George Zimmerman Appears in Court

George Zimmerman, the Florida neighbourhood watchman accused of the death of

unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin, has appeared in court. During the brief hearing, the 29th of May was set for a formal reading of the charges and a bail hearing.

Mr Zimmerman, 28, who turned himself in on Wednesday to face a charge of second-degree murder, stood up straight and serious, wearing a grey prison jumpsuit. The 26th of February killing of the 17-year-old has divided the US. Mr Zimmerman has spent his first night in jail 45 days after shooting the teenager in a quiet gated community in the Orlando suburb of Sanford.

Mr Zimmerman's lawyer, Mark O'Mara, did not seek bail for his client during the brief hearing, as expected. He told reporters outside the court afterwards he had decided not to ask for a bond because "it might only arouse the fervour" around the case. The attorney said earlier that his client would plead not guilty.

If convicted, he could face life in prison.  Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin's mother, told NBC's Today show that she did not think Mr Zimmerman had intended to kill her son. "I believe it was an accident," she said on Thursday. "I believe that it just got out of control and he couldn't turn the clock back," she said, joined by Trayvon's father and their lawyer Benjamin Crump. When asked what she would say to Mr Zimmerman if she could meet him face to face, Ms Fulton said she understood his family was hurting but that losing a teenage son was "very difficult to live with day in and day out".
"I'm sure his parents can pick up the phone and call him," she said, "but we can't pick up the phone and call Trayvon Martin anymore."
In a later interview with the Associated Press, Ms Fulton said she meant the meeting between her son and Mr Zimmerman was the accident. "That was the accident," she said. "Not the actual act of him shooting him. That was murder... They were never supposed to meet."

Legal experts say that prosecutors must prove the shooting was rooted in hatred or ill will, while the defence, to prevent the case from even going to trial, have to prove by a relatively lower legal standard that its client acted in self-defence. Mr Zimmerman's attorney said: "He is concerned about getting a fair trial and a fair presentation. He is a client who has a lot of hatred focused on him."

The neighbourhood watchman told police he opened fire after the teenager attacked him, breaking his nose and banging his head against the pavement. But those who were pressing for Mr Zimmerman's arrest suggested the teenager was shot because of his race.  Florida special prosecutor Angela Corey announced on Wednesday that charges would be pressed, telling reporters: "We did not come to this decision lightly. Let me emphasize that we do not prosecute by public pressure or petition."

The move followed a nationwide campaign of demonstrations demanding Mr Zimmerman's arrest, led by the dead teenager's parents and prominent civil rights activists. The debate went all the way to the White House when President Barack Obama said last month: "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."

The case highlights Florida's controversial "stand your ground" law, which grants individuals leeway to use deadly force if they feel seriously under threat. Trayvon Martin was walking home from a local shop carrying a bag of sweets and a can of iced tea when he was approached by Mr Zimmerman.
The neighbourhood watch volunteer had told a police dispatcher he thought Martin, who was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, looked suspicious. According to 911 emergency calls released afterwards, the dispatcher advised Mr Zimmerman not to go after the young man. But minutes later a confrontation ensued, leading to the fatal shooting.

The case has raised tensions around Sanford, where bullets were fired into an unoccupied police car on Tuesday not far from where the teenager died.

Key dates in the Martin case

• 26 February: Trayvon Martin is fatally shot and police do not arrest the shooter, George Zimmerman
• 16 March: Recordings of 911 calls made before the shooting are released to Martin's parents, they demand for Mr Zimmerman's arrest
• 22 March: Sanford Police Chief Bill Lee "temporarily" steps down and Seminole County State Attorney Norman Wolfinger stands aside from the investigation amid mounting calls for the prosecution of Mr Zimmerman
• 23 March:  President Obama identifies with the Martin family and says if he had a son he would have looked like Trayvon Martin
• 10 April: Mr Zimmerman's lawyers withdraw as his counsel and say they lost contact with him two days earlier
• 11 April: George Zimmerman taken into custody and charged with second-degree murder

New Seven Wonders of the World

The provisional new seven wonders of nature have been chosen after a series of votes by the “New7Wonders Foundation” based in Zurich, Switzerland. The Amazon rainforest, Vietnam’s Halong Bay, Iguazu Falls, South Korea’s Jeju Island, Indonesia’s Komodo National Park, Philippines’s Puerto Princesa River and Table Mountain in South Africa are the newly voted wonders of the nature world.

