Top News Stories –

Chess gets ‘sexy’ in million dollar Las Vegas tournament
The cerebral, centuries-old pastime of chess is not something normally associated with the glitz of Las Vegas. But amid the neon lights of the Planet Hollywood casino some of the world’s greatest grandmasters gathered to battle it out for $1 million in prize money at the game’s most lucrative ever tournament. There were tears and tantrums, controversial rulings, and stunning upsets – and that was exactly what the organisers wanted. The competition, called Millionaire Chess, was a concerted effort to “sex up” the favorite hobby of nerdy schoolboys, and ultimately turn it into a money-spinning television sport. To that end a Big Brother-style “confessional” booth was installed where players revealed their inner turmoil to a camera between moves and “trash talked” their opponents. The tournament was eventually won by [World number 2] Hikaru Nakamura. Following the biggest payday of his stellar chess career he said: “I want to thank the organisers. They have tried to make chess sexy and that’s what chess needs. There are so many stereotypes out there about chess. This is very special.” [Daily Telegraph]
Hikaru Nakamura

Playboy Magazine abandons nudity –
Playboy magazine is stopping publishing pictures of totally nude women because the internet has made them outdated, its US owners say. It’s a break with a 62-year format that has had a significant impact on American culture. Every month since 1953, fold-out spreads of fully nude women have filled Playboy. The glossy adult men’s magazine boasts a plethora of celebrity conquests in its portfolio. Madonna, Sharon Stone and Naomi Campbell were photographed at the peak of their fame. Kate Moss posed for its front cover in a bunny outfit. Lindsay Lohan and Pamela Anderson have also graced it. [BBC] Coincidentally today is international “No Bra Day”  – See Top Twitter Trends

Facebook Briefly Bans The Phrase ‘Everyone Will Know’ –
Facebook blocked the phrase “everyone will know” for more than a day, but users are now once again able to post the seemingly innocuous three words. “This was a mistake with our spam filter and our engineers have resolved the issue,” Melanie Ensign of Facebook security communications told The Huffington Post. HuffPost also independently confirmed that the phrase can now be posted. “We’re constantly updating the rules used by our spam-fighting engine and this particular phrase erroneously got caught in the mix,” she explained. Ensign didn’t know exactly how long the phrase had been banned. On Friday, someone asked on Question.com, “Why can’t you post ‘everyone will know’ on Facebook?” Another user replied they also were unable to post the phrase as a status. On Sunday, a Reddit thread was filled with people claiming they were unable to post the phrase as a status or in a comment. [Huffington Post]

Video of the Day –

Because he can

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Syrian Civil War, Russian involvement in the Syrian Civil War
  • Two shells hit the Russian embassy in Syria‘s capital Damascus, as hundreds of pro-government supporters rallied outside in support of Russian airstrikes. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the shelling as “a terrorist act.” (BBC)
• Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Palestinian political violence
  • Two stabbing attacks take place in Ra’anana: one outside city hall in which one man is injured and the attacker is subdued by civilians; in a second incident, the attacker stabs civilians in front of a cafe, injuring one critically and three lightly until he is subdued by civilians. (The Jerusalem Post)
  • In Jerusalem two men attempted to stab passengers on a bus before being shot; one person was killed and another wounded as a driver rammed into a crowd and the attacker reportedly stepped out of the crashed vehicle and attempted to stab the wounded before being subdued by police; in a separate incident two male passengers were killed and three others suffered gunshot wounds in a combined shooting and stabbing attack on a bus in the neighborhood of Armon Hanatziv in southern Jerusalem. (The Times of Israel)

Arts and culture

• Jamaican author Marlon James wins the 2015 Man Booker Prize for his novel A Brief History of Seven Killings inspired by the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in the 1970s. (BBC)

Disasters and accidents

• The Dutch Safety Board releases their final report into the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 (MH17) disaster that concludes that the flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was shot-down by a Russian-made Buk missile system on 17 July 2014 killing 298 people.(Sky News) (BBC) (Al Jazeera) (9News)
• At least 13 people are killed as a rockslide hits shanties in the Gulistan-i-Jauhar in the Pakistani city of Karachi. (Dawn)

Business and economics

• InBev agrees to buy its main rival SABMiller for £68 billion ($104 billion) in biggest beer deal ever. (CNN)

International relations

• Relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma
  • The Governor of the Japanese prefecture of Okinawa, Takeshi Onaga, revokes permission given by a predecessor for landfill work to replace a United States Marine Corps base. (Japan Times)
• Iran‘s Islamic Consultative Assembly approves the deal on its nuclear program agreed with six world powers. (BBC)

• Territorial disputes in the South China Sea
  • United States and Australia warn China they remain committed to freedom of navigation in the waters of the South China Sea and express strong concerns at China’s construction of artificial islands in the disputed waters. (Channel News Asia) (The New Daily) (Time)

Politics and elections

• Burkina Faso‘s presidential and parliamentary elections are deferred to November 29 due to a recent coup. (Yahoo! News)

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