Prince Harry showed off his gardening skills during the Chelsea Flower Show with his Forget-Me-Not Garden, named for his African children’s charity Sentebale.

Despite his job as a captain in the British Army, it appears the youngest Windsor royal (until July, at least) has a love of gardening — like many Britons.

While the garden exhibit was just one of many at the UK flower show, the young royal’s flowers gained more attention with the arrival of Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Charles, and Prince Philip.

The Chelsea Flower show is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, which is probably one reason why the Queen of England is present. Besides, what better way to show her pride in her grandson than to see his gardening skills.

Prince Harry appears to be following in his father’s footsteps, as Prince Charles even designed his own garden exhibit for the 2002 show. Harry’s Forget-Me-Not Garden was designed by British garden guru Jinny Blum, though the young prince was very hands on with the preparation.

He made multiple check-ins to see how the flowers were progressing after he returned from a trip to the United States. The visit was meant to promote Britain, the military, and also to raise about $1 million during a charity polo match for Sentebale, which he co-founded in memory of his late mother, Princess Diana.

The Chelsea show in London is a favorite of garden-loving royals and non-royals alike. The garden features a large round stone in the center, decorated with hearts and crowns, edged with flowers from southern Africa.

The stone is a reminder of Princess Diana. Local media reported how happy Prince Harry was to see the royals visit his garden exhibit. He commented, “They’re queuing up!”

After the Chelsea Flower Show, Prince Harry joined brother Prince William in Wiltshire to open a recovery center for wounded warriors operated by a charity the brothers foster. William is also an active member of the British military.

[Image via Mr Pics / Shutterstock.com]

Prince Harry Shows Off Gardening Skills At Chelsea Flower Show is a post from: The Inquisitr

Reports state that Iran hanged spies, suspected of working for the US CIA and Israel’s Mossad. A news radio station in Iran ran the report on Sunday, stating that  Mohammad Heidari and Kourosh Ahmadi were executed by hanging for their alleged crimes.

Officials in Tehran, Iran, have accused the US and Israel of using spies to gain sensitive information, tied to their nuclear program. Authorities in Israel and the US suspect that the nuclear program’s main objective, is to develop a weapon of mass destruction.

As reported by CBS News, the Iranian government has vehemently denied interest in building an atomic weapon.

Iran hanged the spies following an decision and order by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, which was upheld by Iran’s Supreme Court. It is unclear whether the men had an opportunity to officially defend themselves against the accusations.

The US and Israel have both been accused of assassinating scientists working for Iran’s nuclear program. Additionally, officials in Iran report that they have “successfully detected and dismantled spy networks,” sent to Iran from the US and Israel.

The US denies any involvement with the deaths of the scientists’ deaths. Officials in Israel have denied commenting on their possible involvement.

As reported by the CS Monitor, The executions come just weeks before Iran’s presidential election. New rules, barring “physically feeble” candidates, could disqualify popular former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani from the race.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently announced his intention to run, drawing widespread support from his followers. However, the Guardian Council has expressed doubt that he will have time for the demanding position.

The Council will release their list of officially approved candidates to The Interior Ministry on Tuesday. The candidate list will be released to the public by the end of the week.

News that Iran hanged accused spies only adds another level to the continuing controversy.

[Image via Flickr]

Iran Hangs Spies Suspected of Working For CIA And Mossad is a post from: The Inquisitr

Abu Sakkar, the so-called “Syrian Cannibal,” has explained why he cut out and ate the heart of a government soldier in a Q&A-style YouTube video.

The original video went viral weeks ago, and showed Syrian opposition fighter Abu Sakkar cutting out the heart of a government soldier and then proceeding to eat it. Labeled a “propaganda video” by several news outlets, the shocking clip was condemned on both sides of the Syrian civil war.

Many called it “horrific” and “inhumane,” and has been submitted as proof of war crimes in Syria by Human Rights Watch.

Now, Syrian rebel commander Abu Sakkar, the same man from the original clip, has released a statement to the press regarding his horrific actions.

He offered context to his actions, saying that he found the pro-regime fighter’s mobile phone, which contained footage of the killing of children, rapes, dismemberment and torture.

“Every free Syrian who sees this; you don’t know what they can do,” he pleads.

He also said that if the Syrian conflict continues, then all Syrians would “be like me.”

Though obviously not as chilling as the original (which we won’t show here for obvious reasons), Abu Sakkar’s explanation for cutting out and eating a man’s heart is as troubling as you might have imagined from reading the title of this article.

However, this story sheds light on the Syrian conflict, which by and large isn’t covered in Western news (mostly because we don’t have a horse in the game). But next time you hear a reference to the U.S. considering taking action in Syria, this kind of thing is exactly why we’ve been considering it.

What do you think of Abu Sakkar? Is there no justification for his actions, even if what he says about the cell phone is true? You can watch his original explanation video below, or a poor-quality subtitled clip here:

Syrian ‘Cannibal’ Abu Sakkar Explains Why He Ate Soldier’s Heart [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Authorities say two people were killed and more than 20 others were injured Monday when two hot air balloons collided mid-air during a sightseeing tour in Turkey.

According to CNN, the crash occurred in Turkey’s popular tourist destination of Cappadocia, a region famous for its chimney rocks, cave houses, underground cities, and balloon trips.

The Associated Press said an ascending balloon hit the wicker basket of another balloon, ripping a hole in the balloon’s fabric and sending it crashing to the ground.

Witnesses confirmed the reports and said and the crash occurred some 45 minutes after as many as 100 balloons had taken off for the Monday early morning tour.

“It was probably some 300 meters in the air and it descended increasingly rapidly to the ground. There was a large tear in the fabric, probably some 10 to 15 meters long,” said one witness, who was in the air in a balloon just 200 yards away from the accident.

“We could hear the radio chatter and we knew something was happening. There was a frantic urgent transmission: `Release your parachute! Release your parachute!”

The two dead passengers — aged 65 and 71 — are both thought to be Brazilian tourists.

The injured passengers — also tourists from Brazil, Argentina and Spain — were taken to hospitals for treatment of broken bones they suffered during the crash.

Following the incident, the owner of the hot-air balloon that went down said he was “shocked” by the tragedy but said the pilot had taken all the necessary safety measures.

“These types of flights have been happening safely in Cappadocia for 20 years,” Halil Uluer was quoted as saying by Anatolia news agency.

Here is a video of Monday’s hot air balloon crash in Turkey:

Monday’s balloon crash in Turkey comes three months after a hot air balloon caught fire and crashed in Luxor, Egypt, killing 19 people.

In the wake of that deadly accident crash, the governor of the region ordered a ban on all flights in the city.

Turkey Hot Air Balloon Crash Leaves 2 Dead, 23 Injured [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

African coins found in Australia date back 1,000 years and may change Australian history. The five copper coins were discovered in the Northern Territory in 1944.

The coins were found by Maurie Isenberg, an Australian soldier, during World War II. Isenberg was stationed on one of Australia’s Wessel Islands. He reportedly found the copper coins on a beach.

As reported by Australia Times, Isenberg put the coins inside a box and took them home when he left the island. The coins were stored away for 35 years.

In 1979, Isenberg decided to have the coins assessed by a museum. He then learned that the coins were 1,ooo years old. Isenberg still had an old map from the island. He marked the location where he originally found the coins, and stored them away again.

Australian Anthropologist, Ian Mcintosh, gained an interest in the ancient coins earlier this year. He intends to explore why 1000-year-old African coins were found in Australia.

McIntosh, who is currently Professor of Anthropology, at Indiana University, has planned an expedition to the island where the coins were found. Utilizing Isenberg’s map, McIntosh hopes to unlock some of the mysteries surrounding their origin.

As reported by Newser, the coins were possibly among the first coins produced on an island off Tanzania. Their dates have been confirmed to a period “between 900 and 1300 AD.”

While on the island, McIntosh will comb the beach where McIntosh found the coins. Additionally, he and his colleagues will search for a cave which, according to legend, is filled with treasure.

The first recorded discovery of Australia was by Willem Janszoon, a Dutch explorer, in 1606. In 1770, the land was declared claimed for the British throne by Captain James Cook. The five copper coins may point to a much earlier discovery.

The African coins found in Australia, may prove that Australia was part of a 1,000-year-old trade route that included ” East Africa, Arabia, India and the Spice Islands.”

Of course, the coins could have originated from numerous other sources, including washing ashore from shipwreck. Like many historical mysteries, any explanation may prove difficult to confirm.

Their actual origin may be impossible to prove. However, the discovery of African coins in Australia, dating back 1,000 years, is exciting for those interested in anthropology.

[Image via Wikimedia]

African Coins Found In Australia Date Back 1,000 Years is a post from: The Inquisitr

Several months ago, the cyberunit of China’s People’s Liberation Army stopped attacks against US companies and government agencies after those attacks were discovered. Today it appears that the CPLA has once again started those attacks.

According to computer experts, the group is utilizing a different set of attacks in a failed attempt to hide their activities.

The New York Times notes that the Obama administration has taken a new approach to fighting back. Obama has begun “naming and shaming” discovered groups. The Pentagon has begun publishing reports of attacks by China’s government. That naming and shaming has allegedly led to China’s new leadership cracking down on attacks to avoid public humiliation when caught.

China’s People’s Liberation Army Resumes Cyber Attacks Against US Targets is a post from: The Inquisitr

Iran hung two men on Sunday who were allegedly spies for the US CIA and the Israeli Mossad. The men were Mohammad Heidari and Kourosh Ahmadi.

Heidari was accused of handing classified information to Mossad in exchange for money, while Ahmadi was accused of providing the CIA with intelligence.

The report gave no information on when the two men were arrested, or when they were convicted in court. The sentence for execution of Heidari and Ahmadi was apparently given by Tehran’s Revolutionary Court, then confirmed by its Supreme Court.

It is not the first time Iran has claimed to detect and dismantle spy networks inside its borders. It has also blamed the assassinations of scientists associated with its nuclear program on Western spy agencies, as well as Mossad.

Israeli officials didn’t comment on the hanging report and the US State Department and CIA have also had not comment so far. The Human Rights Activists News Agency, an advocacy group in Iran, estimated last year that there were 488 hangings in the past 12 months.  About 12 percent of those were public executions.

It is not clear if the deaths of Ahmadi and Heidari, accused and convicted spies, were made public. Among those hung last year was Majid Jamali Fashi, who was convicted of assassinating an Iranian scientist. Iran claimed that Israel’s Mossad paid Fashi $120,000 to kill Massoud Ali-Mohammadi, an elementary-particle physicist.

