Steve Ditko (co-creator of Spider-Man and Doctor Strange) found dead in New York apartment

American comics artist, writer and co-creator of Marvel comic superheroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange, Steve Ditko has passed away aged 90 after being found dead in his midtown Manhattan apartment.

According to New York Police Department spokesman George Tsourovakas, Mr. Ditko was found dead on June 29.
Marvel President Dan Buckley said in a statement "the Marvel family mourns the loss" of Mr Ditko. Steve transformed the industry and the Marvel Universe, and his legacy will never be forgotten.

He added: "Our thoughts are with his family, loved ones, and fans during this sad time.”
Ditko was born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in 1927. After graduating from high school in 1945, Mr. Ditko joined the Army and was stationed in Germany, where he drew cartoons for a service newspaper.

He later worked in comics in the 1950s in New York, before eventually landing a drawing job with Marvel forerunner Atlas Comics.

In the 1960s Stephen Ditko, along with Stan Lee and Jack Kirby were behind the Marvel Comics’ rebirth, as well as Spider-Man and Doctor Strange. Mr. Ditko also created many of their enemies, including the Green Goblin, Baron Mordo, the Sandman, the Dread Dormammu, the Vulture and the Lizard.

Teenage girl dies after being swept over 125-foot waterfall

Authorities in western North Carolina have recovered the body of a 16-year-old girl who plummeted from a 125-foot waterfall on the Fourth of July.

H'Money Siu was hiking with a group when she entered a river above Rainbow Falls and was swept over the falls, Lake Toxaway Deputy Fire Chief Bobby Cooper told CNN.
Siu was with a group of about 25 people, including her 11-year-old sister, Cooper said.
The group parked their cars in Gorges State Park and then hiked the 1.5-mile trail to the falls, which are in the Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina State Parks spokeswoman Katie Hall told us.
Hall said Siu and her sister began swimming in Horsepasture River above the falls. Both were swept away by the current, but the younger sister was rescued before she went over the falls.
Siu's was the second death at the falls in the past two weeks.
Officials were notified of the incident at around noon. Cooper said a dive team found Siu's body in a pool of water below the falls at about 4 p.m.
About 45 rescuers from the county and other local areas were part of the effort to find Siu's body, Cooper said. The US Forest Service and North Carolina State Parks were also involved in the effort.
The girl and her family were from Charlotte, North Carolina, authorities said.
The other recent Rainbow Falls death
Siu's death is the second to take place at Rainbow Falls within a two-week period, Cooper said.
A 42-year-old man from Charleston, South Carolina, died June 23 after he was swept over the falls, CNN affiliate WYFF reported.
The man was hiking with his wife and dog above the falls when the dog got into the river. He went in to rescue the dog and they both went over the falls, WYFF reported.
"This is a situation where people are really excited to be in a special place and are overconfident they can handle the beat of the water," Hall told us. "Until people start take those warnings seriously, we'll continue to see things like this."
The many dangers of waterfalls
Hall said there's signage about waterfall safety at multiple places around Rainbow Falls and along the trail.
But at the end of the day, it's up to visitors to keep themselves safe, she said.
"Just stay off the top of the falls and look at them from the bottom," Cooper said.
Officials could add more signs and obstacles to keep people from getting close to the falls, Hall said, but that would compromise the park's wild setting.
"We strive to keep the parks as natural as possible," she said.
On their website North Carolina State Parks devote a whole page to waterfall safety, including warnings about how currents can sweep people over the falls and hold them underwater.

Mom shoots man who took her car with kids inside

A woman shot a man who she says took her car at a southern Dallas gas station Wednesday night.

Michelle Booker-Hicks told FOX 4 it happened around 10 p.m. as she was paying for her gas at a Shell station along Interstate 35 near Camp Wisdom Road.

She saw a man get into the car with her 2 and 4-year-old sons in the back seat. She jumped back in too, grabbed a gun from her glove box and shot the man in the face to get him to stop.

“I proceeded to jump in my backseat and told the gentleman to stop, to get out the car. He would not get out of the car. He turned around and looked at me. I reached over the armrest to get my glove compartment and that’s when I fired at him once I got the gun from my glove compartment,” she said.

