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FBI Investigating Attacks On Major San Francisco Internet Cables

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Over the past year, on four separate nights, ten important telecom cables were intentionally cut in Fremont, Walnut Creek, Alamo, Berkeley and San Jose, the FBI announced on Monday.

FBI Special Agent Greg Wuthrich said it’s not clear if the incidents are connected, but the FBI is would like to hear from anyone who may have witnessed anything suspicious.

“We are hoping for anybody that has seen anything out of the ordinary,” he said. The perpetrators likely wore uniforms to make themselves look like telecom employees, “so even if it looked like normal uniforms, we’d like to hear so we can vet them out.”

The FBI’s disclosure of the incidents is low key, so as not to alarm, but such purposeful cuts could easy be the work of terrorists. While not the calling card of ISIS, they could be the work of domestic terrorists looking to prove a point.

The first two cuts occurred on July 6th, 2014. Cables were severed in Berkeley and the intersection of Niles Canyon Road and Mission Boulevard in Fremont.

The night after, three additional cuts occurred – one on Niles Canyon Road near Alameda Creek, nearby the previous night’s incidents.

Then on February 24th of this year the attacker(s) struck again, cutting fiber optic cables again at each of the same Niles Canyon locations, raising the possibility that the attacks aren’t just vandalism but are targeted in some way.

Then last week the attackers struck again on June 8th.

This time a fiber cable was cut near the corner of Danville Boulevard and Rudgear Road in Alamo. Approximately 40 minutes later near Overacker Avenue and Mowry Avenue in Fremont. At 1:38pm the following day, another cable was cut near Jones Road and Parkside Drive in Walnut Creek.

The FBI is also investigating linkages to an April 2013 attack on an electricity substation near San Jose, where attackers shot at electricity transformers and several local fiber optic cables were cut at around the same time.

The attack caused telephone problems for large areas of San Jose and Silicon Valley, raising the possibility that it was targeted at the large tech companies that inhabit the region.

Which makes sense, given a June 2014 investigation by IDG News Service revealed that such attacks have been the single biggest cause of major telecom outages in the United States.

Russia’s Putin Opens ‘Military Disneyland’ Amusement Park

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Does a lunch of army rations or shopping for mainly Vladimir Putin accessories sound like fun? How about instead of riding roller coasters playing with grenade launchers?

That’s exactly what visitors will get when they visit Russia’s Patriot Park, unveiled by, who else? Vladimir Putin, on Tuesday.

Located an hour’s drive from Moscow in the town of Kubinka, Patriot Park will host tens of thousands of visitors daily, where they’ll have the opportunity to witness reconstructions of famous Russian military victories, operate military simulators and experience military equipment firsthand.

The park will be “an important element in our system of military-patriotic work with young people,” said Putin, who relishes the idea of Russian child soldiers, as we covered here and here. The entire construction reportedly cost over $360 million.

But it won’t just be a “military Disneyland” as Patriot Park is also a full service conference and exhibition venue. On Tuesday it hosted Army 2015, a Russian military exhibition showcasing the latest equipment. The event is a lackluster rival to the Paris International Air Show, which is occurring this week and where most of the world’s militaries present their latest technology for purchase.

Russia is, of course, not welcome and so decided to throw its own arms trade show.

Putin arrived is style fit for a czar, by helicopter and speaking in front of a military choir and balalaika orchestra, who belted out patriotic songs. Putin touted the Russian next-generation Armata tank, which broke down during its unveiling at a military parade in Moscow last month.

Putin promised that hotels and entertainment centers will be opened on the grounds, which will allow families to visit for several days and have a complete holiday, according to promotional literature distributed at the unveiling.

Like many Russian construction projects the park isn’t yet finished and is due to be fully completed in 2017.

Iran Sentences 18 To Prison For Being Christian

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Iran’s revolutionary ‘court’ imposed harsh prison sentences last week on 18 Christian converts for charges that included ‘evangelism’, ‘propaganda against the regime’, and creating house churches to practice their faith, according to leaks from the Islamic Republic’s secretive judicial system.

The sentences totaled 24 years, though the lack of transparency in Iran’s tightly censored judicial system does not provide for a breakdown of individual sentences. The defendants were additionally barred from organizing home church meetings and given a two-year ban from leaving the country.

“The cruelty of Iran’s dictatorial leaders knows no limits,” Saba Farzan, the German-Iranian executive director of Foreign Policy Circle, told reporters.

The Christians, most of whom have been arrested since 2013, were sentenced under with notorious Article 500 of the Islamic Penal Code, a vague law used as a catch-all to penalize threats to Iran’s fanatical religious rulers. The law states that “Anyone who engages in any type of propaganda against the Islamic Republic of Iran or in support of opposition groups and associations, shall be sentenced to three months to one year of imprisonment.”

Morad Mokhtari, Christian Iranian who fled the Islamic Republic in 2006, told Fox News on Monday that many of the charges were related to home church activities.

“Iranian religious authorities prefer that they [converts to Christianity] leave Iran because the authorities can’t control them,” Mokhatari said. “Just their name is evangelism. Imagine someone says he is a Christian and has a Muslim name.”

Two reports released by the United State Commission on International Religious Freedom and by a UN study on human rights, respectively, documented extreme persecution of Muslim converts to Christianity.

“Over the past year, there were numerous incidents of Iranian authorities raiding church services, threatening church members, and arresting and imprisoning worshipers and church leaders, particularly Evangelical Christian converts,” read the commission report. “Since 2010, authorities arbitrarily arrested and detained more than 500 Christians throughout the country.”

There are estimated to be between 200,000 and 500,000 Christians in the country, which has an overall population of nearly 78 million people. While Iran’s constitution guarantees on paper that Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism are protected religions, the application of Sharia Law relegates members of minority religions to second class status.

“The Iranian regime’s systematic persecution of Christians, as well as Baha’is, Sunni Muslims, dissenting Shi’a Muslims, and other religious minorities, is getting worse not better,” said U.S. Senator Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) “This is a direct consequence of President Obama’s decision to de-link demands for improvements in religious freedom and human rights in Iran from the nuclear negotiations.”

Hamid Babaei, head of the press office in the Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran to the United Nations in New York, declined to comment.

Avocados Found To Contain Key Cancer Fighting Chemical

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Avocados, the single most popular fruit in the United States, are long known for their mild taste and healthy fats but new research shows that they may also contain a key to fighting leukemia.

