48 killed and 79 injured in suicide attack in all-boys school in Nigeria

48 students were killed and 79 injured in a suicide attack on an all-boys school in Yobe district of north Nigeria – the school followed a western curriculum and the local police suspect that Boko Haram is behind this terror attack. The death toll could rise.
The suicide bomber was dressed in school uniform and detonated the bomb during morning assembly. He had gained entry through the schoolyard in Potiskum, Yobe state, before carrying out the attack among the students.
The students of the Government Comprehensive Senior Science Secondary School in Potiskum were waiting to hear the principal's daily address when the suicide bomber struck just before 8am. The attack happened a day after the release of a new Boko Haram video in which the group's leader, Abubakar Shekau, had once again rejected the claims of the Nigerian government about a ceasefire and peace talks.
The most high profile attack by Boko Haram on a school was in April, when fighters kidnapped 276 teenage girls from the town of Chibok in Borno state, also in northeast Nigeria. Even now, over six months later, 219 of the girls are still being held prisoners.

Iraq trying to confirm if al-Baghdadi has been killed in air strike

The whole world wants to see the last of ISIL chief Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi and, with rumors floating around that he has been killed in airstrikes by coalition warplanes, Iraq was investigating the matter. The coalition warplanes had been targeting the group’s leaders.
In case the rumors turn out to be true, it would be a major victory for the US-led coalition of countries who are relentlessly carrying out airstrikes against ISIL and providing assistance to Iraqi forces who are fighting to regain large areas of Iraq that the militants have overrun.
Already President Barack Obama has unveiled plans to send up to 1,500 more US troops to Iraq to advise and train the country’s forces, deepening Washington’s commitment to the open-ended war against ISIL. As President Obama has said, it was time to go on the offensive against the militants after blunting their advance.
Regarding rumors about al-Baghdadi, a senior Iraqi intelligence official said there was no “accurate information” on whether he was killed but that authorities were investigating.
US Central Command, which oversees American forces in the Middle East, on Saturday said that coalition aircraft had carried out a “series of airstrikes” against “a gathering of [ISIL] leaders near Mosul” but there was no confirmation on whether [ISIL] leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi was among those present.
General Nicholas Houghton, the chief of staff of the British armed forces, has said that it will take some days to have absolute confirmation. On whether the ISIL leader has been killed.
Incidentally, Washington has offered a $10 million reward for his capture.
It may be noted that of the five main Al Qaeda offshoots in Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, the Sahel and Yemen, none has recognized the authority of Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi - at the end of June he had proclaimed the establishment of a caliphate straddling Iraq and Syria, and had also proclaimed himself as “leader for Muslims everywhere”.

Germany to mark 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall

The Berlin Wall had been built around West Berlin in 1961 by the German Democratic Republic – in their terminology, it was called it the "Anti-Fascist Protection Rampart" and its main purpose was to prevent defections to the west.
However, on 9th November 1989, the first of the East Germans started to clamber across the divide into the west to bring to an end the great divide.
To commemorate the moment of the fall of the Berlin Wall, German Chancellor Angela Merkel would release 8000 balloons along a nine-mile stretch of the former concrete frontier. The time has been set for 7.18pm local time, the moment when the first men crossed over from the East to the West.
The Berlin Wall had been there for 28-years from 1961 to 1989 and had come to be a potent symbol of the Cold War with its watchtowers and so-called "death-strip" where an estimated 5,000 people risked their lives to escape the hardline regime. Cracks started to appear as a result of bloodless revolutions in Poland and Hungary that heralded the loosening of communism's grip in Eastern Europe.
Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev gave momentum to the breakup by his policies of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring). The 83-year-old Gorbachev is expected to be in Berlin to join the commemoration ceremonies. While referring to the current standoff between the west and Russia’s Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, he has indicated that such signs could be harbinger of bad tidings like a new Cold War.
Among the programs is a concert at the Brandenburg Gate and the reopening of a museum dedicated to the Wall.

Virgin Galactic crash prompts 24 would-be astronauts to demand refund from Brasnson

