29 breathtaking photographs of the human race

"I’m fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in."

A boy rescues his sister from underneath the rubble of their home in Syria

Toshimana, an apprentice Geisha in Kyoto

Yezidi girl carries an assault rifle to protect her family against ISIS

A mother and her 3 year-old daughter, who were attacked with acid by their husband/father

Girl that survived 11 days in Siberian Forest

Blind albino boys in their boarding room at a mission school for the blind in West Bengal, India, 2013

3 weeks-old newborn with albinism happily sleeping with his cousin in Kinshasa, Congo photo Patricia Willocq

Siberian Family Meal

Public bus passengers try to rescue a woman who tried to commit suicide by slitting her wrist with a fruit knife

A boy of the nomadic Suri tribe of Ethiopia, in traditional face/body paint and attire

Iowa couple of 72 years finally gets married

13 year old eagle huntress Ashol Pan; Mongolia

The face of a Chinese coal miner

A Palestinian girl with a Kalashnikov rifle, amid Islamic Jihad militants in Gaza City

Beautiful eyes!

7 Year Old Syrian Rebel

Rice Farmer in Small Villiage, Vietnam

An 18 year old IDF soldier pauses after a long run in full gear and battle paint. By Asher Svidensky

Tea time on the Yamal peninsula

Malagasy girl walks among the Baobab trees

Ethiopian girl from the Hamer tribe

A Monk And His Brother

A poor farmer’s son graduated

A girl from the minority Yazidi sect rests at the Iraqi-Syrian border crossing in Fishkhabour, Dohuk province after fleeing Isla

Mother and Daughter

Taking a break at Burning Man

Alcoholic Father with child

2 Year Old Offering Food To Her Handicapped Mom

Miley Cyrus laced nipples with marijuana for Christmas pasties

                     

 kisses a girl in new pics

Miley Cyrus pictured left covering her nipples with marijuana pasties and right kissing friend Jaci Wells during a Christmas party thrown by singer Wayne Coyne last weekend. The photos were shared on twitter. Wild child!

4 killed as severe weather slams southern US

Severe weather slamming the southern U.S. two days before Christmas killed at least four people, flipped cars, knocked out power to thousands and damaged several homes and businesses.

In Mississippi, Gov. Phil Bryant declared an emergency for two southeastern counties where officials say four people died in the storms and several more were injured. His office said thousands were without power Tuesday night around Columbia, which is about 80 miles southeast of Jackson.

Jones County Emergency Management director Marda Tullos said a man and woman were killed inside a mobile home in the storm's path in Laurel. About 50 miles southwest, Marion County coroner Norma Williamson tells WDAM that two people were killed in Columbia. One person was in a trailer park, another at a strip mall.

She said the Marion County hospital emergency room in Columbia was dealing with many patients.

National Weather Service meteorologist Latrice Maxie said significant damage has been reported to homes and businesses in the city of about 6,500 people . A survey team will be sent Wednesday to determine whether a tornado was responsible, she said. Storm spotter said it was.

Marion County Emergency Management director Aaron Greer told the Hattiesburg American newspaper that some people were still trapped inside their homes. Television footage showed cars, including an ambulance, flipped over and a few businesses wrecked.

Calls from The Associated Press to Greer weren't immediately returned Tuesday night.

Mississippi Highway Patrol Lt. Johnny Poulos said authorities have shut down the three highways that lead into Columbia because of downed trees, power lines and other debris.

Watches and warnings were out for a swath of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama with the storms moving toward Georgia, including Atlanta, and Florida late Tuesday into Christmas Eve.

According to local media reports, a tornado touched down in Amite, Louisiana, downing several power lines and trees and tearing the roof off at least one home. Golf ball-sized hail fell in Enterprise, Mississippi, along with some pea-sized hail in the Bude area.

Flooding also was forecast in several areas because of several inches of rain piling up.

Already in Tallahassee, Florida, the National Weather Service tweeted that travel was strongly discouraged and that several water rescues were in progress. At least 6 inches of rain had hit the area in a short time.

The Interview: Sony's North Korea film to be screened in US

Sony film The Interview has featured highly in hackers' demands

Continue reading the main story

Related Stories

• North Korea struggles to stay online
• Why did N Korea's internet go down?
• A guide to the Sony Pictures hack

A comedy film about North Korea that had its Christmas Day launch cancelled after a major cyber attack and threats against US cinema-goers is now to get a limited theatrical release, Sony says.

