Tomato battle paints streets of Spanish town red

Thousands of half-naked revellers pelted each other with tomatoes on Wednesday in the town of Bunol in eastern Spain, bathing the streets with red goo in the 70th annual “Tomatina” battle.

A string of trucks laden with 150 tonnes of tomatoes rolled through the town’s narrow streets, as teams on board distributed the load to surrounding crowds for people to throw at each other during the hour-long morning festivities.

The iconic fiesta, billed at “the world’s biggest food fight”, has become a major draw for foreigners, in particular from Britain, Japan, Australia and the United States.

Bunol city hall estimates that only one-fifth of the roughly 22,000 participants this year are from Spain.

Bunol mayor Rafael Perez said the event had become so succesful by allowing anyone participating to let off steam.

“There are countries where maybe people have a harder time expressing their feelings,” he told Spanish radio.

“The Japanese for example are very reserved, solemn, and transform themselves when they come here,” he added.

Organisers recommend participants squish the tomatoes before throwing them — “the hit will be less painful” — wear old clothes and use goggles to protect their eyes from the fruit’s acid.

Black women group alleges discrimination

A group of black women from a book club were kicked off a wine tour in California’s wine country at the weekend - sparking accusations of racism on the company’s part.

One of the women, Lisa Johnson told a local newspapers it was ‘humiliating’ when she and her friends were escorted off the Napa Valley Wine Train by a police officer.

A train company spokesperson said the women had been cautioned several times by the train manager after complaints from other customers that they were laughing and talking too loudly. But one passenger who witnessed the incident later claimed that it was clearly racially motivated.

The Napa Valley Wine Train offers a ‘three-hour journey through world famous vineyards: wine tours, wine tasting & great dining’.

The women — who all wore matching T-shirts with their book club’s slogan, ‘Sistahs on the Reading Edge’ — departed on the train on Saturday shortly before noon, one news report said. According to the report the women admitted that they were laughing and talking with one another as they enjoyed their wine.

At one point, a fellow passenger told the ladies — including an 83-year-old grandmother — ‘this isn’t a bar’, while a manager said they needed to quiet down.

Japanese liquor arrives at International Space Station

An unmanned cargo ship loaded with emergency supplies — including Japanese whisky — successfully docked at the International Space Station early on Tuesday, officials said.

But thirsty astronauts will have to keep their hands off the golden tipple — it’s a science experiment.

Drinks giant Suntory sent the booze to space so it could test how time in a zero-gravity environment affects its flavour.

Researchers for the company have said that storing the beverage in an environment with only slight temperature changes and limited liquid movement could lead to a mellower flavour.

The unusual cargo was placed inside the 5.5-ton vessel “Kounotori” (stork in Japanese), which blasted off from southern Japan last Wednesday attached to an H-IIB rocket.

It was also loaded with food, water, clothing and tools necessary for experiments in space.

Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui, 45, who is living at the ISS, used a robotic arm to grab the vessel before it was successfully berthed at the station.

The cargo ship will leave the ISS and re-enter the earth’s atmosphere in late September, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

‘Retired’ Model Cara Delevingne Takes Her Pants Off for YSl

The other day the internet made a helluva deal about Cara Delevingne officially retiring from modeling to focus on her acting career. Modeling made her feel “hollow,” she said. It made her hate herself and her body, she said.

Days later, here’s the retired model clad in only a slick black blazer for YSL’s Rouge Pur Couture campaign, which, according to Delevingne’s Instagram, is “A colour so bold you’d feel naked without it” 

Finding the former model in major campaigns should come as little surprise; actresses often grace beauty and fashion campaigns as well as model-y editorials which run alongside v serious interviews about their latest roles and what designers they like and stuff. Actresses are almost always found on the cover of fashion magazines and, on occasion, an actress may even walk a runway or two.

So don’t get it twisted, Delevingne is still very much a retired model, despite appearing in a very model-esque pose for YSL.

ASHES TO DASHES

One of the charms of Test cricket is that a match scheduled to last five days allows for the possibility of a fightback, even if a team falls behind early on.

It was a charm, however, completely lacking from the 2015 Ashes, which ended with England winning the five-match series 3-2 despite Australia’s innings and 46-run win in the concluding Test at The Oval on Sunday.

