Satya Sai Baba, death of a spiritual rock star...

Baba died this morning of April 24, 2011. According to his own spiritual calculations, he was scheduled to depart earth in 2022. While I understand the grief of the followers, I do not understand the disposition towards worship. I usually do not fathom any kind of mass belief, so this is not to single out an individual. Not individual, say the faithful, it is Bhagwan. We need gods. Sachin Tendulkar is god, and Sachin was not going to celebrate his birthday because he wanted to pray for Satya Sai Baba’s recovery.

At 85, he did lead a full life. He was known for his miracles, more magical than any magician’s. Unfortunately, his own bodily organs failed and no doctors could revive them. Strangely enough, even the prayers of the devotees could not nor his own divine powers.

This is a profound disclosure of the spirituality business. Many people need guidance; many people suffer from some sort of misery. Wealth, education and even therapy do not work. They prefer being part of a gathering where a guru offers solace by the mere fact of her/his existence. It is a rockstar phenomenon, a classic case of collective catharsis. More...

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6. The Great Tantra Crap...
7. American paid Swami Nityananda $400,000 for "instant enlightenment!"  

Steve Jobs: iPhones don't track you but Google's Android does!!!

Steve Jobs has responded to the mounting questions about iPhones collecting location data for up to a year - a revelation that could lead to privacy investigations by some European governments.

In a characteristically terse email, apparently sent directly from his iPhone, the Apple chief executive - who is officially on medical leave from his company, and has been seen only briefly in public since January - insisted that "we don't track anyone", and instead aimed his ire at Google, claiming that "they do" track users.

The exchange, documented by a reader of the MacRumors website who emailed Jobs (whose address is well-known online), appears to be legitimate. Apple has not commented on its provenance. More...

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2. Apple under pressure to explain iPhone, iPad location tracking...
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More dead as Syria sends out tanks onto streets...

More deaths have been reported in Syria where thousands of troops backed by tanks and heavy armour have swept into the volatile town of Deraa in the south of the country and the large Damascus suburb of Douma.

Security forces also continued a crackdown in the coastal town of Jableh for a second day.

Al Jazeera's Rula Amin, reporting from Damascus, said the government's offensive on Monday was an "unprecedented" offensive against the wave of dissent that has swept the country since the uprising began on March 15.

Witnesses in Deraa told news agencies on Monday that at least five people had been killed when gunmen opened fire on a car. More...

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1. This is what's happening in Syria (WARNING. Extremely graphic)
2. Syria should be investigated for human rights violations...
3. Bloody Friday in Syria as 60 protestors are shot dead...
4. Bahrain's secret terror... 
5. Outrage at dictators invited to royal wedding... 

You're not a prince, I'm not your subject...

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3. Pink: Dear Mr.President
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5. Remember me? Do you care? I'm from Iraq...
6. The children of Bhopal... 

English teen charged with stealing double-decker bus!!!

A teenager has been arrested and charged in connection with the theft of a double-decker bus in the Lake District

Jamie Christopher Hoare, 18, of High Lea Walk, Barrow, was charged yesterday with aggravated taking without the consent of the owner, criminal damage, driving without insurance, driving whilst disqualified and driving while his alcohol level was over the legal limit.

The bus was taken from Barrow, Cumbria at 3.45am yesterday and was spotted by a police patrol when it was driving without lights on the A590 towards Ulverston.

A 50mph chase along the dual carriage ensued when the driver ignored police signals to pull over, before it crashed into the Brettargh Holt roundabout near Kendal.

Hoare suffered "serious but non life-threatening" injuries and was taken to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary.

He is due to appear in Kendal Magistrates' Court today. Source...

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2. President of Czech Republic steals pen during diplomatic visit???
3. Thieves in Malaysia steal $1.5 million worth of condoms!!!
4. Priest stole from church funds ... to pay for porn!!!
5. Taiwan police buy bike thief a new bike!!! 

Bahrain's secret terror...

The intimidation and detention of doctors treating dying and injured pro-democracy protesters in Bahrain is revealed today in a series of chilling emails obtained by The Independent.

At least 32 doctors, including surgeons, physicians, paediatricians and obstetricians, have been arrested and detained by Bahrain's police in the last month in a campaign of intimidation that runs directly counter to the Geneva Convention guaranteeing medical care to people wounded in conflict. Doctors around the world have expressed their shock and outrage.

One doctor, an intensive care specialist, was held after she was photographed weeping over a dead protester. Another was arrested in the theatre room while operating on a patient. More...

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2. Bahrain: torture in hospitals and attacks on innocent people...(Graphic)
3. Bahraini forces rape and kill poetess Ayat al-Ghermezi...
4. Fourth person dies in police custody in Bahrain...
5. Bahrain cops in drive-by shoot and kill... 

Australians rescue alcohol but left injured man to die...

A group of Australians went to the effort of rescuing cases of alcohol that fell off the back of their pick-up after a night out but left a man to die who had fallen off with them, police said on Sunday.

A number of the group were thrown from the back of the vehicle as it rounded a corner close to midnight Saturday in the country’s rural southeast, shortly after leaving a local bar in the town of Maude.