The Interview will be shown in some independent US cinemas on Thursday.

Sony Chairman Michael Lynton said he was "excited" that the comedy, about a plot to assassinate North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, would now be seen.

Two cinemas in Atlanta and Austin have already revealed screenings.

They said via social media that Sony Pictures had authorised them to show the film, which has been at the centre of escalating tensions between the US and North Korea.

"Breaking news," tweeted Tim League, founder of the Alamo Drafthouse cinema in Austin.

"Sony has authorized screenings of THE INTERVIEW on Christmas Day. We are making shows available within the hour."

'Freedom prevailed'

The White House welcomed the development, with a spokesman saying that President Barack Obama applauded Sony's decision and that the US was a country that "believes in free speech".

Seth Rogen, who directed and starred in the film, tweeted: "The people have spoken! Freedom has prevailed! Sony didn't give up!"

Sony had previously announced that the film's release would be pulled completely, following a hacking attack on the company and threats against cinema chains that planned to screen the film.

That decision drew criticism in Hollywood, with some calling it an attack on the freedom of expression.

Mr Obama had also called Sony's initial decision to pull the film "a mistake".

The film was branded an "act of war" by North Korea

Analysis: Alastair Leithead, Los Angeles

What started out as a Christmas comedy caper has become quite the seasonal thriller. It's got everything: cyber-attacks, terror threats and an international incident between America and North Korea, but all of it is a drama Sony Pictures could do without.

The company has been through a lot in the last month, and has now backtracked on its decision to pull the film completely. As yet the big theatres have still not said when, or whether, they might screen the film.

Sony Pictures Entertainment has been hit hard - first by the embarrassment of personal emails being dumped online. But as the seriousness of the cyber-attack unfolded, it also became clear that the personal details of thousands of staff and former-employees had been stolen - opening the door to class-action lawsuits.

Unreleased films leaked online, and then the pulling of a major movie, could cost tens of millions of dollars - let alone the price for the computer network repairs and beefed-up security.

It's a still-unfolding script to a drama the critics might even slam for being a little too far-fetched.

'First step'

Hundreds of independently-owned theatres had signed a petitionexpressing support for the film and its screening.

However, major movie chains in the US are thought unlikely to take part in the release at this stage.

Mr Lynton said: "We are continuing our efforts to secure more platforms and more theatres so this movie can reach the largest possible audience."

He also said he "hoped it would be the first step of the film's release".

The company has yet to reveal further details of its release plans, but there is also speculation that video on-demand (VOD) will be offered as part of the package.

Sony's decision to show the film came hours after North Korea suffered a severe internet outage that effectively shut down its internet services for 10 hours.

North Korea says the film hurts the "dignity of its supreme leadership"

It was not clear what caused this. North Korean officials have not commented on the issue.

The country's internet services appeared to suffer a second outage on Tuesday afternoon, but they were restored in under an hour, an internet monitoring company said.

US officials have declined to comment on who might have been responsible for the shutdown.

Mr Obama has previously vowed to respond to a hacking attack on Sony, which led to sensitive data and unreleased film material being leaked.

The US said an FBI investigation showed that North Korea was responsible for the cyber attack on Sony - claims denied by North Korea.

The Interview saga

The Interview features James Franco and Seth Rogen as two journalists granted an audience with Mr Kim. The CIA then enlists the pair to assassinate him.

• 22 November: Sony computer systems hacked, exposing embarrassing emails and personal details about stars
• 7 December: North Korea denies accusations that it is behind the cyber-attack, but praises it as a "righteous deed"
• 16 December: "Guardians of Peace" hacker group threatens 9/11-type attack on cinemas showing film; New York premiere cancelled
• 17 December: Leading US cinema groups say they will not screen film; Sony cancels Christmas Day release
• 19 December: FBI concludes North Korea orchestrated hack; President Obama calls Sony cancellation "a mistake"
• 20 December: North Korea proposes joint inquiry with US into hacks, rejected by the US
• 22 December: North Korea suffers a severe internet outage
• 23 December: Sony bosses appear to change their minds, saying they will now give The Interview a limited Christmas Day release

INFINITI CONCEPT VISION GRAN TURISMO

Infiniti has lifted the virtual covers off the INFINITI CONCEPT Vision Gran Turismo, a vision of what a high performance Infiniti could look like in the future. It was created through close collaboration with the creators of Gran Turismo®, the racing game franchise developed by Polyphony Digital Inc. that has sold more than 72 million copies worldwide. The INFINITI CONCEPT Vision Gran Turismo will be available for download in Gran Turismo®6 (GT6™) exclusively on the PlayStation®3 system.

