How the Survivors of Parkland Began the Never Again Movement

y Sunday, only four days after the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, in Parkland, Florida, the activist movement that emerged in its aftermath had a name (Never Again), a policy goal (stricter background checks for gun buyers), and a plan for a nationwide protest (a March for Our Lives, scheduled for March 24th). It also had a panel of luminary teens who were reminding America that the shooting was not a freak accident or a natural disaster but the result of actual human decisions.

The funerals continued in Parkland and surrounding cities—for the students Jaime Guttenberg and Joaquin Oliver and Alex Schachter and the geography teacher Scott Beigel—with attendance sometimes surpassing a thousand people. On a local level, at least, the activism did not overshadow the grieving.

The tragedy affected this student body of more than three thousand people in different ways: some students lost their closest friends, others hallway acquaintances. And the student leaders knew, with the clarity of thought that had distinguished them from the beginning, that the headline-industrial complex granted only a very narrow window of attention. Had they waited even a week to start advocating for change, the reporters would have gone home.

Rare find from the deep sea

Dumbo octopuses live at a depth of thousands of meters in the oceans of this world, in near-freezing water and in absolute darkness. A rare spectacle now provides further insight into this extraordinary habitat: on board a research vessel, a US scientist filmed a dumbo octopus measuring just a few centimeters hatching from its egg. Based on these video recordings and MRI scans of the internal organs, researchers from the Delaware Museum of Natural History, the University of Bonn, the University Hospital Münster, and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution were able to document a surprising similarity of the hatchling with adult animals. The unusual find is now being presented in the journal Current Biology.

Breaking : Mass shooting plot for SoCal high school thwarted by alert security guard

Authorities say they've thwarted a student's plot for a mass shooting at a Southern California high school.

The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said Tuesday that a security guard at El Camino High School in Whittier overhead a "disgruntled student" threaten to open fire on the school on Friday, just two days after 17 people were gunned down at a Florida high school.

Sheriff's spokeswoman Nicole Nishida tells The Associated Press deputies discovered "multiple guns and ammunition" after searching the student's home.

Officials wouldn't provide additional details but scheduled a news conference for Wednesday.

11 Hacks to Get a Flight Upgrade

 

Flying doesn't have to be a stressful, uncomfortable ride. In fact, it's relatively easy to travel like a boss. And, no, it doesn't require outright purchasing a first-class ticket.

From flying at the right time to simply being friendly to the employees at the gate, travel experts spill their flight upgrade secrets.

1. When a flight is oversold, volunteer to get bumped
Airlines are desperate for volunteers when a flight gets oversold, so why not be one of them?

Getting upgraded on your next flight is easier than it seems
Image: Imgur
Scott Keyes, founder of Scott's Cheap Flights, says airlines will offer hundreds and even thousands of dollars in travel vouchers when a flight is overbooked. "The secret is that they can also offer other perks, including food vouchers, lounge passes and, yes, even seats in business or first class on your new flight."

Former Manchester City Coach, Barry Bennell jailed 31 years for sexual assault

Former British football trainer Barry Bennell was on Monday sentenced to 31 years in prison for abusing 12 boys he coached between 1979 and 1991, with the judge branding him “sheer evil”.

64 year old Bennell, who coached at Manchester City and other teams, was found guilty last week of dozens of child sexual offences, including indecent assault, buggery and attempted buggery.

Police have said scores more complainants have come forward since the case started, bringing the number of possible victims to more than 100. “You were the devil incarnate. You stole their childhoods and their innocence to satisfy your own perversion,” Judge Clement Goldstone said as he read out the sentence in a court in Liverpool, northwest England. “Your behaviour towards these boys in grooming and seducing them before subjecting them to, in some cases, the most serious, degrading and humiliating abuse was sheer evil.”

BREAKING News: Dana Airline Plane Skids Off Port Harcourt Runway, Aircraft Wing Damaged

   

A major tragedy has been averted in Nigeria as a passenger plane belonging to Dana Airlines skid off the runway of the Port Harcourt International Airport as it was landing at 7.30 pm on Tuesday, February 20, 2018.

According to an eyewitness, Layefa Walter, a Port Harcourt based oil worker, the flight skid off the runway and a wing of the airplane was damaged.