Molecules derived from the humble avocado have been shown to target the stem cells of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) sufferers, according to a new study published in the journal Cancer Research. The fat molecule found in avocado is similar to just a small number of drug treatments available that attack leukemia stem cells directly yet leave healthy cells unharmed.

AML is the most aggressive form of Leukemia, a cancer that kills 90 percent of people over 65 who are diagnosed. Drugs that target stem cells are the most effective in treating the disease.

“The stem cell is really the cell that drives the disease,” said Professor Paul Spagnuolo, from the University of Waterloo and author of the study. “The stem cell is largely responsible for the disease developing and it’s the reason why so many patients with leukemia relapse.”

While a production drug is still years away from being approved for patient use, Spagnuolo is already preparing the compound for a Phase I clinical trial, the first step is getting a drug to market.

Scientists Grow Complete Rat Limb In Laboratory

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The scientists of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston made news earlier this month after they published research in the journal Biomaterials describing the process they used to create the world’s first artificial limb in the laboratory.

The fact that scientists have now grown the entire forelimb of a rat in a lab has huge implications for human medicine, where artificially grown limbs or other organs would carry a significantly lower chance of rejection by the body that transplants from donors.

Dr. Harold Ott, head of the Ott Laboratory for Organ Engineering and Regeneration, led the team that was able to “engineer rat forelimbs with functioning vascular and muscle tissue,” according to the hospital.

The scientists used a process called decellularization, where they removed the living tissue from an existing rat limb, leaving just the “framework” of proteins behind. They then re-populated this “scaffolding” with healthy, living cells.

While not a limb from scratch, the holy grail of lab grown organs, it is the first step leading to such lab grown organs, which could be used in transplants.

“The loss of an extremity is a disastrous injury with tremendous impact on a patient’s life,” Ott and his team wrote in Biomaterials. “Current mechanical prostheses are technically highly sophisticated, but only partially replace physiologic function and aesthetic appearance.”

“[Ott’s] team and others at MGH and elsewhere have used this decellularization technique to regenerate kidneys, livers, hearts and lungs from animal models, but this is the first reported use to engineer the more complex tissues of a bioartificial limb,” Mass General said in a press release.

Ott said his team’s work “finally proved that we can regenerate functional muscle.” The team was able to prove this when they ran an electrical current through the muscle tissue and the little limb began to twitch.

The team is now working on the arms of primates, which seems to be showing that the process might work on humans.

Gap Announces It Will Close 175 Retail Stores Across North America

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Iconic American retailer The Gap announced on Tuesday that it will close 175 stores across North America over the next few years as it struggles to turn around the business.

A “limited number” of European stores will also be closed, the San-Francisco-based company said in a statement.

The company also announced further cuts of about 250 jobs from its head office in addition to the store closings.

Once known for its trendy jeans and celebrity endorsed khakis, it has been struggling with falling sales amid competition from fast-fashion brands like H&M and Zara.

Same store sales for the Gap brand fell by 15% in April, compared with a 3% increase in the same month last year.

Chief executive Art Peck said: “Returning Gap brand to growth has been the top priority since my appointment four months ago.”

“Customers are rapidly changing how they shop today, and these moves will help get Gap back to where we know it deserves to be in the eyes of consumers,” he added.

Yet how growth will happen remains unclear, as the closures will result in $300 million of lost sales, Gap said, and result in a one-off cost of between $140 to $160 million.

It did not say how many employees would be laid off as a result, though there will likely be over 2000 layoffs.

Federal Law Allows Companies To Fire Sick Employees For Using Medical Marjuana

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While the citizens of Colorado have enacted laws to permit the sale and use of marijuana, the state Supreme Court ruled 6-0 on Monday that a medical marijuana patient who was fired after failing a drug test cannot get his job back.

The bizarre ruling in the closely watched case makes Colorado the fourth state in which courts have ruled against medical marijuana patients fired for taking their medicine.

Despite having medical conditions and doctor prescribed marijuana, federal laws still criminalize all uses of Marijuana, creating a loophole that allows employers to fire sick workers who need the drug.

Supreme courts in California, Montana and Washington state have all made similar rulings, while federal courts in Colorado and Michigan have rejected such claims.

Underscoring the absurdity of the law, the Colorado worker in question, Brandon Coats, is a quadriplegic who was fired by Dish Network after failing a 2010 drug test.

The loophole allows employers to legally remove sick employees, who use healthcare insurance and lead to increased premiums that must be paid mostly by employers.

In addition to being sick, they now face huge medical bills without insurance.

Dish Network agreed that Coats wasn’t high on the job and didn’t use marijuana at work but cited its zero-tolerance drug policy, a highly convenient excuse to part ways with the sick man.

Coats maintained that his pot smoking was legal under a state law intended to protect employees from being fired for legal activities that happen off the clock.

Yet the Colorado justices ruled that because marijuana is still illegal under federal law, Coats’ use of the drug wasn’t a legal off-duty activity. “There is no exception for marijuana use for medicinal purposes, or for marijuana use conducted in accordance with state law,” the court wrote in a ruling that will surely be outdated in short order.

“Although I’m very disappointed today, I hope that my case has brought the issue of use of medical marijuana and employment to light,” Coats said in a statement.

Coats was paralyzed in a car accident as a teenager and has had a prescription for medical marijuana since 2009, which he uses to help calm violent muscle spasms.

Toymaker Lego Will Invest Over $170 Million To Find Sustainable Alternative To Plastic

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Going green and using sustainable production methods and materials is creeping into every part of society – from hybrid cars, to LEED buildings and even now children’s toys. Famed Danish toymaker Lego announced on Tuesday that it will invest over $170 million in finding sustainable materials for toys and packaging, including a replacement for the oil-based plastic used in its iconic building blocks.

“It’s a big step in the right direction in achieving our ambition of sustainable materials by 2030,” said Jørgen Vig Knudstorp, CEO of the Lego Group.

“We have already taken important steps to reduce our CO2 emissions and do something positive for the environment by reducing box sizes and investing in an offshore wind farm. Now, we are shifting our focus towards our materials.”

The initiative will see Lego create a ‘Lego Sustainable Materials Centre’ in Berlin, where more than 100 specialists will work on research and improvements to production methods.

