The 10 Most Important Things Happening In The World Right Now
Good morning! Here are the top headlines around the world right now.
1. Hurricane Arthur makes landfall on the North Carolina coast. The first hurricane of the Atlantic season slammed into the Outer Banks as Category 2 storm on Thursday night, forcing thousands of vacationers to scrap their July fourth holiday plans. Arthur is expected to lose strength as it moves up the northeastern U.S. on Friday, bringing rain to the East Coast. (Continue reading at Reuters)
2. Two people are killed after an unfinished highway overpass collapses in Brazil. Twenty others were also hurt after a bridge collapsed in Belo Horizonte, where the first World Cup semi-final will be held next Tuesday. The front of a bus, two trucks, and car were crushed. The tournament has been plagued by construction delays and chaotic preparations. Brazil spent over $11 billion on the World Cup, but several stadiums and other infrastructure projects were incomplete at the start of the games. (Continue reading at The Financial Times)
3. New video appears to show the moment a murdered Palestinian teenager was kidnapped. Relatives of Mohamed Abu Khdeir, the 17-year-old believed to have been killed by Israeli extremists in retaliation for the killing of three Israeli teenagers, claim that CCTV footage shows the youth being snatched outside a mosque while sitting alone. The body of the teen will be buried on Friday. (Continue reading at The Guardian)
4. Former editor of News Corp.'s News of the World Andy Coulson jailed for 18 months on Friday. Coulson, 46, was sentenced for conspiring to hack phones. Former News of the World executive Rebekah Brooks was cleared of charges in the phone-hacking scandal last week. (Continue reading at BBC News).
5. Putin sends Obama an Independence Day message. In a statement published on the Kremlin website on Friday to the U.S. president, Russian President Vladamir Putin said he hoped that the two countries could "successfully develop relations on pragmatic and equal grounds." Tensions between the U.S. and Russia continue to run high over the crisis in Ukraine. (Continue reading at the Associated Press)
6. Google restores "forgotten" search links after widespread criticism. After a European Union ruling in May that gave citizens the "right to be forgotten" by removing web links to articles on Google, the tech giant has made articles that were removed from The Guardian's website earlier this week searchable again. The change comes after public complaints from the newspaper. (Continue reading at NBCNews.com)
7. Experts will attempt to tow away the wrecked Costa Concordia cruise liner within 10 days. The ship, which sunk off the Italian coast in 2012, was righted last September and experts have been waiting for calm summer weather to remove the vessel. (Continue reading at The Independent)
8. The Iraq army forces Islamist rebels out of Saddam Hussein's home village. The victory is part of an effort to prevent the jihadist militant group, Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, from continuing to overtake territories in Iraq and Syria. (Continue reading at Reuters).
9. The Pope gives his blessing to exorcists in the Catholic church. The Vatican officially recognized the International Association of Exorcists. The practice of saving those believed to be possessed by demons is now recognized under canon law. (Continue reading at Agence-France-Press).
10. The Dow Jones closed above 17,000 for the first time. This comes after a better-than-expected jobs report and is seen as a the result of a combination of "economic recovery and central bank support." The Dow rose 1.3% to 17,068.26 before the market closed for the holiday weekend. (Continue reading at Bloomberg).