Santa
Participants of the World Congress of Santa Clauses 2015 take part in the annual swim at Bellevue beach, north of Copenhagen, Denmark, July 21, 2015. (REUTERS/Scanpix Denmark/Erik Refner)

 

Hello! Here’s what you need to know for Wednesday.

1. Greece’s parliament on Wednesday will vote on a second package of austerity measures, including civil justice and banking reforms, which the country must pass in order to receive its third international bailout of around €86 billion.

2. Turkey is increasing security on its Syrian border after a suicide bombing believed to be linked to Islamic State militants killed 31 people in the mostly Kurdish town of Suruc, one of the deadliest attacks on the country in recent years.

3. A dashcam video of the arrest of Sandra Bland, a woman who had allegedly been pulled over for a traffic violation and was later found dead in a Texas jail cell from an apparent suicide, shows a police officer threatening to tase her.

4. American author E.L. Doctorow, who wrote critically acclaimed novels such as “Ragtime,” “World’s Fair,” and “The March,” has died at age 84 from lung cancer.

5. Apple’s stock fell more than 7% in after-hours trading after the company reported it sold 47.5 million iPhones, below analyst expectations of 48.8 million.

6. The US says a drone strike on July 8 killed Muhsin al-Fadhlithe, the leader of a shadowy Qaeda cell in Syria and who was reportedly so close to Osama bin Laden that he knew about the September 11 attacks before it happened.

7. Three Spanish freelance reporters are missing in Syria and were last seen on July 13 in the city of Aleppo, which is now partly controlled by rebel groups.

8. Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has banned the release of footage showing beheadings, telling local media that it is out of concern for “Muslims and children’s feelings who may find these scenes grotesque.”

9. NASA’s former lead climate scientist, James Hansen, along with more than a dozen other top researchers have issued a bombshell warning with that glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica will melt 10 times faster than previous consensus estimates, resulting in sea level rise of at least 10 feet in as little as 50 years.

10. South Korea says North Korea is preparing to launch a new, long-range rocket in October, coinciding with the 70th anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party.

And finally…

More than 100 Santas from 15 countries are in Copenhagen for the annual World Santa Congress, where they participate in parades and share ideas about how to make the world a better place.

As reported by Business Insider