One man, 31, hit his head on the road, sustaining fatal injuries.

“It will be alleged that the driver and remaining passengers picked up a number of cartons of alcohol which had fallen from the vehicle, placed them back on the tray, and then drove off, leaving the critically injured man on the road,” police said. More...

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1. Aussie seat belt situation: is a case of beer more important than a child?
2. He offers to trade his baby ... in exchange for beer!!!
3. German sells his wife for a crate of beer!!!
4. Kiwis at Munich's Oktoberfest drank vomit and urine...
5. Man in India sells his daughter in auction to buy alcohol!!!
6. Spanish man drinks with mates with girlfriend's head in a bag... 

Delhi Commonwealth Games chief Suresh Kalmadi arrested...

The chief organiser of the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi has been arrested following an investigation into allegations of corruption.

Suresh Kalmadi was removed from his post in January.

Police say he will be charged with conspiracy regarding the awarding of commercial contracts for the Games - he denies any wrongdoing.

The build-up to the Games, held in the capital in October, was marred by allegations of sleaze and incompetence.

A spokesman for India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said Mr Kalmadi was arrested "for conspiracy to cause favour to a company in Switzerland while procuring timers and scoring equipment for the Games". More...

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1. Two Delhi Commonwealth Games officials arrested on corruption charges...
2. A more sinister pattern of corruption emerging in India...
3. A tale of two games exposes China-India gulf...
4. Commonwealth Games, a failure of "just-in-time" planning... 
5. Massive amounts of India's dirty money hding in Swiss banks? 

Lil Buck and Yo-Yo Ma...

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1. Some black dudes dancin' in the rain...
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British teachers warned about becoming friends with pupils on Facebook...

Teachers have been told not to add their pupils as Facebook friends amid renewed warning to keep their personal and private lives separate.

An internet security expert told the National Union of Teachers conference that pupils are increasingly ridiculing and humiliating teachers on the social networking site.

School heads and governors are also using the site to screen potential candidates.

Many teachers have already been humiliated by unwise use of Facebook including headteacher Belinda Langley-Bliss. More...

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1. Singapore teacher criticizes students' essays on Facebook!!!
2. School principals trawl web to 'dig up the dirt on teachers'
3. 6 girls arrested for Facebook "Attack a Teacher Day"
4. Why your boss is tracking your Facebook account...
5. Teachers warned about being "friends" with students on Facebook...
6. New York teachers fired for flirting with students on Facebook!!! 

TSA: an army of perverts and criminals...

Thomas Gordon Jr. of Philadelphia, a TSA “screener,” was arrested on March 24 and charged with distributing more than 100 images of child pornography via Facebook. He allegedly uploaded explicit pictures of young girls and also is said to have posted a photograph of himself in his TSA uniform, Fox News reported on Saturday. Gordon was arrested by Homeland Security and is being held without bail.

Federal agents also note Gordon routinely searched airline passengers, despite the fact the searches are unconstitutional and illegal. A growing number of district attorneys around the country have indicated they may charge TSA employees with sexual assault.

The Drudge Report linked the story and it was reported by Fox News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and a handful of other news sites, but was virtually ignored by the larger corporate media. More...

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1. TSA officer stole $30,000 from travellers with boss's approval! WTF!
2. Parents of 6-year-old girl outraged over TSA airport patdown...
3. "Airport cops fondled my pregnant wife's breast and threw me into a cell ...
4. Airport security targets 'smoking hot' woman for naked scan; fondles children... 
5. Airport staff in Nigeria using body scanners to ogle at female passengers...
6. Woman arrested for refusing to be groped by TSA...
7. "TSA singled me out because of my breasts..." 

VIPs get special treatment to see Sai Baba's body while ordinary people wait for hours...

As thousands of devotees stood in serpentine queues through the night and early Monday outside Prashanti Nilayam for a glimpse of their 'god' Sathya Sai Baba lying in an air-conditioned glass casket, scores of VIPs, including politicians, celebrities, stars and top officials had the privilege to enter Kulwant Hall through the back door to see his frail body.

The brazen discrimination by the Sai Trust and the high-handed policemen was not confined to VIPs entry into the hall on the sly, but also to their vehicles that were allowed till the iron gates, while devotees had to walk a few kilometres to reach the Nilayam in this pilgrim town, about 150 km from Bangalore.

Though Baba's body was brought from the Satya Sai Institute of Higher Medical Sciences to his abode eight hours after he breathed last around 8 a.m. Sunday, humble devotees, including men, women and children, had to wait for over four hours to file past the body for a few seconds amid hymns, devotional songs and music. More...

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Outrage at dictators invited to royal wedding...

Peter Tatchell has accused the Queen of putting "royalty before human rights" as dictators prepare to join celebrities at this week's royal wedding. Among the guests who will hear Prince William and his fiancée exchange their wedding vows is the Crown Prince of Bahrain whose Gulf state has violently suppressed democracy protests in recent months.