Lego’s biggest shareholder Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen called the move an important and necessary step forward for the company.

“The investment is a testament to our continued ambition to have a positive impact on the world our future generations will inherit,” he said.

Kristiansen, a descendant of Lego’s founder, pointed out that the plan is largely in line with Lego Group’s mission statement and fits with the motto of his grandfather, Ole Kirk Kristiansen that “only the best is good enough.”

While the move is a giant step forward for the company, it has a significant challenge on its hands. The toymaker produces an average of 60 billion bricks per year and has already been working to find alternatives to oil-based plastic since 2012.

The technical challenge for Lego is to find a plastic material that is just as color-responsive yet physically as stable as the current petroleum-based Lego bricks.

“Several factors affect the environmental sustainability of materials. When we’re looking for new materials, all factors are included,” Knudstorp said.

Food And Drug Administration Enacts Sweeping Ban On Trans Fats

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The FDA reached an agreement on Tuesday in which artificial trans fat will be removed from the U.S. food supply over the next three years due to such products posing health risks that contribute to heart disease.

The FDA’s final decision, released Tuesday, stated that there’s no longer a scientific consensus that partially hydrogenated oils, the primary source of trans fat, are safe.

Partially hydrogenated oils are typically used for frying, in baked goods and confections.

Food manufacturers will still be able to petition the FDA for specific uses of partially hydrogenated oils if they can prove the use isn’t harmful. A June 2018 deadline has been set to comply with the FDA’s determination.

While the new regulation still leaves the door open for manufacturers to present data that their specific uses are safe, the FDA said it hasn’t seen any data to prove that even very low levels of partially hydrogenated oils are safe for humans.

Partially hydrogenated oils have been used by big food manufacturers for decades, though many such have been phasing them out. Most baked goods such as pie crusts, biscuits and canned frosting still use partially hydrogenated oils because they help processed baked goods maintain their flakiness and help long shelf life frostings remain spreadable.

To replace the dangerous oils in frying, palm oil is expected to be the most common alternative, while modified soybean oil could be used as well.

“I don’t know how many lives will be saved, but probably in the thousands per year when all the companies are in compliance,” said Michael Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest.

According to the FDA, the ban will cost the food industry $6.2 billion over 20 years, due to the need to reformulate products and find substitute ingredients. But the FDA estimates that the benefits will total $140 billion during the same time period from lower spending on health care.

The Grocery Manufacturers Association, the lobby group for big food companies, said that the three-year compliance period “provides time needed for food manufacturers to complete their transition.”

Yet the association will still petition the FDA for approval of uses of low levels of partially hydrogenated oils and thinks it can demonstrate they are as safe as naturally occurring trans fat.

Australian PM Caught Paying Criminal Syndicates To Return Migrants Home

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Prime Minister Tony Abbott dodged new questions on Sunday about whether Australian officials paid people smugglers thousands of dollars to return 65 asylum seekers to Indonesia, saying only that his government is “prepared to do what is necessary to keep the boats stopped”.

Mr Abbott was asked four direct questions about the claims in Canberra on Sunday, including whether Australian taxpayers had a right to know the government was funding a criminal syndicate.
Both Abbott and Immigration Minister Peter Dutton would not comment on the operation.

The questions come after the United Nations interviewed asylum seekers who allegedly witnessed the handover of money, prompting Abbott to be asked whether the Australian government would be launching an investigation into the claims.

“Again I keep making the point the only question that matters is, is this government prepared to do what is necessary to keep the boats stopped, the answer is yes,” said a typically dismissive Abbott, who is known have a flagrant disregard for the rule of law if it interferes with what he sees as his moral duty.

When asked if he believed it “didn’t matter” that Australia was funding people smugglers, he responded:

“What I am saying is that we keep the boats stopped, that’s the important thing. We will do whatever is reasonably necessary consistent with the principles of a decent and humane society to keep the boats stopped. That’s what we will do.”

“Unfortunately we know the Labor party will start them up again. It’s interesting the Labor party is now asking about people smugglers and their financing. The Labor party put the people smugglers into business,” Abbott said, in an attempt to deflect blame to his political rivals.

The United Nations revealed it had interviewed asylum seekers in Indonesia who repeated allegations that Australian officials paid human traffickers thousands of dollars to return to Indonesia.

James Lynch, the regional director of the United Nations High Commission On Human Rights (UNHCR), said that the asylum seekers were held on a Customs vessel for four days before being put on two blue boats and returned to Indonesia.

“The boat that was rescued by the Indonesian navy on 31 May – we have interviewed the 65 passengers and they have said that the crew received a payment,” Mr Lynch told the BBC.

“What we were told – this is unconfirmed – but what we were told by the 65 passengers is that they were intercepted by a naval vessel from Australia. And then they were transferred to a customs boat where they spent four days. And then they were put on two blue boats and then sent back to Indonesia,” he said.

UNHCR head Antonio Guterres has strongly criticized Australia for paying off criminal gangs.

“We need to crack down on smuggling and trafficking: not paying to them, but putting them in jail whenever possible, or prosecuting them,” he said to the BBC.

“But at the same time protecting the victims, and with each country assuming also its responsibilities in relation to the protection of refugees,” he said.

A number of government ministers have refused to confirm or deny if people smugglers were paid by Australian officials, citing the vague “on water” matters.

New Chinese Submarine Hunting Ship “Like A Black Hole In The Ocean”

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Photos of the Chinese navy’s new Type 636 survey ship have been posted by “military fans” on Chinese social media, showing China’s advanced capabilities in building super-quiet anti-submarine warships.

The captions on the photos state that the Chinese navy’s Type 636 survey ship is “brilliant in its silence” thanks to a side slanting propeller, a floating vibration dampening system for its diesel generator, the vibration-reduction design of its major machinery, and a soft connection from the hull to its acoustic monitoring equipment.

Enthusiastic Chinese posters said that the ship is quieter by far than other anti-submarine warships, effectively making it a “black hole in the ocean.”

Yet it remains to be seen if the enthusiasm is of military significance. According to experts the silencing technology used on the new ship has also been used in many destroyers and frigates in service in the Chinese navy, as well as Russian and American vessels.

Given the details of the technology and the rather odd designation of ‘survey ship’, experts believe that the ships are in fact anti-submarine warfare vessels.

Experts believe the new warship is a Type 054 frigate, specifically the Daqing no. 576, with enhanced anti-submarine capability.

