Svenson
23	1955	Man in Demand
24	1955	Crossroads	Harry Cooper
25	1955	Final Column
26	1955	That Lady	Captain
27	1955	Police Dog	Johnny, a constable
28	1955	The Dark Avenger	French Patrol Captain at Tavern	Uncredited
29	1955	The Cockleshell Heroes	Submarine Commander
30	1955	Storm Over the Nile	Karaga Pasha
31	1956	Alias John Preston	John Preston
32	1956	Private’s Progress	Gen. von Linbeck’s aide	Uncredited
33	1956	Port Afrique	Franz Vermes
34	1956	Beyond Mombasa	Gil Rossi
35	1956	The Battle of the River Plate	Manolo
36	1957	Ill Met by Moonlight	German Officer at Dentists
37	1957	Fortune Is a Woman	Charles Highbury
38	1957	The Traitor	Dr. Neumann
39	1957	The Curse of Frankenstein	The Creature
40	1957	Manuela	Voice	Uncredited
41	1957	Bitter Victory	Sgt. Barney
42	1957	The Truth About Women	François
43	1958	A Tale of Two Cities	Marquis St. Evremonde
44	1958	Dracula	Count Dracula	Alternative title: Horror of Dracula
45	1958	Battle of the V-1	Labor Camp Captain, Men’s Section
46	1958	Corridors of Blood	Resurrection Joe
47	1959	The Hound of the Baskervilles	Sir Henry Baskerville
48	1959	The Man Who Could Cheat Death	Dr. Pierre Gerard
49	1959	The Treasure of San Teresa	Jaeger
50	1959	The Mummy	Kharis, the Mummy
51	1959	Uncle Was a Vampire	Baron Roderico da Frankurten
52	1960	Too Hot to Handle	Novak
53	1960	Beat Girl	Kenny
54	1960	The City of the Dead	Prof. Alan Driscoll	Alternative title: Horror Hotel
55	1960	The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll	Paul Allen
56	1960	The Hands of Orlac	Nero the magician
57	1961	The Terror of the Tongs	Chung King
58	1961	Taste of Fear	Doctor Pierre Gerrard
59	1961	The Devil’s Daffodil	Ling Chu
60	1961	Ercole al centro della terra	King Lico (Licos)	Alternative title: Hercules in the Haunted World
61	1962	Stranglehold
62	1962	The Puzzle of the Red Orchid	Captain Allerman
63	1962	The Pirates of Blood River	Captain LaRoche
64	1962	The Devil’s Agent	Baron von Staub
65	1962	Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace	Sherlock Holmes
66	1963	Katarsis	Mephistoles
67	1963	La vergine di Norimberga	Erich	Aka Castle of Terror and Virgin of Nuremberg
68	1963	La frusta e il corpo	Kurt Menliff	Aka The Whip and the Body and Night Is the Phantom
69	1964	Il castello dei morti vivi	Count Drago	Alternative title: Castle of the Living Dead
70	1964	La cripta e l’incubo	Count Ludwig Karnstein	Aka Crypt of the Vampire and Crypt of Horror
71	1964	The Devil-Ship Pirates	Captain Robeles
72	1964	The Gorgon	Prof. Karl Meister
73	1965	Dr. Terror’s House of Horrors	Franklyn Marsh
74	1965	She	Billali
75	1965	The Skull	Sir Matthew Phillips
76	1965	Ten Little Indians	Voice of “Mr. Owen”	Uncredited
77	1965	The Face of Fu Manchu	Dr. Fu Manchu / Lee Tao
78	1966	Theatre of Death	Philippe Darvas
79	1966	Dracula: Prince of Darkness	Count Dracula
80	1966	Rasputin, the Mad Monk	Grigori Rasputin
81	1966	Circus of Fear	Gregor	Alternative title: Psycho Circus
82	1966	The Brides of Fu Manchu	Fu Manchu
83	1967	The Vengeance of Fu Manchu	Dr. Fu Manchu
84	1967	Night of the Big Heat	Godfrey Hanson
85	1967	Five Golden Dragons	Dragon #4
86	1967	The Blood Demon	Count Frederic Regula, Graf von Andomai	Aka The Torture Chamber of Dr. Sadism and Castle of the Walking Dead
87	1968	Curse of the Crimson Altar	Morley
88	1968	The Devil Rides Out	Duc de Richleau
89	1968	Eve	Colonel Stuart	Alternative title: The Face of Eve
90	1968	The Blood of Fu Manchu	Fu Manchu
91	1968	Dracula Has Risen from the Grave	Count Dracula
92	1969	The Castle of Fu Manchu	Fu Manchu
93	1969	The Oblong Box	Dr. J. Neuhart
94	1969	The Magic Christian	Ship’s vampire
95	1970	Scream and Scream Again	Fremont
96	1970	Umbracle	The Man
97	1970	The Bloody Judge (es)	Lord George Jeffreys	Alternative title: Night of the Blood Monster
98	1970	Count Dracula	Count Dracula
99	1970	Taste the Blood of Dracula	Count Dracula
100	1970	One More Time	Count Dracula
101	1970	Julius Caesar	Artemidorus
102	1970	Eugenie	Dolmance	Aka Eugenie – The Story of Her Journey into Perversion
103	1970	The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes	Mycroft Holmes
104	1970	Scars of Dracula	Count Dracula
105	1971	The House That Dripped Blood	John Reid	Segment: “Sweets to the Sweet”
105	1971	Cuadecuc, vampir	Count Dracula/Himself
106	1971	I, Monster	Dr. Charles Marlowe/Edward Blake
107	1971	Hannie Caulder	Bailey
108	1972	Death Line	Stratton-Villiers, MI5	Alternative title: Raw Meat
109	1972	Nothing But the Night	Col. Charles Bingham
110	1972	Dracula A.D. 1972	Count Dracula
111	1973	Dark Places	Dr. Mandeville
112	1973	The Creeping Flesh	James Hildern
113	1973	The Satanic Rites of Dracula	Count Dracula
114	1973	Horror Express	Sir Alexander Saxton
115	1973	The Three Musketeers	Rochefort
116	1973	The Wicker Man	Lord Summerisle
117	1974	The Four Musketeers	Rochefort
118	1974	The Man with the Golden Gun	Francisco Scaramanga
119	1975	Diagnosis: Murder	Dr. Stephen Hayward
120	1975	Le boucher, la star et l’orpheline	Van Krig/Himself
121	1976	The Keeper	The Keeper
122	1976	Killer Force	Major Chilton	Alternative title: The Diamond Mercenaries
123	1976	To the Devil, A Daughter	Father Michael Rayner
124	1976	Dracula père et fils	Prince of Darkness	Alternative title: Dracula and Son
125	1976	Albino	Bill	Aka Whispering Death and Death in the Sun
126	1977	Airport ’77	Martin Wallace
127	1977	Meatcleaver Massacre	On-screen narrator	Aka Evil Force and Revenge of the Dead
128	1977	End of the World	Father Pergado / Zindar
129	1977	Starship Invasions	Captain Rameses
130	1978	Return from Witch Mountain	Dr. Victor Gannon
131	1978	Caravans	Sardar Khan
132	1978	Circle of Iron	Zetan	Alternative title: The Silent Flute
133	1979	The Passage	Gypsy
134	1979	Arabian Adventure	Alquazar
135	1979	Nutcracker Fantasy	Uncle Drosselmeyer / Street Singer / Watchmaker	Voice
136	1979	Jaguar Lives!	Adam Caine
137	1979	Bear Island	Lechinski
138	1979	1941	Capt. Wolfgang von Kleinschmidt
139	1979	Captain America II: Death Too Soon	Miguel
140	1980	Serial	Luckman Skull
141	1981	The Salamander	Prince Baldasar, the Director of Counterintelligence
142	1981	Desperate Moves	Dr. Carl Boxer
143	1981	An Eye for an Eye	Morgan Canfield
144	1982	Safari 3000	Count Borgia
145	1982	The Last Unicorn	King Haggard	Voice; also in German language version
146	1983	New Magic	Mr. Kellar
147	1983	The Return of Captain Invincible	Mr. Midnight
148	1983	House of the Long Shadows	Corrigan
149	1984	The Rosebud Beach Hotel	Mr. Clifford King
150	1985	Mask of Murder	Chief Supt. Jonathan Rich
151	1985	Howling II: Your Sister Is a Werewolf	Stefan Crosscoe
152	1986	The Girl	Peter Storm
153	1987	Jocks	President White
154	1987	Mio min Mio	Kato
155	1988	Dark Mission	Luis Morel
156	1989	Murder Story	Willard Hope
157	1989	La chute des aigles	Walter Strauss
158	1989	The Return of the Musketeers	Rochefort
159	1990	The Rainbow Thief	Uncle Rudolf
160	1990	L’avaro	Cardinale Spinosi
161	1990	Honeymoon Academy	Lazos
162	1990	Panga	–
163	1990	Gremlins 2: The New Batch	Doctor Catheter
164	1991	Curse III: Blood Sacrifice	Doctor Pearson
165	1992	Jackpot	Cedric
166	1992	Kabuto	King Philip
167	1994	Police Academy: Mission to Moscow	Cmndt. Alexandrei Nikolaivich Rakov
168	1994	Funny Man	Callum Chance
169	1994	Flesh and Blood	Narrator/Self	Last collaboration with Peter Cushing
170	1995	A Feast at Midnight	V. E. Longfellow, a.k.a. Raptor
171	1996	Welcome to the Discworld	Death
172	1996	The Stupids	Evil Sender
173	1998	Tale of the Mummy	Sir Richard Turkel
174	1998	Jinnah	Mohammed Ali Jinnah	Lee considers this to be his favourite role/most significant^[2]
175	1999	Sleepy Hollow	Burgomaster
176	2001	The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring	Saruman
177	2002	Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones	Count Dooku / Darth Tyranus
178	2002	The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	Saruman
179	2003	The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King	Saruman	Extended Edition only
180	2004	Crimson Rivers II: Angels of the Apocalypse	Heinrich von Garten
181	2005	The Adventures of Greyfriars Bobby	The Lord Provost
182	2005	Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith	Count Dooku / Darth Tyranus
183	2005	Charlie and the Chocolate Factory	Dr. Wilbur Wonka
184	2005	Corpse Bride	Pastor Galswells	Voice
185	2007	The Golden Compass	First High Councillor
186	2008	Star Wars: The Clone Wars	Count Dooku / Darth Tyranus	Voice
187	2009	Boogie Woogie	Alfred Rhinegold
188	2009	Triage	Joaquín Morales
189	2009	Glorious 39	Walter
190	2010	Alice in Wonderland	Jabberwocky	Voice
191	2010	Burke & Hare	Joseph
192	2010	The Heavy	Mr. Mason
193	2011	Season of the Witch	Cardinal D’Ambroise
194	2011	The Resident	August
195	2011	The Wicker Tree	Old Gentleman
196	2011	Grave Tales	Himself	Original version only
197	2011	Hugo	Monsieur Labisse
198	2012	The Hunting of the Snark	Narrator	Voice
199	2012	Dark Shadows	Silas Clarney
200	2012	The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey	Saruman
201	2013	Night Train to Lisbon	Father Bartolomeu
202	2013	Necessary Evil	Narrator	Voice
203	2013	The Girl from Nagasaki	Old Officer Pinkerton
204	2014	The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies	Saruman
205	2014	Extraordinary Tales		Voice
206	2015	Angels in Notting Hill	The Boss, Mr. President

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#LiamDay	NOT AVAILABLE	#MakeAMovieLessRomantic
2	#QueSeriaMiVidaSin	NOT AVAILABLE	#LiamDay
3	Marge y Homero	NOT AVAILABLE	Christopher Lee
4	Christopher Lee	NOT AVAILABLE	Ornette Coleman
5	#ConfiesoQue	NOT AVAILABLE	#SAScon
6	Perrie Malik	NOT AVAILABLE	#MyDadWouldAlwaysSay
7	#WorstChildhoodRumors	NOT AVAILABLE	#TimeToDeactivate
8	#RetoTelehit	NOT AVAILABLE	#distractinglysexy
9	Dusty Rhodes	NOT AVAILABLE	#VFintelligence
10	#BuenJueves	NOT AVAILABLE	#ROWYSOLiverpool

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Military intervention against ISIL
- A US citizen fighting alongside Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) against ISIL is killed in action near Kobani. (Today’s Zaman via AP)
Syrian Civil War
- Al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria, the Al-Nusra Front, shoots dead at least 20 Druze villagers in Idlib in what is being described as a “massacre”.(The Telegraph)
Boko Haram
- Residents of northeast Nigeria claim that Boko Haram has killed at least 43 people and burnt down three villages in recent attacks. (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel
- A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip towards the Ashkelon region fell short and did not land in Israel with Palestinian sources indicating it may have hit a house. There were no immediate reports of injuries, or claims of responsibility. (Times of Israel)

Arts and culture

Spain gives the late writer Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote, a formal burial at a Madrid convent nearly 400 years after his death in 1616. (AP)

Business and economics

After a poor 1st quarter earnings report, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo steps down with co-founder Jack Dorsey taking over as interim CEO effective July 1. (USA Today)
Rupert Murdoch will step aside as CEO of 21st Century Fox to be replaced by his son James Murdoch. (AFP via ABC Online)

Disasters and accidents

At least 41 people have been killed, 8 injured, and scores are missing in landslides in Nepal‘s Taplejung District caused by heavy rain. (The Hindu)

Health

Health officials in the United States are advising doctors to be on the lookout for MERS following an outbreak in South Korea. (AP via Washington Post)

International relations

NGO Save the Children
- Federal Interior Ministry of Pakistan has sealed the offices of the NGO Save the Children in Pakistan and issued order for its foreign staff to leave the country within 15 days on account of the NGO’s anti-Pakistan activities. (Express Tribune).
Nuclear program of Iran:
- A new version of the Israeli-linked malware Duqu is found at hotels hosting Iran nuclear talks by Kaspersky; Israel denies involvement. (The Guardian)

Law and crime

China‘s former security chief Zhou Yongkang is given a life sentence for bribery, leaking state secrets and abuse of power. (ABC News Australia)
Shooting of Tamir Rice
- A court in the American city of Cleveland, Ohio, finds probable cause that Cleveland Police Department officer Timothy Loehmann should face murder charges in relation to the shooting of Tamar Rice. (Cleveland.com)
King Felipe VI of Spain strips his sister Cristina of her titles after she is charged with tax evasion. (AFP via Yahoo!)
Authorities from the Marshal’s Service, the FBI, Customs, state and local police, and the Forest Police searching for 6 days in northeastern New York (about 25 miles south of the Canadian border, near Lake Champlain and Vermont, in the Adirondack Forest area, in Dannemora, New Yorkand Plattsburgh, New York) for two high-risk murderers who staged an elaborate escape from the high-security Clinton Correctional Facility– the first there- the night of Friday, June 5, 2015 (it was discovered the next morning), using bloodhounds, find a scent and leftover evidence that could be from the two, Richard Matt and David Sweat. (CNN)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