Weeks of disturbances prompted the Bahraini ruler to impose martial law and invite foreign troops to help to restore order. Scores of doctors are reported to have been detained by security forces apparently for treating injured protesters. Another guest, King Mswati III of Swaziland, has been criticised by Amnesty International after using armed security forces to crush peaceful demonstrations.

Mr Tatchell said: "It's deplorable that the Queen has invited royal dictators from Bahrain, Swaziland and Saudi Arabia who preside over severe human rights abuses, including detention without trial, torture and violent repression of protests." More...

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3. Bahrain hospital attack: Doctors physically abused and humiliated...
4. Outrage at royal wedding invitation for Bahrain king...
5. Salman Rushdie talks about the 'stupid, archaic' British monarchy... 
6. The British royal family is Indian!!! 

Manchester Orchestra and "Simple Math"

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1. Woodkid and "Iron"
2. Three Dog Night and "Pieces of April"
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Are you seeing the dentist too often? It's probably to rip you off...

Last year, with great reluctance, I was forced to register with a new dentist after a filling fell out and it became difficult to chew.

My previous dentist had been pressuring me into having costly treatments that served no purpose other than lining his own pockets, so I vowed to stop having check-ups altogether. Consequently, it had been more than ten years since I last opened wide and heard the dreaded sound of the drill.

My new dentist, a lady practitioner who came glowingly recommended, just smiled when I told her it had been a decade since my teeth were last examined. ‘Not a dentist by any chance, are you?’ She laughed.

Dentists, she told me, are notorious for avoiding check-ups. But then, they know a lot more about the business than we do. More...

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1. A street dentist in India!!!
2. Here's how Japanese dentists are trained: by using a robot!!
3. Dentists in India cure elephant's five-year toothache!!!
4. 84% of doctors still sucking up to drug companies...
5. Chris Rock on doctors and drugs!!! 

Egypt bans the niqab during exams...

A court in Egypt has ruled in favour of the government's decision to ban students from wearing the face veil (niqab) while taking university examinations.

But female students who had appealed the ban when it was originally imposed by the government last October have vowed to appeal the verdict.

The students said the ban on niqab infringed on their religious rights.

"We had never hoped to see such a verdict issued by our fair Egyptian judicial system. Our rights are being raped. What freedom would we have after this? Where is freedom in Egypt?," one student told Al Jazeera after Sunday's verdict.

Nizar Ghorab, the lawyer of the students, said the ban "supports rape and sexual harassment". More + video...

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1. France burqa ban comes into force...
2. Syria bans the burqa in public schools...
3. Arab ambassador discovers veiled wife to be bearded and cross-eyed!!!
4. Universities catch 17,000 students cheating...
5. Students in Tamil Nadu banned from wearing shoes, socks and belts in exam halls!!! 

Google defends Android mobile phone data collecting method...

Amid rising scrutiny of their practices, Google Inc. defended the way it collects location data from Android phones, while Apple Inc. remained silent for a third day.

The companies' smartphones regularly transmit locations back to Google and Apple servers, respectively, according to data and documents analyzed by The Wall Street Journal.

Research by a security analyst this week found that an Android phone collected location data every few seconds and sent it to Google several times an hour. Apple disclosed in a letter to Congress last year that its phones "intermittently" collect location data, and the company receives it twice a day. More...

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5. Google is sneaking into every corner of our lives... 

Massive protest in Pakistan against US drone attacks...

Thousands of people in northwest Pakistan Saturday started a two-day sit-in against the U.S. drone strikes in the country's tribal regions, blocking main supply route for NATO troops in the neighboring Afghanistan.

Anger runs high in Pakistan against the U.S. drone strikes in the Waziristan tribal area, which CIA considers as the base for al-Qaeda and Afghan Taliban militants for planning attacks across the border into Afghanistan.

Despite the public resentment and Pakistan's protest, the U.S. administration has rejected any possibility to halt the strikes.

The protesters blocked Khyber Pass, the main supply route for NATO troops in the neighboring Afghanistan, in the outskirts of Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa province. More...

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2. US drone attack massacres 38 elders in Pakistan...
3. Obama's drone strikes take heavy toll on Pakistan's tribesmen...
4. Drone porn: why killing "criminals" with drones is a war crime...
5. Nobel Committee asked to strip Obama of Peace Prize... 

'Everyone sat there and watched me get hurt': Victim of McDonald's beating speaks out...

The victim of a sustained attack in a Baltimore County McDonald's has spoken for the first time about the beating she received, and how nobody came to her aid.

Chrissy Lee Polis, a 22-year-old transgender woman, said she was afraid to go outside after the attack, and hinted that it might have been racially motivated - as both of her attackers were black.

She said: 'They just hurt me really bad, and I'm afraid to go outside now because of stuff like this.'

She said the violence kicked off after she had used the ladies restrooms in the McDonald's outlet, but denied reports that this was the reason why the violence erupted.

She said of her attackers: 'They just seemed like they wanted to pick a fight that night.' More...

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1. Guy gets beaten up for refusing to kiss???
2. Taiwanese schoolgirls viciously assaulting classmate. WTF!
3. Savages and monsters in Chennai, India. Meet the barbarians...(and the cops just watch) 

Syria should be investigated for human rights violations...