The class is already deployed throughout the Chinese Navy but no. 576 likely has an upgraded surveillance package.

The U.S. Navy did not comment on the latest reports and due to deep secrecy around the capabilities of American submarines it is unknown if the new Chinese vessel would pose a direct threat to American vessels.

Florida Town Makes It Illegal To Live Off The Grid

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As the world moves towards solar panels, wind power and naturally cooled homes, off the grid living is becoming a viable reality for those willing to make the investment. But unplugging from municipal services means that those who still have use of them would need to pay more, given the costs would be spread less evenly.

This issue, while new, was no doubt on the mind of a Florida magistrate who ruled it illegal to unplug from the municipality of Cape Coral.

Special Magistrate Harold S. Eskin ruled that Robin Speronis is not permitted to live on her own private property without being hooked into the city’s water system.

He also ruled that while she had the right to live without utility power, all of her alternative power sources must first be approved by the city.

Speronis has been battling the city of Cape Coral for years, as back in November of 2013 a code enforcement officer actually attempted to evict her for “living without utilities.”

The city argues that the International Property Maintenance Code was “violated” because she chose to rely on rain water rather than paying the city for water. The IPMC also makes it a crime for her to use solar panels instead of being tied into the electric grid.

“It was a mental fistfight,” said Todd Allen, Speronis’ attorney. “There’s an inherent conflict in the code.”

Allen says that the ruling means Speronis must “hook up” to the grid, even if she doesn’t use utilities from it.

While Speronis has won on two of three counts already, there is still a big fight looming ahead of her.

“But what happens in the courtroom is much less important than touching people’s hearts and minds,” she explained.

“I think that we are continuing to be successful in doing just that and I am so pleased — there is hope! The next morning, as I took my two hour walk, there was a young man unknown to me, who drove by me, tooted his horn and said, ‘Robin, congratulations on your victory yesterday, keep up the fight and God bless you.’ That is beautiful.”

A local newspaper reported that Magistrate Eskin “admitted that the code might be obsolete.”

“Reasonableness and code requirements don’t always go hand-in-hand given societal and technical changes that requires review of code ordinances,” Eskin told the paper.

Eskin cited his obligation to enforce the code yet acknowledged that some of the charges against her are unfounded.

“I am in compliance,” Speronis said in an interview. “I’m in compliance of living… you may have to hook-up, but you don’t have to use it. Well, what’s the point?”

Speronis has been living “off the grid” for some time and it was only after she publicly discussed her home with Liza Fernandez, a local news reporter, that the city started to give her trouble. After the appearance, a code enforcement officer deemed her home as “uninhabitable” and served her an eviction notice.

“We will continue to use due process and legal measures available to enforce the codes of the city,” Connie Barron, spokeswoman for the city of Cape Coral said. “The building official has pulled the certificate of occupancy… this was the next step we decided to take to bring the property into compliance. Legally, she cannot be in the house.”

Barron fully admits that it is “unusual for the city to escalate a case to this level.”

“Even if they board the house up, I’m not leaving,” Speronis explained. “They did the best they could when they took my dogs and arrested me. It fell apart because I’m unshakable.”

Many people do not realize that the International Property Maintenance Code is still used by cities throughout the United States and Canada. It holds that even if you have power and running water, you can be evicted from your home if you remain “off the grid.”

Russian President Putin Boasts About Adding 40 Nuclear Missiles To Russian Arsenal

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Russian President Putin Boasts About Adding 40 Nuclear Missiles To Russian Arsenal

In the latest sign that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is re-living the Cold War of his youth, the increasingly erratic leader said Russia will be deploying 40 nuclear missiles in 2015 that will be able to overcome even the most technically advanced anti-missile defense systems.

Putin’s comments, appropriately delivered at an arms fair, come after the U.S. proposed increasing its military presence in Eastern Europe NATO states.

That move comes after Russia invaded Ukraine and continues to occupy the territory.

The 40 nuclear missiles are not additional missiles, but would replace older models with new designs capable of penetrating anti-missiles defense systems.

Russian military officials have warned that Moscow will respond if the U.S. carries out its plan to move heavy military equipment into Eastern Europe. Russia views the Baltic states, where the U.S. may store such weapons, as part of the ‘Soviet Union’, despite the fact such a state hasn’t existed in over 30 years.

“The feeling is that our colleagues from NATO countries are pushing us into an arms race,” said Russian Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov at the arms fair, just outside Moscow. He refused to answer any questions about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is the most destabilizing event in the region since the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has placed a renewed emphasis upon his country’s nuclear arsenal due to the country’s weakness in conventional military systems. As we reported last week, Russia lost three aircraft due to maintenance issues in the span of just five days.

Moscow is trying to modernize its strategic nuclear weapons systems, with new ballistic missiles being deployed, upgraded bombers, and new submarines being launched.

The country’s older, obsolete weapons have been withdrawn from service in recent years, leading to the overall size of the Russian arsenal decreasing.

Virtually all countries in the region have been put on edge by Putin’s increased rhetoric around nuclear weapons. Threats to deploy short-range nuclear weapons in Russian-occupied Ukraine have been accompanied by warnings of nuclear targeting against NATO members who might host ballistic missile defenses.

While most of the world realizes just how idiotic the use of nuclear weapons would be, Russia and its dictator seem stuck in the Cold War, attempting to re-live what they perceive as the glory days of the Soviet Union.

Apple Launching News Service By Stealing Other Companys’ Content

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Apple is apparently not content to just provide you with movies, music and TV shows – it wants to bring you the news as well.

Apple is reportedly hiring journalists for its Apple News venture, according to a job posting. Its looking for editors to deliver “the best in breaking national, global, and local news”.

In addition to holding a bachelor’s degree in journalism or “a related field” and having more than five years of newsroom experience, candidates must have “a deep knowledge of multiple content categories”.

“They will have great instincts for breaking news, but be equally able to recognise original, compelling stories unlikely to be identified by algorithms,” the ad goes on to say.

“Successful editors will be ambitious, detail-oriented journalists with an obsession for great content and mobile news delivery.”

The product seems haphazard and has two glaring flaws.

The first issues is that Apple News would lack any sort of journalistic independence.