June 29, 2015

Top News Stories –

Floyd Mayweather tops the 2015 Forbes Celebrity Rich List –
Since 1999 Forbes have been ranking the wealth and influence of the world’s biggest stars. Factors taken into account include income, Google hits, fan base, press clips and magazine covers. But for the the first time, this year’s list has ranked the world’s top earning entertainers by annual income only. Mayweather’s $300 million year shatters the record for athlete earnings, which was previously held by Tiger Woods who banked $115 million in 2008. Mayweather earned an estimated $180m from his fight with Manny Pacquiao on May 2, 2015. Katy Perry has been crowned the highest earning female celebrity. [Daily Telegraph] See List of the Day below
Floyd Mayweather

Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris top highest paid couple list –
Taylor Swift and Calvin Harris have become the highest paid celebrity couple, overtaking Beyonce and Jay Z. The relatively new romance of Swift with her superstar DJ boyfriend see them top this year’s Forbes list; with a combined income of $146m (£92m). It means Queen Bey and her rapper husband slip down to second place with earnings of $100m (£70m). The power couple have been number one on the list since 2013. [BBC]
Taylor Swift

Video of the Day –

Avril Lavigne says having Lyme disease has been the ‘worst time’ of her life –
Avril Lavigne has opened up about her struggle with Lyme disease, calling it the “worst time” of her life. The 30-year-old singer contracted the disease, spread by infected ticks, whilst touring last year. The Canadian says she became “bedridden” in October but is now expected to make a full recovery. She told Good Morning America: “I was seeing every specialist and every doctor. They’d say ‘chronic fatigue syndrome?’ or ‘are you depressed?’ “I woke up and had night sweats and felt like I had the flu. She says it took took months for someone to finally figure out that she had Lyme Disease. [BBC Newsbeat]
Avril Lavigne

Video of the Day –

Do We Have to Get Old and Die? – Minute Earth

List of the Day –

The World’s Highest-Paid Celebrities 2015 according to Forbes Magazine

Rank	Name	Age	Earnings	Category
#1	Floyd Mayweather	38	$300 M	Athletes
#2	Manny Pacquiao	36	$160 M	Athletes
#3	Katy Perry	30	$135 M	Musicians
#4	One Direction	–	$130 M	Musicians
#5	Howard Stern	61	$95 M	Personalities
#6	Garth Brooks	53	$90 M	Musicians
#7	James Patterson	68	$89 M	Authors
#8	Robert Downey Jr.	50	$80 M	Actors
#8	Taylor Swift	25	$80 M	Musicians
#10	Cristiano Ronaldo	30	$79.5 M	Athletes

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Zeca Camargo	#MondayMotivation	#Wimbledon2015
2	#WhereAreUNowMusicVideoTODAY	#NashsNewVideo	#MondayMotivation
3	#StopTerorismInChina	#SignsYoureInTheUSA	#BETAwards2015
4	#FelizLunes	#AskELJames	#AskELJames
5	#BestFandom	Bo Ryan	Rihanna
6	#BETAwards2015	You’re Fired	#Slammiversary
7	#FormasFrikisDeDecirTeQuiero	#DirtyWorkJuly10	Diddy
8	Big Sean	#Wimbledon2015	Paulinho
9	K Michelle	#WhoIsBurningBlackChurches	The Who
10	#OdioEternoA	#ROWYSOPerth	Olympics

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- The Turkish military is reportedly preparing for an imminent invasion of northern Syria following a National Security Council meeting. The aim is to establish a buffer zone for refugees and drive back Islamic State militants. The Kurdish militia group YPG have said they will oppose any Turkish intervention in Syria. (Telegraph)
Four Israelis were shot and injured in a drive-by shooting attack near Shilo, as a manhunt begins for the suspects. (YNet)
A Palestinian woman was arrested after stabbing and seriously wounding a female IDF soldier at a checkpoint near Bethlehem. (Haaretz)
Five Chadian security officials and six militants have been killed during an explosion in a raid in the capital N’Djamena. (BBC)
Egypt‘s state prosecutor Hisham Barakat dies in a bomb attack in Cairo. (AP via Fox News)
Afghan Civil War:
- According to witnesses who fled fighting in Nangarhar province, fighters loyal to Islamic State seize substantial territory in Afghanistan for the first time, wresting areas in the east from rival Taliban insurgents in a new threat to stability, scorching opium poppy fields that help to fund the Taliban’s campaign to overthrow the Afghan government. (Newsweek)
Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
- A car bomb explodes behind a military hospital in the Yemeni capital Sanaa causing 28 casualties. Islamic State has claimed responsibility.(AP), (AFP via France 24)

Arts and culture

Chinese state-run media reports the Great Wall losing around 30% of its structure due to natural conditions and human activities. (AFP via Discovery)

International relations

The Israeli Navy intercepts and takes control of the lone ship still involved in Freedom Flotilla III and pilots it to Ashdod. The other three ships involved had already turned back after being intercepted. Israel offered all ships to unload their humanitarian aid cargo in Israeli ports and transport it into Gaza for free but the ships refused. (Israel National News)(Times Of Israel)
The United States Office of Personnel Management closes down its system for employee background checks following the theft of millions of records in a computer hacking incident suspected to be conducted by Chinese hackers. (Breaking News)

Law and crime

The Supreme Court of the United States upholds the use of capital punishment by lethal injection involving midazolam. (USA Today)
The Supreme Court of the United States strikes down the Environmental Protection Agency‘s limit on mercury emissions from power plants because it did not take costs of the regulations into consideration. (Wall Street Journal)
The California State Legislature passes a bill which would enact a state requirement for the vaccination of children enrolled in schools. The bill is now pending Governor Jerry Brown‘s approval before going into law. (Los Angeles Times)

Politics and elections

Burundian legislative election, 2015
- Voters in Burundi go to the polls for a legislative election with several polling places attacked overnight. (Al-Jazeera)
Puerto Rico government-debt crisis
- Governor Alejandro García Padilla said the region has failed attempts and is unable to pay off the $72 billion debt. (USA Today)

Sports

Guus Hiddink, the head coach of the Netherlands national football team, prematurely resigns before the end of his term. (Espnfc)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

July 3, 2015

Top News Stories –

Solar Impulse completes epic flight to Hawaii –
Solar Impulse, the aeroplane that is powered only by the sun, has landed in Hawaii after making a historic 7,200km flight across the Pacific from Japan. Pilot Andre Borschberg brought the vehicle gently down on to the runway of Kalaeloa Airport at 05:55 local time (15:55 GMT; 16:55 BST). The distance covered and the time spent in the air – 118 hours – are records for manned, solar-powered flight. The duration is also an absolute record for a solo, un-refuelled journey. Mr Borschberg’s time betters that of the American adventurer Steve Fossett who spent 76 hours aloft in a single-seater jet in 2006. [BBC] See Video of the Day
Solar Impulse

Music streaming reaches a record high in 2015 –
Music streaming has reached a record high in the UK, with the number of songs played rising by 80% compared to this time last year. New figures from the British Phonographic Industry show there have been 11.5 billion streams in the first six months of 2015. That’s compared to 14.8 billion for the whole of 2014. Mark Ronson’s Uptown Funk is the most streamed track of the year, with 45 million plays. [BBC Newsbeat]
Mark Ronson

BP reaches £12bn record settlement over Gulf oil spill –
British Petroleum has agreed to pay the largest settlement by a single company in US history over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. deal, which is still awaiting approval, will be worth $18.7bn (£12bn). Over 125 million gallons of oil were spilt into the Gulf after an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in 2010. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Solar Impulse Airplane: Landing in Hawaii

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	サマーウォーズ	#SingleBecause	#100DaysSinceZaynLeft
2	#SingleBecause	#NothingMoreAmericanThan	#SingleBecause
3	#LoUnicoQuePidoEs	#ThingsIRevoltAgainst	#fridayfeeling
4	#100DaysSinceZaynLeft	#ToughenUpACartoon	#ThingsIGetAlot
5	#استشهاد_رجل_ا�…	Humana	#NothingMoreAmericanThan
6	#JustinBiberSatanista	#1Droasts	Falcao
7	#BuenViernes	#4thofJulyweekend	Kids Company
8	Hayırlı Cumalar	Serena	#bbcqt
9	BuyCoolForTheSummerOniTunes	#USMNT	Kyrgios
10	#NaMinhaInfanciaEu	Happy 4th of July	#celebritymasterchef

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Turkey deploys additional troops along its border with Syria as fighting intensifies. (france24 with Reuters)
Boko Haram insurgency
- Toll of Boko Haram massacre in northeastern Nigeria rises to nearly 170.(News 24)(Naij)

2015 Sousse attacks
- The United Kingdom holds a minute of silence at midday to commemorate the 38 people – including 30 Britons – killed in Tunisia a week ago.(BBC)
Yemeni Crisis (2011–present)
- A United States drone strike kills at least four militants in Yemen. (AFP via Frnce24)

Arts and culture

The XV International Tchaikovsky Competition concludes with a ceremony awarding top prizes to Dmitry Masleev in piano, Yu-Chien Tseng in violin, Andrei Ionuț Ioniță in cello, as well as Yulia Matochkina and Ariunbaatar Ganbaatar in voice. (medici.tv) (Reuters)

Business and economy

American health insurer Aetna agrees to buy competitor Humana in a $37 billion deal. (AP)
A UBS whistle blower is assisting the government of Brazil in its investigation of currency manipulation by global banks, according to a Brazilian paper. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

Six people are dead following an explosion at a chemical plant in Ulsan in South Korea. (Yonhap), (AP via ABC News America)
2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Typhoon Chan-hom strengthens as it heads towards the Pacific island of Guam. (Accuweather)
At least four people are dead and 48 injured following a 6.5 magnitude earthquake in Pishan County in China‘s Xinjiang region. (BBC)
Sinking of the Kim Nirvana
- The death toll from yesterday’s capsizing of the M/B Nivana off the coast of the Philippines rises to 56 as murder charges are filed against the owner and crew. (AP via USA Today), (AFP via Straits Times)

Health and medicine

Research shows that during the Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa, the ReEBOV Antigen Rapid Test, developed by Corgenix, showed promise as a bedside rapid Ebola test, successfully detecting Ebolavirus. (Harvard), (Corgenix), (The Lancet)
At least 29 people have died in a cholera outbreak in South Sudan. (AFP via Daily Star)

Law and crime

Phil Walsh, the coach of the Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League, is stabbed to death in his home with his son charged with murder. (ABC News Australia)
Dutch police detain 200 young people in The Hague for not following curfew as violence continues in the Schilderswijk district for a fourth night.(AFP via Daily Star)
Jeffrey Webb, a former Vice President of FIFA and President of CONCACAF, is reportedly charged with healthcare fraud in his native Cayman Islands. (Eurosport via Yahoo!)

Politics and elections

Danish general election, 2015
- Pia Kjærsgaard becomes the first woman to be elected speaker of the Danish parliament, the Folketing. (Politiko.dk/Berlingske)

Science and technology

The U.S. Air Force‘s outgoing chief scientist, Mica Endsley, announces plans for an unmanned hypersonic flying weapon by 2023, which could travel at least up to Mach 5. (CNN)
Solar Impulse project
- The solar-powered aircraft Solar Impulse 2 landed in Hawaii from Japan, completing the longest leg of its circumnavigation trip starting in Abu Dhabi. (BBC)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

July 4, 2015

Top News Stories –

Matt Stonie beats Joey Chestnut in Fourth of July hot dog eating contest –
America’s Independence Day celebrations were overshadowed on Saturday by the shock defeat of the country’s champion hot dog eating star. Joey “Jaws” Chestnut, 32, began strongly at the annual Nathan’s Famous contest in Coney Island, New York, before being overhauled and beaten by Matt “Megatoad” Stonie, who polished off 62 frankfurters and buns in 10 minutes (to add to a bacon eating record he claimed earlier this year). Mr Chestnut, unbeaten for eight years, fell two short. He managed a smile as he conceded defeat in front of thousands of fans. [Daily Telegraph] See List of the Day
Joey Chesnut

Chile beat Argentina on Penalties to win Copa America –
Chile secured the first major trophy in their history on home soil courtesy of a penalty shootout win over Argentina in the Copa America final.
Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez slotted in the winning spot-kick after Argentina’s Gonzalo Higuain fired over and Ever Banega was denied by Claudio Bravo.
Higuain had earlier missed from close range after 90 minutes of few chances. Sanchez came closest in extra time for Chile, who scored all four of their penalties in the shootout. [BBC]
Alexis Sanchez (playing for Arsenal)

England finish third in the Women’s World Cup beating Germany 1-0 –
Fara Williams’s extra-time penalty ensured England beat Germany for the first time in 31 years to finish third at the Women’s World Cup. The performance was the second best by an England team following the 1966 win by the men’s side and eclipsed the 1990 men’s team, who finished fourth in Italy. The Lionesses had not beaten two-time World Cup winners Germany in 20 attempts but they more than matched their opponents and won the spot-kick in the second period of extra-time after substitute Lianne Sanderson was brought down by Tabea Kemme. Williams, who is England’s record cap holder and was homeless at one point in her England career, beat retiring German goalkeeper Nadine Angerer for her third penalty of the tournament. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Car Chase by Vania Heymann

List of the Day –

Joey Chesnut World Eating Records (as of July 4, 2015)

Deep Fried Asparagus Eating Championship in Stockton, California, May 2014: 12.8 lbs. deep fried asparagus in 10 minutes.
Pork ribs: 13.76 pounds pork rib meat in 12 minutes at John Ascuaga’s Nugget Casino Resort during the Best in the West Nugget Rib Cook-off in Sparks, Nevada on August 28, 2013.
(Hot Dogs) Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs and buns (HDB): 69 HDB in 10 minutes during the Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island, New York on July 4, 2013.
Matzoh Balls: 78 matzoh balls in 8 minutes at Kenny & Ziggy’s New York Delicatessen Restaurant in Houston, Texas on March 2, 2008
Bratwurst: 70 bratwursts in 10 minutes at Oktoberfest Zinzinnati in Cincinnati, OH on September 22, 2013.
Hard Boiled Eggs: 141 hard-boiled eggs in 8 minutes at the Radcliff Fall Festival in Radcliff, KY on October 5, 2013.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Happy 4th of July	Happy 4th of July	Happy 4th of July
2	#MeEncantaQue	Joe Budden	#IndependenceDay
3	#HarrysFriendIsMissing	#BeastInTheEast	#storm
4	#VamosVamosArgentina	#MakeABandUnhealthy	#ToughenUpACartoon
5	#EsMuyComunEnMiQue	#dontjudgechallenge	Skepta
6	Çinli	#CookoutNewsNetwork	#MakeABandUnhealthy
7	#IndependenceDay	#HarrysFriendIsMissing	#BeastInTheEast
8	#LasMinasQueremos	#americanproblemsnight	#HarrysFriendIsMissing
9	#musicday	Roy Hibbert	Fawkes
10	Beligoy	#DescribeYourSexLifeWithAMeal	Joe Budden