“Several people were injured. But it looks like nobody has died,” Mr. Walter told The Trent in a telephone conversation.
“Flights have been placed on hold, as we speak,” he said. “We are concerned whether Air France will be cleared to land.”

American singer Toni Braxton confirms engagement to Birdman

American singer, songwriter, pianist, record producer, actress, television personality, and philanthropist, Toni Braxton, has officially confirmed her engagement to Birdman.

The 50-year-old He Wasn’t Man Enough For Me crooner made the announcement in a teaser for the upcoming season of her WE TV show, Braxton Family Values.

Rumors have been swirling around the singer and the 49-year-old rapper since last year since Braxton’s sister, Tamar, addressed her as Mrs. Braxton-Williams after Birdman’s real name, Bryan Williams, on Instagram.

Florida School Shooting: 15-year-old student in 'bad shape' after taking five bullets shielding his classmates from the attacker’s shots

A 15-year-old student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School is facing a “long road ahead” after he was hit five times shielding his classmates from the attacker’s bullets last week.

Anthony Borges, a soccer player, put his body between shooter Nikolas Cruz and his fellow students on Wednesday, according to survivors of the massacre that killed 17.
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“None of us knew what to do. So, he took the initiative to just save his other classmates,” his friend, Carlos Rodriguez, told ABC News. Rodriguez said that Borges was the last student who fled into a classroom to hide, and blocked bullets from hitting others by standing in the doorway as he tried to lock the room shut. Borges then called his father to tell him he’d been shot.

Paedophile football coach Barry Bennell is branded 'the devil incarnate' as he is jailed for 30 years

The former football coach Barry Bennell was branded “sheer evil” and the “devil incarnate” on Monday after being sentenced to 30 years in prison for subjecting junior players from Manchester City and Crewe Alexandra to hundreds of sexual offences.

Bennell, now facing complaints from another 86 former players, stared at the floor as the judge, Clement Goldstone QC, gave him prison sentences totalling 454 years, to run concurrently.

There were cries of “yes” from the public gallery at Liverpool crown court as he was sentenced to serve the longest individual term of 30 years, with another year on licence. He will be eligible for parole after 15 years.

The judge told Bennell, 64, he had considered imprisoning him for life because of the “trail of psychological devastation” suffered by the victims and said the severity of the sentence was, in part, because the former coach and talent-spotter had shown no remorse for the 12 former players he had raped and molested over several years.

“In one of your [police] interviews you said that, while it might be fair to describe you as manipulative, cunning and even predatory, you were not evil,” Goldstone told him. “You could not have been more wrong. Your behaviour towards these boys in grooming and seducing them to, in some cases, the most serious, degrading and humiliating abuse was sheer evil.

“You knew that to each of these boys football was their life – the career for which they would give anything. And it was the career for which you would take anything and everything they had to offer. You appeared as a god who had it in his gift to help fulfil their ambitions and realise their dreams. In reality, you were the devil incarnate. You stole their childhoods and their innocence to satisfy your own perversion.”

Winter Olympics PYEONGCHANG, South Korea 2018: Latest results

Last Updated Feb 19, 2018 10:23 PM EST

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea -- Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir, who already have helped Canada win gold in the figure skating team competition, head into the ice dance free skate at the Pyeongchang Olympics in first place. Gabriella Papadakis and Guillaume Cizeron are in second after overcoming a wardrobe malfunction in the short program Monday.

The three American teams are right behind them. American champions Madison Hubbell and Zachary Donohue are in third, siblings Maia and Alex Shibutani are in fourth, and Madison Chock and Evan Bates are in seventh.

20 US presidents who belonged to shadowy secret societies

Secret societies always get the ominous treatment in fiction.
Are there any movies with remotely benevolent secret orders? Most fictional secret societies are usually more bogged down with dressing in outdated robes, chanting ominously, doing sacrifices, or hatching nefarious global plots.

So, to the paranoid mind, it probably sounds somewhat startling that 20 out of 45 US presidents have been affiliated with some kind of secret group. Just keep in mind that many of these societies function a bit like social clubs, charitable organizations, and business networks. In many cases, beneath the secret handshakes and mysterious rituals, they're kind of like adult frats (or actual frats, in the case of the college groups on this list).