Iran is still holding former US Marine Amir Hekmati, who was arrested in August 2011 while visiting his grandmother. Hekmati was charged with spying on Iran for the United States and the CIA, a charge his family and the US government both deny. While he was initially sentenced to death in a closed-door trial, that conviction was overturned. The Arizona native is still waiting for a new trial.

There is no word whether the US and Israel will respond to the report of two spies being hung in Iran.

[Image via ShutterStock]

Iran Hangs Alleged CIA, Mossad Spies is a post from: The Inquisitr

Syrian troops launched an assault on the rebel-held town of Qusair, killing at least 70 people. The town, located near the country’s border with Lebanon, has been under siege by the army for weeks.

Qusair is important to both sides of the Syrian conflict, because of its location. The rebels have been able to come and go from neighboring Lebanon.

For the Syrian government, holding Qusair would mean the government has access from the capital to the coast. Syrian opposition activists have said that heavy shelling on Sunday killed at least 30 people, including 16 rebel fighters.

Meanwhile, Syrian state television stated that 70 “terrorists” died in the shelling. The government often refers to the rebel fighters as terrorists. Lebanese militants are reportedly involved in the fight. While Hezbollah is siding with the government, Sunni gunmen are helping the rebels.

Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, stated that troops were advancing on Qusair from the south, while Hezbollah fighters played “a central role. He added, “Soldiers and tanks are trying to advance into the town, the rebel forces are attempting to push them back.”

Qusair has been under siege for weeks by regime troops and pro-government militias. The siege has been part of the regime’s offensive aimed at regaining control of towns long the Syria-Lebanon border. A government official in the nearby provincial capital of Homs stated that the Syrian troops were launching “the offensive to liberate Qusair.”

The official added that the army has built up forces on three fronts around Qusair, while leaving one passage clear for “safe passage for fleeing civilians and the armed terrorists who want to surrender.” Government forces have reportedly advanced into the town and have taken over the municipality building and other vital government buildings. However, one activist denied that the regime has advanced into the town at all, explaining that the municipality was destroyed in fighting six months ago.

[Image via ShutterStock]

Syrian Troops Launch Assault On Rebel-Held Qusair is a post from: The Inquisitr

North Korea reportedly launched a fourth short-range missile in just two days, according to the South Korea’s semi-official news agency, Yonhap.

The first three missiles were launched on Saturday into the East Sea, off the Korean Peninsula’s east coast. South Korean military officials confirmed the rockets were guided.

The military officials added that the missiles were fired in a northeasterly direction away from South Korean waters. The South has beefed up its monitoring of the North since March, when tensions in the region skyrocketed.

North Korea frequently launches short-range missiles, so the four fired this weekend did not cause alarm for the South or the United States. They would have worried if the North fired a longer-range missile that could show improvements with the country’s arsenal.

Analysts say the long-range missile, called the Musudan, could strike as far as Guam, where some American troops are stationed. The North has previously threatened to strike bases there if they are provoked. Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea analyst at Dongguk University in Seoul, explained:

“With the short-range missile tests, North Korea is reminding the United States and South Korea that it can escalate tensions again and follow up with more serious steps if things do not go in the direction it wants.”

Tensions have eased since March and April, when North Korea threatened war almost every day. At the time, US and South Korean officials believed that Kim Jong Un could carry out a test launch of the long-range missiles. Andrew Salmon, a journalist and author in Seoul, explained that North Korea’s short-range missile launches shouldn’t be cause for high concern. He explained:

“It’s a short-range tactical weapon. If any other country launched this kind of weapon, it’s a routine test, nobody would be too worried. It’s really simply because it’s North Korea doing this that it raises concerns.”

Last month, North Korea appeared to threaten the launch of Musudan missiles when the South detected mobile launching vehicles on the North’s east coast. This month, American officials reported that the North had withdrawn the vehicles.

[Image via ShutterStock]

North Korea Fires Fourth Short-Range Missile [Report] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Scientists are training honey bees to find unexploded landmines in Croatia.

These mines are a sad legacy of the 1990s Balkan wars, and many of these deadly weapons are believed to still be buried primarily in about 500 square miles of the country.

Zagreb University Professor Nikola Kezic, who is leading the effort, provided the reasoning behind unleashing honey bees on minefields: “Bees have a perfect sense of smell that can quickly detect the scent of the explosives. They are being trained to identify their food with the scent of TNT … Our basic conclusion is that the bees can clearly detect this target, and we are very satisfied.”

Mixing TNT (trinitrotoluene) into the bees’ food appears to be a successful technique: “The method of training the bees by authenticating the scent of explosives with the food they eat appears to work: bees gather mainly at the pots containing a sugar solution mixed with TNT, and not the ones that have a different smell.”

An estimated 90,000 landmines are believed to have been scattered throughout the country during the conflict apparently with no rhyme nor reason. Since the war ended, about 300 persons have reportedly been killed by exploding mines, even in locations that have been de-mined by bomb squads, which will evidently be the focus of the bee mine-searching operation.

Croatia is scheduled to join the EU as of full member on July 1.

Researchers plan to conduct further controlled testing on the bees ability to search out landmines before they are fully deployed into the field.

In the past, dogs (and rats) have been trained to find landmines but because of their weight they have detonated the weapons.

Prof. Kezic added that “US researchers had in the past experimented with mine-searching bees, but TNT was not part of their tests because its smell evaporated quickly and only small traces remain after time.”

[top image credit: Louise Docker]

Landmine Sniffing Bees Being Trained In Croatia is a post from: The Inquisitr

The bunga bunga parties hosted by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi were finally described in detail during testimony in a Milan, Italy court on Friday.

Berlusconi is currently awaiting a court verdict for his own trial for underage sex with then 17-year-old Ruby the Heart-Stealer, the beautiful Moroccan immigrant at the center of the scandal. Now, three of his associates are on trial for aiding prostitution — and Ruby, whose real name is Karima el-Mahroug, was required to describe the infamous bunga bunga parties in some detail.

It seems that the erstwhile Italian leader was quite the player. Just the dictionary of Italian terms required to describe his antics is pretty spicy. A Reuters guide explained that “bunga bunga” is a “mysterious sexual ritual,” while “oglettine” refers to the 14 young women he kept in a house in Milan. The young ladies in question frequently attended his parties.

In Friday’s testimony, Ruby admitted that she was paid to attend the bunga bunga parties, but she denied having sex with the imaginative Berlusconi.

She explained that many of the girls played a role during the events. She herself claimed to be the Egyptian daughter of a famous singer.

Berlusconi’s in-house disco sounded like more of a private strip club, complete with a stripper’s pole. She said that girls would dress as nuns and then perform a strip routine.

One female stripper sometimes dressed as US President Barack Obama or as the Milan prosecutor going after Berlusconi.

Apparently, the man likes costumes.  A photograph of  a 32-year-old  alleged to be one of the party attendees had emerged during the course of Berlusconi’s own trial. In that spicy picture, the very well-endowed woman is wearing a fetish policewoman style costume complete with handcuffs.

Ruby admitted to attending six parties, for which she was paid up to €3,000 in €500 bills. However, she continues to deny having sex with the former prime minister and also denied witnessing him making physical contact with the party strippers.

It will be for a court to decide if anything illegal happened, but I have to hand it to the old boy.  The bunga bunga parties sound like a blast.

[Silvio Berlusconi photo by miqu77 / Shutterstock.com]

Bunga Bunga Parties: Italian Prime Minister Orgies Included Showgirls Dressed As Nuns, Nurses, And Obama [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Former Argentine dictator Jorge Videla died of natural causes in prison on Friday. Videla was a former army commander who led the country during the bloodiest part of a “dirty war” dictatorship.

During that time, Videla was ruthless and unrepentant about kidnappings and murders ordered by the government. The former dictator was the first president to head the military junta, which was responsible for “disappearing” thousands of suspected leftists.

The disappearances happened between 1976 and 1983. Jorge Videla spent the rest of his life behind bars after being convicted of human rights crimes. He was convicted of systematic thefts of  babies born to political prisoners in secret torture centers.

A government spokesman explained that the former dictator died of natural causes in a prison cell outside Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires. Jose Miguel Vivanco, director of Latin America for US-based Human Rights Watch, added of the dictator’s life:

“Videla presided over a government that engaged in one of the most cruel repressions that we have seen in Latin America in modern times. He was arrogant to the end and unwilling to acknowledge his responsibility for the massive atrocities committed in Argentina.”

Vivanco added, “Many of the secrets of the repression will die with him.” Before a March 24, 1976 coup that put him in charge of the repressive system, the former dictator had a low profile. But Videla didn’t remain unknown for long. Instead, his government became famous for about 30,000 “disappeareds,” or people who were kidnapped and never seen or heard from again.

His government was also known for “death flights,” where political prisoners were drugged and thrown alive from navy planes into the sea. But the crime that set him apart from other Latin American dictators was the country’s policy of holding pregnant prisoners. Once they gave birth, the women were killed and their babies were adopted by military or police families.

Adolfo Perez Esquivel, who spent 28 months in prison during Videla’s reign and won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work that documented the dictator’s crimes, stated of his death:

“The death of Videla should not bring joy to anyone. We need to keep working for a better society, more just, more humane, so that all this horror doesn’t ever happen, never again.”

The former dictator died while standing trial in a case focused on some of his kidnappings and killings.

Former Argentine Dictator Dies In Prison is a post from: The Inquisitr

Venezuela’s toilet paper shortage is a nationwide problem, and it’s not as funny as it sounds when you really think about it.

The country has been running short on a lot of things lately, from milk to butter then coffee and cornmeal. But toilet paper running to the bare roll is the “last straw” to some Venezuelans, as the bathroom hygiene product is viewed as an absolute necessity.

So who is to blame for Venezuela’s toilet paper shortage? As with everything, it depends on who you ask. Political opponents on every side are being targeted as scapegoats, and the Minister blames the media for creating a mass panic over a perceived shortage that has resulted in a very real shortage.

“This is the last straw,” said one frustrated Venezuelan shopper. “I’m 71 years old and this is the first time I’ve seen this.”

“I’ve been looking for it for two weeks,” said another. “I was told that they had some here and now I’m in line.”

The country is hoping to “wipe out” their toilet paper troubles by importing 50 million rolls ”so that our people calm down,” said Commerce Minister Alejandro Fleming.

But while the politicians and the media play the blame game, economists have a different view of the situation. They say that the toilet paper dilemma is squarely the fault of the politicians to be sure: Specifically, policies that set state-controlled prices on products like toilet paper.

Though the policy is meant to make certain products accessible in poorer areas in the country, it actually results in shortage. You don’t have to take our word for it. The same thing has happened in the Soviet Union, as well.

On top of their toilet paper problems, Venezuela is also facing food shortages and a scarcity index at its highest level since 2009.