An international human rights group called today for a UN inquiry into Syria's crackdown on opposition protesters that has left more than 120 dead people in recent days. 

The New York-based Human Rights Watch also urged the United States and European Union to impose sanctions against Syrian officials accused of using force against demonstrators challenging the authoritarian rule of President Bashar Assad.

More than 300 people have been killed - including more than 120 on Friday and Saturday - since the uprising against Mr Assad's regime began five weeks ago, according to rights groups. Friday was the deadliest day since the uprising began with 112 killed, rights groups said.

A coalition of 10 Syrian human rights groups said that authorities have detained a leading activist, Daniel Saoud, who heads the Committees for the Defence of Democracy, Freedoms and Human Rights, one of the most prominent watchdog groups in Syria. More...

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1. This is what's happening in Syria (WARNING. Extremely graphic)
2. Massacre in Syria as scores are shot dead by government forces...
3. Syrian forces kicking and beating tied-up protestors...
4. Massacre in Daraa, Syria. Protesters being shot... (Graphic) 

Black staff in South African hospital accused of ill-treating white patients...

The Black staff at a public hospital in South Africa have been exposed as routinely abusing their White patients.

“The putrid stench of rotting flesh was overwhelming as it permeated the air of the septic ward – on our arrival,” writes Jacques Mare and Magda Stroebel of The Afrikaner Journal about visiting Pretoria’s Kalafong Hospital for the first time.

The two came to visit patient Annelies Koekemoer, who has been hospitalized at the facility since severly injuring her leg in a farming accident last December. Bedridden since then, Koekemoer alleges abuse at the hands of Kalafong’s Black staff and sent a desperate plea for help via the social-networking website Facebook. More...

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4. Rotten meat sold to blacks in South Africa...
5. Racist YouTube video that shamed South Africa...
6. Is there hope for poor whites in South Africa? 

Mukhtaran Mai, the Pakistani gang-rape victim who fought back...

Mukhtaran Mai was brutally gang-raped on the orders of her village council, because of an offence her 12-year-old brother was alleged to have committed.

He was deemed to have offended the honour of the powerful Mastoi clan by allegedly having an affair with a clanswoman. He was seen in her company and that incensed tribal leaders.

Ms Mai was 33 years old at the time and everybody expected her to commit suicide, as is often the case after rape in Pakistan. In the small southern Punjab village of Meerwala in Pakistan, where she lived, that was certainly the expectation.

But Mukhtaran Mai refused and began what became a three-year legal battle against the men she said raped her and in doing so captured the imagination of millions around the world. More...

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2. Death threats for actress who ‘shamed’ Pakistan...
3. Pakistan, blasphemy and the tale of two women with balls...
4. The 11-year-old Indian girl who said "No" to marriage... 
5. Female Saudi poet inflames and inspires ... and gets death threats.
6. A remarkable rape case in India: a poor girl gets out of jail while her alleged rapists... 

Indian guru Sathya Sai Baba is dead...

Sathya Sai Baba, one of India's most influential spiritual leaders, died at a hospital funded by his organisation in his home town of Puttaparthi in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday. He was 85.

Sai Baba's response to medical treatment had been slow, doctors attending on him said on Sunday and he breathed his last at 7:40 am on Sunday. He was on intermittent hemodialysis and on assisted respiration until Saturday evening at the Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Medial Sciences at Puttaparthi.

He was admitted to the super-speciality hospital on March 28 following problems related to heart and lungs. Doctors treating him said he was suffering from multi-organ dysfunction. More...

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This is what's happening in Syria (WARNING. Extremely graphic)

WARNING. This is an extremely graphic video about the situation in Syria. I'm posting this video simply because people have to know about this. How can a State do this to its own people?



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1. Massacre in Syria as scores are shot dead by government forces...
2. Syrian forces kicking and beating tied-up protestors...
3. Massacre in Daraa, Syria. Protesters being shot... (Graphic) 

"Should Britain quit the EU?" poll website jammed...

A CAMPAIGN demanding an “in or out” referendum on Britain’s European Union membership attracted more than 20,000 supporters on its very first day.

Voters signed up in droves yesterday for the cross-party People’s Pledge initiative, which aims to name and shame the MPs who are not prepared to back a referendum on whether Britain should quit the EU.

The huge surge in support came as the Daily Express, which has its own popular crusade for Britain to quit the EU, highlighted the new campaign on our front-page yesterday.

At one point during the first day of the campaign yesterday, the People’s Pledge website was jammed by the sheer volume of voters attempting to sign up. More...

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1. The EU unleashes another expensive invasion on the British taxpayer...
2. Nigel Farage: Don't turn EU into another Soviet Union...
3. Euro MP Nigel Farage fined for verbal attack on EU president...
4. Nigel Farage to Euro MPs: Who the hell do you think you are? 
5. Backlash against perks for EU officials... 
6. How the EU wastes billions on silly projects and fills the pockets of dictators...
7. British binmen refuse to pick up EU recommended new toxic lightbulbs... 

Internet freedom: Estonia the best, Iran the most repressive...

