Scottish island left without water because too many residents did the Ice Bucket Challenge

An island off the coast of Scotland was left without water – because so many people took on the Ice Bucket Challenge.

Սառցե դույլ

Demand for water escalated on Colonsay when the charity craze took off on the Inner Hebridean island, which has a population of around 135.

The water system stops automatically as part of moves to cut wastage on the eight mile-long isle and needs to be turned back on afterwards.

Իններ Հեբրիդեան կղզի

David Johnston, from the Colonsay Brewery told The Sun that water engineers had to come out five times over the weekend.

A spokesman for Scottish Water said water had been shut off during the weekend but added that residents were still able to use stored supplies on the island.

The Ice Bucket Challenge involves dumping iced water on someone’s head before the participant nominates another person to have a go.

Russian soldiers detained in Ukraine

ռուս զինվորներ

Ten Russian soldiers were detained in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, that country’s Security Service said Tuesday, as tensions simmered over the conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels.

The Russian soldiers were captured with documents and weapons on them, the Security Service said.

Russia has repeatedly denied claims by Kiev that it has sent troops and weapons over the border into Ukraine, where the Ukrainian military is fighting pro-Russian rebels.

Russia’s state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited a source in the Russian Defense Ministry as saying the soldiers had been patrolling the border and “most likely crossed by accident” at an unmarked point.

 

Mario Balotelli Signs for Liverpool

Մարիո Բալոտելլի

 

Liverpool has signed Italy striker Mario Balotelli from AC Milan, taking a calculated gamble on a headline-grabbing player known as much for his controversies as his goals.

Nineteen months after ending a 2½-year spell with Manchester City to play for his boyhood club, Balotelli returns to the English Premier League as a replacement for Luis Suarez — another of world football’s talented but disruptive stars.

Liverpool has been looking to strengthen its strikeforce after selling Suarez to Barcelona for $130 million.

During his time at City, in which he won the league title, Balotelli was sent off four times, threw a dart at a youth-team player and was involved in an incident that saw fireworks let off in his bathroom.

 

Venezuelan woman smuggles $120,000 of cocaine to Spain in her fake breasts

A woman has been arrested at Madrid airport after confessing to hiding £70,000 worth of cocaine in her breasts.

իմպլանտներ

The 43-year-old Venezuelan woman used two plastic bags containing 3.75lbs (1.7kg) of cocaine as breast implants to get through customs at the airport in the Spanish capital.

The woman was singled out when she arrived at customs, due to her nervous appearance, but officials found nothing after searching her possessions.

The woman had just arrived on a flight from Bogota, Colombia, and officers took her to one side due to her behaviour as she went through customs at Madrid airport.

Although nothing was found in her luggage, customs officials ordered a full body search.

A frisk by female officers revealed irregularities and deformations in both of the suspect’s breasts.

The passenger then ‘became nervous and confessed to carrying cocaine implants,’ a police statement said Friday.

She was rushed to hospital where doctors removed an implant from each breast, containing a total of 1.7 kilos of cocaine, worth at least £71,000.

Spanish police carry out regular checks on passengers arriving at Madrid’s Adolfo Suarez international airport on so-called ‘hot flights’ from Latin America.

Between January 1st and July 15, customs seized 493kg (1087 lbs) of cocaine, believed to be worth around £20million.

 

Dozens of Ukraine’s most dangerous prisoners escape as shell hits high-security jail in besieged Donetsk

Donetsk

 

Dozens of Ukraine’s most dangerous prisoners have escaped from a high-security jail after it was hit by shelling in Donetsk.

Authorities say one prisoner was killed while 106 inmates escaped from the jail, on the western outskirts of the besieged Ukrainian city, after it was hit during fighting between government forces and separatist rebels.

City council spokesman Maxim Rovensky today said a riot broke out at the jail after it was hit by a direct rocket, which also left three inmates injured.

He said the fugitives include people jailed for murder, robbery and rape.

Ukrainian government forces have over the past week intensified their push on Donetsk and have succeeded in surrounding it.

Rovensky said at least 10 homes, shops and garages were hit by overnight rocketing. He added that 20,000 people are living without electricity.

 

Inmates at Donetsk's high-security prison

Paris for 80p a night? Hotel in the French capital launches innovative ‘pay want you want’ scheme – and prays not to go bankrupt

Paris-towerParis is known as many things – a city of romance, fine restaurants, epic landmarks and grand architecture.

But it all comes at a price, boasting some of the most expensive accommodation in the world.

However, one hotel is hoping to change all that, by allowing holidaymakers to pay what they believe is a reasonable rate for their stay this summer.

Hotelier Aldric Duval has launched the enterprising ‘Payez ce que vous voulez’ (‘Pay what you want’) promotion in a bid to draw extra guests to Tour d-Auvergne, his three-star hotel in the central Opera district of the city.

