Refinery Fire, Flooding in Manila and Curiosity’s First Color Photo

From Mars, to the Philippines and back to the United States, here are the stories making headlines today. 

Curiosity has sent its first color photo to Earth from Mars’ Gale Crater. The image, shot through a dust cover and a high sun position in the sky, is showing the north wall and rim of the crater. The rover team is still testing the instruments on Curiosity to see how they work after the successful landing. NASA will be sending the rover on explorations around Mars to drill into rocks in search of molecular life. 

If you thought gas prices were high enough, they are about to get worse. A fire at the Chevron refinery in California will be forcing the dollar sign up in a state that is already one of the most expensive places to buy gas. The fire is out now, but the refinery that makes over 240,000 barrels of oil a day had to shut down its only crude unit for the time being. The fire could end up affecting gas stations as far north as Seattle. 

The Philippines is being hit hard by monsoonal rains and at least one-third of the capital, Manila, is completely submerged in water. Residents from the overpopulated city have been evacuated, but many people have already been killed within the last week from the storms. Rescue workers are searching for people who have been unable to escape the rising waters. 

image source: NY Times and ABC News

India Without Power, Social Olympic Side Effects & Other News

Worlds Largest Outage: 680 million people, that’s double the population of the United States, are without power in India today, causing financial loses into the hundreds of millions. Offices and factories switched to generators, trains were brought to a halt, and hospitals worked frantically to keep patients safe. The outage was caused by the failure of power grids and the chairman of the power company said they are working to restore power. 

Social Side Effects: The “social” Olympics are getting ugly. You just can’t get away with anything these days. It’s reported that a British teen was arrested today for a tweet threatening British Olympic diver Tom Daley after a seemingly disappointing diving event. This teen isn’t the only person affected. Independent journalist, Guy Adams had his Twitter account suspended (it has since been reinstated) for posting an NBC director’s private email in frustration of the way the Olympics are being covered. The athletes aren’t even getting a break when it comes to Twitter; two athletes have been removed from their team for making offensive remarks on the social site. As exciting as the social aspect of this year’s Olympics is, perhaps the magnitude of the effects will make people think twice about what they say and share. 

Speaking of social, Mitt Romney has released that he will be announcing his Republican running mate via a smartphone app. Certainly unconventional for a politician, but only time will tell if it was to his advantage. Smartphone users will be the first to know his VP pick. 

In other news: 

United States wins its first Olympic Title Since 1996 in Women’s Gymnastics

Microsoft Launches Outlook.com

Earliest Evidence of Modern Human Culture Found

Monday’s Headlines

Conviction Day: James Holmes will be formally prosecuted today on 24 counts of murder. Prosecutors also filed 116 counts of attempted murder against Holmes based on evidence of a booby trapped apartment, as well as a count of possession of explosives and one count of committing a crime of violence. He seemed just as “dazed” as he did in his first court appearance and didn’t enter any pleas yet. The District Chief Judge on the trial banned any video and camera from the hearing in the attempt to give him a fair trial. 

Election news: Former president, Bill Clinton is scheduled to deliver a speech the night before President Obama in the Democratic convention and according to the New York Times, Clinton’s address could actually end up hurting Obama. Republicans are already looking to capitalize on the potential downfall. In other news, Mitt Romney has a campaign ad that will be featuring Olympic athletes expressing their gratitude and favor for the candidate based on their experiences with him during the 2002 Olympic games. What are your thoughts? Will Clinton’s speech affect Obama? Will Romney’s new ad help his campaign?

Social and Scrutinized: The media has been bragging with excitement over the fact that this year’s Olympics will be the most social and real-time event than ever before. True, but it hasn’t come without it’s down falls. One of the most widely discussed and frustrating aspects has been NBC’s tape delays of major events, effecting Americans as they have to wait for the events to air. The problem is the tape delays haven’t stopped the real-time updates and have resulted in numerous spoilers via Twitter and Facebook. A new Twitter account was created to parody the effects of NBC’s tape delays, @NBCDelayed.

