World's longest pedestrian suspension bridge opens in Switzerland

The world's longest pedestrian suspension bridge opened in Switzerland on Sunday, a ribbon-thin span nearly a third of a mile long that challenges hikers to proceed in places at nearly 28 stories above ground.

Officials in the south of Switzerland unveiled the bridge after just 10 weeks of construction. It measures 1,620 feet long and rises as high as 278 feet above the Grabengufer ravine. The span is also impossibly narrow, at just 25.6 inches wide.

The new bridge replaces one that was damaged by rock falls, the BBC reported. The steel structure connects two sections of a trail between Grächen and Zermatt, a popular two-day hike.

The local tourist authority warns that the high bridge is “for hikers with no fear of heights.” The bridge completes a section of the Europaweg trail, a high-altitude hiking route that offers views of some of Switzerland’s highest peaks, including the Matterhorn.

The 494-metre bridge offers stunning views – just don’t look down

It’s part of a 13 mile hiking route connecting Zermatt and Grächen

It’s a replacement for another bridge which was damaged by rock falls, the BBC reports.

But while it’s reportedly the longest, it’s not the highest – as another bridge in Reutte, Austria hangs 110m higher above ground.

The Europabrücke is part of a two-day hiking route from Zermatt to Grächen, about 13 miles north.

But hikers don’t need to worry about the huge bridge swinging , as the Zermatt Tourist Board says it’s been fitted with a system which prevents that.

Originally published on The Sun

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Lightning DOES strike twice! Quebec man, 69, rakes in a cool $1.22million in his SECOND huge lottery win in nine years

Those who say lightning never strikes twice clearly have never met Jules Parent.

The 69-year-old retiree from Quebec, Canada, has won the lottery for the second time in nine years.

Parent, who posed with a check for $1,222,06 CAD after he won $1million in 2008, asked: 'I don’t know who did this. Was I born under a good star?' 

Parent, who won his latest jackpot from an online play worth $3.20, had about a one in 23 million chance, according to Loto-Quebec.   

Parent also won $1 million back in 2008 playing the Lotto 6-49, where the odds are one in 14 million.

He said Thursday that gambling is one of his favorite pastimes, along with walking, hunting and fishing, and he intends to keep playing. He also plans to build a new home.

He told the Canadian Press: 'I'm going to continue playing the same amount I do now.

'I'm retired so it helps me pass the time. Just like any other game of chance, sometimes you win and, other times, unfortunately, you head home with less money.'

Parent, who lives alone and doesn't have any kids, said he plans to build a brand new home.  

'It won't be a castle, but it will be in the modern style,' he said.

Originally published on Daily Mail

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President’s daughter speaks out after backlash over her breastfeeding photo

The Kyrgyz president’s youngest daughter has spoken out about the furore sparked by a photo of her breastfeeding her child.

Aliya Shagieva posted a photo of herself feeding her baby on social media back in April, with the caption: ‘I will feed my child whenever and wherever he needs to be fed.’

The backlash to the image was so huge, with people accusing her of acting immorally, that she was forced to take it down.

Her parents – the President and First Lady of Kyrgyzstan – had also warned her that the negative attention ‘could be harmful to her young family’.

However, Aliya has since posted other photos of herself breastfeeding in a show of defiance.

She has now told the BBC that the row was the product of a culture in Kyrgyzstan that hyper-sexualises the female form.

‘This body I’ve been given is not vulgar,’ she told BBC Kyrgyz. ‘It is functional. Its purpose is to fulfil the physiological needs of my baby, not to be sexualised.’

But criticism wasn’t only levelled at Aliya online. Her parents, President Almazbek Atambayev and his wife Raisa, were also apparently unhappy.

Aliya said: ‘They didn’t like it – and it is understandable because the younger generation is less conservative than their parents.’

Kyrgyzstan is a Muslim-majority former Soviet republic – but Aliya swims against the current in many ways.

She, her husband and her child live in a prestigious area of Bishkek, in a flat in which they grow their own herbs and make art.

The couple are both vegetarian – a rarity in a traditionally meat-eating country – and campaign for animal rights, among other charitable causes.

But Aliya’s breastfeeding photos appear to have made the most impact internationally.

The images, which made their way into national newspapers as far away as Europe, were praised by many for breaking a taboo that continues to affect women all over the world.