What do you think of Venezuela’s toilet paper shortage? Would you be able to live without TP?

[Image via: schankz, Shutterstock]

Venezuela Toilet Paper Shortage Isn’t As Funny As It Sounds is a post from: The Inquisitr

Volunteers removed over ten million pounds of trash, including 2 million cigarette butts, during International Coastal Cleanup Day in 2012.

The Ocean Conservancy, which hosts the event every year, released its report this week saying that more than 500,000 volunteers worked to remove 10,149,988 pounds of trash along 17,719 coastal miles during the event last year.

In addition to nearly 2 million cigarette butts, the cleanup crew also removed more than a million food containers, another million plastic water bottles, 600,00o items of cutlery, more than 300,000 aluminum cans, 4,000 candles, 117 mattresses, and 40 lottery tickets.

The group writes: “For more than a quarter of a century, volunteers from all over the world have gather every year along coastlines and waterways to participate in the International Coastal Cleanup. Many walk, while others set out on boats. Thousands more don scuba gear to seek trash below the water’s surface. In 2012, more than half a million volunteers participated, collecting more than 10 million pounds of trash and covering a distance of nearly 18,000 miles.”

“These volunteers have picked up everything imaginable along the world’s shorelines: cigarette butts, food wrappers, abandoned fishing gear and even automobiles and kitchen appliances.”

The most frequently found item was a cigarette butt. The cleanup crews removed more than 2 million cigarette butts during International Cleanup Day. If you’re looking for an exact number, the organization says that 2,117,931 discarded cigarettes were removed from the ocean.

Here are the top 10 items found during 2012 International Cleanup Day.

The Ocean Conservancy will host its 2013 International Cleanup Day on September 21. Here’s a video from last year’s event.

Here are some of the more interesting finds from 2012.

2 Million Cigarette Butts Removed From Beaches During International Coastal Cleanup Day is a post from: The Inquisitr

A man on trial over the fatal gang-rape of a woman in New Delhi last December is critically ill after being attacked in jail, just weeks after another defendant died in the same jail.

Four adults and a 17-year-old juvenile are accused of the gang rape of a 23-year-old student on December 16. She died 13 days later from massive injuries sustained during the attack after she was transferred to a Singapore hospital.

Vinay Sharma, 20, was rushed to New Delhi’s state-run Lok Nayak Hospital on Tuesday with chest injuries after he was assaulted in Tihar Jail, his lawyer A. P. Singh told Agence France-Presse.

He also alleges his client’s food has been poisoned while he has been in jail.

“He was vomiting blood and running a very high fever,” Singh told AFP. “He was also suffering from chest pains. He is in a very critical condition.”

The lawyer alleges Sharma’s chest pains were caused by his client being “beaten up and thrashed” by inmates at the maximum-security prison. Singh added that the vomiting symptoms are the result of the “slow poisoning” of his client’s food for several weeks.

“He [Sharma] was being given food mixed with poison since the start of this month,” Singh said.”He was first admitted to the clinic inside the jail but was later moved to a city hospital. He was shifted again to another hospital when his condition worsened.”

Back in March, one of the co-defendants in the gang-rape case, bus driver Ram Singh, was found hanged in his cell in the same prison. A later inquest ruled he had committed suicide, while his lawyers maintain that he was murdered.

The remaining defendants (five remain of the original six), all have entered not-guilty pleas while their lawyers have accused police of torturing the defendants to secure confessions.

Prosecutors in the case say DNA evidence links the defendants to the attack in which the female student and her male friend were assaulted on a bus, after a trip to the cinema.

The case triggered widespread protests in India amid calls for wholesale reform of existing rape laws and security protocols for women and girls. The student who died in the attack became known as “Braveheart” and was posthumously honored with an International Woman of Courage Award in March.

The family of the student has demanded the death penalty for those accused.

AFP reports that Singh said the judge at a special fast-track New Delhi court has dismissed his plea that Sharma be granted bail on “humanitarian grounds,” but has allowed the accused man’s family permission to visit him in hospital.

Delhi Gang-Rape Defendant ‘Critical’ After Prison Attack, Poisoning Alleged is a post from: The Inquisitr

Of the 40 patients who escaped from a psychiatric hospital in Kenya, only 10 have returned to the facility.

Dozens of people reportedly fled the Mathari Mental Hospital in Nairobi on Sunday morning. Security officers prevented an additional 35 from escaping. It’s believed the patients overpowered the guards before managing to force open the door to their ward.

“Many scaled over the wall and went through Mathare area and a few confident ones used the main gate. When they are traced they should be brought back for their medication,” Police Chief Samuel Anampiu explained.

He added, “They must have strategized. It is not possible that, without proper planning, 75 people can break two doors and more than half of them run away.”

It’s currently believed that 30 patients are still unaccounted for at the psychiatric hospital in Kenya. Anampiu is concerned about these individuals getting the medication they need in order to treat their illnesses.

“We are now talking of 30 mental patients who are not back. Some have come back on their own volition while some were captured and brought back by their relatives,” the police chief said.

Two of the patients who escaped from the hospital later returned on their own free will. Eight of the escapees were brought back to the facility by their families. This mean that 30 of the 40 patients who escaped the psychiatric hospital are still on the loose.

It’s being reported that the patients staged their escape after lodging complaints about the effectiveness of their medication. Although doctors at the biggest psychiatric hospital in Kenya believe these individuals do not pose a threat to public safety, they do require medication to treat their conditions.

Authorities are currently searching for the missing patients. The police chief said officers have “all their particulars and including their pictures and that will make it easy for us to identify them.”

What do you think about the 40 patients who managed to escape from a psychiatric hospital in Kenya?

[Image via Oleg Znamenskiy / Shutterstock.com]

40 Patients Escape Psychiatric Hospital, 30 Still On The Run is a post from: The Inquisitr

When Leonardo DiCaprio tells you to bid, you bid. The star of The Great Gatsby acted as the auctioneer for a Christie’s charity auction this weekend and helped raise nearly $39 million.

According to the Telegraph, the auction was attended by celebrity guests like Mark Ruffalo, Bradly Cooper, Tobey Maguire and Salma Hayek, who bid on artwork from more than 30 living artists. The 11th Hour Charity auction raised $38,827,000. The money will go to the Leonardo DiCaprio foundation and will be used to fund several environmental projects.

Before the auction, DiCaprio told bidders to “bid as if the fate of the planet depended on us.”

DiCaprio said: “The modern world is placing enormous pressure on the very natural systems that sustain us; we are destroying our forests, polluting the air and water, overfishing our oceans and facing overwhelming extinction rates of plants and animals.”

Christie’s, which billed the event as “the most important charity action ever,” said that several world records were broken during the auction. Nine pieces of art were sold for more than $9 million. The most expensive piece, an “Untitled” work by American painter Mark Grotjahn, sold for more than $6.5 million. A portrait of the actor painted by Elizabeth Peyton sold for $1 million.

Loic Gouzer, international specialist at Christie’s and the head of the sale, said: “We explained that we wanted great works and they were very reactive because of the cause. The artists are very sensitive to the fact that we are destroying our planet.”

TVNZ reports that the auction took in nearly twice the pre-sale estimate. After the auction, DiCaprio said: “All I can say is thank you, thank you, thank you.”

[Image Via DFree / Shutterstock.com]

Leonardo DiCaprio Plays Auctioneer, Raises $39 Million For Environmental Charity is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Silvio Berlusconi ongoing legal circus heard the closing arguments from the prosecution Monday in the so-called “bunga-bunga” case that accuses the former Italian prime minister of paying for sex with an underaged prostitute and then using his power to cover it up.

Prosecutor Ilda Boccassini spent most of Monday making the detailed argument that Berlusconi knew that Marima el-Mahroug was a minor when they first had sex. The woman, also known as Ruby Heart-Stealer, ultimately received payments of more than $5.8 million from the frisky Italian billionaire.

She also received generous shopping sprees in Italy’s fashion capital, Milan where she was often seen paying for purchases with €500 bills. There’s no equivalent bill that large in American dollars, but the value of each note at today’s rate of exchange would be roughly $650.

A lot of spare change for a poor teen-aged immigrant from Morocco.

Yet both the woman and Berlusconi continued to deny that they had sex.

According to a report in the UK’s The Guardian, which also may have coined the delightful phrase “bunga-bunga trial,” prosecutor Boccassini found Mahroug and Berlusconi’s claims of innocence to be pretty ridiculous: “Let there be no doubt that Karima Mahroug had sex with Berlusconi and received benefits for it … [The] girls invited were part of a prostitution system organised to satisfy the sexual pleasure of Silvio Berlusconi.”

Last week, a different court already upheld a tax fraud conviction against the one-time prime minister. Silvio Berlusconi led Italy’s powerful right-wing People of Liberty party, and he has consistently blamed the left-wing for a two-decade attack intended to destroy the 76-year-old at any cost.

The Italian court isn’t expected to return with a verdict until June 23 or 24.

Meanwhile, poor put-upon Silvio Berlusconi is apparently happy to wallow in self-pity, based on a widely reported statement he made Monday night:

“Theories, innuendo, twisting, falsehoods inspired by prejudice and hate, all against the evidence, beyond the imaginable and the ridiculous. Everything is allowed behind the shield of [judicial] robes. Poor Italy!”

The prosecutor asked for a sentence of six years and a permanent ban from holding public office for Silvio Berlusconi.

[Silvio Berlusconi photo by miqu77 / Shutterstock.com]

Silvio Berlusconi Bunga Bunga Underage Sex Trial Has Prosecutors Calling For Six Year Sentence is a post from: The Inquisitr

Authorities say a middle-aged man who sawed his arm off in a machinery accident in Austria picked up the limb and drove himself to the hospital.

According to the AFP, the 37-year-old Hungarian man cut off his arm just below the elbow by a piece of machinery in Purbach, eastern Austria.

The man, whose identity was kept anonymous, was able to retrieve the severed limb from the machinery and drive nearly 10 miles to a hospital in nearby Eisenstadt.

He was later flown to a hospital in Vienna where doctors performed an emergency surgery to reattach his arm.

Police say the only reason he didn’t bleed to death was because he was in shock from the accident.

The Hungarian’s sawn off arm incident wasn’t the only of its kind in recent days.

In April, a California man entered a Home Depot store and attempted to cut off his limbs a hand saw, scaring customers into a panic.

The 50-year-old man, who has not been identified by authorities, was rescued by Art Hurtado, an off-duty paramedic at the store who used towels and a rope to make a makeshift tourniquet to stop the bleeding.

“There was pandemonium when I walked into the store. A lot of chaos, people running in all directions,” Hurtado told reporters at the time. “As I walked in, he was face down and I thought it was a crime scene with a fatality, that is how it seemed. There was a pulse, a very faint pulse and he was barely breathing. I knew I had to slow the bleeding down, or this patient may or may not make it.”

