Sedwill also said that Russia has tested means of delivering chemical agents “including by application to door handles”, pointing out that the highest concentration of the chemical found after the attack was on Skripal’s front door handle.

“We have information indicating Russian intelligence service interest in the Skripals, dating back at least as far as 2013, when email accounts belonging to Yulia Skripal were targeted by GRU cyber specialists,” Sedwill wrote in the letter, referring to Russia’s foreign military intelligence agency.

The Skripals were found slumped on a bench in the English city of Salisbury on March 4. Britain has blamed Russia for the attack — a charge that Moscow has strongly denied.

After testing samples from Salisbury, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) on Thursday confirmed Britain’s findings about the nerve agent used in the attack.

Sedwill’s letter to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg alleged that Russia had “the technical means, operational experience and motive for the attack on the Skripals and that it is highly likely that the Russian state was responsible”.

Sedwill said “credible open-source reporting and intelligence” showed that in the 1980s the Soviet Union developed a family of nerve agents known as Novichoks at a base in Shikhany near Volgograd.

“The codeword for the offensive chemical weapons programme (of which Novichoks were one part) was FOLIANT,” he said.

“It is highly likely that Novichoks were developed to prevent detection by the West and to circumvent international chemical weapons controls,” he said.

By 1993, when Russia signed the Chemical Weapons Convention, Sedwill said it was “likely” that some Novichoks had passed testing to allow their use by the Russian military.

In the 2000s, Sedwill said Russia had trained military personnel in using these weapons, including on door handles.

“Within the last decade, Russia has produced and stockpiled small quantities of Novichoks under the same programme,” he said.///AFO

But then again, not all claims can be considered true. Take for example this case back in 2016. Blogger
But the Blogger Lauren Bullen claimed that someone is copying most of her Instagram photos. The copycat was very meticulous that it was already creepy. Everything was copied — the location, clothes, pose, and even the captions.

Image source

But something was problematic about the whole scenario: why would someone go to great lengths of following after her, buying the same set of clothes, and going to the exact locations she went just to copy her Instagram photos?
That’s absurd, and well, very expensive.  It would have been more convincing if she just stole Bullen’s photos and pretended it to be her. That happens more often on the internet and let’s admit it, it’s easier to do and less expensive. The alleged copycat does not even have a lot of followers on her account that it will make you wonder why she would bother spending a lot of money just to copy someone’s photos.

Interesting, right? Some thought so too. They tried to look into the matter and an interesting theory came up. Since they cannot scrub any other information about the alleged copycat, someone found a cached data that indicates the relationship of Diana with Bullen.
In the cached data of Diana’s Twitter account, she listed Bullen’s email and blog (gypsea_lust) that made people conclude that the two were actually associated. After all, Bullen did say that she settled things with Diana after discovering the plagiarized photos (the account has since been made private).

Though Bullen defended that the whole incident wasn’t a hoax, the evidences remain circumstantial.

A word of advice then: don’t believe everything you see on the internet. Verify, research, and take everything with a grain of salt.

Tatsuma Hirao, 27, who was serving time for multiple thefts, had been working at a shipbuilding yard at the Matsuyama prison in the southwestern city of Imabari.

But he gave guards the slip on Sunday night, disappearing from the facility he shared with around 20 other inmates.

“We deployed a total of 1,200 officers” to find the prisoner as soon as possible, said Masafumi Shigematsu, a local police investigator.

Hirao was caught on security cameras running away from the dorm, according to the investigator.

It was “an open institution” where inmates can walk around freely, said prison official Mutsuhiro Kawauchi.

“The inmates at the facility are trusted. They are believed to be able to control their desire to run away,” Kawauchi told AFP.

A total of 21 inmates have escaped since the opening of the prison in 1961, but Kawauchi said it had no plans to increase security.

“The purpose of the facility is to teach prisoners about building a relationship of trust… We have a lower re-offending rate, so that’s the merit” of the facility, he added.

After Hirao’s escape, a car was stolen nearby and later found abandoned on Mukaishima island, which is tens of kilometres (miles) away.

Residents on the island reported to police that socks, a mobile phone, a wallet and a pair of sandals were stolen, according to local media.

A resident on the island also reported his car keys had been stolen and said he found a note saying “I’m borrowing your car but I’ll never damage it.”

Japan enjoys one of the lowest crime rates in the developed world but a relatively high re-offending rate.///AFP

Unfortunately, just as many of us are discovering the Mary River Turtle’s tantalising traits, it has become the latest creature to join the “EDGE of Existence” list of endangered species compiled by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).

A native of Queensland, Australia, the turtle was one of 100 reptiles added to the catalogue this week.

It lives only in the Mary River from which it took its name.

The inventory has no shortage of weird and wonderful creatures — a limbless lizard, the world’s largest sea turtle, a blind snake, and a chameleon named after Tarzan.

But the Mary River Turtle might just be the strangest of them all.

“The turtle is highly distinctive,” states a ZSL description of the species known to scientists as Elusor macrurus.

It can breathe underwater through specialized glands in butt organs known as cloaca — orifices through which the turtle excretes urine and waste, and lays eggs.

