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"You have a soul, be careful with it": Actor Chris Pratt gives teens his "9 rules for life" to MTV-watching millennials

chris pratt
Something happened at the MTV Movie and TV Awards on Monday that MTV surely was not expecting, and not hoping for.

In a move that is sadly rare for Hollywood, Chris Pratt, the night's winner of the Generation Award, used his platform on the MTV stage to speak about his faith and to encourage the young generation to believe in God.
God is real. God loves you. God wants the best for you. Believe that. I do,
Pratt said, with some oomph.

While it's not uncommon for award winners to throw in a thank you to God, Pratt, known for his work on Parks and Recreation, Guardians of the Galaxy, The Avengers, and more, took it to another, refreshing, level. The actor got spiritual in his award speech when he delivered what he dubbed "9 Rules From Chris Pratt."

Of course, his rules were peppered with Pratt-style comedy - offering advice on how to effectively take a poop at a party, for instance - but the actor also made sure to remind the millions watching that they have a soul, and that they need to take care of it.

Comment: Looks like Pratt might be reading some Jordan Peterson.


Sheriff

Nearly 80% of Russians want death penalty to combat corruption, Twitter poll shows

Federal Penitentiary Service's Moscow Directorate
© Sergey Pyatakov / Sputnik
Staff at Pre-trial Detention Center No.2 of the Federal Penitentiary Service's Moscow Directorate
Some 79 percent of Russians want their country to use Chinese means to fight corruption, with the death penalty for large-scale bribery, according to a Twitter poll conducted by the head of the Defense Ministry's public council.

Earlier this week renowned Russian journalist and military expert Yuri Korotchenko asked his Twitter following to answer the question: "Does the Russian Federation need death penalty as punishment for corruption and bribery among high-placed officials, military and security officers and civil servants?" When Korotchenko decided to wrap up the research he had 1775 answers with almost 80 percent of respondents positive about the idea.

"In other words, my followers want our country to use the same anti-corruption measures that are being used in China," the journalist concluded.

Family

Postmodern polygamy? Israel bans NY math professor from donating sperm in Israel

Ari Nagel
© Facebook
The Health Ministry in Jerusalem is banning the sperm of famed donor Ari Nagel from use in Israel, the New York Post reported on Saturday. Six women who received samples from Nagel can no longer access them, despite paying annual storage fees.

Nagel, 42, a married father of three, is a prodigious purveyor of sperm, having sired 33 children in the last 10 years all over the U.S., including in Maryland, Orlando and New York City. He has also fathered babies in Israel, with 10 more on the way this year.

Coming from a six-sibling Jewish Orthodox home in New York, Nagel says he donates his seed for free to woman who can't afford a sperm bank because "I just love seeing how happy the moms and kids are."

But his resume seems to have made a negative impression on the Israeli Health Ministry. Last December, a 43-year-old woman who flew Nagel in to donate his sperm at a private clinic. After Nagel filed his contribution, the employee at the clinic destroyed the sample and told him he was not allowed to keep his sperm at the clinic. The woman later received a letter from the Health Ministry, saying it had alerted all sperm banks in the country not to store Nagel's sperm in their freezers.

Israeli law requires donors to be anonymous, unless they sign a document stating his intention to co-parent the child with the mother. Nagel signed such a document with the woman, as well as with six other hopeful future mothers, who also had his seed frozen in Israel.

Dominoes

Turkey's general election takes a turn after brutal abuse of puppy appears online, shifting political agendas

puppy
The torturing and killing of a puppy has shifted the political agenda in Turkey ahead of its general election.

Turkish police arrested a man after shocking images emerged online of the maimed animal, which had its four paws and tail cut off, sparking outrage in the country.

The dog was found in a forest in the Sapanca district in the northwestern province of Sakarya and taken to a vet for treatment, but later died during surgery on Friday after fighting for its life for two days.

The issue has been taken up by rival politicians in the close run contest, in which the country's strongman president is standing on a platform that would see his powers enhanced.

Star of David

Israeli court fails to determine whether brutal Shin Bet using 'enhanced interrogation' techniques is torture

Don't torture me
© Baz Ratner / Reuters
An Israeli ultranationalist protester wears blindfolds and holds a placard that reads "Don't torture me."
An Israeli court has failed to decide if so-called 'enhanced interrogation' used by Israeli security services constitutes torture, but threw out a confession by a Jewish minor, made under duress, in a Palestinian firebombing case.

The two young Jewish Israeli suspects are charged with launching Molotov cocktails at the home of the Palestinian Dawabsha family in 2015.

The attack in the West Bank town of Duma killed a toddler and his parents.For months the police and the security agency Shin Bet made no apparent progress in resolving the case but later arrested Amiram Ben-Uliel, who is alleged to have prepared and thrown the bombs, and an unnamed minor who allegedly assisted him in planning the arson.

