World News Thread & Breaking News!!

[texx1]

Brazilian riot police has gone robot cop in order to maintain order during the world cup.

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[TerraN_EmpirE]

Not really Robot just modern Riot gear.

 

[bd popeye]

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SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean officials offered a rare public apology for the collapse of an apartment building under construction in Pyongyang, which a South Korean official said was believed to have caused considerable casualties that could mean hundreds might have died.

The word of the collapse in the secretive nation's capital was reported Sunday morning by the North's official Korean Central News Agency, which gave no death toll but said that the accident was "serious" and upset North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Un.

The report said it occurred in the capital's Phyongchon district on Tuesday "as the construction of an apartment house was not done properly and officials supervised and controlled it in an irresponsible manner."

In Seoul, a South Korean government official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information said the 23-story apartment building that collapsed was presumed to have housed 92 families.

That could mean the casualties could be in the hundreds because a typical North Korean family has four members. However, it was not clear whether all the residents were inside at the time of the collapse, or that four people lived in each apartment.

It is not unusual for people to start living in apartments before the construction is complete.

According to the KCNA report, the rescue operation ended Saturday and officials apologized to bereaved families and district residents.

On the streets of Pyongyang on Sunday, residents expressed outrage over the incident.

"This accident happened because they broke the rules and methods of construction," resident Pak Chol told The Associated Press. "After this accident, we must make sure that this kind of terrible accident never happens again, by sticking to the proper method of building."

Another resident, Hong Nam Hyok, said that "everyone in Pyongyang is now sharing the sorrow of the victims and the bereaved families."

The KCNA report cited one official as saying Kim Jong Un "sat up all night, feeling painful after being told about the accident."

North Korea's highly controlled state media rarely report news that might be considered negative, and an admission of fault by the government is unusual.

The country regularly blames South Korea for starting the 1950-53 Korean War, although outside historians say that the North attacked first. North Korea also denies responsibility for an attack on a South Korean warship that killed 46 people in 2010, despite a South Korean-led international investigation that blamed a Pyongyang torpedo.

Sometimes, however, the country owns up to failures. Many were surprised when the North admitted in 2012 that a high-profile rocket launch fizzled soon after takeoff — an acknowledgement that followed Pyongyang's claiming of success for other such launches that foreign governments said had been failures.

 

[Equation]

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First off, my heart goes out to the victims families.

Second,

It is not unusual for people to start living in apartments before the construction is complete.

who's bright idea was this? Just because the structure is complete it still needs to be tested with the other MEP systems that integrates with the building in order to be viable to live in.

 

[ManilaBoy45]

Chinese Military Said to Be Massing Near the Vietnam Border

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By Joshua Philipp, Epoch Times | May 18, 2014

Troops, tanks, trucks, artillery, and armored personnel carriers of China’s military were seen heading to the Vietnamese border on May 16 and 17, according to photographs taken by by residents near the border.Chinese netizens have been posting photographs of the large movement of the People’s Liberation Army, many of them showing Chinese troops in full combat gear heading to the local train station in Chongzuo, along with military vehicles.

One netizen said the Chinese military was taking the train from the Chongzuo station to Pingxiang City, which shares a 60-mile border with Vietnam. The netizen said that the Huu Nghi Border Gate to Vietnam is also now closed.One of the photos, taken from inside a passenger train, shows the Chinese military preparing artillery for transport on a train track. Others show Chinese troops and military vehicles traveling along dirt roads. Another photograph shows troops walking under the red-colored entrance to the Longzhou International Building Materials Market, on Provincial Road in the city of Chongzuo.

 

[Miragedriver]

'World's largest dinosaur' discovered in Argentina

New species of titanosaur thought to be as heavy as 14 African elephants unearthed after chance discovery by farm worker in Patagonia

Video:

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[Miragedriver]

Skeleton of girl from 12,000 years ago found in cave reveals Native American origins

A teenage girl who fell into a hole more than 12,000 years ago in Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula is offering new clues about the origins of the first Native Americans, researchers say

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[kwaigonegin]

First off, my heart goes out to the victims families.

Second,
who's bright idea was this? Just because the structure is complete it still needs to be tested with the other MEP systems that integrates with the building in order to be viable to live in.

Hmm w'ere talking NK here.. I don't think their code enforcement is exactly on top of their list of priorities. My heart goes out to the victims but I'm afraid there will be other victims as well stemming from this tragedy. Mainly the architects, engineers and their families! .. heck maybe even the construction guys.
I hope Kim don't send them to the gulag or worse!

 

[Miragedriver]

Thousand Christians forced from church as demolition campaign spreads

Hundreds of Chinese Protestants have been evicted from a mega-church in eastern China adding to fears that the country's fast growing Christian community is facing a period of renewed repression

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Daily Telegraph - One thousand Christians have been forced from their place of worship in a city in eastern China after Communist Party officials decided their 10-storey mega-church was an eyesore that needed to be destroyed.
The development comes as a wave of church demolitions in Zhejiang province fuels fears Beijing is gearing up for a campaign to rein in a fast growing Christian community that some leaders fear could transform into a political threat.
Members of the Xiaying Holy Love congregation in Ningbo, a port city around 140 miles south of Shanghai, say local officials ordered them to vacate their church last month after a visiting politician was appalled by the size of the cross on its roof.

Their last service was held on May 11 and in recent days Christians have removed church property from the building including air conditioning units, tables, chairs, sound equipment and even the altar. Sunday services are currently being held in the canteen of a local school.

At an emotional final service, church leaders told hundreds of congregants of the government's decision to force them from the building, which opened last September and cost around 25 million yuan (£2.4 million) to build.


A pastor read an extract from the Book of Romans. "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose."

On Monday The Daily Telegraph was refused access to the enormous terracotta-coloured church by a man who refused to identify himself and demanded a photographer stop taking pictures of the building.
"The demolition work has already started," said one local, who asked not to be named, as workers in hard-hats made their way into the apparently deserted church. "I have seen churchgoers around here crying."
Members of the Holy Love congregation, which is part of China's officially sanctioned Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TSPM) and therefore an unusual target, said their troubles began earlier this year when officials from the Communist Party's Religious Affairs bureau told them their place of worship was "disturbingly eye-catching" and needed "rectifying".
"They told us the cross was too shiny, too tall and too big," said one church member, whose name is being withheld to protect them from retributions.

"At first they asked us to put it on the wall. We refused. Now they have told us they will tear the whole church down."
"This church should not be demolished," said another member, whose name is also being withheld. "Being a Christian is a good thing. It is all about peace and love. The government should support us. We have turned many bad people into good people," the worshipper added, pointing to a number of former drug addicts and gamblers in the congregation.
The eviction is the latest crisis to hit the Christian community in Zhejiang province. At least half-a-dozen religious sites have suffered demolitions already this year year among them Protestant churches and Catholic statues. The most high profile casualty was Sanjiang, a Protestant mega-church in Wenzhou, 170 miles to the south of Ningbo, that was torn down in late April. Activists have accused the government of unleashing a "barbaric" campaign against the region's churches.
Like Wenzhou - a city often referred to as China's Jerusalem - Ningbo has long been home to an active Christian community.

British missionaries flocked here in the mid-19th century, foremost among them James Hudson Taylor, a Barnsley-born preacher who vowed to save locals from "dark and Christless deaths".
The country is now thought to have up to 100 million Christians and some believe the Asian country could have the world's largest Christian congregation by 2030. Ningbo's Holy Love congregation has been growing fast too with around 1,000 worshippers and 40 baptisms each year, members said.

However, Communist officials appear increasingly alarmed at that growth. Earlier this year a senior Communist leader in Zhejiang warned the church's expansion had been "too excessive".

Asked why Party officials found large churches so disagreeable, the Ningbo church member said: "This is because they are afraid that as the number of Christians increases they will come into conflict with their policies and governance." The church member dismissed those fears. "The reality is that we are patriots."

Government officials have denied the demolitions represent an attack on Christianity and say they are merely targeting "illegal" buildings. However, some activists believe they are witnessing growing signs of a government push-back against Christianity that must have at least tacit approval from Beijing.

Li Heping, a Beijing-based rights lawyer who is a Christian, said border agents prevented him from boarding a flight to the United States where he was due to attend a congress on religious freedom earlier this month.
"The situation regarding religious freedom in China leaves a lot to be desired," he said.
Sui Muqing, another Christian rights lawyer, said Beijing feared Christianity's promotion of values such as "freedom, democracy and equality".

"The central government must be aware" of what is going on, said the Ningbo church member, who suggested Beijing might be using Zhejiang as a "testing ground" before rolling out a nationwide "anti-church" campaign.
"All we can do is confess the officials' sins for them, pray for them and hope they will change their minds."

 

[TerraN_EmpirE]

Fact, In North Korea you do not own your home. It's owned by the State which is owned by the Kim's.
Fact as All in North Korea is owned by the Kim Clan there are not private business or private lands other then those of Fearless leader.
Fact As such the homes of North Koreans are Assigned by the Government of North Korea.
Fact the prime contractor for construction of new buildings in the "Democratic People Republic Of Korea is the Worker-Peasant Red Guards under the Peoples army or Korea... So if the building collapsed it is literally the Governments Fault.