AOL.com's Snapshot: The stories you need to see

BY ALEXIS SHAW and MORGAN WHITAKER

Making the news a little more digestible, Snapshot is your quick guide to the biggest stories of the day.

The topics we're capturing include the beheading of an American journalist by Islamic militants and the social media blackout that's followed, the latest developments in Ferguson, as well as the Ebola crisis that has a West African capital in quarantine and a U.S. hospital on standby.

Stay tuned for more updates, and be sure to follow AOL on other social platforms to see how we inform and entertain across the social sphere:

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