Sir Richard Branson had big dreams of taking ordinary people to space and allow them to experience, even briefly, what weightlessness feels like as they go out into space and watch the Planet Earth from there.
However, the crash of SpaceShipTwo in California's Mojave Desert last Friday has come as a huge dampener. One pilot died in the crash and another one is in hospital. The net result is that as many as 24 'future astronauts' want to pull out and want refund of what they had paid.
They are wealthy investors who had signed up to be among the first space tourists with Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic program and have now had second thoughts and have given up their tickets.
Incidentally, as many as 800 persons have signed up to be passengers of space tourism and have stuck with Branson's venture for 10 years despite in spite of it facing numerous set-backs and hiccups. But, the fatal accident appears to have had a bad effect.
One of the unwilling ones is Peter Ulrich von May, an asset manager based in Switzerland, he no longer wishes to travel into space with Virgin Galactic and he has demanded his money back. It seems he had subscribed seven years ago when he was 63, he is still an active private pilot and in good health and does not know when his dream would materialize. Another high profile customers is Princess Beatrice – she will not be boarding the Virgin Galactic spacecraft after the disaster last week.
More than 700 people - including Hollywood celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio - have bought tickets for Virgin Galactic space voyage flights, which sell for $250,000. Ashton Kutcher was one of the first celebrities to book his ticket - and the 500th person overall - and he has since been joined by Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Russell Brand and Lady Gaga.
If these celebs want to opt out, it would cost millions to Sir Richard Branson. He has woven a dream for them and has to now face the consequences.

Obama agrees to send 1500 additional troops to Iraq

The clock is turning a full circle for US President Barack Obama. When he took over as President of the USA, the US troops in Iraq were counting the days when they would return to the comfort of their homes as assured by Barack Obama. He had promised to evacuate Iraq by end 2011 and he did just that.
But, the present global scenario is forcing his hand because of the growing threats of the ISIS and he has agreed to send an additional 1500 troops to Iraq. This deployment would amount to doubling the current deployment. The Pentagon has decided to brand this deployment as Operation Inherent Resolve and the new troops would extend support to the roughly 1,600 US personnel already in Iraq.
The White House has indicated that the new forces would not be in combat roles and has asked Congress for $5.6bn (£3.5bn) to fund the mission against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. The request includes $1.6bn for an "Iraq Train and Equip Fund".
The US has reiterated that its troops in northern Iraq do not have any fighting role and their main purpose is to help train national and Kurdish forces to battle the Islamic State jihadists.
The White House has clarified that as a part of the strategy for strengthening partners on the ground, the President has authorized the deployment of up to 1,500 additional US military personnel in a non-combat role – they would be involved to train, advise and assist Iraqi Security Forces, including Kurdish forces.
The plan is that the new troops would operate at military facilities beyond Baghdad and Irbil, where they have hitherto been based and the military would set up several training sites across Iraq to instruct 12 Iraqi brigades.

Confessions of a real life Vampire couple of Manchester – they do drink blood and sleep in the day

A real life vampire of Manchester has confessed that they drink blood and sleep during the day but they do not drink blood forcibly – they drink it only from those who are willing to allow them to share.
This pair of real life British vampires are 53-year-old Vanian and his wife 27-year-old Ethereal Dark. Both of them hail from Manchester and, as per their confessions, the reality of living a life of vampires is somewhat different.
It is believed that vampires and garlic do not mix but, Vanian and Ethereal are happy to eat garlic. They can also get near a cross without mishap and even like churches – but they do not go in for fake fangs and do not sleep in coffins. The concept of biting the victim to extract blood is not safe because the victim could be having infections. What they do is to enjoy a drop of blood or two with most coming from volunteers who have been dubbed 'Black Swans' by the vampire community, or from each other. As Vamian explains - too much blood would make you vomit.
Their frequency of drinking blood is about twice a week but they do eat other food as well, especially red meat. As per his admission, Vanian, uses a little razor rather than fangs to extract blood from his wife and takes pain to explain that not just any blood will do.
On the vampire movies, Vanian says that 'True Blood is very good but Twilight is not.'

Facebook murders – research reveals that there are six types of such killers

Research carried out on 48 cases of "Facebook murder" from around the world between 2008 and 2013 has revealed that the Facebook murderers fall into six different types. These killers lure their victims through Facebook or use this highly popular social networking website in other ways in their crimes.
The lead researcher Dr Elizabeth Yardley from the Centre of Applied Criminology at Birmingham City University analyzed these 48 cases of homicide and have identified the categories as follows - reactors, informers, antagonists, fantasists, predators or imposters.
A reactor is one who reacts to content posted on Facebook by attacking the victim face to face. This could happen immediately after viewing the content or there could be a time delay in which they revisit the content and ruminate over its meaning.
The informer, on the other hand, uses the Facebook to inform others that they intend to kill the victim, that they have killed the victim, or both. The category of Informers use this website to demonstrate their control over the victim and the situation.
The killer in the category of antagonist engages in hostile exchanges on Facebook that escalate into face to face fatal violence. Antagonists may go in for physical violence when the conflict goes offline – the antagonists could arm themselves with weapons to fight it out.
Researchers have found that those in the category of a fantasist uses Facebook to perform or indulge in a fantasy. For tem, the line between fantasy and reality has become increasingly blurred and homicide appears to be the only way to maintain the fantasy or prevent others from discovering the deception.
A predator, as its name implies, creates and maintains a fake profile with the intention of luring the victim and meet them offline. They usually rely on information available on the victim's profile to exploit vulnerabilities so that it is easy to establish grounds upon which a relationship can gradually develop.
An imposter posts in the name of someone else. This could be the victim in order to create the illusion they are still alive or another person to gain access to and monitor the victim's profile.
An example of a Facebook murder – it was a FB friendship of only 15 days and it was between a 42-year-old Baguiati homemaker and a 33-year-old man from Birbhum. He landed up at her flat and when they met face to face, their make0believe world fell apart. She had a 17-year old daughter and he had a son. Moreover, he was short, slightly built and had posted the jazzy photo of a biker on his Facebook profile which impressed the woman. Anyway, he killed her in a fit of rage when she rebuffed his advances.