The idea is simple. A visitor can pay exactly what they want to stay the night.

Normally, double rooms at the hotel would cost at least €190 (£150) – but should they decide that it is an appropriate amount, visitors can pay as little as €1 (80p).

The promotion runs until August 10.

The point of the scheme, he says, is to give customers a little financial freedom in a city of notoriously high costs.

He hopes that visitors to the city will treat the scheme as a good deal, but not abuse it.
The scheme has proved sufficiently inspiring that Mr Duval has had enquiries from other hoteliers in Paris – and further afield in Nice and Cannes – as to how it works.

 

Costa Concordia reaches end of final voyage

costa-concordiaThe crippled Costa Concordia cruise ship reached the end of its final voyage.

Refloated by salvage crews earlier this month, the rusting hulk docked at Voltri port in the Italian city of Genoa early Sunday.

The cruise ship, which ran aground in January 2012 off Giglio Island with more than 4,200 passengers aboard, was eased into a dry dock at the port for salvage.

It managed to make the four-day journey in a convoy of vessels from Giglio to Genoa without major incident, despite one night of storms.

The ship will be searched for the remains of Russel Rebello, a 33-year-old waiter who is the only victim still missing in the tragedy. A total of 32 people were killed in the disaster.

Searches for Rebello are also underway in Giglio at the site where the ship had rested for the past 30 months.

The lengthy process of dismantling the wrecked ship is expected to take two years.

More than 80% of the Concordia will be recycled or reused, including copper wiring, plumbing pipes, kitchens and some of the plastic room fittings that can be repaired.

The remaining 50,000 tons of steel will be melted down and sold at the market price to be used to make construction girders, cars and even other ships.

 

Russia: EU Sanctions Weaken Anti-Terrorism Efforts

Putin

Russia is lashing out at the latest round of Ukraine-related sanctions imposed by the European Union, saying they endanger the fight against international terrorism.

The sanctions, announced on Friday, impose travel bans and asset freezes on 15 people, including the head of Russia’s Federal Security Service and the head of the agency’s department overseeing international operations and intelligence. Four members of Russia’s national security council are also on the list.

A Foreign Ministry statement Saturday denounced the sanctions, saying they show the EU is taking “a complete turn away from joint work with Russia on international and regional security, including the fight against the spread of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism (and) organized crime.”

“We are sure the decisions will be greeted enthusiastically by international terrorists,” the ministry said.

Michael Schumacher’s devastated wife puts their £15million private jet with his initials on the tail up for sale

michael Schumacher -private jetCorinna Schumacher is selling the private jet her husband Michael used to fly around the world in for £15million.

The sale – 207 days since his life changed forever in a ski accident in the French Alps – is seen as proof that, whatever the outcome of his rehabilitation may be, he will never be the globetrotter he once was.

Schumacher, 45, lies mute and immobile in a Lausanne clinic in Switzerland with long years of therapy ahead of him as he struggles to get back some of his old life that was shattered when he smashed his head on to rocks on December 29 last year.

Corinna is now offering his grey Falcon 2000EX private jet, capable of carrying eight passengers and flying at 920 km, for sale. It still has Schumacher’s initials on the tailplane.
It was reported at the weekend that Schumacher is continuing to make good progress in the Lausanne clinic following his re-emergence from a medically induced coma last month.

Corinna intends to care for him in a specially built facility on the grounds of their mansion at Gland, 30 minutes drive from the clinic.

 

Dutch call for Putin’s daughter to be deported after it is discovered she lives in Holland with her boyfriend: Ukrainians also plan protest outside her apartment

Maria_Putin_Father_Mother

Her father has been blamed by many for the death of 193 Dutch citizens.

So for Maria Putin, who lives in a smart suburb of The Hague, relations with her neighbours must be more than a little strained right now.

The 28-year-old is reported to have resided in the Netherlands for several years with Dutch partner Jorrit Faassen, 34, an executive for a Russian consultancy firm.

He owns a two-storey penthouse apartment at the top of a luxury high-security block in Voorschoten, next to an idyllic canal.

Yesterday, anti-Putin activists from around the world were posting the address on Twitter and urging Dutch people to set up a protest outside.

The mayor of the city of Hilversum, Pieter Broertjes, yesterday called for Ms Putin to be deported from the country in a radio interview.

He later apologised for his comments, saying the demands were ‘not wise’ but ‘stemmed from a feeling of helplessness that many will recognise’.

Maria is understood to divide her time between Russia and the Netherlands, with the couple remaining very much within Putin’s inner circle.

She appears to keep her distance from her neighbours and her father and his staff are said to keep a close protective watch over her.

Putin is said to be so paranoid about her safety that he has not allowed her to be photographed as an adult in the Russian media and sent her to university under a different name.

 

Wrecked Costa Concordia sets sail on final voyage

cota concordia-giglioThe wrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship has begun its final voyage.

