Russian authorities have launched a criminal case into the suspected beating of children by teenage caretakers in a Far Eastern orphanage on Friday, a day after a video sparked internet outrage.

The video, made in the orphanage in the town of Pionersky in the Far Eastern Amur Region, shows a teenage girl who lashes boys aged between seven and nine with a belt. Seven boys are lined up against a wall as she calls the children forward one by one, beats them and shoves them away.

Police opened a criminal case on charges of torture, which entail a maximum punishment of seven years in prison. Three girls, aged between 15 and 17 are seen as likely suspects. Two of them were taken to a detention facility for minors. The third teenager, who is under 16 years - the age of criminal responsibility on these charges - was hospitalized for reasons not related to the incident.

In Istanbul, protesters faced police force in the European side of the city

This followed a day of tear gas and water cannons in Ankara

The protesters oppose Turkey's support for Syrian rebels in the civil war

Dozens of demonstrators were faced with tear gas and water cannons by police in Istanbul today as they protested against the Turkish government's policy towards Syria.

Two groups of protesters were marching to Besiktas district near the Dolmabahce Palace on the European side of the city when officers blocked their path, reports the state-run Anatolia News Agency.

Some of the demonstrators, said to be mainly students, tried to climb barriers while police used water cannons and tear gas on the groups. Others took refuge in the historic Dolmabahce Mosque.

Doctors in Poland said they have delivered a baby with 4.5 g of alcohol in its system which is considered 23 times over the country's drunk driving limit.

Mirror.co.uk reported the shameless mother had been drinking heavily in the final months leading up to her pregnancy. While attempting to feed her habit at a local liquor store, the 24-year-old expecting mother fainted.

Emergency medical services rushed the unresponsive pregnant woman to the hospital where doctors were forced to perform an emergency caesarean section in order to save the child's life.

"The unborn baby was in severe danger of being poisoned to death. When he came out his heart was barely beating and he had 4.5g of alcohol in his blood," hospital spokeswoman Wojciech Zawalski said in a statement.

The defeated North Miami mayoral candidate who claimed that Jesus Christ endorsed her now says that the city chose Lucifer over the son of God.

In a post-election statement on her Facebook page, Anna Pierre questioned Tuesday's results, in which she finished last among seven candidates. She also re-affirmed her Christian faith.

"My Jesus has control over my life & the title of mayor doesn't define who I am as a person," Pierre wrote. "North Miami chose 'Luciefer' (sic) over Jesus. Thank you for your trust & support, your financial contribution, and most importantly - your prayers! I have lost a hard fought battle but not a war."

It was in most respects a typical heist that happened in Dublin last month. Masked men, roughed-up security guards, $650,000 in stolen booty. But this wasn't art or jewelry that was stolen. The contraband, instead, was four rhinoceros heads. Or, more specifically, their horns.

And this wasn't the first time. A rhino-head heist spree swept Europe in 2011, as thieves raided museums and auctions houses in seven countries, prompting 30 investigations by Europol, 20 of which are ongoing. Similar heists have also been on the rise in Africa, as well as in the odd American backwater town. Meanwhile, an online business thrives as well - including one dealer on Facebook who only accepts bitcoin.

What is driving this "highly organized" crime ring?

If you guessed "China," you were wrong. The answer is Vietnam. The country's appetite for rhino horn is so great that it now fetches up to $100,000/kg, making it worth more than its weight in gold. (Horns average around 1-3 kg each, depending on the species.)

Wind farms kill about 83,000 hunting birds each year, including hawks, falcons and eagles. Killing an American eagle is federal crime, but despite the mass die-offs, the Obama administration has never once fined or prosecuted a wind energy company.

At wind farms throughout the US, iconic and protected birds regularly fly into spinning turbines. The crippled bodies of eagles are often found at the base of the machines after being cut up by the quickly spinning blades.

These birds of prey were once included on the list of threatened and endangered species - and although they are no longer listed, their population is still significantly less than it was in the early 20^thcentury. Under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act of 1940, disturbing, killing or taking the birds or their eggs is a federal offense punishable by a maximum of two years imprisonment and a $250,000 for an individual felony conviction, and $500,000 for a felony conviction of an organization.

The Obama administration has prosecuted oil companies when birds died in their waste pits and power companies when they were electrocuted, but has never once fined or prosecuted a wind farm.

