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. 

The 10 Most Important Things In The World Right Now

DINA  SPECTOR

JUL. 18, 2014, 3:03 PM

NASA Webb Telescope

NASA’s view of the honeycomb-shaped James Webb telescope.

Good morning! Here’s what you need to know for Friday. 

1. A Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 298 passengers exploded and crashed in eastern Ukraine on Thursday, killing everyone on board. The flight headed from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, is believed to have been shot down by pro-Russian separatists, although there are “strong indications that those responsible may have errantly downed what they had thought was a military aircraft only to discover, to their shock, that they had struck a civilian airliner, The New York Times reports. 

2. Some of the world’s top aid experts, headed for an international conference in Melbourne, Australia, were passengers on the Malaysia Airlines flight that crashed over Ukraine. It’s believed that the former president of the International AIDS Society, Joep Lange, was among those killed, Xinhuanet reports. 

3. The Israeli military launched a large-scale ground invasion in the Gaza strip after Hama militants rejected a truce brokered by Egypt. The goal of the new phase after 10 days of fighting is to “target Hamas’ tunnels that enable terrorists to infiltrate Israel and carry out attacks,” The Israeli Defense Force tweeted. ”This requires precise operations,” they added.

4. The massive layoffs at Microsoft on Thursday mark one of the highest workforce cuts in the company’s nearly 40-year history. Microsoft CEO Satay Nadella said the company would cut 18,000 jobs — 14% of the workforce — over the next year. 

5. Google revenue jumped 22% in the second quarter to nearly $16 billion, which was better than the expected $15.6 billion.During the call, chief business officer Nikesh Arora also announced that he will be leaving the company to join SoftBank. 

6. New York City transit authorities said they reached a tentative deal with labor unions from the Long Island Rail Road, dodging a transit strike that would have stranded thousands of passengers over the weekend. According to Reuters, the contact provides a 17% raise over the next 6.5 years, but workers must pay healthcare benefits for the first time. 

7. Bloomberg reported on a Russian-led cyber attack on NASDAQ’s central servers that took place in 2010. The hack represents “the only time a digital weapon has been planted inside a critical U.S. system,” the Daily Beast reports. The hack, while intercepted, was an attempt to steal information for Russia’s owns stock exchanges. 

8. Many flights have been cancelled in Libya as air controllers go on strike after the terminal of Tripoli’s main airport was hit by shells of a rival militant group. 

9. German World Cup midfielder Mesut Özil has donated nearly $600,000 of his personal winnings to more than two dozen surgeries for sick children in Brazil. Özil considers the contribution “a personal thank-you for the [country's] hospitality,” The Telegraph said. 

10. Broadway icon Elaine Stritch died at the age of 89 at her home in Michigan. Stritch appeared in movies and T.V. shows but was best known for on stage performances, winning five Tony awards and three Emmys in her lifetime.

And finally…

Scientists say they expect to find alien life on another planet in the coming decades, aided by the launch of NASA’s next-generation James Webb Space Telescope.

The 10 Most Important Things In The World Right Now

DINA SPECTOR

 JUL. 17, 2014

REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi

News Corp Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch

Good morning! Here’s what you need to know for Thursday.

1. President Barack Obama on Wednesday imposed the toughest sanctions on Russia so far, targeting a number of large banks and energy defense firms. The companies — including Russia’s largest oil producer Rosneft and largest private bank Gazprombank — don’t have access to U.S. debt markets.

2. Israel said it would halt attacks on Gaza for five hours on Thursday morning after four Palestinian boys were killed on a beach by an Israeli gunboat. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country planned to escalate military operations after Hamas militants rejected a cease-fire proposed by Egypt earlier in the week.

3. A California judge ruled the death penalty unconstitutional, responding to the case of a prisoner who was sentenced to death nearly 20 years ago but hasn’t been executed yet. The waiting period to carry out the death penalty is so long that it can be considered a form of cruel and unusual punishment and is therefore unconstitutional, according to U.S. District Court of Orange Country Judge Cormac J. Carney.

4. Rupert Murdoch’s $80 billion bid for Time Warner was rejected, but the media mogul’s attempt at a takeover is likely not over. While “no talks are underway,” The New York Times’ Dealbook reports, “Mr. Murdoch is determined and unlikely to walk away anytime soon, people briefed on the matter said.”

5. Scientists are mystified by a giant hole large enough to fit two helicopters that suddenly appeared in Russia’s tundra. An explosion triggered underground by “the pressure of meltwater from the thawing solid” during the summer is the most likely cause of the crater, The Telegraph said.

6. The latest allegations against drug maker Glaxo Smith Kline involves the bribing of Chinese officials by staff as early as 2001, The Financial Times reports. The British company is currently being investigated for allegedly bribing doctors to get them to prescribe their medicines.

7. Scientists developed a biological pacemaker made from actual heart cells by injecting a human gene into the hearts of pigs with a condition.This is a major step forward in developing alternatives to electronic pacemakers.

8. Mexico is going to war on the nation’s obesity epidemic by banning television ads for soda and high-calorie foods. Commercials for sugary drinks and junk food can’t be shown between 2:30 and 7:30 p.m. on weekdays, and between 7:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. on weekends, The Daily Beast reports.

9. Kabul’s airport was closed early Thursday after it was attacked by Taliban fighters. “Militants fire rockets into the airport almost every week,” Reuters notes, “but frontal attacks on the heavily guarded facility are rare and represent an ambitious target for insurgents.”

10. Typhoon Rammasun, the strongest storm to hit the Philippines this year, killed at least 38 people and led to the evacuation of more than 400,000 people. The storm churned through areas badly damaged by Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 6,000 people last November.

And finally…

Ron Howard is going to be directing a documentary on the Beetles. It will focus on the group’s touring years between 1964 and 1966, the height of “Beetlemania.”