Cyberattacks, politically motivated censorship, and government control over internet infrastructure are among the diverse and growing threats to internet freedom, according to Freedom on the Net 2011: A Global Assessment of Internet and Digital Media,a new study released today by Freedom House.

These encroachments on internet freedom come at a time of explosive growth in the number of internet users worldwide, which has doubled over the past five years. Governments are responding to the increased influence of the new medium by seeking to control online activity, restricting the free flow of information, and otherwise infringing on the rights of users.

 “These detailed findings clearly show that internet freedom cannot be taken for granted,” said David J. Kramer, executive director of Freedom House. “Nondemocratic regimes are devoting more attention and resources to censorship and other forms of interference with online expression.” More...

See the full report here...

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1. Internet censorship around the world...
2. Rockefeller: Internet is “Number One National Hazard” (For whom?)
3. Asia-Pacific governments chipping away at Internet freedom...
4. Teen blogger in Syria detained for 9 months without charge, risks torture...
5. CIA officer tells Americans and bloggers how to fight the New World Order... 
6. Inventor of the world wide web, Tim Berners-Lee, attacks the internet giants... 

Like the iPhone, Android phones record user-locations too...

Smartphones running Google's Android software collect data about the user's movements in almost exactly the same way as the iPhone, according to an examination of files they contain. The discovery, made by a Swedish researcher, comes as the Democratic senator Al Franken has written to Apple's chief executive Steve Jobs demanding to know why iPhones keep a secret file recording the location of their users as they move around, as the Guardian revealed this week. Magnus Eriksson, a Swedish programmer, has shown that Android phones – now the bestselling smartphones – do the same, though for a shorter period. According to files discovered by Eriksson, Android devices keep a record of the locations and unique IDs of the last 50 mobile masts that it has communicated with, and the last 200 Wi-Fi networks that it has "seen". These are overwritten, oldest first, when the relevant list is full. It is not yet known whether the lists are sent to Google. That differs from Apple, where the data is stored for up to a year. More...

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1. Apple under pressure to explain iPhone, iPad location tracking... 
2. Is the mobile phone the new Big Brother? 
3. Researchers display evidence that iPhone 4 records all your travels...
4. 'Exploding' iPhones investigated in France...
5. Police in Michigan downloading motorists' smart phone information illegally...
6. Your cell-phone is tracking your every move, and you may not even know...

Massacre in Syria as scores are shot dead by government forces...

At least 90 people were reportedly killed and dozens were injured when Syrian security forces fired live bullets and teargas to disperse “Good Friday” protests in several cities, witnesses reported. The death toll seemed to be rising late Friday.

The reported deaths have created a new crisis for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, raising questions about whether he is fully in control of Syrian security forces. The deaths raise questions about how far Mr. Assad is prepared to go to stay in power, and if the international community will take steps to prevent a humanitarian disaster in this geopolitically strategic Arab country.

The deaths on Friday also bring back memories of large numbers of political opponents who were mowed down by security forces in the city of Hama when Mr. Assad’s late father, President Hafez al-Assad was in office. Mr. Assad’s brother, Rifaat al-Assad, personally conducted a “scorched earth” campaign in February 1982 against Sunni Muslims who protested against the Alawite regime of Hafez al-Assad. Estimates of those killed in Hama range from 10,000 to 40,000. More...

Don't miss:

1. Syrian forces kicking and beating tied-up protestors...
2. Massacre in Daraa, Syria. Protesters being shot... (Graphic)
3. Bahraini forces rape and kill poetess Ayat al-Ghermezi...
4. "Where is Khaled?" Saudi man who defied State may have disappeared...
5. Bahrain: torture in hospitals and attacks on innocent people...(Graphic) 

Polish man wants to marry a painting!!!

Tomasz Urynowicz, a 37-year-old art lover from Nowa Huta, Poland, has fallen in love with a young brown-haired girl hanging laundry in one of his paintings.

Urynowicz first saw the artwork painted by Antoni Maria Kwiek in 2001, in a art gallery and was fascinated by the beauty of the girl it portrayed. He bought it on the spot and spent the last decade searching for the girl. He hoped his neighbors might know who she was or where the artist who painted her in 1955 was located. “I just wanted to meet her, sit down and have coffee and a chat – to see who she is and what her life has been like,” he explains, but says he would have been happy enough to just track down Kwiek. More + photos...

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1. Taiwanese woman can't find a man, so she marries ... herself!!!
2. Frenchman to wed dead sweetheart...
3. Australian marries his ... dog!!!
4. Fully nude body painting!!!
5. Woman attacks ‘evil homosexual’ Gauguin painting!!! 

Homeless woman charged with theft ... for sending son to school! WTF!

A homeless woman in Connecticut has been arrested for one of the most unthinkable reasons imaginable -- she sent her son to school. Tonya McDowell, 33, was arrested last week and charged with first-degree larceny for stealing $15,686 -- the cost of the public school education for her 6-year-old son.