Hurtado said the man survived the self-mutilation attempt and it appears doctors were able to save his arms.

Police said they have spoken with the man’s family and are trying to determine what caused him to hurt himself.

Image: Shutterstock

Hungarian Man Saws Off Arm, Drives Himself To Hospital is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad could face charges after he violated Iran’s rules during an election.

Ahmadinejad accompanied his chief adviser Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei to the election registry office on Saturday. The Iranian regime’s Guardian Council specifically forbid him from appearing at the registry during an election.

The Iranian state-run media quoted Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, who says Ahmadinejad could face charges after being referred to Iran’s judiciary.

The Guardian Council also claims that Ahmadinejad broke public fund rules during the election by accompanying Mashaei to the election registration office.

If found guilty of election crimes Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s charges could include up to six months in prison or 74 lashes to be carried out in public.

The Guardian Council is responsible for vetting 680 presidential hopefuls including Mr. Mashaei.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad cannot run for a third term under the country’s constitution and has therefore thrown his full support behind Mr. Mashaei. The two men have close ties as their children are married to one another.

Opponents to Mr. Mashaei claim that his campaign has been funded with public money.

Mr. Mashaei has been closely watched by Iran’s ultra-conservative base who claim he is a pro-Israel politician who hopes to undermine the country’s beliefs system.  Conservatives in the country point to a comment Mashaei made in which he proclaimed that Iran is  ”friends of all people in the world – even Israelis.”

The election takes place on June 14, and current favorites for a victory are the men who have aligned themselves with the Ayatollah. Those candidates include Tehran mayor Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf and former police chief Ali Akbar Velayati.

Attempting to make a political comeback is Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a man who served as the country’s president between 1989 and 1997.  Rafsanjani faces questions about his age. He would be 78 years old when re-entering public office.

Ahmadinejad Charges Could Be Handed Down Over Election Fraud is a post from: The Inquisitr

Bangladesh garment workers will get higher wages after the government made known its plans to raise the minimum wage for them. The news comes in light of a factory building collapse, which killed more than 1,100 people.

The building collapse brought attention yet again to Bangladesh’s textile industry and its poor pay combined with hazardous working conditions.

Textiles Minister Abdul Latif Siddiky added on Sunday that a new minimum wage board will issue a recommendation for pay raises in the next three months. After that, the Cabinet will decide whether or not to accept the proposal.

Siddiky added that the new wage board includes representatives of factory owners, workers, and the government. The building collapse on April 24 quickly became one of the world’s worst industrial disasters. It raised alarm over the poor conditions in Bangladesh’s massive textile industry.

About 80 percent of Bangladesh’s exports are textiles, which are shipped all around the world to places like Walmart, Sears, JcPenney, and others. But despite the industry netting $20 billion per year, government corruption, desperation for jobs, and industry indifference have left working conditions extremely poor.

Minimum wages for Bangladesh garment workers were only raised in 2010 after massive protests by workers forced them to do so. The wage was then raised by 80 percent to 3,000 takas, or about $38 per month. But the new wage increase will likely need to be higher to appease workers devastated by the April building collapse.

Rescue workers are still sifting through debris of the former Rana Plaza building, looking for bodies. The count on Sunday night stood at 1,125 bodies. Major Moazzem Hossain, a rescue team leader, explained, “We are still removing the rubble very carefully as dead bodies are still coming up.”

And after more than two weeks, identifying the rotting remains has become a difficult task. Hossain added, “If we get the ID cards with the bodies then we are lucky.”

Along with raising wages for the Bangladesh garment factory workers, the Textiles Ministry has also started a series of safety inspections. So far, 22 factories have been ordered closed for violating safety and working standards.

[Image via Fahad Faisal]

Bangladesh Garment Workers Will Receive Higher Wages is a post from: The Inquisitr

The royal baby’s due date is reportedly July 13, right in the middle of the celebration for the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.

The report comes from the Daily Mail, which, admittedly, makes us question its validity. A “friend” of the expectant parents, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, reportedly revealed:

“Some of Kate and William’s closest pals were at a barbecue hosted by a family friend of the royals recently. They were all discussing the fact that Kate’s baby is due to be born on July 13. Everyone was very excited.”

It was already known that the royal baby’s due date was July, given Kate Middleton’s pregnancy was announced at the beginning of December, when she was just six weeks along. The announcement was made so early, because the Duchess was hospitalized for a form of extreme morning sickness. A palace rep has already said the baby will be born in July.

There have been several rumors surrounding the royal baby, including his or her gender and the due date of the likely future king or queen. Even if the baby’s due date is July 13, babies rarely cooperate — unless a c-section is planned ahead of time. Rather, as many of us understand, babies will come whenever they are supposed to.

However, should the latest rumor about the royal baby’s due date be true, it will come at a time when England is already celebrating the four-day Coronation Festival, July 11-14, to mark when Queen Elizabeth II was crowned in 1953.

Elizabeth became queen when her father died in February 1952, which was celebrated last year through a four-day Diamond Jubilee. The Coronation Festival could compete with the Jubilee party and a royal baby would only add to the celebrations. The royals and their representatives have also not yet confirmed the baby’s sex, though rumor has it that Prince Harry is excited about the idea of a nephew.

Do you think the latest royal baby due date rumor is true?

[Image via Featureflash / Shutterstock.com]

Royal Baby’s Due Date Is July 13, New Rumor Suggests is a post from: The Inquisitr

An underwater ghost town has re-emerged after 25 years. The town — Epecuen, Argentina — is located in the farmlands southwest of Buenos Aires.

Epecuen was once a busy lakeside resort where 20,000 tourists came per year. During the country’s golden age, the same trains that carried grain outside Argentina brought visitors from Buenos Aires to relax in the saltwater baths and spas.

The saltwater lake was especially attractive to tourists because it carries 10 times more salt than the ocean, making the water buoyant. Tourists enjoyed floating in water that reminded them of the Dead Sea in the Middle East.

But it was not meant to be. A very heavy rainstorm followed a series of wet winters, forcing the lake to overflow its banks on November 10, 1985. Water burst through a retaining wall and spilled into the streets of Epecuen.

Residents were forced to flee quickly with whatever they could fit in their cars. The town was submerged by at least 33 feet of corrosive saltwater just days later. And the ghost town sat underwater while the lake slowly receded.

After 25 years, the water is nearly gone. But in its place, the town of Epecuen, Argentina now looks like a scene from a movie about the end of the world. Rather than being rebuilt, the ghost town has become a tourist destination for those looking to see the rusted remains of automobiles and furniture.

They take photos of crumbled homes and broken appliances while climbing staircases that lead nowhere. The former underwater ghost town even includes a graveyard where the water toppled headstones and exposed the tombs to the elements.

Many of the town’s residents fled to Carhue, another lakeside town. But one resident refused to leave. Pablo Novak, 82, lives on the edge of town and welcomes people who wander into the wrecked streets of his city. He remarked, “Whoever passes nearby cannot go without coming to visit here. It’s getting more people to the area, as they come to see the ruins.”

How would you like to go see the former underwater ghost town of Epecuen, Argentina?

[Image via Santiago matamoro]

Underwater Ghost Town Re-Emerges After 25 Years is a post from: The Inquisitr

Four UN peacekeepers were released on Sunday by armed men thought to be Syrian rebels. The four Filipino workers were abducted last week while patrolling the demilitarized zone between Syria and Israel-occupied Golan Heights.

UN officials announced the hostages’ release, saying they are in good health. Rebels from the Yarmouk Martyrs’ Brigade claimed responsibility for the abductions.

The rebels claimed they were holding the UN peacekeepers for their own safety after clashes with the Syrian government put them in danger. The four were taken on Tuesday while they patrolled near an area where the same Syrian rebels held 21 Filipino observers for three days in March.

A spokesman for the rebels announced that the four UN peacekeepers were released on Sunday morning at a border checkpoint where the Jordanian and Israeli borders join with the Golan Heights. Abu Iyas al-Horani explained, “They have been handed over in a spot in the Yarmouk Valley.

The troop seizures have been alarming to Philippines officials. Authorities in Manila have said they are considering withdrawing their contingent in Golan in light of the kidnappings. There are currently about 1,100 peacekeepers from the Philippines, Austria, and India monitoring the cease-fire line.

Lightly armed UN troops have monitored the cease-fire line between Israel and Syria since 1974. The zone was relatively calm for decades, until the conflict in Syria sparked fighting in the area between rebels and the country’s government. The UN has cut back on patrols and other activities in response to the fighting.

Israel initially captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle East War. The country later annexed them, though the move is not recognized internationally.

The Syrian conflict has killed 82,000 people and left at least 12,500 people missing after two years of war. Most of the dead are believed killed by troops and militia loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. Most of the missing are believed to have been detained by the government and loyalists.

[Image via photos8.com]

Four UN Peacekeepers Released By Syrian Rebels is a post from: The Inquisitr

A New York Times reporter was ordered to leave Pakistan ahead of the country’s elections. The move was announced by the newspaper, who detailed that its Islamabad bureau chief was forced to leave for unspecified “undesirable activities” inside the country.

The Times added that it strongly protested the move to order Declan Walsh to leave and is seeking to have him reinstated.

The Pakistan ministry did not detail the expulsion order, which was delivered by two police officers to Walsh’s home at 12:30 am local time Thursday. The order stated:

“It is informed that your visa is hereby canceled in view of your undesirable activities. You are therefore advised to leave the country within 72 hours.”

The timing of the reporter’s order to leave Pakistan means that Walsh will have to leave on the night of the elections. The event is historic for the country, as it is the first time where one elected civilian government will complete its term and hand power over to another elected government.

Declan Walsh is a veteran correspondent and has worked and lived in Pakistan for nine years. Along with working to the New York Times, Walsh previously was employed by The Guardian. He has written extensively about Pakistan’s violence political confrontations, Islamist insurgency, and tense relations with the United States.

Danielle Rhoades Ha, a company spokeswoman, stated that the Times is protesting the reporter’s order to leave the country. In a letter to Pakistan’s Interior Minister, Times Executive Editor Jill Abramson wrote, “We respectfully request that you overturn this decision and allow Mr. Walsh to remain in Pakistan.

Abramson added that the accusation of undesirable activities “is vague and unsupported, and Mr. Walsh has received no further explanation of any alleged wrongdoing.”

Advocates for free press in the country expressed their anger at the news of the New York Times reporter being ordered to leave. They added that it reinforced Pakistan’s reputation as very inhospitable to journalists.

