Italy Begins Day of Mourning for Quake Victims as Death Toll Rises to 290

Italy Begins Day of Mourning for Quake Victims as Death Toll Rises to 290 (ABC News)

Italy's national day of mourning following Wednesday's deadly earthquake kicked off Saturday morning with an increase in the death toll to 290 and a series of aftershocks that rattled the already-frayed nerves of shaken residents.

France Refused Visas To Nigeria's Upcoming World Scrable Champions

Angela "I'm not very shy!" Osaigbovo, 10, of Nigeria came in second in a recent youth tournament, and triumphed at Scrabble camp in August. She'd hoped to win the MSI World Youth Scrabble Championship in Lille, France, this weekend, but was refused a French visa.

(Ofeibea Quist-Arcton/NPR)

Nigeria is the English-speaking world's Scrabble superpower. Africa's most populous nation is home not only to the global Scrabble champion, but team Nigeria ranks as the world's top Scrabble playing nation — ahead of the U.S. in second place.

These Mercedes-Benz Vans!!!!!!!!

Eat your heart out Matt Foley, because thanks to Mercedes-Benz we now totally want to live in a van down by the river.

The German brand recently unveiled a handful of converted camper vans it plans to bring to the Caravan Salon trade show in Düsseldorf, Germany. This resulted in two reactions here at Car and Driver:

1. How are we just now hearing about the Caravan Salon trade show in Düsseldorf, Germany?
2. How long has Mercedes-Benz been depriving stateside camper-van enthusiasts of these glorious machines?

A woman Gruesomely Hung In Tibet

Tsering Tso’s grandmother, Lhadhey, 83, and mother Adhey, 49, pose for a photograph in Jiqie No. 2 Village on the grasslands outside Chalong township in China’s western Sichuan province, Aug. 11, 2016. (Xu Yangjingjing/The Washington Post)

JIQIE NO. 2 VILLAGE, China — She was 27, a kind, hard-working woman who supported her family by herding yaks and harvesting caterpillar fungus, a prized health cure, on the high grasslands of Tibet. Last October, Tsering Tso was found hanged from a bridge in a small town near her home.

Her family and local villagers gathered outside the police station in Chalong township to demand answers: She had last been seen in the company of a local Buddhist priest and two policemen.

Indiana Tornadoes: Buildings Flattened, Cars Tossed

Multiple tornadoes struck central Indiana Wednesday -- damaging homes, leveling buildings and piling cars on top of one another like toys.

Miraculously, state police said late Wednesday that no serious injures had been reported even as tens of thousands of residents had no power. About a dozen people suffered cuts and bruises.

National Weather Service meteorologist Brad Herold said a preliminary survey shows an EF3 tornado with maximum winds of 165 mph struck Kokomo, about 40 miles north of Indianapolis, the Associated Press reported.

$99,999 Payout To Homeless Woman

Wanda Witter, 80, who up until last week was homeless and living on D.C.’s streets, has received $99,999 in Social Security retirement benefits, but she could be just one of many people owed cash because of the “tangled mess” at the Social Security Administration, according to the social worker who helped her.

“Wanda’s story has been told. But there are a lot of other people in Wanda’s position,” said Julie Turner, who works for the Downtown Cluster of Congregations, a nonprofit group that helps D.C.’s poor, low-income and homeless communities.

Central Italy Earthquake: Death Toll Climbs To 368

Nearly 24 hours after a magnitude 6.2 earthquake struck central Italy early Wednesday, killing at least 247, aftershocks continued and the odd survivor was still being pulled from the rubble.

At 5:17 a.m. local time Thursday morning -- nearly 26 hours after the quake first struck -- central Italy was rocked by a 4.7 magnitude aftershock 4.3 miles east of Norcia, according to the USGS.

On Wednesday night, about 17 hours after the quake struck at 3:36 a.m. local time -- with the towns of Amatrice and Accumoli, about 60 miles northeast of Rome, being the hardest hit -- firefighters pulled a 10-year-old girl alive from the rubble in Pescara del Tronto.

Italy Earthquake: "Voices Under The Rubble"

At least 38 dead, "voices under the rubble"
(ABC)

A powerful earthquake devastated a string of mountainous towns in central Italy on Wednesday, trapping residents under piles of rubble, killing at least 38 people and leaving thousands homeless.

The quake struck in the early hours of the morning when most residents were asleep, razing homes and buckling roads in a cluster of communities some 140 km (85 miles) east of Rome.

Tackling Nigeria’s Housing Challenge

HOUSING plays a special role in the social, political but more importantly economic dialogue in most societies. Housing has been known to be a major component of creating stable and healthy communities and it is often the largest single category of household expense.

Collapsed Building: 2 Children Died

Two children have been killed in a collapsed building disaster in Jigawa State, Nigeria

According to an eyewitness, Muhammad Umar, the incident was caused by a heavy downpour in Kirikasamma Local Government Area, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

He said the collapse took place while the family slept, leaving the deceased children trapped, while their father, mother and one other child managed to escape, without any injuries.

The School On The Frontline Of The War In Ukraine

An outdoor lesson at School No. 58 in Kievsky, just a few kilometres from the front line of the war in eastern Ukraine [Kyrre Lien/Al Jazeera] Donetsk, eastern Ukraine - It is Wednesday, May 4, 2016, and five grade 11 boys run gleefully on to the football field next to the school. In their right hand, they each carry a gun, in their left, a hand grenade. It is the last period and the older pupils have a class in defence, patriotism and discipline. The guns they are using today are made of wood, but later they will practise with the real thing. At School No 58, the war is no game of pretend.

Hacker Hamza Bendelladj Sentenced To 15 years

Algerian hacker and developer of malicious SpyEye malware Hamza Bendelladj has been sentenced by a US court to 15 years in prison and three years of supervised release on charges related to his role in developing and distributing the virus.

Bendelladj, 27, had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to commit wire and bank fraud, 10 counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiring to commit computer fraud and abuse, and 11 counts of computer fraud and abuse. He had faced 60 years prison and a $24m fine.

I’m A Pedophile, But Not A Monster

I was born without my right hand. As a child, this deformity quickly set me apart from my peers. In public I wore a prosthesis, an intimidating object to other youngsters because of its resemblance to a pirate’s hook.  Even so, I wore it every day; I felt inadequate without it. I was shy, uncoordinated and terrible at sports, all of which put me on the outs with other boys my age. But I was good at drawing and making up stories for my own entertainment, and I spent more and more time in my own head, being a space adventurer or monster wrangler or whatever character I could think up. These would ultimately prove to be useful skills, but for now they only served to further alienate me from other kids.  On top of it all, I still struggled with bladder control—likely due to my heaping pile of insecurities, to which this problem only added more—well into my elementary school years.

Castration For Sex Offenders Who Prey On Kids

Suspects in the gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old schoolgirl before their trial in Curup, Bengkulu Province, Indonesia, this month. The seven teenagers were each sentenced to 10 years in prison for the crime.

Diva Marha / Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

JAKARTA, Indonesia — The Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, signed a decree on Wednesday authorizing chemical castration for convicted child sex offenders and requiring those released on parole to wear electronic monitoring devices.

The new punishment comes in response to the brutal gang rape and murder in April of a 14-year-old girl on her way home on the island of Sumatra. Seven teenage boys were each sentenced to 10 years in prison for the crime, which prompted national outrage and revived previous calls for chemical castration as a punishment against child sex offenders.