Another downfall of the ever social sporting event, is the difficult in hiding any hiccups in the production. The Olympic Cauldron, which is historically kept burning throughout the duration of the sporting event was seen unlit just before midnight on Sunday, which is the second time it’s gone out.

People in attendance of the Olympics have been asked to tone down the tweetage, when a frenzy of tweets during the men’s road cycling race clogged networks cutting off TV commentaries from GPS communication and timing information. Olympic Committee spokesperson said the issue is being corrected, but requested that fans reserve their tweets for more urgent issues. 

Is Twitter Ready for the Olympics?

Here you go Fluders, Thursday’s top stories! 

Twitter Fail, Again: On the eve of the Olympics, one of the largest social sites experienced an API outage. It has been going in and out for different people over the last few hours and their engineers are working on fixing the issues. This year’s Olympics is anticipated to be the most social Olympics ever, and Twitter is expected to be a main outlet for real-time updates and sharing. Fans and media are hoping another outage won’t happen during the big games. 

Rain rain come this way: A drought is affecting major parts of the United States and has risen about 50 percent. Shrinking water supplies and wildfires are contributing to the increase in severe drought areas and is at the highest level since 2003. Food prices aren’t expected to rise until next year in reaction to the shortage. 

Defense Against Iran: Israel has committed to doing everything possible to make sure Iran doesn’t acquire nuclear weapons. President Obama has discussed the issue, saying that it will be a dangerous and complex challenge if Iran did possess nuclear bombs. Iran claims, however, their desire to move forward in their nuclear weaponization program is for only peaceful and medical goals. 

In more comedic news, Twilight fans are proving to be just as dramatic as the films as Team Edward fans become enraged over Kristen Stewart’s recent confession of committing an affair with director of Snow White and the Huntsman, Rupert Sanders. YouTube is blowing up with videos from Twi-hards in tears wondering how she could do such a thing to such a man, threatening to kill her or other people if they break up. Which brings the rest of the world to wonder, where has decent humanity gone? Watch one of the videos here for some entertainment. 

Aurora Victims Get a Visit From Batman

We’re half way through the week and to get you through the day, we have some of today’s top stories for you! Retweet and share on Facebook and Twitter, tell us what your favorite stories of the day are. 

News from Aurora: More evidence is emerging regarding the accused shooter, James Holmes. His academic standing is being called into question when his supposed mentor called him a mediocre student, adding to the incomplete idea of the young adult who dropped out of grad school. Some reports describe a brilliant and hardworking young man, but people who have worked with him from the Salk Institute in La Jolla, Baylor University and a few other places describe him as a poor worker and say reports of him being a genius are false. In addition to this confusing information, a professor and psychiatrist from the University of Colorado reported that he received a package from Holmes. It turns out that specific package wasn’t from Holmes, but a different package was found: a notebook detailing how he was going to kill people, including drawings and illustrations.

Families have been planning funerals and memorials, and today will be the first of 12, remembering Gordon Cowden, a father of two who brought his two teenage kids to see the midnight showing of the movie. The teenagers escaped unharmed. In the midst of the tragedy, the star of The Dark Knight Rises, Christian Bale, made a surprise visit to the victims of the shooting. His visit seemed to brighten the spirits of the fans and their families. Bale stated, “Words cannot express the horror that I feel. I cannot begin to truly understand the pain and grief of the victims and their loved ones, but my heart goes out to them.”

Apple Headlines: The new OS X system for Apple released today, with over 200 new features. The upgrade costs $19.99, but will be free for anyone who purchased a Mac on or after June 11. Some of the new features include social networking integration, automatic syncs of reminders, messages and notes, calendar invitation notifications and verbal diction features. Who else is excited about the upgrade??

In other Apple related news, have you heard of the Steve Jobs movie yet? The new movie “Jobs”, the biographical film focusing on the earlier years of the Apple phenom’s life has began filming and in an uncanny resemblance to Jobs, Ashton Kutcher will be playing the title role. The movie release is set for December and Apple fans are anxiously awaiting. 

In other news…

Presidential candidates are back on the campaign and running full speed. 