Salvage crews refloated the ship last week so they can move it from its resting place off Giglio Island to the Italian port of Genoa to be dismantled.

On Wednesday morning, the rusting hulk set off into open waters under tow.

It’s been more than 2½ years since the ship ran aground off Giglio Island with more than 4,200 passengers aboard, killing 32 people in a disaster that drew global attention.

The vessel will be towed — slowly and carefully — approximately 240 kilometers (150 miles) to Genoa, where it will be broken up. A convoy of 17 boats will travel along with it.

The ship is expected to arrive in Genoa on Sunday. It’ll take about two years to dismantle the massive cruise liner.

Since the wreck two years ago, 24 metric tons of debris — including furniture, dishes, food, personal effects and ship parts — have been recovered from the seabed.

 

‘Put an end to this senseless devastation’: Michael Douglas and Cate Blanchett lead raft of celebrities demanding ban on big cruise ships sailing through ‘fragile’ Venice

Michael DouglasIt has become one of the most controversial topics in the world of travel – the presence of giant cruise ships in Venice, and fears over the harm these liners may cause to the famous city.

For the cruise industry, the great Italian island citadel is one of the world’s foremost destinations – a place that adds an elegance and a sense of history to any long voyage.

On the other side are those who think the liners are enormous, incongruous intruders into a place that was never designed to host such ocean goliaths.
Now leading figures from the world of cinema – including Oscar winners Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton and Michael Douglas – have added their signatures to a petition, addressed to the Italian prime minister and the Italian minister of culture and tourism, calling for an end to the sight of liners dwarfing buildings such as St Mark’s Basilica.

cruise ships - Venice1Other big-screen figures are also on the list of endorsees, including Rob Lowe, Diane Lane, Sir Michael Caine, Edward Norton, Susan Sarandon and Isabella Rossellini.

Other luminaries include architect Sir Norman Foster, Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter and Princess Firyal of Jordan – plus an illustrious line-up of fashion designers including Diane von Furstenberg, Carolina Herrera, Hubert de Givenchy and Calvin Klein.

Venice has already made moves to restrict the movements of cruise ships in its waters.

January brought a reduction of 20 per cent on the number of ships weighing more than 40,000 tonnes authorised to enter the Giudecca Canal (the waterway which separates the main core of Venice from the separate island of Giudecca, immediately to the south).

Further regulations which were due to come into force in November, have now been put back to January 2015.

 

Footprints of a 36,000-year-old family discovered: Romanian cave found to hold some of Europe’s oldest ever human tracks

Oldest human footprintsSome of Europe’s oldest human footprints have been discovered by researchers in Romania’s Ciur-Izbuc Cave.

The 400 footprints were originally unearthed in the Carpathian Mountains in 1965. At the time, they were thought to belong to a man, woman and child and dated to 10,000 to 15,000 years old.

But now radiocarbon measurements of two cave bear fossils unearthed just below the footprints suggests that these early humans left their impressions 36,500 years ago.

Today, cave explorers have damaged all but 51 of the original 400 footprints. The remaining hollows, however, suggest that six or seven individuals, including at least one child, entered the cave after a flood.

The Romanian footprints are one of the oldest to be described in a peer-reviewed journal, but a number of researchers believe they have found footprints that are much older.

For instance, in 2011 scientists said human tracks at Tanzania’s Engare Sero site were 120,000 years old.

Those findings have not been published yet in a peer-reviewed journal, and David Webb of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania believes this suggests a problem with footprint authenticity.

 

Ukraine forces take control of Donetsk airport, military spokesman says

 Դոնեցկի օդանավակայան

Ukrainian forces have taken full control of Donetsk airport as they continue to fight pro-Russian rebels in the eastern Ukraine city, a Ukrainian military spokesman says.

Meantime, two people were killed in fighting in the city, the Donetsk City Council said in an online statement.

The council warned residents not to leave their homes.

Donetsk is west of the area where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 crashed Thursday, with the loss of 298 lives. The United States says a Russian-made surface-to-air missile fired from pro-Russian rebel territory took down the Boeing 777.

Since the crash, Ukraine’s government and rebels have traded bitter accusations over who was responsible.

 

Outrage as France become first country in world to ban pro-Palestine demos

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators-paris

 

France’s Socialist government provoked outrage today by becoming the first in the world to ban protests against Israeli action in Palestine.

In what is viewed as an outrageous attack on democracy, Socialist Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said mass demonstrations planned for the weekend should be halted.

Mr Cazeneuve said there was a ‘threat to public order’, while opponents said he was ‘criminalising’ popular support of the Palestinian people.

Thousands were set to march against the ongoing slaughter in Gaza, calling for an immediate end to hostilities in which civilians including many children have been killed.