[Image via Geoff Livingston]

Reporter Ordered To Leave Pakistan Ahead Of Elections is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Japanese yen’s collapse was feared on Friday as the currency dropped to a 4 1/2 year low against the US dollar. The collapse was felt throughout the market as Japanese investors moved toward buying more foreign assets.

The yen’s value slipped to 101.98 per dollar, the lowest for the Japanese currency since October 2008. The currency’s technical collapse helped Japanese stocks outperform all others by a wide margin.

Markets elsewhere stayed solid at the end of the week, which saw several indexes around the world into all-time highs. The Dow Jones industrial average closed over 15,000 for the first time this week.

The yen’s collapse on Friday comes after the currency was put under intense pressure by the new government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Abe is attempting to get the world’s number 3 economy out of a two-decade stagnation. Japan has seen about 15 years of deflation where the nation’s economy grew minimally.

However, Abe announced a “three-arrow” plan, which includes printing more yen by the Bank of Japan. His hope is to hit an inflation target of two percent per year. Some financial experts say the dollar will rise to be worth 105 yen or more by summer and at least 110 by the end of the year.

The yen’s collapse should also help Japanese exports, at least in the short term. The export help is part of Prime Minister Abe’s plan for the Japanese market. However, some US automakers have accused the Japanese prime minister of manipulating the country’s currency to give the country’s competition an unfair advantage.

Morgan Stanley announced that Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, will end up getting about $1,500 per car in benefits. The yen’s collapse will also likely encourage Japanese automakers to spend more money on better components or accessories rather than cutting prices to beat out their competitors.

It is unclear what the yen’s future will be after its technical collapse on Friday.

[Image via ShutterStock]

Yen Collapse Feared As Dollar Breaks Through 100 Yen Mark is a post from: The Inquisitr

Hopefully Allah gives Muslim students in Leicester a pass over supposedly halal-approved lamb burgers that ended up being almost 50 percent pork when they were tested.

Halal means “lawful” or “permitted,” and pertains to Islamic dietary laws. Foods that are considered “haram” are not to be consumed by Muslims, and while there are nuances to Islamic dietary law that we won’t get into here, we’ll save you some time by just saying that pork is a huge no-no.

So it wouldn’t surprise you to find out that a company supplying Leicester schools with food products has caused a bit of outrage when a DNA test on a supposedly halal lamb burger came back between 10 and 50 percent pork.

Doncaster-based Paragon Quality Foods Limited supplied the food, and said that they had never knowingly handled or processed pork.

A spokeswoman for the city council said that further testing will need to take place before they pursue meaningful action.

“Because it was only one burger that was tested and the findings were so wide-ranging, we have ordered further samples of more burgers and when we have these results we will publish them,” she said. “The council’s view is that whether it’s 1% or 99%, it’s still impure and unacceptable.”

All Paragon products have been removed from the schools, and authorities say that other halal products are supplied by a different company. They were tested and found to be a-ok.

The Muslim community, meanwhile, is understandably horrified by the halal lamb burger contamination. ”The community will be extremely shocked and distressed to learn of the contamination that has taken place,” said Suleman Nagdi from the Federation of Muslim Organisations.

[Image via: Zereshk, Wikimedia Commons]

School’s Halal Lamb Burger Is Actually 50 Percent Pork is a post from: The Inquisitr

Chairman Mao’s granddaughter has finished a lofty 242nd in a new Chinese rich list.

Chinese magazine New Fortune‘s “500 Rich List for 2013″ was published this week. One of its most eye-catching entrants was Kong Dongmei, whose grandfather Mao Zedong – better known as Chairman Mao – was China’s founding Communist leader.

The irony of a Communist leader’s grandchild making a rich list seems, well, a little rich.

It’s also not been lost on the Chinese population, reports NBC – especially after another grandchild of Mao, Major General Mao Xinyu, told Chinese media in 2009:

“The Mao Family heritage is honest and clean. None of the Mao family members have entered business. They all live on their modest salaries.”

It’s true that Kong has written four bestsellers about her grandfather, and operates a bookstore specializing in Communist culture.

Yet the vast wealth of her and husband Chen Dongsheng (together, their assets are estimated by New Fortune to be $815 million) has aroused suspicion in a country that still treats the rich with a level of cynicism.

NBC points out that appearing in such a list can prove troublesome for China’s wealthiest.

A 2012 study entitled “The Price of Being a Billionaire in China: Evidence Based on Hurun Rich List” discovered that the highest-ranked companies on rich lists saw their market values dwindle in the following years after government subsidies were cut, tax audits increased, and financial investigations were deployed.

Whether Chairman Mao’s granddaughter will suffer a similar fate remains to be seen.

Chairman Mao’s Granddaughter Lands Spot On China’s Rich List is a post from: The Inquisitr

Stephen Hawking was branded a hypocrite by critics for his decision to boycott an Israeli conference over what he called the state’s 46-year occupation of Palestine.

Hawking’s critics pointed out that the celebrated scientist and author uses Israeli technology in the computer equipment that helps him function day-by-day.

Hawking, now 71, has suffered from motor neurone disease for 50 years. He relies on a computer-based system to communicate with the world.

But Shurat HaDin, an Israel law center that represents victims of terrorism, stated that the equipment has been provided to Hawking by high-tech firm Intel since 1997. Nitsana Darshan-Leitner of the law center, stated:

“Hawking’s decision to join the boycott of Israel is quite hypocritical for an individual who prides himself on his whole intellectual accomplishment. His whole computer-based communications system runs on a chip designed by Israel’s Intel team.”

Stephen Hawking’s boycott of Israel was announced on Wednesday by conference organizers and the University of Cambridge, where the scientist serves as a physicist and cosmologist. Hawking pulled out of a high-profile conference to be held in Jerusalem in June so that he could support the academic boycott of the Jewish nation.

The boycott was organized by international activists and is aimed at protesting Israel’s policies toward the Palestinians. Earlier, Tim Holt, the university’s director of communications, had told reporters that Hawking withdrew from the conference for health reasons.

However, Cambridge later issued a statement saying that the scientist told the Israelis he would not attend “based on advice from Palestinian academics that he should respect the boycott.”

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner added of Hawking’s decision, “I suggest if he truly wants to pull out of Israel he should also pull out his Intel Core i7 from his tablet.”

While Intel has not commented specifically on Stephen Hawking’s academic boycott of Israel, their website quotes Justin Rattner, chief technology officer, as saying earlier in 2013:

“We have a long-standing relationship with Professor Hawking … We are very pleased to continue to … work closely with Professor Hawking on improving his personal communication system.”

Do you think Stephen Hawking is a hypocrite for his academic boycott of Israel?

[Image via Featureflash / Shutterstock.com]

Stephen Hawking Called A Hypocrite For Israel Boycott is a post from: The Inquisitr

A questionable Barack Obama Photoshop has been doing the rounds since Tuesday, courtesy of South Korean news agency Yonhap.

Perhaps taking inspiration from their media colleagues in the North, the news outlet published the image alongside a story about South Korean premier Park Geun-hye meeting President Obama.

The picture was later removed, but The Atlantic was quick to swoop on the amusing Park-Obama Photoshop, which purports to show the two world leaders shaking hands at the White House.

It’s a fairly risible effort, and calls to mind the infamous Photoshopping habits of North Korea’s KCNA news agency; earlier this year, the North’s state-run outlet pasted a few extra hoverboats into a scary-looking military image.

Apparently, the entire Korean peninsula sucks at this stuff.

The Atlantic notes that Yonhap may have formed its unconvincing ‘shop from an image of Park meeting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Monday.

What’s most peculiar about the Park-Obama Photoshop is that there was actually tons of genuine images of Park and Obama chumming it up at their White House encounter – some of which even featured the pair shaking hands.

But instead, Yonhap reached for the Photoshop, and we all know how that can end (least of all me).

Pyongyang, you have some competition.

Horrible Obama Photoshop Published By South Korean News Agency is a post from: The Inquisitr

Syria’s internet access went down on Tuesday in a move that was likely made by the Syrian government, according to security researchers.

The Middle Eastern nation’s internet traffic cut off shortly before 3 pm EDT on Tuesday. Google reported a drop in the country’s traffic along with Local Coordinating Committees, an anti-government activist group within Syria.

Syria is connected to the internet by four physical cables. Three of them run under the sea while the fourth runs over land through Turkey. In order to shut off all access, outsiders would have to cut all of the cables off simultaneously.

But security experts say that wasn’t the case. Instead, someone with access to the cables dropped a Border Gateway Protocol in a way that caused information trying to enter the country to halt.

Matthew Prince, the founder of CloudFlare, an Internet security firm that distributes large volumes of traffic across the internet, explained, “It’s akin to someone removing all the street signs into Syria.” The same technique was previously used in the country to shut down the internet and cell phone service. That outage happened in November.

Syrian government officials blamed the internet outage on terrorists, though evidence points to involvement from the government. Dan Hubbard, chief technology officer for Umbrella Security Labs, wrote of the Syria internet outage:

“It seems Syria has largely disappeared from the internet. Although we can’t yet comment on what caused this outage, past incidents were linked to both government-ordered shutdowns and damage to the infrastructure, which included fiber cuts and power outages.”

Meanwhile, Syrian rebels are less affected by the internet outage than the country’s civilians. Opposition groups have built an alternate system of internet and cell phone connectivity through the use of two-way satellite devices. However, experts have warned the system makes it easier for the government to track their location.

There is no word on how long the Syrian internet outage could last.

[Image via ShutterStock]

Syria Loses Internet Access is a post from: The Inquisitr

China has closed a North Korean bank’s accounts in a fresh sign that Beijing is becoming increasingly frustrated with the North’s weapons program.

The Bank of China, China’s largest state-owned bank, has shut down all accounts of the North Korean Foreign Trade Bank. The Pyongyang-based institution has been accused of helping to fund the North’s growing weapons program.

All transactions in the accounts have been suspended, but China did not reveal how much money was in the accounts at the time of its closure.

As Pyongyang seeks to further its development of missiles and nuclear weapons, many have accused the Foreign Trade Bank of playing a key role in funding research and testing. Earlier this year, the US Treasury described the Foreign Trade Bank as a “key financial node” to the North Korean regime.

As The Bank of China closes North Korea bank accounts, some argue other banks in the region will feel pressured to suspend accounts held by the Pyongyang regime. Yet Bank of China was always likely to be the first financial institution to do this, says John Park, an expert on Chinese-North Korean relations at Harvard University:

“Bank of China, of all the Chinese banks, has to adhere to international sanctions because they have a reputation to uphold.”

However, Park adds that the move is not as significant as some might think, pointing out that the bank already lessened its dealings with North Korea years earlier. “What would be more substantive,” argues Park, “is if China revokes the work authorization documents for the North Korea state trading companies in China.”