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Donbass
- A rally of war veterans in Kiev calls for Ukraine to abandon the Minsk II ceasefire agreement and to declare war on pro-Russian separatists in the Donbass region. Despite two ceasefire agreements since September combat operations, including the use of heavy artillery and ballistic missiles, never stopped.(BBC)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Yemen‘s Houthi rebels shell the Saudi Arabian cities of Jizan and Najran with claims of several Saudi soldiers being killed. (Reuters via Daily Star)
Second Libyan Civil War
- At least ten civilians are killed when three separate car bombs exploded simultaneously in the eastern coastal city of Derna. (Yahoo news via AP)
Sinai insurgency
- A shell kills a woman and her two children as fighting continues on the Sinai Peninsula between the Egyptian Army and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant militants. (AFP via Times of India)
Syrian Civil War
- Mosque bombing in northern Syria kills 15 members of Al Qaida’s affiliate Nusra Front. (Fox News via Associated Press)
- The Syrian Army and Hezbollah launch an offensive to capture the rebel-held Syrian city of Zabadani. (Al-Arabiyah)
- Kurdish People’s Protection Units advance on the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant de-facto capital city of Raqqa. (ALJazeera)
- ISIL militants execute 25 Syrian Army soldiers in the ancient city of Palmyra. (Al-Arabiya)
Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
- The Azerbaijani military shoots down two Armenian drones over Azeri positions according to Azerbaijan’s defense ministry. (TREND)

Arts and culture

The Republic of China (Taiwan) holds a large military parade in Taipei to commemorate World War II in support of its claims that Kuomintangforces led by Chiang Kai-Shek played a leading role in the defeat of the Empire of Japan with the Chinese Communist Party under Mao Tse-Tungplaying a minor role. (AP)
UNESCO adds new sites to the World Heritage List including the French wine producing regions of Champagne and Burgundy. (AFP via Straits Times)

Disasters and accidents

At least nine people have been killed and 30 injured following a factory collapse in the city of Wenling in Zhejiang province. (AP via Star Tribune)
A wildfire in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan forces 8,000 people from their homes. (CBC)

Law and crime

A South Korean navy officer is charged with leaking confidential information to China. (RTHK)(AFP via Sky News)
Abdul Gani Patail, the Attorney General of Malaysia, says that a probe of troubled state owned investment bank 1Malaysia Development Berhadhas uncovered documents that show the transfer of money into private accounts of the Prime Minister Najib Razak. (Market Watch)

Politics

2015 Sousse attacks
- Tunisia’s President Beji Caid Essebsi declares state of emergency. (VOA News)
Tupou VI is officially crowned as the King of Tonga. (BBC)
Fidel Castro makes his first public appearance at a Cuban cheese factory since February 2015. (UPI)

Sport

2015 Tour de France
- In cycling, the 2015 Tour de France gets underway in the Dutch city of Utrecht with an individual time trial. (The Guardian)
2015 Super Rugby season
- The Highlanders from the New Zealand region of Otago defeat the Hurricanes from the New Zealand capital Wellington in the Super Rugby final 21-14. It is the Highlanders first Super 15 final. (The Age)
2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup
- In association football, England defeats Germany 1-0 through a extra time penalty goal by Fara Williams to win third place in the FIFA Women’s World Cup. (BBC)
2015 Copa América
- In football, the Chile national football team win the Copa América for the first time, defeating Argentina 4–1 in a penalty shoot-out following a 0–0 draw.(The Guardian), (BBC)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

July 24, 2015

Top News Stories –

WWE Cuts Ties With Hulk Hogan Amid Report That He Used Slurs –
World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. has severed ties with Hulk Hogan amid a report that one of the biggest stars in professional wrestling history used racial slurs in a conversation caught on a sex tape. The company deleted most references to Hogan on its website and issued a statement Friday saying it had terminated its contract with him. WWE did not give a reason, but issued a statement saying it is “committed to embracing and celebrating individuals from all backgrounds as demonstrated by the diversity of our employees, performers and fans worldwide.” On Friday, a joint report from RadarOnline.com and The National Enquirer said that Hogan had used racial slurs in a conversation caught on a sex video that is the subject of an invasion of privacy lawsuit. [NY Times]
Hulk Hogan in 2014

Converse launches first Chuck Taylor update in 98 years –
Converse has announced it is launching a Converse Chuck Taylor All Star II – the first update to the iconic canvas shoe in nearly a century. The update is made of durable Tencel canvas, as opposed to the cotton kind, with higher tech shock absorption in Nike Lunarlon for the footbed. The idea is to make the show [sic – sole] more comfortable. Jim Calhoun, the 48-year-old chief executive of Converse, said many customers had complained that the original Converse was not supportive enough. The easily recognisable rubber toe cap will remain. The new shoe goes on sale on July 28 in black, white, red and blue. [Daily Telegraph]
The new Converse red

Apple patents Apple TV remote with Touch ID –
Entering passwords to log into Netflix could become a thing of the past after a patent for an Apple TV remote complete with fingerprint scanner emerged. Apple has been granted a patent for an Apple TV remote with inbuilt Touch ID sensor, allowing users to use their biometric data to enter TV passwords, created personalised profiles or controlling connected devices. The patent, filed in January 2014, explores how biometric information collected through fingerprint sensors could be harnessed to personalise user profiles and access accounts without the need for ‘annoying and/or burdensome’ logins. Data could also be supplied through retinal or facilia images, palm, toe or hand prints, voice samples and gesture patterns, according to the filing. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Janet Jackson – “No Sleeep” Feat. J. Cole

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Hulk Hogan	Hulk Hogan	Hulk Hogan
2	#ZaynIsComingBackOnJuly26	#NationalTequilaDay	#FridayFeeling
3	#QueLindoMeVendria	#ZaynIsComingBackOnJuly26	#CalibraskaEP
4	#CalibraskaEP	Dennis Rodman	lord harris
5	土用の丑の日	#LafayetteShooting	#NationalTequilaDay
6	次の漢字の読み	#ClearedMyHistoryBecause	#Lafayette
7	#5anos1DRadioTalent	#APositiveMessage	#UberIceCream
8	#TodaviaSigoEsperandoQue	#Lafayette	#GetStupidOutNow
9	tsunami	#CalibraskaEP	#ZaynIsComingBackOnJuly26
10	#Tomorrowland	#fridayreads	DJ Derek

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War, Spillover of the Syrian Civil War
- Turkish warplanes strike ISIS positions in northern Syria following an exchange of gunfire on the Turkish-Syrian border which left one Turkish soldier dead. The airstrikes are said to have killed as many as 35 ISIS militants. (Yahoo)

Business and economy

Health insurance company Anthem Inc. agrees to buy Cigna in a deal worth $48 billion. (Wall Street Journal)

Disasters and accidents

A large explosion, which triggers other explosions and a fire (which threatens a nearby forest) at a fireworks factory in southeastern Italy(Modugno, Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia Region) kills 7 people and injures several more, some seriously. Emergency vehicles were on the scene and the cause is being investigated; it is the peak season for fireworks in Italy because of the summer festivals there. (BBC)

Law and Crime

The United States Department of Transportation opens an investigation into whether airlines engaged in price gouging by raising ticket prices in the Northeastern United States following the 2015 Philadelphia train derailment in May. (AP)

Politics and elections

Burundian presidential election, 2015
- The President of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, is elected for a third consecutive term. (BBC)
Anti-corruption campaign in China:
- Zhou Benshun, the Communist Party chief of China’s Hebei province, is detained for investigation by the party’s anti-graft body. He is first incumbent provincial leader to be investigated since the anti-corruption campaign began in 2013. (WSJ)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

July 27, 2015

Top News Stories –

Vladimir Putin says Sepp Blatter deserves Nobel Prize –
Vladimir Putin has said that Sepp Blatter deserves to win the Nobel Prize and does not believe a word of the corruption allegations against the Fifa president. In an interview with Swiss broadcaster RTS, the Russian president gave his full support to the Fifa president just days after Mr Blatter had assured him that Russia had Fifa’s “complete trust” as hosts of the next World Cup finals in 2018. Mr Putin added that he believed that bribery scandal being investigated by US, Swiss and other law enforcement agencies was as a result of the failure of England and the US to win the rights to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups. [Daily Telegraph]
Vladimir Putin

Norwegian court orders bank to cover man’s £23k lap-dance and drinks bill –
A Norwegian court has ordered a bank to cover a £23,400 drink and lap-dance bill run up by one man during a night at a Polish strip club. The court made the decision after it concluded he had been drugged and could not be held responsible for his actions. Sparebank 1 will now have to make up for its client’s losses even though an investigation by Polish police into the incident at the club in the up-market seaside town of Sopot has been discontinued. The court rejected Sparebank’s argument that the man was responsible for how he spent his money, saying all the evidence suggested he was doped, and therefore a victim. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

The High Voltage Ejector Bed

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#3YearsOfFifthHarmony	#DirtyWorkMusicVideo	Sergio Romero
2	#OTRAMinneapolis	#WhenTrumpIsElected	#3YearsOfFifthHarmony
3	#LaPeliQueMeHizoLlorar	WWGTM	#mondaymotivation
4	Martinoli	#3YearsOfFifthHarmony	#BobbiKristina
5	Sergio Romero	#BuyBEAToniTunes	Conley Thompson
6	#dirtyworkmusicvideo	#mondaymotivation	Khloe Kardashian
7	Bugs Bunny	#ImStrongestWhen	#OTRAMinneapolis
8	#CiteCoisasQueOdeiaNoFacebook	#IWasSoHighOneDay	#ImHardLeft
9	Gago	Bugs Bunny	#jaiappreciationday
10	#MexicanPartyCopaOro	Google+	Lord Sewel

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

At least 7 people are killed and many injured after gunmen attack an Indian police station in Punjab. (The Hindu)
Syrian Civil War, Battle of Sarrin (June–July 2015)
- YPG led forces capture the town Sarrin from ISIL after a month-long offensive. (The Daily Star)

Business and economy

2015 Chinese stock market crash
- The Shanghai Composite Index drops 8.5%, the largest one-day decline in the index since 2007. (Bloomberg)

Law and crime

The Turkish National Police warns of possible bomb attacks on crowded places in central Istanbul, including metro stations and bus stops, following the escalation of Turkey–ISIL conflict. (Hürriyet Daily News)

Politics and elections

Philippines President Benigno Aquino III holds his final State of the Nation Address before stepping down in 2016. He advocates the passage of the Bangsamoro Basic Law and an anti-dynasty bill. (CNN Philippines), GMA News Online
French farmers protesting low prices within the country turn back hundreds of trucks suspected of carrying foreign agricultural products at the country’s border with Germany. (AP)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

August 6, 2015

Top News Stories –

Facebook launches live video for celebrities in Mentions app –
Facebook has launched a live video function for celebrities on its Mentions app. The feature will allow any star with a verified account to broadcast to fans who follow them. It’ll be in competition with services like Periscope and Meerkat and will appear in people’s News Feed.
The Facebook Mentions app allows athletes, musicians, politicians and other stars to talk with their fans and each other. [BBC Newsbeat]

George Cole, Arthur Daley in Minder, dies at 90 –
Stars of stage and screen have been paying tribute to “immaculate” and “unforgettable” Minder actor George Cole following his death at the age of 90. Cole, whose showbusiness career spanned 70 years, is best remembered for his portrayal of small-time wheeler dealer and crook Arthur Daley in the TV show Minder, alongside his likeable bodyguard Terry McCann, played by Waterman. He died yesterday in hospital with his family at his side after a short illness, it was announced today. [Daily Telegraph]

Apple Music signs 11 million up to free trial in first five weeks –
Apple has signed up 11 million users to a free trial of Apple Music since the service launched at the end of June. Jimmy Iovine, who co-founded the Beats Music streaming service bought by Apple before it launched Apple Music, told USA Today he was “pleasantly shocked” by the service’s growth in its first five weeks, while Eddy Cue, the company’s senior vice president of internet software and services, said: “We’re thrilled with the numbers so far.” Should all of the trial members choose to keep paying for their subscriptions, Apple Music will have accumulated the equivalent of around half of rival streaming service Spotify’s paying membership – some 20 million – within three months. [Daily Telegraph]
Jimmy Iovine

Video of the Day –

Husband shocks wife with pregnancy announcement!

Top Twitter Trends –

1	Chano	#GOPDebate	#secschoolinnigeria
2	#OTRAMETLIFE	Patrick Kane	#Hiroshima
3	#تفجير_طواري_ع�…	#Hiroshima	#ThankYouThursday
4	River	#GLS15	Jamaicans
5	#لماذا_السعودي…	#SuperVillainCelebs	George Cole
6	BET Uncut	#DebateQuestionsWeWantToHear	#OTRAMETLIFE
7	#FelizJueves	Jennifer Aniston	#Ashes2015
8	#Hiroshima	#WelcomeBackToTexas1D	#EatAn80sBand
9	#LaVidaNoValeNadaSin	#VRA50	#NashsNewVideo
10	Jennifer Aniston	Lizzie McGuire	#tubestrike

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- A suicide bomber kills at least eight people and injures twelve in the city of Pul-i-Alam in Logar Province. (AP via ABC News America)
Terrorism in Saudi Arabia, Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
- A suicide bomb attack kills at least 15 people at a mosque in the south-western Saudi city of Abha. IS claims responsibility. (Reuters), (AFP via Yahoo! News)
Syrian Civil War
- Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant conquers the key transport hub Al-Qaryatain, allowing its forces in the Qalamun region to be supplied through this city. (The News Hub)
Russian hackers are suspected of infiltrating the U.S. Pentagon e-mail system last week. (The Daily Telegraph)

Arts and culture

American news satire program The Daily Show airs its last broadcast with comedian Jon Stewart as host. (The New Yorker)
Many people throughout the world commemorate the 70th anniversary of the dropping of an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.(Reuters via Melbourne Age)

Disasters and accidents

At least 17 people, including 12 Afghan army soldiers were killed following a helicopter crash in the southern province of Zabul. (Al-Jazeera)
A Pakistani military helicopter crashes in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province resulting in at least 11 deaths. (AP)

International relations

Yemeni Civil War:
- Saudi Arabia sends new military equipment including tanks from Sharura into northern Yemen to support government forces fighting Iran-backed Houthi militants. (Voice of America)

Politics and Elections

The Republican Party candidates for President of the United States debate, in two events (top tier candidates and lower-tier candidates separated) in an informal kick-off event for the 2016 campaign. (LA Times)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

August 7, 2015

Top News Stories –

One Direction number one breaks streaming records –
One Direction have topped the UK singles chart with their new single Drag Me Down. The track broke streaming records, earning the highest first-week streams for a single in the UK with 2.03m plays. Drag Me Down is One Direction’s first single as a foursome since the departure of Zayn Malik. Its release came a surprise to fans who had not been expecting a new single. [BBC Newsbeat]
One Direction in 2013 before Zayn left