This Ashes equalled in length the shortest five-Test series of modern times of 18 days that took place when England played the West Indies in 2000.

The fifth day wasn’t needed in any of the matches, with the nearest thing to a ‘close’ contest, England’s 169-run win in the series opener in Cardiff.

Prior to the series both sides spoke about their intention to play aggressive cricket.

It became such an ingrained mantra, it was almost as if the thought of playing out a maiden filled some batsmen with a sense of dread.

Australia rectified their approach at The Oval, where their opening boundary did not arrive until the 15th over of the match and they still piled up 481, but by then it was too late to save the Ashes.

“Full credit to England -- they won the key moments in this series, they outplayed us,” said Australia coach Darren Lehmann.

“We had four of the five top wicket-takers and three of the four top run-scorers, but we didn’t win the key moments,” the former Australia batsman added.

“It was an unbelievable series. “Arguably the most “unbelievable” aspect of all was Australia’s collapse to 60 all out in just 111 balls on the opening morning of the fourth Test at Trent Bridge, with England paceman Stuart Broad taking eight for 15.

Indian tribal communities trapped in Maoist crossfire

Growing up in a remote tribal hamlet, Rupa Hembrom used to be terrified of the wild boars that roamed nearby.

Now her biggest fear is the Maoist guerrillas who prowl the jungles of India's 'Red Corridor'.

The left-wing extremists have been fighting to overthrow the government for decades, but the conflict has taken on a new intensity since right-wing Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's election last year.

A rise in abductions of civilians and execution-style killings mean they are now regarded as India's number one security challenge, striking fear into security forces and locals alike.

Read: India's Maoist rebels kill four abducted policemen

While operating mainly underground, the Maoists often descend on villages to demand everything from protection money to livestock as well as enticing young men and women to join their ranks.

"Just looking at them makes me so scared. They have machine-guns and they look so powerful," said 24-year-old Hembrom as she narrated her encounters with heavily-armed Maoist patrols in Jharkhand state.

Hembrom's village of lush paddy fields and sparkling streams falls in the so-called 'Red Corridor' straddling swathes of central and eastern India.

Hembrom belongs to one of India's many indigenous tribes collectively known as Adivasis, who live in abject poverty ─ fertile recruiting ground for the Maoists, also known as Naxals, hiding out in surrounding areas.

Bad day for World Stock Markets

The mixed picture comes after a tumultuous day on Wall Street, where the Dow Jones industrial average ended down 3.6 percent after trimming much bigger losses. European markets were also hit badly. Analysts said it was unclear whether this was a sign the worst was over, or a reprieve in a longer-term bear market.

The declines in China were less severe. The Shanghai Composite Index was down 4.3 percent at 3,071.06 at midday Tuesday after falling 6.4 percent in the first minutes of trading. On Monday, it plummeted 8.5 percent.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 index was up 0.9 percent at 18,702.66 in afternoon trading after dropping 4.6 percent the previous session. Hong Kong's Hang Seng, which also lost 4.6 percent Monday, was up 1.6 percent at 21,595.74. Sydney's S&P ASX 200 advanced 1.4 percent to 5,073.20 and Seoul's Kospi was steady at 1,829.06 after shedding 3 percent the previous day.

The global sell-off was triggered by the sharp drop in Chinese stocks Monday, but experts said there was little change in economic fundamentals to justify such a massive global slide.

"There was no clear catalyst for the global stock meltdown. The lack of clarity makes it difficult to assess what is needed to stem the rout," said Bernard Aw of IG Markets in a report.

Alkaline Water

Alkaline water is a new hydration trend that some say is superior to regular water. Proponents of alkaline water believe that maintaining a bodily pH of 7.4 is the key to perfect health. Drinking alkaline water, which is less acidic that tap water, can help the body stay better hydrated and disease free, they said.

PH is measured on a scale from 0 to 14. A pH of 7 is considered neutral. Values below 7 are considered acidic, while those above 7 are alkaline -– or basic.

Most tap water has a neutral pH. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has recommended the  pH of drinking water to be between 6.5 and 8.5. Barbara Broadwater of Los Angeles drinks alkaline water and says she believes the benefits.