“This turtle is able to spend so much time underwater — up to three days — without coming up for air due to its strange ability to breathe through its bum,” Rikki Gumbs of the Imperial College London, who helped compile the EDGE reptile list, told AFP.

“They have specialized organs in their cloaca which process oxygen from the surrounding water.”

But perhaps the computer screen-sized turtle’s most distinguishing feature is the bright green, spiky mohawks sprouting on the heads of some.

This is not hair, but algae.

“The Mary River Turtle spends so much time submerged underwater that some individuals become covered in algae — and can end up with some pretty impressive bright green hairstyles!” said Gumbs.

– Popular pet –

According to Australia’s department of the environment, the Mary River Turtle’s rapid decline was sparked by its popularity as a house pet in the 1970s and 80s, known then as the “Penny Turtle”.

The creature was only recognized and listed as a distinct species in 1994.

“The Mary River Turtle takes an exceptionally long time to reach sexual maturity, with individuals not breeding before the age of 25,” said the ZSL.

Destruction of the creatures’ natural habitat through the building of dams, as well as the collection of its eggs for the pet trade, piled on the survival pressure.

“Reptiles often receive the short end of the stick in conservation terms, compared with the likes of birds and mammals,” added Gumbs.

“Just as with tigers, rhinos and elephants, it is vital we do our utmost to save these unique and too-often overlooked animals. Many EDGE reptiles are the sole survivors of ancient lineages.”

The EDGE reptile list also includes the Madagascan blindsnake — a pink, wormlike creature that spends its life burrowing through forest soil– the freshwater “pig-nosed” turtle which uses its distinctive appendage as a snorkel, and the leatherback turtle which can weigh over 900 kilograms.//AFP

Cho Hyun-min apologised for her “reckless behaviour” after the latest incident to draw widespread condemnation and highlight the prominent family’s hot-tempered behaviour.

Cho, 36, is the younger sister of Cho Hyun-ah, who made global headlines in 2014 when she angrily kicked a cabin crew member off a plane after being served macadamia nuts in a bag rather than a bowl.

The latest row over the younger Cho emerged when local media reported that she had thrown water at an advertising agency manager’s face during a meeting last month.

Cho, a Korean Air marketing executive, reportedly flew into a rage when she did not like one of the manager’s responses.

The ad firm produces adverts for the South’s flag carrier.

Seoul police said they had launched a preliminary investigation to see if Cho had broken any laws.

Throwing water into someone’s face can amount to assault in the South, where a housewife was fined about $650 in 2015 for throwing water at a real estate broker during a heated argument.

Cho Hyun-min and Cho Hyun-ah are the daughters of Korean Air chairman Cho Yang-ho.

The offspring of South Korea’s wealthy business elite families often make headlines for behaviour considered arrogant or shameful.

In the 2014 incident, Cho’s older sister forced two airline employees to kneel and beg for forgiveness on a Seoul-bound flight from New York, after being served nuts in a bag before take-off.

She apologised but was eventually sentenced to a year in prison over violation of transport laws.

The Cho sisters’ younger brother, Cho Won-tae, also made headlines in 2005 after assaulting a 77-year-old lady on the street after she scolded him over reckless driving.

Dozens of online petitions on Seoul’s presidential website condemned the Cho family and called for Korean Air to be stripped of its flag-carrier status.

“It is a national disgrace that this family keeps making embarrassing troubles while doing business under the ‘Korea’ brand,” one petitioner wrote.

Korean Air has partially disputed media reports of the latest incident, saying Cho “only threw a cup with water onto the floor”.

Lim Hyeon-ju, who delivers the news on MBC’s morning news program “MBC News Today,” wore a pair of round-rimmed glasses on air Thursday.

While male news presenters in Korea have often been seen wearing glasses on air on major TV networks, including KBS, SBS and MBC, it is the first time for a female presenter to do so.

“Anchormen are free to wear glasses, but why not anchorwomen?” Lim later posed in an interview with Yonhap News Agency.

Anchorwoman Lim Hyeon-ju (right) appears wearing glasses on “MBC News Today” on Thursday morning. (Screenshot from official YouTube channel of MBC News)

Lim said she chose to wear glasses not only to be free from wearing contact lenses, which tires her eyes, but also to send a message to Korean society.

There have been cases where women were compelled to wear contact lenses instead of glasses during work, while the same rule, often unspoken, did not apply to male workers. Several local movie theaters are notorious for not allowing female part-time workers to wear glasses on duty.

“I hope that people wouldn’t think that it is uncomfortable to watch a news presenter wearing glasses, just because that presenter is a woman,” Lim said.

Many online commentators applauded her move via news comments and Twitter after the news was aired.

The 12-foot pillar — Darwaza-e-Rauza —  at the entry gate collapsed as winds with a velocity of over 130 km per hour swept the city.

The first sight of the Taj Mahal is seen from Darwaza-e-Rauza, which is also known as the ‘Great Gate’.

According to the media reports, the incident occurred around 7:30 pm. No one was hurt in the incident.

