Born on December 13th 1904, Olivera reckons “good genes, hard work, a varied diet of homegrown vegetables and a daily glass of red wine” are the key ingredients to a long life, reports the Local. He has managed to maintain this routine despite losing his teeth four decades ago.

A widower since 1988, Olivera also claims he has never broken a bone, despite fighting in the Rif War in North Africa (1920-1926) and the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), affording him the title of Spain’s oldest veteran.

READ MORE: Sweden to deport 106yo Afghani woman, world’s ‘oldest refugee’ – reports

The Guinness Book of World Records has yet to officially recognise Olivera as the world’s oldest man because the originals of his birth certificate and other documentation from his local church and school were burnt in a fire during the civil war, reports El Mundo.

However, the paper claims to have found copies of a wedding certificate which corroborate Olivera’s story.

The previous titleholder of the world’s oldest living man was Auschwitz survivor Yisrael Kristal, who passed away a month before his 114th birthday on August 11, reports the Times of Israel.

READ MORE: Auschwitz survivor who became world's oldest man dies aged 113

There are over 17,000 people in Spain above the age of 100, 16 of whom who equal or surpass 110 years of age, reports El Mundo.

The officially recognised oldest living woman in the world is Jamaica’s Violet Brown, who was born on March 10th, 1900.

The Aradoz Beer Factory opened in Syria’s north west coastal city of Safita and is the work of two Syrian expats living in the Czech Republic. It represents the first mass-produced domestic beer since the civil war halted production of the country’s only two brands.

"The factory's machines are imported from Czech Republic. The machines were put together by Czech experts,” factory director Basel Abbas said.

“Some Syrian technicians were trained to use these machines, and now they are supervising the production process. The machines are electronic and modern in order to ensure the quality of the production and that the beer has a distinctive flavor.”

Before the war began in Syria, there were two government-run beer factories, Barada beer in Damascus, and al-Sharq beer in Aleppo.

Both stopped producing beer as a result of the the conflict. Until now, Syrians imported beer from Lebanon.

“We are confident that our product will have a competitive advantage over other products and will be available at a reasonable price."

Video from the Stavropol Region shows police, with the aid of the foal’s owners, working tirelessly to pull free the animal.

Police were at the scene following an accident which led to the foal and her mother breaking free where they encountered the deadly sludge.

The foal's mother watched the drama unfold from a safe distance.

Safely pulled from the mud, the foal was reunited with its mother and transported back to its herd.

They were demonstrating against the “novillada,” an event where novice bullfighters fight younger bulls, reported AFP, citing L’express. The pair can be seen at around the 07:15 mark of the video jumping over the barrier of the arena, in Carcassonne, southern France.

Both draw the attention of the bull which charges for them before hitting one of them, sending him flying into the air.

Despite a subsequent trampling from the bull, the man in his 30s did not receive serious injuries, according to police. "He was hit by the horn but it did not penetrate," they said.

The bull was then drawn away by the matadors, allowing the injured man to be retrieved. The bullfight continues for several minutes before the animal is eventually killed. The second protester was not injured.

Earlier in the day a banner was hung in the city calling for the abolition of bullfighting. The activity is illegal in France except for regions where it has been a tradition, including towns like Carcassonne and Béziers. In 2015 France removed bullfighting from its cultural heritage list.

HURRICANE HARVEY LIVE UPDATES

Timothy McIntosh posted the shocking image showing residents submerged in several feet of flood water.

McIntosh shared an image taken at La Vita Bella care home in Galveston County on Sunday, asking people to retweet to raise awareness of the urgent issue. Several residents and one cat can be seen in the image, sitting in waist-high water.

Speaking to The Daily News he said the image was sent directly to him by Trudy Lampson, his mother-in-law and owner of the home. Two hours after his original post McIntosh tweeted that the coast guard were en route with the residents “the number 1 priority of all current rescue attempts.”

“RESCUED!!” he tweeted shortly after, thanking emergency services for their assistance.

Dickinson emergency management coordinator David Popoff confirmed the rescue of 18 people from the care home, telling The Daily News “We were air-lifting grandmothers and grandfathers.”

Hurricane Harvey has caused extensive damage along the coast of Texas since making landfall on Friday. Authorities have urged Texans to evacuate coastal areas, comparing the Hurricane to Katrina, which devastated parts of Louisiana in 2005.

READ MORE: 'Worst flood ever' hits Houston in the wake of Hurricane Harvey Live updates

Supporters of Direction Action Everywhere turned out in central London to urge people to give up the consumption of animals.

The protest, part of a global protest to end “speciesism”, involved activists lying down covered in plastic wrap and fake blood to resemble meat sold in a supermarket.

Sister protests were also planned for Brazil, Canada, Germany, Peru and the US.

“We as vegans want to show other people that there is a compassionate way to live and how to treat animals,” said one protester.

“We want to stop this animal cruelty – stop the meat trade, the fur trade, the leather trade. We want to show people that there is a way of living without animal products."

Footage shows three Direction Action Everywhere supporters lying prone, semi-naked and doused in blood in front of the National Gallery. A number of messages are posted nearby, including one reading: “It’s not food, it’s violence.”

In 2014, PETA mounted a similar protest on World Vegan Day. Displaying their opposition to the meat and fishing industry, around 100 people laid naked in a heap in Trafalgar Square on November 1.

Venus might be Earth’s neighbor, but the gaseous planet is also an incredibly uninviting location for spacecraft, with its lava plains and fiery volcanoes.

Temperatures on the planet can reach an estimated 462 degrees Celsius, while the surface pressure is about 92 times the weight that we experience here on Earth.

READ MORE: Possible joint Russia-US mission to Venus takes shape, researcher says

To date, just nine spacecraft have successfully touched down intact on Venus. Numerous others have either been lost on launch or had their electrics thrown into disarray during the journey.

One of the most successful Venus lander missions was carried out by the Soviet Union in 1981 when Venera 13 (Venus 13) captured the first color images from the surface of the planet. Even then, the craft only lasted a total of 127 minutes before contact with it was lost.

Enter NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) - the agency seeking to implement a Venus lander that can “take a beating and keep on ticking.”

The US space agency says it hopes to use a clockwork rover, which, for an interplanetary spacecraft, would have more in common with a WWI tank or mechanical computer than one might think.

The idea would be to strip out the electronics on the lander as far as possible and use gears instead. The reason? To make the machine less susceptible to planetary conditions so harsh that they can fry electronic instruments.

READ MORE: Venus may have once been habitable, possessed atmosphere similar to Earth - NASA

Dubbed the Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments (AREE), NASA believe it could be an alternative to the development of a $3 billion liquid gas cooling system. Different AREE prototypes have already been put forward, including a spider-like construction.

However, this design is thought to be too fragile and the final model is expected to have tracks of some kind.

In a statement, JPL engineer Jonathan Sauder suggested that analog technology could be an unexpected savior for Venus landing operations.

“Venus is too inhospitable for the kind of complex control systems you have on Mars now,” Sauder said. “But with a fully mechanical rover, you might be able to survive as long as a year.”

HURRICANE HARVEY LIVE UPDATES

As flash floods and 140mph winds wreaked chaos throughout the southern state on Saturday, one dog appears to have kept a cool head and taken advice from certain security warnings around the Gulf Coast.

Spotted by Tiele Dockens in Sinton, Texas, Otis the dog has now become a viral sensation thanks to a picture of him carrying dog food during a clean-up of the storm.

The image is providing light relief amid a tropical storm that has caused “catastrophic flooding” along the east coast of the US.

“We were out today [Saturday] clearing tree limbs from street. Families are already starting to clean up. Our town is still out of water and power.

“I was driving around checking on family and friends’ properties that decided to evacuate [sic]. Otis was strolling the streets after the owner let him out… with his dog food of course,” she told Weather.com.

Docken’s image on Facebook has since been shared thousands of times, with a number of commenters praising the animal for his level-headedness. She added that while Otis did go for a walk, he was eventually picked up safely by his owner.

READ MORE: At least 3 dead as Hurricane Harvey continues rampage across Texas (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)

“He’s evacuating with his food. Smart dog,” a Facebook user said.

“God bless him. He didn’t want to be stranded without food,” one person offered, while another added: “He is just getting prepared too. How adorable.”

The object, reported in the skies above 10 states, including Pennsylvania and Washington DC, was captured by the UTSC astronomical observatory in Toronto.

The American Meteor Society (AMS) said that it had received more than 300 reports from people who had seen the object.  

“The fireball was seen primarily from Pennsylvania but was also seen from Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Washington DC, and Massachusetts,” the group added in a statement.

Thrilled observers took to social media to discuss what they had seen.

People still recovering from the barrage of Friday’s news events, which included Hurricane Harvey making landfall in Texas and US President Donald Trump’s pardoning of former Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, found it difficult to digest the fireball’s appearance.

It is not yet known for certain what the green object was, but according to the American Meteor Society, most fireballs are most likely very bright meteors.

About 10 to 15 meteorites fall to Earth each day. However, sightings are rare since they often fall over the ocean or during daylight hours.

Details about the developer of the game have not been released. However, screenshots from the shoot ‘em up show how players are encouraged to kill enemies styled as US marines.

North Korean news outlet Arirang Meari has started featuring the game, saying that it is a “fighting game in which the US is laid down with a sniper gun in the context of injustice.”

The release comes at a time of heightened tensions between the US and Pyongyang.

The two have engaged in military posturing in recent times, with North Korea threatening to strike the US territory of Guam in response to US President Donald Trump’s announcement that he would unleash “fire and fury” on should North Korea threaten US security.

While the new North Korean game has created a stir online, the production is not much different from other violent conflict games such as the Activision-made Call of Duty.

In 2009, the second installment of the ‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’ series sparked controversy when a "No Russian" level of the game allowed players to carry out a massacre in a fictitious Moscow airport.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) created a ‘Facebook frame’ saying “Shoot selfies, not animals.” The idea was to have people take photos of themselves and overlay them with the frame so their Facebook friends would know that they’re opposed to hunting.

READ MORE: PETA seized family dog & euthanized it without consent (PHOTO)

However, predictably enough, hunters seized upon the idea and started posting it on photos of themselves with dead animals.

Photos of hunters posing with all manner of animals – from ducks, to bucks, to alligators – were shared by people looking to rub PETA’s nose in it.

“All hunters and fisherman all need to stand as one despite our differences and thoughts of what’s right and wrong in our sport,” hunter Matt Caire, from Louisiana, said in a response to the PETA campaign.

“I have no problem if someone doesn’t eat animals… or hunt (or) fish. but just because they don’t like it, doesn’t mean we can’t do it.”

PETA had a different take on the whole episode, however. “It’s not every day that thousands of hunters throw their support behind PETA, but that’s exactly what happened when we launched our ‘Shoot Selfies, Not Animals’ Facebook frame earlier this week,” the animal rights organization said in a statement.

The group say more than 250,000 people have used the frame, making it one of the most popular on Facebook. It also said that its Facebook page saw a 50 percent increase in ‘likes’ this week.

“PETA owes a big thank-you to the would-be trolls who are spreading our message of compassion,” Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said.

“The supportive messages are pouring in from kind people who agree that only bullies or cowards get their kicks from gunning down beautiful wild animals.”

PETA also raised concerns about the number of young children posing in the photos alongside dead animals and the “would-be trolls.”

“Nearly every serial killer and school shooter killed animals before moving on to humans,” it claimed.

Authorities in Al Khafji in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province identified the owner of the car, along with three other suspects, after the video of a woman in dark sunglasses, headdress and traditional thobe gown driving on a street appeared online earlier this week.

The car’s owner did not make himself available for questioning until two days after the first request by police, according to Gulf News.

Speaking to the news website, Ziyad Al Raqiti, spokesperson for the Eastern Province police, said: “Police experts upon viewing the video identified the car owner as a Saudi national in his 40s. He was summoned, but he did not respond. However, he later came to the police and he was referred to the public prosecution.”

Two men and two women have since been questioned in relation to the incident.Because Saudi Arabia has not officially banned women from driving – authorities don’t issue licenses and religious leaders have issued edicts against it – the investigation is thought to center around the relationship between the group. In Saudi Arabia, it is illegal to mix with unrelated members of the opposite sex. 

Women have been jailed for flouting religious rules around driving in the past.

In December 2014, two female Saudi activists were arrested and jailed for 73 days after attempting to defy the ban.

The first organized protest took place in 1990 when around 48 women drove their cars in the capital, Riyadh. They were later arrested and had their passports confiscated.

Equality activists have been encouraged of late, however.

Last November, Saudi prince Alwaleed bin Talal urged for the country to allow women to drive, saying: “Preventing a woman from driving a car is today an issue of rights similar to the one that forbade her from receiving an education or having an independent identity.”

Footage which emerged online reveals how one motorist attempted to flag down the truck’s driver before the vehicle struck a gantry above a section of Interstate 610 in Houston, Texas.

Thursday’s collision upended the large truck and pulled the metal sign holder into the middle of the northbound ring road, which had to be closed off by emergency personnel.

According to ABC13, the condition of truck’s driver is not yet known.

Eyewitness Carlos Escobedo said he was travelling down the highway with his father when they unsuccessfully tried to warn the driver that the heavy vehicle’s open-box bed was in a perilous position.

“We almost died. We were trying to signal him,” Escobedo said on Facebook. “We [are] lucky to be alive.”

A second video posted by Escobedo depicts the moment of impact between the dump truck and the 16-foot-tall sign.

As the vehicle approaches an off ramp, its raised carriage strikes the road gantry, causing it to collapse.

The truck then flips onto its side before coming to rest under a flyover.

Some people commenting on the video have questioned whether Escobedo did enough when trying to warn the truck driver, while others pointed out that no other driver was seen trying to help at all.

Researchers believe that machine-learning algorithms, far from making the world more equitable, are now mimicking society’s inequality by discriminating against women and ethnic minorities.    

“This is beginning to come up a lot in areas like shortlisting people for jobs, insurance, loans –  all those things,” Noel Sharkey, Co-Director of the Foundation for Responsible Robotics, told the BBC’s Today program.

READ MORE: FaceApp scraps ‘racist’ filter after public outcry (PHOTOS)

Sharkey cited the example of research from Boston University in which an AI was trained to read Google News. When asked during a word association game, “man is to computer programmer what woman is to x”, the computer replied “homemaker.”

“We have a problem,” said Sharkey. “We need more women coming into this field to solve it.”

In the US, 20 percent of engineering school graduates are women but make up just 11 percent of practicing engineers. In the UK, nine percent of the engineering workforce is female.

Health data expert Maxine Mackintosh said “imperfect” datasets based on historical information skew AI replies. This, she said, was seen in London’s St George’s Hospital where pre-tests of medical school applications revealed that the hospital’s AI was discriminating against women as well as black and ethnic minorities despite new research showing that women are better doctors than men.

READ MORE: Artificial intelligence ‘vastly more risk’ than N. Korea – Elon Musk

“These big data are really a social mirror – they reflect the biases and inequalities we have in society,” she told the BBC. “If you want to take steps towards changing that you can’t just use historical information.”

The issue of AI’s struggles with racial diversity has been in the spotlight in recent times.

Last year, Microsoft was forced to take its machine-learning Twitter chatbot ‘Tay’ offline after it took just 24 hours to become a Nazi sympathizer.

Earlier this week, video surfaced online of a black man failing to get soap from an automatic dispenser in Lagos, Nigeria.

In the footage, Lagos resident Chukwuemeka Afigbo films a white man getting soap from the dispenser. When a dark-skinned man tries to do the same, the machine fails to respond. Eventually a white paper towel is passed under the device, immediately triggering the sanitizer.

The UK-based inventor is known for taking risks with his innovations. The latest brainwave sees the online star turn himself into a sort of human Catherine wheel.

Using a scrap yard bicycle, Furze, who counts the ‘human blender’ hoverbike among his previous creations, elongated a two-wheel bicycle to fit 1,000 ‘rocket volley’ fireworks.

READ MORE: Madcap inventor designs bizarre ‘human blender’ hoverbike (VIDEO)

Astonishingly, the cargo included 40 boxes of explosives that shoot 25 fireworks at a time.