Michelle Promaulayko, editor in chief of Yahoo Health, told  that there were “no studies to support that drinking alkaline water does anything to optimize your health.”

Dr. Richard Besser, ABC News’ chief health and medical editor, argued, “Our bodies need water - it's absolutely essential. But … the idea that drinking alkaline water will affect the PH of your blood is absolute nonsense.”

Critics say that while alkaline water won’t help, it also probably won’t hurt. 

A Pennsylvanian mother Jessica Colletti is breast-feeding for her friend's son and her own son

A Pennsylvanian mother Jessica Colletti is breast-feeding for her friend's son and her own son . The friend likes the plan so much, she moved in with Colletti and her husband.
“It just seemed like the natural thing to do because I was already breast-feeding my son,” said Colletti.
This interesting and milky situation started last year when Colletti met Charlie Interrante, and Interrante explained her trouble nursing her son, Mateo, as Interrante wasn’t able to pump her own milk for Mateo at her job as a barber.
Colletti offered to feed him along with her own son Lucian, and the women became “inseparable,” Colletti said. The babies, too.

   Jessica Colletti (l.) and her son Lucian pose with Charlie Interrante and her son, Mateo.

“They’re milk brothers … they will always have that bond,” said Colletti, who nearly broke the Internet Saturday when she posted a photo of herself feeding the boys on the blog Mama Bean.

A new Era of Cold War

As United States  has launched the biggest allied airborne exercises in Europe since the Cold War ended,   it seems that it will incite already simmering Cold War between NATO lead by US and Russia as fighting involving pro-Russian separatists escalated in eastern Ukraine. About 5,000 soldiers from 11 NATO allies are taking part in four weeks of "simultaneous multinational airborne operations" across Germany, Italy, Bulgaria and Romania.

It demonstrates that big powers have not learnt any lesson from miseries of Cold War which caused the loss of millions of lives across many regions of the world.  They are not concerned about miserable conditions of the people living in the poor countries, but they only want to assert their power and sell their arms.

Fanatcism

Fanaticism is a belief or behavior involving uncritical zeal or with an obsessive enthusiasm. Philosopher George Santayana defines fanaticism as "redoubling your effort when you have forgotten your aim". The fanatic displays very strict standards and little tolerance for contrary ideas or opinions.

In his book Crazy Talk, Stupid Talk, Neil Postman states that "the key to all fanatical beliefs is that they are self-confirming....(some beliefs are) fanatical not because they are 'false', but because they are expressed in such a way that they can never be shown to be false."

Fanaticism has many types and variations, such as Ethnic and racial, nationalistic or patriotic, political and ideological, and religious fanaticism.

Ethnic or racial fanaticism relates to the strong association with a language, region and tribe or race. Such people try to exclude others from their community and try to assert their rights on the basis of their ethnic or racial background. Some, like Jürgen Habermas and Bruce Barry, have argued that the legitimacy of modern states must be based on a notion of political rights of autonomous individual subjects. According to this view, the state should not acknowledge ethnic, national or racial identity but rather instead enforce political and legal equality of all individuals. Others, like Charles Taylor and Will Kymlicka, argue that the notion of the autonomous individual is itself a cultural construct. According to this view, states must recognize ethnic identity and develop processes through which the particular needs of ethnic groups can be accommodated within the boundaries of the nation-state.

The 19th century saw the development of the political ideology of ethnic nationalism, when the concept of race was tied to nationalism, first by German theorists including Johann Gottfried von Herder. Instances of societies focusing on ethnic ties, arguably to the exclusion of history or historical context, have resulted in the justification of nationalist goals. Two periods frequently cited as examples of this are the 19th century consolidation and expansion of the German Empire and the 20th century Nazi Germany. Each promoted the pan-ethnic idea that these governments were only acquiring lands that had always been inhabited by ethnic Germans. The history of late-comers to the nation-state model, such as those arising in the Near East and south-eastern Europe out of the dissolution of the Ottoman and Austro-Hungarian Empires, as well as those arising out of the former USSR, is marked by inter-ethnic conflicts. Such conflicts usually occur within multi-ethnic states, as opposed to between them, as in other regions of the world. Thus, the conflicts are often misleadingly labelled and characterized as civil wars when they are inter-ethnic conflicts in a multi-ethnic state.

