The 2011 Global Burden of Armed Violence report has revealed that more people are killed each year by armed violence than war.

According to the study of the 526,000 people who die violenty every year 55,000 are killed during warfare while 396,000 are murdered outside of armed conflict. A remaining 54,000 people also die due to “unintentional violence” while 21,000 are killed by police operations.

The study also found that Latin American and several other middle African regions are the hardest hit by street violence and unintentional violence.

In a scary statistic the study revealed that  El Salvador, Iraq and Jamaica account for more than a quarter of all global violent deaths despite housing less than 5 percent of the world’s population.

One of the hardest hit areas was Mexico’s Chihuahua state which witnessed 129 violent deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in 2010, largely due to armed drug gangs that have been competing to expand their territory.

The study also revealed that while most violent deaths happen to men there are still approximately 66,000 women killed each year. Interesting in the most violent countries there tends to actually be less female deaths when compared to less violent regions.

Does the 2011 Global Burden of Armed Violence report surprise you? With the number of people engaged in war compared to non-war participants the numbers in many ways make sense but still show a scary number of violent deaths internationally.

Violent Crimes Kill More People Than War [Study] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Think of the kids and dump all that soda from the fridge right now before they go all Natural Born Killer on you.

Well, okay maybe it’s not that bad but according to a new study conducted by David Hemingway and Sara Solnick where they followed 1,878 Boston high school students and kept track of their soft drink consumption they found that students that drank more than 5 non-diet soda a week were 9-15% more likely to turn aggressive.

They go on to state in the paper that heavy use of carbonated non-diet soft drinks was significantly associated with carrying a gun or knife, and that violence towards their peers, family members. Now the two researchers didn’t come right out and say that over consuming soda drinks leads to violent behavior but they did note that the “soda-violence” boost remained after factoring out things like race, age, body mass, tobacco  and drug use.

Now before you fall off your chair laughing yourself silly, which I have already done twice while trying to write this post, the researchers say that there is still a lot more studying to be done before they can come to any conclusive conclusion when it comes to soda influenced violence; but you can read what they have found out so far over here.

via Geekosystem

All that soda could be turning our kids violent says new study is a post from: The Inquisitr

For the past few days hell has come to London Town with what seems like unending violence radiating outward to other English towns. Everyone from the rich to the poor are targets for what first started out as a protest against the death of a teenage at the hands of the police, but has now spread well beyond that.

Shops, businesses, and homes are being set on fire as well as senseless violence against innocent citizens being committed by what amounts to simple mindless thugs.

With reports of citizens fighting back via the Internet where the pictures of the people committing this violence are being posted for people to identify and pass on to the police it is no wonder that anyone with a camera is a target for violence.

At the forefront of this are the great number of journalist and photojournalists documenting this horrendous event that is tearing the country apart. We are hearing of increasing number of these journalists and photojournalists being purposefully targeted to the point some are even wearing helmets and bulletproof jackets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIwXNXe_0dU&w=550

[London Riots] Journalists and photojournalists latest targets of violence – Video is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s got the guns. It’s got the blood. It’s got the … blocks. It’s LEGO MEETS CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS. And it is flippin’ ace:

See also: [VIDEO] Aaaaaawesome: Stop motion Mario movie made from Post-Its

[YouTube, via Geekologie]

[VIDEO] LEGO/Call of Duty stop motion is bloody, blocky, brilliant is a post from: The Inquisitr

A French gamer who I’m guessing may have anger issues spent seven months hunting down a fellow gamer after his rival killed his in-game character in a knife fight.

Julien Barreaux, 20, saw his character killed in a virtual knife scrap last November in the popular online shooter Counter-Strike. Barreaux then spent over half a year hunting down the perpetrator, a gamer named only as Mikhael, so he could stab him for real in revenge. Egads.

When poor, unsuspecting Mikhael answered his door to Barreaux a few weeks ago, he got a knife in the chest for his troubles, just one inch from his heart. Barreaux would later tell police he has “wanted to see his rival wiped out for killing off his character.”

Barreaux was jailed for two years for grievous bodily harm, and ordered to undergo psychiatric tests and anger management therapy.