The president of Ghana suddenly passed away, but it’s unlikely to cause chaos in West Africa’s most established democracy. 

North Korea unveils the news that the leader, Kim Jong Un, is a married man. 

Remembering the World Changers—-Today’s Top Stories

Remembering two influential women today:

Today is Amelia Earhart’s birthday, and Google is celebrating with an image in her honor. She grew up in Kansas and was known as a tomboy. As a young girl she kept a scrapbook of different women who were making waves in all different fields. She worked as a nurse’s aide in Canada during WW1 and eventually earned enough money for flying lessons. She bought her first plane, a yellow biplane she named “Canary”, became the first woman to fly to 14,000 feet and in 1932 she became the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. For her 40th birthday she embarked on a journey to travel around the world and disappeared in 1937, which today is what she is remembered for in addition to her legacy as a feminist, advocating that women should “break out of their shells and do more.” 

Another remarkable woman’s life is remembered today. Sally Ride, the first American woman to go to space, passed away on Monday after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Obama recognized her as a national hero and a powerful role model, inspiring generations of young women to “reach for the stars”. Watch the video here of Ride talking about her historic flight. 

Uh-oh Euro: The Euro hit a two-year low today as the global stock markets fell. Madrid is drawing closer to a full-scale bailout and Greece’s membership in the euro zone is at risk as its finances are way off the rescue package terms. 

Patent War: The Apple and Samsung patent war has resulted in the ban of multiple tablets and smartphones around the world, and it’s looking like Samsung is due to pay Apple about $2.5 billion. 

In lighter news and for a few laughs, David Beckham surprised fans at a Westfield mall in Stratford City. The video proves that Beckham can even “make grown men blush.” 

What You Need to Know-Today’s Top Stories

Vigils are held for the victims and their families in Aurora as officials dig in to discover more about the gunman responsible.

The gunman, James Holmes, responsible for the mass shooting in Colorado on Friday, appeared in court for the first time today looking dazed and unemotional. Holmes was being held in solitary confinement since giving himself up on the scene and will be facing charges on first-degree murder, aggravated assault and weapons violations. Authorities have said that he isn’t cooperating and it could take a long time to figure out what prompted the attack. Holmes will be formally charged Monday and is being held without bond and District Attorney Carol Chambers said that her office is considering pursuing the death penalty.

Multiple Batman-related items were discovered in Holmes apartment on Sunday after officials were finally able to safely detonate the booby-trapped apartment. Anyone who knew Holmes expresses only that he was quiet, shy and often kept to himself. Nobody seems to know much about him. Police have discovered that Holmes began purchasing his weapons about two months before the shooting and has received at least 50 packages in the last four months at home and school. Holmes was a doctoral student at the University of Colorado until his recent drop out, the reason for which is still unknown. Questions are being raised as to whether or not he used his position at the school to obtain hazardous materials. A dating profile was also discovered on an adult site with a profile quote asking if anyone interested would visit him in prison, adding to suspicions. 

President Obama visited victims and their families at the University of Colorado Hospital on Sunday and made a statement about the bravery and resilience of those involved and the “extraordinary example of strength” shown by Colorado’s Governor Hickenlooper. He shared encouraging stories of survivors and victims recovering and expressed his sincerest sympathy for those who lost a family member or friend.  

Warner Brothers also released a few statements regarding the incident expressing their extreme sadness and sympathy for those involved in the incident. They also chose not to release the box office numbers until Monday out of respect for the families and victims. The film’s director, Christopher Nolan, released his own statement to the Aurora community.

“I would not presume to know anything about the victims of the shooting, but that they were there last night to watch a movie. I believe movies are one of the great American art forms and the shared experience of watching a story unfold on screen is an important and joyful pastime. The movie theatre is my home, and the idea that someone would violate that innocent and hopeful place in such an unbearably savage way is devastating to me. Nothing any of us can say could ever adequately express our feelings for the innocent victims of this appalling crime, but our thoughts are with them and their families.”

More of today’s top stories are available via Flud.