Practically Everyone in the World Will See the Longest Eclipse of the Century on July 27. Here's What to Know

The longest total lunar eclipse of the century is set to dazzle most of the world, except the U.S., just shy of a year after the 2017 solar eclipse created a path of totality across America.

The July 2018 eclipse — which will happen on Friday, July 27 — will last about four hours and be visible across wide swaths of the world including Europe, Asia, Australia, Africa, South America and the Middle East. The totality, or when the earth’s shadow covers the moon and creates complete darkness, will last one hour and 43 minutes.

While many people will be able to see partial views of the eclipse, areas in eastern Africa, the Middle East and some parts of Europe and Asia will have some of the best views of the moon turning red and when the totality begins to recede, astronomers tell us.

Here’s everything you need to know about how to view the July 27 total lunar eclipse:

What is a total lunar eclipse?
A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth comes between the moon and the sun, causing the earth’s shadow to cover the moon. According to NASA, the moon often turns reddish during totality because the sunlight bending through earth’s atmosphere during sunsets and sunrises are then reflected onto the moon.

The “blood moon” will be a much different view than the 2017 solar eclipse, which darkened the skies for a few minutes as the moon passed in front of the sun.

The July 27 total lunar eclipse will also be seen by many more people than last year’s eclipse. Solar eclipses are typically only seen by a small selection of the earth’s population because the shadow cast by the moon is comparatively smaller than that cast by the earth. That means anyone who is on the side of the earth that is experiencing nighttime will be able to see the lunar eclipse whereas a solar eclipse can only be seen by the people who are where the moon’s shadow falls.

Because solar eclipses are seen by a much smaller section of the population, and the view of the blocked sun is so breathtaking, they create a lot of fanfare.

Yes, your phone is spying on you and these researchers proved it

It surely says something about the dark side of technology that as time goes on, many of us are increasingly likely to believe the worst of what’s alleged about our devices. That we’re being used, manipulated, spied on, listened to, watched, taken advantage of in service of selling ads — even if evidence is presented to the contrary.

Some academics at Northeastern University recently set out to look into one such long-held assumption, the zombie conspiracy which no one ever seems to be able to kill over whether our phones are secretly listening to us to know which ads to present to us. A conspiracy that no less than Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg tried to swat down himself when he was grilled by Congress earlier this year.

What the researchers found: Your phone probably isn’t spying you. At least, not like that.

The study looked at 17,260 Android apps and specifically paid attention to the media files being sent from them. As Business Insider summarizes it, “The researchers found no instance in which these apps turned on the phone’s microphone unprompted and sent audio. But they did find that some apps were sending screen recordings and screenshots to third parties.”

Or — we’re all worried about the wrong kind of spying.

Nigerian police discover bodies of 41 suspected bandits Inside a forest in Zamfara

Police have discovered the bodies of 41 persons suspected to be part of bandits terrorising villages in Zamfara State, north-west Nigeria.
Kenneth Ebrimson, the Commissioner of Police in the state confirmed the figure while briefing reporters in Gusau, the state capital. According to him, police personnel found the men with their throats cut at different locations in the state.

Ebrimson revealed that 18 bodies were discovered in a river on Sunday and 23 others at a forest in the Zurmi area of Zamfara. He added that four suspects were arrested after the bush area was combed while the police recovered machetes and guns during the search. The police commissioner disclosed further that the suspects were identified as members of a local vigilante group who decided to embark on a mission of “extra-judicial killings”.


While residents were unable to identify any of the bodies who they said were not resident in the area, the police said they could be members of a group involved in cattle rustling and kidnapping. Farming and cattle herding communities in Zamfara have for years been terrorised by gangs of cattle thieves and kidnappers who raid villages, steal cows and abduct locals for ransom.

As a hideout, the gangs use the Ruggu forest which straddles Zamfara, Katsina and Kaduna states. The attacks have prompted villagers to form militia groups for protection but they, too, have been accused of taking the law into their own hands and killing suspected bandits. Those killings attract reprisals from motorcycle-riding criminal gangs, who carry out indiscriminate killings and arson in retaliation.