Expressing his anxiety at cycling the explosive-laden bike, Furze then rode off into the night with fire and rocket bursts trailing behind him.

Footage of the incredible stunt shows Furze tearing down a concrete track while a cameraman and drone captures the night sky exploding with color.

The budget airline shot to prominence in 2012 when it hosted a mid-flight dance by bikini-clad beauty pageant contestants on a flight from Ho Chi Minh City to the coastal resort of Nha Thang in east Vietnam.

The airline was fined 20 million Dong, around US$880, for the unsanctioned PR stunt. It has since become synonymous with bikini wearing flight stewards and regularly uses them in advertising campaigns.

Because of this reputation, when the carrier announced that it was opening a route to the capital of Indonesia, officials in the conservative Muslim country raised concerns.

The airline’s Deputy Director for Commercial Affairs, Jay L Lingeswara, however, has confirmed that all VietJet employees will be fully clothed on all flights to Indonesia.

“We strongly believe and are committed to offering the best and suitable services to the Indonesian market,” he said, adding that Vietjet Air had learned from its experience with the opening of a route to Malaysia. The airline also confirmed it will provide halal food for Muslim passengers, the Jakarta Post report.

Indonesia’s Ambassador to Vietnam, Ibnu Hadi, explained to Indonesian news program Liputan 6 that the bikini incident will not be repeated: “I’d like to explain that the bikini [stunt] was only for one event. It was for the airline’s launch of their new route to Nha Trang, which is a resort city so that’s why they wore bikinis.”

VietJet started flying in 2011 and flies to 53 destinations. Its CEO, Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, quickly became Vietnam's first self-made female billionaire.

The list published by the FARS news agency excludes individuals with a wide range of illnesses but also prohibits people from teaching based on their physical appearance.

READ MORE: Iran says Twitter ‘not immoral,’ ready to discuss unblocking

Individuals with severe acne, burn marks, unsightly moles and those with fewer than 20 teeth are prohibited by the Ministry of Education. Cross-eyed people and women with facial hair also fail to qualify.

A whole section of the document is dedicated to ‘women’s diseases’ and specifies infertility and early or late puberty among the problematic issues for aspiring teachers.

FARS noted that the restrictions mean prospective applicants have to spend many months taking medical tests. It added that kidney or bladder surgery, for example, does not affect someone’s ability to teach.

After some backlash on social media, a special assistant to President Hassan Rouhani said the matter would be investigated.

A spokesman for the education department later told Tehran-based Etemad that measures specifically targeting women would be removed and the rest of the list reviewed.

It noted that these restrictions, in particular, had been widely criticized and it was clear now they provided an unnecessary barrier to the recruitment of female teachers.

Esfandiar Chabband, head of the Center for Human Resources and Information Technology Planning and Information Technology (MoH), said the style sheet had been implemented in previous years as a hiring barrier.

“They have told me that no-one has ever been banned from work on this basis,” he said.

Iranian journalist Omid Memarian pointed out that renowned physicist Stephen Hawking would have been unsuccessful in an gaining a teaching job in Iran under the restrictions.

Meanwhile journalist Sara Omatali called the measures a “definitive violation of basic human rights.”

Discovered by 20th century archaeologist Edgar Banks, the ancient clay fragment, known as Plimpton 322, has puzzled scientists for decades.

Now researchers from University of New South Wales, Australia, say the tablet is actually the earliest known trigonometric table, predating Hellenistic models by 1,000 years.

READ MORE: Ancient clay used by aboriginal Canadians could fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria – study

Consisting of four columns, the palm-sized ancestor to the familiar Sine, Cosine and Tangent trigonometry functions displays 15 rows of inscribed numbers and uses a sexagesimal numeral system.

Normally held at Columbia University in New York, the tablet’s uses are detailed in a Historia Mathematica journal study.

The clay relic was most likely used in the construction of buildings to determine the ratio of angles.

NSW researchers Dr Daniel Mansfield and professor Norman Wildberger say the identification of a pattern called “Pythagorean triples” was a key clue to pinpointing the tablet’s purpose.

“Our research reveals that Plimpton 322 describes the shapes of right-angle triangles using a novel kind of trigonometry based on ratios, not angles and circles. It is a fascinating mathematical work that demonstrates undoubted genius,” Dr Mansfield said.

He added: “The tablet not only contains the world’s oldest trigonometric table; it is also the only completely accurate trigonometric table, because of the very different Babylonian approach to arithmetic and geometry.”

Wildberger said the Babylonian relic was created before the studies of Greek astronomer Hipparchus, who is regarded as the founding father of trigonometry.

READ MORE: Babylonians used astronomy techniques 1,500yrs ahead of Europeans

“Plimpton 322 predates Hipparchus by more than 1,000 years,” Wildberger said. “It opens up new possibilities not just for modern mathematics research, but also for mathematics education.

“A treasure-trove of Babylonian tablets exist, but only a fraction of them have been studied yet. The mathematical world is only waking up to the fact that this ancient but very sophisticated mathematical culture has much to teach us.”

The royal sisters, very diverse in character and age, have often been merged into a blurry image of a band of privileged girls, and that is something Rappaport would like to change. 

“Writing Four Sisters (and I chose that title as a deliberate reference to Chekhov’s Three Sisters) was a very special experience for me because I became so absorbed in the lives of those four tragic young women. I wanted passionately to tell their story and give them back their own individual identities,” Helen Rappaport told RT.

“Too often in the past they have been pushed into the background as an anonymous collective that they weren’t. They were so very different and each had their strengths and weaknesses,” the author explained.

Rappaport confessed to having fallen in love with Russia at an early stage in life through literature and history.

“I remember vividly buying my first book of Russian literature - it was Chekhov’s short stories. I loved “Dama s sobachkoi” [The Lady with the Dog] so much and it sparked something in my imagination. Then there was “Doctor Zhivago,” and Tolstoy’s “Anna Karenina” and his other great works. I also loved Gogol and the Soviet writer Isaac Babel. I became absorbed in the great sweeping narrative of Russian history, and my experience of it was enhanced by the wonderful music of Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Stravinsky and Borodin – as well as the glories of Russian Orthodox church music. I play a lot of Russian music when I am writing.” 

A Russian speaker herself, Helen Rappaport, is devoted to research and working with the archives.

“Researching in Russian historical sources takes up a lot of time,” she said. “But it is essential to get back to the primary sources and I hate cutting corners. All of my Romanov books have needed a lot of reading of books and materials in Russian – so it has improved my knowledge of the language no end.”

Her other book dedicated to the same turbulent age of Russian history, “Caught in the Revolution”, is an eyewitness account from a foreign perspective onto what went on in the capital in those days. 

“There were a lot of interesting foreign women in Petrograd in 1917 who got caught up in events – they were mainly from the British and American colonies, but also some French and Scandinavian women. I tracked down as many female eyewitnesses as I could possibly find. Practically all of them are unknown, bar the suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst,” Helen told RT in an interview.

“Many of them wanted to meet Maria Bochkareva and the Women’s Death Battalion, and some of them even went to the front with them to write stories about them for their newspapers.”

Rappaport’s upcoming book, “The Race to Save the Romanovs”, touches upon an issue very hesitantly covered by non-Russian speaking authors: why the world failed to grant asylum to Russia’s former emperor, his wife and five children who, as a result, were all brutally murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

“To tell the story of what really went wrong, one has to look at the European monarchs and their governments on a much wider level and understand why none of them could or would act to try and get the family out of Russia. There was a huge amount of buck passing, and in all a collective failure to save the Romanovs,” Rappaport explained.

“Everyone failed them: the provisional government, Lenin’s government, the Germans, the British, the Danes, the French – all in different ways. And also the geography, the distances, the weather, i.e. the logistics of getting them out of Russia, made it almost impossible. The only monarch who comes out with any real honor in the story is King Alfonso of Spain,” the author said. 

READ MORE: #1917LIVE: Detained Russian tsar & his family moved to Siberia

“There is a huge amount of new and unseen material going into my book, but it has taken an enormous effort and expense to find it. It will cover sources in eight languages: French, English, Russian, German, Spanish, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish.  I think, indeed I sincerely hope, that it will surprise people, and will show also that much of what we think we ‘know’ is based on faulty ‘evidence,’” Rappaport said.

Follow RT’s interactive project on Twitter and become part of the strongest and weakest points of one of the greatest Revolutions the world has seen: the turn of the Russian Empire into a communist society all breaking in 1917. 

READ MORE: #1917LIVE: Be part of revolution on Twitter & write your own history with #1917CROWD hashtag

RT takes a look at some of the most unusual locations where the saviour decided to deliver his holy message.

1. Jesus in a baby girl’s sonogram

Zac Smith and his fiancée, Alicia Zeek, from Pennsylvania, went in for an ultrasound ahead of the birth of their baby girl and saw what they believe was Jesus dressed in a robe with a crown of thorns looking at their baby.

While the parents said they weren’t religious Smith said: “It almost brought tears to my eyes.”

2. Jesus appears in hill in Colombia after landslide

In 2015 hundreds of believers flocked to a hillside in Colombia after a ‘miracle’ apparition emerged following a landslide revealed the face of the Lord.

"If you believe in Jesus, you will see your image," one worshipper told El Tempto.

3. Face of Jesus appears in creased sock

The Messiah’s appearance has also been reported in more humdrum locations – no more so than a sock.

Sarah Crane from Kent, England reported her shock at finding the image in a creased sock while taking in the washing from the line.

“We think it's a bit of a sign – but for what we don't know,” she told the Telegraph in 2011.

"We thought it would be good to make a little shrine for it – but unfortunately, when we moved it, the creases fell out a bit and the face isn't quite as clear now.”

4. Australian restaurant cooks up pizza with ‘Jesus’ topping

An Australian pizzeria, Posh Pizza, went viral when it shared an image of a three-cheese pizza bearing the apparent blessed presence of Christ.

The restaurant went one step further and auctioned the holy food on eBay. The divine feast was sold for AU$153, with proceeds reportedly going to charity.

5. Jesus spotted on a telephone pole covered in vines

A driver on an LA highway did a double take after he spotted what appeared to be Jesus on a cross. The ‘cross’ was in fact a telephone pole covered in vines, however, Rickey Navarre told KPLC he believed it was a message from God.

6. ‘Miracle’ Easter pancakes

Southern California restaurant owner Karen Hendrickson saw the face of Jesus on a pancake on Good Friday of all days.

"For this to happen on Good Friday, I truly felt it was a miracle, and I'm not even a deeply religious person," Hendrickson told USA Today.

7. Jesus shaped cloud appears after Colombian landslide

Earlier this year residents of the Colombian city of Manizales sought divine comfort in a Jesus-shaped cloud which appeared following a deadly landslide.

8. Marmite lid manifestation

Another bizarre location for a holy apparition was inside the lid of a marmite jar. A Welsh mother of two shared an image of the jar purportedly showing the Messiah in the gooey residue.

She admitted, however, that she had seen the face of Jesus in a lot of things previously, including a window.  

9. Jesus on a tree trunk

In Argentina a tree trunk became a place of worship after residents became convinced that the Lord’s image was embedded on it.

READ MORE: Stickmata? ‘Tree Jesus’ draws believers to dead trunk in Argentina (VIDEO) 

10. Jesus in a mushroom festival

Meanwhile, in Mexico, a mushroom boasting the image of Jesus Christ is celebrated at an annual festival.

The mushroom, believed to be 137 years old, was reportedly found in the woods by a lumberjack, who brought it back to Chignahuapan

The phenomenon of seeing faces and figures in inanimate objects is scientifically known as pareidolia.

According to the latest research from the US National Institute of Mental Health in Maryland, humans are not the only ones to perceive faces where there are none. Scientists found that monkeys also succumb to pareidolia.

Researchers have long mused about the possibility of developing a drug that could give a person all the benefits of exercise, without actually exercising. Now, a team from the University of Leeds in the UK have taken us a step closer to the creation of a miracle drug.

Speaking to the Daily Record, Professor David Beech from the Leeds Institute of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Medicine, the study’s author, said: "It must be possible one day we will have an 'exercise pill' ... If all goes well, they could begin in five years, even sooner with further funding.”

In the study, published Thursday in the journal Nature Communications, the team examined the effect of physical activity on blood circulation, finding that when the heart rate is raised, a person’s blood flows to the skeletal muscles and brain and ignores the internal organs such as the intestines. Arteries also narrow during exercise, putting increased stress in the arterial lining.

The team then identified Piezo1, a protein it believes governs the body’s response to exercise and could hold the key to defeating the world’s most debilitating diseases.

"If we can understand how these systems work, then we may be able to develop techniques that can help tackle some of the biggest diseases afflicting modern societies," said Beech.

"We know that exercise can protect against heart disease, stroke and many other conditions. This study has identified a physiological system that senses when the mammalian body is exercising."

Using Piezo1, Beech developed the experimental molecule Yoda1, a compound that, when tested on mice, increased blood flow in the arterial lining in the same way as exercise.

The team now plans to begin further experiments on mice and, soon, they hope, humans.

"Our experiments were carried out on healthy mice. We now plan further studies on unhealthy ones with metabolic syndrome such as obesity and high blood pressure that happens in unfit humans,” Beech added.

US President Donald Trump

In his brief political career, the US president has already attracted numerous comparisons with the leader of the Nazi Party.

While the majority of these have come on social media some newspapers and magazines have also drawn parallels.

The most recent example came this week when German news magazine Stern put an image of Trump, draped in an American flag, with his arm raised in a Nazi salute.

The image was accompanied by the headline “Sein Kampf”, meaning ‘His struggle’, a nod to Hitler’s manifesto ‘Mein Kampf’.

The publication was criticized by LA-based Jewish group, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which said: "The depiction of the president as a latter-day Hitler by a major German publication is untrue and beyond the pale.''

The center said it had also been vocal in criticizing Trump for failing to make a distinction between Nazis and KKK protesters and those who opposed them.

“Germans must surely know that by misappropriating'' Nazi symbols “they belittle and becloud'' past crimes.

However, Stern isn’t the first publication to depict Trump as Hitler.

In December 2015, before Trump had even secured the Republican presidential nomination, the Philadelphia Daily News used a photo of the real estate magnate with his arm raised to look like a Nazi salute. The front-page headline read “The new furor”, a pun on the German word führer (leader).The front page was a reaction to Trump proposing a ban on all Muslim immigrants and tourists from entering the US.

The front page was a reaction to Trump proposing a ban on all Muslim immigrants and tourists from entering the US.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel

Turkish tabloid Gunes took a particularly aggressive approach when it chose to portray Angela Merkel as Hitler in March.

In the front page splash, a pursed-lipped Merkel, complete with Hitler mustache, is seen toting a pistol and wearing a Nazi uniform.

The paper, which supports Turkey's ruling AKP party, branded Merkel “Mrs. Hitler” and an “ugly aunt,” while accusing her of being the leader of “fascists” and of inciting anti-Turkish sentiment throughout Europe, especially in Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium.

The front page came after a war of words between Ankara and several European Union countries in the run up to April's constitutional referendum in Turkey, which granted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan more extensive powers.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Erdogan himself hasn’t been immune to the Hitler comparisons. In fact that was the subject of a book by Turkish author Ergun Poyraz titled ‘Takunyalı Führer’.

The book, which was published in 2010, is one in a series of political books by Poyraz which gives his analysis of Turkey’s ruling classes.

Poyraz was arrested in 2007 and accused of being part of Ergenekon, an alleged clandestine organization.

In 2013, he was sentenced to 29 years in prison for plotting against the Turkish government as part of the Ergenekon trials. Hundreds of high profile Turks, including military officers, journalists, and opposition lawmakers, were imprisoned during the trials.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban

Hungarian leader Orban got the Hitler treatment on the cover of liberal Hungarian magazine Magyar Narancs in September 2015 over his decision to erect a fence along the Serbian-Hungarian border in order to impede the movement of migrants into Hungary.