Here are the presidents who have belonged to a secret society at some point:

Skydiving instructor plunged 1,600 feet to his death trying to save student

  

A skydiving instructor plummeted 1,600 feet to his death as he saved a student whose parachute failed mid-air.

Carl Marsh, 46, helped Dominic Leeds when a piece of equipment snapped as they emerged through clouds during a training drill.

When the dad-of-one aided Mr Leeds in releasing his reserve parachute, he became entangled in the student's principal chute.

Although he was able to cut himself free, it is thought Mr Marsh lost consciousness when his own parachute began spiralling to the ground at high speed and was unable to steer himself to safety.
He suffered multiple fatal injuries in the ensuing impact and died at the scene. His teenage son was working on the ground at the time.

As many as 17 killed as mountain of garbage collapses

Heavy rains triggered the partial collapse of a huge mound of garbage in Mozambique's capital on Monday, killing as many as 17 people who were buried by debris.

Authorities believe more bodies could be buried at the Hulene garbage dump on the outskirts of Maputo, and a search was underway. The garbage in the poor, densely populated area where the disaster happened rose to the height of a three-story building, according to the Portuguese news agency Lusa.

Twelve people died, Lusa reported. Radio Mocambique put the death toll at 17. Half a dozen homes were destroyed and some residents in the area fled for fear of another collapse.

Dublin's dead men walking: 29 on death list in brutal gangland war

    

In the most violent gangland feud in Irish criminal history they are Dublin’s dead men walking.

As one international crime gang headed up by a Dublin drug smuggler seeks to annihilate its rival in the Irish capital, at least 29 men have been told they are on death lists.

Fifteen people have already died, with many more injured and dozens of families have been driven from their homes by fear and intimidation during two years of gang warfare between master criminals Christy Kinahan and Gerry “The Monk” Hutch. There is seemingly no end in sight to their fight over the Dublin drug trade, which has intensified and become ever more personal.

  

Baftas 2018: Three Billboards scoops Best Film as its stars Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell collect awards

  

(18 February) saw the 71st Bafta film awards take place at London's Royal Albert Hall for an event which saw Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri emerge the evening's big winner.

Joanna Lumley replaced Stephen Fry as the ceremony's host which also saw wins for The Shape of Water and Darkest Hour.

Best Director winner Guillermo del Toro's fantasy drama led the pack with 12 nominations in total with Martin McDonagh's Three Billboards following up with nine.

   

Scandal hits Church of England as vicar is caught on video smoking crack, snorting cocaine & discussing prostitutes & Porn at his church-owned home (Photos)

The Church of England is reportedly investigating a vicar in East London after he was caught on video smoking crack, snorting cocaine and discussing prostitutes and pornography with a friend at his church-owned home.
In the video released by The Sun on Sunday, Rev Stennett Kirby, 64, the vicar of West Ham Parish Church in Stratford, smoked what was reported to be highly-addictive Class A drug and snorted cocaine in the shocking footage.

Fergie 'murders' the American national anthem at the NBA All Star game (Video)

Fergie confused the whole world after singing her version of the American national anthem at the NBA All Star game last night.

The singer, who performed in front of an all star crowd which included Beyonce, took to the court in a skin tight sparkling black dress with killer heels. Expecting a traditional version of the ballad, the crowd was visibly shocked with the Black Eyed Peas singer's version.


One basketball player was even caught on camera giggling.

Basketball fans and stars flooded Twitter with their responses to her hit =. One viewer quipped: "I played this for my dog and he died." Another added: "One of the most horrifying renditions I have ever heard. Did she think it was the 1920s or trying to seduce the flag? I'm not sure what just happened. Not just her ability.. but the arrangement was bizarre."

PHOTO: luxurious $92 million superyacht that has a sushi bar, a salon, Jacuzzi, and can sleep 16 people

One of the most luxurious of these yachts is the Fraser Perini Navi Grace E, which costs about $92 million to buy, according to Fraser's website. Spanning a length of more than 200 feet, the superyacht has seven staterooms and an entire wellness deck complete with a spa and gym.

Keep scrolling for a closer look inside the luxury yacht:

Built by Perini Navi, the Grace E superyacht measures about 240 feet long, and is priced at a whopping $91,931,000.

