Peru Bus Plunge Kills 50, Including 13 Children

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Rescue workers inspect the scene after a bus accident in the Yura district of Arequipa

 

A bus has plunged off a cliff into a river southeast of the Peruvian capital of Lima, killing 50 people, including 13 children.

The accident occurred Friday night after the bus left the provincial capital of Santa Teresa. It fell about 650 feet (200 meters) into the chasm. Authorities said bodies were found as far as 330 feet (100 meters) away from the impact site.

Firefighter Capt. David Taboada said no survivors were found. He also said authorities had not determined the cause of the accident.

The high-altitude roads of the Peruvian Andes are notorious for such bus plunges, with poor farmers comprising many of the victims.

 

Thousands Protest Elections in Azerbaijan

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Camil Hasali

 

Thousands gathered in the capital of Azerbaijan on Saturday to protest the re-election of President Ilham Aliyev in a vote widely criticized by international election monitors.

The protesters in Baku demanded that the election be nullified and that Aliyev resign. Aliyev succeeded his father to the presidency of this small oil-rich nation in 2003, extending decades of dynastic rule.

Leading the march was Jamil Hasanli, the historian who ran as the main opposition candidate but snagged less than 6 percent of the vote to Aliyev’s 85 percent.

Police estimated that there were 1,500 at the rally, whereas the opposition put the number between 8,000 and 10,000. The protest was significantly smaller than in previous presidential elections in 2003 and 2008, when at least three to four times as many people gathered to contest the results.

“This government must go and it will go,” said Hasanli. He criticized Azerbaijani election officials, saying “they will all receive their punishment.”

Hasanli was forwarded as a candidate at the last minute after the opposition’s first choice was unable to register because he had Russian citizenship, and many observers said his campaign was poorly planned and lacked energy.

 

Hard-up Italy to sell 50 historic sites in bid to raise £425million to pay off government debt

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italy-Orsini Odescalchi castleThe Italian government is to sell scores of historic properties to help it tackle its huge budget deficit.

A haunted fortress, a cardinal’s palace and an island in the Venetian lagoon are among 50 sites for sale.

The move recalls 2012, when Greece was forced to sell off some its beautiful islands to foreign buyers, to chip away at its enormous debts.

The Italian government hope that the nation’s treasures will be bought by private businesses and converted into hotels, restaurants and museums, bringing much needed employment and international investment.

Minister for the economy Fabrizio Saccomanni aims to make £425million from the sell-off.

It was approved as part of an emergency decree aimed at keeping Italy’s 2013 budget deficit within 3 per cent to avoid corrective action by Brussels.

The ‘Kill Public Debt’ plan originally listed 350 properties but officials now deem that some assets, such as military airbases, are poorly suited for the commercial market.

The properties include Orsini Castle, which sits above its own feudal village near Viterbo, about 60miles from Rome.

The medieval fort was built for Pope Nicholas III in the 1270s and has a Euro 15 million price tag. Said to be haunted, it was used as a prison from the mid-19th century to 1989 and has since been an art gallery.

 

Wealthy Serbian looking for love posts hilarious photographs showing off his wealth (and fluffy pink dressing gown) in a bid to find young bride

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Don Milisav Juan Gonzales Brzi9

 

A wealthy Serbian bachelor has been posting pictures of himself in his mansion in the hope that his wealth will lure in a lady.

In a note attached to the photos, the man who calls himself Don Milisav Juan Gonzales Brzi, says: ‘To all unmarried ones who would like to spend their life by my side and within all the beauties of my home.

‘Please look below at all the magic of my home that I have decorated with taste, perhaps just for YOU.’
The bizarre snaps have been circulating on Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian websites and have since gone viral.

In them the grey-haired singleton is seen standing awkwardly in his bathroom, ‘relaxing’ on a bed and kneeling in what appears to be a hallway.

Mr Brzi claims to be 39-years-old, living in St Petersburg and looking for a much younger 16-20-year-old for a relationship and marriage.

Artwork and painted frescoes decorate nearly every wall in his home, including in both of the huge bathrooms.

Whoever takes up his offer will have to deal with the cold weather, as temperatures can plummet as low as -5C in winter.

Perhaps the young lady in question could borrow one of Brzi’s fur coats to keep warm in, as he appears to have several.

