An incredibly rare 'ghost fish' has been seen alive for the first time ever.

The ethereal deep ocean dweller, measuring just 10cm long, has never before been spotted by researchers, let alone caught on camera.

It lives in the murky depths of the sea - 2km below the surface.

The odd-looking fish is pale, with almost translucent skin and bulbous, glowing eyes.

It is thought to belong to the Aphyonidae family.

Some think the scaly creatures looks like Falcor, the dragon from the cult 1984 movie, 'The NeverEnding Story'.

A cow called Lucky is the only survivor of a lightning strike that killed 18 other cows at once in alpine meadow in Austria.

Cow herder Georg Buchegger was shocked to discover all but one of his herd dead under a tree on Sunday, after they were struck by lightning while sheltering from a storm.

A photograph taken by Buchegger shows the dead cows laid strewn across the ground around the tree in the alpine meadow near the town of Strobl in Salzburg.

According to the Krone newspaper, the only cow from the 19-strong herd to survive is appropriately called 'Glück', which means Lucky.

"In too much of policing today, officer safety has become the highest priority. It trumps the rights and safety of suspects. It trumps the rights and safety of bystanders. It's so important, in fact, that an officer's subjective fear of a minor wound from a dog bite is enough to justify using potentially lethal force, in this case at the expense of a 4-year-old girl. And this isn't the first time.

In January, an Iowa cop shot and killed a woman by mistake while trying to kill her dog. Other cops have shot other kids, other bystanders, their partners, their supervisors and even themselves while firing their guns at a dog. That mind-set is then, of course, all the more problematic when it comes to using force against people."—Journalist Radley Balko

Almost two years after the firestorm that took place in Ferguson, Missouri, when a white police officer shot an unarmed black teenager and militarized police descended in a brutal show of force to quell local protests, not much has really changed for the better.

Unarmed Americans are still getting shot by police with alarming regularity.

SWAT teams are still bursting through doors, terrorizing families and leaving lives and property shattered. In one incident, a Kansas SWAT team erroneously raided the home of two former CIA analysts after police observed family members shopping at a gardening store and found loose-leaf tea (mistaken for marijuana) in the family's trash can.

And the military industrial complex is still making a killing (literally and figuratively) at taxpayer expense from the transformation of small-town police forces—"kitted out with Marine-issue camouflage and military-grade body armor, toting short-barreled assault rifles, and rolling around in armored vehicles"—into extensions of the military.

What has changed is the extent to which Americans—easily distracted by all of the political mumbo jumbo being bantered around—seem to have stopped paying attention or being outraged about revelations of government corruption, wrongdoing and outright abuse.

Part of this ignorance can be attributed to the failure of the mainstream media to report on what's really taking place in the American police state. As The Huffington Post reports, "The media has turned its sights to the heated presidential election, burning through the oxygen that had given life to stories about police brutality and reform."

Another part of this apathy can be chalked up to a widespread desensitization to police violence, thanks to the growing availability and accessibility of surveillance and camera footage. As Salon points out, "the increased visibility of trauma and death at the hands of cops" has resulted in "the deadening of our collective senses."

And yet another part of this indifference seemingly stems from the fact that we just don't value human life as much as we should. How many Americans seem unconcerned about the carnage inflicted on civilians worldwide as a result of the nation's bloody, endless wars abroad? As The Washington Post makes clear, the end result of ignoring these civilian casualties and burying memories of war's destruction is more wars, more blowback, and more innocent blood on our hands.

If there's one area where Americans do seem to still get outraged, it's in relation to their pets, who occupy a sizeable place in their hearts, homes and wallets.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is now investigating the mysterious deaths of nearly 50 birds along the Marsh Creek in Woodhaven.

Neighbors along Arlington Dr. have no idea why dozens and dozens of birds are dying along the creek banks.

The DNR was out there Friday, collecting the birds in large garbage bags.

Residents are now nervous to let their pets and kids near the water.

Nancy Chinavere told us, "Floating ducks, ducks on land, ducks struggling, everywhere ducks, they were dead. It's just nature. It's beautiful. But when you see something like this, its traumatic. It's very upsetting."