• Over 100 people are dead in Iraq today after a wave of attacks assumed to be lead by al-Qaeda. 
• Penn State is removing the Joe Paterno statue and is getting his with NCAA sanctions. 
• Watch this beautiful time-lapse video of the Earth from space. 
• Syria has threatened to use chemical and biological weapons if any foreign countries attack, which is the first acknowledgement that they posses weapons of mass destruction. 

A Tragedy in Colorado

Moment of Silence: America is somber today as they pause and reflect on the lives of those who were killed or injured in a brutal and horrific attack at a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado. Movie-goers were attending the midnight premier of the Batman sequel: “The Dark Knight Rises” when a masked gunman entered the theater and started shooting. As of now, it is reported that 15 lives have been lost and at least 50 people have been injured. 24-year-old James Holmes has been identified as the shooter and what makes the story more eerie, is that there seems to be no online personality or presence of him. Additionally, officials have found no records of him other than a traffic violation not too long ago. His mother resides in San Diego where Holmes was originally from. President Obama put a hold on his campaign speech in Florida today, asking the attendees to take a moment of silence for these families, stating, “there are going to be other days for politics…this, I think, is a day for prayer and reflection” and reminded people to take a moment to treasure our friends and family that we are fortunate enough to have with us today. Warner Brothers also released a statement saying they “extend [their] sincere sympathies to the families and loved ones of the victims at this tragic time.” Various premiers of the movie are now being canceled in caution of any “copy cat” incidences and authorities across America are deciding on how they will deal with other showings. 

Mayer Madness: The newly announced CEO of Yahoo, Marissa Mayer is still making headlines. She has a tough job ahead of her as many employees’ morale is low after working for a company that has been “rocked by financial problems, scandal and slipping mindshare.” She reached out to her employees for the first time, encouraging them not to stop the important work they are doing while she devises a strategy to get Yahoo back on track. Mayer is not just making headlines for the big task ahead of her, she also announced that she is pregnant, which lead to a lot of stories criticizing her that she “can’t have it all”. Those stories received an equal amount of back lash from women in the professional world saying the matter isn’t up to us to decide and we should support her. What are your thoughts on Mayer and Yahoo? 

Expensive Eats: Would you pay $1000 for a cupcake? What about $295 for a sandwich? Bloomsberry Cupcakes is offering a $1000 gold-covered cupcake. Why on earth would you EAT gold? Some restaurants offer these expensive eats as a donation to a specific charity. On the other hand, some restaurants offer these options as a way for the extravagantly rich to flaunt their bank accounts. Get a look at this list of some of America’s most expensive menu items for a good laugh or a good dream. Let’s be honest, most of the items do seem drool worthy. 

Happy Birthday Nelson Mandela!

Half way to Friday Fluders! Here is today’s news roundup!

Momentous Day: Today is former South African president, Nelson Mandela’s birthday. Festivities are happening today to celebrate and commemorate the life of a man who inspired many and changed the world. At 94 years old, Mandela has live a life worthy of praise after giving 67 years of that life to bring change to South Africa. He is a recipient of the Nobel Peace prize and spent 27 years in a South African prison, but is now the international symbol for ending South African apartheid. #MandelaMeans is trending on twitter as people share what he means to them. Join us on Twitter and share what Mandela means to you! 

FDA Approval: News from the FDA today as they announced the approval of a new weight loss drug, Qsymia, a combination of two previously approved drugs, phentermine and topiramate. The drug will reduce the appetite and target the loss of extra weight. This will not be an over-the-counter drug and there are strict requirements for someone to be a candidate for this drug. They must have weight-related conditions such as hypertension, diabetes or dyslipidemia and of course, the drug does come with a plethora of potentially negative side effects, leaving a lot of people wondering whether or not it’s worth it. 

In other health-related news, the number of worldwide AIDS-related deaths fell last year as access to antiretroviral drugs has been more widespread and new drugs are being tested that may bring additional aid to the epidemic. Additionally, a few Alzheimer’s patients have been tested with a new immune system therapy and have seen their disease stabilize for at least three years. Scientists are hoping the new treatment will continue to prove effective, but the study is currently too small. Depending on a number of circumstances, the treatment could cost a patient up to $50,000 a year. 