Nationalistic and patriotic is an ideology that involves an individual identifying with, or becoming attached to, one's nation. Nationalism involves national identity, by contrast with the related concept of patriotism, which involves the social conditioning and personal behaviors that support a state's decisions and actions.
This relates to strong affiliation with one's motherland or nation. For example in Sub-continent Hindu nationalists developed an ideology of Bharat Maata (India mother) and akhand Bharat (United India). On the basis basis of this ideology unprecedented bloodshed was witnessed during the partition and Kashmir conflict.
Political or ideological fanaticism stems from a strong affiliation with a political ideology such as communism, socialism and fascism etc. These ideologies have also caused bloody conflicts worldwide including two world wars.

Religious fanaticism generates from blind faith in a religious ideology. The world have witnessed brutal and bloody consequences of religious fanaticism in the form of Christian fanaticism during medieval ages and Muslim fanaticism in the 21st century.

In short fanaticism of every type escalates bigotry, intolerance, hate and bloody conflict. Therefore we should keep our faculties of thinking and reasoning open to keep the menace of fanaticism at bay.

11 Years old Paraguay girl becomes a mother

11-year-old gives birth to girl in Paraguay

An 11-year-old girl who was denied an abortion after being raped gave birth Thursday, the culmination of a case that put a spotlight on child rape in this poor South American nation and drew criticism from human rights groups.

Elizabeth Torales, a lawyer for the girl's mother, told The Associated Press that the minor gave birth to a baby girl via cesarean in a Red Cross hospital in Asuncion, Paraguay's capital. She said reported there were no complications and both the mother and baby were resting.

"The baby doesn't yet have a name," said Torales, who added that her client and the girl's grandmother had requested custody of the infant.

Hospital director Mario Villalba told reporters outside the hospital that the birth took about 35 minutes. She said the girl would remain in the hospital for three or four days, "like any other patient who has had a cesarean." She said the minor was currently accompanied by her grandmother, but declined to give more details.

The girl was allegedly raped and impregnated by her stepfather when she was 10. The stepfather has been arrested and is awaiting trial. The girl's mother has been charged with negligence.

The mother requested an abortion for her daughter, but the government refused to allow it, drawing praise from religious groups but criticism from many human rights organizations, including U.N. officials. Paraguay bans abortion except when a mother's life is in danger. At the time, the girl was five months pregnant and local health officials said she appeared to be in fine health.

In a statement Thursday, Amnesty International said it was glad the girl came through the birth all right, but said the fact that "she did not die does not excuse the human rights violations she suffered at the hands of the Paraguayan authorities."

While the case did spark some discussion about abortion in deeply socially conservative Paraguay, the focus of several protests was on better protecting children from abuse.

About 600 girls age 14 or under become pregnant each year in this country of 6.8 million people, according to local health statistics. Many people have called for stiffer penalties for abusers and the funding of education programs to help parents and authorities better spot signs of abuse.

Norma Benitez, spokeswoman for the Latin American Women's Commission, said her group would now push the government to provide a safe environment for the girl that includes both her mother and grandmother.

"The Paraguayan state must fulfil its role of protecting children by providing a home and a dignified life" for this family, she said.

The Roman Catholic Church has wide influence in the country and was at the forefront of calls not to allow an abortion. Mariano Mercado, spokesman for the Paraguayan Episcopal Conference, reaffirmed the church's position Thursday but didn't talk about the girl's case.

"Human life is sacred and should be respected and protected from the moment of conception until death," he said.

Carlos Gilizzola, a physician who holds a seat in the Senate, said he that for four years he has been pushing legislation to increase sex education funding.

"The majority of Christian churches, led by the Catholic Church, campaigned in 2012 to make sure the bill wasn't even taken up in committee," he said.

In July, Pope Francis spent three days in Paraguay. He met with officials, toured a slum outside Asuncion and celebrated two Masses. While activists had hoped to bring up the case of the pregnant girl, Francis did not speak about it or focus on abortion in any of his speeches.

Celebrity News

America's Most Disliked Celebrity

Q Scores, the company that polls Americans on their opinions about things like brands and celebrities, has just released its latest round of data concerning famous people. The biannually collected Q Scores are best known for their popularity rating — how well-liked, for example, a certain celebrity is among Americans — but they also includes a "negative" rating, which measures unpopularity.