Those who have lived there for more than a decade say they have never seen birds dying in such large numbers.

The DNR says it could take about two weeks before they have a cause. It could range from the water, to bad feed, to even botulism, according to experts.

A 61-year-old man from northern Ontario said he was lucky to walk away with only scratches after facing off against a 320lb black bear with only his fists and the skills gleaned from years of featherweight boxing.

Rick Nelson was walking his dog outside the city of Sudbury on Sunday when a black bear cub poked its head out of a shrub some three feet away from him. "It was so close I could touch it. It let out a yelp, because I scared the heck out of it," he said.

As his dog barked at the cub, the former bear hunter knew he only had seconds to spare before the cub's mother would arrive to defend her cub. "I knew right away I was in trouble," he told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. "It's calling for mommy."

A bear killed a man and injured seven persons in Ballari district on Tuesday morning.

The animal attacked Pura Basappa, Maliyamma and Hanumanthappa between 6.30 and 7am when they were walking to their fields in Siddapura village. Their screams alerted other villagers, who threw stones and drove it away.

Within minutes, the bear appeared at Siddapura Nala, on the outskirts of the village. It bit Kasturi Naik, 56, on the neck. It attacked Kalia Naik, 50, who tried to rescue Kasturi. Kala escaped with scratches, but Kasturi succumbed to his injuries in hospital.

The angry bear then turned on Peeki Bai, 50, and Thippamma, 50, who were heading to their fields, and left them injured.

The animal then moved towards Makanadaku village, and injured Thippeswamy, 42, in his right leg, thigh and left hand. It took shelter in bushes following the multiple attacks, which happened within a span of an hour.

The injured, undergoing treatment at the Kudligi government hospital, are out of danger.

People have been urged to stay out of the water at a popular beach in Western Australia's South West after a large whale carcass washed ashore.

The 12-metre humpback whale was found at Honeycombs Beach near Margaret River on Monday, with large shark bites visible on the carcass.

WA Department of Parks and Wildlife (DPAW) marine park coordinator Matthew Dasey said the carcass would be broken up into smaller pieces and carted away to a local government landfill site.

"Obviously 40 tonnes of rotting meat on the beach is going to attract sharks, so we want to be on top of that straight away," Mr Dasey said.

Rangers have been patrolling the beach, a well-known surfing spot in the Leeuwin Estate National Park, to warn people away from the area.

Larval fish are becoming addicted to consuming micro-beads, according to a new study by a group of Swedish researchers.

The study, entitled "Environmentally relevant concentrations of microplastic particles influence larval fish ecology," was published earlier this month in the journal Science. As outlined in the study's abstract, the scientists discovered that when developing fish are exposed to high concentrations of micro-plastic particles, they exhibit altered behaviors and stunted growth, which in turn led to increased mortality rates.

Micro-beads, the tiny pieces of plastic we find in many everyday cosmetic products such as face wash, body scrub and toothpaste, are so small they easily travel down our plugholes, through the water filtration system and into the ocean. Once there, these tiny pieces of plastic cause havoc in the ocean's ecosystem.

A whale carcass washed ashore at the beach in Port Hueneme on Monday.

The National Marine Fisheries Service said the dead whale appeared at about 3 p.m.

Officials with the Channel Islands Marine Institute were running samples of the whale.

The whale, which was believed to be a humpback whale, was dead for some time as pieces of it were floating in the water nearby, according to officials.

The National Marine Fisheries Service said they confirmed the whale was not the same one that washed ashore Dockweiler State Beach and was towed back out to sea.

The city of Port Hueneme was handling the investigation.

On Sunday, a thunderstorm accompanied by heavy rainfall caused the deaths of two herders in East Jebel Marra.

Two young herders went missing.

Speaking to Radio Dabanga, a listener reported that Sabir Ismail (35) and Hamdan Yasir Ahmed (22), as well as 35 head of cattle were fatally struck by lightning in Terbo village, south of Dubo El Omda.

He added that herders Yahya Omar Eisa (14) and Awatif Abaker Saleh (10) went missing.