To make matters worse, the child's babysitter, who provided documentation that said the boy lived at her Norwalk address, was evicted from her public housing unit for her role in his education. McDowell and her son had been bouncing between an acquaintance's home in Bridgeport and a homeless shelter in Norwalk with the boy spending afternoons with the babysitter. The school he attended was in Norwalk School District, which had recently decided to crack down on infiltrators. More...

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2. Liz Murray: From homeless to Harvard...
3. 'Skype School' brings knowledge to remote Indian village...
4. Teacher in U.S., students in Haiti! Awesome! Thank you, Internet!
5. Going to school in Afghanistan: a photo story... 

Chinese buyer pays $200,000 ... for a pigeon!!!

The rich around the world tend to gravitate to the same status symbols: mansions, yachts, art, private jets and wine. Despite the increasingly global nature of the rich, their spending seems to be becoming increasingly homogeneous.

Now comes news that the Chinese may be breaking the mold with a new form of trophy purchase: pigeons.

A rich Chinese buyer paid $200,000 for a racing pigeon at a Belgium auction yesterday, setting a new world record. The bird’s name was Blue Prince, and he was one of the highly pedigreed Belgian racing pigeons that have long been considered the gold standard in the pigeon racing world.

One 218 bird-colony fetched $1.8 million at the same auction. More...

Don't miss:

1. Chinese woman pays £352,000 for a dog!!!
2. China's army to recruit and train ... 10,000 pigeons???
3. Chinese man sends suicide note ... by homing pigeon!!!
4. Student in China gets picked from school ... by helicopter!!!
5. Shopping habits of China’s ‘suddenly wealthy...’ 

Simple solutions to big problems: it's in your hands...

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1. More mobile phones than toilets!!! India's sanitation crisis...
2. My name is Hana and I live in Nigeria...
3. Is your hotel room clean? How to find out...
4. There is actually a UN hand-washing day???
5. Chef in India feeds homeless and destitute... 
6. Wilbur Sargunaraj teaches foreigners how to use a toilet in India!!! 

Bloody Friday in Syria as 60 protestors are shot dead...

Protesters in Syria report 60 people killed by security forces - the highest death toll in five weeks of unrest against President Bashar al-Assad.

Demonstrators were shot when they gathered following Friday prayers, a day after the country's decades-long state of emergency was lifted.

Many deaths reportedly occurred in a village near Deraa in the south, and in a suburb of the capital, Damascus.

At least 260 people are said to have died since unrest began last month.

Protesters - said to number tens of thousands across the country - chanted for the overthrow of the regime, Reuters news agency reports. More...

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1. Syrian forces kicking and beating tied-up protestors...
2. Massacre in Daraa, Syria. Protesters being shot... (Graphic)
3. Syrian police shoot dead thirteen protestors...
4. Teen blogger in Syria sentenced to five years jail for " espionage"
5. 5 minutes of Syria... 

"Shape-shifting" monster frightens South African town...

Steytlerville, a small Karoo town, is being plagued by rumours of a shape-shifting monster, Eastern Cape police said on Thursday.

“The community says that the monster changes shape while you are looking at it,” Warrant Officer Zandisile Nelani said.

He said one man had reported it changed from a man wearing a suit into a pig and then into a bat. The creature had been sighted on a number of occasions near a church and only appeared at night, Nelani said.

Local residents met with police last week to discuss the strange phenomenon.

Nelani said he had asked people to take a photograph of the alleged monster. Although some locals were frightened of it, it had not harmed any people or livestock. Source...

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1. Nicaragua's Grisi Siknis turns people into crazy witches...
2. Bizarre creature washes up on Australian beach...
3. Woman in Ghana turns into a ... snake???
4. Monster of Montauk: what the hell is this? 
5. Strange creature beaten to death by teens in Panama...
6. A snake with a human head discovered in Malaysia??? 

Anger over Swazi king's luxury plans for UK royal wedding...

King Mswati III is clearly not one to miss a wedding: the autocratic ruler of Swaziland has 13 wives and holds an annual dance where he can choose a new bride from tens of thousands of bare-breasted virgins.

Next week, Mswati will be among VIP spectators at Westminster Abbey for a slightly more austere version hosted by the British royal family.

But his invitation has angered his countrymen, who accuse the UK of "legitimising" their autocratic monarch who rules over one of the poorest countries in the world.

When the king, who has a fortune of about $100m (£61m), flies out he will leave behind a country in turmoil. Last week, his security forces launched a brutal crackdown against marchers seeking democratic reforms, and a possible Egyptian-style uprising. More...

Don't miss:

1. Protests and unrest at home, but Swazi king heads for royal wedding... 
2. Swaziland: Protest at pay freeze while king celebrates...
3. King of Swaziland evicts residents to grab their land...
4. Swaziland pro-democracy protesters threatened with torture...
5. King of Swaziland's wife no. 12 caught in bed with justice minister!!!
6. Outrage at royal wedding invitation for Bahrain king...

Bahraini forces rape and kill poetess Ayat al-Ghermezi...

A female Bahraini activist who has composed anti-government poems has been killed, after being arrested and raped by Manama forces.