The Hollywood Reporter has now taken this score, compared it over time, and compiled it into a top 10 list of the biggest celebrity falls from grace, i.e. famous people who have experienced the biggest uptick in their negative Q Score rating from 2013 to 2015 (as opposed to the celebrities with the highest overall negative Q Score rating, also revealed below).

The rating is expressed in terms of percentage points. For example, Real Housewives of Atlanta star NeNe Leakes comes in at No. 10 on the list with an increase of one point in her negative Q Score. This means between 2013 and 2015, in the Q Scores poll, there was a rise in negative perception of Leakes among American adults by 1 percent.

Below is the full list, from actors to musicians to media personalities to athletes, ranked:

10. NeNe Leakes, 1 point increase in negative Q Score

Leakes was seemingly at the center of all of the drama-filled showdowns on The Real Housewives of Atlanta during her seven-season run on the show. In June, the reality star announced her leave from the series, which she has starred in since 2008.

9. Paula Deen, 3 point increase

In 2013, Deen was sued by the former manager of a restaurant previously owned by her and her brother who claimed that the celebrity chef had committed acts of discrimination and racism toward her employees. Deen admitted to using the N-word in front of her workers in a deposition, and she was subsequently dropped by Food Network and multiple other business partners.

8. Miley Cyrus, 4 point increase

The former child star turned heads at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards when she joined Robin Thicke onstage for a provocative performance of his hit "Blurred Lines." Since then, Cyrus has grabbed headlines in other bizarre ways: twerking with a band of little people onstage, dying herarmpit hair pink, and posing nude with her pet pig for Paper magazine.

7. Judy Reyes, 10 point increase

Reyes, best known known for her roles on Scrubs, stars in Lifetime's controversial series Devious Maids. The show, which also co-stars Ana Ortiz, Roselyn Sanchez and Dania Ramirez, was widely talked about upon its premiere in 2013 for its sexualization of Latina women. Interestingly, Reyes simultaneously experienced a big change in her positive Q Score rating (21 points) suggesting her appearance on the show has been polarizing, with large portions of adult Americans either liking or disliking her — with few people in the middle.

6. Robert Griffin III, 10 point increase (tied)

After winning the 2012 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award and leading the Washington Redskins to a streak of victories, the young quarterback suffered a knee injury during a game against the Baltimore Ravens and subsequently reinjured his knee in a later matchup against the Seattle Seahawks. Contrary to what had been announced in a statement by coach Mike Shanahan, it was later revealed that Griffin's doctor had never cleared the player to return to the field. Griffin underwent surgery in January 2013 but was never able to repeat his early success during the 2013 season. Rumors that later circulated indicating Griffin would return to the starting lineup despite his poor performance on the field caused a rift between him and his teammates, according to ESPN.

5. Adrian Peterson, 13 point increase

In September 2014, the Minnesota Vikings running back was indicted on charges of child abuse for beating his 4-year-old son with a tree branch as punishment and causing multiple cuts, bruises and other injuries to the child's body. Peterson was ordered to pay a fine of $4,000 and serve two years of probation in addition to 80 hours of community service.

4. Robin Thicke, 14 point increase

Thicke's 2014 single "Blurred Lines" sparked debate about its controversial lyrics ("I know you want it. / You're a good girl"), which some listeners thought insinuated rape. The song faced plagiarism accusations for allegedly ripping off Marvin Gaye's "Got to Give It Up" in a lawsuit filed by Gaye's family (Thicke and co-writer Pharrell Williams lost the legal battle and were ordered to pay $5.3 million). In the midst of the "Blurred Lines" lawsuit, the singer also went through a public divorce from longtime partner Paula Patton.

News, USA News

Top secret Clinton emails include drone talk

The two emails on Hillary Rodham Clinton's private server that an auditor deemed "top secret" include a discussion of a news article detailing a U.S. drone operation and a separate conversation that could point back to highly classified material in an improper manner or merely reflect information collected independently, U.S. officials who have reviewed the correspondence told The Associated Press.