North Korea sets up own time zone in rebuke to ‘wicked Japanese imperialists’ –
The hermetic communist state of North Korea is often said to be locked in a Stalinist time warp. But it is now turning the clocks back – by 30 minutes a day – by official decree. The state news agency has announced the creation of a new Pyongyang time zone as a rejection of the legacy of “wicked Japanese imperialists”. North Korea will step back in time by half an hour on Aug 15th – the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean peninsula from Japanese rule at the end of the Second World War. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Uber meets Tinder

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#DragMeDownMusicVideo	#StraightOutta	#Compton
2	Spice Girls	#TheWorstPartOfDepressionIs	Spice Girls
3	#GOPDebate	#InternationalBeerDay	#FridayFeeling
4	Aldon Smith	#DragMeDownMusicVideo	#InternationalBeerDay
5	NASA	Aldon Smith	#GOPDebate
6	#JonVoyage	#MyMotherAlwaysToldMe	Jenson Button
7	#TheVoiceChile	#MakeAHorrorMovieHarmless	#ReligiousUpaMovie
8	#BuenViernes	#ReligiousUpaMovie	#DragMeDownMusicVideo
9	#LaVidaEsAburridaSin	James Holmes	Cassper
10	Hayırlı Cumalar	#CameronDallasPhotoShoot	Jonathan King

Other News Stories –

Armed conflict and attacks

Suspected Islamist militants stormed two hotels in central Mali where UN peacekeepers were housed, seizing at least ten hostages and killing three Malian soldiers and a U.N. peacekeeper. (Times of Oman) (Reuters)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- At least fifteen people are dead and 400 injured when a truck bomb explodes in Kabul. (BBC) (WSJ)
- A bombing outside the Kabul police academy kills at least 20 people with the Taliban claiming responsibility. (AFP via ABC News)
Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
- Tadmur offensive (July–August 2015), Syrian Civil War
  - The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claims that ISIL has kidnapped at least 230 people, including at least 60 Christians, from Al-Qaryatayn in the Homs Governorate. (Reuters) (RFERL)
- Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) militants execute 19 women in Mosul, Iraq, for refusing to have sex with the group’s fighters. (Tribune) (Daily Caller)

Arts and culture

North Korea will change its time zone to UTC+08:30 on August 15, returning to the time used by the Korean Empireuntil Japanese occupation in 1910. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- Taiwan evacuates hundreds of people ahead of Typhoon Soudelor (2015). (Reuters via WA Today)

International relations

Syrian Civil War
- The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopts a resolution aimed at identifying those responsible for deploying chlorine and other chemical weapons in attacks in Syria. (Hindustan Times) (VOA)

Law and crime

Attacks on secularists in Bangladesh
- A Bangladeshi blogger known for his atheist views has been hacked to death by a gang armed with machetes, the fourth such incident this year, in the capital Dhaka, Bangla. (BBC) (The Telegraph) (The Hindu)
The jury in the penalty phase of the trial of Aurora theater shooter James Holmes reaches a verdict to sentence him to life in prison without the possibility of parole. (Reuters) (AP) (WABC)

Sports

2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup
- FIBA announces that China will host the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. China was chosen over the Philippines, the only other candidate nation, for the hosting rights of the tournament. (The Japan Times)

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August 12, 2015

Top News Stories –

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

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

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

Video of the Day –

直击天津滨海新区爆炸瞬间现场响声震天

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

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#SonrioCuando	#WorldElephantDay	#WorldElephantDay
2	#NecesitariaYaMismo	The Artist	#YouthDay
3	#AlDubMaybeThisTime	Jimmy Carter	#CeCeIsA
4	#WorldElephantDay	#MyMemoirWouldBeCalled	#MyMemoirWouldBeCalled
5	바퀴벌레	#ShoutOutDay	Simon Danczuk
6	#MasterChefBR	Hump Day	#BiscuitsInAMovie
7	#الهلال_النصر	#SoundsGoodFeelsGood	The Artist
8	#FAceToFace	#YouthDay	#FAceToFace
9	#ايش_بتسمي_اول_…	Rex Ryan	Paulo Wanchope
10	鳩山元首相	The Hateful Eight	#Inglorious12th

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

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

Arts and culture

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

Business and economy

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

Disasters and accidents

2015 Tianjin explosion
- A massive explosion in the Chinese city of Tianjin results in at least 17 deaths, 11 people seriously injured and hundreds of people being hospitalised. (BBC)(NBC News) (CCTV)
- A CNN reporter is interrupted from reporting by upset friends and relatives of victims outside a Tianjin hospital. (CNN)
A U.S. Army Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter crashes while landing on a U.S. Navy cargo vessel near the Japanese island of Okinawa, with seven people injured. (AP, via MSN)
The death toll from a heat wave in Egypt this week rises to 60. (AP)

Law and crime

Kasur child sexual abuse scandal
- In a two years period, 280 to 300 children have been sexually abused and filmed doing forced sex acts in Pakistan by a gang consisting of 20 to 25 culprits. (CNN) (Anadolu Agency) (BBC)

Politics and elections

Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, aged 90, announces that recent liver surgery revealed that he is suffering from an as-yet unspecified form of cancer which has spread to other parts of his body. (Reuters, via MSN)
North Korea‘s vice premier Choe Yong-gon is believed to have been executed by firing squad this year for voicing frustration at the policies of leader Kim Jong-Un. (Reuters) (AFP)
A South Korean man is seriously injured after setting himself on fire during a protest against Japan‘s use of South Korean women as sex slaves during World War II. (New York Times)
Desi Bouterse is sworn in for a second term as President of Suriname. (AP via StarTribune)

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August 15, 2015

Top News Stories –

Miley Cyrus: Hannah Montana caused body image issues –
Miley Cyrus has spoken about how growing up as Hannah Montana led to body image issues. “I was made to look like someone that I wasn’t,” Miley told Marie Claire, “which probably caused some body dysmorphia.” The 22-year-old explained: “I had been made pretty every day for so long and then when I wasn’t on that show, it was like, who … am I?” Miley starred in Hannah Montana TV series from 2006 to 2011. [BBC Newsbeat] In April 2015 Cyrus revealed she wanted to have sex with Joan Jett.
Miley Cyrus

Michael Sam, first openly gay American Football player, leaves sport after mental health concerns –
The first openly gay professional American football player is taking a break from the game, after a difficult year that saw him dropped by two NFL clubs. Michael Sam made history when he was drafted by the St Louis Rams last year, sparking a flurry of media interest. However, he failed to gain a place in the team and recently made his debut in Canada with the Montreal Alouettes. He announced his decision on Twitter. [Daily Telegraph]
Michael Sam on Twitter

Video of the Day –

NIGHTLIGHT from Emmanuel Adjei & Marleen Ozgur on Vimeo.

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Naughty Boy	#PowerFinale	#VJDay
2	#نطالب_بدخول_ا�…	#IfMyBedroomWallsCouldTalk	#MakeASongAboutSomeoneElse
3	#TodoTranquiHastaQue	Naughty Boy	#HappyBirthdayJenniferLawr…
4	#NecesitoYa	#SPJAirplay	#AaronsNewVideo
5	#SabadoDetremuraNoSdv	#1989TourSantaClara	Moana
6	DulceMariaKCA	#IGetTenseWhen	#ENGvFRA
7	#AlDubForYouIWill	#UrineMovies	#NZLvAUS
8	#متي_كانت_اخر_ض…	Matt Kemp	Rooney
9	#SabadoDeGanarSeguidores	Star Wars	Whitney Houston
10	Lolita Ayala	#MakeASongAboutSomeoneElse	Lukaku

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraq War (2014–present)
- ISIL bombings kill 21 and wound more than 100 persons in Shia neighborhoods of Baghdad. (The News Hub)
Yemeni Civil War (2015)
- Saudi-backed forces loyal to the former Government retake the Shabwah Governorate from the Iran-backed rebels. (AFP via Maktoob Yahoo!)
Syrian Civil War, Battle of Zabadani (2015)
- Fighting resumes in Syria near the Lebanese border and Idlib Governorate as a temporary ceasefire between the Syrian government, its ally Hezbollah and an alliance of insurgent groups ends. (Reuters)
Boko Haram insurgency
- A suicide bomber kills at least three people in an attack on a marketplace in Borno state. (Reuters via New York Times)
2015 Burundian unrest
- Jean Bikomagu, a leader of the military during the Civil War is assassinated, heightening fears of another civil war developing. (AFP via Daily Star)

Arts and culture

Victory over Japan Day
- Countries around the world commemorate the end of World War II. (AFP/Reuters via ABC News Australia), (ABC News Australia)
- North Korea moves its clock back half an hour to introduce Pyongyang Time 8.5 hours ahead of UTC in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean peninsula. (South China Morning Post)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Tianjin explosions
- The death toll from the explosions in Tianjin rises to at least 85. In a further update, Chinese state media reports are now saying that the death toll has now risen to at least 104. (AP, via MSN), (AFP, AP, via The Daily Telegraph)
- Police order further evacuations near the blast site following reports of more explosions. (The Guardian)
At least 40 migrants die of suffocation in the hold of a boat in the Mediterranean Sea near the Libyan coast. (Reuters)
Ecuador evacuates several villages following the Cotopaxi volcano showing signs of life. (AFP via Makhtoob Yahoo!)

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August 20, 2015

Top News Stories –

Greek PM Alexis Tsipras quits and calls early polls –
Greece’s Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has announced he is resigning and has called an early election. Mr Tsipras, who was only elected in January, said he had a moral duty to go to the polls now a third bailout had been secured with European creditors. He had to agree to painful state sector cuts, including far-reaching pension reforms, in exchange for the bailout – and keeping Greece in the eurozone. Greece received the first €13bn ($14.5bn) tranche of the bailout on Thursday after it was approved by relevant European parliaments. It allowed Greece to repay a €3.2bn debt to the European Central Bank and avoid a messy default. The overall bailout package is worth about €86bn over three years. [BBC]
Alexis Tsipras

Voters back teenager Deez Nuts to be next US president –
Someone calling himself Deez Nuts is running for US president and is actually getting support from voters. In a North Carolina poll, almost one in 10 people said they’d vote for Nuts to run the most powerful nation on Earth. He’s up against businessman Donald Trump – who’s ahead in the polls – and former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Asked to chose between the three hopefuls, 9% of respondents backed Nuts. Though 12% of people didn’t know. The man behind Deez Nuts is actually a 15-year-old. He’s Brady Olson, who lives on a farm in the rural state of Iowa. Only thing is, candidates have to be at least 35-years-old to become president of the United States. Tough luck, Nuts. [BBC Newsbeat] See Top Twitter Trends

Stuffed wolf worth £32,000 stolen from Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts’ granddaughter –
A £32,000, six-foot-long stuffed wolf has been stolen from the home of Charlotte Watts, granddaughter of Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts. Police are seeking three men in connection to the theft which happened after an evening spent socialising in London. Charlotte and a friend met the three men, believed to be in their early 20s, at a Soho club and invited them back to her Chelsea home at 4am,according to the Evening Standard. One hour later the men left the home and when the women woke up the next day they found the 45kg, three-foot-tall wolf gone. [Daily Telegraph]
Charlie Watts

Video of the Day –

Pizza Cat – Simon’s Cat

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#HappyBirthdayDemi	#WeLoveYouMichael	GCSE
2	#WeLoveYouMichael	#NationalRadioDay	#LabourPurge
3	GCSE	LaLa	#WeLoveYouMichael
4	Lina Morgan	#ScientificSongs	#farm24
5	#الحمدلله_علي_�…	#HappyBirthdayDemi	Deez Nuts
6	#JuroQueMeCuesta	#PremiosTuMundo	#HappyBirthdayDemi
7	Marian	GCSE	#Dismaland
8	신문 1면	Jimmy Carter	#AskPointlessBlog
9	#حاجه_تحب_تسمعها	#DragMeDownMusicVideo	#BrandNameASong
10	#وش_اللي_بخاطر�…	#AlternativeDonutFillings	#EverythingIs4Sale

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Macedonia declares a state of emergency and deploys police units on its borders as immigrants from the Middle East, mainly from Syria and Iraq, block the railway line between Thessaloniki and Skopje. (The News Hub)
August 2015 Egypt bombings
- Large blasts occur in Cairo and Giza, Egypt, targeting the State Security agency with six police officers injured. (Al Jazeera English Online via Twitter) (Al Jazeera English Online), (Washington Post)
North Korea–South Korea relations, Korean Demilitarized Zone
- North and South Korea exchange artillery fire over the border at Yeoncheon, prompting South Korea to order evacuations of its citizens in the area. (Sky News) (BBC)
Spillover of the Syrian Civil War, Israel–Syria relations
- The Israeli Army has fired Spike missiles on Syrian Army positions in the Golan Heights‘ Quneitra area in response to several rockets fired from Syria which landed in villages in northern Israel about 20 km from the border. (BBC)

Arts and culture

Archaeologists find the skull rack used by the Aztecs to display victims in the ruins of the Templo Mayor in Mexico City. (AP via ABC News America)

Disasters and accidents

At least 7 people are killed in a mid-air collision between two aircraft near Bratislava, Slovakia. (The Independent)

International relations

The President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro orders the border with Colombia at the town of San Antonio del Táchira closed for three days after three soldiers are attacked while looking for smugglers. (AP via ABC News America)

Law and crime

A newspaper publisher is shot dead in Mindanao, Philippines. (ABC News)
2015 Bangkok bombing
- Thai police say they suspect that at least ten people were involved in planning the attack on the Erawan Shrine but international terrorists were unlikely to have been involved. (BBC)
Operation Car Wash
- In Brazil, prosecutors lodge corruption charges against Speaker of the Lower House Eduardo Cunha and former President Fernando Collor de Mello, alleging illegal activities involving state-owned oil company, Petrobras. (Al Jazeera English Online) (BBC) (The Guardian, UK)

Politics and elections

Pierre Nkurunziza is sworn for a third term as President of Burundi. (BBC)
The Prime Minister of Greece, Alexis Tsipras, announces his resignation and calls a new election for September 20. (The Telegraph) (BBC) (Al Jazeera English Online)
Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter announced that his liver cancer (melanoma) had spread to his brain. In addition to radiation, Carter will be treated with a new drug, Keytruda (pembrolizumab), that boosts the immune system without the debilitating side effects of older treatments. (Washington Post) (WRDW-TV GA) (OncLive)

Science

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that July was the hottest month globally since record keeping began in 1880. Global temperatures were 1.46°F (0.81°C) warmer than the 20th century average. NOAA scientists envisage 2015 will go down as the warmest year on record. (CBS News) (NOAA)