Again the front page designers decided to add a Hitleresque mustache to a photo of the politician’s face, however, in this case, they chose to use barbed fencing to evoke Hitler’s signature look.

Serbian tabloid Blic went for a similar approach. They used the words “Orbane sramotó” (Orban, this shame) to create the moustache. The rest of the front page labeled Orban a “wicked neighbor” and alleged that Hungarians who helped refugees got in trouble with the police.

Orban drew the ire of Hungarian Jews last month when he praised Miklos Horthy, who served as Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary from 1920 to 1944.

Orban had branded Horthy an “exceptional statesman,” but Jewish leaders said he was a Hitler ally who oversaw the murder of more than 500,000 Holocaust victims. Orban later apologized for the comments.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

During a state visit to Australia earlier this year, Netanyahu was met by a crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters carrying a poster depicting him as Adolf Hitler.

Around 650 pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered in Sydney to protest Netanyahu’s visit, which was the first from a serving Israeli premier to Australia. A large poster of Netanyahu with a Hitler mustache and the word “Fascist” generated considerable media attention at the time.

The Jerusalem Post reported that others in the crowd carried placards branding Netanyahu a ‘war criminal’ and ‘terrorist’. The demonstrators also lambasted the Australian government for its strong ties to Israel.

The 20-hour journey will take passengers directly from Sydney to London by Airbus or Boeing jet, depending on which aircraft manufacturer can best fly the distance. It is expected to be made available within the next five years, Reuters reports, citing a “source familiar with the matter.”

READ MORE: World’s longest flight soars into record books

The airline formally announced the record-breaking route on Friday. The long-haul flight will also take a new route over the North Pole, instead of the usual crossing over Asia and Europe.

The new route is technically longer than the 9,200 nautical miles (17,000 kilometers) across the west, but has the added benefit of strong tailwinds to speed it along.

The flight cuts three hours off the journey that travellers usually take from Sydney to London, which included a layover in Dubai. That means Qantas could charge a 20 percent premium for their business travelers wanting to get to their destination quicker.

If successful, Qantas will steal the throne from Qatar Airways who currently holds the title for completing the world's longest flight from Doha to Auckland, New Zealand. The 9,032 nautical miles (16,727km) trip took 16 hours and spanned 10 time zones in the process.

Archaeologists from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and the Israel Antiquities Authority believe the find was once part of a hostelry for pilgrims moving to Jerusalem at a time when Christianity was spreading throughout the Eastern Roman Empire.

According to inscriptions expert Leah Di Segni of the Hebrew University, the ancient Greek writing reads: "The most pious Roman emperor Flavius Justinian and the most God-loving priest and abbot, Constantine, erected the building in which [this mosaic] sat during the 14th indiction."

Emperor Flavius Justinian, while completing the conversion of the pagan Roman Empire to the Christian Byzantine Empire in 543 AD, built a vast and complex church on Mount Zion. The site, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was called the New Church of the Theotokos, or, the Nea Church.

Indiction is an ancient method of counting years that was used for tax purposes. The inscription is said to date back as far as 550AD.

"This inscription commemorates the founding of the building by Constantine, the priest. The inscription names the emperor Flavius Justinian. It seems that the building was used as a hostel for pilgrims," said Di Segni.

David Gellman, the director of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority described the find near Damascus Gate as “an archaeological miracle.”

READ MORE: 1,000yo manuscripts written by ancient Silk Road family found in Afghanistan

“Every archaeologist dreams of finding an inscription in their excavations, especially one so well preserved and almost entirely intact," he said.

”In the Byzantine period, with the emergence of Christianity, churches, monasteries and hostels for pilgrims were built in the area north of the gate, and the area became one of the most important and active areas of the city," he added.

The mosaic was uncovered during works to install communications cables in Jerusalem’s Old City.

The new feature, developed in conjunction with the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), will be fully rolled out on mobile in the US in the coming days.

When users search the term, a ‘knowledge panel’ offering information on the disorder will appear along with an option to “check if you’re clinically depressed,” according to a Google blog post.

The clinically validated PHQ-9 questionnaire will assess an individual’s likely level of depression and the need for an in-person evaluation. The self-assessment is private and is intended to steer people who need help to their doctor for further discussion.

The introduction of a mental health self-assessment tool marks a first for the search giant.

Vidushi Tekriwal, Google’s product manager, told the Financial Times that questionnaire responses would not be recorded or stored and Google would not target advertising at users based on their answers.

READ ONLY: We’re living in a surveillance economy, Google knows everything about us – web culture guru

In the past, Google’s targeted advertising activities have come under fierce criticism from privacy activists.

In June, the company announced it would cease targeting users with ads generated by scanning the contents of their emails, but would continue to pull information from Google and YouTube searches.

Security concerns aside, some mental health experts are questioning the project’s effectiveness at tackling depression.

Speaking to the New Scientist, Simon Gilbody of the University of York in the UK said that while PHQ-9 is considered a good diagnostic tool, it needs to be applied repeatedly and regularly to give a meaningful picture of a patient’s mental health. The researcher also said that there isn’t solid evidence that widespread testing for depression is a good idea.

“Randomized control trials have shown that screening for depression doesn’t improve outcomes for patients,” he said.

NAMI CEO Mary Gilberti said that while one in five Americans will experience a depressive episode in their lifetime, only 50 percent of people who suffer from depression actually receive treatment.

“The PHQ-9 can be the first step to getting a proper diagnosis … and while this tool can help, it’s important to note that PHQ-9 is not meant to act as a singular tool for diagnosis.

“We hope that by making this information available on Google, more people will become aware of depression and seek treatment to recover and improve their quality of life,” she added.

Alarm bells are ringing within security circles in China over the condition of potential army recruits, with the Ministry of Defence reporting a “staggering” increase in physical examination failures among hopefuls.

According to the report, failure reached 56.9 per cent this year in one unidentified city.

“Seeing an 18-year-old man in a bunch of twists and turns in the physical examination [gave us] cause for thought. What is the problem?” the report on the ministry website asks.Well, the conclusion appears to be, according to those charged with China’s defence, that poor dietary decisions and lifestyle habits are crippling wannabe soldiers’ potential.

Well, the conclusion appears to be, according to those charged with China’s defence, that poor dietary decisions and lifestyle habits are crippling wannabe soldiers’ potential.

Ailments consistently discovered during examinations included liver and kidney damage.

“Some experts believes the reasons [to be].... Long-term consumption of soft drinks… wine drinks, hot pot, fatty food… staying up late,” the report states.

READ MORE: Quick thinking cop saves Chinese motorists from plunging into sinkhole (VIDEO)

Meanwhile, a dependence on mobile and computer devices accounted for 46 per cent of army trialist failures, with the fixation on screens apparently hampering their depth of vision.

Strangely, masturbation is also seen as problem affecting the future ranks of the Chinese military, with the Ministry of Defence warning that it causes enlarged varicose veins.

The news has resulted in a number of people mocking the condition of prospective soldiers online.

However, the People’s Liberation Army has since moved to quell fears over the quality of successful recruits.

“The quality of our recruits is guaranteed, and the headwaters of our military will flow long and strong,” a PLA statement read.

The Venetian mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, made the comments during a conference of mayors in the city of Rimini on the Adriatic coast.

“If someone shouts Allahu Akbar while running through St Mark's Square, we'll shoot them. A year ago, I said after four steps, now I’m saying after three,” Brugnaro said, according to Corriere Della Sera.

READ MORE: Fascist Mussolini-style posters ordered removed from Italian beach venue (VIDEO)

“We arrested four terrorists in Venice who wanted to blow up the Rialto Bridge. But we will send them directly to Allah without having to do any harm before,” Brugnaro continued, referring to a foiled terror plot in March of this year.

“Unlike in Barcelona, where they did not have the protections, we keep our guard high. We do not challenge anyone. We are sending a message of support to the police forces who must know that we are on their side.”

Following the debate Mayor of Florence Dario Nardella, burst into a room yelling “Allahu Akbar,” prompting chuckles from Brugnaro and other assembled delegates.

The comment was caught on camera and quickly became widespread in Italian media. Nardella was widely criticized, particularly as the joke came in the aftermath of the terror attack in Barcelona.

READ MORE: Disturbing video captures African migrant drowning in Venice’s Grand Canal

The Florentine mayor made a statement on Facebook apologizing for his actions.

“I apologize for some expressions in an online video. It was not my intention to offend anyone, not least the Muslim community, nor to joke about its religion, nor to evoke the tragic events of these days.”

Nardella also distanced himself from Brugnaro’s statement.

Business man Brugnaro, who took office in 2015, seems to revel in his “non-politically correct” image.

He previously attracted controversy for banning 49 books about discrimination and homosexuality from Venetian schools and he also tried to ban the city’s gay pride parade.

Documents from the CIA’s ‘ExpressLane’ project were released by the whistleblowing organization as part of its ongoing ‘Vault 7’ series on the intelligence agency’s alleged hacking capabilities.

A branch within the CIA – known as Office of Technical Services (OTS) – provides a biometric collection system to liaison services around the world “with the expectation for sharing of the biometric takes collected on the systems,” according to a file released by WikiLeaks.

ExpressLane, however, suggests the system has inadequacies as it was developed as a covert information collection tool to secretly exfiltrate data collections from such systems provided to liaison services.

The user guide for the tool states that it was developed to support the branch in its efforts to verify that this data is also being shared with the agency.

“ExpressLane v3.1.1 provides an ability to disable the biometric software if liaison doesn’t provide the Agency with continued access.”

ExpressLane is installed and run under the guise of upgrading the biometric software by OTS agents that visit the liaison sites.

“OTS/i2c plans to revisit these sites with the cover of upgrading the biometric software to perform a collection against the biometric takes,” a CIA document outlining test procedures for the project states.

Liaison officers overseeing this procedure will remain unsuspicious, as the data exfiltration is disguised behind a Windows installation splash screen.

ExpressLane was intended to remain secret until 2034, according to the files which originate from 2009.

The core components of the OTS system are based on products from Cross Match –  a US company specializing in biometric software for law enforcement and the Intelligence Community.

In 2011, it was reported that the US military used one of the company’s products to identify Osama bin Laden during the assassination operation in Pakistan.

The White House and Department of Defense said facial recognition technology was one of the techniques used to identify Bin Laden but Cross Match’s involvement was not confirmed.

READ MORE: CIA CouchPotato tool ‘captures video stream images remotely’ – WikiLeaks

Chris Messina had no idea that his simple suggestion would become a unifying force for political movements the world over, as well as a means of displaying empathy and support in times of tragedy.

The “barcamp” he referred to is a user-generated conference, typically discussing tech or the internet.

The simple idea quickly spread to other social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Tumblr.

To mark the 10-year anniversary of the wildly popular symbol, Twitter has created a special #Hashtag10, which adds a special emoji. Twitter’s 328 million monthly users share an average of 125 million hashtags.  

RT takes a look at some of the highlights of the now ubiquitous symbol on its 10-year anniversary.

Official recognition

The term “hashtag” was officially added to the Merriam Webster dictionary in 2014 with the meaning: "A word or phrase preceded by the symbol # that classifies or categorises the accompanying text (such as a tweet)."

Most popular hashtags

The most popular hashtag of all time, used over 1 billion times, allows users to recommend their favorite artist’s work, tagging it with #NowPlaying (or #np).

In a similar vein, #FollowFriday or #FF is the most popular hashtag tradition, with 539 million mentions.

Longest hashtag

This illustrious honor was awarded to Paul Horner, author of Super Official News, in 2013. The 345-character long hashtag tells a brief but highly controversial anecdote about Horner’s life.

Hashtags for charity

Hashtags have helped charities galvanize the global public like never before, raising awareness of some the world’s most important challenges.

The #IceBucketChallenge helped raise $100 million for Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) research, in a viral campaign that showed how powerful a tool social media could be when using the right hashtag.

Hashtags as tools for political activism

Hashtags have helped unite citizens of the world across time zones and international borders to help spread awareness of numerous causes.

When Boko Haram militants kidnapped 276 girls from Chibok in northeastern Nigeria, #BringBackOurGirls was the rallying cry used by activists and concerned netizens around the world to call on Western leaders to secure their safe return.

While #BlackLivesMatter is arguably one of the best-known political hashtags in the world, it actually originated on Facebook.

Hashtags for solidarity

In 2015, following the massacre of 12 people at the offices of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, which had published cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed, #JeSuisCharlie was shared 5 million times in just two days.

The lighter side of the internet

Hashtags have also been used to highlight the funnier side of life.

Who could forget the infamous (and now deleted) “covfefe” tweet that spawned a tsunami of conspiracy theory-fueled online banter at the expense of the US president?

The #NuggsForCarter campaign became the most retweeted post in Twitter history, with 3.6 million retweets, earning Carter Wilkinson a year’s supply of chicken nuggets from his favorite fast food restaurant in the process.

Wilkinson even managed to de-throne Ellen Degeneres’ Oscar selfie.

Recorded extracts of the book, “What Happened,” read by Clinton, were played on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Wednesday.

Clinton detailed her experience during the October presidential debate at Washington University in St Louis, in which Trump followed her around the stage in an apparent effort to make Clinton uncomfortable –  or simply to remain on camera.  

“‘This is not okay,’ I thought,” Clinton said, describing Trump “looming behind” her. “Two days before the world heard about him grabbing women, now we were on a small stage, and no matter where I walked, he followed me closely, staring at me, making faces.”

READ MORE:‘Grab them by the p***y’: Leaked audio of Trump causes GOP backlash

Clinton was referring to the Access Hollywood tapes, recordings made several years earlier of Trump boasting to a reality TV producer about his ways of dealing with women, including the infamous phrase “grab them by the p*ssy.”

On the same day that NBC published the tape, the first batch of emails from the account of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta were published by WikiLeaks. The Podesta emails releases would continue until Election Day.

“He was literally breathing down my neck,” Clinton said of the debate. “My skin crawled.”

“It was one of those moments where you wish you could hit pause and ask everyone watching, well, what would you do?" Clinton wrote. “Do you stay calm, keep smiling and carry on as if he weren't repeatedly invading your space? Or do you turn, look him in the eye and say loudly and clearly, 'Back up you creep, get away from me’? I know you love to intimidate women but you can’t intimidate me, so back up.'

READ MORE: Blow by blow: Clinton, Trump face off in second debate

“I chose option A. I kept my cool, aided by a lifetime of dealing with men trying to throw me off. I did, however, grip the microphone extra hard,” she wrote.

Clinton then pondered what it would have been like to go with the second option, saying it “certainly would have been better TV.”

The MSNBC segment included a second recording of Clinton introducing her book, saying, “I don’t have all the answers,” and “I have too little distance, and too great a stake in it.”

The Democrats’ presidential candidate was overwhelmingly favored to win the 2016 election, but ended up winning only 2027 Electoral College votes to Trump’s 304, despite winning the popular vote. Clinton and the Democrats have blamed the result on “Russian hacking.”

“If the Russians could hack my subconscious, they’d have a long list,” Clinton concluded.

Apparently fed up with President Trump's constant Twitter posts, Valerie Plame Wilson launched her GoFundMe campaign last week.

“If Twitter executives won’t shut down Trump’s violence and hate, then it's up to us,” she wrote, using the hashtags #BuyTwitter and #BanTrump.

“Donald Trump has done a lot of horrible things on Twitter. From emboldening white supremacists to promoting violence against journalists, his tweets damage the country and put people in harm's way. But threatening actual nuclear war with North Korea takes it to a dangerous new level,” her campaign page says.

Plame Wilson left the agency in 2005 after her identity was leaked to the media by an official in George W. Bush’s administration in 2003. The leak was seen as an effort to discredit her husband, Joe Wilson, a former diplomat who criticized the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq.

The former spook has a long way to go if she is to succeed in buying one of the biggest social media companies in the world, however. The campaign had raised a paltry $8,500 out of the $1 billion target, as of 6pm on August 23.

With less than a week to go, Plame will have to rely heavily on the kindness of strangers.

