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Bizarro Earth

Mass Grave with 900 Corpses Found in Iraq


Agence France-Presse
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:00 UTC
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© Agence France-PresseThe Iraqi press and military gather at the site of a mass grave in February 2011, close the northeastern city of Baquba. Iraqi authorities uncovered a mass grave with 900 corpses near the central city of Diwaniyah on Wednesday, believed to be Kurds killed during the rule of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, an official said
Iraqi authorities uncovered a mass grave with 900 corpses near the central city of Diwaniyah on Wednesday, believed to be Kurds killed during the rule of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein, an official said.

The corpses were found in the Shanafiya region, 70 kilometres (45 miles) west of Diwaniyah.

"The corpses were buried in a trench. There were 900 bodies," said Dakhil Saihoud, provincial head of the Justice and Accountability Commission which investigates issues related to Saddam's regime.

"Initial indications show the remains are those of Kurds. They were transferred to laboratories in the city of Najaf to help in identification," Saihoud said. He said the corpses apparently dated back to the 1980s.

Last April, authorities said they had found another mass grave in Anbar province of western Iraq containing the bodies of more than 800 people, including women and children, executed during Saddam's regime.
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USA

US North Dakota: Fireworks Accident Decapitates Fargo Man

Heidi Shaffer
GrandForksHerald.com
Tue, 05 Jul 2011 15:37 UTC
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© Chris Franz / The ForumPassersby view the exact area on Kelly street in north Fargo Tuesday, July 5, 2011, where a man died from a firework accident Monday night.
Neighbor: 'I'm never going to light a firecracker again in my life'A 41-year-old father of two was killed when he lit a commercial-grade firework, an explosive that is federally regulated.

Fargo - An eyewitness here says a Fourth of July fireworks accident decapitated a Fargo man Monday night.

Police identified the victim as Jesse William Burley, a 41-year-old father of two, who enjoyed life to its fullest, said Burley's stepfather Chuck Asplin of Fargo.

Chris Hanson, Burley's neighbor who saw the accident, was packing up his car to leave north Fargo's Riviera Heights mobile home park as tornado sirens sounded just before 9:30 p.m.

Burley was getting ready to set off a second round of what Hanson said he believed was either a homemade or illegal artillery shell firework.

"He went over into the middle of the street, and within 10 seconds of us talking to him, he lit it and all we saw was a cloud of smoke, a bang," Hanson said.

What Hanson saw next immediately sent him into shock, he said.

"When I walked up to his body, it was nothing but his shoulders down," Hanson said Tuesday.

Police Lt. Joel Vettel said Tuesday police are confident the device was a commercial-grade firework, which are federally regulated.

The area Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is assisting Fargo police to investigate whether this type of firework was illegal and how it was obtained, Vettel said.
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Heart - Black

Elderly Australian woman's remains found in her Sydney home, years after she was last seen


The Associated Press
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 00:00 UTC
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© unknownSkeletal remains believed to be those of an elderly woman last seen in 2003 have been found in an inner Sydney unit
When an elderly Australian woman apparently vanished from view eight years ago, no one bothered to call the police. Not her relatives, her neighbours, or government officials, who kept paying her welfare benefits into a bank account that sat untouched.

New South Wales state police said Wednesday that they discovered the woman's skeletal remains on the floor of her Sydney home on Tuesday, after her sister-in-law finally called them to report that she had not heard from the woman - who would have turned 87 next month - since 2003.

"It's sad that the woman appears to have died several years ago without anyone noticing," said police Acting Superintendent Zoran Dzevlan.

Police were trying to determine exactly when the woman died, but said they didn't think the death was suspicious.

The woman, whose name was not released by police, was a recluse who had no relatives except for her sister-in-law, Dzevlan said. The two had a fight in 2003 and never spoke again. Police have not said why the sister-in-law waited years to report the woman missing, or what prompted her to call now.
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Alarm Clock

UK - Jilted husband built electric chair in garage in attempt to kill wife


Telegraph.co.uk
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 18:04 UTC
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© Cavendish PressThe home of Andrew Castle who built an electric chair in his garage with the intention of using it to kill his wife.
Andrew Castle, 61, was so furious at the crumbling of his 18 year marriage he planned to rig a metal armchair to the mains - and invited wife Margaret in ''for a chat.''

Castle asked unwitting Margaret to sit in the chair so he could knock her her out with a cosh and throw on the switch.

But Margaret, 61, got up out of the seat and the couple then got caught up in a violent struggle. Castle landed several blows on his wife's head with the rubber cosh but she escaped through a side door.

The fight then carried on outside their £110,000 seaside bungalow in Knott End-on-Sea in Poulton-Le-Fylde, Lancs, before a passer-by intervened and called police.