Apple is notoriously fanatical about employees drinking the Kool Aid. Just to work at one of its retail stores, employees must prove themselves to be die-hard Mac lovers. If you’ve ever even used an Android phone you will probably be blacklisted from the job.

So when news breaks about its rivals such as Google or Samsung, or perhaps its appauling factory conditions in China, its safe to assume Apple simply won’t cover it.

The second strange twist to the Apple News service is that it seems to want to steal content from real news outlets.

A number of Apple bloggers recently received emails from the company and they were anything but cordial. Mike Ash, who covers the company, received one of these letters, informing him that the company wants to include his content on the app’s RSS feed.

The kicker, as Ash noted in a blog post, is that Apple is mandating an “opt out” approach to scrapping his content.

He wrote: “Let me get this straight, Apple: you send me an e-mail outlining the terms under which you will redistribute my content, and you will just assume that I agree to your terms unless I opt out?”

Apple, like so many other industries its entered, is playing hardball. It will steal your content and unless you write to it requesting an opt-out, it will continue to do so for as long as it likes.

Belgium Sues Facebook For Stalking People Who Aren’t Even Users

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After months of wrangling, Belgium’s Privacy Commissioner is pressing ahead with a lawsuit against Facebook for stalking people who aren’t its users.

Belgian authorities have found indisputable evidence that the company is flagrantly tracking both its own users and, more importantly, people who don’t want to be tracked.

The Commission de Protection de la Vie Privée (CPVP) had warned Facebook in March that a lawsuit was possible unless it took substantive steps to address its concerns, while in May it published a report that said “Facebook violates European and Belgian legislation on privacy”.

The CPVP commissioned research by iMinds, the University of Leuven and Vrije University to examine Facebook’s tracking technology in detail. The report found that the tracking conducted by Facebook easily allowed the company to connect peoples’ identities with their medical history, religious preferences, sexuality and political orientation.

The CPVP, in addition to taking Facebook to court over the invasion of privacy, suggests that users get privacy add-ons like Ghostery, Blur or Disconnect in order to protect their information.

According to CPVP chairman Willem Debeuckelaere, Facebook’s high handed response was that it doesn’t accept either the Belgian law or the authority of the privacy commission.

Its similar to Google’s ‘we’re from the internet so laws don’t apply to us’ strategy, which has been shot down across the globe, most recently in Canada.

The company, which makes tons of money off this data stealing, understandably wants to keep negotiating, but Debeuckelaere and the CPVP are tired of Facebook’s disingenuous negotitating tactics. The chairman said he’d rather not launch a lawsuit, but “we can not continue to negotiate through other means”, he said. “We want a judge to impose our recommendations”.

Facebook called the action “theatrical,” and a company spokesperson said backhandedly that it’s “happy to work with them through a dialogue with us at Facebook Ireland and with our regulator, the Irish data protection commissioner”.

In addition to the Belgian lawsuit, Facebook faces legal actions in The Netherlands in addition to a pan-European investigation in which Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany are working together.

Egyptian Court Upholds Death Sentence For Radical Islamic Ex-Prime Minister

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Egypt, unphased by opposition for radical Islamist lawyers in South Africa, upheld a death sentence Tuesday against the country’s former radical Islamist President, Mohamed Morsy.

Morsy, 63, was sentenced to death last month for his role in a 2011 conspiracy to free radical Muslims from an Egyptian prison.

The former president was sentenced along with 16 other Muslim Brotherhood leaders, who were given a life sentence for espionage. Morsy received a life sentence for the second charge. Life in Egypt is 25 years in prison.

Three more senior members of the radical Muslim brotherhood, Khairat Al Shater, Mohamed Beltagy and Ahmed Abdel Alaty, were also sentenced to death by hanging.

Morsy, who was elected to power in a fraudulent election held just after the Arab Spring riots, was ousted by the military in 2013 after just a year in office.

Morsy, and his hardline followers, sought to enact strict Islamist rule over the country, which would have effectively turned one of the mid-east’s most progressive countries into an Iran-like backwater.

Honda Announces 1.2 Million Vehicle Recall Due To More Faulty Airbags

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The scope of the Takata airbag problems continue to widen, as Honda now says that a whopping 1.4 million cars, already with driver airbag issues, will also need their passenger side airbags replaced as well.

The automaker had previously only planned to replace the passenger airbags in 350,000 of those cars in humid areas of the country, which Takata reported were most at risk of problems.

While all recalled cars are repaired at no expense to the vehicle’s owner, the widened scope of the issue leads to serious questions about how much danger consumers have been in due to the faulty airbags.

That concern is front and center with the latest recall as the affected models, the 2001 to 2005 Civic and the 2003 to 2007 Accord, are among the best-selling cars in the country.

Airbag maker Takata initially attempted to limit the recalls to humid regions but was forced by U.S. safety regulators to recall all U.S. cars with the airbags.

The expansion makes the recall the largest in history, with a stunning 34 million cars now needing to be repaired. The recalls are spread across 15 separate brands and more than 60 different models of cars and trucks.

At least seven deaths have been confirmed to be a result of the exploding airbags, all of them involving driver airbags. Just last week Honda confirmed the seventh death tied to an exploding airbag, which involved Kylan Langlinais, a 22-year-old Lafayette, Louisiana woman who died in an April 5th accident. According to Honda she had been mailed a recall notice regarding her 2005 Honda Civic just three days prior to the accident.

Pentagon Confirms Top Al Qaeda Commander Killed By Drone Strike

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Reports have leaked that Al Qaeda’s second in command, Nasir al-Wuhayshi, was killed in a targeted drone strike in Yemen on Friday, according to Yemeni security officials.

While major media outlets called the killing “a heavy setback to the leadership of the international terrorist group,” in the face of ISIS it remains to be seen just how big a threat Al Qaeda actually is these days.

By all accounts, as we’ve covered here, ISIS has been dominating the smaller and less well funded Al Qaeda group.

The Obama administration has also admitted they do not have a plan for dealing with ISIS and appear set on running out the clock and leaving the problem to the next administration rather than committing resources to actually fight the terror group.

So the announcement that Al-Wuhayshi, supposedly the top leader of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), was killed sounds a bit hollow in light of the huge threat posed by ISIS.

His death was called “the biggest blow against al Qaeda since the death of bin Laden,” according to terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank.

Al-Wuhayshi was a “leading light” of al Qaeda and was expected to take over from its current global chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, said Cruickshank.