Despite appearing on Eastern European websites months ago, it is not known whether or not Mr Brzi ever found his dream nubile bride.

 

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And the award for betraying his country goes to . . . Edward Snowden breaks cover in Moscow to collect prize for ‘Integrity in Intelligence’

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Edward Snowden

 

Edward Snowden has been pictured in public today for the first time since leaving Moscow airport.

The National Security Agency whisteblower emerged to collect the Sam Adams Associates Integrity in Intelligence Award.

The picture was published on the same day his father Lon Snowden arrived in Russia to see his son.

Dressed in a black suit and open-necked blue shirt, Snowden was seen smiling alongside UK WikiLeaks journalist Sarah Harrison, who took the leaker from Hong Kong to Moscow and also obtained his asylum.

The precise location of the award ceremony is not known, although it is believed to have been in Moscow.

The award is given annually for people operating within the intelligence community who stand up to abuse of information gathering.

Previous winners include Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and former British Intelligence translator Katharine Gun who leaked information suggesting America acted illegally in pushing for the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

 

Nobel highlights Syria with Peace Prize to chemical weapons watchdog

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mideast-syria-nobel-peace-prize

 

The Nobel Peace Prize has turned the global spotlight back on the conflict in Syria.

The prize committee in Oslo, Norway, awarded it Friday to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, the international chemical weapons watchdog helping to eliminate the Syrian army’s stockpiles of poison gas.

Its inspectors have just begun working in the active war zone, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee said it hopes the award offers “strong support” to them as they face arduous and life-threatening tasks.

But the OPCW did not receive the prize primarily because of its work in Syria.

The award to the OPCW was intended in part as a message to countries still harboring chemical weapons to get rid of them, committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland said.

In the lead-up to the prize announcement Friday, the global media speculated that an individual would win, possibly Congolese physician Denis Mukwege, who treats victims of gang rape, or Malala Yousafzai, the teen education activist from Pakistan whom a Taliban assassin shot for her work to promote education for girls.

Other large organizations that have won it include the United Nations, Doctors Without Borders, U.N. peacekeeping forces, the U.N. atomic energy agency, the Red Cross and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.

The Peace Prize is the fifth Nobel Prize to be awarded this week, preceded by honors in medicine, physics, chemistry and literature.

On Monday, the final Nobel Prize will be awarded in the field of economics.

 

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The answer of MFA spokesman Tigran Balayan to a question by “Arminfo” news Agency

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Տիգրան Բալայան

Questions: Yesterday the Foreign Minister of Turkey made a statement that the Turkish side wishes to propose new creative ideas aimed at the normalization of the Armenian-Turkish relations. How would you comment that statement?

Answer: Since the signing of the Protocols four years have passed and during that period we hear the same old song from the Turkish side on some creative ideas. These are nothing else than continuation of efforts to hide Turkey’s failure of the ratification and implementation process of the protocols without any preconditions, something expected by the international community.

 

More than two million worshippers arrive in Mecca for hajj pilgrimage… with another million expected to join them in world’s largest annual gathering of Muslims

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Mecca -hajj pilgrimage

 

In the searing heat, this was the scene at the Grand Mosque in Mecca today as millions of pilgrims arrived for the annual hajj – a religious journey that is viewed as one of the Muslim faith’s greatest acts of worship.

The mosque, the focal point of Islam, was teeming with visitors wearing the simple white folds of cloth prescribed for hajj.

Almost two million people have so far arrived at the site in Saudi Arabia for the rites, which reach a peak on Monday – and another million are expected.

And with temperatures hitting 36c (97f), many congregated in the cooler shadow of the building’s minarets.

Haj must be performed at least once in their lifetime by all Muslims capable of making the expensive, difficult journey – a duty that applies equally to Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims at a time of tension between Islam’s main sects.

Saudi Arabian authorities have asked pilgrims to put politics aside during the annual hajj, but amid bitter divisions in Egypt, some Islamists refuse to keep quiet.

Keenly aware of the potential for political tensions to flare into violence at a time of upheaval across the Middle East, the Saudi Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef asked pilgrims to leave disputes at home.

Most Egyptians making their way into the holy city said their most fervent prayers were for peace.