Margaret was taken to the Royal Lancaster Infirmary to be treated for minor head injuries. Her husband was found in the back garden with self inflicted knife wounds to his wrists after grabbing a blade from the kitchen in a bid to commit suicide.
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Bad Guys

UK - Phone hacking: families of war dead 'targeted' by News of the World

Mark Hughes, Duncan Gardham, John Bingham and Andy Bloxham
Telegraph.co.uk
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:45 UTC
The bereaved relatives of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan may have had their phones hacked by a private investigator working for the News of the World.

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© Associated PressPaul Dadge helps injured tube passenger Davinia Turrell away from Edgware Road tube station.
The Daily Telegraph has learnt that the personal details of the families of servicemen who died on the front line have been found in the files of Glenn Mulcaire, the private detective working for the Sunday tabloid.

The disclosure that grieving relatives of war dead were targets for the newspaper prompted anger among military charities, who said it was a "disgusting and indefensible assault on privacy".
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Bizarro Earth

Casey Anthony subpoenaed in nanny's defamation suit


News.blogs.cnn.com
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 17:15 UTC
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© Unknown
Casey Anthony was served papers in jail Tuesday night for her deposition in a defamation lawsuit filed by Zenaida Fernandez Gonzalez, an assistant to Gonzalez's attorney John Morgan said Wednesday.
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Gear

Propaganda Alert: TSA warns of possible airline threat involving implanted bombs

Chris Parsons
Los Angeles Times
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 14:00 UTC
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© Mark BosterA traveler is inspected at a TSA checkpoint at LAX this year.

The government has warned airlines that terrorists are considering surgically implanting explosives into people in an attempt to circumvent screening procedures, according to U.S. officials.

There is no indication of an immediate plot, but the new information could lead to additional screening procedures at the nation's airports. Existing scanners would not necessarily detect bombs implanted under a person's skin, experts said.

While the information suggests such a threat would come from overseas rather than domestic groups, federal officials are ordering precautions both in the U.S. and abroad, the official said.
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Binoculars

Canada: Mysterious white powder delivered to office of Toronto MPP, woman in custody

Tristan Hopper
News.nationalpost.com
Tue, 05 Jul 2011 13:16 UTC
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© Dave Chan, Reuters, Postmedia NewsA 50-year-old woman is in custody accused of delivering an envelope filled with mysterious white powder to the Toronto offices shared by interim federal Liberal leader Bob Rae and Ontario provincial representative Glen Murray.
A 50-year-old woman is in custody after allegedly delivering an envelope filled with mysterious white powder to the Cabbagetown office shared by Ontario MPP Glen Murray and interim federal Liberal leader Bob Rae.

The powder, which arrived at the building at about 2 p.m., caused itching, sneezing and coughing amongst building employees. "It was a non-toxic but noxious substance, people in the office had respiratory symptoms and redness but it was nothing poisonous," said a spokesperson for Mr. Murray.

The building was briefly evacuated and the immediate area was blocked off by police. While emergency crews clad in HazMat suits removed the package, affected employees were treated onsite. Officials soon reported that the powder was "innocuous."

The woman, whose motivation is not known, was apprehended soon after.
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Bad Guys

La Toya Jackson Claims Bizarre Abuse by Ex-Husband

Samantha Lawton
Monsters and Critics
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 07:40 UTC
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© Russ Einhorn/Splash NewsLa Toya Jackson book signing for Starting Over, Barnes & Noble Booksellers, The Grove, Los Angeles, California.
La Toya Jackson claims her abusive ex-husband once offered her up to have sex with boxing champion Mike Tyson for $100,000.

Michael Jackson's sister made the bizarre allegation during an appearance on CBS's The Talk where she was promoting her new autobiography Starting Over.

It tells of the abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of her ex-husband and manager Jack Gordon, who she says also 'hated and despised' her legendary entertainer brother.
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2 + 2 = 4

Millerites' 1844 'rapture' event called the Great Disappointment

Cliff Radel
Communitypress.cincinnati.com
Wed, 06 Jul 2011 12:56 UTC
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© UnknownThe Rev. William Miller began peddling his end-of-the-world prediction in the 1820s based on a series of elaborate charts such as this one called "Chronological Chart of the Visions of Daniel and John."
Thousands of Cincinnatians camped out in 1844 to witness what they believed was going to be the world's greatest - and final - fireworks display.

They weren't celebrating the Fourth of July. They were waiting for the end of the world.

These happy campers were the followers of a 19th-century version of the Rev. Harold Camping, the Rapture predictor.

The views of the Rapture reverend, broadcast over his multi-million-dollar radio, TV, satellite and website empire, would move those Cincinnatians to say: Been there. Done that.
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