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Marchers in Belfast, Northern Ireland, protest against G8 policies ahead of summit

G8 protest
© BBCThe lunchtime protest rally in central Belfast passed off peacefully
There was a major security presence for an anti-G8 protest in Belfast.

The rally was organised by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, ahead of next week's G8 summit in County Fermanagh.

The ICTU said one billion people were living in "extreme poverty" around the world, due to Western capitalism and the policies of the G8 leaders.

The rally passed off peacefully and no arrested were made. The Police Service of Northern Ireland said protesters started to disperse at 14:00 BST.

The anti-capitalist demonstration was staged ahead of the two-day global summit, which will see the leaders of some of the world's most powerful countries gather at the Lough Erne resort for talks.

Stormtrooper

Violence erupts in São Paulo, Brazil at transportation-fare inflation protest

Sao Paulo protest
© EPAMilitary policemen on Thursday tried to disperse students protesting against the rise in ticket prices of public transportation in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The latest in a string of protests against transportation-fare increases turned violent on Thursday, as tensions grow over unemployment and rising inflation in Brazil.

Thousands of protesters gathered in the late afternoon at the Municipal Theater in central São Paulo and marched through the city center. Just after 7 p.m., police began firing tear gas into the crowd, sending protesters running. People screamed "Fascist police!" and threw stones at the police as smoke filled the air.

The demonstration was the fourth since last week in response to a nearly 7% increase in public transport fares in the city to 3.20 reais, or about $1.50. It was also met with the most force so far by police - by the end of the demonstration late Thursday night, after officers in riot gear pursued and shot at groups of protesters all around the city center, dozens of people had been detained. Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo reported that seven of its reporters were hit, with rubber bullets, including two who were shot in the face.

Earlier in the day, a strike by suburban rail workers had caused confusion in São Paulo, forcing hundreds of thousands of commuters to switch to emergency bus services or use their cars.

Stock Down

"We're in a death spiral": Detroit to default on $2.5B debt to avoid bankruptcy, emergency manager says

Kevyn Orr
© APJune 14, 2013: Detroit emergency manager Kevyn Orr speaks with reporters after a meeting with creditors in Romulus, Mich.
Detroit said Friday it would stop making payments on about $2.5 billion in unsecured debt and ask creditors to take about 10 cents on the dollar of what the city owes them in a move to avoid what bankruptcy experts have said would be the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history.

Detroit Emergency Manager Kevyn Orr spent two hours with about 180 bond insurers, pension trustees, union representatives and other creditors outlining his plan for the city's financial future, which includes a moratorium on some principal and interest payments, Reuters reported.

Under his proposal, underfunded pension claims likely would get less than the 10 cents on the dollar.

An assessment of the plan's progress will come in the next 30 days or so.

Stormtrooper

US hysteria - cops mistake art for bomb, blow it up at festival

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© Iowa City PoliceRussell Jaffe created this piece of art, which authorities found in an empty newspaper vending machine (as shown) at the Iowa City Summer of the Arts Festival. Believing it suspicious, a bomb team was called in to detonate it
Russell Jaffe is an artist and poet who makes "found sculptures" from discarded video game systems and "smashed-up" electronics.

One of his pieces -- a broken and spray-painted television with a "blood-stained antenna" -- was purchased at an art show, then left in an empty newspaper vending machine that locals say is a "leave something take something" art box.

According to The Iowa City Police Department, private security personnel working at the festival noticed the object and notified authorities who in turn contacted the Johnson County Metro Bomb Team.

Police said the bomb team "followed protocol" in examining the "unknown electronic suspicious package." They then detonated the package with a controlled robot water cannon.

"Having my art and poetry eviscerated by a bomb-destroying robot is the thing I realized I never knew I always wanted," Jaffe said in an announcement on his Facebook page.


Bizarro Earth

Zama City spill: Wastewater leak the largest in recent history

 Zama City toxic wastewater spill,
© GettyThe Zama City toxic wastewater spill, at over 9.5 million litres, is the biggest of its kind in North America in recent history.
The wastewater spill near Zama City, Alberta, at 9.5 million litres, is North America's biggest in recent history.

The spill, first spotted June 1, has leaked oil, water and other chemicals out of Apache's wastewater pipeline, and is the third major spill in the area, The Globe and Mail reports.

The leak happened less than 100 kilometres from the Northwest Territories border, and 20 kilometres from Zama City, and has affected more than 42 hectares - about the size of 52 CFL fields.

The spill is Alberta's tenth largest "produced water" spill since 1975, Global News reported.

In that time, Apache has been responsible for 949 spills - 517 of which have been produced water spills.

Bad Guys

Insanity! Helicopter snipers frighten Texan neighbors just for fun and adventure

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Helicopter Sniper Adventure in rural Texas offers gun hobbyists a real-world video game experience, including the chance to shoot at targets while hanging from a helicopter.