The Amazon Rainforest

The Amazon Rainforest, also known as Amazonia, the Amazon jungle or the Amazon Basin, covers the area of a billion acres, encompassing areas in Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. The Amazon is home to at least 40,000 plant species, 3,000 freshwater fish species and over 370 reptile species exist in the Amazon. The Amazon is considered to have half of the planet’s remaining rainforests and be the largest and most species-rich tract of tropical rainforest in the world. The official list will be announced in 2012.

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Vietnam’s Halong Bay

which is located in the north of the country, is made up of 1,600 islands and islets in various sizes and shapes. The islands, which are dotted with caves and can be accessed only by boat, were first listed as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1994. There is a Fishing Village in Ha Long Bay where people live in non-solid ground in a coastline of 2,000 islands. Children at the unique village go to the floating schools yschool boats everyday.

Iguazu Falls, Argentina and Brazil

The Iguazú Falls, which is one of Argentina and Brazil’s most popular touristic destinations, consists of 257 individual falls over 2.7 kilometers. Among them, the Garganta del Diablo (Devil’s throat) with its U-shape offers best scene of these majestic waterfalls. Specially, over 2000 species of plants, 400 of birds and 70 mammals live in this area.

Jeju Island, South Korea

Jeju Island, South Korea’s subtropical volcanic island, is situated 130 kilometres off the southern coast of the Korean Peninsula. Listed as a World Natural Heritage Site in 2007, the volcanic island is best known for its scenic mountains, waterfalls, forests, caves and beaches.

Komodo National Park, Indonesia

Indonesia’s Komodo is considered to be the world’s largest living lizard which is best known for its unique fauna and its unusual inhabitant. Komodo National Park covers three larger islands Komodo, Rinca and Padar and some smaller ones. The national park was originally founded in 1980 to protect the Komodo dragon.

Puerto Princesa River, Philippines

Puerto Princesa River is the longest navigable underground river in the world which can be traveled by an organized boat ride. The river emerges directly into the South China Sea; hence, its lower portion is subject to tidal influences. The Puerto Princesa Subterranean River is 8.2km long and home to more than 250 bird species, 800 plant species and at least 295 types of trees.

Table Mountain, South Africa

Table Mountain is the level plateau edged by impressive cliffs which forms a dramatic backdrop to Cape Town. The unique shaped mountain has withstood six million years of erosion. The place is home to at least 2,200 plant species and over 1,470 floral species.

Naughty Chuckles

 

Tsuanmi Alert Lifted

Millions breathe sigh of relief after tsunami alert is lifted following double quake that spread panic from Indonesia to India

Millions of people living along the coastline of the Indian Ocean were left breathing a sigh of relief today after warnings of a devastating tsunami were lifted following two massive earthquakes. Panic spread across the region after an 8.7 magnitude tremor struck 270 miles off the Indonesian province of Aceh - which bore the brunt of the Boxing Day tidal wave of 2004.

Tsunami warnings were instantly issued in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Australia, Burma, Thailand, the Maldives, Malaysia, Pakistan, Somalia, Oman, Iran, Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa and Singapore. In the Indonesian city of Banda Aceh, terrified residents screamed 'God is great!' as they jumped into cars and the backs of motorcycles, clogging streets as they fled to high ground.

Buildings shook for four minutes and there were reports of people jumping from windows in a desperate attempt to escape. Patients also poured out of hospitals, some with drips still attached to their arms. In some places, electricity was briefly cut. There were also scenes of panic in Bangalore, India and Columbo in Sri Lanka as terrified people fled their homes and offices.