In April the Nigerian government deployed troops to Zamfara to fight the gangs while the police outlawed the vigilantes to end the tit-for-tat killings.

A woman climbed the base of the Statue of Liberty on the Fourth of July to protest migrant family separations

A woman who climbed up to the robes of the Statue of Liberty to protest the separation of migrant families was taken into custody after a standoff with police on the Fourth of July.

Authorities had tried to talk the woman down but she refused to leave. For nearly three hours, she crossed the base of the statue, at times sitting in the folds of the statue's dress and under Lady Liberty's sandal. The woman was identified as Therese Patricia Okoumou by a law enforcement source close to the investigation and another source who knows her.
The woman was part of a group of protesters and had declared that she wouldn't come down until "all the children are released," a source with the New York Police Department told us.

A woman who climbed up to the robes of the Statue of Liberty to protest the separation of migrant families was taken into custody after a standoff with police on the Fourth of July.

Authorities had tried to talk the woman down but she refused to leave. For nearly three hours, she crossed the base of the statue, at times sitting in the folds of the statue's dress and under Lady Liberty's sandal. The woman was identified as Therese Patricia Okoumou by a law enforcement source close to the investigation and another source who knows her.
The woman was part of a group of protesters and had declared that she wouldn't come down until "all the children are released," a source with the New York Police Department told us.

Lightning strike injures young man, child before fireworks show in Illinois

Two people were critically injured from a lightning strike before a 4th of July fireworks show in Sheridan, Illinois.

Online newspaper The Times reports that a young man, about 20 years old, and a 3 or 4-year-old girl were taken to OSF St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Ottawa by ambulance.

No further details were immediately available.

Wisconsin girl, 16, returns home after being sex trafficked into Chicago, mother says

A missing Wisconsin teen returned home a month after being lured to Chicago by sex traffickers, her mother says.

Armoni Chambers, 16, was found Wednesday after activists received a tip about a Facebook video in which the girl appeared to be assaulted, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.

Bonnie Bruno, Chambers’ mother, and activist Tory Lowe traveled to Chicago to search for her, the newspaper reported. Chambers was trafficked by several men before going to Chicago, Bruno said.

“Her entire time in Chicago was trauma after trauma after trauma,” she said. “She was afraid. She thought she was going to die.”

Milwaukee police declared Chambers missing June 18, according to FOX6 Milwaukee. Bruno received a tip about video surveillance showing Chambers boarding a Chicago-bound Greyhound bus in Milwaukee. Family and activists used the next several days to track down every lead to find the teen.

Tragic Chinese billionaire falls and dies while trying to take a picture

A Chinese billionaire has died after he fell while trying to take a beautiful picture.

57-year-old Wang Jian, who is the chairman and co-founder of one of China’s largest conglomerates, HNA, was travelling in France when the tragic accident happened, according to the company.

HNA said on Wednesday that Wang Jian had fallen and died from his injuries on Tuesday in Provence, without providing any more details of his death.


French media reported that a 57-year-old Chinese tourist had died after falling down the stairs of a church in the village of Bonnieux on Tuesday while trying to take a photograph. Other reports said Wang had fallen off a cliff while having his picture taken. Police said they were not treating his death as suspicious.

Japanese Rocket Crashes and Explodes in Flames Shortly After Launch

An uncrewed Japanese rocket has crashed only seconds after launch. The MOMO-2 rocket burst into flames shortly after take-off on June 30.
Luckily there were no injuries caused by the short-lived flight. The unfortunate rocket was developed by Japanese start-up company Interstellar Technologies.

The company aims to design and develop small, lightweight, and low-cost rockets that can send satellites into space. This disastrous flight was the second take-off for the company, its first flight was a partial success in that the MOMO did manage to leave the launch pad but communications with it were lost about a minute after it had lifted off.

Second rocket crash for new company
The rocket's booster only managed to reach an altitude of about 12 miles (20 kilometers) before it splashed down into the Pacific Ocean. A video of the 10-meter high rocket launching then crashing is a combination of tragedy and comedy, however, the company won’t be put off saying they are on track to put a satellite into low Earth orbit by 2020.
Interstellar Technologies wants to be able to offer satellite launches for as little as US$440,000 compared to the price the Japanese government offers of US$1.8 million minimum. While it's an ambitious and exciting goal, the fledgling company will need to go some way before it can convince investors it can safely deliver payloads to space.