Ayat al-Ghermezi, 20, had recited her poems, in which she slammed the ruling regime and Bahraini Prime Minister Khalifah Ibn Salman al-Khalifah, during protests in Pearl Square in the capital city, Manama, Fardanews reported.

Shortly afterwards, Ghermezi received an influx of insulting and intimidating letters and emails, but when she referred to the police to report the threats, she was insulted and mocked by officers, her family says.

In late March, security forces raided Ghermezi's home twice, threatening her family to reveal Ayat's whereabouts, otherwise they would “destroy the house over your heads, by the order of high-ranking officials.” More...

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1. Bahrain: torture in hospitals and attacks on innocent people...(Graphic)
2. Fourth person dies in police custody in Bahrain...
3. Bahrain cops in drive-by shoot and kill...
4. Bahraini woman willing to die if father is not released...
5. "Where is Khaled?" Saudi man who defied State may have disappeared...
6. Female Saudi poet inflames and inspires ... and gets death threats. 

Millions of rupee notes in Indian bank eaten by termites!!!

It was an all you can eat buffet at the bank.

An army of termites munched through 10 million rupees ($222,000) in currency notes stored in a steel chest at a bank, police in northern India said Friday.

The bank manager discovered the damage when he opened the reinforced room in an old bank building on Wednesday, police officer Navneet Rana told The Associated Press.

"It's a matter of investigation how termites attacked bundles of currency notes stacked in a steel chest," he said. The money was put in the chest in January.

The termites had damaged bank furniture and documents in the past.

The police have registered a case of negligence against bank officials in Barabanki, a town 20 miles (30 kilometers) southwest of Lucknow, the Uttar Pradesh state capital. In India, police register a case before opening an investigation. Source...

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1. The Bank, the Customer, his Wife and ... Termites!
2. In some parts of Africa, they eat termites...
3. A zero-rupee note in India to fight corruption!!! Wow!
4. What would happen if money grew on trees? 

Azeri teenagers jailed for "anti-patriotic masturbation" using Kim Kardashian photo!!!

(Don't know if this is true or if it's the Azeri version of The Onion, but it's hilarious...)

On Monday Azerbaijan’s secret services busted two students from Baku State Engineering University after Heidar Aliev, catching them red-handed – indulging in anti-Azerbaijani erotica. Lobzik Byul-Byul (18 years old) and Heidar Azikyv (19 years old) are expected to face charges of high-treason for “succumbing to occupant pornography”.Friends and family of the traitors have harshly condemned Lobzik and his peer. Lobzik’s uncle told the reporters on Tuesday: “He deserves the most severe punishment… all these years we thought we are raising a patriotic young Azeri boy only to be eventually disappointed by this pro-Armenian manifesto. Just to think – I taught him his first anti-Armenian jokes, I can’t believe he could betray us so filthily.”

The Azeri pride-jackers have violated Azerbaijan’s constitutional stipulation on patriotism adopted in 2003 which qualifies this act as a betrayal of motherland, territorial integrity and Azerbaijani ladies. More...

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1. The forgotten Armenian genocide...
2. Duke of York made private visits to the President of Azerbaijan...
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4. Woman nabbed for watching porn movie and masturbating ... while driving!!!???  
5. Americans observe 9/11 by trying not to masturbate!!! (Onion)
6. Boy finds own real-life E.T.!!! (Onion) 

Scientists under attack for opposing genetically modified food...

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1. 'Why I'm certain my friend Dr Kelly was murdered'
2. Swine flu and 40 dead microbiologists; is there a connection?
3. Britons unwittingly eating food made using GM soy...
4. Pigs refuse to eat genetically modified corn... 

War in Libya gets weird...

Even those who have studied for years the criminal consolidation of this planet under the global corporate-financier oligarchy may be noticing that the war in Libya is turning into something new and unprecedented. The lies and propaganda have hit an all time high and no article encapsulates this better than the bizarre, grotesque piece out of the New York Times titled, "Inferior Arms Hobble Rebels in Libya War."

In it, the glorious, heroic rebels are described as under-armed, which has caused them to use weapons such as landmines and rockets that indiscriminately target civilians and government troops alike. They wield knives that they, "want to stuff into Qaddafi’s heart," and 400 rifles sent by Qatar in direct violation of the arms embargo included in UNSC r.1973.

 Perhaps this macabre, suspicious article is trying to excuse reports now coming out indicating that the Libyan rebels, who themselves admit ties to Al-Qaeda, are reportedly butchering, beheading, and mutilating captured government troops and now guilty of employing the same weapons and tactics NATO has accused Qaddafi of using - the very justification used by NATO to enter the war in the first place. The New York Times indeed attempts to excuse these various grisly reports, by stating that the, "rebels have little evident command-and-control and no clear or consistent rules of engagement — factors that have perhaps contributed to instances of abusive or outright brutal conduct." More...

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1. The conflict in Libya a new cold war between the West and China?
2. We're not being told the truth about Libya...
3. Libyan rebels massacre black Africans...
4. Morally indignant sharks circle Libya...
5. Libyan rebels accused of targeting blacks... 

Parents in India chop of daughter's nose over love marriage...