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September 4, 2015

Top News Stories –

North Korean all-girl band ‘created by Kim Jong-un’ –
Seven-strong group to serve as ‘ideological scouts, the bugles of revolution and ideological flag-bearers’. A new all-girl band that North Korean state media says was created by Kim Jong-un has made its debut in Moscow. The female vocalists of the Chongbong Orchestra have been tasked with “creating music for the masses”, North Korean state media reported. The singers and their brass backing band play “light music” and are a “revolutionary art organisation that represents and leads the era”, North Korean television reported, adding that the group was set up as part of the “grand plan” of the “respected Kim Jong-un”. [Daily Telegraph]

Egyptian billionaire offers to buy an island off Italy or Greece to rehouse refugees –
If Greece or Italy sell him an island, Naguib Sawiris, the 10th richest man in Africa, says he will host the migrants and offer them jobs in the new country. Naguib Sawiris, the 10th richest man in Africa, announNaguib Sawirisced the initiative on Twitter, but said that he had not yet approached the Italian or Greek governments about his plan. “Greece or Italy sell me an island, I’ll call its independence and host the migrants and provide jobs for them building their new country,” he wrote. [Daily Telegraph] Naguib Sawiris is the founding member of Al Masreyeen Al Ahrrar political party.
Naguib Sawiris tweets

Hatton Garden jewelry heist: Four men admit part in £10m Hollywood-style robbery of ‘impenetrable’ London vault –
Four men have admitted their involvement in the £10m Easter weekend Hatton Garden Safety Deposit raid, at Woolwich Crown Court. John Collins, Daniel Jones, Terry Perkins and Perry Reader all pleaded guilty to conspiracy to burgle the Hatton Garden deposit. The admission does not mean the men carried out the burglary but that they participated in an agreement or encouragement of the offence. The pleas come after Hatton Garden Safe Deposit Company went into liquidation after falling into insolvency. A law firm representative said the company owed money “to companies and people”. The dramatic raid of Hatton Garden Safety Deposit, near the City of London, happened over the Easter Weekend when a masked gang used power tools, including an angle grinder, concrete drills and crowbars to break into the facility on Thursday, 2 April. [International Business Times]
Hatton Garden road sign

Video of the Day –

Что будет если в Колу добавить ПРОПАН ? Coca Cola + propane = Mega ROCKET

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#HappyBirthdayBeyonce	#MyObituaryShouldInclude	#IAmHappiestWhenI
2	#MeGustaBastanteQue	#BeyDay	#fridayfeeling
3	Niall e Camila	#LaborDayWeekend	#HappyBirthdayBeyonce
4	#BuenViernes	Niall and Camila	Bob Geldof
5	#NadaMasLindoQue	#HappyBirthdayBeyonce	#ForceFriday
6	#استشهاد_جنود_�…	#camsfanmail	Anjem Choudary
7	Hayırlı Cumalar	#fridayreads	Wales
8	Michigan	#ForceFriday	Kylie Jenner
9	Palacio de Justicia	#IAmHappiestWhenI	#GEOSCO
10	#SufrirEsEsoDe	Baylor	#SugarRush

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Iraq War (2014–present)
- Iraqi security forces raid the offices of Kata’ib Hezbollah in Baghdad, accusing them of being involved in the abduction of 18 Turkish workers. (Reuters via Economic Times)
Sinai insurgency
- Two roadside bombs detonate in the Sinai Peninsula injuring six international peacekeepers, who were there to support the 1979 Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty. (AP via CBS)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- An explosion at an arms depot in Yemen kills 45 Emirati soldiers who were part of the Saudi led coalition. (Yahoo)
- Five Bahraini soldiers are killed on the Saudi-Yemeni border while taking part in a military operation against Yemen-based Houthi militants. (Reuters)
Clashes in and around Tajikistan‘s capital Dushanbe kill at least 17 people. Government representatives blame the attacks against security forces on former Deputy Defense Minister Aduhalim Nazarzoda, who fought against government forces in the Tajikistan Civil War. (BBC)
Russia’s role in the Syrian Civil War
- Russian President Vladimir Putin confirms that Russia is providing military aid in Syrian Civil War in support of the Bashar al-Assad regime and is providing heavy weapons, aircraft, tanks, serious training and logistical support to the Syrian Army. (Telegraph)

Arts and Culture

The world’s shortest man ever recorded, Chandra Bahadur Dangi, dies from pneumonia in an American Samoan hospital at age 75. Dangi lived with his family in Dang District, Nepal. His height, listed in the Guinness World Records, is 54.6 centimeters / 21.5 inches. (Kathmandu Post) (Daily Pakistan)
U.S. Military Academy officials confirm that during West Point’s annual pillow fight on August 20, 2015, some cadets swung pillowcases packed with hard objects leaving 30 cadets injured, including 24 with concussions. (New York Times)

Business and economics

General Mills sells subsidiary Green Giant to B&G Foods Inc. for $765 million. (Star Tribune via The Ledger)
BlackBerry Limited announces it will purchase Good Technology, a provider of mobile software, as part of its broader shift to a services role within the internet of things. (Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Atlantic hurricane season
- Tropical Storm Fred’s predicted track will turn northeast toward the Azores islands off the coast of Portugal as a Tropical Depression. (Weather.com)
2015 Pacific hurricane season
- Tropical Storm Ignacio, currently headed north-northwest away from Hawaii, is anticipated to turn northeast on Sunday, heading for the Alaskan panhandle and northwestern British Columbia. (AccuWeather), (SurfLine.com)
Forty one people are injured when a British tourist bus and four trucks are involved in a collision between Sempach and Sursee in Switzerland. (Reuters via News24)

Law and crime

Two British Vice News journalists, Jake Hanrahan and Philip Pendlebury, arrested on 28 August in Diyarbakir Province in southeastern Turkey on terror charges, are released while their colleague, translator Mohammed Ismael Rasool, remains in custody. (Turkish Weekly), (Time)

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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

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
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 8, 2015

Top News Stories –

Wayne Rooney breaks England goals record –
Wayne Rooney made history by breaking Sir Bobby Charlton’s all-time England goalscoring record in the Euro 2016 qualifier against Switzerland at Wembley. England captain Rooney equalled Charlton’s tally of 49 with a penalty in the victory against San Marino on Saturday that ensured a place in France next summer. And he was on the spot again late on in Tuesday’s match against the Swiss for goal number 50 to erase a record that has stood for 45 years. [BBC] See List of the Day 2
Wayne Rooney

British Airways plane catches fire in Las Vegas –
A British Airways plane bound for London has caught fire at Las Vegas airport, forcing the evacuation of 172 people on board on emergency slides. Airport officials said at least 13 people were taken to hospital with minor injuries. US Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said the left engine of the Boeing 777-200 caught fire before take-off. The plane was seen engulfed in flames and smoke. The fire was later put out. Flight 2276 was bound for London’s Gatwick airport. There were 159 passengers and 13 crew members on board. [BBC]

Sam Smith blows his cover: Spectre theme song singer confirmed –
Sam Smith would make an excellent secret agent. After months of speculation, the singer has confirmed that he has recorded the theme song for the next James Bond film, Spectre. Smith has co-written the title song, Writing’s On The Wall, with Jimmy Napes. It is the first Bond theme to be recorded by a British male solo artist since 1965. Smith confirmed the news on Twitter, calling the opportunity “one of the highlights of my career”. The identity of the theme song’s singer had been an impressively well-kept secret. Smith, whose 2012 collaboration with Disclosure brought him to fame, gave particularly mixed messages: when pushed on the subject by Radio 2 last week, he flatly denied involvement with the film’s soundtrack. But yesterday he dropped a heavy hint to the contrary, tweeting a teaser picture of a ring imprinted with the Spectre logo.[Daily Telegraph] See List of the Day 1

Earlier this week Smith’s album In the Lonely Hour stayed in the UK top 10 for 67 weeks in a row – a new record.
Sam Smith

Video of the Day –

Justin Bieber – What do you mean? (acoustic)

List of the Day 1 –

James Bond Movie title themes [Wikipedia]

Film	Year	Score composer	Title song	Composed by	Performed by	U.K. peak position	U.S. peak position
Dr. No (soundtrack)	1962	Monty Norman	“James Bond Theme“	Monty Norman	John Barry & Orchestra; Monty Norman	—	—
Dr. No (soundtrack)	1962	Monty Norman	“Kingston Calypso”	Monty Norman	Byron Lee and the Dragonaires	—	—
From Russia with Love (soundtrack)	1963	John Barry	“Opening Titles: James Bond Is Back/From Russia with Love/James Bond Theme”	John Barry, Lionel Bart, Monty Norman	Matt Monro	—	—
Goldfinger (soundtrack)	1964		“Goldfinger“	Leslie Bricusse Anthony Newley John Barry	Shirley Bassey	21	8
Thunderball (soundtrack)	1965		“Thunderball”	John Barry Don Black	Tom Jones	35	25
You Only Live Twice (soundtrack)	1967		“You Only Live Twice“	Leslie Bricusse John Barry	Nancy Sinatra	11	44
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (soundtrack)	1969		“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”	John Barry Hal David	The John Barry Orchestra	—	—
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (soundtrack)	1969		“We Have All the Time in the World” – Secondary Theme	John Barry Hal David	Louis Armstrong	—	—
Diamonds Are Forever (soundtrack)	1971		“Diamonds Are Forever”	John Barry Don Black	Shirley Bassey	38	57
Live and Let Die (soundtrack)	1973	George Martin	“Live and Let Die“	Paul McCartney Linda McCartney	Paul McCartney & Wings	7	2
The Man with the Golden Gun (soundtrack)	1974	John Barry	“The Man with the Golden Gun”	John Barry Don Black	Lulu	—	—
The Spy Who Loved Me (soundtrack)	1977	Marvin Hamlisch	“Nobody Does It Better“	Marvin Hamlisch Carole Bayer Sager	Carly Simon	7	2
Moonraker (soundtrack)	1979	John Barry	“Moonraker”	John Barry Hal David	Shirley Bassey	—	—
For Your Eyes Only (soundtrack)	1981	Bill Conti	“For Your Eyes Only“	Bill Conti Michael Leeson	Sheena Easton	8	4
Octopussy (soundtrack)	1983	John Barry	“All Time High“	John Barry Tim Rice Stephen Short	Rita Coolidge	75	36
A View to a Kill (soundtrack)	1985		“A View to a Kill“	John Barry Duran Duran	Duran Duran	2	1
The Living Daylights (soundtrack)	1987		“The Living Daylights“	John Barry Pål Waaktaar	A-ha	5	—
Licence to Kill (soundtrack)	1989	Michael Kamen	“Licence to Kill”	Narada Michael Walden Jeffrey Cohen Walter Afanasieff	Gladys Knight	6	—
GoldenEye (soundtrack)	1995	Éric Serra	“GoldenEye“	Bono The Edge	Tina Turner	10	102
Tomorrow Never Dies (soundtrack)	1997	David Arnold	“Tomorrow Never Dies“	Sheryl Crow Mitchell Froom	Sheryl Crow	12	—
The World Is Not Enough (soundtrack)	1999		“The World Is Not Enough“	David Arnold Don Black	Garbage	11	—
Die Another Day (soundtrack)	2002		“Die Another Day“	Madonna Mirwais Ahmadzaï	Madonna	3	8
Casino Royale (soundtrack)	2006		“You Know My Name“	David Arnold Chris Cornell	Chris Cornell	7	79
Quantum of Solace (soundtrack)	2008		“Another Way to Die“	Jack White	Jack White Alicia Keys	9	81
Skyfall (soundtrack)	2012	Thomas Newman	“Skyfall“	Adele Paul Epworth	Adele	2	8
Spectre (soundtrack)	2015	Thomas Newman	“Writing’s On The Wall”	Sam Smith Jimmy Napes	Sam Smith	–	–

List of the Day 2 –

Wayne Rooney International appearances for England by year [from Wikipedia]

England national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2003	9	3
2004	11	6
2005	8	2
2006	8	1
2007	4	2
2008	8	5
2009	9	6
2010	11	1
2011	5	2
2012	5	4
2013	10	6
2014	13	8
2015	6	4
Total	107	50

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#1YearSinceFireproof	#InternationalLiteracyDay	#InternationalLiteracyDay
2	Braxton Miller	#21YearsOfDallas	#1YearSinceFireproof
3	Ohio State	#AnnoyMeIn5Words	Rollins
4	#السعوديه_مالي…	Eye of the Tiger	#AskTroyeWILD
5	#OdioEternoAEsosQue	Slim Jesus	#charitytuesday
6	#NoEsMentiraSiTeDigo	#1YearSinceFireproof	Paula Radcliffe
7	UNIDOS PELO GURIZINHO	#My5WordConfession	Murray
8	Virgen del Valle	Mike Huckabee	#EngvsAus
9	#MTVEMA	#SerenavsVenus	#Panorama
10	RCTV	#DontTellMomBut	UK Startup

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Turkey–PKK conflict
- Turkey bombs PKK sites in northern Iraq after a bombing yesterday in Hakkâri Province that killed at least 16 soldiers. (BBC)
- A PKK bombing attack on a minibus in the eastern Iğdır Province near the Armenian border kills 14 Turkish police officers. (Reuters)
Syrian Civil War, Military intervention against ISIL
- U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron confirms that two ISIS militants, UK citizens, Reyaad Khan and Ruhul Amin, were killed in Syria when a British drone attack hit their car on August 21, 2015. Both Khan and Amin had appeared in an ISIS recruitment video last year. They are alleged to have been plotting a terrorist attack on the UK. (BBC) (The Guardian)
- The Syrian government calls off airstrikes against rebel fighters in a central province due to a sandstorm affecting large parts of the Middle East. (AP)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- The UN announces that it has grave concerns for around 96,000 children in Al Hudaydah, Yemen who are starving due to the nearby fighting. (Al Jazeera English Online)
- A Saudi-led air raid on Yemen‘s Al Hudaydah port reportedly kills 20 Indian nationals involved in oil smuggling. (Times of India)

Arts and culture

Pope Francis announces reforms making it easier for people to annul their marriages. (BBC)
New Zealand temporarily bans the sale or lending of the book Into the River by Ted Dawe, pending a review which could see the book restricted long-term. This is the first time in 22 years that a book has been restricted to this extent in New Zealand. (The Guardian) (Radio New Zealand Online)

Business and economy

German airline Lufthansa cancels 84 long-haul flights as pilots go on strike over a proposed restructure plan. (Bloomberg)
Jeff Smisek resigns as CEO of United Airlines due to allegations that he tried to improperly influence officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. (Wall Street Journal)

Disasters and accidents

A massive sandstorm hits Lebanon and Syria as well as Jordan, Israel and Egypt. The Lebanese Health Ministry said the storm caused the deaths of two women, and sent hundreds to hospitals with breathing difficulties. Particularly hard hit were the 1.1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon, many in flimsy tents in informal campsites. (Middle East Eye) (AP via CTV News) (Al Jazeera English Online)
The VU University Medical Center in Amsterdam is fully evacuated after parts of the hospital were flooded because of a burst in a major water-pipeline. (DutchNews)
A British Airways Boeing 777 aircraft suffers an uncontained engine failure and fire on take-off from McCarran International Airport, Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. All on board safely evacuate.BBC News Online

