The 10 Most Important Things In The World Right Now

DINA SPECTOR

JUL. 25, 2014

REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

A Palestinian reacts following what witnesses said was an Israeli air strike on a building in Gaza City July 24, 2014.

Hello! Here’s what people will be taking about on Friday.

1. The U.S. said on Thursday it had new evidence of Russia firing artillery across the border into Ukraine. A state department spokeswoman, Marie Harf, also said that Russia plans to “deliver heavier and more powerful multiple rocket launchers to the separatist forces in Ukraine.” 

2. A U.N. school in Gaza that was sheltering Palestinian refugees came under fire on Thursday, killing at least 15 people. Gazan authorities blame the Israeli military for the attack. Israel forces say the school was not an intentional target and “raised the possibility the compound was hit by Hamas rockets,” the Associated Press says. 

3. Protests in the West Bank erupted after Palestinian authorities called for “a day of rage” following the shelling of a U.N.-run school in Gaza that killed 15. At least two Palestinians have been killed in ”one of the biggest clashes seen for several years,” the Guardian says. 

4. The wreckage of an Air Algerie operated plane carrying 116 people was found in Mali, officials confirmed. Flight AH 5017 from Burkina Faso to Algiers lost contact with controllers around 50 minutes after takeoff as pilots said they were encountering severe storms, the BBC reports. 

5. Amazon posted a big loss for the second quarter despite increasing sales. The company reported a net loss of $126 million, compared to a net loss of $7 million in the same period last year. Sales increased 23% to $19.3 billion, in line with analysts’ expectations. 

6. McDonald’s said it’s suspending the sale of chicken nuggets and some other products in Hong Kong after the fast food chain’s Chinese supplier was shut down by regulators over allegations it sold expired meat. 

7. Forensic experts say the body of billionaire Yoo Byung-un, head of the family that owned the operator of a South Korean ferry that sank, is too heavily decomposed to determine a cause of death. The tycoon disappeared after the ferry disaster in April and his body was found in a plum field last month. 

8. Fox is planning to raise its takeover offer for Time Warner to $90-$95 per share, a source familiar with Fox’s thinking told The Wall Street Journal. Time Warner rejected a bid from the Rupert Murdoch-owned company of $85 per share last week. 

9. In an effort to curb pollution, China is thinking about placing a national cap on coal, a key contributor of carbon emissions, starting in 2016, The New York Times Reports. However, the Times warns that “coal use could keep rising for years” until stricter limits are enforced. 

10. Montana Sen. John Walsh, the Democrat accused of plagiarizing a paper while at the U.S. Army War College, says post-traumatic stress disorder from his service in Iraq “may have been a factor,” according to the Associated Press.“My head was not in a place very conducive to a classroom and an academic environment,” he said. 

And finally…

Southern California police are looking into who has been leaving porcelain dolls on the doorsteps of many residents in the beach city of of San Clemente. Concerned parents say the dolls resemble their daughters, Reuters reports.