* Marco Gusmini was killed when the sculpture fell in Cevo, northern Italy

* The 21-year-old tourist had been visiting the Alpine village on a church trip

* 100ft high wooden cross was built in honour of John Paul II in 1998

* It fell suddenly during a ceremony in lead up to his canonization on Sunday

A 21-year-old tourist has died after being crushed to death by a 100ft crucifix built in honour of John Paul II after it collapsed during a ceremony in the lead up to his canonization.

The 100ft high wooden cross, supporting a 90 stone statue of Jesus, created when John Paul II visited the area in 1998, fell suddenly following a few crunches.

Marco Gusmini, who was on a church trip to the Alpine village, was unable to get out of the way in time and was killed instantly, Italian media reported.

An 18-year-old has been charged with animal cruelty after video of him beating a duck to death with a baseball bat was put online and went viral.

William Luke McDowell of Lexington, N.C., was arrested over the weekend after authorities were made aware of the video. McDowell's 16-year-old friend caught the cruel act on camera, and many people are outraged over the seemingly senseless and random act of violence against the innocent duck.

"It's not dead yet, it's not dead," screams the voice of the friend operating the camera as McDowell brutally beats the duck until it does finally die. "Hard as you can. He's suffering, just whack as hard as you can."

"It's a young man laughing as he approaches a nesting duck who is minding his own business and he beats that duck to death with a bat," said Tiffany Young, founder of the Duck Rescue Network.

Do you love bacon? How much?

The price of bacon has gone up 13% in the last year and a whopping 53% since January 2010, according to 24/7 Wall St.

Prices of fruit, meats - even coffee - have increased dramatically over the last few years. Drought conditions and disease affecting crops and livestock are reducing supply and driving up the prices of many food staples.

While food prices are rising, the Federal Reserve is concerned that inflation is too low. In a speech last week, Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said, "With inflation running at around 1%, at this point I think the risk is greater that we should be worried about inflation undershooting our goal and getting inflation back up to 2%."

In the corresponding video, Yahoo Finance Editor-in-Chief Aaron Task spoke with Lauren Lyster about rising food prices at the same time the Fed is concerned about inflation being too low.

Until now, the terrible trail of dead bankers has been only among US and European financial executives. However, as Caixin reports, the increasing pressures on the Chinese banking system appear to have take their first toll. Li Jianhua, director of China's Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), died this morning due to a "sudden heart attack" - he was less than 49 years old.

Li was among the main drafters on new "caveat emptor" market-based rules on China's shadowy banking system and recently said in an interview that "now is not only a time to control risk, but to transform the trust industry.. if it's too loose, it's a big problem." Li was found by his wife.

"Obama not welcome."

Those were some of the words emblazoned on signs carried by Filipino protesters demonstrating against a visit to the Philippines by President Barack Obama this week, as well as a looming security pact that would increase U.S. military presence in the island country.

• Emergency crews called to the scene in Aberdeen shortly before 2pm
• Relative claims Preston Flores and his friends were playing with a petrol canister from the back on a van parked on the street
• Boy is believed to have lived on street with mother and four other children

A seven-year-old boy was last night fighting for his life in hospital after being turned into a human fireball.

Preston Flores ran into the street 'on fire' near his home in Aberdeen after his clothes became doused in petrol and ignited.

The youngster, who is thought to have suffered 80 per cent burns, may have been deliberately set on fire - or been the victim of a prank gone wrong.

Last night, he remained in a 'serious' condition in hospital, with his mother Luisza at his bedside.

Over 2,000 coal miners in Lugansk region have been on strike for the second day running, demanding higher wages and refusing to accept a pay cut to fund the restoration of Kiev, which suffered damage during the coup that overthrew the government.

Some 80 percent of miners from five coal mines belonging to "Krasnodonugol" enterprise in the city of Krasnodon have not shown up to work. The mines are all owned by one of Ukraine's richest man, Rinat Akhmetov of the mining and metallurgical "Metinvest" corporation.

Angry miners are pressing for wage increases to match region's average pay, better social and living conditions and higher social bonuses. According to the strikers they get an average of 6,000 hryvnas ($520), while the average salary in the coal industry in the region is up to 10,000 hryvnia ($860).