The killing was confirmed on Tuesday, after AQAP released a video statement announcing that its leader and two assistants had died. The speaker, somewhat foolishly, said that the group’s military chief, Qasm al-Rimi, would succeed al-Wuhayshi.

“If it’s true, it is a significant blow. Leadership matters,” Sen. Angus King, an independent of Maine, said to reporters on Monday.

Yet while a blow to a known terror network, the timing of the attack, and the large amount of publicity it received in U.S. mainstream media, raise serious questions about America’s handling of terror groups in the middle east.

The killing of Al-Wuhayshi is likely to serve as more of a political tool for the Obama administration than a truly effective blow to America’s enemies. ISIS remains the most pressing threat to the United States and the Obama administration continues to be unwilling to committing to a plan that curbs their spread.

Malaysia Has A Pirate Problem: Second Ship This Month Goes Missing

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A small oil tanker has gone missing off the southeast coast of Malaysia, near Singapore, over the weekend in what could be the second case of piracy this month, maritime officials said on Monday.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) said the 7,300 deadweight tonne Orkim Harmony disappeared about 30 nautical miles from the port of Tanjung Sedili. The ship was carrying nearly 48,000 barrels of gasoline.

“Orkim Sdn Bhd regretfully confirms the report issued by Malaysia Maritime Enforcement Agency that the Company has lost contact with its vessel Orkim Harmony early morning 12 June,” the ship’s owner said in a statement.

“Orkim Harmony was on her laden passage from Malacca to the Port of Kuantan, having departed on 10 June 2015 at 0930 hours (local time) and originally expected to arrive at the Port of Kuantan on 12 June 2015 also at 0930 hours,” the shipper said.

The ship’s last known position was south-west of Pulau Aur, Mersing in Malaysian waters, Orkim said. “She was carrying 22 crew members consisting of 16 Malaysians, five Indonesians and one Myanmar national,” it added.

Orkim has informed family members of the crew set up a 24-hour hotline to respond to queries by families. The company said it was working with Malaysian search and rescue teams that had been activated to find the Orkim Harmony.

Earlier this month, the 7,100 ton oil tanker Orkim Victory, sailing to Kuantan from Malacca, was hijacked on June 4th in the same area by an armed speedboat.

“The perpetrators were armed with two hand guns and one machete. They threatened the crew (comprising eight Malaysians, seven Indonesians and three Myanmar nationals) and reportedly assaulted them, though no injuries were reported,” Singapore-based Regional Cooperation Agreement on Combating Piracy and Armed Robbery against Ships in Asia (ReCAAP) said in a statement.

“The perpetrators subsequently brought Orkim Victory to another location, and siphoned off 770 tonnes (about 6,000 barrels) of automotive diesel oil,” it added. The Orkim Victory has since been released. That vessel too was owned by Orkim, meaning the company appears to be specifically targeted.

Shippers have reported a rise in such hijackings recently but that because of excess oil capacity and strong insurance competition, shipping rates have been unaffected. Insurance companies usually dramatically increase rates if there is threat of piracy, which shippers must then raise rates as well.

Former Law Dean: America Is Addicted To Incarceration

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Robert Lawson, former dean of the University of Kentucky College of Law, thinks America has an addiction problem.

Specifically, he told the Berea Rotary Club that he increasingly feels that the nation is addicted to incarceration.

In 1970, prior to launching its “war on crime” and “war on drugs,” the nation had just 110 people in jails and prisons per 100,000 people. Today, that number is 740 per 100,000.

That’s a 680% increase in the prison population.

Yet despite the nearly seven fold increase, our national crime rate is unchanged, Lawson said.

America’s huge prison population doesn’t make sense when compared to other developed nations. In Canada, England and most of Europe, the rate of incarceration is around 100 per 100,000. In the Japan, the rate is just 60 per 100,000. The worldwide rate is 140 per 100,000.

“We have 2.3 million people locked up,” Lawson said, compared to just 320,000 in 1970. But that’s not the full story.

Another six million people are under supervised probation, parole or home incarceration.

All this jailing comes at a huge cost, both in terms of money and humanity.

Since America was founded it has mostly followed the Old Testament rule of an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, Lawson said, “making sure the punishment fit the crime.”

Then, “we got angry at offenders in the late ’70s” and “distorted the penal code from one end to the other,” he said.

Lawson specifically thinks that non-violent offenses, such as drugs, carry sentences that are far too high and also thinks repeat offender laws are seriously flawed. Many states have laws that consider people persistent felons after three successive convictions, whereby life sentences could, and usually are, imposed.

For profit prisons also don’t help the situation and have even swayed judges with kickbacks and other incentives to put more people in jail.

As the world becomes more connected, the cost of over-jailing becomes enormous. The rise of background checks means that most people, once jailed, can never return to the workforce. This seriously impacts the economy and also leads to more crime due to lack of job opportunities.

U.S. Government Hindering Poland’s Investigation Of Illegal CIA Prisons

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The U.S. is hindering Poland’s investigation into a secret CIA prison there, a Polish prosecutor charged Saturday. Piotr Kosmaty, spokesman for the Appeals Prosecutor’s Office in Krakow, said that the U.S. has deliberately ignored requests for documents needed for the investigation. Polish prosecutors are particularly interested in a report by the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence that detailed CIA prison locations and practices.

Facts in the report suggested a secret CIA prison existed in Poland from 2002-2003 where terrorist suspects were tortured. Kosmaty said that Poland has asked the U.S. for the full non-redacted version of the report yet the U.S. has declined to provide it. The U.S. has also denied requests for other documents and opportunities to question the alleged victims, who are currently being held in Guantanamo Bay.

The Obama administration claims that releasing the documents would be against national interest. It is likely because the documents detail other CIA “black sites” in other parts of Poland, Romania and Lithuania.

An investigation into the prison has been ongoing in Poland since 2008, though it has largely been conducted under the cover of secrecy . The U.S. has acknowledged its so-called “extraordinary rendition” program in which targets were abducted and then sent to illegal detention facilities around the world.

In November 2013 Poland formally requested that the European Court of Human Rights hold a hearing about the country’s complicity in the CIA secret detention facilities, though the request was denied because of U.S. influence.

