Steps down from Uber board
Drummond steps down from Uber’s board after three years.
Killed in airstrike
Islamic State says al-Adnani, one of its most prominent and longest-serving leaders, was killed in what appeared to be an airstrike on a vehicle traveling in the Syrian town of al-Bab, depriving the militant group of the man in charge of directing attacks overseas. US officials stopped short of confirming Adnani’s death, as assessments often take days and often lag behind official announcements by militant groups.
Wins Video Vanguard Award
Drake presents Rihanna with the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard award at the MTV Music Video Awards. She performs 13 of the biggest hits in her 13-year career, including Rude Girl, Diamonds, and Only Girl in the World. Drake:
She’s someone I’ve been in love with since I was 22 years old. She’s one of my best friends in the world. All my adult life, I’ve looked up to her even though she’s younger than me.
Arrested after standoff
Brown is arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after a daylong standoff at his home in the Tarzana neighborhood in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley. The police were called after a 3am 911 call from a woman, who said he Brown threatened her with a weapon. Brown denied any wrongdoing in posts on Instagram before he was taken into custody in the afternoon. Police:
Mr Chris Brown will be transported to robbery/homicide division where he will be booked for assault with a deadly weapon.
World’s highest paid female model
Bundchen is the highest-paid female model in the world with annual income of $30.5 million, according to Forbes magazine. Bundchen has made more money than any other model since 2002 and continues to collect endorsement deals with Chanel, Carolina Herrera and Pantene. Adriana Lima si third on the list, with Kylie Jenner in joint third place with Karlie Kloss.
Gene Wilder dies at 83
Wilder dies age of 83, at his home in Stamford, Connecticut, from complications of Alzheimer’s disease. Walker-Pearlman, Wilder’s nephew, says the actor had chosen to keep his illness secret so that children who knew him as Willy Wonka would not equate the whimsical character with an adult disease.
EU demands Apple pay EUR13 billion taxes
EU antitrust regulators order Apple to pay up to 13 billion euros in taxes, plus interest, to the Irish government after ruling that a special scheme to route profits through Ireland was illegal state aid. The scheme meant that Apple paid tax rates on European profits on sales of its iPhone and other devices and services of between just 0.005 percent in 2014 and 1 percent in 2003. The demand, 40 times bigger than the previous known demand by the European Commission to a company in such a case, could be reduced if other countries seek more tax from the company. Apple and the Irish government say they willl appeal the decision,.
Germany: Facebook should take initiative to remove racist, violent content
Germany’s interior minister visits Facebook’s offices in Berlin and said it should be more proactive in removing forbidden content from its social network platform. The German government has been critical of Facebook in the past. Political leaders and regulators have complained the world’s largest social network, with 1.6 billion monthly users, had been slow to respond to hate speech and anti-immigrant messages. De Maizier:
Facebook should take down racist content or calls for violence from its pages on its own initiative even if it hasn’t yet received a complaint.
Gunmen kill seven students, professor
At least two gunmen storm classrooms after a suspected car bomb is used to get into the walled complex, and killed seven students and a professor. The death toll could have been far higher, with most students managing to barricade themselves in classrooms or flee to safety, even if it meant breaking bones as they jumped from the second floor of a building. There has been no claim of responsibility for the raid.
Killed by miners
Deputy Interior Minister Illanes is beaten to death after he was kidnapped by striking mineworkers, who had blocked a major highway near Panduro, around 160 km (100 miles) from capital city La Paz. Officials said he died of blows to the head. Illanes’ assistant was also badly beaten and is in intensive care in a hospital in La Paz. President Morales calls for three days of national mourning and declares a day of “deep pain” for the country. Up to 100 people have been arrested as authorities vowed to punish those responsible. Prosecutor:
The cause of death was basically bleeding in the brain. Ribs were also broken.