Originally published on Metro

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Angelina Jolie denies 'cruel' Cambodia child auditions

Angelina Jolie has fiercely denied playing tricks on Cambodian children while casting for a film.

The actress and UN special envoy recruited local children to star in her film about Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, First They Killed My Father.

She spoke to Vanity Fair about the film and explained how they used a casting game which involved giving money to poor children then taking it away.

The interview caused outrage, with many accusing Jolie of being "exploitative".

In it, Jolie explains how the directors looked through slums and orphanages to find actors for the film, and were "specifically seeking children who had experienced hardship".

'Overwhelmed with emotion'

Their casting game saw children being asked to snatch some money, and then when caught, come up with a lie for why they stole it.

"Srey Moch [who was selected for the lead role] was the only child that stared at the money for a very, very long time," Jolie told the magazine.

"When she was forced to give it back, she became overwhelmed with emotion... When she was asked later what the money was for, she said her grandfather had died, and they didn't have enough money for a nice funeral."

Jolie, who directed the Netflix film, said it was "false and upsetting" that people misinterpreted her description of the casting process.

"I am upset that a pretend exercise in an improvisation, from an actual scene in the film, has been written about as if it was a real scenario," Jolie said in a statement.

She added: "The point of this film is to bring attention to the horrors children face in war and to help fight to protect them. The suggestion that real money was taken from a child during an audition is false and upsetting. I would be outraged myself if this had happened."

"Every measure was taken to ensure the safety, comfort and well-being of the children on the film starting from the auditions through production to the present," she said.

First They Killed My Father is Jolie's directorial debut for streaming giant Netflix.

It is based on a true-life account of a survivor of the Khmer Rouge genocide and is told through the eyes of a child.

Jolie told the BBC earlier this year that she hoped the film would help Cambodians speak more openly about their period of trauma.

'Taken out of context'

Jolie's controversial account of casting drew outrage among many, with social media users calling it "emotionally abusive and cruel".

"Angelina Jolie has gone too far," wrote one woman on Facebook. "For someone who constantly declares her love for Cambodia and children, this was a sick and depraved stunt she pulled. Some philanthropist she is."

"Child abuse" was how one Facebook user described it, slamming Jolie's "authentic methods" of casting. "You are no longer welcome in my world. You didn't realise you were dealing with children with post-traumatic syndrome (PTSD) and poverty?"

But some fans stood by Jolie's defence.

"This all sounds like it was taken out of context," said Nathalie Anderson. "She is a humanitarian and I believe she would never traumatise children like that."

Originally published on BBC

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Apple imagines AR glasses that fulfill the dream of Google Glass

Tim Cook has not-so-subtly hinted that Apple is working on some sort of augmented reality product. And while ARKit may be the start, a patent application published today hints at what Apple could be picturing down the road.

The application describes how a device could overlay information on the real world. Apple is imagining some pretty broad possibilities here. It could be as simple as putting an indicator on a point of interest, like a building. But it could be as complicated as identifying every element of a car’s dashboard and overlaying videos about them.

Apple primarily describes these abilities in relation to a phone: you’d hold it in front of you, the camera would capture the world, and the screen would overlay the context. But Apple goes a bit further than that near the end, saying it could also be applied to a “semi-transparent spectacle or glasses.” In that case, your eyes would see the world, and the glasses would overlay digital information on top of what you’re seeing.

Of course, this all sounds great in theory and looks cool in mock-ups, but technology like that still remains a long ways off. It’s all very reminiscent of what Google was originally envisioning Glass would be able to do — but the end result was far, far from it.

The patent was first spotted by Patently Apple, which points out that the ideas described in this patent originated from Metaio, an augmented reality startup that Apple purchased two years ago. Apple Insider also notes that this new patent application largely builds upon another patent granted to Metaio earlier this year — and originally filed in 2013. Apple is clearly interested in and working on this kind of stuff, but the timeline suggests that what’s described here isn’t necessarily just around the corner.

Originally published on The Verge

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Apple to discontinue iPod nano and shuffle

Apple has announced plans to kill off the iPod nano and shuffle.

They were the company's last two music players without the ability to run streaming service Apple Music and hadn't been upgraded for ages.

The move is part what's been described as a "simplification" of the iPod range to leave just the Touch model.

That product, which is like a slimmed down iPhone but without the ability to be used as a phone, has been updated.

Nanos and shuffles have already been removed from Apple's online store and will soon be made unavailable for purchase from physical stores as well.