Bank of China’s closure of North Korea bank accounts follows months of bellicose warnings from Pyongyang, including threats of nuclear war against South Korea and the US.

The North’s nuclear launch test in February, the third of its kind in seven years, angered ally China, with Beijing saying it “resolutely” opposed the test. Many politicians have urged Beijing to take more decisive action in its crackdown on the North.

China Closes North Korea Bank Account As Beijing Grows Impatient With Weapons Program is a post from: The Inquisitr

Imran Khan was injured on Tuesday after he fell from a makeshift lift that was taking him onto a stage at a Pakistan political rally. The gathering was meant as a campaign rally for Khan, a leading Pakistani politician.

Khan, along with several others, fell from the lift platform, which was about 15 feet high at the time. Despite his visible head injury, a spokesman for the Shaukat Khanum hospital said that the former cricket player’s condition was stable.

Khan later spoke from his hospital bed, urging Pakistanis to vote in Saturday’s parliamentary elections. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Khan’s rival, announced he would suspend his campaign for a day out of respect for his opponent.

Video footage captured Imran Khan’s scary injury as some of his fellow lift-riders appeared to fall on top of him. Later, photos showed supporters carrying Khan to a car, which took him to a local hospital. After initial treatment, the former cricket player was taken to Kahore’s Shaukat Khanum Memorial Cancer Hospital, which Khan founded.

Along with Khan’s stitches on his head, he also suffered a hairline compression fracture on a vertebra on his back. Dr. Faisal Sultan, the hospital’s chief executive, added, “Imran has a head injury, but he is stable, talking and recognizing people. We will conduct some tests and further examinations.”

Despite his campaigning, Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party is not expected to win the poll on May 11. However, it could end up being a major partner in a coalition government. Khan promised to cut down on tax evasion and corruption that have worked together to drain Pakistan’s treasury dry.

While the PTI has had a marginal showing in previous polls, it has benefited from a groundswell of support this year, headed by young, urban voters frustrated by the Middle Eastern nation’s corruption.

It is not clear how long Imran Khan’s injury will keep him in the hospital.

[Image via Stephan Röhl]

Imran Khan Injured At Pakistan Political Rally is a post from: The Inquisitr

Authorities say three women dressed like nuns were arrested Saturday as they attempted to smuggle cocaine into a popular Colombian vacation destination.

According to ABC News, the trio of fake nuns — ages 20, 32 and 37 — were were traveling from the capital Bogota to the island of San Andres when they were nabbed by customs officers.

Police said the suspects immediately roused suspicions as the fabric of their garments did not match that of traditional nun attire.

Upon being stopped police found two kilos (four pounds) of cocaine strapped to the ladies’ bodies underneath their habits.

They were immediately arrested and jailed on narcotic trafficking charges.

In their defense the fake nuns claimed poverty had caused them to resort to drug trafficking. They claimed their cartel boss forced them into the religious habits in hopes of bypassing detection.

BBC notes that the Colombian island of San Andres, just off the coast of Nicaragua, is a popular destination for foreign and Colombian tourists alike.

The island is also along a busy drug-smuggling route, especially popular with speedboats and submarines laden with cocaine, stopping off on their way from Colombia to Central America.

Oddly enough, the trio of cocaine toting nuns isn’t the only bizarre smuggling story of the month.

As reported by The Inquisitr on Saturday, two goldfish were found swimming in a jug of radioactive water in a restricted area of a nuclear power plant in Ohio.

Investigations are currently under way to determine how the goldfish were smuggled into the facility.

Three Fake Nuns Arrested In Failed Cocaine Smuggling Plot is a post from: The Inquisitr

An original Margaret Thatcher-signed telex that announced the end of the Falklands War with Argentina is going on the auction block later this month.

The historic document is expected to command more than $20,000 US dollars. The Falklands War began on April 2, 1982, when Argentinian forces invaded and occupied the area, and ended the following June when the territory was returned to British control after UK forces staged an amphibious assault and Argentina surrendered. Sovereignty over the Falklands is still a contentious issue between the two countries, however. “The historic dispatch announcing the retaking of the Falklands Islands after the 1982 war with Argentina is signed by Mrs Thatcher and Major General Jeremy Moore — who sent it when victory was secured.The rare document is also signed by Sir Rex Hunt, the Civil Commissioner on the islands during the conflict, and Major General Sir Julian Thompson, who commanded 3 Commando Brigade.”

The telex reads in part: “Major General Menedes surrendered to me all the Argentine armed forces in east and west Falkland, together with their impedimenta … ”

Baroness Thatcher donated the document to charity in 1999 as a way to raise money for injured members of the military. At that time, it was bought by its current owner who is now putting it up for sale.

The former UK prime minister, nicknamed the “Iron Lady” for her decisive leadership style, passed away on April 8 at age 87 from a stroke. Thatcher, the then-leader of the Conservative Party, is the only woman to have served as the head of the British government. She served as prime minister from 1979 to 1990.

More than 100,000 spectators witnessed the Thatcher funeral procession that culminated at St. Paul’s Cathedral on April 17. About 2,000 dignitaries from around the world attended the funeral itself.

An official with Mullocks Auctioneers, the firm that that is selling the historic document, had this to say about the upcoming auction of the very rare Margaret Thatcher telex: “This is undoubtedly one of the most important British historical documents of the last quarter of the 20th century. It provides bidders with the opportunity to obtain a document which is truly unique.”

He added that “There have been various copies of this document offered in the past but this is the original — and as such ranks along some of the most famous dispatches in British military history, including those from the Battles of Waterloo and Trafalgar.”

The Thatcher document is currently scheduled to be auctioned at Ludlow Racecourse in Shropshire, UK, on May 21.

[Image credit: Margaret Thatcher Foundation]

Margaret Thatcher Falklands War Telex Up For Auction is a post from: The Inquisitr

A bomb planted by the Taliban killed several people at a political rally in Pakistan’s tribal belt on Monday. At least 20 people were killed while 45 more were wounded in the massive blast.

The incident was also the deadliest attack so far in the lead up to next Saturday’s national election. The attack happened in the Kurram tribal region at a rally to hear Munir Khan Orakzai, a former member of Parliament.

The attack was unusual because Orakzai was a candidate for the religious party Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, known for its close links to the Taliban.

The bombing happened just as the politician finished his speech and was stepping off the stage. He was not injured in the blast, which caused widespread devastation. One witness reported hearing dozens of people crying for help in a “hell-like” situation.

A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack, explaining that Orakzai was targeted for betraying Arab jihadists who were detained by the Pakistani Army. Those men later ended up in the custody of Americans. They added, “We attacked Munir Orakzai because of the crimes he committed against Islam and Mujahideen.”

Javed Khan, a government administrator in the region, explained that the bomb was planted near the main stage of the rally. But two party leaders were able to escape unhurt. Along with being supportive of the Afghan Taliban’s fight against the United States and its allies, the Jamiat-e-Ulema party is also sympathetic to the Pakistani Taliban.

In recent weeks, the Taliban have focused their attacks on secular Pakistani parties, making the bombing on the Islamic party strange. Elections are slated to be held next Saturday amid tight security. A string of militant attacks in the region have left dozens of people dead.

That Taliban bombing in Pakistan on Monday also coincides with the ramp up of the Islamic militants’ Spring Offensive, aimed at injuring and killing as many US troops and their allies as possible. Attacks have included Afghan police.

Taliban Bomb Kills Several At Pakistan Political Rally is a post from: The Inquisitr

A Philippine volcano killed at least five climbers and injured more than a dozen others after it spewed huge rocks and ash just after daybreak on Tuesday.

Officials announced the deaths as rescue teams and helicopters rushed to Mayon volcano to bring out the dead and rescue the remaining hikers.

At least seven more hikers were injured from a group of 20 mountaineers surprised by the sudden eruption of one of the Philippines’ most active volcanoes. Despite its frequent eruption history, officials were surprised by the small eruption, which was the volcano’s first in three years.

Guide Kenneth Jesalva reported from a camp near the crater that the climbers killed in the eruption were struck by huge rocks. Some of the boulders were the size of living rooms. He added that he was in the group that spent the night on the mountain, known for its almost-perfect cone.

But the volcano sprang to life early in the morning, sending rocks “as big as a living room” raining down on the mountaineers. Jesalva reported rushing back to the closest base camp to call for help.

Those killed included a German, and Austrian, and a Filipino. Eduardo del Rosario, chief of the national disaster agency, added that the injured included foreigners and Filipino guides, some of whom were in critical condition.

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology issued an advisory calling the volcano as “small phreatic event,” which lasted about 73 seconds. In that time, it sent ash 500 meters into the air. No intensification of activity was noted, so the alert level was not raised.

The Institute cautioned, however, that small steam and ash ejections may happen with little or no warning. It advised against entering the four-mile Permanent Danger Zone around Mayon. The mountain has erupted at least 48 times since records started. The most recent eruption occurred in 2009, forcing tens of thousands of local residents to flee their homes.

Despite the number affected, the 2009 eruption paled in comparison to Mayon’s eruption in 1814. The disaster killed more than 1,200 people and decimated several towns.

There is no word on when the identities of the five hikers killed by the Philippine volcano will be released.

[Image via Merrijill A. Medenilla]

Philippine Volcano Kills Five Hikers In Eruption is a post from: The Inquisitr

Israel sought on Monday to explain to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that its airstrikes inside the neighbor country did not aim to weaken the Syrian regime.

Instead, Israel maintained that the strikes were aimed at stopping Hezbollah from getting shipments of missiles supplied from Iran. The missiles were reportedly being held near the Syrian capital.

Intelligence sources have said that Israel’s airstrikes in Syria were aimed at Iranian-supplied missiles stored near the Syrian capital on Friday and Sunday. The missiles were reportedly awaiting transfer to a Hezbollah guerrilla group in Lebanon.

Syria was upset by the airstrikes, which the government condemned, calling it a “declaration of war.” The Syrian government has vowed to take unspecified actions in retaliation to the strikes.

Veteran Israeli lawmaker Tzachi Hanegbi stated on Israel Radio that the Netanyahu government was hoping to avoid “an increase in tension with Syria by making it clear that if there is activity, it is only against Hezbollah, not against the Syrian regime.” The country has not confirmed it was the one to launch attacks on its northern neighbor.

Despite assuring it meant no harm to the Syrian government, Hanegbi added that Israel is ready for any development should the Syrians misinterpret messages it has sent. He added the country is prepared “to respond harshly if there is aggression against us.” Israel has deployed two of its five Iron Dome rocket interceptors near the Syrian and Lebanese fronts as a precaution.

