Top News Stories –
Facebook sets user record as more than 1bn people log on in single day –
Facebook has revealed that more than 1bn people used the site on Monday – the first time the social network has hit the milestone. Mark Zuckerberg, who founded the company in 2004 while studying at Harvard, said he felt “proud” that one-in-seven people on Earth logged on to the website during the day. The 31-year-old wrote in a post on Facebook:
Mark Zukerberg tweet
Although Mr Zuckerberg did not specify what had caused the rise in the number of users, the website has consistently attracted more followers. Last month Mr Zuckerberg revealed Facebook had 1.49bn monthly active users, up 13pc from a year earlier. [Daily Telegraph]
Video of the Day –
LEVEL from joe pease on Vimeo.
List of the Day –
The top ten most unexpected words added to the online Oxford dictionary [according to the Daily Telegraph]
1. manspreading (noun): the practice whereby a man, especially one travelling on public transport, adopts a sitting position with his legs wide apart, in such a way as to encroach on an adjacent seat or seat
2. awesomesauce (adjective): extremely good; excellent
3. bants (noun): playfully teasing or mocking remarks exchanged with another person or group; banter
4. fat-shame (verb): cause (someone judged to be fat or overweight) to feel humiliated by making mocking or critical comments about their size
5. Brexit (noun): a term for the potential or hypothetical departure of the United Kingdom from the European Union
6. bruh (noun): a male friend (often used as a form of address)
7. cakeage (noun): a charge made by a restaurant for serving a cake they have not supplied themselves
8. fatberg (noun): a very large mass of solid waste in a sewerage system, consisting especially of congealed fat and personal hygiene products that have been flushed down toilets
9. Grexit (noun): a term for the potential withdrawal of Greece from the eurozone (the economic region formed by those countries in the European Union that use the euro as their national currency)
10. hangry (adjective): bad-tempered or irritable as a result of hunger
Top Twitter Trends –
Other News Stories –
Armed conflicts and attacks
- Iraq War (2014–present)
- Two generals of the Iraqi Army and 3 soldiers are killed and 10 wounded when an Islamic State suicide bomber detonates in northern Ramadi. (Los Angeles Times)
- Gaza–Israel conflict
- In retaliation to a rocket attack on Southern Israel, Israel Defence Forces destroy a Hamas weapons manufacturing facility located within the Gaza Strip. (Haaretz)
- The Government of India deploys the Army to the state of Gujarat after two days of caste-related violence results in seven deaths. (Reuters via Daily Mail)
- War in Donbass
- Business and economy
- Walmart will stop selling the AR-15 and other semi-automatic rifles allegedly because of sluggish customer demand. (Reuters)
- Panasonic will stop making lithium-ion batteries for phones and cameras in Beijing, China, with a cut of 1,300 jobs. The company will instead refocus on higher-margin products such as electric car batteries. (Reuters)
- The U.S. National Labor Relations Board ruling in the Browning-Ferris case uses an expanded definition of joint employer when determining if a parent company shares responsibility for workers hired by a subcontractor or franchisee. Democratic appointees on the panel split 3-2 with Republicans on this decision that upended the traditional arms-length relationship that had been in place since 1984. The Republican-controlled US Congress responded to arguments from businesses such as the International Franchise Association by adding another NLRB-related rider to the budget to block implementation of this latest ruling. Browning-Ferris can appeal the decision to a federal appeals court. The ruling could affect current unionization and pay efforts at McDonald’s franchises. (Wall Street Journal) (International Business Times), (Forbes) (Chicago Tribune) (Washington Post)
- Oilfield services provider Schlumberger agrees to acquire construction company Cameron International in a $12.71 billion deal. (AP via Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
- Disasters and accidents
- European migrant crisis
- A sinkhole in China swallows five people. (AP)
- 2015 Atlantic hurricane season
- Four people are killed on the Caribbean island of Dominica as a result of floods and landslides caused by Tropical Storm Erika. (WRAL)
- Law and crime
- David H. Murdock, the CEO and chairman of Dole Food Company, along with a fellow confidant, are ordered to pay $148 million for misleading directors and shareholders. (AP via Washington Post)
- Politics and elections
- Vassiliki Thanou-Christophilou, the head of the Court of Cassation, is appointed as interim Prime Minister of Greece for the duration of the upcoming election. She is the first woman to hold the post. (AP via Roanoke)
- Thousands of protesters joined a Guatemalan national strike Thursday demanding the resignation of President Otto Pérez Molina for corruption. Five of 13 cabinet ministers have resigned since Friday, and Tuesday, the Supreme Court unanimously approved a motion to impeach the president. (Bloomberg) (Bayou Buzz) (The Weather Space)
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