Russian Alexander Krushelnitsky fails doping test at Winter Olympics

 

The International Olympic Committee’s highly contentious decision to resist a blanket ban on Russian athletes at Pyeongchang 2018 backfired enormously last night after one of the nation’s medallists failed a doping test.

A spokesman for the Olympic Athletes from Russia confirmed to Sportsmail that they had been notified of an adverse finding and said the results of the B sample would be known today.

They would not confirm the identity of the athlete, but it is reported by Russian media to be Alexander Krushelnitsky, who won a mixed doubles curling bronze medal. He is said to have tested positive for meldonium - the same substance for which Maria Sharapova was banned in 2016.

according to Russian daily newspaper Sport Express.

Breaking News : Plane carrying 66 people crashes in southern Iran

Iran — An Iranian commercial aircraft carrying 66 people crashed on Sunday in southern Iran, a semi-official news agency reported. There was no immediate word on casualties.

The ATR-72, a twin-engine turboprop used for short-distance regional flying, went down near the remote mountain town of Semirom, some 620 kilometers (390 miles) south of the capital, Tehran, the semi-official Fars news agency said.

Fars said the plane was flying from Tehran to the southern Iranian city of Yasuj, some 780 kilometers (485 miles) south of the Iranian capital.

The legendary Dahomey Amazons are the real-life all-women’s army in Black Panther

Marvel Studios just released another Black Panther feature, this time spotlighting the all-female army whose role has been shown to be essential to the story being told in the film.

In the clip below, the Dora Milaje are paraded in scenes showing their valor and regalia as Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o, and Danai Gurira talk about their characters’ relation to the Dora Milaje, the women’s army in the fictional African nation of Wakanda in Black Panther.

Danai Gurira, the American actress of Zimbabwean ancestry, who also serves as the general of the Dora Milaje shares that, “the Dora Milaje are women who pledged their lives to the throne and to the security of the kingdom”.

#BlackPanther movie review.. (5 Stars)

  

There's a line at the end of Black Panther that I haven't been able to get out of my head in the weeks since I first saw the film. At the risk of being too spoiler-y (you will all complain anyway) I'll remove the context, but it goes something like this: "Bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from ships, because they knew death was better than bondage."

It's a powerful moment, one that's tragic and beautiful all the same. This is the moment when Marvel, for the first time, finally transcended the superhero genre. Never has a line in a Marvel movie carried this much weight; it's an idea reserved for great literature or essays, for something much bigger than a Hollywood tentpole.

How to get more followers on Instagram

Instagram’s algorithm is constantly changing.

They’re trying to make more money with updates to the way – and order – we see photos and adverts.

This is all well and good for the advertisers, but for us regular joes who might be trying to build a brand or business it can be frustrating.

Luckily, there are still some surefire ways to get more followers that don’t involve paying for ads. Here are our top tips.

At least 5 killed in Southern California freeway crash

A fiery crash involving a big-rig and several other vehicles killed at least five people early Friday afternoon in Rialto, leaving both directions of the 10 Freeway closed for hours, according to the California Highway Patrol.

The big rig was traveling westbound on the 10 shortly before 1 p.m. when, for an unknown reason, it veered toward the median, crashed through the guardrail and burst into flames near the Riverside Avenue exit, according to CHP Officer Brian Alvarez.

The massive vehicle, apparently a concrete pump truck, continued to travel across all eastbound lanes, striking multiple other vehicles, he said.

The playboy who got away with $242m – using ‘black magic’

One day in August 1995 a man called Foutanga Babani Sissoko walked into the head office of the Dubai Islamic Bank and asked for a loan to buy a car. The manager agreed, and Sissoko invited him home for dinner. It was the prelude, writes the BBC's Brigitte Scheffer, to one of the most audacious confidence tricks of all time.

Over dinner, Sissoko made a startling claim. He told the bank manager, Mohammed Ayoub, that he had magic powers. With these powers, he could take a sum of money and double it. He invited his Emirati friend to come again, and to bring some cash.

Black magic is condemned by Islam as blasphemous. Even so, there's still a widespread belief in it, and Ayoub was taken in by the colourful and mysterious businessman from a remote village in Mali.

When he arrived at Sissoko's house the next time, carrying his money, a man burst out of a room saying a spirit - a djinn - had just attacked him.