The INFINITI CONCEPT Vision Gran Turismo is a project that started as an ambitious global Infiniti Design competition to “design a pure Infiniti GT car.” The winning model was born from the theme put forward by Infiniti’s Design team in Beijing. Part beauty, part beast, its shape is powerful, sensual and audacious – a mix of a track machine and the dream of our Chinese design team to create an ambitious racing language for Infiniti.

The process of developing the design of the INFINITI CONCEPT Vision Gran Turismo started with hand sketching, then refined digitally, refined again by hand sculpting, and then returned to digital for final refinement.

Sunday afternoon lust slutty sexiness from Maheeda. 18+

Biko, if you're in church, do not open. Don't say I made you sin o..lol. I screen grabbed from a video she posted on instagram this afternoon. See the photos after the cut. 18+ ...

Just What We Need, Another Sad, Sad Feud between Iggy Azalea and Azealia Banks

.

Yes, this is another chapter in the sad, sorry feud between Iggy Azalea and Azealia Banks, and yes, it's still just as upsetting as ever. Azealia Banks has it in her head and Iggy Azalea is this massive racist, and she's not letting it go any time soon. She stirred things up again when she said this during a radio interview:

"I feel like in this country, whenever it comes to our things, like black issues or black politics or black music or whatever, there's always this undercurrent of kinda like a 'f--- you.' That Iggy Azalea s--- isn't better than any f---ing black girl that's rapping today...The Grammys are supposed to be accolades of artistic excellence. Iggy Azalea is not excellent."

And really, that's just not fair. There are tons of artists who perform at the Grammys who many people wouldn't consider "excellent," and no one is acting like Iggy is the greatest rapper to ever emerge: she had a very, very catchy song, and that just happens sometimes. Obviously there's a considerable amount of racial issues happening in this country right now, but the focus does not need to be on Iggy Azalea, and Iggy said as much in a series of tweets:
And you know Azealia wouldn't let that lie:
Ladies, please just stop. Instead of making this so personal and making up names like "Itchy Areola," maybe if you feel so strongly about this, discuss it in a more mature way. Don't bring yourself to that level, because it just makes you look petty. There are valid points on both sides, but as we've said time and time again, no one wins in a Twitter war.

Heidi Klum My Boobs Are Too Hot for Las Vegas

Much like Sony did with North Korea, Sharper Image has caved in its battle with the City of Las Vegas ... and in this scenario, Heidi Klum's boobs are "The Interview."

Sharper Image's new ad campaign features a scantily clad Klum alongside suggestive copy designed to get you to buy the gadgets Sharper Image sells that you never knew you needed.

But Klum's cleavage did not meet Clark County code and the ads were barred from being displayed at McCarran Airport. The crux of the problem ... "the showing of the female breast with less than a fully opaque covering or any portion thereof below the nipple" -- aka underboob.

So Sharper Image submitted toned downed pics, which were approved, and will soon be displayed for all to see.

Who knew Las Vegas was run by prudes?