The two discontinued models could only play songs downloaded from iTunes or from physical singles or albums.

When it was released in 2005, the shuffle was controversially innovative by dropping the screen, leaving users blind to which of the potential 500 songs stored on the 2 gigabyte handset would play next.

Arriving in the same year, the Nano was a replacement for the iPod Mini and kept the screen.

At its peak, arguably when the 7th generation model was released in 2015, it could store up to 4,000 songs across 16gb on a range of six colours.

That said, "Product Red" did involve committing to having a U2 album pre-loaded on your device.

They're also direct descendants of the original iPod introduced by then-CEO Steve Jobs in 2001. 

Apple stopped making the original model in 2014, saying it could no longer source the necessary parts.

Originally published on BCC

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Cruise ship passenger 'killed wife because she laughed at him'

A Utah man killed his wife aboard an Alaska cruise and told an acquaintance who later walked into the couple's blood-splattered room that he did it because she laughed at him, the FBI said in documents released on Thursday.

Kenneth Manzanares was charged with murder after he was found with blood on his hands and clothes and blood spread throughout the cabin on the Princess Cruises ship on Tuesday night, according to a criminal complaint by FBI Special Agent Michael L. Watson.

Kristy Manzanares, 39, had a severe head wound, but authorities have declined to release other details in the case, including how many people were traveling with the couple on the 3,400-passenger Emerald Princess that left Sunday from Seattle. 

A man and others went into the room before medical workers and security officers had arrived and saw the woman on the floor covered in blood, according to court documents. The man asked Manzanares what happened, and the suspect said, "She would not stop laughing at me."

Manzanares then grabbed his wife's body and tried to drag her to the balcony, but the man stopped him, Watson wrote. A ship security officer handcuffed Manzanares in a nearby cabin.

While the FBI searched him, he spontaneously said, "My life is over."

Manzanares, 39, was scheduled to appear in federal court by video conference from Alaska's state capital Juneau later on Thursday.

He has no criminal history, according to online Utah court records.

"We conducted approximately 200 interviews of passengers and crew members," Marlin Ritzman, FBI special agent in charge of the Alaska bureau, told reporters.

The ship was diverted to Juneau because of the investigation, which the FBI is leading because the death occurred in U.S. waters. The ship docked Wednesday morning, and passengers were kept on board for hours before the cruise departed late that night for the southeast Alaska town of Skagway.

Princess Cruises said in a statement Thursday that passengers will receive $150 onboard credit because of the effect on their vacations.

"You feel sorry for the family, but a lot of people had to wait," said Lloyd Barrows, a passenger from Alberta, Canada.

Originally published on The Telegraph

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Stephen King's child-killing clown returns in latest It trailer

Pennywise is back to scare a new generation in the latest take on the bestselling novel, arriving in a year filled with King adaptations

Stephen King’s evil clown Pennywise returns in the full trailer for this year’s big screen adaptation of It.

The bestselling novel was previously turned into a small screen mini-series in 1990, but the latest version will be spread over two theatrical releases, the first of which lands in September.

Director Andrés Muschietti, known for Jessica Chastain horror Mama, has taken over from Beasts of No Nation’s Cary Fukunaga, who was originally attached before dropping out. Fukunaga retains a writing credit.

“It is a horror movie, but it’s not only that,” Muschietti told a Comic-Con audience last weekend. “It’s a story of love and friendship and a lot of other beautiful emotions.”

The cast includes Stranger Things actor Finn Wolfhard and Midnight Special’s Jaeden Lieberher, while the child-devouring clown will be played by Bill Skarsgård, known for roles in Hemlock Grove and Anna Karenina.

“The story is the same, but there are changes in the things the kids are scared of,” Muschietti told Variety. “In the book, they’re children in the 50s, so the incarnations of the monsters are mainly from movies, so it’s Wolf Man, the Mummy, Frankenstein [and] Dracula. I had a different approach. I wanted to bring out deeper fears, based not only on movie monsters but on childhood traumas.”

The film arrives during a boom time for Stephen King adaptations, following on from the small screen reimagining of The Mist, Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey in The Dark Tower and a series based on Mr Mercedes. Hulu has also announced Castle Rock, an anthology horror show based on a number of King’s short stories.

It will be released in cinemas on 8 September.

Originally published on The Guardian

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Indian court rejects abortion for 10-year-old rape victim

India's Supreme Court has refused to allow an abortion for a 10-year-old girl allegedly raped by her uncle on the grounds that she is too far into her pregnancy.