Then, two hours later, a massive aftershock - with a similarly huge magnitude of 8.2 - struck only 110 miles further out to sea, unleashing even more panic. Tsunami waves, measuring 3ft in height, hit Sumatra, the island Aceh is on. But experts discovered that both quakes were the wrong type to issue a disaster and the warnings were lifted.

Roger Musson, seismologist at the British geological survey who has studied Sumatra's fault lines, said the earthquake was a strike-slip quake. The tsunami triggering 9.1-magnitude earthquake of seven years go - which killed 230,000 people, three quarters of whom lived in Aceh - was a thrust quake, which causes the sea bed to flip up.

French Plumber Hitler's Grandson

PARIS – A French plumber has gone public claiming to be former Nazi leader’s grandson.  56 year old Philippe Loret, who has been working as a plumber for the French Air Force for the past 35 years, says he isn’t exactly proud of the fact he is Hitler’s grandson but he is not unhappy about it either. Allegedly, Adolf Hitler had an affair with Loret’s grandmother during Word War I. Hitler, then 28, impregnated the then 16 year old and they reportedly conceived a son named, Jean-Marie Loret, Philippe’s father.

Jean-Marie Loret

 Hitler and Loret

Hitler and Loret

Philippe says that his dad use to tell him and his siblings that Adolf Hitler was their grandpa. Loret says even though it was 40 years ago, he remembers it well. He was just 16 and was sitting at the kitchen table with his 6 brothers and sisters when their dad interrupted them and ‘told us we are Adolf Hitler’s grandchildren’.
“Suddenly my dad said ‘Kids, I have got to tell you something. Your grandpa is Adolf Hitler.’ We were all dumbfounded. We didn’t know how to react,” says Loret.

Even today Philippe Loret doesn’t really know how to react to the ‘secret’. Until now, no one except for two of his friends knew he was allegedly Hitler’s grandson. Loret says he only brought it up because of recent news about Hitler having conceived a child with a french maiden, who are his father and his grandmother.
Last month, the Brit Alan Wilkes, opened up a diary belonging to his dad Leonard, who was one of the first Englishmen to set foot on the coast of Normandy on D-Day, that apparently confirms Loret’s story. On September 30th 1944, Leonard Wilkes wrote in his journal:

“An exciting day today. We visited the house where Hitler stayed during World War I when he was still a corporal. We met a women there who had a child with him and she said that Hitler’s child, a son, was now fighting in the French Army against the Germans.”

That woman was Charlotte Lobjoie, mother of Jean-Marie Loret. She encountered Hitler in the summer of 1917 in the vicinity of Lille. Jean-Marie Loret, Philippe’s father, died in 1985. Just recently, his lawyer François Gibault, provided proof that Jean-Marie Loret was indeed Hitler’s son, thus making Philippe his grandson.
The proof presented showed that Adolf Hitler and Jean-Marie Loret had the same blood type. Loret’s and Hitler’s writing are almost identical. Both Loret and Hitler had a dented chin and a square jaw line.

During his lifetime, Adolf Hitler officially never had children. He also never recognized Jean-Marie Loret as his child. Hitler's 'son' never met his father, and served as a soldier fighting against the Nazis during the Second World War. However before Loret died in 1985, he told his story to a Parisian lawyer Francois Gibault.

Loret was given up for adoption by his mother after a difficult childhood, his peers knowing that he was the son of a German soldier. Like many children fathered by German soldiers, his mother was destitute, and he was jeered at, known as "the son of the Boche." Alone and struggling for money, Lobjoie gave up her son to another couple. However years later, after Loret's mother confessed to him the truth of his parentage, Hitler's son struggled to cope.
"In order not to get depressed, I worked non-stop, never took a holiday, and had no hobbies. For twenty years I didn't even go to the cinema." he told his lawyer.

However Loret began investigating his past. He enlisted an expert in physiognomy (the way faces are aligned) and asked for advice from the Institute of Anthropology and Genetics at the University of Heidelberg. The blood type of the two men are similar, and their faces suggest famial characteristics.  Paintings by Hitler, an accomplished artist, have been found in Lobjoie's attic. A painting of the young Charlotte, signed by Hitler has even been found. Papers from the Germany and French army corroborate Loret's mothers story, showing that the Nazi dictator was serving in France at that time.