• Noted professor and sociologist Dr. Anne Hendershott claims IRS may have targeted her with a 2010 audit
• IRS demanded to know which groups paid her and seemed to want to know more about their backgrounds
• Hendershott believes her articles critical of President Barack Obama's policies and George Soros' funding of liberal Catholic groups may have spawned the IRS audit
• Audit was emotionally and financially expensive and scared the professor into silence

In the midst of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) scandal, individuals and groups, alike, are continuing to come forward with ever-startling allegations. On Wednesday, Dr. Anne Hendershott, a devout Catholic and a noted sociologist, professor and author, exclusively told TheBlaze that she believes she may have been one of the IRS's targets.

According to Hendershott, the IRS audited her in 2010 and demanded to know who was paying her. While they did not ask directly it seemed as though the agent wanted to know about the leanings of these particular organizations.

It all started with a phone call she received at her home in May of that year - a call during which Hendershott was told she would be audited. A letter that followed on May 19, 2010 solidified the IRS's request to meet her in person two months later in July. While IRS investigations are certainly not uncommon occurrences, the professor believes that the situation surrounding hers was more-than-curious.

"The IRS calls my house and says ... 'I just wanted to let you know that we're going to be auditing your business' and I said 'My businesses?' and he said, 'You know the expenses you take off for writing," the academic recalls.

Hendershott was surprised she was being audited on business grounds considering she does not operate an entrepreneurial endeavor in the traditional sense. In addition to her academic work, she told TheBlaze that she occasionally freelances for Catholic outlets and for the Wall Street Journal. But can this really be considered "business" activity?

The debate between vegan students and those that eat meat at Elk Grove High School has made its way onto Instagram and other social networks, and the words being used aren't all that pleasant.

"[One student] keeps posting about goats and sheep and pigs and dead pictures and them being slaughtered," said agriculture student Katie Velon.

The online allegations also include angry words for the schools Ag program, saying it "leads to the slaughtering of animals" and even describing how animals are drained of blood while their hearts are still beating.

But Ag students say they're proud of what they do and of what they're learning.

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, the Archbishop of Vienna, who was himself widely tipped as a possible successor to Pope Benedict, said he had personally had two "strong signs" that Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio was "the chosen one" in the run up to vote.

He said only divine intervention could explain the speed with which the Argentine Cardinal - who did not feature on any of the main lists of likely candidates compiled by Vatican experts - was elected.

Speaking to an Anglican conference in London, he also said the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, had a "strange similarity" to the new Pope.

He said that the two elections were a "little miracle" and a "sign from the Lord" that the two churches should work towards closer unity.

Addressing an audience of 5,000 people in the Royal Albert Hall, at a conference organised by the prominent Holy Trinity Brompton church in west London, he said that he was certain that on the evening of March 12, as the papal Conclave began, none of the Cardinals had known who would be chosen.

Murder is our national sport. We murder tens of thousands with our industrial killing machines in Afghanistan and Iraq. We murder thousands more from the skies over Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen with our pilotless drones. We murder each other with reckless abandon. And, as if we were not drenched in enough human blood, we murder prisoners - most of them poor people of color who have been locked up for more than a decade. The United States believes in regeneration through violence. We have carried out blood baths on foreign soil and on our own land for generations in the vain quest of a better world. And the worse it gets, the deeper our empire sinks under the weight of its own decay and depravity, the more we kill.

There are parts of the nation where the electorate, or at least the white electorate, routinely and knowingly puts murderers into political office. Murder is a sign of strength. Murder is a symbol of resolve. Murder means law and order. Murder keeps us safe. Strap the criminal into the gurney. Plunge the needles into veins. Haul away the corpse. It is our Christian duty. God Bless America! And one of the next on the list to be murdered in Florida - a state that has decided, under its new and cynically named "Timely Justice Act," that it needs to accelerate its execution rate - is William Van Poyck. He is scheduled to die by lethal injection at 6 p.m. June 12 at Florida State Prison. He is a writer who has spent years exposing the cruelty of our system of mass incarceration. On June 12, if Gov. Rick Scott has his way, Van Poyck will write no more. And that is exactly how our political class of murderers wants it.

"Only God can judge," Matt Gaetz, a Republican who sponsored the Timely Justice Act in the Florida House of Representatives, said during the debate. "But we sure can set up the meeting."

Van Poyck, 58, knows what is coming. He has seen it many times before. He chronicles existence on death row in his blog, posted by his sister, Lisa Van Poyck, at deathrowdiary.blogspot.com, where there is a petition to Gov. Scott asking for a reprieve.