A doctors' panel told the court that, at 32 weeks, termination of the pregnancy would be "too risky".

Her pregnancy was discovered two weeks ago when she complained of stomach ache and her parents took her to hospital.

A lower court had earlier turned down her plea on similar grounds.

Without disclosing the details of the medical report, the judges on Friday ruled that termination was "not good for the girl".

They have asked the government-run Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research hospital in the northern city of Chandigarh to ensure that proper medical care is provided to her.

The top court has also suggested that the Indian government set up a permanent medical board in each state to take prompt decisions in such cases.

On Monday, the Supreme Court had ordered doctors to evaluate whether the girl could undergo abortion safely.

The court order came after lawyer Alakh Alok Srivastava filed a public interest petition saying doctors who had already examined the girl found her pelvic bones had not fully developed because of her age and the life of both mother and baby were at "very serious risk".

"Medical experts have categorically opined that if the 10-year-old is forced to give birth, either through normal delivery or even through caesarean-section, it may be fatal to the life of the rape survivor as well as to her child," the petition said.

The girl belongs to an extremely poor family, her father is a government employee and mother works as a domestic helper. The girl alleges she was raped several times in the past seven months by her uncle, who has been arrested.

Her pregnancy was only recently discovered because she herself was unaware of her condition.

Indian law does not allow terminations after 20 weeks unless doctors confirm the mother's life is in danger.

The scale of abuse in India

• A child under 16 is raped every 155 minutes, a child under 10 every 13 hours
• More than 10,000 children were raped in 2015
• 240 million women living in India were married before they turned 18
• 53.22% of children who participated in a government study reported some form of sexual abuse
• 50% of abusers are known to the child or are "persons in trust and care-givers"

Sources: Indian government, Unicef

---

The tough law against abortion was introduced in 1971 to prevent illegal and unsafe abortions and curb maternal mortality.

The restrictions remain an important weapon in India's fight against a skewed gender ratio which has resulted from a deep-seated cultural preference for sons.

Millions of female foetuses have been aborted over the years by pregnant women after undergoing foetal gender testing.

In recent years, Indian courts have received several petitions, many from child rape survivors, seeking to terminate pregnancies after 20 weeks, the BBC's Geeta Pandey in Delhi says.

In most such cases, the pregnancy is not even discovered until after the 20-week period is over because the children are themselves unaware of their condition, our correspondent adds.

In May, a court in Haryana state asked medical experts to comment on a similar plea and a panel of doctors decided to carry out a termination.

Medical experts say girls can start menstruating and ovulating at nine, but their bodies are not mature enough for pregnancy at that age.

India is home to the largest number of sexually abused children globally, with some campaigners saying it has reached epidemic proportions. But there is a general reluctance to talk about the problem and it is rarely discussed in public.

Studies have shown that in large numbers of cases the abusers are known to the children and include care-givers like parents, relatives and teachers.

Originally published on BBC

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Donald Trump Drew a Picture of the New York City Skyline and You Can Buy It

A sketch that President Donald Trump drew of the New York City skyline will be up for auction starting Thursday.

 The sketch, which is listed by Nate D. Sanders Auctions, was drawn by Trump in 2005 for an auction benefitting a global literacy initiative, according to Mashable. Charlize Theron, Jennifer Garner, and John McCain also contributed work to the auction 12 years ago. 

The Trump Tower can be seen at the the center of the sketch, with Trump's signature in gold marker toward the bottom. 

The auction house described the sketch as "rare original artwork by the president," adding that there's only "a handful of such drawings known."

The sketch's starting price is $9,000.

Originally published on Fortune

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Alice Cooper's 'forgotten' Warhol found after four decades in storage

Alice Cooper can be forgiven for forgetting some of the finer details of the early 1970s. After all, the rock star was touring the world and riding high off the success of tracks like "School's Out."

But amid the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, Cooper forgot something that few others would -- that he owned an Andy Warhol painting. And now he has remembered where he kept it.

The recently uncovered silkscreen image, titled "Little Electric Chair," had spent over 40 years in storage alongside Cooper's old tour equipment, according to the singer's longtime manager Shep Gordon.

"Alice got (it) as a birthday present, way back in the 70s when no one cared really about Andy -- he was just coming into his own," Gordon said over the phone.