Miners are also refusing to pay a 10 percent tax on their salaries, imposed by the post-coup authorities to restore the Maidan square in Kiev. The square and nearby buildings suffered significant damage during months of rallies and the violent standoff that led to a coup in February.

According to local media reports miners have seen around a 10 percent cut in their paychecks to restore the Ukrainian capital.

"I don't understand why are we involved!" one of the protesting miners, Stanislav Denisenko told Itar-tass. "It was not us who dismantled the stones and burned the houses down. I get about 900 hryvna a month, that is around 9,000 rubles ($260). I don't understand why they are taking away my salary."

Economist Paul Krugman explains how the United States is becoming an oligarchy - the very system our founders revolted against.

The median pay for the top 100 highest-paid CEOs at America's publicly traded companies was a handsome $13.9 million in 2013. That's a 9 percent increase from the previous year, according to a new Equilar pay study for The New York Times.

These types of jumps in executive compensation may have more of an effect on our widening income inequality than previously thought. A new book that's the talk of academia and the media, Capital in the Twenty-First Century by Thomas Piketty, a 42-year-old who teaches at the Paris School of Economics, shows that two-thirds of America's increase in income inequality over the past four decades is the result of steep raises given to the country's highest earners.

This week, Bill talks with Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, about Piketty's "magnificent" new book.

"What Piketty's really done now is he said, 'Even those of you who talk about the 1 percent, you don't really get what's going on.' He's telling us that we are on the road not just to a highly unequal society, but to a society of an oligarchy. A society of inherited wealth."

Krugman adds: "We're seeing inequalities that will be transferred across generations. We are becoming very much the kind of society we imagined we're nothing like."


Transcript below.

Law enforcement officials may now stop US drivers based only on the information gleaned in an anonymous tip phoned in by a caller who dialed 911, the Supreme Court ruled in a tight decision Tuesday.

The high court ruled 5-4 that relying only on a comment from a 911 caller is reasonable because "a 911 call has some features that allow for identifying and tracking callers." In most cases the justices are split along ideological lines but Tuesday's decision was enough to split the two most conservative-minded justices, with Justice Clarence Thomas writing the majority opinion and Justice Antonin Scalia leading the dissent.

The case considered a 2008 California incident in which an anonymous 911 caller told the police that a pickup truck had forced her off the road, providing the location, as well as details such as the truck's make, model, and license plate number. Police soon stopped a vehicle matching the description and reported smelling the odor of marijuana as they approached driver Jose Prado Navarette.

Navarette was arrested because officers found 30 pounds of marijuana in his vehicle, although he argued that the initial stop was unconstitutional because police did not have reasonable suspicion to stop his truck. His legal team asserted that the police could not have determined with any accuracy the identity of the caller or challenged her credibility.

Whether it's in their treatment of asylum seekers, their policy of secrecy or their intention to amend the Racial Discrimination Act, it seems that the Abbott government is intent on destroying Australia's moral compass.

Attorney-General, George Brandis, defending the Government's intention to repeal s18C of the Racial Discrimination Act, told the Senate Monday that "people have the right to be bigots". It appears that in George Brandis's world view, bigots are the persecuted minority whose rights need to be staunchly defended.

Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act makes it unlawful to do an act that "is reasonably likely, in all the circumstances, to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate another person or a group of people" on racial or ethnic grounds." It is followed by s18D (which is conveniently ignored by many conservative commentators) which seeks to balance the objectives of s18C with the need to protect justifiable freedoms of speech and expression.

The provisions seek to offer legislative protection to the most vulnerable and marginalised members of our society - our indigenous population, culturally and ethnically diverse communities and religious minority groups.

Whilst in the past politicians, particularly in the lead up to an election, have sought to indirectly play on the public's fears, Senator Brandis's comments have taken it to a whole new level. This is the first time that I can recall, where a Senior Minister has directly endorsed (and thereby encouraged) having bigoted views. There's no reading between the lines here - Brandis has specifically said that "people have the right to be bigots, you know." This is somewhat unprecedented.