If the $1billion target isn’t reached, Plame’s backup plan is to use whatever money raised to “buy a controlling share of Twitter.” Considering  that Twitter’s valuation has been estimated at $6 billion, it doesn’t look like she has much of a chance. Perhaps she could buy MySpace instead, some users joked.

READ MORE: Trump tweet mystery: President’s #Covfefe message triggers troll tsunami

Musk posted the image to Instagram on Wednesday, and offered a few details.

READ MORE: A step closer to Mars: SpaceX test fires ‘world’s most powerful rocket’ (VIDEO)

“First picture of SpaceX spacesuit. More in days to follow,” he wrote.

“Worth noting that this actually works (not a mockup). Already tested to double vacuum pressure. Was incredibly hard to balance esthetics and function. Easy to do either separately.”

In 2016 Jose Fernandez, the costume designer for onscreen superheroes such as Batman, Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Captain America, said he’d been contacted by Musk to develop a costume for SpaceX. Musk himself has drawn comparisons to Tony Stark, the billionaire inventor played by Robert Downey Jr. who becomes Iron Man, and even had a cameo in the second film of the franchise.

Musk, a South African-born multi-billionaire, made his money developing PayPal before becoming the CEO of SpaceX and electric car company Tesla. With a net worth of over 40 billion, Musk is ranked by Forbes magazine as the 43rd richest person in the world. His company SpaceX aims to develop private space flight, including developing space tourism and sending a manned mission to Mars by the 2020s. However, in recent years it has suffered a series of setbacks and missed deadlines, including a rocket that blew up on the launch pad last year at Cape Canaveral.

Berlin’s construction boom is pushing street sex-workers into the side street, and in this case, onto the doorstep of the Französisches Gymnasium high school just off Kurfürstenstraße, the heart of the capital’s red light district.

It’s claimed prostitutes pick up clients in the area at all hours of the day and night and it’s causing problems for the high school. There are reports of used condoms and syringes being discarded on school grounds.

“There were always complaints about unscrupulous characters, including prostitutes, walking shamelessly and illegally into school grounds even during the day,” District School Inspector Carsten Spallek told local media back in April, when the fence was first proposed.

“The prostitutes eat, stand, drink and litter. It looks filthy in the late evening,” District Coordinator Michael Klinnert told Berliner Zeitung.

“The women have no stations to wash themselves or to get themselves ready. And they relieve themselves wherever they please,” saying that women are often dropped off by clients near the school and that others, including Herbert-Hoover-Schule and Diesterweg-Gymnasium, have taken similar measures.  

Spallek believes the fence is money well spent, telling BZ that it will make the area a cleaner, safer place for students and teachers alike.

Prostitution has long been legal in Germany but last year parliament passed legislation that further regulated the practice, requiring all sex workers, including porn actors, webcam models, peepshow performers and lap dancers to register with authorities.

Florida's Orange County Sheriff's Office said they had been following a man driving a stolen car shortly before the eclipse momentarily plunged the Sunshine State into darkness.

To their surprise, the driver pulled over the car to catch a glimpse of the celestial phenomenon. The alleged car thief had clearly been following safety advice from eclipse experts and had brought along a welding mask to view it.

However, it was while wearing the mask, and distracted by the cosmic event, that the cops swooped to make their arrest.

“He never saw it coming. That only happens every 99 years,” cops said mocking their prisoner, 22-year-old Jocsan Feliciano Rosado.

The Sheriff's Office's post around the arrest gathered 25k likes on Facebook in the two days since being uploaded.

Many of the nearly 2,000 commenters found the circumstances of Rosado’s arrest rather amusing while others applauded him for his astronomic interest in the eclipse.

“This guy made front cover. Probably the only person in the USA who stole a car just to drive to harbor freight to get a welder's mask to look at the eclipse,” wrote one commenter.

Chelsea Clinton stepped in on Twitter to stick up for Barron, after the website lambasted the 11 year old’s clothes.

“I’ve been on the Barron Trump train from the start, but it’s about time the president’s son starts dressing the part,” Daily Caller entertainment reporter, Ford Springer wrote on Monday.

“Time and time again Barron has proved that he’s just a normal 11-year-old kid, despite the fact that his dad is the president of the United States and he lives in the White House. One thing that isn’t normal though is the way he dresses when he joins his parents for a public appearance,” he continued.

Springer was none too impressed with Barron sporting a t-shirt and shorts, when returning to the White House on Sunday, saying he looked “like he was hopping on Air Force One for a trip to the movie theater.”

“The youngest Trump doesn’t have any responsibilities as the president’s son, but the least he could do is dress the part when he steps out in public.”

Chelsea, however, wasn’t amused. “It's high time the media & everyone leave Barron Trump alone & let him have the private childhood he deserves,” she wrote on Twitter.

“No child should be talked about in the below manner-in real life or online. And for an adult to do so? For shame,” she wrote in another.

The first lady replied to Chelsea Clinton’s tweet, thanking her for defending Barron.

“Thank you @ChelseaClinton – so important to support all of our children in being themselves!”

It’s not the first time Chelsea has defended Barron. When he came in for some online bullying back in January she said that “Barron Trump deserves the chance every child does-to be a kid.”

ESPN took the decision as Confederate leader Robert Lee has become synonymous with the recent Charlottesville protests and racially-charged unrest in many parts of the US.

Lee’s monument was removed from the University of Texas this week, with the institution’s president, Greg Fenves, saying it could otherwise be used by white supremacists as a focal point for “hatred and bigotry.”

READ MORE: 'Symbols of subjugation': University of Texas removes Confederate monuments

“We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, simply because of the coincidence of his name,” ESPN said in a statement to Outkick the Coverage on Tuesday.

Lee, the commentator, had been due to cover the game between William and Mary and the University of Virginia on September 2.

ESPN’s decision comes after 32 year old Heather Heyer was killed when a car plowed into a group of counter protesters at a recent ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

“It’s a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play by play for a football game has become an issue,” ESPN said in their statement.

RT contacted Lee regarding the issue but have yet to receive a response.

In contrast to their land-based communication, penguins seafaring chats have been poorly studied due to the relative inaccessibility of the environment –  the freezing waters of the Antarctic Ocean.

Amazing videos show penguins in their natural habitat, in stunning detail, and have given the team of scientists an insight into the communication skills of the flightless birds.

(Video credit: Won Young Lee)

The penguins in question are a breed known as gentoo penguins which stand around 90cm tall (3ft) and weigh around 8.5kg (19lb). They are the third largest of the penguin species and, like many of their relatives, live in massive colonies up to 600,000-strong.

Over two breeding seasons Won Young Lee, from the Korea Polar Research Institute, and his colleagues used GoPro cameras to record a total of 598 penguin calls, from 26 birds, off the shores of Antarctica’s King George Island.

(Video credit: Won Young Lee)

They then studied the videos to discover the reason for each bird's distinctive calls.  

“We showed that gentoo penguins produced offshore calls and many individuals formed groups with the calls in the open ocean. These results generally support the hypothesis that the offshore call is related to group association during foraging trips,” the researchers wrote in the journal Nature.

(Video credit: Won Young Lee)

“In general, the penguin calls that we analysed were produced by lone individuals, and no vocal interactions with closely neighbouring individuals were recorded in our video-recordings.

“The absence of vocal interaction among neighbouring individuals may suggest that the function of the offshore call is more likely about group formation, not interaction among members in a pre-formed group,” the team added.

The boy was lost beneath the rubble after his family home was destroyed following Monday’s earthquake, which measured 4.3 on the richter scale. His two brothers were found safe under a nearby bed.

Two people were killed and 39 injured following the quake. Extensive damage was caused to buildings on the island, which is a popular destination for tourists visiting Italy’s Amalfi coast.

The Federal Bailiff Service (FSSP) said that the debtor had to make several runs through the security desk at the entrance to deliver the money.

One ruble consists of 100 kopeks, meaning that the unnamed businessman used 4,670,000 coins to play his debt of 46,700 rubles.

According to the bailiffs, the man performed the stunt to show off his frustration with the state over the arrears.

“In conversation, the debtor confirmed that he deliberately broke the money into small coins to complicate things for the state in the face of the Federal Bailiff Service,” the statement read.

However, FSSP stressed that the emotions of the businessman “made no impression” on the bailiff, who was handling the case, as the payment was accepted.

Several employees had to count the coins and the debtor was forced to remain in the office until they finished, it added.

READ MORE: Orthodox clergy claim new Ruble sign like Christ's

The Federal Bailiff Service said that it accepts coins and banknotes of any denomination as debt payments, adding that the most comfortable solution is to pay through the agency’s website.

In January 2016, a transport company in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod Region paid its 100,000-ruble debt in various coins, which ended up weighing around 300 kilograms.

A recent spate of avocado thefts in the country has seen police step up their efforts to catch the criminals. Police have issued a warning to business owners to be wary of people offering low-cost fruit.

Cops have cited a number of instances whereby the popular fruit has been stolen and then sold on Facebook.

Senior sergeant David Sutherland has also issued a warning to orchard owners to keep an eye out for any suspicious activity as they try to crack down on those involved.

"If you have an avocado orchard or live near one please keep a look out for any suspicious activity and if you see anything, report it to [police] immediately. Also when you are buying avocados, whether you are an individual or shop owner make sure you are buying them from a reputable source," he said in a statement. 

Police are not taking the avocado crime wave lightly. If caught, thieves could potentially be charged with burglary, a crime which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years behind bars.

NZ Avocado CEO Jen Scoular told Radio New Zealand that the upsurge in thefts was "devastating" for growers.

"You don't get $1 avocados and if someone comes in with a crate of avocados and says 'they're a dollar each', the storeowner can't assume other than the fact that they've come from a source that is not reputable,” she added.

Several tornadoes were seen along the coast near Sochi on Tuesday, flooding social media with numerous photos and videos.

WATCH MORE: Menacing tornado forms in the skies over central Ukraine (VIDEOS)

The peculiar weather occurrence was not completely unexpected, as the emergency services in the Krasnodar Region issued tornado warnings ahead of the whirlwinds.

Some social media users reported that they observed as many as five tornadoes.

One particular tornado attracted much attention due to its highly irregular form, with one of the segment of the whirlwind moving almost parallel to the ground.

WATCH MORE: Waterspout touches down on New York lake (VIDEOS)

“The waterspout did not reach the shore, dissolving in the open sea. The tornado did not inflict any damage, no complaints from the population were registered,” emergency services in the Krasnodar Region told Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper. “Based on our experience, we can state that whirlwind formations at sea might continue until mid-September.”

The video shows the boy making his way to the middle of Prince Mohammed bin Abdul Aziz Street, while cars wait at a red light. The 1990s global hit ‘Macarena’ plays as the boy, wearing headphones, begins to do the dance associated with the song.

The video was met with a mixture of criticism and appreciation online. Some commenters said the boy was being disrespectful, while others called him a hero and laughed at the footage.

RT is unable to verify the exact upload date of the footage, which has gone viral in recent days.

There are reports online that the video is in fact from 2016, with a since removed YouTube video of the boy dancing pointed to as being the original video. When that link is entered into Twitter, it returns tweets from July 2016 with links to the dancing boy video on Twitter.

Al Weeam reports security authorities analyzed the video as it circulated online. Secret patrols and security coordinated to find the boy and arrest him for disrupting traffic and violating public morals.

Police spokesman Colonel Dr Ati bin Atiyyah al-Qurashi told Alwan TV that the youth’s case will be referred to the public prosecutor.

Earlier this month, Saudi Arabian pop star Abdallah al Shaharani was arrested for dabbing at a music festival. The dance move is banned in the Kingdom due to its connotations with drug use.  

Video taken from the scene shows chaos and people screaming for their loved ones to get out of the water.

The attack happened next to two teenager surfers, Zevi Greenspan and Nisi Schlinger, who were surfing for the first time when the attack occurred near them, WCSH reports. 

"I felt like the shark's gonna pull me in from my legs or something," Schlinger told CBS Boston. "People [were] yelling, 'Get out the water! Get out the water!' I thought I was dead."

The video was shared to Twitter by Patrick O’Brien, after his nephew, Thayer Wade filmed it. O’Brien was visiting the area for the day, and helped one of the surfers out of the water. “There was blood everywhere.” O’Brien told the Cape Cod times.

According to the Boston Globe, there were several shark sightings off Cape Cod on Monday.

The beach in Orleans, Massachusetts, was closed after the incident.

Host Rachel Maddow was discussing Trump's remarks when the feed was cut, however, there was a slight delay in returning to full screen of the studio coverage which is when the conspicuous title was displayed on-air.

A test card is a signal broadcast when a transmitter is active but no program actually appears on the feed. Many were clearly amused at the apparent “technical difficulties.”

As could be expected, however, Trump proponents were quick to call MSNBC out for the perceived slight against the POTUS.

Maddow took to Twitter to explain that the whole incident was a simple misunderstanding.

Osnabruck Police found the haul of pills in a car in Lower Saxony on Saturday, and confirmed the odd find via a statement on Monday.

"During the search of the vehicle police found about 5,000 ecstasy tablets with the portrait of the American president ... the purchase value of the tablets amounts to approximately €11,000. The sales value amounts to approximately €39,000," the statement read.

Two men, a 51 year old and his 17 year old son, were arrested and appeared in court on Sunday.

The pair were driving an Austrian-registered van and had been returning from a trip to the Netherlands –  believed to be the country of origin for the distinctive orange and pink colored pills.

This is not the first time a batch of ecstasy tablets resembling America’s 45th President has surfaced. Back in July, it was reported that the same tablets began surfacing on the dark-web and were becoming popular with ravers in the UK.

Drug manufacturers have been known to get creative with their products. Popular culture references seem to be a particular favourite for the dealer looking to stand out from the crowd.

Drugs boasting Minions, Super Mario, Superman, Facebook and Obama images have popped up all over the world in recent years.

Trump has been an inspiration for other drugs in the past. Back in January, some 5,500 packages of heroin packages sporting the president’s face were seized by Florida police.

READ MORE: ‘Big mistake’: Florida heroin bust reveals bags stamped with Donald Trump’s face (PHOTOS)

He produced part of a human leg and a hand as evidence of his guilt and then led police to a house in KwaZulu-Natal where more body parts were found. Forensic experts have been called to identify the remains and ascertain whether they belong to one or multiple people.

“The three suspects are alleged to have murdered a woman and then cut her body up,” Police spokeswoman Captain Charmaine Struwig said, as cited by Estcourt News.

“Allegations are that some consumed some of her flesh while some of her body parts were shared with the fourth suspect in Amangwe.”

“Human remains were found at one crime scene in Estcourt and another crime scene at Amangwe. At this time only one person is suspected of having been killed and her identity is as yet unknown.”

A total of four men, Nino Mbatha (32), Sthembiso Sithole (31), Lindokuhle Masondo (32) and Lungisani Magubane (30), have been arrested so far as part of the investigation. One of them is believed to be a traditional healer.

They face charges of murder and conspiracy to murder, as well as possession of human body parts.

READ MORE: Cannibal curry? Indian restaurant falsely accused of serving ‘human meat’ faces closure

Cannibalism itself is not a crime in South Africa, however, the accused could face charges of contravening the Human Tissue Act of 1983 which prohibits possession of any human tissue or body part without a permit. That covers organ donations, post mortems and other medical procedures.

The men appeared before Estcourt Magistrates Court, 175km (110 miles) northwest of Durban on Monday.

Police suspect they may be part of a larger syndicate which trades in human flesh and have asked relatives in ongoing missing persons cases to come forward to help with the investigation.

“When the police were following this matter they discovered eight ears in a pot where one man was staying,” said local councillor Mthembeni Majola.

“That means there is much more to this.”

National Prosecuting Authority spokesperson Natasha Ramkisson-Kara said that the four were remanded in custody.

“The four will appear again next week when they are expected to apply for bail‚” she said, as cited by the Times South Africa.

At a community meeting following the arrests, hundreds of local residents allegedly confessed to eating human flesh purchased from one of the accused, reports News 24.