 

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Germany Again Urges Ukraine to Free Tymoshenko

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vitor yanukovich-guido westerwelle

 

Germany has once against urged Ukraine to release jailed former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko or risk losing a proposed free-trade agreement with the European Union.

Tymoshenko is serving a seven-year sentence on charges of abuse of office. The EU views her case as politically motivated and has warned that it will not sign the free-trade deal with Kiev in November, if Tymoshenko remains jailed. Germany has offered to fly her to Berlin for treatment of a back problem after she is freed on humanitarian grounds.

Speaking after talks with Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych on Thursday, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle urged Kiev to solve the Tymoshenko problem because “we support Ukraine’s path to Europe.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Leonid Kozhara said authorities are looking for a solution.

 

Tibetan monk who helped bring Buddhism to West murdered in China

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tibet-monastery

 

A high-profile monk who played a key role in bringing Tibetan Buddhism to the West has been murdered in southwest China, police say.

Tarap Shetrup Akong, who has British citizenship , was killed along with his nephew and another man in Sichuan province on Tuesday, police in the provincial capital Chengdu said on their official account on the microblogging site Weibo.

Police said that three suspects have been captured, and that the victims were stabbed in a financial dispute.

Akong was born in Tibet in 1940 and left for exile in 1959. He founded a monastery called Samye Ling in a secluded part of Scotland.

Robbie Barnett, a Tibet expert at Columbia University in New York, said that he was known for his social as much as spiritual work.

“The bulk of his life’s work was on providing social welfare to villagers, rural communities, townspeople, nomads and monasteries in Tibet and other countries.”

Barnett said that he had great diplomatic skill and was able to maintain relationships with high-level Chinese officials without compromising his work with Tibetans on the ground.

 

EU Awards Top Human Rights Award to Malala

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Մալալա

European lawmakers have awarded their top human rights prize to Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who survived a Taliban assassination attempt last year.

The European Parliament announced Thursday that 16-year-old Malala won the 50,000 euro ($65,000) Sakharov Award. U.S. intelligence leaker Edward Snowden and a group of imprisoned Belarus dissidents were also in the running.

The prize is considered the Europe’s top rights award. Previous winners include Nobel Peace Prize laureates Aung San Suu Kyi and Nelson Mandela.

 

Funds raised through Telethon 2013 to launch construction of Vardenis-Martakert Highway

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The Hayastan All-Armenian Fund’s upcoming Telethon will be dedicated to raising financial support for the construction of the Vardenis-Martakert Highway. The third project of its kind to be carried out by the fund, the Vardenis-Martakert Highway is expected to be a boon to the further socio-economic development of Artsakh and Armenia alike.

Today it would be hard to exaggerate the crucial role which the Goris-Stepanakert and North-South highways have had in the growth and improved living standards of both republics. The Goris-Stepanakert Highway, which links Artsakh to Armenia, and the North-South Highway, often described as the backbone of Artsakh, have enabled the Hayastan All-Armenian Fund to accelerate the development of infrastructure (including water and gas pipelines and networks) as well as the construction or renovation of schools, clinics, hospitals, and cultural institutions throughout the cities and villages of Artsakh.

The Vardenis-Martakert Highway likewise will be of key economic and humanitarian importance. By functioning as a direct road link, the highway will become a second lifeline between northern Armenia and northern Artsakh, significantly cutting down travel times, boosting the economies of scores of Artsakh communities along its path, stimulating inter-community ties, and vastly improving geographic access for implementing local development initiatives. Currently the only land-travel link between Artsakh and Armenia is the Berdzor community, through which passes the Goris-Stepanakert Highway.

The highway’s construction will include, in addition to paving and the painting of pavement markings, the installation of water-removal and snowdrift-control systems as well as protective barriers and road signs. Design tweaks and special safety measures will be applied in highway sections prone to landslides. These measures will comprise the construction of support walls and rockfall-attenuation structures, and the removal of rocks. In addition, the project entails the renovation or refitting of 16 bridges along the route.