"We spoke to Alice's mother who said she thought it was probably still in storage. It took us probably six months to get around to going through, because we have a lot of stuff in storage (from) all the old shows, (but) we found it."

'Little Electric Chair'

Cooper's friendship with Warhol dates back to the 1970s when the pair would visit New York's legendary Studio 54 nightclub together, according to Gordon. They would often take photos with one another, and the rock star's then girlfriend Cindy Lang even appeared on an early cover of Warhol's magazine, Interview.

At the time, Cooper used a mock electric chair as part of his live show. So, as a birthday present, Lang decided to buy him a Warhol image that looked similar to the prop.

While the artwork may now be worth millions, it was bought for just a fraction of that.

"I remember Cindy came to the office and said that she wanted to give Alice the electric chair (painting) for his birthday, and (Warhol's studio) said she could have one for $2,500," Gordon said.

"That's my recollection but everything from those days is really foggy. As I (later) found out -- things that I thought were real were not real."

And when it comes to Warhol's art, separating real from fake can be a challenge.

A 'genuine' Warhol

The Andy Warhol Art Authentication Board was dissolved in 2011 following a series of lawsuits, meaning that other independent experts must now be sought. In order to authenticate the unsigned panting, Gordon contacted Richard Polsky, whose company Richard Polsky Art Authentication operates its own catalog of approved Warhol works.

As well as examining the painting, the art specialist scrutinized Cooper's account before adding the artwork to his catalog.

"When I heard this story, (it) fascinated me (and) it was 100 percent correct -- everything made sense," Polsky said over the phone. "What people don't understand about the electric chairs is that when they were first done -- which was 1964 to 1965 -- they didn't sell.

"Can you imagine putting an electric chair on your living room wall? People just didn't do that back in the day. It's too macabre."

Times have changed, and Warhol's works are now among some of the world's most expensive. Although Polsky did not put a value on Cooper's 22-by-28-inch artwork, he says that other electric chair images from Warhol's series "Death and Disaster" have sold for over $10 million.

"That gives you the upper end (of the price range), at least," he said. "My guess is that this would do pretty well, given the celebrity provenance and the quality of the image.

"But right now, my understanding is that they're gonna hang it in Alice's home and enjoy it for a while."

Originally published on CNN

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Electric Mini to be built in Oxford

A fully electric version of the Mini will be built at the Cowley plant near Oxford, BMW has confirmed.

BMW said that the car, which will be a variant of its existing three-door model, would go into production in 2019.

The carmaker said Oxford would be the main "production location" for the Mini three-door model.

However, the electric motor will be built in Germany before being shipped to Cowley for assembly.

A BMW spokesman said the company "neither sought nor received" any reassurances from the UK government on post-Brexit trading arrangements.

UK Business Secretary Greg Clark hailed BMW's announcement as a "vote of confidence" in government plans to make Britain "the go-to place in the world for the next generation of vehicles". On Monday, he set out plans to invest in development of battery technology in the UK.

BMW said the move was part of a plan for electrified vehicles to account for between 15-25% of its sales by 2025.

Originally published on BBC

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007 will be back in 2019

The next installment in the James Bond franchise has set a release date of Nov. 8, 2019. This will be the 25th installment in the long-running series. 

Daniel Craig, who has held a license to kill since first playing Bond in 2006's Casino Royale, has not been announced as being back as the British Secret Service agent, with EON Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer saying casting will be announced at a later date. A director has also not been revealed (Sam Mendes helmed the previous two installments).

The script is coming from Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who worked on Craig's four Bond films: Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre. 

While the date is set, many other things about Bond 25 remain unclear. MGM and EON have no U.S. studio partner on the movie and are in secret talks with several contenders after its four-picture deal with Sony expired with Spectre. Sources say Sony and Warner Bros. are vying for the rights. 

It is also unclear whether Craig will return. The actor has spoken disdainfully about continuing as Bond in the past, but more recent rumors have painted a more softened tone from the actor. Among the stars who have been seen as waiting in the wings to take on the role should Craig retire include Idris Elba, Tim Hiddleston, Damien Lewis, Tom Hardy and The Hobbit actor Aidan Turner.

The franchise has been very successful with Craig in the starring role. 2012's Skyfall earned $1.1 billion, while 2015's Spectre earned $880 million.

Bond 25 will be produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. It is set to open the same day as an untitled Disney fairy tale movie.

Originally published on Hollywood Reporter

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