But Mr Cazeneuve fears there might be a repeat of the fights between ‘ultra’ Jewish vigilantes and pro-Palestinians which happened after a demonstration last Sunday.

There were false claims made last week that synagogues in Paris had been targeted by pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

In fact videos showed armed vigilantes from a group called the Jewish Defence League (LDJ) baiting demonstrators into fights.

There were no arrests among the LDJ, despite them fighting and smashing up property in full view of the police.

Six pro-Palestine protestors were arrested for a variety of public order offences, but none had been anywhere near Paris synagogues, which remained undamaged.

Ukrainian, Russian Clubs to Be Kept Apart by UEFA

ֆուտբոլ

 UEFA has decided to keep Ukrainian and Russian clubs from playing each other “until further notice” because of the continuing unrest between the neighboring countries.

 

European football’s governing body made the ruling “in light of the current political situation” after the Russian and Ukrainian associations “expressed concerns about safety and security.”

 

The UEFA emergency panel ruling means Russian side Zenit St. Petersburg and Ukrainian club Dnipro cannot be paired against each other in the Champions League third qualifying round draw on July 18.

 

UEFA also said a security assessment showed that the western city of Lviv and capital Kiev can continue to host matches.

 

 

 

Անկախ

Report: Malaysia Airlines flight crashes in Ukraine

Մալազիայի ավիաուղիներ, ավիավթար

A Malaysia Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has crashed in eastern Ukraine, Russian news agency Interfax reported Thursday.

Malaysia Airlines confirmed that it lost contact with MH17, and the flight’s last known position was over Ukrainian airspace, the airline said on Twitter.

The jet is a Boeing 777, according to Interfax.

The plane reportedly went down near the border between Russia and Ukraine.

Ukrainian official Anton Gerashchenko said 280 passengers and 15 crew were on board.

Gerashchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s interior minister, wrote on his Facebook page that the plane had crashed in Ukrainian territory after being hit by a missile fired from a Buk launcher.

 Անկախ

Germany were so confident they were going to win World Cup they printed five million victory stamps BEFORE the final

Գերմանիա, ֆուտբոլից հետո Germany printed five million stamps commemorating their fourth World Cup title before the final on Sunday had even started.

The 60-cent stamps are due to go on sale this week after the first commemorative copies are offered to the players and staff.

If Germany had lost the final, the stamps, printed by Deutsche Post, would have had to be pulped.

The stamps were ordered by Germany’s Finance Ministry, which holds 21 per cent of Deutsche Post’s shares through the state-owned KfW bank.
Meanwhile, it was reported yesterday that a new German football shirt bearing the four stars for Germany’s four World Cup wins sold out within hours of the team’s triumph in Brazil.

Germany were crowned world champions on Sunday night and Adidas wasted no time in commemorating the achievement – by revealing a kit with four stars above the badge.

On Monday morning Adidas’ website was already displaying a ‘sold out’ sign next to the new shirts.

 

19 Ukrainian troops killed in rocket attack, military says

ուկրաինա, հրթիռակոծություն

 

Pro-Russian separatists fired rockets at a Ukrainian military camp in eastern Ukraine before dawn Friday, killing at least 19 troops, a Ukrainian military spokesman said.

The attack happened around 4:30 a.m. near the town of Zelenopolsk, in eastern Ukraine’s restive Luhansk region, military spokesman Yuriy Stets said.

At least 55 other people were injured, according to the nation’s counterterrorism office.

The office of President Petro Poroshenko, whose country has battled separatists in the east for months, accused attackers of using Russian-made Grad rockets against Ukrainian armed forces.

The European Union is sanctioning 11 more people over the Ukraine crisis, the European Council said Friday, bringing the total number subject to EU visa bans and asset freezes because of the crisis to 72.

 

 Անկախ

Climbers on Mont Blanc discover body of young guide who disappeared on solo climb 32 YEARS earlier frozen in glacial ice

 Մոնբլան

 

The body of a young climber has been found preserved in the glacial ice of the Mont Blanc range of the French Alps, 32 years after he went missing.

Mountain climbers discovered the body of Patrice Hyvert, a trainee mountain guide, as they scaled the western side of the Aguille Verte mountain, part of the Mont Blanc massif.

The 23-year-old was last seen alive on the morning of March 1, 1982, when he took off on a solitary climb up the range which straddles the French-Italian border.

Bad weather set in that afternoon. Another climber was evacuated from the same mountain two days later, but Mr Hyvert was never found.

Local police confirmed to newspaper Dauphine Libere and other media that the frozen body was that of the missing climber after finding his identity card still in his wallet.

The discovery last Thursday came as a shock to Mr Hyvert’s 82-year-old father, Gerard.

The dangerous terrain, and inclement weather, of the Mont Blanc range results in scores of deaths of mountain climbers each year.

The bodies of the missing are often discovered the following year after the ice thaws.

 

 Անկախ