Local councillor Mthembeni Majola held a meeting at the Esigodlweni community hall Monday morning where he claims that 300 residents admitted to visiting one of the accused, Mbatha, a nyanga or faith healer according to ENCA, and knowingly consuming human flesh that he had provided.

“This has happened within our community. Families, people we know and live with have now confessed to eating this woman,” he said, as cited by News 24.

“People we know and live with have now confessed to eating this woman.”

The video shows Guam, which is home to a US Naval and Air Force base, being hit with intermediate-range ballistic missiles, along with scenes of President Donald Trump at a cemetery.

Vice President Mike Pence, Defense Secretary James Mattis, CIA head Mike Pompeo, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph F. Dunford Jr., and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also appear engulfed in flames.

The video, entitled ‘What will the cost be for Americans, who are losing sleep at night?’ was published by the government channel Uriminzokkiri on Sunday, and warns Trump should be “keeping its eyes and ears open from now on.”

“The fate of the sinful US ends here,” the video’s caption reads, as Trump appears staring at graves in a cemetery.

The video claims there has been “commotion at the White House, the Pentagon, on Guam and on the political scene,” since North Korea threatened to attack Guam, according to the Washington Post’s translation.  

READ MORE: N. Korea ponders striking US base in Guam after Trump threatens Pyongyang with ‘fire & fury’

North Korea made comments about potentially targeting Guam after Trump threatened to unleash “fire and fury” on Pyongyang should it threaten US security. The UN Security Council also imposed sanctions on North Korea this month in response to ballistic missile tests it carried out.

The video was released before the US and South Korean armies embarked on their annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises – a 10-day show of force including land, air and sea drills with thousands of troops.

According to the US and South Korea, the drills are meant as a deterrent to North Korean aggression.

According to the video, the US “boasts that not a single bullet has landed in its territory during 150 invasions … the U.S. which abused and harassed people of other countries … is threatened by just one announcement by the North’s commander in chief.”

“If only a single shot falls into the surrounding territorial waters by breaking through the air defense system of Guam, the illusion of US which is called as the sole superpower will be laid bare to the whole world,” the captions read.

READ MORE: North Korea ‘destroys US targets’ in Hollywood-style ‘propaganda’ video

"I went to the director of the competition... but I was told that it was not possible because we could not lose a minute," Álvarez told El Espanol. The swimmer was taking part in the 200 meter breaststroke final at the FINA World Masters Championships in Budapest on Saturday.

Video of the event posted to his swimming club’s Facebook pages shows Álvarez standing on the starting block as the other competitors start the race.

"In life you have to hold values above everything else," it said on its Facebook page, adding “it is a great example for our swimmers.”

The organization behind the race, FINA, has received comments praising Álvarez and criticizing them appear on its Facebook page.

“Mr. Alvarez deserves a gold medal for recognising the terrible events in Barcelona in the way he did. He puts FINA to shame,” one commenter said, with another describing its decision not to hold a minute’s silence as “absurd.”

READ MORE: 1,000s of Muslims march against terrorism in Barcelona after van attack (PHOTOS)

On Friday, Breitbart published an article headlined, “Spanish police crack gang moving migrants on jet-skis.” For reasons unknown, they chose to use an image of former German international footballer Lukas Podolski “as an illustration of a person on a jet ski” to highlight the existence of these alleged gangs.

Since Podolski is neither a people-smuggling gang member, nor a north African migrant, Breitbart had to apologize to the former Arsenal striker.

“There is no evidence Mr. Podolski is either a migrant gang member, nor being human trafficked. We wish Mr. Podolski well in his recently announced international retirement,” an editor's note on an updated version of the article read.

While promoting an open day at the Federal Foreign Office on Facebook, the German ministry posted the same photo with the message, “Whether you are coming from Berlin, Hamburg, Munich or Cologne (Symbolfoto), we look forward to your visit.”

Adding that if guests planned on arriving via jet ski they should “please use the Fischer Island dock.”

The post seemingly struck a chord with Germans, gaining a respectable 3,500 likes since it was posted just after 10am Monday morning, and generating an interesting discussion in the comments, many of which applauded the office for its sense of humour.

“Nice move from the Foreign Office,” Damian Buschhüter commented.

“An office can also have a sense of humor,” Lars G. Kühn added.

“Even the ‘Foreign Office’ can be funny,” Elisabeth Schwan said.

Though many found Breitbart’s monumental gaffe quite funny, Podolski himself was reportedly none too amused, and according to his manager Nassim Touihri, is considering legal action against the publication.

“Lukas distances himself from it and won’t let himself be exploited. Our lawyer is already involved,” Touihri told German paper Bild.

The eclipse was visible in 10 states throughout Monday. Viewers in Oregon were first to experience the celestial phenomenon, caused when the Moon takes its place in front of the Sun plunging the Earth into darkness, if only for a few moments.

Many couldn’t contain themselves, as can be witnessed in this series of tweets:

The far-right group had placed a bike lock on the door and shared images of their ‘protest action’ on Twitter.

Pegida Nederland‏ also left a note, complete with a skull and crossbones image, at the gates.

“Islam causes terrible attacks in Europe. You must address the root problem. That is also the closure of Islamic schools,” the group’s note read, according to local media Omroep West.

The IBS Er-Risèlèh school has reported the incident to police.

"We are very upset here. It's worrying, because you do not know what people are getting in their minds. Many employees now feel unsafe, and we have not seen any police yet,” a spokesperson for the school said.

Local Dutch Labour party politician Abdelhaq Jermoumi condemned, what he called “another disgusting racist action from Pegida Nederland” which he said only serves to “sow fear and discord.”

RT has reached out to the school for comment.

“We need to make decisions today choosing which of these futures we want. I strongly support the call by many humanitarian and other organizations for an UN ban on such weapons, similar to bans on chemical and other weapons,” Toby Walsh, scientia professor of artificial intelligence at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, said in a statement accompanying the letter.

The letter, released Sunday at the International Joint Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Melbourne, was signed by 116 leaders in the field of robotics, engineering and artificial intelligence from 26 countries around the world, including Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX as well as Alphabet’s Mustafa Suleyman.

It is the first time that AI and robotics companies have made a joint statement on the issue in such great numbers.

“Unless people want to see new weapons of mass destruction – in the form of vast swarms of lethal microdrones – spreading around the world, it’s imperative to step up and support the United Nations’ efforts to create a treaty banning lethal autonomous weapons. This is vital for national and international security,” Stuart Russell, founder and vice-president of Bayesian Logic said in a statement accompanying the letter.

In December 2016, 123 UN member nations agreed to formal discussions on autonomous lethal weapons, 19 of whom have already called for a ban. However, the UN delayed a meeting scheduled for August 21 to discuss the issue due to insufficient funding.

“These can be weapons of terror, weapons that despots and terrorists use against innocent populations, and weapons hacked to behave in undesirable ways. We do not have long to act. Once this Pandora’s box is opened, it will be hard to close,” the letter states, concluding with an urgent plea for the UN “to find a way to protect us all from these dangers.”

Tianducheng, in the Hangzhou province of China, boats a 300ft (91 metres) Eiffel Tower, a third the size of the original iconic monument, and a replica Champs-Elysees square, presumably coupled with all the places to buy a croissant one could want.  

What it doesn’t boast, however, is occupied homes, with only around 2,000 people reportedly taking up residence in the town designed to accommodate 10,000.  

"I've lived here for over two years. It still feels good to me,” one local said. “The whole place is of a European style. There is a feeling of not going abroad, but in Europe."

The lack of inhabitants is credited to its location, surrounded by rural land with confusing routes and subpar roads leading to the town.

Along with the mini-Paris, China’s east coast also boasts of it’s own ‘Thames Town’ on the outskirts of Shanghai, and a Tower Bridge replica – albeit with added towers.

Built in 2012, the Suzhou Tower Bridge comes with four towers, making it’s London parent look all the more inferior.

Keith Williams, a councillor in Ballina Shire, New South Wales, captured the footage Thursday and uploaded it to Facebook and Twitter where it has been well received by snake enthusiasts.

Williams initially though the 3.5m snakes were lovers enjoying mating season but was informed that it was quite the opposite. Instead, two male snakes were battling it out to see which one would earn the right to mate with a coveted female companion.

“Our resident snakes – a male and a female python – have lived in our roof space during winter for the last three years.

“We think another male has come along, and he’s been chased off after a fight.

“It was just fascinating to watch as it went on for forty five minutes – it was amazing.” Williams wrote.

The snakes continued their epic battle in Williams’ garden after which the victor cosied up to his mate back on the councillors roof which they call home, a fact that doesn’t seem to bother Williams in the slightest.

"During winter when they live in the house we don't have any problems with rats or mice, which is a great thing… these are pythons, they're harmless, they're just beautiful to watch." he said.

The All-Ireland is one of the biggest sporting events on the emerald isle. This year, the counties of Kerry and Mayo, in the south and west of the country, are battling to earn the right to compete in the final and become the modern-day kings of Ireland, at least in sporting terms.

However some members of the animal kingdom weren't too bothered with the travails of their human overlords and actively tried to stop eager Kerry fans from making the four hour drive to the capital, Dublin.

Sports enthusiast, and presumably Kerry fan Killian Burns, caught the moment a runaway circus camel, perhaps annoyed it didn’t get a coveted ticket to watch the big game, wandered onto the road, holding up traffic in the process.

Luckily for Kerry fans, the camel’s handler had the situation under control, taking the reins and bringing the ship of the desert, or in this case, ship of the fields, back to the relative safety of the ring, allowing anxious Kerry fans to continue their journey.

"Many think it's a bad thing, but it's in a church. Many people think it's for bad purposes, but we only ask for good things," one worshiper said.

Santa Muerte is popular among poor people across Latin America and the US, attracting close to 12 million followers in the past 15 years, reports the Telegraph. Adherents to the religion call on the skeletal saint to cure them of illness, watch over their family, bring good fortune and prosperity and even help them find love.

The origin of the faith is shrouded in mystery, but many believe it is a combination of Catholicism brought by Spanish conquistadors and the native Aztec deity Mictecacihuatl, the queen of the underworld and the afterlife.

READ MORE: Mexico soccer captain Rafael Marquez sanctioned by US for being ‘drug cartel front person’

"When I've needed her most, she's always been there for me. She's helped me out of many bad situations," another attendee said.

Santa Muerte has not been canonized nor approved by the Catholic Church. In fact, the president of the Pontifical Council for Culture, Gianfranco Ravasi, previously condemned the Church of Santa Muerte as a “celebration of devastation and of hell,” as cited by Catholic News Agency.  

"It's not religion just because it's dressed up like religion; it's a blasphemy against religion," he said.

However, the ghoulish appearance of the ‘saint’ attracts a darker faithful. The cult-like religion is also popular among Mexico’s drug cartels, which engage in ritualistic killings to appease the figure of Holy Death.

Robert J. Bunker, an academic who advises on national security and consults with the FBI, described the religion as “an evil value system that rewards personal gain above all else, promoting the intentional pain and suffering of others, and, even, viewing killing as a pleasurable activity.”

Members of the Pelagic Shark Research Foundation (PSRF) were alerted to the shark after it was discovered by surfers on Thursday evening, reported the SF Gate. When they arrived it had been swept back to sea before resurfacing again on Friday morning, when the vandals are suspected of tampering with it.

“He had a dorsal fin when he beached last night. None this morning. People can be despicable,” one commenter said on Instagram.

"As a researcher and conservationist, that's valuable data," Sean Van Sommeran, director of the PSRF said, believing the vandals to be souvenir-seekers rather than poachers looking to sell the parts on the black market.

Van Sommeran claimed authorities have a lead on who is responsible for the incident.

READ MORE: Rare megamouth shark swims with diver off Komodo Island (VIDEO)

Some of the chips function as swipe cards, letting him into his home and office.

Volchek, a Novosibirsk-based obstetrician-gynecologist, calls himself a crypto anarchist. He opens doors and pays bills with a wave of his hand, and it works like magic. This is a time-saving convenience, the tech-savvy physician says.

A syringe with a thick needle is needed to inject a microchip.

The size of a standard chip is 2 × 12mm, and the smallest one is no more than 1.5 × 8mm, the doc says.

The chip is not permanently implanted, and can be easily extracted from the body the minute you want to get rid of it.

Volchek was first microchipped in 2014, with a control card for a Siberian ski resort.

Since then the doctor added to his arsenal two chips to enter his office, one transport chip, and as well as two memory cards, capable of storing almost a kilobyte of information.

“It's a business card,” he proudly says, holding his phone against his wrist.

“Here you can store 888 bytes, a nice round number. I store all of my possible passwords on one of the chips, unencrypted."

Volchek’s appetite for microchips is clearly insatiable.

“I would like to have a chip for payments,” he tells RT’s video agency Ruptly.

“My dream as a crypto anarchist is to have an identification tool for encrypting an electronic signature, and of course for medical application. I also want an implanted glucometer that will resolve a ton of problems many are currently facing, but research is still underway.”

Several dozen employees of a Wisconsin technology company recently received microchip implants in their hands during a ‘chip party’.

Some 41 of the firm’s 85 employees agreed to be voluntarily microchipped, saying it felt like a brief sting, AP reported earlier this month.

The chip will allow employees to open doors, log on to computers or buy snacks by simply waving their hand. The company’s vice president of sales, Melissa Timmins, saying she hopes to use it to get into her car or go shopping one day.

Microchips injections are also gaining momentum in Europe.

Employees at the Swedish startup hub Epicenter hold special celebrations for those who “join the club” and get implanted with microchips the size of rice grains.

“The biggest benefit I think is convenience,” Patrick Mesterton, co-founder and CEO of Epicenter told AP in April, unlocking a door by waving near it.

“It basically replaces a lot of things you have, other communication devices, whether it be credit cards or keys,” he added.

“It is with enormous sadness that the Gregory family confirms that their father, comedic legend and civil rights activist Mr. Dick Gregory departed this earth tonight in Washington, DC,” his son Christian Gregory said on Instagram. A rep for Gregory told The Hollywood Reporter that the death was as a result of heart failure.

Gregory became a pioneering comedian in the 1960s, receiving his first big break when he was booked to play the Playboy Club in Chicago.

"When I started, a black comic couldn't work a white nightclub. You could sing, you could dance, but you couldn't stand flat-footed and talk — then the system would know how brilliant black folks was,” he said in a 2016 interview.

He immediately became a success with white audiences, earning him a place on ‘The Tonight Show’ in 1962. Gregory insisted he would only appear on the show if he was interviewed by host Jack Paar following his routine, a first for a black performer.

His appearance and earnings rocketed following his appearance. In 1964, he wrote the autobiography titled ‘Nigger’ in which he described his upbringing and racism. In the foreword he wrote “Dear Momma, wherever you are, if ever you hear the word 'nigger' again, remember they are advertising my book.”

Gregory befriended Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, using his fame to bring attention to the African-American Civil Rights movement. In 1965, he took part in the protest marches in Selma, Alabama, and was shot at the Watts riots in Los Angeles while trying to keep the peace.

In 1968, Gregory ran for US president with the Peace and Freedom Party, receiving 47,000 votes and losing to Richard Nixon.

He had 11 children and is survived by his wife Lillian, whom he married in 1959.

Tributes to Gregory have been shared online, including from musician John Legend, who last year produced an off-Broadway musical which featured actor Joe Morton portraying Gregory.

A team of researchers from the Salk Institute in California began their work by examining cells from the frontal cortices of mice and humans.

The frontal cortex is the area of the brain responsible for some of an individual’s most important characteristics including personality, decision making and complex thinking.

The team then compiled incredibly detailed information on what makes one individual brain cell different from another. The cells can appear structurally identical to each other yet still behave differently.

READ MORE: DNA privacy protection tackled by new encryption technology – study

“We think it’s pretty striking that we can tease apart a brain into individual cells, sequence their methylomes, and identify many new cell types along with their gene regulatory elements, the genetic switches that make these neurons distinct from each other, ” one of the authors of the study, professor Joseph Ecker, explained.

The team was trying to identify how many types of neurons exist. This is one of the great unanswered questions in neuroscience and experts believe it could lead to a dramatically better understanding of brain development and dysfunction.