It has also been revealed that Lobjoie received packages of money from Hitler, years later. Loret died in 1985. Four years earlier, he had written the book Your Father’s Name Was Hitler. The memoir is to be republished with the new evidence that corroborates his story.

Syria Clashes Continue as Ceasefire Deadline Arrives

 

Violence has continued in Syria despite a UN-backed deadline for a complete withdrawal of troops and weapons coming into effect. Shelling was reported in Homs early on Tuesday, and there were clashes on the Turkish and Lebanese border overnight.  More than 100 people - many of them civilians - were killed on Monday, reports say.

Damascus had agreed to the deadline but insisted on written guarantees first that its opponents would give up arms. Under the plan - negotiated by the UN and Arab League's special envoy on the Syrian crisis, Kofi Annan - Syrian troops were to have completed their withdrawal from population centres and stopped the use of heavy weaponry by Tuesday, ahead of a full ceasefire coming into place on Thursday.

But activists in Syria reported that government troops had been shelling the western city of Homs since early on Tuesday morning, while military activity was also reported in Aleppo and other areas.
On Monday, several people in a refugee camp in Turkey were injured by shots fired across the border from inside Syria. Two people were also shot dead as they approached the border from the Syrian side.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking on a trip to China, said the incidents were a "clear violation" of its borders and that his country would "take the necessary measures" in response.
Turkish media reported that Mr Davutoglu was ending his trip early because of developments in Syria.
Turkey now hosts some 24,000 Syrians, including hundreds of army defectors, and has seen a sharp rise in the number of refugees coming over the border in the past week.

"We wish that Kofi Annan would help us," one refugee told the Associated Press news agency. "He should see for himself if the Syrians are oppressed or not and tell the Security Council that we are oppressed." Syria's government, under President Bashar al-Assad, had previously agreed to Mr Annan's plan. But on Sunday, Damascus called for written guarantees from rebel fighters to end attacks and a promise from foreign states not to fund them, effectively rejecting the plan.

The Assad government said it did not want the rebels to exploit any troop withdrawal to reorganize and rearm themselves.

 Tens of thousands of people have crossed the border into Turkey to escape the violence

The Free Syrian Army, the main armed rebel group, said it backed the truce but refused to meet the government's new demands. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called on Syria to "immediately cease all military actions against civilians and fulfil all of its commitments".

Late on Monday, Washington said there has been "no sign yet of the Assad regime abiding by its commitments".  Jim Muir in Beirut says the peace plan is not yet being considered dead, but it has fallen at the first hurdle.

Efforts are being made to revive the plan, says our correspondent, and hopes for salvaging it are now being pinned on Syria's international allies - Russia, China and Iran. They have generally defended the regime, but also support the Annan mission.  Syria's foreign minister is in Moscow for talks in the hope of shoring up support for Damascus, while Mr Annan is travelling to Tehran with the aim of securing Iranian backing for his plan.

The UN says more than 9,000 people have been killed in the uprising against Mr Assad's rule which began more than a year ago. The Syrian government says 2,000 security personnel have been killed in the uprising and blames the violence on "armed gangs" and "terrorists".

Ceasefire timetable

• 10 April: Government must withdraw troops and heavy weapons such as tanks from towns, cities and villages
• Following 48 hours: Ceasefire to be implemented on the ground with the onus on the opposition to follow the government's lead
• 06:00 local time on 12 April: All forms of violence must be stopped on all sides
• Next step: All parties to hold talks on a political solution

Amazing Bridge

The Aizhai suspension bridge was built as part of an expressway from southwest China's Chongqing Municipality to Changsha city in Hunan.The completion of the bridge shortens the journey time between the two cities from several days to just eight hours. Work started on the engineering feat in October 2007 and it has now finally opened to traffic.

Driving across the bridge, which links two tunnels together, drivers are offered a breathtaking view of the Dehang Canyon. Pedestrians can also walk across the bridge, which is lit up at night with 1,888 lights, using a special walkway.