Around the World: A suicide bomber in Damascus killed three of the Syrian president’s top military officers today. The death of President Bashar al-Assad’s brother-in-law, the defense minister and a top general has increased fighting across Damascus. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said “This is a situation that is rapidly spinning out of control” and is calling for “maximum global pressure on Assad to step down.”

In North Korea, leader Kim Jong-un has been announced marshal, the top functioning military rank previously held by his father and grandfather. Speculation continues regarding the removal of Ri Yong-ho from his position in the military and whether or not it was an attempt for Kim Jong-un to gain control over an army whose “influence burgeoned under the ‘military first’ policy adopted by his father.” 

In lighter news from London, Olympic officials insist that the hiccups in the organization of security were minor and will be promptly taken care of. Athletes are arriving and people all over the world are following their teams to stay on top of the “must-follow” athletes. What sports are you most looking forward to watching this summer? 

Share your favorite stories with us via Twitter @Fludapp !

Space Flights and Syrian Fights, Today’s Headlines

Microsoft Making Headlines: 

Yesterday evening Microsoft announced that they would be ending a 16-year partnership with NBC. The two companies had equal ownership of the news site, MSNBC, which is one of the most-visited sites in the Unite States. NBC’s purchase of Microsoft’s half of the share will give them full editorial and business control over the site and it will relaunch next year with the new branding. The hope for Microsoft is that they will now be able to start working with news outlets other than NBC, hopefully helping them compete more efficiently with companies like Google. 

Microsoft isn’t just making headlines with their withdrawal from NBC. They also released Office 2013 (also known as Office 15) today. Some of the updated features include a long list of updates, the ability to manipulate images and videos, a cleaner user interface, the ability to open, edit and create PDF documents in Word and touchscreen capabilities. Are you an Office user? What updates are you most looking forward to?

Out of this World: 

If you have an extra $200,000 just dying to get used, we have a solution for you. Richard Branson, Virgin Group’s head honcho, has announced the scheduled departure for the first Virgin Galactic space flight. Seriously. He is taking his son and daughter with him into space next year and you can join them for that small fee. Taking this trip also requires a week-long training course (not included in the ticket price). This has me wondering when this Virgin-style space travel will be more affordable for the masses. 

Speaking of outer space, a massive solar flare occurred over the weekend that sent a beautiful light show spiraling towards Earth. Scientists weren’t concerned with the flare, but kept a close eye on it resulting in some beautiful pictures. Some people were even lucky enough to get a rare view of some northern lights that traveled unusually south as far as 40 degrees North latitude. Did you witness the light show? 

Around the World: 

North Korea has announced that their military chief, Ri Yong Ho, has been removed from his position due to an illness. Questions are being raised on whether or not he is actually ill because that doesn’t typically call for a position removal and people are suspect that Kim Jong Un is hoping to proceed with a “more flexible diplomatic policy” without Ho in place. 

Out in the Persian Gulf, a U.S. military supply ship fired shots at a small boat that came too close, killing one person and wounding three others. U.S officials verbally warned the boat and fired a warning shot before the decision was made to disable the boat. Information regarding the incident is still preliminary and is being investigated by U.S. officials and the United Arab Emirates. 

Violence continues in Syria as they saw their most intense battle in Damascus on Monday when guerrilla forces battled loyalist units near the city center. The road to a nearby international airport was closed and Damascus remains heavily defended. An increasing amount of strength is beginning to show, but the task of taking the capital still seems far out of reach. A “fresh dimension” has been brought to the uprising with the rebels newfound “staying power” and there may be another dramatic turn when Manaf Tlass, a Republican Guard general, delivers a speech to underline “his claims to a post-Assad leadership position.” 

Check out more news and updates via Flud app! 

Pilotless Airplanes, Olympic Drama and Politics, Your News Today

Say hello to the weekend! Here are some recaps of the top stories from this “ominous” Friday.