Other than Agra, cities like Kanpur, Mathura, Kannauj, Farukkhabad and Etawah also witnessed heavy rains.

Media reports suggest that three people lost their lives in Mathura following heavy rains after a tin roof of their one-room house collapsed.

The sudden change in weather has brought gloom for the farmers as a major part of the wheat crop is lying in the fields.

It is reported that a large portion of crop has been damaged as the harvest was dampened by the rain.

A low-pressure depression in some parts of Uttar Pradesh is leading to the rains.

In a statement released today by the US Department of State, Sullivan said “On behalf of the government of the United States, I extend my best wishes to the people of the Kingdom of Thailand as they celebrate Songkran and welcome a new year on April 13, 2018.”

The statement adds: “This year marks 200 years of friendship between the United States and Thailand. The ‘Great and Good Friends’ exhibition of royal gifts and letters exchanged over these two centuries between Thai Kings and US Presidents, now on display at the Grand Palace, is a tangible reminder of the legacy and enduring strength of our relationship. As we celebrate this bicentennial, we think of how our friendship became an alliance that remains one of our oldest and most important in Asia. We look forward to further nurturing cooperation and partnership with the people of Thailand as we enter a third century of friendship during the reign of His Majesty King Maha Vajiralongkorn.”

“I wish all Thais a joyous festival with family and friends, and a healthy and prosperous New Year. Happy Songkran!”

The video of the embassy on the coming Thai New Year said: “Let’s hear from our American staff at the embassy what Songkran means to them.”

The report was made to the Jakarta Police by Cyber Indonesia chairman Permadi Arya, also known as Abu Janda, on Wednesday.

While appearing on the Indonesia Lawyers Club talk show on TVOne, the philosophy lecturer, Rocky Gerung, argued about the importance of fiction or literature. He said the word fiksi (fiction), particularly in political parlance, is now considered as pejorative in Indonesia, while it is in fact an important tool for stimulating the imagination.

“If I use the notion that ‘fiction activates the imagination, then holy books are [works of] fiction because they are not yet conclusive […] The function of fiction is to activate the imagination, to encourage us to be more imaginative. And now that word is being slain by politicians,” he said.

His statement has provoked some netizens. In colloquial Indonesian, the word “fiksi” rarely refers to literature or the power of storytelling, and is often associated with lies and deceit.

“According to the Indonesian dictionary, holy books refer to the Quran, the Gospels and others. So he cannot make the excuse that he did not specifically say what religion he was referring to. The dictionary definition is clear,” Permadi said as quoted by kompas.com.

The official Indonesian dictionary defines a holy book as a canonized revelation from God, such as the Quran, the Gospel, the Torah and the Psalm.

Permadi said Rocky had offended all religious believers, adding that the representatives of the major religions in the country— Islam, Protestantism, Catholicism, Hinduism and Buddhism—had supported his legal move.

Rocky could be charged with hate speech as stipulated under Article 28 of the nation’s draconian Electronic Information and Transaction Law, which carries a maximum punishment of six years’ imprisonment.

Famous for its lake with turquoise blue water and surrounding green hills, the spot is popular with travelers and trekkers. However, fame has also brought pollution to the area.

The Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park board (TNBTS) has evaluated the rules for those who camp at Ranu Kumbolo, and imposed new rules last Saturday.

Below are some of the new rules, as compiled by Kompas.

1. Camping area

As in previous years, the area is located at the savanna near the fourth post, near the shelter behind the hill encircling Ranu Kumbolo.

“Please pick a spot there. Do not erect tents outside the area, as there are some places considered sacred by the villagers,” said Sukaryo, one of the volunteers with the TNBTS.

2. Restrictions for erecting tents

There are clear restriction points for tents, with a minimum 15-meter distance from the lakeside to minimize pollution.

“It is not uncommon to find people throwing food into the lake, saying they are feeding the fish. But fish have lived in the lake for hundreds of years on their own, there is no need to litter,” Sukaryo said.

3. Washing  

Washing is allowed by the TNBTS, if it is done at least 15 meters from the lakeside.

Travelers are required to dig holes in the ground should they have food waste, so that the waste can naturally decompose.

Sukaryo suggested the following, “If you need to wash utensils, take water from the lake using mineral water bottles. Do not directly wash utensils in the lake, as they are usually stained with oil that can pollute the lake.”

4. Showering and bathroom basics

Travelers are required to find a place at least 15 meters away from the lakeside.

They are allowed to use the newly installed toilets at Ranu Kumbolo, though the facilities are not yet equipped with running water. Travelers are welcome to take water from the lake.

5. Swimming and bathing

One of the old rules still enforced is that swimming and bathing in the lake are not allowed. This is because the lake has a depth of 28 meters with extreme temperatures.

“The temperature is unpredictable. In 2005, when two couples swam in the lake, they suffered cramps and then drowned. They were found dead three days later,” said Sukaryo.

6. Lighting a fire

Another thing off limits is lighting a campfire, especially given the declining number of trees in the surrounding areas of Ranu Kumbolo.

TNBTS provides a safe place to light a campfire near the shelter, a place for travelers to meet and socialize.