The Central District Court in Lod in Central Israel rejected a confession made by the minor but abstained from condemning Shin Bet of physically abusing him.

Dig

Saudi plans to build massive canal will turn Qatar into an island

Pearl-Qatar harbour in Doha
© Fadi Al-Assaad / Reuters
Pearl-Qatar harbour in Doha
Saudi Arabia will reportedly hold bidding among foreign engineering firms in order to dig a huge canal that will separate it from Qatar and basically turn the neighboring state into an island, a local paper reports.

Five companies have expressed a desire to participate in the tender, which is scheduled to take place on June 25, sources told Saudi Makkah newspaper. The winner of the bidding, which will be announced within three months, will start construction of the canal immediately, the paper wrote.

Riyadh plans for the so-called Salwa Canal to be dug within a year in order to create a water barrier between itself and Qatar as relations between the two nations continue to deteriorate.

Light Sabers

Russian senator warns US plans to militarize space could lead to disaster

satellite
© John Pulsipher / Global Look Press
Washington's plan to create a Space Force could lead to catastrophe, a Russian Senator has warned. Moscow's ready to "strongly retaliate" if the US violates the outer space treaty by putting weapons of mass destruction into orbit.

"Militarization of space is a way to disaster," Viktor Bondarev, the head of the Russian Federation Council's Defense and Security Committee told RIA news agency just day after the US President Donald Trump ordered the creation of a new branch of the US military that would be tasked with operating in what he called "forbidden skies."

The senator warned that Washington could potentially violate international agreements regulating the demilitarization of space and thus put the international security in a grave danger. "There is a major risk that the Americans would commit grave violations in this field ... if one takes into account what they do in other spheres," Bondarev said.

"If the US withdraws from the 1967 agreement that bans deployment of nuclear weapons in space, [such a move] will be followed by a tough response not only from our state but from other states as well, which would be aimed at preserving international security,"he added.

Smoking

Japan's Lower house passes bills on smoking controls, casinos

Japan's Lower House chamber
© Kyodo
The Lower House chamber passes a bill during its plenary session on Tuesday that establishes a framework for integrated resorts that include casinos.
The Lower House on Tuesday passed a bill that will allow casinos to open in Japan, despite concerns over gambling addiction and casino-related antisocial behavior.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has sought to introduce casinos within "integrated resorts" that include hotels, conference rooms and event facilities, claiming that the new casinos will attract more overseas visitors and spur regional economies.

The ruling bloc, led by Abe's Liberal Democratic Party, aims to promptly begin the bill's deliberations in the Upper House and ensure its enactment by extending the current Diet session beyond Wednesday, the scheduled close of the current 150-day ordinary session.

But opposition parties, including the leading Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan, is set to step up their efforts to block deliberations on the bill in the House of Councilors.

Comment: See also: Japan gives up on total indoor smoking ban despite coercion ahead of Olympic games in 2020


Handcuffs

British pedocracy: Two former Tory mayors found guilty of multiple counts of child rape in just 48 hours

bear on chair
© Peter Dazeley/ Getty
Two former Tory mayors have been convicted of multiple child-sex offences in just 48 hours. One of them has been found guilty of raping a young girl, while the other admitted to over 20 counts of child abuse.

Former mayor of the Welsh county town of Pembroke, David Boswell, 57, was found guilty of rape and three other indecent assaults against two girls at Swansea Crown Court on Monday.

The jury heard that he raped a nine-year old and indecently assaulted another girl aged around 13 between 1990 and 1994.

Boswell, who is a still Pembrokeshire county councillor, was cleared of another three indecent assault allegations by two complainants.

He denied the allegations, which he described as "complete lies" and said they "made me feel sick." He volunteered to take a lie detector test to prove he was telling the truth.

"I can put my hand on the Bible and say I have never sexually assaulted that girl," Boswell said. "If I had done something, why has it taken so long for it to come out?"

Briefcase

President Moon Jae-in foresees major energy, infrastructure projects between Seoul, Moscow and Pyongyang once stability reached in Korea

Railway
© Ilya Naymushin / Reuters
Seoul, Moscow and Pyongyang can implement several major trilateral infrastructure and energy projects if stability is reached on the Korean peninsula, according to South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

One such project could be a railway that will be able deliver goods from Russia to South Korea through North Korea. "Once the Trans-Korean Main Line is built, it may be connected to the Trans-Siberian Railway. In this case, it will be possible to deliver goods from South Korea to Europe, which would be economically beneficial not only to South and North Korea but to Russia as well," Moon Jae-in said in an interview with Russian media ahead of his state visit to Moscow.

A gas pipeline coming from Russia to North Korea to be extended to the South is another possibility, he said. "We can also build a gas pipeline via North Korea, so that not only South Korea will receive Russian gas but we will also be able to deliver it to Japan," the South Korean president said.

Comment: Russia's talent for negotiating respectfully with countries to cement win-win agreements makes it a natural ally.