International relations

North and South Korea are to hold reunions for families divided by the Korean War from October 20 to October 26. (AP via Washington Times)
European migrant crisis
- Sigmar Gabriel, the Vice Chancellor of Germany, says that Germany “can take 500,000 asylum seekers a year” while calling on other nations to take their fair share. ” (BBC)

Law and crime

During protests over a lack of mining jobs in South Africa‘s Limpopo province, demonstrators destroy 21 buses, a police station, and a municipal office as well as blocking roads from Lephalale to Marapong. (ENCA)
Death of Freddie Gray
- The U.S. city of Baltimore, Maryland agrees to a $6.4 million settlement with relatives over the death of Freddie Gray. (AP via Yahoo! News)
Miller v. Davis
- Kim Davis, the county clerk of Rowan County in the US state of Kentucky, is released from jail on contempt of court charges but she may not interfere with her deputy clerks issuing marriage certificates to same sex couples. (Yahoo! politics)

Politics and elections

Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan, is reelected unopposed as the President of the Liberal Democratic Party. (AP via The New York Times)

Sport

In football, Wayne Rooney becomes the highest goalscorer for the England national football team with a goal against Switzerland in a UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying match. (ITV)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

September 9, 2015

Top News Stories –

Queen Elizabeth II becomes longest-reigning UK monarch –
The Queen has thanked well-wishers at home and overseas for their “touching messages of kindness” as she becomes Britain’s longest-reigning monarch. Speaking in the Scottish Borders, the 89-year-old monarch said the title was “not one to which I have ever aspired”. At 17:30 BST she had reigned for 23,226 days, 16 hours and approximately 30 minutes – surpassing the reign of her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria. David Cameron said the service the Queen had given was “truly humbling”. The exact moment the Queen became the longest-reigning sovereign is unknown. Her father, George VI, passed away in the early hours of 6 February 1952, but his time of death is not known. [BBC] See Video of the Day and List of the Day
Queen ELizabeth II in March 2015

iPad Pro, new Apple TV and iPhone 6S handsets unveiled –
Apple has unveiled a larger iPad tablet, a TV box with its own app store and new iPhones that can detect how firmly their screens are being pressed. The firm suggested the iPad Pro was suited to work tasks, video games and both editing and watching movies. Sales of the company’s earlier iPads had been on the decline. Apple said the “3D touch” feature of its new phones “transformed” the experience of using them by making it easier to use and switch between apps. The iPad Pro has a 12.9in (32.8cm) display, making its shortest edge the length of its earlier iPad Air 2’s height. In addition, the firm announced a stylus called the Apple Pencil, which has sensors in its tip to help mimic the effect of using a real pencil on paper. The announcement is notable since the firm’s ex-chief executive Steve Jobs said in 2010: “If you see a stylus, they blew it.” [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Brief History of the Royal Family

List of the Day –

Monarchs of Great Britain and Ireland 1603 – present day [from Wikipedia]

House of Stuart

House of Hanover

George I (1714 – 1727)
George II (1727 – 1760)
George III (1760 – 1801)
George III (1801 – 1820)
George IV (1820 – 1830) (Regent 1811-1820)
William IV (1830 – 1837)
Victoria (1837 – 1901)

House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Edward VII (1901 – 1910)

House of Windsor

George V (1910 – 1921, changed name of house in 1917)
George V (1921–1936)
Edward VIII (1936), abdicated
George VI (1936 – 1952)
Elizabeth II (1952 – present)

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	iPhone 6s	#AppleEvent	#longestreign
2	#AppleEvent	iPhone 6s	#NationalFitnessDay
3	#هل_ترضي_تتزوج_…	James Blake	#AnnoyMeIn5Words
4	#MasterChefBR	#StopIranDeal	#AppleEvent
5	フォロワーA	#LateShow	#RuinABoardGame
6	iOS 9	#RuinABoardGame	#SerenavsVenus
7	#longestreign	#INBOUND15	British Airways
8	Neymar	#TerribleGiftsForA4YearOld	Las Vegas
9	Messi	Hump Day	#setgoodtuesdays
10	#OTRAOttawa	#CMWorld	iPhone 6s

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Islamic Front rebels seize Abu al-Duhur military airport while taking control of Syria‘s northwestern Idlib province. (BBC), (Reuters via Sydney Morning Herald), (Al Jazeera English Online)
- Russian forces reportedly begin combat operations in Syria in support of the Bashar al-Assad government. (Reuters)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Egypt deploys around 800 troops to Yemen to join the Saudi-led war effort against the Houthis. (Reuters)

Arts and culture

Queen Elizabeth II becomes Britain’s longest-reigning monarch (63 years and seven months), surpassing the record set by Queen Victoria, her great-great-grandmother. (BBC), (The Huffington Post UK), (Al Jazeera English Online)

Business and economy

A German court issues an injunction ordering a halt to a Lufthansa airline pilots’ strike. Earlier, Germany’s biggest airline announced it had canceled 1,000 flights while about 500 would still operate. (CNBC), (AP via US News & World Report)

International relations

Refugees of the Syrian Civil War
- Australia announces that it will accept an additional 12,000 Syrian migrants, mostly from persecuted minorities. (ABC News), (Al Jazeera English Online)
Egypt–Israel relations
- Israel reopens its embassy in Cairo, Egypt, after closing it in 2011 after violent protests. (AP via ABC News), (Al Jazeera English Online), (CNN International)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

September 10, 2015

Top News Stories –

New human-like species discovered in S Africa –

Scientists have discovered a new human-like species in a burial chamber deep in a cave system in South Africa. The discovery of 15 partial skeletons is the largest single discovery of its type in Africa. The researchers claim that the discovery will change ideas about our human ancestors. The studies which have been published in the journal Elife also indicate that these individuals were capable of ritual behaviour. The species, which has been named naledi, has been classified in the grouping, or genus,Homo, to which modern humans belong. [BBC] See List of the Day

Pope Francis emojis launched for US visit –
Pope Francis draws huge crowds wherever he goes and now his fans can share their admiration with papal emojis. A new keyboard app is being released to mark the Pope’s upcoming visit to America. You can have the Pope balancing a basketball or riding a taxi (although we suspect he’d prefer his Popemobile). They’re among 52 emojis and 14 GIFs in the app from Swyft Media, the company which created the first ginger emojis.
Pope emojis by Swyft Media

Giant Lenin ‘head’ unearthed 24 years after burial in Berlin –
The giant head of a statue of Russian revolutionary Lenin has been unearthed, 24 years after it was buried in a German forest. Workers dug up the granite structure from woodland outside Berlin, following a campaign by historians. The head was once part of a 19m (62ft) monument to the communist leader, which towered over the east of the city. It was dismantled in 1991 after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the pieces were buried in a secluded forest. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

iPhone 6s – The Only Thing That’s Changed Is…

List of the Day –

Comparative table of *Homo* species
Species	Temporal range Mya	Habitat	Adult height	Adult mass	Cranial capacity (cm³)	Fossil record	Discovery / publication of name
H. habilis	2.1 – 1.5^[136]	Africa	150 cm (4 ft 11 in)	33–55 kg (73–121 lb)	510–660	Many	1960/1964
H. erectus	1.9 – 0.07^[137]	Africa, Eurasia (Java, China, India, Caucasus)	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)	60 kg (130 lb)	850 (early) – 1,100 (late)	Many^[138]	1891/1892
H. rudolfensis membership in Homo uncertain	1.9	Kenya			700	2 sites	1972/1986
H. gautengensis also classified as H. habilis	1.9 – 0.6	South Africa	100 cm (3 ft 3 in)			3 individuals^[139]	2010/2010
H. ergaster also classified as H. erectus	1.8 – 1.3^[140]	Eastern and Southern Africa			700–850	Many	1975
H. antecessor also classified as H. heidelbergensis	1.2 – 0.8	Spain	175 cm (5 ft 9 in)	90 kg (200 lb)	1,000	2 sites	1997
H. cepranensis a single fossil, possibly H. erectus	0.9 – 0.35	Italy			1,000	1 skull cap	1994/2003
H. heidelbergensis	0.6 – 0.35^[141]	Europe, Africa, China	180 cm (5 ft 11 in)	90 kg (200 lb)	1,100–1,400	Many	1908
H. neanderthalensis possibly a subspecies of H. sapiens	0.35 – 0.04^[142]	Europe, Western Asia	170 cm (5 ft 7 in)	55–70 kg (121–154 lb) (heavily built)	1,200–1,900	Many	(1829)/1864
H. rhodesiensis also classified as H. heidelbergensis	0.3 – 0.12	Zambia			1,300	Very few	1921
H. tsaichangensis possibly H. erectus	0.25 – 0.2	Taiwan				1 individual	pre-2008/2015
H. sapiens (modern humans)	0.2^[143] – present	Worldwide	150 – 190 cm (4 ft 7 in – 6 ft 3 in)	50–100 kg (110–220 lb)	950–1,800	(extant)	—/1758
H. floresiensis classification uncertain	0.10 – 0.012	Indonesia	100 cm (3 ft 3 in)	25 kg (55 lb)	400	7 individuals	2003/2004
Denisova hominin possible H. sapiens subspecies or hybrid	0.04	Russia				1 site	2010
Red Deer Cave people possible H. sapiens subspecies or hybrid	0.0145–0.0115	China				Very few	2012

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#WorldSuicidePreventionDay	#WorldSuicidePreventionDay	#WorldSuicidePreventionDay
2	#SameOldLove	Pokemon Go	#RenameAFilmLiterally
3	#FelizJueves	#HumanExperienceIn4Words	#charlotteproudman
4	#ChamuyeCuandoDije	Grace Jones	Pokemon Go
5	#CizreUnderAttack	#pitmad	#RejectedAppleProducts
6	#MeCambiaLaCara	#RejectedAppleProducts	Bonang
7	#ZaynWeAreAlwaysHere	#BieberTODAY	#HomoNaledi
8	#SemiIsBack	Bobby Jindal	Jonathan King
9	Palacio de Justicia	Aladdin	iPhone 6s
10	鬼怒川	#FallonTonight	#HumanExperienceIn4Words

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War, Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- ISIL attacks a government held air base near the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor with dozens of government loyalists and ISIL militants killed. (Reuters)
Operation Martyr Yalçın
- At least 30 people have been killed in the southeastern Turkish city of Cizre following clashes between Turkish security forces and pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) supporters. Locals say Cizre has been “under siege” since the militaryimposed a curfew. (BBC)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Air strikes target Houthi political leaders and military bases in Sana’a, Yemen. (Al Jazeera English Online)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Pacific typhoon season
- In Japan, tens of thousands are forced to evacuate due to flooding and landslides caused by Tropical Storm Etau. So far, one person is reported as missing. (Radio NZ Online), (AP via US News and World Report), (Al Jazeera English Online),(BBC)

International relations

European migrant crisis
- Denmark reopens rail services to Germany after closing rail lines and a motorway in order to stem the flow of migrants on their way to Sweden. (ITV)
- President of the United States Barack Obama directs his administration to accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees in the next fiscal year from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. (Washington Post)
Russia–United States relations
- The United States expresses concern about alleged Russian military activities in Syria. (Al Jazeera English Online)
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action
- The United States Senate fails to pass a resolution blocking approval of the nuclear agreement with Iran, meaning it will formally be adopted on October 19. (New York Times)

Law and crime

An indigenous Lumad child dies in an evacuation center while the Philippine Senate investigates the alleged September 1 murders of an indigenous Lumad family and the alleged rape of an indigenous Manobo girl by soldiers and militiamen of the Philippine Army. (Rappler), (Mindanao News), (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
Azerbaijan jails journalist Khadija Ismayilova after a trial that many believe is politically-motivated. (Al Jazeera English Online)
Venezuelan opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez is convicted and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for allegedly inciting violence at anti-government rallies. (AP)
A U.S. federal jury awards nearly $17.5 million to five former migrant workers at a South Florida farm in their case of sexual harassment and abuse in their work. (Reuters)

Politics and elections

Peter Robinson, the First Minister of Northern Ireland, steps aside after the Democratic Unionist Party fails to get enough support to adjourn the assembly. (BBC)

Science and technology

Homo naledi
- Elife publishes a discovery by scientists at the University of the Witwatersrand announcing a new species of hominid (Homo naledi) in the Rising Star Cave in South Africa. Although the remains have yet to be properly dated, they could be three million years old. (BBC) (Al Jazeera English Online)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

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)

News from Wikipedia – please support this valuable resource

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 –

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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.

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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

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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 27, 2015

Top News Stories –

Nicolas Sarkozy ‘insists his name must be printed larger than rivals’ on rally invitation –
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has insisted on having invitations to a political rally reprinted to show his name twice as large as those of his rivals for the presidential nomination of his centre-Right party, The Republicans. Mr Sarkozy reportedly bristled when he saw his name on the original invitation in the same size letters as those of Alain Juppé and François Fillon. The two former prime ministers intend to run against Mr Sarkozy in a party primary next year. [Daily Telegraph]
Nicolas Sarkozy

Kanye says he’s serious about becoming president –
Kanye West says he’s totally serious about becoming US president in 2020.
In an interview with Vanity Fair he says he’s had lots of support since announcing plans to run for election. He says people are “really into the idea” because they think he’s “extremely thoughtful” and “probably the most honest celebrity we have”. One possible spanner in the works of his political ambitions, though: he “hates politics”. “I’m not a politician at all. I care about the truth and I just care about human beings. I just want everyone to win, that’s all I can say, and I think we can,” he says. [BBC Newsbeat]
[BBC Newsbeat]
Kanye West

Spieth caps season with $11.48 million double win –
Jordan Spieth capped a brilliant season in sensational style as he scored a four-stroke victory at the Tour Championship on Sunday that also won him the FedExCup playoffs title for an $11.48 million pay day. Spieth shot a closing one-under-par 69 at East Lake Golf Club for a nine-under total of 271 and his fifth win of the season, including the Masters and U.S. Open. The prize money haul included the $10 million jackpot bonus for winning the season’s FedExCup points competition, virtually clinched him Player of the Year honours and returned the 22-year-old American to the number one world ranking. [Reuters]
Jordan Spieth

Video of the Day –

ZERO-DAY from beeple on Vimeo.