Following the two airstrikes, Syria accused Israel of belligerence aimed at helping the opposition forces who have been trying to topple the government for more than two years. Oil prices also hit more than $105 per barrel, their highest in almost a month, after the airstrikes spread the fear of a spillover of the conflict into the rest of the Middle East.

Along with Hanegbi, Yair Golan, the general commanding Israeli forces on the Syrian and Lebanese fronts, stated, “There are no winds of war.” He added to reporters while out jogging with his troops, “Do you see tension? There is no tension. Do I look tense to you?”

It is not clear if Syria will accept the explanation by Israeli officials for the reported airstrikes.

Israel Tells Syria Airstrikes Were Against Hezbollah, Not Regime is a post from: The Inquisitr

A missing plane was found in Russia’s Urals Mountains by two hunters almost one year after the craft first disappeared. The plane, an An-2 light biplane, took off without permission on June 11, 2012 and was not seen again until Saturday night.

Two hunters found the aircraft’s wreckage in marshlands just eight kilometers from where it took off from the airport in Serov with a pilot and 12 passengers on board.

Official search efforts for the plane were called off four months later. Investigators believed that the group on board took an unscheduled flight after a drinking session. The missing, including Serov’s traffic police chief, may have been on a fishing trip or on their way to a Russian-style sauna when the airplane disappeared.

Along with finding the missing plane, body parts of 11 people were also discovered at the site. The wreckage of the craft was identified as an An-2 similar to the one that disappeared last year.

Russia’s Interior Ministry released a statement about finding the missing plane, saying:

“At first, they took the strange structure in the swamp for the collapsed power line pylon and set up a camp nearby, but when they approached it they understood that it was, in fact, the missing plane.”

Despite the crash site being relatively close to Serov, Russia where the plane took off from, it is in a difficult to reach area accessibly only by smaller vehicles. A helicopter will likely be used to remove the debris of the plane from its resting place in the swamp.

While the investigation is ongoing, investigators have listed three potential causes of the crash. Those include a technical fault, pilot error, or a combination of both. The weather conditions could also have been a factor. Police stated that it will be more difficult to determine what happened, because the missing plane found this weekend did not have a flight recorder, also called the black box.

[Image via Nigel Wilson]

Missing Plane Found In Russia’s Urals Mountains is a post from: The Inquisitr

North Korea has removed two missiles on the country’s coastline, reducing tensions on the Korean peninsula after weeks of heated rhetoric.

A US official confirmed the isolated state has withdrawn two Musudan missiles, each with a range of 4,000 kilometers, from a launch site on its east coast.

The removal of the missiles follows threats made last month, in which the hermit state threatened nuclear strikes and attacks on specific targets in the US and South Korea.

The missiles had been ready to launch at any moment, but North Korea had now “moved them”, confirmed an anonymous US defense official to the AFP news agency.

Pentagon spokesman George Little declined to comment directly on the missiles, but did tell reporters:

“What we have seen recently is a provocation pause. And we think that’s obviously beneficial to efforts to ensure we have peace and stability on the Korean peninsula.”

Tensions on the Korean peninsula were ratcheted up earlier this year when the regime in Pyongyang issued a series of bellicose statements. As well as threats of nuclear strikes against South Korea and the US, North Korea closed down a factory complex run jointly with South Korea and restarted a cobwebbed nuclear reactor.

The North has repeatedly stated it is reacting to fresh UN sanctions (enforced after North Korea conducted nuclear tests) and annual US-South Korea military drills, which finished a week ago.

North Korea’s decision to remove its missiles from the coast fits with a now-familiar cycle. In the past, Pyongyang has deliberately stoked regional tensions and made demands of its perceived enemies before toning down its threatening stance.

North Korea Missiles Removed From Coastal Launching Site is a post from: The Inquisitr

In Britain, a new study has revealed that the numbers of white Britons leaving areas where they are in the minority is on the rise.

The phenomenon has long been described as ”white flight,” but a leading think-tank says the figures indicate Britain is “sleepwalking into segregation.”

According to a new study by the Demos think tank, the white Britons who leave former areas, are being replaced by immigrants and other ethnic minorities.

As a result, nearly half of the ethnic minorities in the UK — over 4 million — now live in areas where white people make up less than half of the population.

Demos says areas where whites are now a minority have become populated by new British minorities like Somalis, as more established ethnic minorities like Afro-Caribbeans move on.

In 2001, census figures showed one million ethnic minorities lived in the UK. Numbers have now jumped to 4.6 million — about 45 % of the UK’s Black and Asian population, who now live in areas where white people make up less than half the total.

The study’s findings appear to show more ethnic minority families are moving into city areas previously occupied by a majority white demographic.

In 2001, in what are called council wards in the UK — equivalent to a borough in the US —  5,000 council wards had a 98 per cent white population. Today, only 800 wards out of 8,850 have less than a 2 per cent ethnic minority base.

Trevor Phillips, former Equality and Human Rights Commission chairman, told  UK media outlets that the figures were “not good news for integration,” adding that they should make us “a little anxious.”

His words, echo his observation back in 2005 that Britain was “sleepwalking into segregation.”

The UK’s immigration policy substantially opened up after the second world war to help with rebuilding Britain and throughout, before another major push in 1997 when the incoming Labour government relaxed immigration rules to open up the economy.

According to on record statistics, more than 600,000 white British Londoners  left the capital in the last ten years. Meanwhile, London’s immigrant population rose by more than a million to 8.2 million, over the same period.

David Goodhart, the director of Demos told the UK’s Daily Mail:

“The greater concentration of the ethnic minority population means there is less opportunity for interaction with the white mainstream,” which would lead to ‘limited familiarity with majority cultural codes.’”

The study is seen as  significant because the patterns it reveals suggest ethnic minorities and whites are separating from each other in British life rather than becoming more integrated in a “multi-cultural” Britain.

Britain: ‘Sleepwalking Into Segregation?’ New Study Reveals ‘White Flight’ Rise is a post from: The Inquisitr

The owner of a collapsed building in Bangladesh is facing murder charges in the deaths of at least 622 factory workers. The workers died when the building — which housed four garment factories, a bank, and numerous shops — collapsed on April 24.

The government has blamed the collapse on the building’s faulty, illegal construction. The owner of the Rana Plaza building, Mohammed Sohel Rana, was arrested four days after the disaster while he was reportedly trying to flee the country.

The wife of a garment worker killed in the incident filed the murder complaint against Rana on Sunday. Murder complaints have also been filed against the owner of one garment factory, as well as a municipal engineer in the suburb of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka.

Rana and the others in police custody could face the death penalty if they are convicted of murder or mass manslaughter. Hundreds of relatives gathered at the site of the Bangladesh building collapse on Sunday, with some holding up photographs of those they lost.

A teen girl broke down in tears as she recognized the body of her mother by her dress. Fifty-three bodies were recovered from the building’s rubble on Sunday. Rescue workers reported seeing more still trapped in the rubble. Because of decomposition and injuries, authorities are having a difficult time identifying those killed in the collapse.

They have been using ID cards found on the bodies or even the victims’ mobile phones to identify them. The building collapse well surpassed the mark of being the country’s worst industrial disaster ever.

Rana appeared in court last Monday in front of a crowd of protesters, who demanded he be hanged for his part in the collapse. The man is the local leader of the Awami League’s youth front. The woman who lodged the murder complaint against him stated that her husband was forced to go to work in the factory, despite huge cracks appearing in the walls of the building the day before.

Along with being the country’s worst industrial accident on record, the Bangladesh building collapse surpassed the world record for the worst industrial incident ever.

Bangladesh Building Owner Facing Murder Charges As Death Toll Hits 622 is a post from: The Inquisitr

A top Syrian official called the latest Israeli airstrikes on the country a “declaration of war.” The announcement came on Sunday after a series of massive explosions illuminated the sky over Damascus, Syria’s capital.

The explosions reignited claims by Syria that Israel was launching airstrikes within the country. Officials added that the latest target was a military research facility located outside Damascus.

Syrian authorities have vowed to retaliate against Israel, though they did not specify what action they plan to take against their southern neighbor. The Israeli military would not confirm or deny the claims of a new airstrike.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed his “grave concern” about reports of Israeli airstrikes in Syria, though he stressed that the UN is not “in a position to independently verify what has occurred.” Ban’s press office added:

“[He] calls on all sides to … act with a sense of responsibility to prevent an escalation of what is already a devastating and highly dangerous conflict.”

Sunday’s explosions near Damascus are the third time Israel has been accused of launching attacks inside Syria so far this year. Syria’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Faisal al-Mekdad, also warned on Sunday that “Israeli aggression opens the door to all possibilities.” He added that action will be taken for the attack “in our own time and way.”

Amateur video footage of the reported Israeli airstrike near Damascus showed flames lighting up the night sky while multiple explosions can be heard, lasing several minutes. The incident happened near Mount Qasioun, which is home to several military installations.

While Syria claimed the target was a research facility, some reports suggested the facility actually housed some of the regime’s chemical weapons. However, another report suggested the compound was where the Fateh-110 missiles were being held. The missiles include an elaborate guidance system that can reach Tel Aviv from south Lebanon. Israel has accused Syria of building up an arsenal of the long-range weapons which can reach far into the Jewish state.

It is not yet clear what the possible retaliation will be by Syria for the reported Israeli airstrikes.

Syria Calls Israeli Airstrikes ‘Declaration Of War’ is a post from: The Inquisitr

Explosions in Damascus rocked the capital of Syria for the second time in three days, as reports of the airstrike poured in on social and conventional media.

According to an unnamed source, Israel struck a research center near Damascus which was developing Fateh-110 missiles with advanced guidance systems. Other reports say that the facility was an arms storage depot. Whatever it was, the highly visible explosions near Syria’s capital were filmed and uploaded to YouTube in a matter of hours.

Israel hasn’t given very complete details of the airstrike, but an Israeli military statement acknowledged that it had deployed two rocket defense batteries near its northern border.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry sent a letter Sunday to the United Nations complaining about the attacks within their borders, directly accusing Israel of aggression and saying that several people had been wounded.

“The Israeli attack on military sites in Syria is proof that there is communication between Israel and the terrorist groups who take their orders from al-Qaeda,” said a report on the Syrian state television. The Syrian government has frequently accused the rebel forces of being terrorists.

Late last week, most intelligence sources including the US Department of Defense concluded that Israel had likely conducted an airstrike in Lebanon to stop advanced missiles from Syria being delivered to the Hezbollah terror group.

While being somewhat cagey with details, Israeli officials said that they wouldn’t tolerate the delivery of chemical or advanced weapons to Hezbollah.

Later, both Israeli and US officials acknowledged that a shipment of advanced missiles had been destroyed in a Friday strike near the Damascus airport.