[Telegraph, via Geekologie]

WTF?: Gamer stabs opponent after in-game knife kill in Counter-Strike is a post from: The Inquisitr

We’ve all been there: our internet connection slows down, and suddenly we’re off doing some murdering. Tsch. Us gamers just can’t seem to help it.

That is, if you believe Sweden’s Metro newspaper. According to the Scandinavian rag, an 18-year-old StarCraft player was made so angry by his internet connection dropping when he tried to play the acclaimed RTS online that he went outside and stabbed a 15-year-old girl.

That’s it. The only reason behind this attack was a slow internet connection and an inability to play StarCraft. No other issues there at all. Nosirree.

Apparently, the unnamed gamer picked up a kitchen knife and headed into the street, and attacked the girl who was “on her way home from a party and laughing with a friend.” And all because of evil games. Thankfully, the girl’s injuries were not life-threatening, but that didn’t stop the troubled teen from being sentenced to psychiatric care for what is his first offense.

AS ENCOURAGED BY STARCRAFT.

[Metro (Swedish), via SK Gaming, via Hot Blooded Gaming, via Kotaku]

StarCraft player enraged by slow internet connection stabs girl is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Chinese and German governments aren’t the only ones to flinch at the mere thought of videogame violence – Venezuela isn’t too keen on the likes of Manhunt 2 (above) either.

A new bill is currently doing the rounds in Venezuela’s parliament that could see all violent videogames banned from sale in the country. The Bill for the Prohibition of Video Games and Toy Weapons – yes, they’re attempting to ban water pistols – has already been approved by the National Assembly in the first of two debates. If it passes debate number two, and is rubber-stamped by the President, M-rated videogames will no longer exist in Venezuela.

From that point on, Venezuelans who are caught selling or distributing such games in the country will be slapped with a colossal fine. Venezuela’s politicians are allegedly concerned with the effect of game violence on kids (yeah, that old chestnut).

True, Venezuela might not have a games market the size of the U.S. or Europe, but it’s the principle, folks. While film and other media remains comparatively unchecked, games are once again getting it in the neck (if you’ll excuse the violent analogy).

[Via Kotaku]

Venezuela could veto violent videogames is a post from: The Inquisitr

Three people are dead due to religious rioting in southern India after some jackass threw a pig.

More than a dozen people were hurt in the rioting, which stems from an the incident where a dead pig was tossed into an under-construction mosque. (Some reports say it was a school.)

Upon discovery of the offending swine, an angry mob convened and got all stabby. Three people have died so far, including a 15-year-old kid. Tear gas, “bamboo sticks” and random shooting has quelled the tantrums outbreaks for the time being, and crowds larger than five have been temporarily banned from gathering.

In India, dead pig + Mosque= dead people is a post from: The Inquisitr

There’s nothing like a few rounds of Doom 3 or a bit of mayhem in GTA to ease the stress of the day. Sure there’s a lot of nonsense about violent video games being responsible for people committing violent acts but to date there has been no (reputable) conclusive studies that have proven that argument.

This fact apparently hasn’t stopped the German government from moving forward with a plan to ban all violent video games, which they define as “where the main part is to realistically play the killing of people or other cruel or inhuman acts of violence against humans or manlike characters”. Not only that but the ban would be applicable to video game companies operating in Germany making it illegal to even create such games.

Well that pretty well means about 90% of the games on the market today as well as the majority of games that are created every year. Plus let’s not forget that Crysis from Crytek – a German based company – would no longer be able to see any future versions being created.

The government’s reasoning for this ban? As usual it stems from some teenager going on a killing spree and blaming on playing some video game for hours on end prior to thinking they could do it for real.

Why all the panic over video games? The usual stuff, really: Their potential link to violence, particularly among youths. Earlier this year a German teenager killed more than a dozen people while dressed in black camouflage, purportedly copying moves learned in the terrorism-focused Counter-Strike. Such links are extremely controversial, but Germany has been at the forefront of lambasting violent games for years as causing these incidents.

Source: Yahoo Tech News

Germany getting ready to ban all violent video games is a post from: The Inquisitr