Discovery announced
Scientists at European Southern Observatory announce the discovery of Proxima b, a planet that appears to be similar to Earth, circling Proxima Centauri, a dwarf star four light years from Earth. The relative proximity of the planet gives scientists a better chance to eventually capture an image of it, to help them establish whether it has an atmosphere and water, which is believed to be necessary for life. Proxima b is only 7.5 million kilometres from its parent star – some 5% of the distance between the Earth and the Sun – and it takes just 11.2 days to complete one orbit. Lead scientist:
For sure, to go there right now is science fiction, but people are thinking about it and it’s no longer just an academic exercise to imagine we could send a probe there one day.
Highest paid actor
Johnson tops Forbes magazine list of the world’s highest paid actors, with an estimated 2016 payday of $64.5 million. He knocks Robert Downey Jr. off the top spot and more than doubles his earnings, largely thanks to his action comedy Central Intelligence. Johnson also collected advance fees from the eighth installment of the Fast and Furious racing movie franchise.
Automates trending news
Facebook changes its trending news feature to an automated solution, which the company says will eliminate bias caused by human curation.
Our goal is to enable Trending for as many people as possible, which would be hard to do if we relied solely on summarizing topics by hand. A more algorithmically driven process allows us to scale Trending to cover more topics and make it available to more people globally over time. This is something we always hoped to do but we are making these changes sooner given the feedback we got from the Facebook community earlier this year. the potential for bias, the Company says it will no longer rely on editors to write descriptions for the topics and would instead show users the topic and how many people are discussing it.
Three ex-diplomats arrested
An Ankara court remands Gurcan Balik, Ali Findik and Tuncay Babali in custody ahead of trial over suspected links to Gulen.
Iranian refugee wins cartooning award
An Iranian refugee held at an Australia’s Manus camp in Papua New Guinea wins a political cartooning award from CRNI for his work depicting life inside the camp.
Ali, whose pen name is Eaten Fish, has chronicled his three-year detention on Manus Island as he struggles with obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and debilitating panic attacks. CRNI:
Eaten Fish has been able to keep up a stream of cartoons documenting the unspeakable abuses and excesses of the guards and administrators of the camp. For this he has been the subject of beatings, deprivation of food, and even worse degrading treatment by the guards.
The Australian government denies that the refugee has been mistreated.
WhatsApp, Facebook to share data
Facebook announces that WhatsApp will start sharing users phone numbers with Facebook. The company says the change will allow for more relevant advertisements and friend recommendations. It is WhatsApp’s first update to its privacy policy since it was acquired by Facebook. WhatsApp will also explore ways for businesses to send messages using its platform over the next several months.
Russia backs Aleppo UN truce
Russia agrees to a UN-backed 48-hour humanitarian ceasefire in the divided Syrian city of Aleppo to allow aid deliveries, but security guarantees are awaited from other parties on the ground. UN spokesperson:
We have…agreement now from the Russian Federation for the 48-hour pause, we’re waiting (for) it from the other actors on the ground. That has taken more time frankly than I thought was needed.
US State Dept spokesperson:
If the U.N. says they need 48 hours, of course we support the U.N. But … our focus is on a nationwide sustainable cessation of hostilities.
One killed
A suspected gas explosion at a sports center in the southern Belgian town of Chimay kills one person and wounds four others, two of them seriously. Part of the building is destroyed.
Submarine data leak
Australian media reports DCNS is hit by a massive leak of secret data on its submarines. 22,400 leaked pages detail the combat capability of the Scorpene-class DCNS submarine designed for the Indian navy, variants of which are used by Malaysia and Chile. DCNS says it has launched an inquiry:
This inquiry will determine the precise nature of the documents which have been leaked, the potential damage to our customers as well as those responsible.
Indian Defence Minister Parrikar orders a probe into the report
I have asked the navy chief to investigate the matter and find what has been leaked and how much of it is about us. What I understand is there is a hacking.
Wraps up summer trip
President Obama wraps up his final summer getaway to Martha’s Vineyard Sunday. He spends the morning on a final round of vacation golf before rolling out in his motorcade with first lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia.