At Least 16 Killed In Haiti Carnival Accident

At least 16 people were killed during Haiti's national Carnival parade in an accident involving an electrical shock on a float, government officials said.

An "accident following an electrical shock" happened on a parade float in Port-au-Prince on Tuesday, Haitian Communications Minister Rothschild Francis Junior said.

The government spokesman did not elaborate on the accident. Seventy-eight other people were injured, the office of Haiti's Prime Minister said.

Video from the scene appeared to show a power line striking a man atop a float. Chaos erupted and revelers ran in all directions.

"My sincerest sympathies (are) with the victims of the grave incident this morning at the Champ de Mars celebrating Mardi Gras Carnaval," Haitian President Michel Martelly said on Twitter.

Sudan's President Claims CIA And Mossad 'Stand Behind' Isis And Boko Haram

Al-Bashir told the broadcaster: “I said CIA and the Mossad stand behind these organisations; there is no Muslim who would carry out such acts.”

Boko Haram abducted 300 girls from a school in Nigeria last year and recently claimed responsibility for the massacre in the north-east Nigerian town of Baga, warning in the video that the killings were “just the tip of the iceberg”.

Isis militants have killed thousands during their bloody insurgency across Syria and Iraq.

He also cautioned against taking violent measures to fight militants, claiming it could lead to an even more severe extremist response. 

“Our policy has been largely successful, after we arrest these young people we bring a group of young scholars to engage in dialogue with them about their thoughts, and we succeed to bring a lot of them back from their radical ideas,” he added.

His remarks come after the leader of Lebanon's Hezbollah group also claimed the CIA and Israel's Mossad are behind the extremist group, according to the Associated Press.

In January, Melih Gokcek, the mayor of the Turkish city Ankara, claimed Mossad was involved in the Charlie Hebdo massacre in Paris, committed by Islamist militants.

Explaining his conspiracy theory, he suggested Israel was behind the mass shooting because it wanted to "boost enmity towards Islam", the Financial Times reports.

The wide-ranging discussion also saw the President challenge a report by Human Rights Watch claiming more than 200 women and girls were raped by Sudanese troops in an assault on the north Darfur town of Tabit, which the group said happened on 30 October.

He dismissed the report as “a radio news item from Radio Dabanga which is hostile to us,” and “opposition-run and Israeli funded”, Euronews reports.

CIA 'Bought Chemical Weapons From A Secret Seller In Iraq'

The US Central Intelligence Agency between 2005 and 2006 bought hundreds of nerve-agent rockets from a secret seller in Iraq as part of an effort to keep chemical weapons out of the hands of terrorists, according to a New York Times investigation.

In an effort dubbed Operation Avarice, the CIA worked with American troops in Iraq to buy and destroy at least 400 Borak rockets. Saddam Hussein’s government manufactured the rockets in the 1980s, along with other chemical weapons.

It is not known how much the US government paid for the weapons or who the seller was, though the Times did report that the seller was eager to get rid of his stash.

Many of the rockets were in poor condition and some were empty or held a nonlethal liquid, the report said. Other rockets contained the nerve agent sarin, which is among the most dangerous chemical weapons and was developed as a pesticide in Germany in 1938.

Further details of the purchase were difficult to come by, as Operation Avarice is still classified.

“Without speaking to any specific programs, it is fair to say that together with our coalition partners in Iraq, the U.S. military worked diligently to find and remove weapons that could be used against our troops and the Iraqi people,” Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a written statement, according to the Times.

Meet The 24-Year-Old Astrophysics Student With A Chance To Live – And Die – On Mars

From 202,586 hopefuls, to the 100 would-be astronauts. A 24-year-old astrophysics students at Birmingham University was today named on the shortlist of candidates selected to set up the first human colony on Mars – on a one-way mission that, if successful, would represent one of the most audacious achievements in human history.

“I found out at 6am that I’d made the final 100,” Maggie Lieu told The Independent from her home in Coventry, shortly after receiving the phone call that could change her life forever.

Along with 50 men and 49 other women, she has been selected to spend the next decade learning everything she needs to know to live on the Red Planet as part of the Mars One project.

God’s Hand Revealed In Space

A telescope in Chile has captured a stunning view of 'God's Hand' 1,300 light years away.

The cometary globule, also known as CG4, shines brightly in this spectacular image, and looks as though it is about to grab at stars.

Although it appears vivid in this picture, this is in fact a faint nebula, which makes it very hard for amateur sky watchers to spot.

Because of their appearance, they became known as cometary globules even though they have nothing in common with comets.

They had dense, dark, dusty heads and long, faint tails, which were generally pointing away from the Vela supernova remnant located at the centre of the Gum Nebula.

Although these objects are relatively close by, it took astronomers a long time to find them as they glow very dimly and are therefore hard to detect.

The object shown in this latest picture, CG4, which is also sometimes referred to as the Mouth of the Beast, is one of these cometary globules. 

The fist of 'God's Hand', which is the part visible on this image and resembles the head of the gigantic beast, has a diameter of 1.5 light-years.

The tail of the globule — which extends downwards and is not visible in the image — is about eight light-years long. By astronomical standards this makes it a comparatively small cloud.

The relatively small size is a general feature of cometary globules.

All of the cometary globules found so far are isolated, relatively small clouds of neutral gas and dust within the Milky Way, which are surrounded by hot ionised material.

The head part of CG4 is a thick cloud of gas and dust, which is only visible because it is illuminated by the light from nearby stars.

The radiation emitted by these stars is gradually destroying the head of the globule and eroding away the tiny particles that scatter the starlight.

However, the dusty cloud of CG4, captured by the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope, still contains enough gas to make several sun-sized stars.

Why CG4 and other cometary globules have their distinct form is still a matter of debate among astronomers and two theories have developed.

Cometary globules could originally have been spherical nebulae, which were disrupted and acquired their new, unusual form because of the effects of a nearby supernova explosion.

Other astronomers suggest, that cometary globules are shaped by stellar winds and ionising radiation from hot, massive stars.

These effects could first lead to the bizarrely named formations known as elephant trunks and then eventually cometary globules.

To find out more, astronomers need to find out the mass, density, temperature, and velocities of the material in the globules.

These can be determined by the measurements of molecular spectral lines which are most easily accessible at millimetre wavelengths — wavelengths at which telescopes like the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (Alma) operate.

Three Students Shot Dead In 'Parking Dispute'

The mother of one of the three victims of the Chapel Hill shooting has lead tributes to her son during a candlelit vigil.

Thousands gathered at the centre of the University of North Carolina campus, where 23-year-old Deah Barakat was in his second year of studying to become a dentist.

He along with his wife, 21-year-old Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha and her sister Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19, were “murdered execution style” at home on Tuesday evening.

The families of the victims have issued a joint statement calling on police to investigate the incident as a hate crime, but officers say there was an existing dispute over parking and the wife of suspect Craig Stephen Hicks “claimed this had nothing to do with religion or the victims’ faith”.

Speaking to the press last night, Deah’s mother Layla Barakat said: “His legacy is never hate.

“You don't respond back by hating the other. You respond back by love. By peace, by mercy. That's Deah's way,” she said.

Among those attending were Deah’s 10-year-old brother Basem, who said through tears: “I want to see him again, I didn’t get to say bye”, according to the North Carolina-based News Observer.

Suzanne Barakat, Deah’s brother, said: “Having been here for nine years and having attended many vigils myself in support of so many causes that this amazing institution is proud of, I never once thought that I would one day be here for my brother.”

Local network WNCN reported how UNC chancellor Carol Folt was brought to tears while speaking to the gathered crowd. She said it had been “one of the saddest and most incomprehensible days of my life”.

Razan Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha had been studying architecture at North Carolina State University and was visiting her sister and brother-in-law at the time of the shooting. Representatives from her university were also present at the vigil.

Ms Folt said: “This is a tremendous loss to the Carolina and NC State campuses. My thoughts and prayers are with the families, fellow students, faculty and friends of these three very promising students.”

Chapel Hill Mayor Mark Kleinschmidt said in a statement via the town website: “Our community has been rocked by a horrible crime with the shootings of three young people.

“I share strong feelings of outrage and shock with my fellow citizens and University students - as well as concerned people everywhere. We do not know whether anti-Muslim bias played a role in this crime, but I do recognize the fear that members of our community may feel. Chapel Hill is a place for everyone, a place where Muslim lives matter.”

Western Women Drive Because They 'Don’t Care About Being Raped'

A Saudi historian has sparked outrage by claiming Western women drive cars because they do not care if they are “raped by the roadside”.

Dr Saleh al-Saadoon appeared to justify a ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia by saying that they could be attacked and sexually assaulted if their car broke down.
In an appearance on the liberal show Rotana Khalijia TV, Dr al-Saadoon suggested that women in the West “don’t care” about being raped, whereas people in Saudi Arabia do.
In December, it was announced that two women who flouted the driving ban were to be tried in a special court for terrorism.
“They don’t care if they are raped on the roadside - but we do,” he told his host Nadeen Bdeir, according to a translation from the Middle East Media Research Institute (Memri).
“Hold on, who told you that they don’t care about getting raped by the roadside?” she asked incredulously.
“It’s not a big deal for them beyond the damage to their morale,” Dr al-Saadoon claimed. “In our case, however, the problem is of a social and religious nature.”
“What is rape if not a blow to the morale of a woman?” the host replied. “That goes deeper than the social damage.”
He went on to argue that Saudi women being driven around by their male family members is perhaps something they should appreciate. “Everybody is at their service. They are like queens," he said.
 “A queen without a chauffeur has the honour of being driven around by her husband, brother, son and nephews. They are all at the ready for when she gestures with her hand.”
When his claims were countered by the fact that women have been raped by their drivers, Al-Saadoon proposed another way of tackling the issue.
"The solution is to bring in female foreign chauffeurs to drive our wives," he said, to which his host put her head in her hands and asked: "Seriously?".

Robertson whose 21-Mile Walk To Work Inspired $350,000 In Donations Moves To Temporary Home

The Detroit man whose determination to walk more than 20 miles a day to get to and from work inspired an online campaign that raised more than $350,000 for him abruptly moved on Tuesday after telling police that he did not feel safe with his newfound fortune.

According to the Detroit Free Press — whose profile of 56-year-old James Robertson led to the outpouring of donations and gifts, including a new car — the factory worker was moved to a temporary home after consulting with local law enforcement officials.

"We had a meeting with him [and] he expressed interest that he did not feel safe," Detroit Police Capt. Aric Tosqui told the newspaper. "People were actually asking him for money."
More than $350,000 was pledged for Robertson through a crowdfunding campaign launched by Evan Leedy, a 19-year-old college student who read the story and wanted to help a stranger in need. According to the paper, Robertson has yet to see any of the money raised and is expected to meet with financial advisers this week to discuss how the donations will be managed.
"I wanted to get it over with," Robertson said of the move. "There were so many factors involved."
In December, an 86-year-old Detroit man went missing after reportedly winning $20,000 in a lottery game, police said. Last week, he was found stabbed to death, and police charged a 20-year-old with his murder.

"[Robertson] knew about that story," Tosqui said. "And I also know about an incident in the 1st Precinct where a gentleman was killed after he allegedly won some money. In those two examples, no one approached the department. But if somebody won the lottery tomorrow and contacted us, we would look at the situation in the same way and see what we could do," he said.

Robertson told the paper he plans to stay in the temporary residence until he finds a permanent home, possibly closer to his $10.55-an-hour factory job in Rochester Hills.

"Don't get me wrong," Robertson, who has lived in Detroit for more than 15 years. "It'll be hard to leave the city that I love."

Last week, Robertson — who said he was unable to afford to replace his car after it broke down more than a decade ago — was surprised with a new $35,000 Ford Taurus that was donated by a suburban car dealership.

"I don't like it," Robertson told Reuters, "I love it."