News in Tech and Science: If you don’t like driving, you are probably looking forward to a future where cars will drive for you, but is anyone looking forward to a future with robot flown planes? I can’t say that I would feel too safe. A British company is researching options for pilotless passenger planes that would rely on environment scanning sensors and sophisticated algorithms running the computers. According to an article by Fast Company, pilots will accompany these robots in “training” and the aircraft will navigate “autonomously until it detects an anomaly-whereby it suggests the maneuvers it would like to make to a human operator, who can then give it the thumbs up.” 

Apple reversed a policy today that withdrew them from the EPEAT registry, which is a set of environmental standards for tech products. Apple customers were outraged when they heard the company would no longer be going “green” and after a week, Bob Mansfield, the VP of Engineering released a statement saying Apple decided to put their products back into the EPEAT rating system. One of the EPEAT requirements is that the disassembly and repairs of products can be done by a consumer so toxic substances that are released through computer recycling processes are less likely to occur. It is speculated that Apple withdrew because their new products are much more difficult to disassemble, but it looks like people will just have to deal with it. 

What’s your opinion? Would you fly in a robot plane? Do you care if Apple stays with EPEAT?

News in Olympics: 

The debate is heating up regarding the USA Olympic Team’s uniforms designed by Ralph Lauren. It was recently discovered that the designer is manufacturing these uniforms in China, which has a lot of people outraged. It even has one U.S. Senator saying he would rather have the athletes compete naked that wear foreign-made garb. The fire is fueled by the simple fact that there are over 600,000 vacant manufacturing jobs in the United States so there is no reason why the Olympic committee should be outsourcing the creation of these uniforms elsewhere. The Olympic committee has responded to the outrage by reminding people that Ralph Lauren is “an iconic American company,” and “an American company that supports American athletes.”

On a lighter note, both NBC and BBC have created free apps that will allow you to get full and mobile coverage on all the events during the Olympic games. 

News in Politics: 

Rumors are circulating about the potential of Condoleezza Rice becoming Mitt Romney’s running-mate. The Romney campaign team has neither confirmed nor denied this assumption, but Romney has said that the most important criteria for the person he picks is that the people can look at he/she and says “that’s a person who could be president, if that were necessary.” In other election related news, President Obama admitted in an interview with CBS that he could have done a better job “creating a relatable narrative for the public” rather than focusing so much on policy. Ironically enough, major criticisms of Obama during his initial campaign were that he could give a good speech, but questioned whether or not he could make good policy. 

Flud News Roundup, July 12

Stones Still Rolling: 50 years ago today, The Rolling Stones played their first show at London’s Marquee Jazz Club. Mick Jagger sat down with Rolling Stone Magazine to reflect on the last 50 years. They have come a long way since borrowing money from Jagger’s dad to rent equipment for the gig, continuing to play shows today even though the band doesn’t consist of all the original members. 400 songs, 24 albums and 10 mega-tours later, the Stones can still excite a crowd like they did in the 60’s and there are rumors of another potential tour. What is your favorite Rolling Stones memory?? Are you a fan? 

Another Leak: Hackers from a collective known as D33Ds Company have leaked credentials for over 453,000 Yahoo accounts in an attempt to create a “wake up call” to the parties responsible for security of the subdomain. Yahoo reps confirmed this security breach and have released a statement saying they are fixing the “vulnerability that led to the disclosure of this data”… Other accounts from Gmail, MSN, Hotmail, Comcast and AOL may have also been hacked and you can visit this website to see if your address was affected.  

Not Over Yet: Detailed reports regarding Penn State University’s handling of statements that Jerry Sandusky sexually abused children on campus is igniting more flames in the investigations into the university’s conduct. According to CNN, “the report says several former officials ‘empowered’ Jerry Sandusky to continue his abuse, and investigators say legendary head football coach Joe Paterno could have stopped the attacks had he done more.” Former FBI director and federal judge, Louis Freeh, says there were a lot of red flags that should have moved people to action and all the recent findings will be taken into consideration regarding the trial. 

In other news:

• A border drug tunnel was found today in Tijuana. 
• Simmtronics launched the most inexpensive tablet for $81. 