The Vardenis-Martakert Highway will bring economic benefits to communities located within up to 20 kilometers on either side of the route. Villages that lie within two to three kilometers of the future highway include Drmbon, Kochoghut, Verin Horatagh, Vaghuhas, Haterk, Getavan, Chapar, Khnkavan, Charektar, Nor Erkej, Dadivank, Nor Getashen, Knaravan, and Yeghegnut. Outlying villages, located five or more kilometers from the highway, include Karvachar, Nor Gharachinar, Harutagomer, Zardakhach, Hamshak, Chapni, Chinavan, Nor Kharkhapur, Shigkar, Nor Brajur, Yeghtsin, Zovk, Nor Vernashen, Msheni, and Nor Manashid.

 

A Wi-Fi Kettle That Messages Instead Of Whistling When It Boils

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4The iKettle might have a terribly cliched name, but it makes up for that unoriginality with loads of novel functionality that might just be enough to justify its $160 price tag. Maybe. After all, how many kettles do you know that politely ask if you’d like a piping hot cup of tea when you get home at night?

The crux of the kettle’s capabilities is its ability to connect to your home’s Wi-Fi network. This puts it in contact with an accompanying mobile app on your smartphone that gives you complete control over all of the kettle’s functionality — including multiple temperature options for different hot beverages — from wherever you have access to your home’s wireless network.

Starting the kettle boiling before you get up and head to the kitchen is a wonderful feature, for sure. But it’s the iKettle’s ability to monitor its internal temperature and alert you when the water is ready that most coffee and tea fans will love — especially since it sends you notifications instead of an ear-piercing whistle. And last but not least, when you walk through the door at the end of the day and your smartphone rejoins your wireless network, the iKettle will even offer to start a fresh brew like your own personal butler who really has only one skill.

Yeni Azerbaijan party (YAP) announces the victory of Ilham Aliyev

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The ruling party “Yeni Azerbaijan” declared victory of its leaders, the current president Ilham Aliyev in the presidential election on October 9 of its leader, said at a press conference on Wednesday evening,   YAP deputy chairman, Ali Ahmadov. He did not give specific figures on the number of voters, and stated the complete victory of Aliyev.

According to Ahmadov, the elections were held in a democratic atmosphere, and there were   not serious violations.–06D–

Dutch Apologize to Russia Over Diplomat’s Arrest

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hague

 

The Netherlands has issued an apology to Russia over the arrest and detention over the weekend of a Russian diplomat by police in The Hague.

Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans says in a written statement Wednesday that an investigation has established that the arrest of Dmitry Borodin late Saturday was a breach of the Vienna Convention that regulates diplomatic relations between nations, including diplomatic immunity.

For the breach, “the state of the Netherlands offers the Russian Federation its apologies,” the statement says.

However Timmermans also says he “understands” the action of police officers who arrested Borodin — a statement unlikely to appease Russian demands for action against officers involved.

The statement adds that the two countries “remain in talks” about the situation.

 

Proof that Marilyn Monroe DID have a chin implant: X-rays and medical notes that reveal late star’s cosmetic surgery go up for auction

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A physician’s notes on Marilyn Monroe that indicate that the Hollywood sex symbol had undergone cosmetic surgery will be up for sale next month along with a set of her X-rays, an auction house said on Tuesday.

The set of six X-rays and a file of doctors’ notes that offer a partial medical history of the Gentlemen Prefer Blondes actress from 1950 to 1962, are expected to fetch between $15,000 and $30,000 at auction on November 9 and 10, said Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills, California.

The notes written by Hollywood plastic surgeon Michael Gurdin appear to confirm speculation that Monroe, who epitomized glamour and set a standard of movie star beauty during the latter part of Hollywood’s golden era, went under the knife for cosmetic reasons.

The seller, who is so far unnamed, received the items as a gift from Gurdin.

Gurdin’s notes include references to a 1950 cartilage implant in Monroe’s chin, which he observed to have slowly begun to dissolve.

Monroe’s biggest films, such as 1953’s How to Marry a Millionaire, 1955’s The Seven Year Itch and 1959’s Some Like It Hot, were all shot after 1950.

The X-rays include Monroe’s frontal facial bones, a composite right and left X-ray of the sides of her nasal bones and dental X-rays of the roof of her mouth.
A set of three chest X-rays of Monroe from 1954 sold for $45,000 at a 2010 auction.

A self-published memoir by Beverly Hills plastic surgeon Norman Leaf in 2010 claimed that Monroe underwent cosmetic surgery on her chin in 1950, citing the same notes made by Gurdin, Leaf’s medical partner.