Seven close relatives of a girl, including her parents, were arrested on Friday in a remote village of Chhattisgarh after they chopped off her nose to punish her for eloping with and marrying a village boy, police said.

The arrests were made from Rahmankapa village in the state's Kawardha district, some 280 km from Raipur.

Police said family members of 19-year-old Nanki Bai were highly upset after she eloped on April 19 with village boy Narendra, 19. The boy and the girl returned on April 20 after getting married at a temple in Raipur. More...

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1. Dalit girl in India has ear, nose chopped off for resisting rape. WTF!
2. Young Pakistani girl mutilated for refusing marriage to cousin. (Graphic)
3. 14-year-old Dalit girl in India burnt alive for resisting rape...
4. Young couple stoned to death in Afghanistan...
5. Burying alive 5 women is no big deal in Baluchistan; it's only tradition...
6. Poor boy in India marries rich girl. Eight members of boy's family beheaded. 

Taiwanese singer to protest nude against nukes...

A female Taiwanese singer will stage what she called a nude art performance in front of the Presidential Office on April 25 to call on the country's leader to place more importance on people's safety and say no to nuclear energy.

“Our body is the most natural and direct weapon,” said 27-year-old Lee Mi.

She had caused a sensation five years ago by appearing naked, with Chinese words “rather nude than nuke” written on her back, in a short video produced by a local environmental group.

 Lee said at an event on Thursday that as a singer, she feels it is her responsibility to speak out against nuclear energy in the wake of Japan's nuclear crisis, and she hopes her action will encourage more people to join her effort. More...

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3. Berliners in naked protest against rising rents...
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5. Indian model promises to go nude if India win cricket World Cup... 

Apple under pressure to explain iPhone, iPad location tracking...

Privacy watchdogs are demanding answers from Apple Inc. about why iPhones and iPads are secretly collecting location data on users — records that cellular service providers routinely keep but require a court order to disgorge.

It's not clear if other smartphones and tablet computers are logging such information on their users. And this week's revelation that the Apple devices do wasn't even new — some security experts began warning about the issue a year ago.

But the worry prompted by a report from researchers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden at a technology conference in Santa Clara raises questions about how much privacy you implicitly surrender by carrying around a smartphone. It also raises the issue of smartphone makers' responsibility to protect sensitive data that flows through their devices. More...

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1. Is the mobile phone the new Big Brother? 
2. Researchers display evidence that iPhone 4 records all your travels...
3. Police in Michigan downloading motorists' smart phone information illegally...
4. Your cell-phone is tracking your every move, and you may not even know...
5. Is your cell-phone spying on you? The danger lurking in your mobile gadget...
6. California student finds GPS device hidden in his car, FBI want it back... 

"Where is Khaled?" Saudi man who defied State may have disappeared...

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1. Saudi troops destroy Bahrain Mosque setting fire to Holy Quran...
2. Saudis mobilise thousands of troops to quell growing revolt...
3. Report: Saudi Facebook activist planning protest shot dead...
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5. Bahraini woman willing to die if father is not released... 

The great Malaysian brain drain...

Sheng Cai Lim is a skilled and experienced IT professional, an asset to a country that aspires to grow into a fully developed nation by the end of the decade. There's only one problem. Lim, 29, isn't sure he wants to stay in Malaysia.

Lim says it's 50/50 that he'll leave. "I'll likely go to Singapore for a few years, and then after that maybe Canada or New Zealand," he said. He's on a six-month sabbatical from work and recently registered with head hunters who place candidates abroad. "My friends overseas wonder why I'm still in Malaysia. They say there are better opportunities abroad," he said.

If Lim does make the move, he'll join the 1.5m Malaysians, or 5.3% of the population, who live and work outside of the country, according to the World Bank. By moving to countries such as Singapore, Australia and the UK, these migrants are creating a considerable brain drain that threatens the country's economic progress. More...

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1. Malaysia struggles to stem 'brain drain' as Indians and Chinese pack up and leave...
2. 40% of Malaysian emigrants end up in Singapore...
3. The price of Malaysia's racism...
4. Malaysia: ethnic minorities, "sons of the soil," and religion...
5. Police brutality in Malaysia against ethnic Indians condemned after woman's suicide... 

Secret memos expose link between Iraq invasion and oil firms...

The minutes of a series of meetings between ministers and senior oil executives are at odds with the public denials of self-interest from oil companies and Western governments at the time.

The documents were not offered as evidence in the ongoing Chilcot Inquiry into the UK's involvement in the Iraq war. In March 2003, just before Britain went to war, Shell denounced reports that it had held talks with Downing Street about Iraqi oil as "highly inaccurate".

BP denied that it had any "strategic interest" in Iraq, while Tony Blair described "the oil conspiracy theory" as "the most absurd".

 But documents from October and November the previous year paint a very different picture. More...

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1. Sam Richards: A radical experiment in empathy...
2. Who are the real terrorists?
3. The nightmare, the Iraq invasion's atrocities, unearthing the unthinkable...
4. Lew Rockwell on the USA's captive nations...
5. First it was Saddam. Then Gaddafi. Now there's a vacancy for the West's favourite tyrant...