Beautiful Jewel Encrusted Skeletons Discovered Beneath Rome

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Beneath the ancient city of Rome is a fascinating and somewhat baffling maze of tombs, first discovered in 1578. The tombs house skeletons of early Christian martyrs who the ancients believed to be saints due to their bravery and unwavering loyalty to the Christian religion.

Named “The Catacomb Saints” by those who first discovered them, the skeletons were distributed across Europe (mainly Germany) to replace holy relics that were destroyed or stolen during the Protestant Reformation.

Upon arrival at their destination they were decorated with precious jewels, expensive cloth, crowns, armor, and even wigs. They were then put on display in churches to remind visitors of the riches that await good, loyal Christians once they die.

Art historian and self-proclaimed relic-hunter Paul Koudounaris developed a profound fascination for the discovery and subsequent story behind the Saints. He traveled the whole of Europe in an attempt to track down each Saint. He discovered that despite their original purpose, many of them had yet to be displayed and were still waiting to be adorned with decorations.

His new book, Heavenly Bodies: Cult Treasures & Spectacular Saints From the Catacombs details this fascinating story, its origins, and the complete history of the Catacomb Saints.

This book is one of the most elaborate and compelling stories forgotten relics. In addition to the fascinating stories behind who the saints were and which churches wanted them for display, the book also contains beautiful pictures of the ancient relics, some of which we’ve included below.

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Federal Trade Commission Steps Up Regulation Of Social Media Advertising

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is stepping up its regulation of social media being used to promote and advertise goods and services.

This morning it announced a significant update to its policies regarding the endorsement requirements, specifically targeting the use of social media for marketing. The update is the first since 2010, and many take it as a signal they will begin cracking down on social media marketers who aren’t in full compliance.

Of particular interest to the FTC is the use of celebrities or other influential people to promote brands and the use of contests or anything that could be perceived as a contest.

While the FTC has always required relationships between brands and endorsers on social media to be “clearly and conspicuously” disclosed, they are now providing a much more detailed set of rules. After five years the social media landscape has changed significantly which has necessitated the new guidelines.

Even short messages, like those on Twitter, will be held to the same standard. Promoters must use the #ad or #sponsored hash tags in such cases to let people know its a paid endorsement.

You can check out the full list of the FTC’s new policies here.

Iran Nuclear Deal Stalls As Iranian Supreme Leader’s Health Declines

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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who suffers from prostate cancer, is reportedly near death, potentially derailing an agreement over Iran’s disputed nuclear program.

According to reports from the Iranian press, Khamenei may only have months left to live, and an ensuing power struggle between hardliners and moderates over who will succeed him as Iran’s top official could derail talks currently taking place ahead of the June 30th target date.

The sense of instability in the country is new as in March Iran’s Assembly of Experts, the clerics who appoint the country’s supreme leader, elected ultraconservative Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi to replace Khamenei.

According to new reports, Ayatollah Sadeq Larijani, a hardline protege of Khamenei’s, has been positioning himself for the role, purging more moderate potential candidates.

Larijani is the brother of Ali Larijani, Iran’s former chief nuclear negotiator and current chairman of the Iranian parliament.

“With so many people jockeying for position, the hardliners will be tempted to prove their revolutionary credentials by vetoing any deal with the US,” a senior western diplomat was quoted as saying. “The fear now is that this could jeopardize any progress we make in resolving the issue and lifting the sanctions.”

Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany agreed in April to a framework aimed at ending the decade-old standoff over Iran’s nuclear program.

The outline would see Iran dramatically scale down its nuclear activities in order to insure it is unable to quickly produce a nuclear weapon.

In return for its cooperation, Iran will see painful sanctions lifted by the six powers.

Saudi Arabia Executes 100th Prisoner Of The Year, On Pace For Record Human Rights Abuses

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Saudi Arabia is setting new records for the wrong reasons, as it reportedly took its number of executions for the year to 100, well in excess of last year’s tally and putting it on course for a new record.

The Saudi Press Agency announced two more convicted criminals were killed by the government on Monday, including a foreign national guilty of only a non-violent drug smuggling offence.

Syrian Ismael al-Tawm, convicted of transporting “a large amount of banned amphetamine pills into the kingdom”, was beheaded in the northern region of Jawf, according to news agency AFP.

The other man, Rami al-Khaldi, was convicted of stabbing a fellow Saudi to death and was executed in the province of Taef.

The tally of 100 executions for this year, as tracked by AFP, exceeds both the country’s official tally of execution last year of 87 and rights group Amnesty International’s count of “90+”.

According to Middle East Eye, the surge in numbers sees the country on the brink of setting a new record for beheadings – other nations like Iran, China and Pakistan have killed more people, but by different methods.

It also puts Saudi Arabia on course to beat its own record of total executions which, according to Amnesty International, was set at 192 in 1995.

The charity warned that the executions are particularly concerning given almost half were for non-violent drugs-related offences.

Middle east expert Husain Abdulla thinks the rise in executions are directly linked to the new King Salman and his recently-appointed inner circle, exposing a lack of independence of the Saudi judiciary.

“These men have worked tirelessly to further conflate criminal justice with the authority of the monarchy, all while reasserting the government’s seemingly unshakeable commitment to authoritarian rule,” he said.

Saudi Arabia is the world’s third highest user of the death penalty.

According to Amnesty International, the top state killers are:

1. China (1000+)
2. Iran (289+)
3. Saudi Arabia (90+)
4. Iraq (61+)
5. USA (35+)
6. Sudan (23+)
7. Yemen (22+)
8. Egypt (15+)
9. Somalia (14+)
10. Jordan (11+)

African Union Summit Ends In Chaos As South Africa Keeps Trying To Arrest World Leaders

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The weekend summit of the African Union, a group of leaders from across Africa, descended into chaos on Sunday as Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir was forced to flee South Africa because of an international warrant for his arrest.

South Africa, hardly a shining example of morals, decided that its High Court should decide whether he should be handed over to the International Criminal Court, which charged him with war crimes.

Mr Bashir isn’t the only African leader South Africa tried to arrest at the summit. Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi decided not to attend because South Africa wanted to arrest him as well.

The political tactic is bizarre and shows a desperate South Africa is trying to assert itself within Africa despite little basis to do so. While the most developed country on the continent, it has been plagued with scandal, corruption and a wave of xenophobia, which resulted in the public killing of Emmanuel Sithole, an immigrant from Mozambique.