“This opens up the possibility of understanding what makes two neurons – that sit in the same brain region and otherwise look similar – behave differently,” said Margarita Behrens, co-senior author on the paper.

“This is a very novel study both technically and conceptually,” explained Hongkui Zeng of the University of Seattle to The San Diego Tribune.

“Just like each person is unique, each cell or neuron is also different from all other cells in many ways. Thus cell type classification is a very challenging task, one needs to profile a cell from multiple aspects and combine all the information together in order to assign cell type identity correctly.”

Researchers found that the neurons from the human brain were more diverse, forming 21 subtypes to the mice’s 16. They also identified unique human neuron subtypes that had never been defined before.

“These results open the door to a deeper understanding of what sets human brains apart from those of other animals,” the researchers said in a statement.

The study was published in the journal Science. The researchers plan to expand the study to look at more parts of the brain.

The team say their next goal is to create a “parts list” of both mouse and human brains. After that is complete, they plan to compare the patterns of gene activation in healthy people with those who suffer from brain diseases.

The discovery of the ‘genome cloaking’ method could vastly improve patient privacy, according to biologists, computer scientists, and cryptographers at Stanford University  who devised the technique.

Privacy experts have previously warned of the security risks surrounding DNA testing, saying patients are giving away access to their full genetic code without control over who can acquire it.

This tech breakthrough conceals 97 percent of genetic information in individuals’ genomes while still revealing disease-associated mutations.

“There are ways to simultaneously share and protect this information. Now we can perform powerful genetic analyses while also completely protecting our participants’ privacy.”

Each individual encrypts their genome with the help of a simple algorithm on their own computer or smartphone.

The encrypted information is uploaded into the cloud and the researchers then use a cryptographic technique that ensures the input data remain private to conduct the analysis and reveal only those gene variants likely to be relevant to the medical inquiry.

“In this way, no person or computer, other than the individuals themselves, has access to the complete set of genetic information,” said Bejerano.

In 2008, President George W. Bush signed the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act, which prohibits discrimination in matters of health insurance and employment based on an individual’s genetic information.

However, loopholes left other areas open to possible discrimination, including the purchase of life or disability insurance or applying for a loan. These companies can ask for genetic information and reject people deemed high risk.

Earlier this month, a group of biohackers from the University of Washington demonstrated for the first time that it’s possible to encode malicious software into physical strands of DNA.

READ MORE: ‘Brains linked to computers will kill our inner freedom’ - Zizek to RT on biohacking & identity loss 

This can turn code into executable malware that attacks the computer system running the software during DNA analysis.

Take RT.com’s quiz and test your knowledge of Earth’s extraordinary sites:

The croissant is associated with quaint bakeries in France, but accompaniments to the flaky, buttery delight have long been up for debate. Should it be dunked in coffee, smeared with jam or laced with butter?

Now a new recipe has emerged online involving croissants being stuffed with sausages and bacon before being re-baked in a tray of heavy cream. And it’s seriously dividing opinion.

Many croissant purists refuse to surrender to the pastry dish’s charms, described by Yummy Recipes as “croissants but not as you know it.”

Some people have gone as far to say that any messing with the original recipe could mean war. A chef based in France commented on Yummy Recipe’s post to simply say: “In French we say ‘Beurk,’” which translates roughly as ‘yuck.’

Another person quipped: “Stick to traditional toad in the hole [a British dish] and leave the croissants to their perfection, this is a pretty disgusting mess.”

The super-stylish Vision Mercedes-Maybach 6 Cabriolet was unveiled Friday at Monterey Car Week in California, as the car brand’s latest concept design.

The chic two-seater, described by Mercedes-Benz as “automotive haute couture,” boasts “crystal white” leather seats interwoven with rose gold threads.

Each individual button of the quilting depicts a delicate Mercedes star, backlit in blue, adding a futuristic interpretation to the traditional seat upholstery.

Stretching almost six meters (20 feet) in length, the nautical blue metallic colored Cabriolet has a curved body and an extremely long bonnet which the company says mirrors a luxury yacht.

The electric engine has an output of 750 horsepower and a top speed of 250 kmh.
The flat battery sits in the underbody, and can charge up enough power to run for an additional 100 kilometers in just five minutes.

This sleek and futuristic model is sadly just a concept for now and is unlikely to ever reach series production, however it does present a basis for the design of all-electric, super luxury cars down the line.

Mercedes announced the discontinuation of its only electric car on the market last month – only 3,651 of the B-class Electric Drive were sold since going on sale in December 2013.

Parent company Daimler AG, however, said it will invest more than $11 billion to bring at least 10 new electric cars to market by 2022.

Asteroid Florence, named after 19th-century English nursing pioneer Florence Nightingale, is on track to pass at a distance of 4.4 million miles (7 million km).

Tipped to be one of the largest asteroids to ever fly by Earth, the wandering space rock last took a similar path back in 1890.

READ MORE: Total solar eclipse: What you need to know (VIDEO)

“While many known asteroids have passed by closer to Earth than Florence will on September 1, all of those were estimated to be smaller,” Paul Chodas, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said.

“Florence is the largest asteroid to pass by our planet this close since the NASA program to detect and track near-Earth asteroids began."

About 2.7 miles (4.4km) in length, approximately the same as 40 soccer fields, Florence will be studied via radar imaging on September 1 by NASA’s Goldstone Solar System center in California.

The US space agency is hoping that radar will successfully reveal the exact size of the asteroid, as well as interesting nooks and crannies on the surface. Excluding a drastic shift in trajectory, the asteroid will not threaten life or critical infrastructure.

It means NASA won’t have to employ its Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) concept craft.

READ MORE: NASA to build asteroid-smashing probe to divert Didymos space rock (VIDEO) 

The probe by NASA and the European Space Agency is currently being designed to deflect potentially-disastrous objects from smashing into Earth.

Scheduled for a test in 2022, DART will plow into one of the Didymos asteroids in an attempt to knock its trajectory. A grouping of two rocks, Didymos is due to pass Earth at a safe distance between 2022 and 2024.

Ryazansky posted the mesmerizing time-lapse video on social media, noting that his previous footage from space had received a phenomenal response.

READ MORE: Stunning aurora blooms over Earth in astronaut footage (VIDEO) 

Twinkling flashes can be seen darting across the planet as lightning strikes.

Ryazansky also shared incredible images of himself performing a ‘Russian spacewalk’ Thursday. This was his fourth spacewalk.

Fellow cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin also took part. The pair released several satellites during the seven and a half hour expedition.  

In 2013, Ryazansky and colleague Oleg Kotov set a record for the longest Russian spacewalk, lasting 8 hours and 7 minutes.

Chukwuemeka Afigbo, based in Lagos, Nigeria shared the footage on his social media accounts.

The video opens with a white man getting soap from the dispenser. A dark skinned man then tries, with no luck. The men can be heard saying “too black” as they continue to struggle with the device.

Eventually, a white paper towel is passed under the device, which immediately triggers the sanitizer.

Afigbo, who is the head of Platform Partnerships at Facebook for the Middle East & Africa, said the incident shows how important diversity is in tech. He added that having a dark-skinned person on the product’s development team would have resulted in a better product.

Some social media users pointed out that the issue was likely a fault with the device’s infrared sensor, however others said the issue was not this individual dispenser, but the lack of racially diverse tech industry staff to rectify or prevent such problems.

Automatic soap dispensers are typically activated by a sensor which emits infrared (IR) light and measures the amount reflected back from objects within its field of view. Infrared is a popular option on dispensing products as it’s considered cheap and reliable.

Richard Whitney, vice president of tech firm Particle explains that the sensor will not trigger unless sufficient light is reflected back. In order to recognise variations in skin color, the sensor’s sensitivity should be increased.

‘Prejudiced tech’ can also be found in AI programs, according to new research from the University of Massachusetts.

Researchers collected 59.2 million tweets with a high probability of containing African-American slang or vernacular and tested several natural-language processing tools to see how they would categorize the data.

One popular tool classified the posts as Danish “with a high level of confidence,” according to MIT Technology Review.

“If you analyze Twitter for people’s opinions on a politician and you’re not even considering what African-Americans are saying or young adults are saying, that seems problematic,” Brendan O’Connor, assistant professor at the University of Massachusetts said.

The synchronised machines pulled off the jaw dropping performance in Guangzhou, Guangdong, breaking the previous held record of 1,007 bopping bots.

The dynamic show was created by Chinese company, WL Intelligent Technology Co. Ltd, which programmed the robots, called ‘Dobi’, through one group control system.

The result was an incredible display of the ‘robot dance’ complete with hand waving, feet tapping and even some twerk like moves.

Some 1,100 intelligent robots started the dance, however, only 1,069 completed the routine due to some losing their balance and falling to the ground.

During the dance, officials from Guinness World Records paced up and down to check the robots were in line with the beat.

The Dobi smart robot, which is 47.3cm in height, can also sing, play football, box, and perform kung fu moves.

READ MORE: Mass naked swim breaks skinny dipping world record (PHOTOS)

The previous record was set last year by another Chinese robotic company Ever Win Company & Ltd with 1,007 dancing robots.

READ MORE: Chief strategist Steve Bannon exits Trump White House

Bannon, who played an instrumental role in guiding Trump to election victory last November, has reportedly been on thin ice in recent weeks. That ice finally gave away on Friday afternoon, when his departure from the White House was revealed.

The perception that the former Breitbart executive has ties to white nationalists provided fodder for many tweets and people gloried in his firing.

Bannon is the latest victim in a cull of senior White House staff including former press secretary Sean Spicer, former chief of staff Reince Priebus and Anthony Scaramucci, who briefly held the role of communications director. This fact prompted many to remark on the seemingly brutal nature of the Trump White House.

Some were quick to claim his firing as a victory for ‘The Resistance’ movement, comprised of Democrats who have opposed Trump since he defeated Hillary Clinton last year.

Jokes about a Confederate statue being removed from the White House also proved to be very popular amongst the Twitterati.

Game of Thrones references were also widespread.

However, not everyone was joyful. Former Democrat presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders was among those warning that the problem hasn’t gone away.

Unsurprisingly some of the reaction was quite extreme. The Huffington Post went as far using “goy”- an offensive Yiddish term for non-Jews - in their coverage.  This, in turn, sparked a backlash against the publication.

The website’s editor-in-chief responded to the criticism by saying it was meant as a “playful”  mash-up “tribute to Yiddish and Beyonce” and that and other interpretations were “not intended”.

Meanwhile, some Trump supporters expressed concern about what would happen now that Bannon is no longer in the White House to influence the president.

Julia Monaco was in London during the deadly London Bridge attack and in Paris when an assailant claiming to be a ‘soldier’ of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) attacked a police officer with a hammer.

READ MORE: First CCTV video emerges showing van attack in Barcelona

Monaco, who only left Australia three months ago, had her narrowest escape Thursday when a van rammed into a crowd on Las Ramblas, killing 14 people and injuring more than 100.

The 26-year-old Melbourne woman hid in a shopping mall in Placa de Catalunya during the attack when a van entered the pedestrianized strip nearby.

Speaking to Australian radio station 3AW, she described the panic in the mall but said it had not deterred her from continuing her travels.

“I feel a bit rattled; it’s not how I really expected today to go,” she said.

“But I don't feel like I want to go home. I feel like I want to stay here and not let them, whoever they might be, win.”

In June, Monaco was among those under lockdown in the Tube in London when a van mounted the pavement at London Bridge and struck pedestrians before the attackers ran into a nearby pub, stabbing people.

Eight people were killed and at least 48 were injured in the terrorist attack.

READ MORE: ‘Stabbed 15 times as she begged for help’: How London Bridge attack unfolded

Just days later, the young woman was in Notre Dame in Paris when a police officer was attacked outside the famous Notre Dame Cathedral.

At first look the obscure cloud resembles a meteorite trail or tornado, frozen in time, seconds before the impending doom. At second glance,it looks more like a freaky cloud formation.

João Paulo Magalhães captured the cloud in all its glory at 5pm in the city of Teixeira de Freitas, in the extreme south of the Brazilian state of Bahia.

Magalhães said while the “very unusual” cloud remained only about four minutes, people were worried it would form a tornado.

READ MORE: Mars or New Mexico? Razor-like vertical rock formations are eerily similar to Earth’s (PHOTOS)

“It really looked like the entrance to a meteorite or something,” he said.

Other residents posted pictures of the freaky phenomenon, some calling it the “work of God”.

NASA’s Randy Bresnik posted the stunning footage online Friday with the excited message: “My first aurora, ever!”

His video shows the phosphorescent aurora slowly developing on one side of the globe before swirling in a mesmerising green pattern as the ISS moves over Earth.

Auroras are caused by the collision of particles in solar winds and gases in the atmosphere. On Earth, they are typically spotted from near the magnetic poles and are seen more often in winter when the skies are dark and cloudless.

Former Marine pilot Bresnik blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on July 28 for what is his second stint aboard the ISS. He had been to the station aboard the space shuttle Atlantis in 2009.

According to Space.com, Bresnik and his crewmates could see the rare ‘coast-to-coast’ solar eclipse three times as it crosses the continental US on August 21.  

READ MORE: 7 of the finest images from Earth’s orbit

“We're going to have a front-row seat to that [the solar eclipse] — 250 miles (400km) closer than you will there down on Earth,” Bresnik told the website.

The ISS orbits the Earth every 92 minutes, meaning the astronauts on board will have more than a few chances to catch the four-hour eclipse

Bresnik’s six-month mission is scheduled to end in December. NASA says the astronaut will perform experiments to test the effect of microgravity on stem cells while on board the ISS.

Just after 1pm local time,Thursday, ‘fafda’ – neither a Filipino (Tagalog) nor an English word –  was tweeted from the account, sparking tongue-in-cheek comparisons with US President Donald Trump and his infamous ‘covfefe’ message.

READ MORE: Trump tweet mystery: President’s #Covfefe message triggers troll tsunami

Officials in the Philippines, however, were quicker off the mark than their US counterparts and deleted the tweet within just seven minutes.

Despite its brief appearance online, the Twitteratti still managed to get the ‘word’ trending.

Some treated it as an acronym, using it to make a political point. Others pointed out that ‘fafda’ is in fact a popular street food in India and suggested that given the timing of the post, maybe the tweeter had lunch on their mind

The Presidential Communications Operations Office later confirmed the word didn’t mean anything, reports The Inquirer. Instead, the office said it was an accidental tweet posted by one of its social media admins – and not Duterte.

The fire broke out at around 6:40pm local time Thursday, at the PetroChina plant in the coastal city of Dailan in the northeastern province of Liaoning, reports CCTV.

Video from the scene shows a huge explosion at the plant and emergency services rushing to put out the flames. No casualties have been reported.

More than 600 firefighters battled the blaze for over two hours, before extinguishing it.  

The fire was reportedly caused by a broken seal in a feed pump at the plant’s catalytic cracker, a unit typically used to produce gasoline.

PetroChina is the largest oil and gas company in China and is the listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation. Its plant in Dalian has three crude distillation units with a total processing capacity of 410,000 barrels per day.

The plant's crude processing operations were not affected but will likely cause a small reduction in output from the gas separation unit, according to a refinery source cited by Reuters.

In 2013, an explosion at the refinery left two people injured and two missing. Dailan is also famous for being the site of one of China's biggest known oil spills. In 2010 a pipeline blast unleashed hundreds of thousands of gallons of oil into the sea.

READ MORE: 8 killed, 35 injured in gas explosion in south-west China (VIDEO) 

A research team from the Australian National University (ANU) studied ancient molecules buried in the rocks and discovered that a very particular set of circumstances led to the origin of life on our planet.

It all started about 700 million years ago when the world was covered in ice, a period called “Snowball Earth.”

“The Earth was frozen over for 50 million years,” explains ANU Associate Professor Jochen Brocks.  

“Huge glaciers ground entire mountain ranges to powder that released nutrients, and when the snow melted during an extreme global heating event rivers washed torrents of nutrients into the ocean.”

