We start the new month by looking at today’s biggest stories.
Indonesia earthquake and tsunami death toll surpasses 830
As rescue workers comb through chunks of concrete and lumber searching for survivors, Indonesian officials say that 832 people were killed in a powerful earthquake and tsunami on the island of Sulawesi.
The world’s leaders may regret laughing at Donald Trump
President Trump likes respect. He won’t forget. And he may have the last laugh.
Macedonia votes on name change amid disinformation campaign
For a Balkan country of 2 million people, Macedonia has attracted an impressive roster of VIPs in the last few weeks.
Elon Musk agrees to pay $20 million and quit as Tesla chairman in deal with SEC
Under the settlement, which requires court approval, Musk will be allowed to stay as CEO but must leave his role as chairman of the board within 45 days. He cannot seek reelection for three years, according to court filings. He accepted the deal with the SEC “without admitting or denying the allegations of the complaint,” according to a court document.
‘SNL’ has Matt Damon play an angry Brett Kavanaugh
“Saturday Night Live” kicked off its season premiere Saturday with a sketch about this week’s hearing of US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The twist? Kavanaugh was played by Matt Damon.
Settle down, guys. A skull-shaped asteroid is not headed for Earth this Halloween
Despite what your social media feeds are telling you, an asteroid shaped like a skull is not going to zip by Earth this Halloween.
F-35B jet crashes in South Carolina
A US Marine Corps F-35B crashed Friday in Beaufort County, South Carolina, near Marine Corp Air Station Beaufort, a US military official told CNN.
Huge surge in Indonesia quake toll
At least 832 people were killed in the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, the national disaster agency says. It added that the affected area was bigger than initially thought. Many people were reported trapped in the rubble of buildings that collapsed in Friday’s 7.5-magnitude earthquake, agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho told a news conference.
Kanye West changes name to Ye
Rapper Kanye West is changing his name – to Ye. Announcing the change on Twitter on Saturday, he wrote: “The being formally [sic] known as Kanye West. I am YE.” West, 41, has been nicknamed Ye for some time and used the moniker as the title for his eighth album, which was released in June.
Musk out as Tesla chair over fraud case
Elon Musk must step down as Tesla chair and pay a fine after reaching a deal with US regulators over tweets he posted about taking the firm private. It follows Thursday’s decision by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to sue Mr Musk for alleged securities fraud.
‘I blew £15,000 in a year on beauty products’ – BBC Three
Sitting on my bed last December, I stared at the stacks of make-up scattered around my bedroom. I’d counted 213 lipsticks, 130 eye shadow palettes, 102 blushers, 65 eyeliners and 17 mascaras – and that wasn’t even all of it.
FBI contacts second woman over Kavanaugh
The FBI has approached the second woman to accuse US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual misconduct as it begins a fresh inquiry into him. Deborah Ramirez accuses Judge Kavanaugh of exposing himself to her during a drinking game when they were students at Yale University in the 1980s.
N Korea defector numbers ‘drop’ under Kim
The number of North Korean defectors to South Korea has fallen since Kim Jong-un came to power seven years ago, a South Korean lawmaker has said. Park Byeong-seug, citing data from the South’s unification ministry, said there had been 1,127 defections last year – compared with 2,706 in 2011.
Trump: Kim Jong Un And I ‘Fell In Love’
What a difference a year makes. President Donald Trump told supporters at a rally in Wheeling, West Virginia, on Saturday that he and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un have fallen in love. Yes, really.
Opinion | Republicans Can Dump Kavanaugh Now, Or Risk A Nightmare Scenario
The longer Brett Kavanaugh twists in the wind, the more likely it is that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump will consider the risks ― and decide to pull the plug. With every passing day, more and more witnesses are coming out of the woodwork to contradict this or that aspect of Kavanaugh’s story.
Kanye Says He Now Goes By ‘YE’ Just Prior To ‘SNL’ Performance
Kanye West will appear on ” Saturday Night Live” this weekend, but before he kicks off the show’s 44th season with host Adam Driver, he’s apparently entering a new phase in his career. On Twitter Saturday afternoon, West announced that “the being formally known as Kanye West” is now called “YE.”
Ferrell And Reilly Are ‘Holmes And Watson’ And We’re Already Laughing
It’s like the Victorian “Step Brothers.” The official trailer for “Holmes And Watson” came out Friday ― starring Will Ferrell as Sherlock Holmes and John C. Reilly as Dr. Watson ― and the (very) loose adaptation of author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous characters seems also to be a parody of previous portrayals of Sherlock Holmes.
Elon Musk has to pay $20 million to settle with the S.E.C.
Elon Musk’s ill-advised weed humor is going to cost him $20 million dollars and his chairmanship of Tesla, in accordance with a settlement agreement Musk and Tesla made with the the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Musk accepted the settlement on Saturday, Sept.
Here’s the biggest pumpkin in U.S. history because we all need something nice
Sometimes a week is so upsetting you just have to find joy in the unexpected. Take this huge-ass pumpkin, for example. Steve Geddes of Boscawen, New Hampshire just made U.S. history by growing a pumpkin so large it surpassed the record for largest pumpkin in America. Congrats, sir!
Facebook already hit with a lawsuit tied to the latest data breach
That didn’t take long. Hours after Facebook revealed that at least 50 million users were “directly affected” by a data breach, two of the social network’s users have come together in a class-action lawsuit. It started early on Friday. Facebook alerted users that a security issue had been discovered on Tuesday, Sept.
Facebook briefly blocked breaking news stories about its security breach – and that’s a problem
This afternoon, Facebook held an emergency press conference to disclose a startling security breach. The company said 50 million Facebook accounts were affected in a hack that allowed attackers to control an account as if they were the account holders.
Samuel L. Jackson responds to viral mashup of Kavanaugh testimony and ‘Pulp Fiction’ scenes
Samuel L. Jackson appreciates a good laugh, but finds absolutely no humor in President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, Brett Kavanaugh. On Friday, the production company Elara Pictures posted a video of Kavanaugh’s testimony spliced with the several of the actor’s scenes from Pulp Fiction.
Your Instagram account may have been compromised by hackers, too
You didn’t forget that Facebook owns Instagram, did you? That little fact is extra germane today following the news that at least 50 million Facebook users, and possibly 90 million, had their accounts accessed by hackers. And, it turns out, those users’ Instagram accounts could have been compromised, too.