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- Air-strikes by Saudi helicopter gunships on the Yemeni village of Bani Zela in Yemen‘s Red Sea border area with Saudi Arabia kill at least 25 people. (Euronews)
Central African Republic Civil War (2012-present)
- Clashes between Christians and Muslims in the capital Bangui leaves at least 21 people dead and over 100 injured. (The Telegraph)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- Militants reportedly allied to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant launch coordinated attacks on government positions in the eastern Nangarhar Province close to the border with Pakistan. Two police officers are reportedly killed. (BBC)
Syrian Civil War, Military intervention against ISIL
- Opération Chammal
  - France says it has carried out its first air-strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant within Syria, destroying a training camp in the east of the country. Previously, France had only carried out air-strikes in Iraq with consent of the Iraqi government. (Reuters)
Libyan Civil War (2014–present)
- Ten people are dead in Benghazi as a result of fighting between Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant and Libyan government forces over the weekend. (Al-Arabiya)

Disasters and accidents

European migration crisis
- A boat carrying Syrian migrants sinks in the Aegean Sea between Turkey and Greece with seventeen people on board. (Today’s Zaman)

Law and crime

The government of Australia refuses entry to American singer Chris Brown because of his 2009 conviction for domestic violence against his then girlfriend Rihanna. (ABC News Australia)

International relations

Guyana–Venezuela relations
- Guyana‘s President David Granger accuses Venezuela of massing troops, armored vehicles, and rockets along its disputed border. (VICE News)

Politics and elections

Catalonian parliamentary election, 2015
- Voters in the Spanish province of Catalonia go to the polls for regional elections with nationalist parties to gain a majority which they claim will allow them to declare independence. (BBC), (AFP via ABC News Australia), (Euronews)

Science and technology

September 2015 lunar eclipse
- The night of September 27–28 will see a supermoon combined with a lunar eclipse described by some as a “blood moon”. (CNN)

Sports

In athletics, Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya wins the men’s race in the Berlin Marathon while his compatriot Gladys Cherono wins the women’s race. (Reuters via Yahoo! Australia), (Reuters via Daily Nail)

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September 30, 2015

Top News Stories –

Eight of Iran’s women’s football team ‘are men’ –
Eight of Iran’s women’s football team are actually men awaiting sex change operations, it has been claimed. The country’s football association was accused of being “unethical” for knowingly fielding eight men in its women’s team. Mojtabi Sharifi, an official close to the Iranian league, told an Iranian news website: “[Eight players] have been playing with Iran’s female team without completing sex change operations.” On Wednesday, authorities reportedly ordered gender testing of the entire national squad and leading league players. The names of the players thought to be male were not revealed. [Daily Telegraph]

Electricity from the air – Drayson’s big idea –
Free energy from the air. It sounds like a fantasy but that is what the entrepreneur and former science minister Lord Drayson has just unveiled at London’s Royal Institution. He claims that a technology called Freevolt can be the power source for the “internet of things”, allowing low energy devices from wearables to sensors to operate without being plugged in. The technology involves harvesting radio frequency energy from existing wireless and broadcast networks, from 4G to digital television. Lord Drayson says it’s a world first: “It doesn’t require any extra infrastructure, it doesn’t require us to transmit any extra energy, it’s recycling the energy which isn’t being used at the moment.” The technology was demonstrated in the lecture theatre at the Royal Institution, where Michael Faraday worked on electromagnetism in the 19th Century. Lord Drayson first showed how much radio frequency energy was in the room, and then used his Freevolt system to power a loudspeaker. [BBC]
Lord Drayson

Caitlyn Jenner will not be charged in fatal car crash: prosecutors –
Former Olympic champion and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner will not be charged in connection with a crash in Malibu earlier this year that killed a 69-year-old woman, Los Angeles prosecutors said on Wednesday. Based on the facts in the case, prosecutors lacked evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Jenner’s conduct was unreasonable, according to documents provided by Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. Jenner, 65, was driving a Cadillac Escalade along Pacific Coast Highway and towing a trailer carrying a dune buggy when she slammed into two other cars, according to authorities. During the crash, a white Lexus being driven by 69-year-old Kim Howe was shoved by Jenner’s sport-utility vehicle across a center divider and into oncoming traffic, where it was struck head-on by a Hummer. [Reuters]

Video of the Day –

Why Is There a Magnet Inside My Dog?

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War, Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War
- The upper chamber of the Russian parliament approves a law allowing the use of the Russian Armed Forces outside its borders, following a request by Russian President Vladimir Putin. (The News Hub)
- Russia begins airstrikes against ISIL positions in Syria following a request from President Bashar al-Assad. A U.S. official said the air attack struck near the Syrian city of Homs, where the official said ISIS currently does not have a major presence.(NPR), (ABC News), (Washington Post)
- The Western-backed Syrian rebel group, the Free Syrian Army, says one of its ‘leading officers’ has been killed in a Russian airstrike in the central Homs Governorate. (AP)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present), Battle of Kunduz
- The U.S.-led coalition dispatches American troops to Kunduz to help Afghan forces combat Taliban militants. (The Washington Post)
2006 Mumbai train bombings
- An Indian court sentences five suspected Islamic militants to death and seven others to life imprisonment for bombing attacks nine years ago on seven Mumbai commuter trains that killed 188 people and wounded more than 800. (AP via ABC News),(Reuters), (BBC)
At least six people are killed and dozens injured in explosions at 15 locations in Liucheng County in China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The explosives were reportedly concealed inside express delivery packages. Chinese officials have identified a suspect, but the motive is not yet known. (South China Morning Post), (UPI)
2015 Hajj stampede
- Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warns Saudi Arabia of “harsh” measures if the Kingdom fails to promptly repatriate the bodies of more than 200 Iranian pilgrims killed in last week’s Hajj stampede. (AP via Denver Post), (Reuters)
Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen
- An Iranian fishing boat loaded with weapons, including rockets and anti-tank shells, is intercepted and seized in the Arabian Sea, 150 miles southeast of the Omani Port of Salalah, by Arab coalition forces. Saudi Arabia has previously accused Iran of supplying weapons to Houthi militants in Yemen. (BBC)

Arts and culture

The Dalai Lama, following his routine check-up at Minnesota’s Mayo Clinic, cancels his U.S. speaking engagements in October after doctors advised him to rest. The 80-year-old Tibetan Buddhist leader is scheduled to return home to Dharamsala, India, Saturday. (The Times of India), (Radio Free Asia)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Atlantic hurricane season, Effects of global warming on oceans
- A hurricane warning is in place in The Bahamas as Tropical Storm Joaquin approaches the islands. Joaquin (max. winds 70 mph) will pass over ocean with temperatures near 86°F (30°C) – the warmest since record keeping began in 1880, and is forecast to become a hurricane today. Joaquin is expected to produce 5 to 10 inches of rain with isolated maximum amounts of 15 inches possible over San Salvador and Rum Cay. The storm is predicted to accelerate and be several hundred miles off the North Carolina coast Sunday morning. (National Hurricane Center), (UPI), (Reuters)
- Tropical Storm Joaquin strengthens to a Category 1 hurricane (75 mph winds) as it nears The Bahamas. The U.S. National Hurricane Center says additional strengthening is expected over the next two days. (USA Today), (NHC)
- With maximum sustained winds of 105 mph, Joaquin is upgraded to a Category 2 hurricane. It is expected to pass The Bahamas Thursday, bringing tropical-storm-force winds, storm surges, coastal flooding and 5-10 inches of rain. While the European forecast model suggests Joaquin will avoid the U.S. East Coast, the American model predicts it will ram into Virginia, Maryland or North Carolina this weekend. (NBC News), (NHC)
- Governor Terry McAuliffe declares a state of emergency as Virginia prepares for potentially dangerous flooding from a separate Nor’easter storm system and the possible landfall of Hurricane Joaquin. (Virginia), (Inside Northern Va.)
- Hurricane Joaquin reaches maximum sustained winds of 115 mph and becomes a Category 3 hurricane. The storm, with additional strengthening expected, should linger over the The Bahamas through October 2 before heading toward the U.S. (ABC News), (NHC)
An earthquake strikes the Dutch province of Groningen, damaging some buildings. (NL Times)

International relations

Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, states that Palestine will no longer abide by the Oslo accords and claims that Israel has not been complying with them. (CNN)
The black, white, red, and green flag of the State of Palestine is raised above the grounds of the United Nations Headquarters in New York for the first time. (Newsweek), (The Guardian)

Law and crime

The American state of Georgia executes Kelly Gissendaner for her role in the murder of her husband despite several appeals and a plea for clemency by Pope Francis. (AP via News 12), (Daily Mail)
Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin issues a 37-day stay of Richard Glossip’s execution that was scheduled for today to allow the American state time to address questions about chemicals and protocol. Pope Francis, who spent last week in the U.S., askedArchbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, the Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, to intercede with the governor and request she commute Glossip’s sentence. (CNN), (Reuters)

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October 1, 2015

Top News Stories –

Gunman kills nine at Oregon college, dies in shootout with police –
A gunman stalked onto a college campus in southwestern Oregon on Thursday and opened fire, killing nine people and wounding seven before police shot him to death, authorities said, in yet another burst of U.S. gun violence that ranked as the deadliest this year. The suspect, who witnesses say fired dozens of shots into a classroom full of screaming students, was slain in an exchange of gunfire with two police officers in Snyder Hall at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg following the morning rampage. He was not publicly identified by local authorities – the county sheriff vowed never to utter his name. But CBS, CNN, NBC and the New York Times named him as 26-year-old Chris Harper-Mercer, citing anonymous law enforcement sources. [Reuters]

Native American tribe to open first marijuana resort in US –
A Native American tribe in the US state of South Dakota has said it plans to open what would be the first marijuana resort in the US. The 400-member Santee Sioux tribe already runs a casino, hotel and ranch and hopes the resort will be a new revenue generator. Marijuana is not legal in South Dakota but the tribe has been permitted to grow and sell pot since June. It will open on New Year’s Eve and only be sold on the reservation. Sioux leaders would grow the marijuana to be offered in a smoking lounge. [BBC]

Peeple app for rating human beings causes uproar –
A new app that promises to let users review individuals has caused controversy before it has even launched. Peeple will allow members to give star ratings to people they know via the app, much as restaurants and hotels are rated on sites such as Yelp. The app has caused uproar online, with web users descrying it as “creepy” and “terrifying”. Peeple’s founders say they will pre-screen for negative abuse. However, users will not be able to delete comments made about them. Nor will they be able to remove themselves from the site once on it. [BBC] See Video of the Day

Study supports cancer link with height –
A Swedish study of five million people appears to support the theory that height and cancer risk are linked. The study found that taller people had a higher risk of breast cancer and skin cancer, among other cancers.
Its results suggested that for every 10cm (4in) of height, when fully grown, the risk of developing cancer increased by 18% in women and 11% in men. But experts said the study did not take into account many risk factors – and that tall people should not be worried. Previous studies have shown a link, although why it exists is not known. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

Rate Me

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	Ahmet Hakan	#Peeple	#Peeple
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4	samfreeさん	#BreastCancerAwarenessMonth	Happy Independence
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6	FRAUDE EN GRAN HERMANO	Julie Andrews	St Albans
7	Bienvenido Octubre	#BadTrampStamps	#WALvFJI
8	#Empire	Sandy Hook	#WentworthPrison
9	Lucifer	Rick Owens	Nigerians
10	#ALDUB11thWeeksary	#MarsSurvivalTips	Dele Alli

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Gaza–Israel conflict
- In retaliation for the rocket fired on the Israeli city of Ashdod, the Israeli Air Force carries out airstrikes on suspected Hamas positions in Gaza. No casualties are reported. (The News Hub)
Afghan War, Battle of Kunduz
- The government of Afghanistan claims to have recaptured the city of Kunduz. (AFP via ABC News Australia)
- Taliban forces take over the Warduj District of the Badakhshan Province as government forces retreat. (WVTM)
- A C-130J transport aircraft crashes in eastern Afghanistan as it approaches the airport in Jalalabad killing at least 11 people on board. A U.S. military spokesman says there were no reports of enemy fire at the time. (Al Jazeera), (ABC News),(Reuters)
Syrian Civil War
- Russian intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  - Russian air-strikes reportedly kill U.S.-backed Syrian rebels as Russian jets bomb rebel positions in rural areas of northern Syria, including the town of Jisr al-Shughour, which is currently held by Islamist militant groups including Al-Qaeda‘s branch in Syria, the Al-Nusra Front. (The Telegraph)
  - Hezbollah fighters and newly arriving Iranian troops are reportedly preparing for a ‘major ground offensive’ in northern Syria, backed by Russian air-strikes. (Reuters)
  - Iraq‘s prime minister Haider al-Abadi endorses Russian air-strikes against ISIS forces in Iraq while expressing ‘disappointment’ with the U.S.-led coalition. (Times Live)
Turkey–PKK conflict
- 2015 PKK rebellion
  - Four Turkish soldiers are killed in PKK attacks across southeastern Turkey. Turkish authorities impose a curfew in the city of Mardin due to escalating violence. (Today’s Zaman)
Chinese authorities arrest a suspect in yesterday’s 17 Liucheng County mail bomb explosions that killed at least seven people and wounded more than 50. The suspect is identified as 33-year-old quarry-worker, Wei Yinyong, from Dapu township also inGuangxi Province. There is another explosion this morning. While it’s not clear if it is connected, authorities reportedly located 60 packages yesterday which were being examined by a bomb squad. (The New York Times), (Asia One), (Voice of America), (Al Arabiya)
Umpqua Community College shooting
- A mass shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon kills ten people and leaves seven wounded. in The shooter kills nine people before police shot him to death. The man’s motives are unknown. (Reuters), (CNN), (BBC News),(Reuters)
- The shooter is 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer. (CBS News), (Palm Beach Post)
Palestinian militants kill an Israeli couple in a shooting attack on their car in the northern West Bank; four of the couple’s children are in the vehicle at the time but are not hit by the gunfire. Hamas praises the “heroic attack” and calls for “more high-quality attacks.” (The Times of Israel) (Israel National News) (Breaking Israel News)
Yemeni Civil War
- Government forces and the Southern Resistance backed by coalition forces wrest control of the strategic strait of Bab Al Mandab and a small Mayoun Island in the Red Sea from Al Houthi militants. (AP via Fox News) (Gulf News) (Al Jazeera‎)

Business and economy

The UAW at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles reject a four-year contract, setting the stage for at least localized strikes against the automaker.(Reuters)

Disasters and accidents

2015 Atlantic hurricane season
- Hurricane Joaquin
  - Hurricane Joaquin becomes a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph. Some additional strengthening is possible tomorrow. The storm, moving at just 6 mph, is predicted to drop 10 to 15 inches of rain in the central Bahamaswith up to five inches expected for the rest of the archipelago. (Nassau Tribune), (NHC)
  - Joaquin, expected to pick up forward speed when it turns north tomorrow, could hit the East Coast this weekend. While forecasts of the storm’s trajectory are still uncertain, nearly every state from North Carolina to Connecticut is in the so-called “cone of uncertainty.” North Carolina and New Jersey join Virginia in declaring states of emergency. (UPI), (Reuters)

Health and medicine

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends everyone diagnosed with HIV immediately receive antiretroviral therapy and recommends preventative treatment for all at “substantial risk” of infection. Previously, the UN health agency had recommended to physicians that the threshold for patient intervention was the presentation of symptoms. (The Verge), (Time), (WHO)