This abundance of nutrients triggered the key moment for the development of life on Earth – the rise of algae.

READ MORE: 400 million-year-old fish linked to human evolution

Dr Brocks said this extraordinary algae bloom kicked off a “revolution of ecosystems” which was “one of the most profound ecological revolutions in Earth's history.”

The extremely high levels of nutrients in the ocean, and cooling of global temperatures, created the perfect conditions for the rapid spread of algae.

This led to a dramatic shift where the oceans went from being dominated by bacteria to a world inhabited by more complex life.

The phenomenon was so critical that humans and other animals would simply not exist had it not taken place, the researchers point out.

"These large and nutritious organisms at the base of the food web provided the burst of energy required for the evolution of complex ecosystems, where increasingly large and complex animals, including humans, could thrive on Earth," Dr Brocks said.

The research is published in Nature, and the team’s findings will be presented at a conference in Paris next week.

Page Braswell posted footage of the tense exchange in the small city of Mount Holly to Facebook.

It shows how after noticing a Nazi Germany-style flag hanging from a house, she walked up the driveway of the property to speak with the owner.

In the clip, Braswell can be heard asking a man living at the property why a Nazi flag is being flown from the side of the house.

“What’s it to you? Do you make the payments on this f*cking house? Okay, then don’t f*cking worry about it,” the man responds.

He then orders Braswell to return to her vehicle or face “trouble.”

“You get your ass back in your car and get the hell out of here is the best thing I can tell you. I know your family, fuck you. Where do you live? What kind of flag do you fly?”

“I’m not a Nazi either. This is Nazi f*cking America. You get your ass in your car and get the hell out of here,” the man says.

Commenters on the post have both praised and criticized Braswell for the incident.

“You literally put your life in danger there,” one person stated.

Another added: “Good on you for confronting him, though I’d advise against trespassing on private property for obvious reasons.”

Braswell said she wants everyone to “stand against Nazis.”

The DeLorean DMC-12 sports car’s heyday is very much in the past, but the DeLorean family name could be about to take-off once again, with the nephew of the car’s original creator planning to build an aircraft to replace road vehicles, report Wired.

“Where we’re going, we don’t need roads,” the famous line uttered by the 1985 film’s character Doc Brown, is very much in keeping with what Paul DeLorean has in store for the new DeLorean DR-7 VTOL.

Designed by DeLorean Aerospace, a separate company to the one which manufactured the original motor car, a US patent has already been approved for the vertical take-off and landing aircraft.

“The rotor units may be coupled to the fuselage via a rotating chassis, which allows the rotors to provide directed thrust… By moving the rotor units, the aircraft can transition from a hover mode to a transition mode and then to a forward flight mode and back,” the patent states.

“Today, we have prioritized resource conservation and air quality over reducing road congestion and commute times… why not do both? Pairing a zero-emission electric power system with a lightweight yet highly stable platform, the vehicle that was once only of dreams – fast, efficient, and simple to operate, is finally becoming a reality,” reads the heady DR-7 promotion.

Images of the sleek aircraft show it with four wings, a centralized cock-pit and a rotor on each end of the fuselage. In details submitted to the United States Patent and Trademark Office in 2015, the manufacturers suggest it may be powered by both electric motors and liquid fuel.

While the blueprint makes no mention of a flux capacitor, the aircraft could also have a function allowing it to be controlled remotely.

RT.com has contacted DeLorean Aerospace for further details on the innovation.

Several strays entered the Kasadi river in Navi Mumbai searching for food only to be transformed into smurf-like creatures, according to an animal rights group in the region.

Arati Chauhan, who runs the Navi Mumbai Animal Protection Cell, posted images of the blue dogs online.

Chauhan claimed the polluted water can lead to cancer, liver and kidney damage, skin irritation, and possibly even blindness if it comes into contact with the eyes.

READ MORE: Freaky robotic eel to pinpoint poisonous metals in rivers & lakes (VIDEO)

The group says it filed a complaint with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB). The agency subsequently found that the dye was a waste product from a private company which uses it in products such as detergents, according to the Hindustan Times.

Although the area around the premises was cordoned off to the public, up to six dogs entered the site. The company has been issued a notice to remove the pollutants.

Hundreds of pharmaceutical, food and engineering factories located in the area reportedly release their waste into the river.

After conducting water quality tests, Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation concluded that waste treatment was inadequate and the river itself is too polluted to support life, with oxygen levels reduced to a fraction of what is required to sustain fish.

Last year villagers in the area staged protests against rising pollution caused by the industrial belt, saying untreated water from the Taloja MIDC belt is destroying the flora and fauna in the region. Fishermen also reported a 90 percent drop in the number of fish caught from the Kasadi river.

The MPCB responded to the crisis in February by cutting 40 percent of the water supply to Taloja industries.

“There is no place for hate in our community. That’s why we’ve always taken down any post that promotes or celebrates hate crimes or acts of terrorism – including what happened in Charlottesville,” he said, in reference to the killing of a 32-year-old woman opposing the white supremacist rally.

READ MORE: Facebook suspends California street artist’s page for ‘hate speech’

“With the potential for more rallies, we’re watching the situation closely and will take down threats of physical harm,” Zuckerberg went on, adding that it’s a “disgrace that we still need to say that neo-Nazis and white supremacists are wrong.”

Perhaps highlighting the incredible task facing Facebook, a number of the social network’s users rounded on the tech entrepreneur over his post, saying the company is not doing enough to stop threats of physical violence coming from both left and right wing groups, while removing content which they feel is “free speech.”

“There are two sides to every coin, if you’re going to mention Nazis and white supremacists you should also mention BLM, Antifa and the New Black Panthers,” one user said.

“Fair is fair so call them out. This one-sided condemnation irritates the crap out of me.”

But not everyone was in agreement. “BLM isn’t lynching white people. They aren’t pushing black superiority. Antifa doesn’t promote genocide, quite the opposite actually,” another Facebook user wrote.

“Neo Nazis and the KKK aren’t protest groups. They are violent hate groups. They are domestic terrorists. Stop with the ridiculous false equivalencies.”

Another person added: “They’re all hate groups and they all need to be taken down off of Facebook plain and simple.”

“Hate speech, racism yeah… But Facebook is removing too much content that is free speech. Some items may be in bad taste but are not racist, not hate speech,” one other user responded.

READ MORE: Guideline leaks & ‘racist’ murder put Facebook moderation policy back in spotlight

Earlier this summer, training manuals seen by ProRepublica and the Guardian revealed the semantics of Facebook censorship.

The documents highlighted the vague rationale behind allowing US Congressman Clay Higgins to call for “radicalized” Muslims to be hunted and killed, while preventing civil rights activist Leslie Mac from telling “white folk” that “silence is violence.”

They also showed that only certain ‘categories’ of people are considered protected by the social network. For example, Facebook reportedly does not ban hate speech against the subset ‘female drivers,’ but will stop a hateful post about ‘white men’.

Since arriving at the planet on July 1, 2004, the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn has made several landmark discoveries and beamed a vast array of stunning images back to Earth.

Here, RT.com looks back at the mission’s most important revelations before the probe burns up in Saturn’s atmosphere on September 15, bringing an end to its incredible 2.2 billion-mile journey.

READ MORE: Cassini enters fiery endgame as 20yr mission reaches final phase

1  Enceladus could harbor alien life

Cassini detected hydrogen from hydrothermal vents in ice plumes from Saturn’s ocean-bearing moon Enceladus. The discovery makes Enceladus the only place beyond Earth where scientists have found direct evidence of a possible energy source for life.

"Enceladus has almost all of the ingredients you would need to support life as we know it on Earth," NASA said.

READ MORE: Saturn's moon Enceladus may support alien life - NASA (VIDEO) 

2 Titan is an Earth-like world

Little was known about Saturn’s largest moon until Cassini sent the Huygens probe to land there – making it the first landing in the outer solar system and the farthest moon where any probe has landed.

The spacecraft found an Earth-like world with lakes and seas composed of liquid methane and ethane near its poles and, deep below its surface, a large internal ocean.  

“Titan is the only other place in the solar system known to have an Earth-like cycle of liquids flowing across its surface as the planet cycles through its seasons,” NASA said.

READ MORE: ‘Feathery’ alien clouds gather over Saturn’s moon Titan (PHOTOS)

3. Saturn’s rings are not uniformly flat

Images captured by Cassini in 2009 revealed that, contrary to previous belief, Saturn’s rings are not uniformly flat, showing ridges similar in height to the Rocky Mountains within the rings.

NASA said of the discovery: “It's like putting on 3-D glasses and seeing the third dimension for the first time. This is among the most important events Cassini has shown us."

READ MORE: The 7 strangest things the Curiosity rover beamed back from Mars (PHOTOS/VIDEOS

4 The region between Saturn and its rings is 'the big empty'

Cassini began its Grand Finale in April, starting a series of 22 weekly dives between Saturn and its rings. The dives have so far revealed that the gap itself is free of almost anything at all – even spacedust.

"The region between the rings and Saturn is 'the big empty,' apparently," NASA said.

READ MORE: NASA’s Cassini captures creepy noise between Saturn’s rings (AUDIO)

5 Saturn has seven hidden moons

Seven previously unknown moons were discovered by the spacecraft during its orbit of Saturn. These include Methone, Pallene, Polydeuces, Daphnis, Anthe and Aegaeon. The seventh moon, discovered in 2009, is named S/2009 S 1.

In January 2017 Cassini obtained the closest view yet of Daphnis – the ‘wavemaker moon.’

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On Wednesday night, several of the network’s social media accounts posted: “Hi, OurMine are here, we are just testing your security, HBO team please contact us to upgrade the security.”

The message, apparently by a white-hat cyber security hacking collective, was followed by another one that offered to “make #HBOHacked trending!”

The alleged security breach was quickly noticed and the messages removed, while an HBO spokesman told Reuters: “We are investigating.”

The incident also did not go unnoticed by fans of HBO's shows. Some vented their anger with the hackers and potential spoiler, while others shamed the cable network over the lack of cyber security.

Dozens of houses and thousands hectares of forest were destroyed by the ravenous blaze which began Sunday in the coastal town of Kalamos, approximately 45 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Athens.

The fire quickly spread, aided by the strong and changeable winds as well as the hot weather. Numerous other wildfires sprang up in different parts of the country, which often sees large forest fires at this time of year.

Skai TV are reporting that fires are still raging on the island of Cephalonia while a fire on Zakynthos is said to be “improving”.

Incredible drone footage captured the aftermath of the destruction caused by the wildfires. It shows acres of scorched earth, with trees reduced to cinders and houses destroyed.

The drone lingers over villas which were severely damaged by the inferno.

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras visited one of the worst affected areas Wednesday. He said Greece had "avoided the worst... and we have to be alert," Reuters reported.

The tiny vehicles, each of which measure about half the width of a human hair, were designed to swim through the rodent’s gut and neutralize the gastric acid before delivering their cargo of antibiotics.

The breakthrough experiment was carried out by nanoengineers from the UC San Diego Jacob School of Engineering. It is the first time a device of its type has been tested.

"It's a one-step treatment with these micromotors, combining acid neutralization with therapeutic action," said Berta Esteban-Fernández de Ávila, a co-author of the paper, published in Nature.

Micromotors are tiny particles that can propel themselves autonomously when placed in a chemical solution. The UCSD team believes their use offers a promising new method for treating stomach and gastrointestinal tract diseases with acid-sensitive drugs.

Gastric acid can be destructive to orally administered drugs such as antibiotics and protein-based pharmaceuticals. To combat this, drugs used to treat bacterial infections and ulcers are taken with additional substances, called proton pump inhibitors, which suppress gastric acid production.

However, when taken in higher doses over longer periods these can have adverse side effects, including headaches, diarrhea and fatigue and even anxiety or depression.

The micromotors offer a possible solution to this problem as they have a built-in mechanism to neutralize gastric acid and effectively deliver the drugs without the use of proton pump inhibitors.

Each micromotor consists of a spherical magnesium core coated with several layers of protection that allows the motors to stick to the stomach wall.

The magnesium cores react with gastric acid, generating a flow of hydrogen microbubbles that propel the motors around inside the stomach. The reaction also temporarily reduces the amount of acid in the stomach, according to researchers.

The tests were carried out on mice with Helicobacter pylori infections. One group of rodents were given a clinical dose of the antibiotic clarithromycin once a day for five consecutive days, while another group was treated with micromotors.

Results showed treatment with the micromotors was slightly more effective than the equivalent dose of antibiotic given in combination with proton pump inhibitors.

While the findings are promising, researchers say further studies are necessary to evaluate the therapeutic performance of the micromotors and to test different drug combinations with them.

The space weather event, known as a coronal mass ejection (CME), was observed by three satellites operating outside the path of the flare, namely ESA’s Proba-2, the ESA-NASA joint project SOHO and NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory, in October 2014.

The ESA’s Olivier Witasse had been leading the space agency’s Mars Express, a project examining the effect of the comet Siding Spring on the atmosphere of the Red Planet. During the research, the team detected signs of the CME on Mars and, in the subsequent investigation, accessed data collected by the 10 spacecraft in its path.

“CME speeds with distance from the sun is not well understood, in particular in the outer Solar System,” said Witasse. “Thanks to the precise timings of numerous in situ measurements, we can better understand the process.”

The data gives an indication of the speed, distance and direction of travel of the CME, with the effects of the flare reportedly felt by NASA’s Voyager-2, then at the edge of the solar system approaching Pluto.

After emission, the solar flare travelled at speeds of up to 1,000km per second (6,000 miles per second) before slowing to 500km/sec after reaching the Cassini space probe in November 2014.  

Luckily, Earth was not in the CME’s path – a phenomenon that scientists say has potential to be hugely damaging to our way of life.

Experts have warned that a powerful geomagnetic storm would likely knock out power grids, communications and satellite technology, causing trillions of dollars worth of damage to the global economy. They even cite as evidence the 1859 ‘Carrington Event’ in which a solar flare knocked out telegraph systems all over Europe and North America. 

The burial grounds date back to the Ptolemaic Kingdom, which stretched from 323BC until the Roman conquest in 30BC. They were found by an archaeological project in the Al-Kamin al-Sahrawi area of Minya province.

READ MORE: Ancient Egypt: ‘Billboard’ hieroglyphics let historians see the big picture

Head of the Ancient Egyptian Antiquities Sector Dr Ayman Ashmawy labelled the discovery “very important.”

Sarcophagi, stone coffins, and clay fragments found at the site indicate the tombs are around 2,000 years old.

"(This) fact suggests that the area was a great cemetery along a long span of time,” Dr Ashmawy said in a statement published on Facebook.

Head of the mission, Ali Al-Bakry, says the recently discovered tombs have different architecture designs to prior finds at the site.

In one of the tombs, excavators found a burial chamber containing four sarcophagi as well as nine burial holes.

In another they found a burial hole for a small child, the first such discovery under the project.

“This was the first time to find a burial of a child in the kamin Al-Sahrawi site,” Al-Bakry said.

One of the sarcophagi was sculpted in the shape of a human face.Studies of the bones found at the site show that they’re remains of “men, women and children of different ages.”

Excavation works on the third tomb is continuing.

The naturally-derived compound called psilocybin found in so-called ‘magic mushrooms’ has been known about for nearly 60 years. Now, German researchers from Friedrich Schiller University Jena have identified four key enzymes needed to synthesize the compound.

READ MORE: Magic mushrooms: Psychedelic drugs ease anxiety for people with life-threatening cancer

Two mushroom species were used in the study, which saw the team identify two previously-unknown enzymes, reported Chemical and Engineering News.

Using the data the team were then able to develop the first ever enzymatic synthesis of the compound, creating their own psilocybin in a lab.

“Given the renewed pharmaceutical interest in psilocybin, our results may lay the foundation for its biotechnological production,” wrote the authors of the new study published in medical journal Angewandte Chemie.

Psilocybin, which had a long-running stigma as a mind-altering drug for party-goers, is increasingly being considered a safe treatment for various conditions related to mood and affective disorders, such as anxiety, depression, addiction and even cluster headaches.