85 Percent of the Asteroid Belt Is Composed of the Remnants of Ancient Planets

A new study from the University of Florida has found that 85 percent of our solar system's asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter is made up of the remnants of five or six ancient small planets.

Lead author on the newly published research paper Stanley Dermott says it's likely that the remaining 15 percent could also end up being from old planets too.

Research into the asteroid belt offers insights into the way our own Earth was formed. It also gives scientists critical information about the formation of the asteroid and offers the opportunity to determine if any matter is going to peel off and head towards earth.
"These large bodies whiz by the Earth, so of course we're very concerned about how many of these there are and what types of material are in them," Dermott said in a press release. "If ever one of these comes towards the earth, and we want to deflect it, we need to know what its nature is."

The study discovered that the size of the asteroid determines its orbit. This discovery suggests that the differences we observe in meteorites found on Earth relate to the evolutionary changes that occurred inside a few large, vanguard bodies that existed more than four billion years ago.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we eventually trace the origins of all asteroids in the main asteroid belt, not just those in the inner belt, to a small number of known parent bodies,” Dermott said. This research helps theoretical astronomers in their quest to investigate where planets like our own might exist in the universe.
But before those questions can be fully understood it is crucial to more fully understand the processes that produced the planet we live on. Last month NASA discovered an asteroid heading on a collision course with Earth.

Google says it's not reading your Gmail, except when....

Google published a blog explaining the terms on which hundreds of app makers are given access to millions of inboxes belonging to Gmail users.
The company was also at pains to point out that "no one at Google reads your Gmail."
But there are a couple of key exceptions to this rule, including when Google needs to go investigate a bug or "abuse" of the platform.
It's not clear whether Gmail users are notified when Google rummages through messages to address these issues.

Google was hauled over the coals this week for reportedly giving hundreds of app makers access to millions of inboxes belonging to Gmail users.

The Wall Street Journal reported that users who signed up for "email-based services" like "shopping price comparisons," and "automated travel-itinerary planners" were most at risk of having their private messages read.

In response to the story, Google published a blog on Tuesday detailing how third-party developers have to go through an involved review process before they are given access to Gmail.

Suzanne Frey, Google Cloud's director of security, trust, and privacy, also said that Gmail's 1.4 billion users hold the keys to their own data and can control permissions.
In the same piece, Frey was at pains to point out that Google itself does not read user emails.

'Dead' woman wakes up in a morgue. Why does this keep happening?

A woman was taken to the morgue and pronounced dead after a car crash near Johannesburg in South Africa.

The only problem? She wasn't dead.
According to the BBC, the unnamed woman woke up in a mortuary fridge after a car pile-up on June 24 which reportedly left two others dead.

The woman was discovered by a morgue worker, according to the news service, and she is now recovering in a hospital east of Johannesburg.

The woman's family declined to comment on the incident to the BBC, but said, "We need answers."

So, how did this happen? An investigation is reportedly underway. Ambulance company Distress Alert, who mispronounced the woman dead, told news publisher Times Live, “Equipment used to determine life showed no form of life on the woman."

"This did not happen because our paramedics are not properly trained," the company's statement added. "There is no proof of any negligence by our crew."

How does this keep happening?
It's not the first time this has happened. In fact, it's not as uncommon as you'd think.

Facebook shutters the teen app it just bought

Facebook is shutting down three apps, including a teen app called tbh, which it bought about eight months ago.
In a blog post, the social network said it would shutter the tbh, Hello and Moves apps due to "low usage." Facebook will delete user data from the apps within 90 days.

"We know some people are still using these apps and will be disappointed," the company said in a blog post late Monday. "But we need to prioritize our work so we don't spread ourselves too thin."

Facebook acquired tbh -- which stands for the popular texting acronym "to be honest" -- for an undisclosed sum last October. The app let users participate in anonymous polls and give positive feedback to friends. It initially was widely popular among teens. Over 5 million people downloaded the app in a matter of weeks.