Syria didn’t acknowledge the strike at first. However, with social media recording the many explosions around Damascus, they couldn’t ignore the new bombing.

Here’s video of one of the explosions from global network NewsLIVE:

[Israeli airforce photo courtesy Israel Defense Forces via Wikipedia Commons]

Damascus Explosions: Syria Reports Israeli Airstrike [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

President Richard Nixon’s grandson is in China to retrace his grandfather‘s famous 1972 trip to the country.

34-year-old Christopher Nixon Cox has visited China before on 15 separate occasions, but this trip is a little different. Organized by the Nixon Foundation (a branch of the late president’s library in California) and the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, it falls in the same year of the president’s 100th birthday.

Nixon’s 1972 trip to China did much to thaw relations between the US and China, with the president later describing it as “the week that changed the world.” Now, Cox is following in the footsteps of his late grandfather, who passed away in 1994.

“I remember my grandfather telling me that to have one billion of the world’s most hard-working and talented people in isolation is something that is dangerous for the world,” Cox says in a Los Angeles Times interview. “He felt that a prosperous China was critical for peace and stability. He would be amazed [at modern China].”

China’s startling economic growth in recent decades was also noted by Jack Brennan. Brennan, a retired Marine Corps colonel, was the only member of the delegation with Nixon’s grandson in China to have gone on the 1972 trip. He told the Times:

“It feels like this country has advanced a couple of centuries. In 1972, there was just a small landing strip for the airport. When we drove in, we hardly saw any people and only a few Soviet-made cars. When it snowed, instead of snowplows there were hundreds and hundreds of Chinese sweeping the streets with brooms.”

While Cox’s visit may lack the diplomatic weight of his grandfather’s visit, there is a chance the visit could boost Cox’s own political ambitions. The investment banker ran unsuccessfully in 2010 in the Republican primary for a New York congressional seat.

He admits to the Times that the Nixon name is useful in making contacts:

“People usually figure it out when we exchange business cards, and it is definitely an icebreaker. But beyond that you still have to bring something to the table and live on your wit.”

Nixon Grandson In China To Retrace President’s 1972 Visit is a post from: The Inquisitr

A research facility in Damascus, Syria, was rocked by explosions on Sunday in an attack said to be from Israel.

The attack happened in the pre-dawn hours on Sunday, Syria’s state news agency reported, believed to be the second Israeli strike in Syria in three days. It marks a growing involvement for Israel in Syria’s prolonged civil war and a new attack against Hezbollah.

The attack reportedly came against trucks next to the research facility that held SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles.

Israel has said that it would make strikes against facilities helping to arm Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia and enemy of the Jewish state. Israel made strikes in January and February against weapons bound for Hezbollah.

“Initial reports point to these explosions being a result of Israeli missiles that targeted the research center in Jamraya,” Syrian news agency SANA said. The attack in January was also in Jamraya.

Video said to be of Israel’s attack in Syria made its way online late Saturday, matching international reports of the incident. It showed the night sky suddenly erupting in an explosion and fireball.

Israel had already confirmed a strike in Syria on Friday, one targeting surface-to-air missiles reportedly headed to Hezbollah.

“The Israelis, justifiably, have to guard against the transfer of advanced weaponry to terrorist organizations like Hezbollah,” President Obama said after Friday’s strike.

The missiles struck in Friday’s attack had been shipped from Iran  and were being stored in a warehouse at Damascus International Airport, an American official said.

Hezbollah is seen as a strong ally for President Bashar al-Assad is he is forced to abandon they Syrian capital of Damascus. This would force him to take refuge in an Iranian-backed state on the Syrian coast, an area that is now a Hezbollah stronghold.

“The relationship between Hezbollah and the Assad regime is stronger now,” Talal Atrissi, a professor at Lebanese University in Beirut who has good relations with Hezbollah, told the New York Times.

Here is the reported video of Israel’s strike in Damascus, Syria:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e84pVGsP6YU

[Photo courtesy Israel Defense Forces via Wikipedia Commons]

Syria Attack: Damascus Rocked By Explosions, Israel Said To Be Responsible is a post from: The Inquisitr

Authorities say at least two people died and 14 were injured after a train carrying chemicals derailed and caught on fire in Belgium.

According to Infrabel, the organization responsible for the Belgian railway network, the accident occurred Saturday around 2:00 am local time as the train changed tracks between the towns of Schellebelle and Wetteren.

Six of the train’s 13 cars derailed and two were thrown on to their side by the force of derailment.

The train, which was reportedly loaded down with the toxic chemical compound acrylonitrile, was traveling from the Netherlands to Ghent’s seaport.

The blaze caused by the crash led to a series of explosions in the railway cars, prompting authorities to evacuate residents living more than 500 yards from the site of the accident.

Residents living within 1000 yards of where the train derailed were also warned to stay indoors with their windows shut.

“There is a problem of poisoning linked to the smoke,” Interior Minister Joelle Milquet said. “But there is also another reaction, since some of the chemical product went into the drains and caused a kind of chemical reaction with gases that are toxic and escaped into certain streets beyond the perimeter that had already been evacuated due to the fire.”

The International Business Times notes two similar accidents involving trains carrying tanks of toxic products occurred in Belgium in May 2012.

Here is raw video footage of Saturday’s train crash in Belgium:

While the rail service has not commented on the cause of the crash observers said the train might have been traveling too fast.

The train derailment comes less than month after a bus carrying Russian school children crashed into a ravine in northern Belgium.

Belgium Train Crash Leaves Two Dead, 14 Injured [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Authorities say four people were killed and six more were injured over the weekend during a drive-by shooting in eastern Puerto Rico.

According to Puerto Rican newspaper El Nuevo Dia, a group of gunmen opened fire Saturday into a crowded barbeque restaurant in the central mountain town of Aguas Buenas.

Police reports identified the victims to be Marin Cotto, 45, and her daughter Griselda of Jesus Cotto, 17; Mansueta Manuel Hernandez, 55, and Luis D. González Torres, 32.

The six injured were rushed to the nearby Hospital Aguas Buenas were they were treated for gunshot wounds.

Police say one of the injured, 24-year-old Cardona Garcia, is in critical condition after being airlifted to a specialty clinic for an emergency surgery.

“This patient was transported by air ambulance facilities last night at the Emergency Medical Center. He was treated by the doctor of emergency medicine and trauma surgery Stabilization Unit, later taken to the operating room, “said Rio Piedras Medical Center director Dr. Israel Ayala.

“He’s recovering from surgery and you have to give time for the body to react, respond, to all treatment. In the next 48 hours we will have a clearer idea of ​​the prognosis,” Ayala added.

ABC reports since the shooting, no one has been arrested, and police say they don’t yet have a motive.

Image: Shutterstock

Puerto Rico Shooting: 4 Killed, 6 Injured When Gunmen Open Fire At Crowded Restaurant is a post from: The Inquisitr

The bodies of 2 US crew members was found at a crash site in Kyrgyzstan after a military refueling plane went down in an area of rugged mountains.

Search teams found the 2 bodies on Saturday in a region of Kyrgyzstan that supports US military operations in Afghanistan. The KC-135 plane crashed on Friday afternoon, about 100 miles west of the US base.

It wasn’t yet known what caused the crash.

“It could be because of the fuel, because of the engine, the weather conditions or the human factor,” said Kuvan Mamakeev, the Kyrgyz state prosecutor who investigated accidents and crashes.

While the 2 bodies were found at the crash site, a third crew member remained missing. There were dozens of military personnel searching the area on Saturday, with the crash site being roped off for safety.

Authorities said the crash sent pieces of the plane scattered across a wide area, and the bodies found so far had been fragmented. The tail came down in a grassy valley, while other parts landed on parts of the mountain not easily accessed by search crews.

“I heard a very loud explosion,” Emil Bokochev, a member of the village council, told a reporter from The Associated Press at the site. “Literally six or seven seconds afterward there was another explosion and the plane broke apart into four or five pieces and at that moment we thought it was going to fall on the village Chaldovar.”

The base serves an an interim point for troops entering or leaving Afghanistan, and it houses a refueling tanker for fighter jets. The US reached an agreement with the Kyrgyz government for $60 million a year, but the base has been a point of contention. The lease on the base ends in June 2014, and Kyrgyzstan is said to be against US plans to extend it.

Along with recovering the 2 bodies found at the crash site, crews also had to deal with a spill of the thousands of pounds of fuel on board.

2 US Crew Members Bodies Found At Crash Site In Kyrgyzstan is a post from: The Inquisitr

Israel has bombed a Syria-backed missile transfer in an airstrike that occurred on Thursday or Friday. Although the details are still emerging, it appears that Israel acted to stop a delivery of advanced missiles to the Hezbollah terror organization, according to rumors being reported by multiple media sources. According to CNN, two unnamed US officials said that the Pentagon is aware of the strike but is still gathering intelligence.

CCN’s sources said that Israeli planes didn’t need to enter Syria to conduct the strike. The mission coincides with a Lebanese Army claim that Israeli warplanes entered Lebanon’s airspace between Thursday evening and Friday afternoon.

While Israel hadn’t commented officially at the time of writing, an unnamed source told CNN that,”We will do whatever is necessary to stop the transfer of weapons from Syria to terrorist organizations.”

The rumored strike comes after days of White House speculation about the possible use of chemical weapons in Syria. Despite some early rumors that Israel had bombed a Syrian chemical weapons site, sources like The New York Times are now saying that the target was a shipment of highly advanced missiles headed for Hezbollah’s Shiite militia.

According to the NYT, a senior Israeli official told them: “Chemicals maybe get a lot of press and attention, but one of the clear things worrying us is advanced conventional weapons.”

Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad has a close relationship with Hezbollah, and the troubled nation has served as a gateway for shipping weapons to the group.

Hezbollah and Syria haven’t acknowledged the Israeli bombing, which would be a propaganda as well as a military win both for Israeli and rebel forces in Syria.

One of those unnamed rebels told Reuters that, “There were three strikes by Israeli F-16 jets that damaged a convoy carrying anti-aircraft missiles heading to the Shi’ite Lebanese party (Hezbollah) along the Damascus-Beirut military road.”

On Friday night, the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. issued a statement that said that Israel wouldn’t permit “the transfer of chemical weapons or other game-changing weaponry by the Syrian regime to terrorists, specially to Hezbollah in Lebanon.”

Defense Ministry strategist Amos Gilad said in a speech that Hezbollah doesn’t have either chemical weapons or the advanced missiles. Israel intends to keep it that way, even at the cost of an Israeli bombing run against Syria’s weapon transfers.

[Israeli airforce photo courtesy Israel Defense Forces via Wikipedia Commons]

Israel Bombs Syria-Backed Missile Delivery To Hezbollah is a post from: The Inquisitr