A total of 119 journalists were killed while on assignment so far in calendar year 2012, according to the International Press Institute based in Vienna, Austria, in a report released on Thursday.

The IPI report, when compared with previous reports, reveals that for journalists 2012 already has the highest death toll since the IPI started keeping track in 1997.

"It is deeply disturbing that in spite of a clear increase in international efforts to stop attacks against journalists, this year's death toll is the highest on IPI record," said IPI Deputy Director Anthony Mills. "The killing of a journalist is the ultimate, most callous, chilling form of censorship. Unless we are able to roll back the cynical tide of impunity, these killings will continue."

A purely American sport.

Tensions ran high for shoppers who abandoned their turkey dinners Thursday night to line up for Black Friday deals.

The evening was particularly intense for one shopper who allegedly pulled a gun on a man who punched him in the face while in line at a Sears store at the South Park Mall in San Antonio, TX, police told San Antonio Express-News.

Sgt. Rob Carey said that a man was trying to cut his way to the front of the line, which didn't sit well with his fellow shoppers, according to San Antonio Express-News. Arguments escalated to name calling before the alleged line-cutter punched another shopper in the face.

The Kentucky state legislature passed a controversial homeland security law in 2006 that mandates its citizens to recognize safety cannot be achieved without the Almighty God - or face up to a year in prison.

American Atheists now wants to the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on the law.

State representative and Baptist minister Tom Riner sponsored the law, which has been a subject of debate since it passed. The Kentucky state Supreme Court, however, refuses to evaluate its constitutionality.

Edwin Kagin, legal director of American Atheists, has been challenging the court's lack of action since 2008.

"This is one of the most egregiously and breathtakingly unconstitutional actions by a state legislature that I've ever seen," Kagin said.

If Americans will trample one another just to save a few dollars on a television, what will they do when society breaks down and the survival of their families is at stake? Once in a while an event comes along that gives us a peek into what life could be like when the thin veneer of civilization that we all take for granted is stripped away. For example, when Hurricane Sandy hit New York and New Jersey there was rampant looting and within days people were digging around in supermarket dumpsters looking for food. Sadly, "Black Friday" also gives us a look at how crazed the American people can be when given the opportunity. This year was no exception. Once again we saw large crowds of frenzied shoppers push, shove, scratch, claw, bite and trample one another just to save a few bucks on cheap foreign-made goods. And of course most retailers seem to be encouraging this type of behavior. Most of them actually want people frothing at the mouth and willing to fight one another to buy their goods. But is this kind of "me first" mentality really something that we want to foster as a society? If people are willing to riot to save money on a cell phone, what would they be willing to do to feed their families? Are the Black Friday riots a very small preview of the civil unrest that is coming when society eventually breaks down?

Once upon a time, Thanksgiving was not really a commercial holiday. It was a time to get together with family and friends, eat turkey and express thanks for the blessings that we have been given.

But in recent years Black Friday has started to become even a bigger event than Thanksgiving itself.

Millions of Americans have become convinced that it is fun to wait in long lines outside retail stores in freezing cold weather in the middle of the night to spend money that they do not have on things that they do not need.

And of course very, very few "Black Friday deals" are actually made in America. So these frenzied shoppers are actually killing American jobs and destroying the U.S. economy as well.

The absurdity of Black Friday was summed up very well recently in a statement that has already been retweeted on Twitter more than 1,000 times...

"Black Friday: because only in America people trample each other for sales exactly one day after being thankful for what they already have."

The Scores Gentlemen's Club building at 453 Worthington St. has exploded following the report of a natural gas leak.

The building was flattened, and the remains of the club look like a huge cavity in the road. At least two people were injured. Emergency officials set up a command center at Chestnut and Worthington streets. Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray is in Springfield and is consulting with Mayor Domenic Sarno and State Rep. Cheryl Coakley-Rivera. Murray and Sarno were at a tree lighting ceremony at the Quadrangle when the explosion occurred. They are now at the scene.

Glass littered the streets and sidewalks throughout a multi-block radius from the site of the explosion. Everyone is being evacuated from apartments in the area. A shelter is being set up on Central Street. The Square One day care next door was heavily damaged. A five-story building at Worthington and Chestnut was heavily damaged.

Ambulances are being called in from all available areas. West Springfield Deputy Fire Chief Danny Borsari said his city had two ambulances near Chestnut Street. Agawam sent two ambulances, according to its deputy chief. Chicopee fire officials said units were sent as needed.

At Chestnut and Taylor, a block away, there were blown-out windows on several buildings. All the windows on a two-story building on Chestnut and Taylor, facing Worthington. People in Wilbraham and South Hadley felt the explosion. A number of emergency vehicles have responded.

Dave Cutter, who owns a tattoo parlor at 378 Dwight St., about a block and a half away, said his front windows were blown out, and that the ceiling in his cellar was blown down. There's a large crowd downtown tonight because of the Thanksgiving holiday. At Theodore's, about two blocks away from the blast, the crowd was startled, said Stephanie Simmons, a waitress. "It rocked us so hard the windows smashed. It felt like an earthquake or a large explosion. There was pretty much chaos." She said about 30 to 40 people were at the bar, all on their feet, and many went out side to see what happened.