S

Read more: http://www.tmz.com#ixzz3MPXRAapG

'A living horror': The tales of two abused women — and how one survived

Derek Jones almost ran back outside when he saw the state of his sister’s house.
The warm home he had once helped brighten with a fresh coat of paint felt dim and cold. Holes and punch marks scarred the walls. Windows were broken, doors battered. Tape used for crime scene photos still clung to surfaces.
“It almost seemed like every door she tried to hide behind, he kicked open,” Derek says. He pauses, remembering. “A living horror.”
It was five years ago this month that Derek’s sister, Donna Jones, 33, was found dead in the basement of her west-end Ottawa home, sparking an investigation into what would become known as one of Canada’s most horrific cases of domestic abuse. Her husband, Mark Hutt, was found guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison.
The story is chilling, yet many of its elements are seen over and over: A man who begins as doting and affectionate, slowing descending into a pattern of control and abuse, preying on his partner’s insecurities.
Ottawa police investigated what they say are 4,973 cases of “founded” partner assault from 2009 to 2013. There were 4,005 charges laid as a result, the huge majority against men.
But despite these cases, despite the campaigns to build shelters and change attitudes, police believe much more partner assault remains unreported.
In the first part of a special series on domestic abuse, the Citizen looks at those who suffer in silence.
The presence of abuse is difficult for many women to admit when so much is on the line — their relationship, their financial stability, the future of their children and even their pets.
Women often live in quiet desperation rather than leave, says Staff Sgt. Isobel Granger, who heads the Ottawa police partner assault unit. Abusers, she says, may use “emotional extortion” to force a partner to stay.
“What is it that she cares about the most? That’s where I’m going to nail her.”
Still, many women do leave. While Jones’s story ended with her death, others emerge from the darkness, to survive and to thrive.
•••
For Anne, 41, the tale of Donna Jones was a dark glimpse of what her own fate might have been.
Anne didn’t want her last name or occupation used for this series. A decade after leaving her ex-husband, the Ottawa woman still fears for her safety.
She recalls vividly the day she gave his handgun to police, then hid all the knives in their house before telling him what she had done.
“It could have been 100 times worse,” Anne says. “You live with this for the rest of your life. It never goes away.”
The stories of Anne and Donna run on a parallel course, but for the crucial decisions one woman made that helped her get away.
•••
With the anniversary of her death on their minds, Donna Jones’s brother and sister sat down with the Citizen recently to share their view of their sister’s story in detail for the first time.
Jennifer Jones says she believes her sister, a public servant, met Hutt at a vulnerable time. Donna had just moved out on her own and was worried about paying her mortgage. But she was good with money. She had paid off her student loan and saved for a down-payment on a house.
By the time she died she was on the verge of bankruptcy, the result of years of financial abuse at the hands of a man who only worked briefly as a roofer. The more Donna gave, the more Hutt took.
Hutt took control of all aspects of their relationship — often a precursor to domestic violence, experts say.
Donna spent most lunch hours at her desk in the human resources department of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, waiting for Hutt to call. She’d leave meetings that ran beyond an hour so she wouldn’t have to deal with Hutt’s anger for not answering her phone. At home, Hutt demanded that Donna call herself names in front of her friends to show who was in charge.
Jennifer says the sisters talked on the phone but rarely saw each other. When Jennifer asked if Hutt’s large dogs were the reason she wasn’t invited over, Donna responded: “Among other things.”
“I kind of picked up on that right away,” Jennifer says. “You know how somebody is trying to give you hints?”
Hints, so often, are the only indication of an abusive relationship. The early warning signs are subtle and reveal themselves only gradually.
•••
Deborah Sinclair, a social worker and domestic violence expert who testified at Hutt’s trial, compares the tactics abusers use with intimate partners to the way human traffickers groom victims. They become quickly, intensely involved, saying everything the partner wants to hear. It’s called the entrapment stage, Sinclair says.
When a physical, emotional, verbal or sexual attack occurs, the woman is usually shocked, Sinclair says. Often, she convinces herself that her partner’s behaviour was out of character. He drank too much or didn’t get enough sleep. The abuser usually begs for forgiveness, which validates the abused person’s rationalization.
Sinclair says an abuser begins to isolate his partner from her network of friends and family. He tries to draw sympathy for himself, pointing to his upbringing or any problem he’s had in his life.
Hutt, Sinclair says, played on Donna’s sympathy and loyalty. Donna likely felt sorry for Hutt when he fretted that she would leave him just like everyone else had.
Eventually, Donna could no longer hide her bruises or explain away her injuries from scalding water and pellet gun projectiles.
Concerned, Donna’s friends, co-workers and brother took a dramatic step. They gathered at a friend’s home and, when Donna arrived, told her they felt she was hiding something and protecting Hutt.
Days before, Derek had received a call from an organizer of the intervention. When she told him what she and the others were observing, he was unsurprised. “There was always suspicion in the back of my head, but that was the first confirmation.”
