Twenty Things: Did You Know...?

Despacito by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee tops Youtube/BBC.

Nasty news nuggets picked from the press.

1. The unstoppable force of Despacito by Luis Fonsi featuring Daddy Yankee shot to top of YouTube's list making it there in less than a year - released in January 2017, it's now had a staggering 4.5bn views.
2. An internet "prankster" had to be freed by firefighters after cementing his head inside a microwave oven, while plans to introduce a "frowning pile of poo" emoji have been flushed from the latest proposals by the group in charge of creating the symbols.
3. One of the oldest and most complete skeletons of humankind's ancestors has been unveiled in South Africa. The skeleton of Little Foot's exact age is debated, but South African scientists say the remains are 3.67 million years old.
4. A woman who lived in a Roman Catholic Scottish orphanage from the age of four has told an inquiry she was given electric shock treatment, tied to a bed and gagged for hours at a time, smothered with a pillow and made to eat her own vomit by nuns, while a young boy was beaten "black and blue" after seeing two nuns in an embrace, the inquiry has heard.
5. Time magazine has named "the Silence Breakers" - women and men who spoke out against sexual abuse and harassment - as its "Person of the Year".
6. A woman activist was allegedly beaten and paraded naked for fighting against illegal liquor trade in the Indian capital, Delhi.
7. Wives or partners of those who have served abroad in the British armed forces may be missing out on pension payments worth thousands of pounds.
8. Conflict has forced 1.7 million people to flee their homes in the Democratic Republic of Congo this year, causing "a mega-crisis", aid agencies say. This means that for the second consecutive year, DR Congo is worst-affected by conflict displacement in the world - more than the Middle East - the agencies add.
9. Israeli forces are on high alert for protests in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank against the US declaration of Jerusalem as Israel's capital - dubbed a "kiss of death" for the Middle East peace process by the Palestinians. After clashes on Thursday, dozens of Palestinians were hurt in the violence as protesters fought troops.
10. A man has been remanded in custody after appearing in court accused of a plot to bomb Downing Street's security gates and then kill Prime Minister Theresa May.
11. The UK faces a "perfect storm" of threats that could put its entire electoral system at risk, the head of the elections watchdog has warned. Russian meddling on social media and local council cuts were just two of the factors threatening the credibility of the system, Sir John Holmes said.
12. In England, the family of an 81-year-old woman has received a £45,000 payout after she was kept alive against her will.
13. An on-duty police officer who died along with a 91-year-old woman in a crash on the A4 in Berkshire, England, was due to become a father. The 39-year-old had appeared in the Sky TV programme Road Wars.
14. Google plans to stop Amazon's Fire TV streaming devices being able to use YouTube from the start of 2018. Amazon had previously stopped selling several of Google's hardware products. Experts say the steps mark an escalation of a business row in which consumers have been caught up in the fallout.
15. Shopping centre owner Hammerson, which owns Birmingham's famous Bullring, has agreed a £3.4bn takeover of rival Intu. The deal will create the UK's biggest property company, worth £21bn.
16. A chain of supermarkets in Denmark is selling foods that have passed their "best before" dates, as well as products that haven't passed quality control, while a Swedish clothes designer is developing radical ways to combat waste - biodegradable clothing.
17. China's government has allowed some northern cities to burn coal in a temporary policy U-turn, as the country faces a heating crisis, while Japan has sealed its longest stretch of economic growth in more than two decades, helped by a rise in business investment.
18. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has warned against eating raw dough, batter or cake mixture because of the risk of E. coli from flour.
19. What do tattoos, crucifixes, headscarves, beards and high-heeled shoes have in common? They've all been the subject of sackings and disputes between employers and employees.
20. Christine Keeler found herself at the centre of an affair that rocked the British establishment. She published five books about her life, one of which, entitled Scandal, was the basis for the 1989 film of the same name, which starred Joanne Whalley as Keeler.

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