Worthington Street is blocked off at both Dwight and Chestnut streets. Albert Fuster, was in his apartment at the corner of Chestnut and Taylor, a block away, with his two dogs, Moochie and Papi. "All of a sudden I hear the boom and all my windows blow out. All the smoke started filling up the place," Fuster said, standing with a crowd of people after the blast in the parking lot of the Mardi Gras. "I thought someone set off a bomb." He and the dogs were the only ones home at the time. "So I grabbed my babies and got the hell out," he said.

One observer reported five ambulances on the scene. "There is shattered glass everywhere," he said over the sound of a fire alarm. "It looks like a war zone." Megan Labombard, 21, who works as a dancer at the Scores, said her employer gave her about 20 minutes notice to get out of the club where she had been working. "I went across the street to the Mardi Gras Champagne Room, where we were having a drink, and the building where I work blew up," she said. She said she watched her livelihood go up before her eyes.

Japan's era of shoguns and samurai is long over, but the country does have one, or maybe two, surviving ninjas. Experts in the dark arts of espionage and silent assassination, ninjas passed skills from father to son - but today's say they will be the last.

Japan's ninjas were all about mystery. Hired by noble samurai warriors to spy, sabotage and kill, their dark outfits usually covered everything but their eyes, leaving them virtually invisible in shadow - until they struck.

Using weapons such as shuriken, a sharpened star-shaped projectile, and the fukiya blowpipe, they were silent but deadly.

Ninjas were also famed swordsmen. They used their weapons not just to kill but to help them climb stone walls, to sneak into a castle or observe their enemies.

Most of their missions were secret so there are very few official documents detailing their activities. Their tools and methods were passed down for generations by word of mouth.

Furious Egyptians have set ablaze the headquarters of President Mohamed Morsi's party in three cities in protest to a constitutional declaration that gives the president unlimited powers.

Three of the suspects accused of plotting to blow up a bridge near Cleveland, Ohio were sentenced in federal court on Tuesday to no fewer than eight years apiece behind bars.

Douglas Wright, 26, will serve more than 11 years in prison this week - 138 months, to be exact - for his role as the supposed 'ringleader' behind an unsuccessful plot hatched by self-proclaimed anarchists to destroy a major bridge over the Cuyahoga River. His cohorts Brandon Baxter and Connor Stevens, both 20 years old, were sentenced to roughly 10 and eight years, respectively, for their role in the plan.

Stephen D. Anthony of the Cleveland Division of the FBI said early on in the investigation that "The individuals charged in this plot were intent on using violence to express their ideological views," and prosecutors said that they hoped that by doing so they would "send a message to corporations and the United States government." That case has come under scrutiny from some, however, who have called into question the Federal Bureau of Investigation's own role in advising the accused terrorists in the days before they were expected to act.

According to the FBI's investigation, Wright and his colleagues were coached into plotting an attack on the Valley View Bridge over the Cuyahoga River after an undercover source working for the feds infiltrated their social circle and offered to help them obtain explosives. The court has admitted that Wright initially suggested the group use items such as stink bombs or paint guns to wage a more low-profile attack that would get the attention of the government. After being repeatedly coerced by the confidential source to consider something bigger, though, Wright and his peers purchased from an FBI agent what they were told were explosives. From there, they were busted in late April.

While some will spend Thanksgiving and days after it feasting on turkeys, 13 percent of Americans will rely on food stamps to avoid going to sleep hungry this holiday season.

About 42.2 million Americans will eat on a budget of $1 to $1.25 per meal this Thanksgiving as the number of people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program remains high, found a new report by The Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit government watchdog group. The number of Americans relying on food stamps this Thanksgiving is equal to the populations of California and Connecticut combined.

The latest data from the US Department of Agriculture shows that 47.1 million Americans relied on food stamps in August - the highest number yet.

Since 2007, participation in the food stamp program has skyrocketed, increasing by 70 percent. The cost of feeding the approximately 44.7 million Americans who relied on food stamps last year cost the US government a record $72 billion.

But the high number of Americans dependent on the nutrition assistance in a struggling economy is not the only problem the US faces this Thanksgiving. This past summer's record-breaking drought has taken a toll on the food industry, causing prices to skyrocket while supplies remain low - making it even more difficult to provide Thanksgiving-style food to low-income families.

Michigan - The city of Detroit, facing a serious cash crisis, is set to go bankrupt by the end of this year and would put city workers on furlough unless it strikes a deal with the city council that would bring in $30 million before Dec. 14.

Detroit has been in financial turmoil for years, losing a quarter of its population in the past decade and facing a shrinking auto industry that has reduced tax revenues. The Detroit City Council gave the mayor the option to hire a financial advisor and in return receive $30 million by the end of the year.

But the Council on Tuesday voted 8-1 to delay the decision on the deal, which would pay the Miller Canfield Law Firm $300,000 to advise Mayor Dave Bing. The deal would have released $10 million in bond money on Tuesday and another $20 million in December.

The Council decided not to authorize the contract due to suspicions that Miller Canfield has conflicts of interests, since the firm handles other city business. The Council was also concerned that the firm's contract may not be legal, since it was not prepared or approved of by the city's chief on-staff lawyer. Council members were also upset that Bing only presented them with one law firm, denying them options to choose from.

"The Council's rejection of the Miller Canfield contract means the city will not receive the first $10 million scheduled for release today," Bing said in a statement. "As a result, it will be more difficult for the city to maintain its liquidity until the receipt of property tax revenues beginning in January. Today's vote is one more example of how City Council has stalled our efforts to bring financial stability to the city of Detroit."