Leaf also states in his memoir that Monroe underwent a slight rhinoplasty procedure on the tip of her nose.

The notes also indicate that Monroe suffered from neutropenia, a low level of a white blood cell type, in 1956 while in England and had an ectopic pregnancy in 1957.

Flying Alpine swifts stay airborne for 200 days in longest recorded flight made by any bird

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Alpine Swifts - the longest recorded flight

 

Researchers who tracked a group of migrating birds have discovered that they flew for 200 days non-stop between Africa and Europe.

Scientists say that the 1,240-mile flight carried out by three Alpine Swifts is the longest recorded flight made by any bird.

Although experts have speculated that a related species, the common swift, remains airborne for much of the year, the latest research is the first to provide data over such a long period.

A team from the Swiss Ornithological Institute and the Bern University of Applied Sciences strapped tiny electronic monitoring devices to six alpine swifts before theu flew south for the winter.

When they returned north again, the team recaptured three of the birds and downloaded the data from the devices.

It showed that the birds did not stop moving from late September until early spring.

Despite the team’s initial scepticism of the results, they found that the birds didn’t land to rest or sleep, but instead spent much of the night gliding and eat while still airborne.

Much of their diet consists of aerial plankton, bugs and spiders that are swept into the sky by high winds.

The birds are able to skim lakes and rivers while in flight for liquids.

What the scientists were unable to discern is why the birds spend so long in the air.

Mr Liechti said: ‘We can only speculate as to what the profit is of staying airborne all the time.

‘Is it avoiding predation? Parasites? We don’t know.’

 

Topless Women Stage Pro-Abortion Protest in Spain

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Topless Women Stage Pro-Abortion Protest in SpainWomen from the feminist group Femen have staged a topless protest in the Spanish Parliament against the conservative government’s planned abortion law reform.

Three women standing in the lower house’s public gallery took off their tops and chanted “abortion is sacred” as Justice Minister Alberto Ruiz-Gallardon spoke during a weekly session Wednesday.

One of the women climbed up on to a gallery railing and wrapped her arms around a pillar as she shouted down at the politicians.

The women, who had the message painted on their bodies, were dragged away by parliament ushers after some three minutes.

Ruiz-Gallardon opposes Spain’s abortion without restrictions until the 14th week and wants it once again only available under certain conditions concerning the health of the mother and the fetus.

 

New UN Corner opened in Gyumri Central Library

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IMG_1226

 

Gyumri, 9 October, 2013 – UN Office in Armenia continues focusing attention on youth empowerment in the regions and opened a new UN Corner in Gyumri.   Now students, researches, officials and journalists will have more opportunities to further learn about the UN values, global agenda and UN work in Armenia, using donated 2,000 UN publications.

The UN Corner was launched at the Gyumri Municipality Central Library named after Mkrtich Armen with the support of the UN Department of Public Information (UNDPI) and will complement the UN support to the libraries in this city.

In addition, some 2,000 UN publications were distributed with the help of a Bibilo-bus at the Gyumri State Pedagogical Institute (GSPI) named after M. Nalbandyan, Civil Society Development Center of GSPI and at the Gyumri Branch of the Armenian State University of Economics.  UN officials will visit the UN Corners to discuss the UN-related issues with all interested.

Maria Dotsenko, the UNDPI Representative in Armenia, said: “The UN keeps focusing on youth empowerment and dialogue with public. Since the citizens of Gyumri are active participants of many UN activities, we supported your idea to open UN Corner, so that you will have direct access to the UN-related information. You are our reliable partners in promotion of UN values: human rights, democratic governance, peace and security, sustainable human development. We are glad to support you to further improve your knowledge.”

Artush Mkrtchyan, the Central Library Director, expressed his appreciation on the cooperation with the UN emphasizing that such joint activities will allow people to contribute to the work of the UN and become better informed and active citizens.

There are seven UN Corners in Armenia: four in Yerevan: at the Armenian – Russian (Slavonic) University, Armenian State Pedagogical University named after Khachatur Abovyan, the Armenian National Agrarian University and Armenian State University of Economics, and three – outside of Yerevan: in Ijevan, Stepanavan and Dilijan.  There are also two UN Depository Libraries: in the Yerevan State University and the National Library of Armenia.

 

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