We’re inundated by news stories every day and with a 24/7 news cycle, it’s nearly impossible to keep up. But thanks to GlobalGrind’s Think Tank, you’ll be quickly in the know, and then good to go.
From what’s going on in the Capitol to what’s happening oversees, we have it all.
Today we see that for the time being al-Qaeda has a new leader, while Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly face off again.
Shame On You
Who: Saif al-Adel
Where: Egypt
What: Saif al-Adel, an Egyptian who was once a Special Forces officer, has been chosen “caretaker” leader of al -Qaeda in the wake of Osama bin Laden’s death, according to a source with detailed knowledge of the group’s inner workings.
Al-Adel has long played a prominent role in the group, according to Noman Benotman. Benotman has known the al-Qaeda leadership for more than two decades. He was once a leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), a militant organization that used to be aligned with al-Qaeda, but in recent years renounced al-Qaeda’s ideology.
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Take It In The Ring
Contenders: Jon Stewart vs. Bill O’Reilly
Match: Round 2, Jon Stewart and Bill O’Reilly sparred again last night, this time discussing the 2012 election. O’Reilly asked Stewart to grade President Obama. Take a look at what happened.
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Better Than Fiction
Character: Newt Gingrich
Plot Line: GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and his wife Callista were hit with glitter confetti by a protester Tuesday during the couple’s appearance at a book-signing. The man approached the Gingriches during the signing at a downtown Minneapolis hotel, dumped a cracker box full of colorful confetti on the pair and said, “Feel the rainbow, Newt! Stop the hate! Stop anti-gay politics!”
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Numbers Game
Number: 114
Where: Brazil
What Happened: Maria Gomes Valentim is 114 years and 313 days old, she’s the oldest living person, according to Guinness World Records. The Brazilian great-great-grandmother dethroned Besse Cooper from Monroe, Ga., after researchers determined Valentin was born 48 days before Cooper in 1896.
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GlobalGrind’s Global Mind
Where: Mauritania
What Happened: Obesity is so revered among Mauritania’s white Moor Arab population that the young girls are sometimes force-fed to obtain a weight the government has described as “life-threatening.” Over a third of women in the country were force-fed as children. Mauritania is one of the few African countries where, on average, girls receive more food than boys.
Now only around one in 10 girls are treated this way. The treatment has its roots in fat being seen as a sign of wealth, if a girl was thin she was considered poor and would not be respected.
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Inside the Capitol
Where: Ohio
Who: Protesters
What Happened: Police maced several elderly protesters Tuesday at JPMorgan Chase’s annual shareholder meeting in Columbus, Ohio, according to activists present at the event. Hundreds of people from dozens of community organizing groups swarmed the Tuesday meeting to demand the company overhaul its widely criticized foreclosure policies.
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Money On My Mind
Whose Wallet: Leroy Fick
Weight: $2 Million
How They Hustled: Now this makes no sense, Leroy Fick of Bay County won $2 million on a Michigan lottery and told a TV station that he still uses food stamps. Fick admitted he still swipes the electronic card at stores, nearly a year after winning a jackpot on “Make Me Rich!” He told WNEM-TV in Saginaw that more than half the prize went to taxes.
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This Day In History
Year: 1980
What: At 8:32 a.m. PDT, Mount St. Helens, a volcanic peak in southwestern Washington, suffers a massive eruption, killing 57 people and devastating some 210 square miles of wilderness.