Though the customers might be pleased with the adventure, neighbors in the rural Texas town are less than pleased and are growing increasingly worried about stray bullets from overly enthusiastic adventure-goers shooting into their homes.

"The first time they were hovering right over our two acres, shooting at whatever," Denton County, North Texas resident, Michael Lauer, told WFAA. Lauer is one of many homeowners in the area concerned about the dangers the local business poses.

"You really didn't know - were they shooting at me?" Lauer said. "You just know, someday, one of them is going to hit the house or do something."

Helicopter Sniper Adventure offers customers the chance to ride in a helicopter over land and water, all the while shooting at various targets and trying to earn as many points as possible for positive hits. The adventure costs $795 per person, and each participant is given 500 rounds to shoot along the course.

Bizarro Earth

Another chemical plant explosion in Louisiana!

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A chemical plant has exploded in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, less than two days after a deadly blast in the nearby town of Geismar. At least one person was killed Friday evening, and some eight injured.

Sheriff Jeff Wiley told The Baton Rougue Advocate that an 18-wheeler truck was being loaded with product at CF industries when it exploded. CF Industries is the largest producer of nitrogen in North America, shipping out 5 million tons of the combustible chemical for agricultural and industrial use annually.

At least eight victims were transported from the site of the blast, Wiley said, adding that emergency responders were still on the scene.

On Thursday the Williams Olefins plant in Geismar, Louisiana exploded, killing two people and sending 73 others to hospital. Eight remain in treatment 24 hours later.

CF Industries also produces phosphorous and nitrogen, according to the company's website. The plant stands at the foot of Sunshine Bridge, which was immediately closed following the blast.

Comment: Fire started by an explosion causes multiple injuries at Louisiana chemical plant


Eye 1

Eyeball-licking fetish leads to pink eye infections

Eyeball Licking
© vita khorzhevska/Shutterstock
Teenagers from every generation will always find a way to behave in a way that completely confounds adults from generations prior. Flagpole sitting, music festivals, planking and others have been curious yet mostly safe ways for kids to act out. Yet there are other dangerous trends out there that teenagers pick up that are more than confusing - many of which can be frightening and dangerous.

A new story this week describes one such trend called "Oculolinctus," or eye-ball licking, which has become all the rage in Japan. Website Naver Matome (translated by Japan Crush) first pointed out this trend earlier this week, as one sixth grade teacher from Japan accidentally discovered why many of his students were showing up to class with eye patches.

The teacher, known only as "Mr. Y," said the faculty at the school wasn't too worried when several students began showing up to class with styes, eye infections and eye patches. When the staff asked some of these students individually why they were wearing these patches or how they had gotten the infections, they indicated that it wasn't a big deal. However, once 10 students from the same class showed up wearing eye patches, the staff demanded answers.

Mr. Y tells the story of how he accidentally stumbled upon the eye-licking kids:

"After class one day, I went into the equipment store in the gymnasium to tidy up. The door had been left open, and when I looked inside, a male pupil and a female pupil had their faces close together and were kind of fumbling around," writes Mr. Y in his account of his experience with oculolinctus.

Dollars

Termites eat through $65,000 worth of Chinese woman's savings

Termites
© chinapic.people.com.cnTermites feasted on a Chines woman’s cash reserves of 400,000 yuan ($65,000). So far only about $55,000 of it has been able to be verified by bank officials.
A Chinese lady is counting the cost of not keeping her cash in the bank - after termites ate through $65,000 of her savings.

The craving critters devoured 400,000 yuan - gifted from her children six months before - that she'd wrapped in a plastic bag and hidden in a wooden drawer. It was only in April, upon retreiving cash to pay a house decorator, that she saw that the tiny beasts had raided her stash.

People's Daily reports she took the money to an Agricultural Bank of China branch in Guangdong Province. Staff spent several painstaking hours scanning and verifying the bank notes, which had been nibbled and then stuck together by the termites' mucus.

They managed to verify some 340,000 yuan ($55,454). But some 60,000 yuan ($9,786) was lost. Those notes have now been sent off to a People's Bank of China branch to be inspected.

Attention

Plane crashes into airport hangar - Video

A plane has crashed into an airport hangar during a mechanical test in Chino, California. Three workers were onboard but were not injured.


A small passenger jet with three people on board has struck a hangar while taxiing at an airport in California.

Authorities in Chino said nobody was hurt in the incident, which is under investigation.

A spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration said the pilot apparently lost control during an engine test at the Encore Jet Centre.

Local media reported that mechanics were checking the engine and that the plane's tyres were on chocks.

For an unknown reason, the jet came off the chocks, and it crashed into a hangar.

Firefighters shut off electricity because of a concern of leaking fuel, but no leak was confirmed.

Four adjacent hangars and businesses within those hangars were evacuated.