The Short List: Teen dies flying around world; Twitter's man problem; alien planet
Teen dies trying to fly around the world
He was trying to make history. Haris Suleman, 17, was attempting to set a record for an around-the-world flight when his plane crashed in the Pacific Ocean after leaving Pago Pago in American Samoa on Tuesday night. Suleman's body was recovered, but authorities are still searching for his father, Babar, who was a passenger. The Sulemans left on their around-the-world adventure June 19 from the Greenwood Airport to raise money for The Citizens Foundation, a non-profit that builds schools in rural Pakistan. They made stops in several countries, including England, Egypt and Pakistan, in hopes of breaking the record for the fastest circumnavigation around the world with the youngest pilot commanding a private, single-engine airplane.
Unless you're Michael Bloomberg, you're not flying to Israel
The FAA said U.S. airlines still can't fly to Israel. Yesterday, the FAA put the ban in place after a rocket landed a mile from Ben Gurion International Airport. The FAA will decide by mid-day Thursday whether to extend the ban again. If it does lift it, that doesn't mean flights will resume right away — that's up to the airlines. Israel is obviously not happy about the ban, because it means less tourism dollars. Israeli airport and tourism officials insist planes can land safely. Former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg basically told the FAA to shove it and flew to Tel Aviv on Wednesday via Israeli airline El Al. He said he wanted "to show support for Israel's right to defend itself," he wrote on Twitter.
Alien planet sets record for having the longest year ever
Astronomers have discovered an exoplanet that orbits its star every 704 days, the longest known year for an exoplanet (an exoplanet is a planet that doesn't orbit the Earth's sun). Finding a planet like Kepler 421-b is rare. NASA's Kepler telescope typically spots planets that are really close to their star. To see a planet so far away from its star requires the planet and its star to be in the telescope's field of vision. Although it's not a candidate for humans to live on, Kepler 421-b may have an "Earth-like" moon that is habitable.
If you know a woman who works at Twitter, congratulations
Twitter has a diversity problem. The company was getting pressured from civil rights groups for weeks to release statistics on the diversity of its employees. On Wednesday, it finally did, and the stats show its staff is largely white and largely male (Twitter is apparently just as skewed as the other large technology companies in Silicon Valley). Overall, 59% of Twitter's staff in the United States are white, 29% Asian, 3% Hispanic and 2% black. Men make up 70% of all staff but 90% of the company's tech staff, according to figures posted by the company's vice president for diversity and inclusion, Janet Van Huysse. Whites and Asians make up 92% of Twitter's tech staff.
GM John Elway cries over Broncos owner stepping down
The first day of training camp for the Denver Broncos began with tears. John Elway broke down and needed to pause to compose himself several times Wednesday as he reflected on the revelation that Broncos owner Pat Bowlen has relinquished ownership of the team because he is suffering from Alzheimer's disease. "This place will never be the same," Elway said. Elway played for Bowlen from 1984-98, and they won two Super Bowls together. Their partnership was formalized even further in 2011, when Bowlen entrusted Elway with all football operations.
Facebook is the top-performing stock in Standard & Poor's 500 index
Do you see that blinding light? It's Mark Zuckerberg, unable to wipe that giant perpetual grin off his face. Facebook is en fuego after reporting second-quarter revenue of $2.91 billion on Wednesday. That's an increase of 61%. Why so much growth? Mobile advertising, which represented 62% of advertising revenue. Facebook's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp have fed flourishing mobile ad sales. Its IPO had a rocky start, but as USA TODAY tech columnist Jon Swartz writes, "the victim of two years ago has become tech's newest bully on the block."
Extra Bites
Day in Pictures: Our favorite photo from today's gallery.
An Alabama teen took a selfie at Auschwitz. People freaked out. This is what she said about it.
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This is a compilation of stories from across USA TODAY.
Contributing: Jessica Guynn, Elizabeth Weise, Jon Swartz, Bart Jansen, USA TODAY; Jolie Lee, USA TODAY Network; Steph Solis, The Indianapolis Star