Donna’s friends told her they had secured a bed in a woman’s shelter and planned to go to police to get Hutt out of her home.
Donna refused the help. Derek says trying to get his sister to admit to the abuse was like dealing with a drug addict.
Donna and Hutt had a date set to be married, but some of Donna’s chosen bridesmaids told her that night that they refused to be in her wedding because of the abuse. (A month later, she would go ahead with the wedding.)
In retrospect, the intervention might have been a pivotal moment, one in which Donna could have started to devise her own strategy to leave. But it became clear that she was in denial. Sinclair says she believes the intervention backfired and made Donna even closer to Hutt.
Donna became yet more isolated. The year she died, she had missed almost 80 days of work. And the more Jennifer and Derek tried to help their sister, the more withdrawn she became.
Throughout, Jennifer says she kept the lines of communication open with her sister, a woman with a “mischievous, infectious laugh” and a big smile, so Donna knew she had a place to go if she was ready.
That day never came.
“It’s such a waste,” Jennifer says. “If he didn’t want her anymore he could have just dropped her off at home.”
Jennifer and Derek Jones recently sat down with the Citizen to talk about the sister they lost five years ago to brutal domestic abuse.
•••
Anne keeps journals. There are pages and pages describing her time with her ex-husband — and the memories are painful.
She was 28 when she became engaged after four months of dating a man who seemed charismatic and charming. They moved in together. The first sign of aggression was when he punched a hole in the wall. Anne thought he was having a bad day, and they covered the hole with a picture.
But there were other incidents. Anne was in the kitchen when her partner crushed a glass in his hand. Blood and broken glass were everywhere.
“That’s intimidating,” she says. “That’s kind of signalling ‘This is what I can do to you.’”
She thought that once they were married, things would get better. But just like some of Donna’s friends, one of Anne’s bridesmaids refused to be in her wedding party.
During what should have been an exciting time in her life, Anne’s diary paints a picture of a battered woman having second thoughts about marriage. Less than a month before the ceremony, Anne wrote in her journal that she sat in her car crying that day, wondering why she put up with the abuse.
It was that day that she decided to join a support group for abused women. Anne reached out for help, which was something Donna would never do.
In 2001, the couple married. On Anne’s wedding day, at least one friend noticed the bruise on her arm. Her fiancé had grabbed her so hard that he left a mark.
The abuse got worse. Repeatedly, he held her on the floor with her face in the carpet. “Being restrained by someone like that is mortifying and makes you shrivel up inside,” Anne says.
After her husband held a gun to her head and threatened to kill her, Anne’s counsellor told her to get all weapons out of their house. She took his handgun from the locked box in their bedroom closet and brought it to the Elgin Street police station.
Even as Anne was signing papers at a lawyer’s office after they were separated just shy of their two-year anniversary, her husband tried to control her.
He told Anne not say anything about their relationship if she was called for a reference. He was trying to become a police officer.
“I am not going to be silent,” Anne replied. “You have no more power over me.”
•••
During a counselling session just before their marriage ended — the couple saw a total of nine counsellors — Anne got up and said, “I’m done.”
It was a turning point, says Sinclair, the domestic abuse expert, the moment when a partner starts to really think about leaving.
Sinclair says that’s also the most dangerous time. A woman may not leave the relationship at that point, but Sinclair says she won’t return to the “honeymoon phase,” where she tells herself the abuse is some kind of aberration.
Anne says she ignored the warning signs. She says she never should have married her ex-husband. She should have left sooner. She should have reported the abuse.
“All of this I will have to live with and feel guilty about,” Anne says. “What I don’t feel guilty about is becoming stronger and voicing this now.”
Today, Anne is in what she describes as a healthy, fulfilling marriage to a different man. She has two children.
Friends and family often wonder why someone who suffers abuse doesn’t leave earlier. Police and women’s advocates say that places the blame on the victim — the survivor — instead of the abuser.
Leighann Burns, executive director of Harmony House women’s shelter, says financial fears are a major factor. If a woman leaves, Burns says, she might have to go on social assistance so her partner can’t track her down at work.
Burns cites the 2009 case of Claude Légaré, who, undeterred by a restraining order, repeatedly stabbed his ex-partner, Brenda Van Leyen, outside a Barrhaven drugstore where she was delivering mail for Canada Post. She survived. Légaré was later found dead in the burned-out remains of his home.
Anne didn’t leave right away. She had to create an exit strategy and make sure she had a safe place to stay.
Anne says she was horrified when a co-worker later told her she couldn’t believe she had stayed and said she thought Anne was stronger than that.
“Why didn’t I leave sooner? I wasn’t ready,” Anne says. “I didn’t have all my ducks in a row.”
Violence by the numbers: Domestic abuse complaints Ottawa police deemed credible between 2009 and 20132,590: assaults
651: criminal harassment and stalking
545: assault with a weapon
402: assault causing bodily harm
328: uttering threats
260: harassing phone calls
96: aggravated assault
19: sexual assault
3,397: Number of men charged (85 per cent of total)
608: Number of women (15 per cent)