International relations

Bahrain recalls its ambassador to Iran and asks the Iranian acting chargé d’affaires to leave the kingdom within 72 hours after the Iranian is declared persona non-grata, a day after Bahraini security forces discovered a large bomb-making factory inNuwaidrat and arrested a number of suspects linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Bahrain’s decision to recall its ambassador comes “in light of continued Iranian meddling in the affairs of the kingdom of Bahrain in order to create sectarian strife and impose hegemony and control.” (The Daily Star), (Gulf News)

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October 2, 2015

Top News Stories –

Sam Smith’s James Bond theme makes UK chart history –
Sam Smith’s Writing’s On The Wall has made history by becoming the first Bond theme to reach number one in the UK. The track achieved combined chart sales and streams of 70,000 copies – 13,000 ahead of its closest competitor, Justin Bieber’s What Do You Mean? The previous highest-charting Bond themes were Adele’s Skyfall and Duran Duran’s View To A Kill, which both reached number two. Smith said he was “so proud” of the song and being number one was “crazy”. He told BBC Radio 1: “Out of all the songs I’ve brought out in my life, I was not expecting this to even chart in the top 10, let alone number one. It’s unbelievable.” [BBC] See List of the Day
Sam Smith

Janet Jackson puts the breaks on her Unbreakable world tour –
Janet Jackson has postponed her upcoming concert in Las Vegas and this isn’t the first time the pop icon has hit a road block along the way on her Unbreakable World Tour. The 49-year-old singer and performer announced her comeback this past June but it has been a series of highs and lows for the pop icon since. She has planned to reschedule this stop for next May 2016 when the venue will move to a new arena that can accommodate 20,000 fans. [Daily Mail] Today also saw the release of her new album “Unbreakable”, the first studio album from Jackson in seven years. See Video of the Day
Janet Jackson

Switzerland ‘could house 50,000 refugees in Cold War bunkers’ –
Switzerland can accommodate up to 50,000 refugees in nuclear bunkers, the country’s defence minister has said. During the Cold War, Switzerland began a policy of building enough fallout shelters that the entire country could safely retreat underground if there was a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the West. Today, while theoretically still available in a doomsday scenario, many of the bunkers are put to other uses. One in the small town of Sevelen was run as a “zero-star hotel” for some years, while the city of Geneva has used its bunkers as homeless shelters. Mr Maurer said around one-third of Switzerland’s public bunkers were currently in a position to take in refugees, with space for 50,000. [Daily Telegraph]

American wingsuit flier Johnny Strange dies in Switzerland accident –
Johnny Strange, an American adventurer who was the youngest person to climb the world’s seven tallest summits, has died in a wing suit accident in the Alps, Swiss police confirmed on Friday. The 23-year-old, who crashed shortly after jumping from Mount Gitschen in central Switzerland, is the latest casualty in what is regarded as one of the world’s most deadly extreme sports. He died on impact with the ground, likely after losing control mid-jump, according to authorities in the Swiss canton of Uri. Mr Strange, from Malibu, California, became the youngest person to scale the tallest peaks on each of the world’s seven continents in 2009, when he was 17. [Daily Telegraph]

Video of the Day –

Janet Jackson – BURNITUP! Feat. Missy Elliott (Lyric Video)

List of the Day –

James Bond Movie title themes [Wikipedia]

Film	Year	Score composer	Title song	Composed by	Performed by	U.K. peak position	U.S. peak position
Dr. No (soundtrack)	1962	Monty Norman	“James Bond Theme“	Monty Norman	John Barry & Orchestra; Monty Norman	—	—
Dr. No (soundtrack)	1962	Monty Norman	“Kingston Calypso”	Monty Norman	Byron Lee and the Dragonaires	—	—
From Russia with Love (soundtrack)	1963	John Barry	“Opening Titles: James Bond Is Back/From Russia with Love/James Bond Theme”	John Barry, Lionel Bart, Monty Norman	Matt Monro	—	—
Goldfinger (soundtrack)	1964		“Goldfinger“	Leslie Bricusse Anthony Newley John Barry	Shirley Bassey	21	8
Thunderball (soundtrack)	1965		“Thunderball”	John Barry Don Black	Tom Jones	35	25
You Only Live Twice (soundtrack)	1967		“You Only Live Twice“	Leslie Bricusse John Barry	Nancy Sinatra	11	44
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (soundtrack)	1969		“On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”	John Barry Hal David	The John Barry Orchestra	—	—
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (soundtrack)	1969		“We Have All the Time in the World” – Secondary Theme	John Barry Hal David	Louis Armstrong	—	—
Diamonds Are Forever (soundtrack)	1971		“Diamonds Are Forever”	John Barry Don Black	Shirley Bassey	38	57
Live and Let Die (soundtrack)	1973	George Martin	“Live and Let Die“	Paul McCartney Linda McCartney	Paul McCartney & Wings	7	2
The Man with the Golden Gun (soundtrack)	1974	John Barry	“The Man with the Golden Gun”	John Barry Don Black	Lulu	—	—
The Spy Who Loved Me (soundtrack)	1977	Marvin Hamlisch	“Nobody Does It Better“	Marvin Hamlisch Carole Bayer Sager	Carly Simon	7	2
Moonraker (soundtrack)	1979	John Barry	“Moonraker”	John Barry Hal David	Shirley Bassey	—	—
For Your Eyes Only (soundtrack)	1981	Bill Conti	“For Your Eyes Only“	Bill Conti Michael Leeson	Sheena Easton	8	4
Octopussy (soundtrack)	1983	John Barry	“All Time High“	John Barry Tim Rice Stephen Short	Rita Coolidge	75	36
A View to a Kill (soundtrack)	1985		“A View to a Kill“	John Barry Duran Duran	Duran Duran	2	1
The Living Daylights (soundtrack)	1987		“The Living Daylights“	John Barry Pål Waaktaar	A-ha	5	—
Licence to Kill (soundtrack)	1989	Michael Kamen	“Licence to Kill”	Narada Michael Walden Jeffrey Cohen Walter Afanasieff	Gladys Knight	6	—
GoldenEye (soundtrack)	1995	Éric Serra	“GoldenEye“	Bono The Edge	Tina Turner	10	102
Tomorrow Never Dies (soundtrack)	1997	David Arnold	“Tomorrow Never Dies“	Sheryl Crow Mitchell Froom	Sheryl Crow	12	—
The World Is Not Enough (soundtrack)	1999		“The World Is Not Enough“	David Arnold Don Black	Garbage	11	—
Die Another Day (soundtrack)	2002		“Die Another Day“	Madonna Mirwais Ahmadzaï	Madonna	3	8
Casino Royale (soundtrack)	2006		“You Know My Name“	David Arnold Chris Cornell	Chris Cornell	7	79
Quantum of Solace (soundtrack)	2008		“Another Way to Die“	Jack White	Jack White Alicia Keys	9	81
Skyfall (soundtrack)	2012	Thomas Newman	“Skyfall“	Adele Paul Epworth	Adele	2	8
Spectre (soundtrack)	2015	Thomas Newman	“Writing’s on the Wall“	[[Sam Smith (singer)\|Jade Thurbon] Jimmy Napes	Sam Smith	1	–

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	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	YAS BOOBOO	#WorldSmileDay	#FridayFeeling
2	Selamat Hari Batik Nasional	Chris Mintz	#WorldSmileDay
3	ハウル	#stuffhappens	Brian Friel
4	#DiaMundialdelaSonrisa	#Pizzalebrities	Zac Goldsmith
5	#AlgoQueMeHaceFelizEs	#Fridayreads	Cassper
6	#YaEsOctubreY	#4YearsOfAlwaysInMyHeart	#Dust2Dust
7	#TheVoiceBrasil	Will Smith	Ballon D’Or
8	#LoveMeLikeYouVideo	Arne Duncan	#UCCShooting
9	Hayırlı Cumalar	#Unbreakable	#SteamyClassicNovels
10	#BuenViernes	#LoveMeLikeYouVideo	#bbcqt

Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War
- Russian intervention in the Syrian Civil War
  - The Russian Government says Russian jets bombed Syria for the third consecutive day, hitting 12 Islamic State (ISIS) targets. The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reports that ISIS has no presence in the western and northern areas struck though Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate al-Nusra Front does. Russian planes also bombed Raqqah, the unofficial capital of ISIL. (Daily Mail)
Turkey–PKK conflict
- At least 17 PKK militants are reportedly killed following a Turkish military operation in the Kurdish-majority city of Silvan. (RT)
War in Donbass, 2014-15 Russian military intervention in Ukraine
- OSCE observers who are monitoring a ceasefire in eastern Ukraine between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russian rebels, reported the presence of a new Russian weapons system in rebel-held territory this week, the ‘TOS-1 Buratino‘ is a thermobaricmultiple rocket launcher system which can destroy several city blocks in one strike and cause indiscriminate damage. Only Russia produces the system and it was not exported to Ukraine before the conflict broke out. (Reuters)

Business and economy

Air France KLM will cut 2,900 jobs after talks with pilots unions are unsuccessful. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

Indonesia‘s Aviastar airline loses contact with an aircraft between Masamba–Makassar carrying 10 people. (DailyMail)
Hurricane Joaquin
- The U.S. Coast Guard is searching for a 735-foot (224-meter) cargo ship named ‘El Faro,’ with 33 people on board, that went missing near Crooked Island in the Bahamas during Hurricane Joaquin. Five Poles and 28 Americans make up the crew. (The Telegraph) (Reuters)
- Hurricane Joaquin attacked The Bahamas as a Category 4 hurricane and destroyed houses, cut communications and electric power, uprooted trees, and unleashed heavy flooding. So far, there are no reports of fatalities or injuries. The storm, which weakened to Category 3 status with 125 mph sustained winds, is expected to dump up to 25 inches (63.5 centimeters) of rain in some location before it moves away from the islands. (AP via Sacramento Bee) (AFP via Yahoo News)
El Cambray tragedy
- A Guatemalan hillside, loosened by heavy rains, collapses and sends tons of dirt and trees onto Santa Catarina Pinula on the edge of Guatemala City, killing at least 26 with as many as 600 people missing. (Reuters) (BBC)

Law and crime

A 15-year old boy shoots and kills a civilian NSW Police employee outside the NSW Police headquarters in Parramatta, Sydney. The incident is labelled as a terrorist attack. (Daily Telegraph)
Hackers steal the personal information of about 15 million T-Mobile US customers and applicants. The breach is at a unit of the credit agency Experian. (BBC)
2015 FIFA corruption case
- Longtime FIFA corporate sponsors — Coca-Cola Co., McDonald’s, Visa Inc., and Budweiser owner Anheuser-Busch InBev — demand FIFA President Sepp Blatter step down immediately following last week’s announcement of his criminal investigation by the Swiss attorney general. Blatter refused. (Reuters) (Irish Independent)

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October 3, 2015

Top News Stories –

JK Rowling dismisses Harry Potter fan theories about time travel and werewolves –
JK Rowling has shut-down a theory that one of the Harry Potter characters was a time traveller. The author responded to fans who claimed they had put together evidence about Ronald Weasley being a time travelling Dumbledore. On Twitter, she said that this theory is “false.” Also, referring to the idea that Draco Malfoy could be a werewolf, she tweeted: “I’ve never seen that one before. Draco definitely isn’t a werewolf (and Snape’s not a vampire).” [BBC Newsbeat]
J. K. Rowling

Denis Healey dies aged 98 –
Denis Healey, a towering figure in the Labour Party and perhaps the most recognisable politician for a generation, has died. His family said the 98-year-old died peacefully in his sleep on Saturday morning at his home in Sussex after a short illness. The retired Labour politician, often described as “the best prime minister the party never had”, served as Secretary of State for Defence from 1964 to 1970 and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1974 to 1979 under the premierships of Harold Wilson and James Callaghan. [Daily Telegraph]
Denis Healey in 1974

England out of Rugby World Cup as Australia win 33-13 –
England are out of the World Cup after being torn apart by a superb Australia display at a stunned Twickenham. Two converted first-half tries and four penalties from Wallaby fly-half Bernard Foley in a virtuoso display brought a richly deserved win on a black night for England’s men in white. The result means both Australia and Wales are into the quarter-finals. It is the first time that a host nation has gone out at the group stage of the tournament. And to complete their humiliation, it is also the first time England have failed to make the knockout stages. [BBC]

Video of the Day –

SPECTRE – Final Trailer (Official)

Top Twitter Trends –

	Worldwide	USA	UK
1	#UAAPCDC2015	#SaySomethingNiceAboutATweep	#ENGvAUS
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9	Aguero	Wedding Tux	#WBA
10	#AFLGF	#UAAPCDC2015	#BuyBritishDay

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Armed conflicts and attacks

Syrian Civil War, Foreign involvement in the Syrian Civil War
- The Pentagon is reportedly weighing the option of using military force to protect the U.S.-backed rebels fighting the Assad regime. The Pentagon’s own reports show that most of the rebels sympathize, hand over weapons and money or even outright join extremist groups such as ISIL or the Al-Nusra Front (Fox News)
- British Defense Secretary Michael Fallon says only 5 percent of Russia’s airstrikes in Syria have targeted Islamic State extremists. Instead other Syrian rebel groups, including the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, have been attacked. “Our evidence indicates they are dropping unguided munitions in civilian areas, killing civilians,” Fallon added. (Voice of America) (Reuters)
War in Afghanistan (2015–present)
- A prolonged series of American military airstrikes hit a Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) hospital in Kunduz, killing twelve staff members and at least seven patients, including three children, with 37 seriously injured and many more people still missing. (MSF) (Washington Post) (Reuters)
Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant
- ISIS claims responsibility for the killing of a 65-year old Japanese citizen in Bangladesh. This comes after the recent murder of an Italian, Cesare Tavella, in Bangladesh which was also claimed by ISIS. (Al Arabiya)

Disasters and accidents

Hurricane Joaquin
- As Hurricane Joaquin, still a Category 3 storm, heads northeast, a Tropical Storm Warning and a Hurricane Watch are in effect for Bermuda. Winds will begin to strengthen early Saturday with thunderstorms and more significant showers around midnight. Joaquin should turn toward the north-northeast Sunday and pass around 125 nautical miles (232 kilometres; 144 miles) west of Bermuda that evening. (WCVB5 Boston) (NHC) (Bermuda Royal Gazette)
- Joaquin’s eastward turn away from the United States could send the storm across the Atlantic Ocean toward the United Kingdom. Current weather models predict Joaquin, powered by the jet stream, will reach the British Isles on the October 10 weekend.(Daily Mail) (Daily Express)
Two people are killed, including an eight-year-old boy, after a double-decker bus crashed into a Sainsbury’s supermarket in Coventry city centre; six others were also seriously hurt including the bus driver according to West Midlands Police. (BBC)

Sport

2015 Rugby World Cup
- England become the first host nation and first former finalist to be knocked out of the Rugby World Cup during the group stages following their defeat to Australia. (BBC)

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