Flud News Roundup, July 11

Romney Gets Booed: Presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, spoke in front of the NAACP today in hopes of gaining more supporters from the African-American community. He was initially welcomed with appreciation and support while he discussed the need to lift Americans from poverty and close the gap between white and minority students. The mood in the room quickly transformed to angry boos at Romney’s promises to repeal unnecessary spending, the health care law and his criticisms of Obama. Overall, Romney’s manager for the African-American outreach said there was a lot more applause than boos and there isn’t a lot of word of whether or not they are concerned about the outcome from today’s campaign. 

• Update: Romney Says He Knew He’d Be Booed

Aborting Abortion: Federal District Judge Daniel Jordan will be hearing arguments today on a Mississippi state law that was to go into effect on July 1, requiring more advanced clinical certifications for abortion-clinic nurses. The ruling will effect the Jackson Women’s Health Organization as it is the last abortion clinic in the state and they do not meet the requirements that this new law calls for. The Governor of Mississippi has said he is in favor of an abortion-free state and this new law will create a sort of road map on how states can more easily close abortion clinics while still adhering to the 1992 Supreme Court ruling in Planned Parenthood vs. Casey. 

• Update: Federal Judge decides to reject the law that would’ve closed an abortion clinic. 

• 7-11 celebrates their birthday with free slurpees! Did you get yours?? 
• The House voted to repeal ObamaCare today. 

Flud News Roundup, July 10

Repeal and Replace: Republicans are holding a “repeal Obamacare” vote tomorrow, but the question remains whether or not this will be beneficial. Studies are showing that 26% of Americans became more likely to support Romney after the Affordable Care Act was passed, with a contrasting 14% increase for Obama. Although many Americans were upset over the passing of the law, a good number of them doubt that Republicans have a better solution. 

It’s Getting Hot in Here: States across the country have been experiencing record high temperatures and extreme weather recently. Members from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Climatic Center are saying that based on collected data, this may be a result of climate changes from greenhouse gases and these trends may be more predictable and more frequent. Last year was one of the warmest since records began in the 1800s and even though the “double La Nina” brought the natural cooling trend in weather, the Pacific Ocean was still at a record high. Members of the NOAA are analyzing how climate change will effect the odds of extreme weather. 

Read more at USA Today. 

In other news: 

• Could sitting at your office all day actually be taking days off your life? 
• A stand off occurred between President Morsi and the Egyptian military in the midst of Egypt’s transition. 
• An entertaining video, brought to you by Cookie Monster. 

Flud News Roundup, July 7-9

Not Messing Around: Mohammed Shawabka, a Jordanian MP, and political activist Mansour Sayf al-Din Murad were debating on Syria’s uprising on Jordanian TV Thursday and things got heated. Shawabka accused Murad of being a spy and when he couldn’t hide his feelings any longer, he pulled out his gun and created quite the stir. Murad wants him to be punished, even though Shawabka didn’t actually shoot. Political debate shows are regular on Arabic-language TV and the guests are usually chosen for their extremely opposing points of view to create more drama and volatility. In other Syria related news, the President has agreed has agreed to search for an approach to end the violence that has killed over 10,000 people so far.

Getting Desperate: It is reported that the Democratic Party raised $71 million last month, a significantly smaller amount from their opponent. Obama isn’t sugar coating the situation when he speaks to his supports about their needs saying, “it will be because we didn’t close the gap enough when we had the chance.” It doesn’t look like Obama’s pleas have been enough yet and Romney is viewing this as proof that Americans want change. In the midst of election worries, Obama tried to shift focus from the economy to tax fairness and proposed a one-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for families earning less than $250,000 a year and an end to cuts for wealthier families. This new focus will give Obama a new campaign tactic when he hits the road again to battle his opponent. 

• In more election news, Facebook is teaming up with CNN to help socialize the coverage of this years election. 

In other news:

• The Olympic games will be forever changed with the advances and emphasis on social media this summer. 
• An incredible and inspiring advance in technology from students in Ukraine.