The 10 Most Important Things In The World Right Now

DINA SPECTOR

 AUG. 20, 2014

REUTERS/Ingolfur Bruun

Picture shows the growing ash plume from the Grimsvotn volcano, under the Vatnajokull glacier in southeast Iceland, as its eruption begins May 21, 2011

Morning. Here’s what people will be talking on Wednesday. 

1. A video posted by the ISIS militant group purportedly shows the execution of American journalist James Foley. “If genuine, we are appalled by the brutal murder of an innocent American journalist and we express our deepest condolences to his family and friends,” the White House said. 

2. An investigation into the the fatal shooting of an unarmed teenager by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri has unveiled conflicting eyewitness accounts, Thew New York Times reports. “Some witnesses say that Mr. Brown, 18, moved toward Officer Wilson, possibly in a threatening manner, when the officer shot him dead. But others say that Mr. Brown was not moving and may even have had his hands up when he was killed,” The Times said. 

2. A long-term resolution between Israel and Hamas appears long off. Fighting picked up again on Tuesday after an extended five-day ceasefire in Gaza came to an end and peace talks in Cairo collapsed.

3. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer stepped down from the Microsoft board. Ballmer will focus on the LA Clippers basketball team he just bought and do some business teaching. 

4. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) posed for a mug shot on Tuesday. Perry is accused of abusing his office by threatening to cut a state-level prosecutor’s funding after she was arrested for drunken driving. After the mug shot, he went out for ice cream. 

5. Hackers stole the personal information of around 4.5 million patients from Community Health Systems using the Heartbleed bug. 

6. The potential for an Icelandic volcano to erupt could cause a headache for summer travelers. If the volcano blows, leading to ash clouds, it could be a major disruption to air travel. 

7. The international community is not doing enough to help Ebola victims in West Africa, a senior aid worker told The Guardian. “Leaders in the west are talking about their own safety and doing things like closing airlines – and not helping anyone else,” said Brice de la Vigne, the operations director of Médecins Sans Frontières. 

8. British bank Standard Chartered will pay a $300 million settlement to New York State’s financial regulator over allegations the bank failed to detect risky transactions. As part of the deal, the bank “will suspend clearing activity for high-risk Hong Kong business clients and exit certain client relationships at its branches in the United Arab Emirates. The UK bank will also not be allowed to accept new customers for dollar-clearing without prior approval by the DFS,” The Financial Times explains. 

9. Conde Nast is selling Fairchild Fashion Media, which includes the title Women’s Wear Daily, to Penske Media Corporation for less than $100 million, the Financial Times reports. 

10. Heavy rains in Japan have triggered landslides that have killed 27 people so far.

And finally…

Derek Jeter is the latest celeb/sports star to participate in the ALS “Ice Bucket Challenge.” Watch him get ice bathed here.