In May a study revealed that psilocybin helped lift depression in a pool of 12 subjects.   

The biggest issue surrounding the consumption of the compound in its organic mushroom form stems from users mistakenly ingesting toxic lookalikes in the wild and suffering dangerous, potentially lethal, side effects.

READ MORE: Magic mushrooms are ‘safest drugs’ compared to LSD, ecstasy & cocaine – study

Research has found that psilocybin is a much safer substance than other illicit drugs such as LSD, cocaine and MDMA. In recent times psilocybin has even been found to help ‘reset’ brains as they’re undergoing counselling.

While this step could be the beginning of psilocybin’s journey into the mass market, advanced clinical trials are unlikely to come into effect for a number of years.

“My Instagram had to seriously step up the game to keep up with the increased competition from Mr. Putin’s shirtless photos,” the founder of the Vkontakte (VK) website and Telegram messenger service wrote on Tuesday.

“If you’re Russian, you have to join #PutinShirtlessChallenge (or face oblivion). Two rules from Putin – no photoshop, no pumping. Otherwise you’re not an alpha,” Durov added, unleashing a deluge of bare torsos.

Those who have responded were definitely not camera-shy, kids among them.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, 64, made waves earlier this month when he went shirtless during a brief hiking and camping trip in Siberia.

The indefatigable Russian leader spent two hours searching for the perfect catch at the bottom of the Siberian lake. Clad in a wetsuit and snorkel mask while armed with a harpoon gun and a GoPro camera, Putin endured the cold waters of the lake to capture some incredible footage of his fishing expedition.

Apart from giving a master class in fishing, the active Russian president also hiked in Taiga and went rafting on a mountain lake in southern Siberia. His enthusiasm has proved to be infectious.

Tuesday's blackout occurred after staff failed to switch the computerized valve to manual control when replacing a power supply unit, according to state-run oil refiner CPC Corp, as reported by the China Post.

READ MORE: Typhoon Nesat knocks people over in Taiwan, leaves 250,000 homes without power (PHOTOS)

Some 6.8 million people across 17 counties and cities were left without electricity for about five hours Tuesday evening. Electricity was restored by 10pm.

President Tsai Ing-wen, elected in January on an anti-nuclear power platform, apologized for the outage, stating it’s “a national security issue.”

Taiwan is in the process of implementing a long-term policy to get rid of nuclear power and boost its solar-power capacity. However, some business groups, including the Chinese National Federation of Industries, have warned the energy transition is risky and is calling for a slower changeover.

Last week state-owned Taiwan Power Company issued a red alert as electricity consumption hit an all-time high, warning that power rationing may have to be implemented if the reserve margin dipped further.

Despite the hiccups, Tsai insists the government will continue to promote decentralized green power generation, saying the blackout increases her determination to follow through with the policy.

Minister of Economics Affairs Chih-kung Lee resigned Tuesday evening amid the crisis.

The blackout was the country's most severe since the 1999 Jiji earthquake, Taiwan Power Co said.

Taiwan is currently experiencing its “longest heat wave in history” – 12 consecutive days of temperatures above 36 degrees Celsius.

Prisoners incarcerated at the maximum security Salberga jail, 120km (75 miles) north of Stockholm, are rising up against standard-issue toilet paper which they say is “hard, uncomfortable and single rolled [ply],” report Svenska Dagbladet.

The complaint implies that due to the stress of incarceration and the quality of prison food, inmates tend to go to the bathroom more often, leaving them feeling troubled about the toilet paper standard.

The office of Sweden’s Ombudsman for Justice confirmed the complaint to RT.com. A spokesperson said the ombudsman has not yet responded to the complaint.  

Salberga was built in 2007 and is one of the country’s high security prisons. Despite the 63-cell facility housing murderers and other violent offenders, the inmates at Salberga are allowed to mix with one another, cook for themselves and do their own laundry.

The prison also has its own gym and sauna which prisoners are free to use. The prison layout is in stark contrast to other maximum security facilities around the globe, where inmates are often segregated and confined for large portions of the day.

READ MORE: Return to sender: Swedish man accidentally receives Vladimir Putin’s mail

Sweden has a reputation for focusing on rehabilitation rather than punishment in its prison system. The nation’s current crime policy is to avoid locking up people, according to a state prison agency.

The nation’s director general of prisons Nils Oberg has previously said that being deprived of freedom is justice enough for criminals.

“Our role is not to punish,” he told the Guardian. “The punishment is the prison sentence: they have been deprived of their freedom. The punishment is that they are with us.”

Criminals in Sweden can live out relatively normal lives behind bars, with the majority allowed to decorate their own cells and provided with luxury items such as personal TV sets.

The longest fixed-term sentence that can be imposed by the Swedish courts is just 18 years in prison. While on the inside, inmates are encouraged to undergo addiction or anger issue programs. Employment and training is also provided by prison services.

The creature was passed around for photos before it was left on a beach in Almeria to die, according to conservation group Equinac.

The organization uploaded photos to its Facebook page showing adults and children gathering around the marine animal and touching it for the camera.  

Equinac condemned those involved as “ignorant” but also “lacking empathy, respect and logic” to pass around a “terrified” baby dolphin.

Cetaceans are very susceptible to stress, according to Equinac, and “crowding over them to take pictures and touch them, causes a very strong shock that greatly accelerates a cardiorespiratory failure, which was what finally happened.”

The animals are protected under EU law and any sort of harassment is prohibited.

Social media users also criticised the actions of those eager to get the perfect “summer photo.”

“When will we be civilized in this country? When will we learn to respect others? Be it human or animal.” one commenter posted.

There’s been a surge of similar incidents recently in which animals died as a result of being used by tourists as photo props. Earlier this year, a dolphin died in Argentina after beachgoers clamoured around it for selfies.

READ MORE: ‘It didn’t swim into that T-shirt’: Fears for dolphin dressed by revelers (PHOTOS)

Meanwhile, authorities in Western Australia reported in January that a bottlenose dolphin was trapped in a t-shirt during Australia Day celebrations.

Trump was criticized for his delayed response in denouncing the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, during which a counter-protester was killed by an alleged neo-Nazi.

Heather Heyer, 32, was fatally injured when a car smashed into a crowd of antifa demonstrators protesting the ‘Unite the Right’ rally.

READ MORE: What about the ‘Alt Left’?: Trump sets off more outrage with new Charlottesville comments

On Tuesday, Trump blamed both sides for the violence in Charlottesville and questioned the role of demonstrators he termed the “alt-left.”

“What about the alt-left that came charging at the, as you say, the alt-right? Do they have any semblance of guilt?” Trump asked. “Let me ask you this, what about the fact they came charging with clubs in the hand, swinging clubs? Do they have any problem? I think they do.”

Just hours after the president’s press event at Trump Tower on Fifth Avenue, calls for his impeachment began to trend on Twitter.

READ MORE: 'Both sides to blame' for Charlottesville violence, Trump says

Other people were quick to point out that the president’s reaction, whatever your political views on his comments, is not actually grounds to force him from office under impeachment.

According to Article II of the US Constitution, the president can be impeached only if they have been found guilty of “treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

The last president to face impeachment was Bill Clinton, who was the subject of a senate trial in 1999. He was found not guilty of lying under oath during an investigation into sexual harassment allegations in Arkansas, which subsequently revealed his relationship with White House aide Monica Lewinsky.

During the World Athletics Championship in London, which wrapped up Sunday, the National Lottery invited Twitter users to retweet a post from its @TNLUK account with the hashtag #Represent. Those who did so would be rewarded with a picture of a British athlete holding up a sign bearing their Twitter handle.

It was all supposed to be so simple, a hearty goodwill gesture and a novel way for Team GB to say thanks for the support, such as this tweet.

It didn’t take long for trolls to realise that all they had to do was change their handle and the auto generated response would read out whatever twisted messages they could think of.

The National Lottery tried to delete the worst of the trolls’ efforts, but many are still live under the Lottery’s comments. It says it is dealing with the situation as quickly as possible.

The naivety of the moderators is now in the spotlight, especially considering that a similar fate befell chip maker Walkers, when a campaign featuring crisp selling frontman and former England international Gary Lineker, spectacularly backfired in May.

READ MORE: Pedophiles & serial killers 'photobomb' Walkers potato chip selfie campaign

Lisa Theris was lost in the Alabama wilderness for 28 days and lost 50lb (22kg) during her ordeal. Her family said she is weak and emaciated, Fox10 reports.

A large search party was organized to find the 25 year old, but failed to locate her in the thousands of acres of forest.

READ MORE: Man survives on urine, beer & crackers for 2 days in Arizona desert (PHOTOS)

"She said she was drinking water out of a brook and eating berries and mushrooms.” Sheriff Raymond Rodgers said.

Theris had no bag, shoes or phone and became disoriented trying to find her way out of the forest.

She was spotted by a motorist on Highway 82 on Saturday. After being treated at an emergency room, she was reunited with her family.

“A motorist from Florida was driving 82 east of Midway and saw something moving in the bushes. She went back and there was the young lady in the wooded area,” Rogers said. “She called us and told us she had located the missing person."

“The bugs had really been on her and she had a lot of scratch marks.” Rodgers said. “We didn’t ask her too many questions. We want to make sure her health is good so we got her on to the hospital. We did not interrogate her at that time.”

According to investigators, Theris’ family last heard from her on July 18 and reported her missing on July 23.

She was last seen in Midway, and is believed to have been with two men, Manley Davis and Randall Oswald, who robbed $40,000 worth of equipment from a hunting camp on July 17-18.

Officials said Theris didn’t want to be part of the robbery.  The two men have since been arrested and charged.

“She’s alive and that’s all that matters at this moment. We can confirm she was in the area, but as far as that goes, we can’t confirm anything else right now.” Sgt. Chad Faulkner said.

Scientists devised a method growing virus-like particles (VLPs) in plants which are then extracted to create the vaccine.

VLPs are non-pathogenic mimics of the virus. They look like the real thing but are not infectious as they were engineered not to contain the nucleic acid needed for the virus to reproduce.

This is a crucial point, because VLPs mimic the virus and, once administered to a patient, the person’s immune system will kick in and fight the non-infectious replica, developing an immunity without a danger that it will infect the person.

“This is an incredible collaboration involving plant science, animal virology and structural biology. The question for us now is how to scale it up – we don’t want to stop at a lab technique,” study author Professor George Lomonossoff said in a press release.

“The beauty of this system of growing non-pathogenic virus mimics in plants, is that it boosts our ability to scale-up the production of vaccine candidates to combat emerging threats to human health,” he added.

Polio, a highly infectious disease which invades the nervous system causing paralysis and sometimes death, has all but been eradicated from the globe. Infection rates have been slashed by 99 percent since 1988, due to the Global Polio Eradication Initiative led by the WHO, which reduced numbers from an estimated 350,000 at the time to just 37 in 2016.

However, the virus was feared by millions up until the first vaccines emerged in the middle of the 20th century.

It is now hoped that, further to eradicating polio, this breakthrough could be used to target other viruses threatening humanity.

The research was published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

The bizarre incident happened on Monday at Hotel Corallo in Riccione, Italy, when the maid discovered the firearm. According to Rimini Today a colleague was called to investigate and, believing the gun was not real, took aim and fired.

The 40 year old is said to be in a stable condition after undergoing surgery at a local hospital.

Police tracked down the gun owner to another room in the hotel, where a bullet corresponding to the gun was also found. The 42 year old from Rome had switched rooms with his wife and children in the hotel the previous night and had forgotten to take his gun with him.

The suspect was arrested by police and charged with possession of cocaine and hash.

Two other couples are also wanted by police after being spotted on CCTV attempting to enter the room and retrieve the gun, before the maid stumbled across it.

Trump retweeted a cartoon of a ‘Trump train’ ramming into a person with a CNN logo on his head, as well as a retweet from a man calling the US president a fascist. Trump soon deleted both retweets.

The cartoon, entitled ‘Fake news can’t stop the Trump train’ was heavily criticized online in the wake of the Charlottesville car attack by an alleged white supremacist.

READ MORE: 'It was an intentional attack': Eyewitness describes deadly Charlottesville car plowing incident

Trump was criticized for failing to specifically condemn white supremacists following the Charlottesville attack, at first calling out violence “on many sides.” His silence was construed as a way to avoid alienating his voter base.

Trump’s decision to retweet the cartoon was particularly surprising given the controversy he invited for retweeting a gif in July showing him body slamming a person with a CNN logo superimposed over their face.

READ MORE: Trump lays the smackdown on CNN in bizarre tweet (VIDEO)

The wrestling tweet was widely condemned as inciting violence and an attack on the free press.

The train cartoon tweet was shared under a Fox & Friends tweet that Trump also retweeted, detailing his potential pardoning of Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who was found guilty of ignoring a judge’s order to stop targeting suspected undocumented immigrants at traffic stops.

During his morning Twitter session, Trump also retweeted a tongue-in-cheek comment in response to a Fox News story.

That comment read: “He’s a fascist, so not unusual,” referring to Trump.

The president deleted this retweet long before he erased the one about the train. However, many speculated that he was either acknowledging he is a fascist, or got confused about what the word meant.  

The woman who shared the train tweet has a dubious Twitter feed, which includes Islamophobic memes.

On Monday, Trump also retweeted a post by a well-known ‘Pizzagate’ conspiracist, Jack Posobiec. The tweet attempted to draw comparisons between the outrage over the Charlottesville murder and an apparent lack of sufficient outrage over the fact that 39 shootings occurred in Chicago over the weekend.

The tweet read: “Meanwhile: 39 shooting in Chicago this weekend, 9 deaths. No national media outrage. Why is that?” It employed tactics beloved by arms of the right and Fox News to highlight ‘black on black’ crime.

Trump’s retweet came on the same day he finally condemned the Charlottesville violence by white supremacists.

The arrests took place on August 14, police said in a statement reported the Economic Times of India.

Prime are contracted to manage data for Star India Private Limited, owned by 21st Century, which distribute ‘Game of Thrones’ in India.

The leaked episode, which appeared online two days before its scheduled August 7 release date, carried the logo of Star India.

A statement from police said the various people were involved in the leak, including both existing and former employees, with the investigation ongoing.

The raid of the Prime offices was carried out by a unit from the Cyber & PAW, Government of Maharashtra, and included the collection of material to be further investigated.

In a statement Star India said the breach was the first in its history.

“We at Star India and Novi Digital Entertainment Private Limited stand committed and ready to help the law enforcement agencies with any technical assistance and help they may require in taking the investigation to its logical conclusion,” it read.

The episode leak followed a security breach which saw 1.5 terabytes of data stolen from HBO. Included in the data were unreleased episodes of other HBO shows.

READ MORE: HBO offered GoT hackers $250k Bitcoin ‘bounty’ - emails

It is unknown what date the photograph was taken but police told G1 Globo they believe it was taken in the early hours of the morning when their presence would have been low.  

The culprits are believed to be members of a gang known as Mãozinha, meaning Little Hand, with an open warrant issued to police for their arrest.

Erected in 2010 in the Santa Marta favela, a year after Jackson’s death, the statue marks the location where the pop singer filmed the 1996 music video ‘They don’t really care about us.’

Witnesses told Deadline that Harris lost control of her bike and crashed through a plate-glass window at Shaw Tower.

Images taken at the scene by CTV News Vancouver show the area around the tower cordoned off with an ambulance present and a motorcycle lying on its side.

Sources told Deadline that Harris had performed the stunt at least five times. On the final take the bike appeared to accelerate when it should have slowed down for the corner. According to the source Harris was not wearing a helmet.

In a statement to Deadline the film’s director David Leitch said he was “deeply saddened” by her loss and expressed condolences to her family.

The film’s star Ryan Reynolds tweeted “nothing can come close to the grief and inexplicable pain her family and loved ones must feel in this moment.”

Haris was performing stunts for the actress portraying the character Domino – Zazie Beetz.

The accident comes a month after a stuntman died on the set of ‘The Walking Dead’ after suffering head injuries as the result of a fall.