On Monday, the inspector general for the 17 spy agencies that make up what is known as the intelligence community told Congress that two of 40 emails in a random sample of the 30,000 emails Clinton gave the State Department for review contained information deemed "Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information," one of the government's highest levels of classification.The sourcing of the information in the emails could have significant political implications as the 2016 presidential campaign heats up. Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, agreed this week to turn over to the FBI the private server she used as secretary of state, and Republicans in Congress have seized on the involvement of federal law enforcement as a sign that she was either negligent with the nation's secrets or worse.

The two emails were marked classified after consultations with the CIA, which is where the material originated, officials said.

The officials who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity work in intelligence and other agencies. They wouldn't detail the contents of the emails because of ongoing questions about classification level. Clinton did not transmit the sensitive information herself, they said, and nothing in the emails she received makes clear reference to communications intercepts, confidential intelligence methods or any other form of sensitive sourcing.

The drone exchange, the officials said, begins with a copy of a news article that discusses the CIA drone program that targets terrorists in Pakistan and elsewhere. While a secret program, it is well-known and often reported on. The copy makes reference to classified information, and a Clinton adviser follows up by dancing around a top secret in a way that could possibly be inferred as confirmation, they said. Several officials, however, described this claim as tenuous.

But a second email reviewed by Charles McCullough, the intelligence community inspector general, appears more suspect. Nothing in the message is "lifted" from classified documents, the officials said, though they differed on where the information in it was sourced. Some said it improperly points back to highly classified material, while others countered that it was a classic case of what the government calls "parallel reporting" — different people knowing the same thing through different means.

The emails came to light Tuesday after Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, reported that McCullough found four "highly classified" emails on the unusual home brew server that Clinton used while she was secretary of State. Two were sent back to the State Department for review, but Grassley said the other two were, in fact, classified at the closely guarded "Top Secret/SCI level."

In a four-page fact sheet that accompanied a letter to Clinton supporters, Clinton spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri stressed that Clinton was permitted to use her own email account as a government employee and that the same process concerning classification reviews would still be taking place had she used the standard "state.gov" email account used by most department employees. The State Department, meanwhile, stressed that it wasn't clear if the material at issue ought to be considered classified at all.

Still, the developments suggested that the security of Clinton's email setup and how she guarded the nation's secrets will remain relevant campaign topics. Even if the emails highlighted by the intelligence community prove innocuous, she will still face questions about whether she set up the private server with the aim of avoiding scrutiny, whether emails she deleted because she said they were personal were actually work-related, and whether she appropriately shielded such emails from possible foreign spies and hackers.

Clinton says she exchanged about 60,000 emails in her four years as secretary of state. She turned over all but what she said were personal emails late last year. The department has been making those public as they are reviewed and scrubbed of any sensitive data.

The State Department advised employees not to use personal email accounts for work, but it wasn't prohibited. But Clinton's senior advisers at the State Department would have been briefed upon basic protocol for handling classified information and retaining government records. In Clinton's time, most officials saved their emails onto a separate file or printed them out when leaving office. Only recently has the department begun automatically archiving the records of dozens of senior officials, including Secretary of State John Kerry.

In the emails, Clinton's advisers appear cognizant of secrecy protections.

In a series of August 2009 emails, Clinton aide Huma Abedin told Clinton that the U.S. point-man for Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, and another official wanted "to do a secure" conversation to discuss Afghan elections. Clinton said she could talk after she received a fax of a classified Holbrooke memo, also on a secure line. Later, Abedin wrote: "He can talk now. We can send secure fax now. And then connect call."

But other times, the line was blurred. Among Clinton's exchanges now censored as classified by the State Department was a brief exchange in October 2009 with Jeffrey Feltman, then the top U.S. diplomat for the Middle East. Both Clinton and Feltman's emails about an "Egyptian proposal" for a reconciliation ceremony with Hamas are marked B-1.4, classified for national security reasons, and completely blacked out from the email release.

A longer email the same day from Clinton to former Sen. George Mitchell, then Mideast peace envoy, is also censored. Mitchell responds tersely and carefully that "the Egyptian document has been received and is being translated. We'll review it tonight and tomorrow morning, will consult with the Pals (Palestinians) through our Consul General, and then I'll talk with Gen. S again. We'll keep you advised."