45-year-old woman of Paraguay burnt alive on charges of sorcery

45-year-old Adolfina Ocampos, belonging to the Mbya Guarani indigenous community, was sentenced to death in Paraguay. As per reports, she was accused of being a witch and was tied to a wooden pole, shot with arrows and then burned alive.
The "execution" was described as "out of the ordinary" and "isolated" by an expert in spite of a UN report that has claimed that thousands of people worldwide are accused of being witches every year. Such women are often abused, cast out from their families and communities and sometimes killed.
Incidentally, in this particular incident, nine men in the village of Tahehyi, 180 miles north of the capital Asuncion, have been charged with first-degree murder – they have admitted their involvement in this sordid killing.
In a recent similar incident in India, a woman was killed by relatives who suspected her of practicing witchcraft. The woman Dukalheen Bai died after she was stripped, beaten and tortured for hours by her brother-in-law along with other family members. The accusations against her were that she had made her brother-in-law’s son ill by practicing witchcraft on him.
The incident happened in Bemetara district in the central state of Chhattisgarh and those involved have been arrested – they include five women.
Witch hunts that target women are common in some parts of India and many women fall victims to such abuse. The practice of branding women as witches is particularly prevalent among tribal communities in India because, while some are triggered by superstitious beliefs, others are for material gains of land and property.

Embroiled in accusations of human rights violations, North Korea wants tourists

In spite charges of human rights violations in North Korea, many travel firms are hoping that the rumors would not prove to be any obstacle to attract foreign tourists to the country. It seems British tourists are going in for North Korea as a holiday destination.

Towards this end, a tourist agency that specializes in trips to the secretive state has set up a stall at the UK's largest travel trade show – it hopes to lure travelers with packages that including skiing in a resort built on the orders of Swiss-educated dictator Kim Jong-Un.
The travel brochures feature the positives and depict communist propaganda-style drawings of workers toiling happily in the fields. There are no indication that its people live abject poverty amid wholesale human rights abuses. Incidentally, while it gets tourists from South Korea and China, only a few (around 5,000) gave come from outside China to make the trip every year.

As per the extant rules, Westerners must always be accompanied by a travel guide or minder and must remain most of the time in Pyongyang and be confined to the Yanggakdo Hotel which is cut off by a river from districts where ordinary North Koreans live. Moreover, the tourists have to face internet blackout and some of the areas are out of bounds for tourists.

World Trade Center reopens in New York after 13-years

The World Trade Center in New York had been destroyed 13-years-back on 9th of September 2001 in a terrorist attack when an aircraft crashed into the building reducing it to a mass of rubble in which thousands of people working in the center perished.

A new tower has now come up in its place - the new silvery, 1,776-foot skyscraper rose from the ashes of 9/11 and became to be regarded as a symbol of American resilience. The new tower opened for business with 175 employees of the magazine publishing giant Conde Nast who settled down to their first day of work in their new offices.
Conde Nast are the publisher of Vogue, The New Yorker and Vanity Fair and it is expected that they would move in about 3,000 more employees by early next year to eventually occupy 25 floors of the $3.9 billion, 104-story tower. This is, incidentally, the nation's tallest building.
In the words of Patrick Foye, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which owns both the building and the 16-acre World Trade Center site, the New York City skyline is whole again.

Destruction of Virgin Galactic spaceship puts Sir Richard Branson’s clock back

The destruction of Virgin Galactic spaceship over the Mojave Desert was, undoubtedly, a terrible disappointment for Sir Richard Branson. His vision was to take tourists on a fleeting thrill ride into the lower reaches of space.

It was a fatal accident and, in the opinion of Sir Richard Branson, such accidents can happen because it is the beginning of a long program. In the early days of aviation, there had been many incidents before aviation became very safe. Even in the early days of commercial space travel, there have been incidents and one can only hope that a day would come when people can travel to space safely.

The initial plans are to carry six passengers up into Space to get a stunning view of the Earth below and also experience a brief period of weightlessness before descending down into the thickening atmosphere and fly as an unpowered glider back to the airport where the flight had commenced.