Yet as it loses control of its own country it seems to want to, selectively, meddle in the affairs of its neighbors.

Its approach is haphazard. In trying to arrest el-Sisi the country kowtowed to radical Islamist lawyers who targeted the only rational leader in the middle east. And while Bashir likely deserves to be in jail for his brutal regime, so too does Robert Mugabe, the current chair of the AU.

To target Bashir and not Mugabe is truly bizarre.

Its even more bizarre, given a large number of African countries have decided not to cooperate with the ICC, citing racism and bias against African leaders.

By trying to apprehend leaders of its trade group, South Africa is destroying both its own credibility and that of the African Union.

France Latest Country To Ban Cancer Causing Monsanto Weedkiller Roundup

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The world seems to be catching on to chemical giant Monsanto’s campaign of lies about its deadly weedkiller Roundup. After a United Nations report found the chemical to cause cancer, French Ecology Minister Segolene Royal announced Sunday that the popular weedkiller would be banned from garden centers.

The weedkiller, which is used by amateur gardeners and commercial farmers, is the star product of American biotechnology giant Monsanto.

“France must be on the offensive with regards to the banning of pesticides,” Royal said in the announcement on French television.

“I have asked garden centers to stop putting Monsanto’s Roundup on sale,” though the ban appears to only remove the product from self-service aisles.

Her announcement came after French consumer association CLCV asked French and European officials to stop selling glyphosate-based products.

Glyphosate is the most-produced weedkiller in the world, according to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).

The agency’s evaluation of glyphosate found evidence that it caused a type of cancer called non-Hodgkin lymphoma, confirming the findings of previous studies in the United States, Sweden and Canada conducted among farm workers since 2001.

U.S. chemical giant Monsanto, infamous for producing another cancer causing chemical, Agent Orange, claims the IARC classification excluded “relevant, scientific data was excluded from review”.

It made similar claims in the 70s and 80s about Agent Orange, which was found to be highly toxic.

For more coverage on Monsanto and its cancer-causing chemicals, click here, here, here and here.

Top Islamic Militant Killed In Rare U.S. Airstrike On Libya

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The United States Air Force killed a top Islamic militant on Sunday in an air strike on Libya, officials reported.

Mokhtar Belmokhtar, who ordered a deadly attack on an Algerian gas plant two years ago, was killed in the eastern city of Ajdabiya, according to a statement from Libya’s government.

Air Force officials say Belmokhtar was targeted and that the strike was successful, but that it is still assessing the operation’s results and would release more details “as appropriate”.

The caution likely comes from the fact that Mokhtar Belmokhtar’s death has been reported many times in the past.

Born in Algeria, Belmokhtar became a senior figure in al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), before leaving to form his own militia.

He gained notoriety for attacking the In Amenas gas plant in Algeria in 2013, in which 800 people were taken hostage and 40 were killed. Most of those killed were foreigners, including six Britons and three Americans.

Belmokhtar was wanted on terror charges, filed by the U.S. and officials said they believed he remained a threat to Western interests.

“Belmokhtar has a long history of leading terrorist activities as a member of AQIM, is the operational leader of the al-Qaeda-associated al-Murabitoun organisation in north-west Africa, and maintains his personal allegiance to al-Qaeda,” said Pentagon spokesman Col Steve Warren.

The U.S. hunting Mokhtar Belmokhtar illustrates the breadth and depth of its counter-terrorism efforts.

The attack on Libya was launched by two F-15 aircraft and not drone.

As we recently covered, Libya is an area of concern for both America and Europe. The instability created by the removal of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 is providing a rich vein of ungoverned space in which the Islamic State (ISIS) has established a significant presence.

The Libyan government was consulted on the attack and a statement said it resulted in the death of the “terrorist Belmokhtar”.

Are Pipelines Really Safe? Texas Pipeline Ruptures And Explodes Overnight

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While nobody was injured, a natural gas pipeline ruptured in rural South Texas, creating a massive fire that forced the evacuation of nearby homes. The huge blaze could be seen from 20 miles away.

The Energy Transfer Partners pipeline ruptured near Lindenau around 8 pm Sunday, according to DeWitt County Emergency Operations Center spokeswoman Peggy Fonseca. Lindenau is about 85 miles southeast of San Antonio.

As of early Monday the gas had been rerouted and the fire was extinguished though seven homes were evacuated and residents won’t be allowed to return home until safety inspections are completed.

Energy Transfer Partners spokeswoman Vicki Anderson Granado says the company will investigate the cause of the rupture.

The explosion continues to call into question the safety of pipelines, such as the proposed Keystone XL pipeline, given the spotty safety record. As we covered earlier, California just saw its pristine beaches near Santa Barbara ruined by a slow oil leak from a nearby pipeline.

North Korean Soldier Walks Over DMZ And Defects

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One North Korean soldier has apparently had enough of Kim Jong Un and his corrupt regime. The unnamed soldier walked across one of the world’s most heavily defended borders to defect to the South, according to South Korean officials.

The teenager approached a South Korean guard station in north eastern Hwacheon in the demilitarized zone (DMZ) on Monday, South Korea’s defence ministry said in a statement.

There was no confrontation or exchange of fire and the soldier is now being held in custody.

Given the extreme security it is exceedingly rare for defectors to walk across the DMZ. The last time someone took the walk was in 2012.

The usual route for defectors is via China, where they then make their way through South East Asia and finally into South Korea.

There are nearly 28,000 North Koreans who have immigrated to the South, with the vast majority taking the China route.

Anti-personnel landmines that litter the 155 mile long DMZ are the main reason its an unpopular escape route.

When a North Korean soldier defected through the wire fence was in October 2012, it was a huge embarrassment for the South Korean military and steps were immediately taken to strengthen border security. The soldier snuck through the fence undetected.

Increased activity by North Korean soldiers in the DMZ the past few months have led experts to believe that the North has been trying to make defections more difficult.

As we reported last month, 16 North Korean defected to the South on dictator Kim Jong Un’s birthday, which deeply angered the rotund leader.

In addition to landmines, the DMZ is fortified with barbed wire and guarded by tens of thousands of soldiers on both side.

Hundreds of North Koreans flee the poverty and a repressive regime of the North each year. Yet defection is risky as the vicious North Korean regime will seek reprisals on family and friends of defectors. It is therefor rare for an individual to defect as usual those that want to escape take their whole families with them.

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