May 202013
 

At least ten people were injured on Sunday following an accident involving 50 vehicles on a freeway in the province of Segovia, the region of Castilla y Leon, in northern Spain, announced the local authorities (scroll down for video).

50 Car Crash Segovia, Castile and León

Multiple car collision involving about 50 vehicles emerged in the region of in the province of Segovia, Castile and León, in Spain

“Ten people are kept under medical observation at the moment,” said emergency services, adding that rescuers are still working at the scene.

About 50 cars remained trapped in a chain collision that occurred around 7:00 p.m. local time near the municipality of Honrubia de la Cuesta.

A strong hail shower that descended on the area at the time of the incident is suspected to be the main cause of the pile-up.

The multiple car crash emerged on the A-1 motorway that connects Madrid to the town of Burgos.

Video: 44 cars involved and 22 injured in 5 accidents in the province of Segovia

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May 192013
 

33-year-old Valentin Boanta who is being detained in a prison from Vaslui, Romania, after he was convicted on charges of bank card fraud, invented a device that he says could protect any ATM against skimming attempts (scroll down for video).

SRS anti-skimming scheme

Romanian hacker placed in Vaslui jail invented SRS, a bank machine anti-skimming device (Youtube)

Boanta has served so far six months of his five years prison term, and was sent behind bars because he provided an organized crime gang with various gadgets used to mask the card data copying equipment (skimmers) the gang mounted on the ATMs.

The inmate revealed that he began creating such gadgets of pure pleasure and denied it ever intended to use them himself, saying he only sold them to others.

Boanta said that his 2009 arrest and the trial that followed caused him conscious remorse as he realized the negative impact of his actions, therefore he felt the need to repair his mistakes.

“When I was captured, I was extremely happy as I could work on the right side,” he said.
“The crime was like a drug to me. After being caught, I was very happy because I got rid of the adrenaline addiction. Thus, the other side of my personality started to develop security solutions which now have begun to emerge”.

Valentin Boanta, a former student of industrial engineering, has worked on the current device since his arrest and today he presented his invention in a Vaslui prison cell which he shares with five pickpockets and burglars.

Hacker Valentin Boanta explains the mechanism behind his anti-skimming device (REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel)

Hacker Valentin Boanta explains the mechanism behind his anti-skimming device (REUTERS/Bogdan Cristel)

“All ATMs feature an old fashioned construction, so they are prone to vulnerabilities. Cash machines are nowadays the very poor side of the banking industry. Any ATM can be penetrated by a skimming attack but my security solution make them unbreakable,” he said.

Boanta’s device, dubbed “Secure Revolving System – SRS”, can be installed in any ATM and uses mechanical rather than digital security. SRS allows the insertion of the bank card into the slot long side first, then rotates it 90 degrees to prevent data copying equipment to access the information on the magnetic strip and then the system delivers the card back to its owner through a reverse rotation.

The new ATM security device looks like a trapezoidal metal box, about 15 centimeter long, with card slot in the middle.

“Secure Revolving System-SRS”, financed and developed by Romanian company MB Telecom, is patented and won an award this year at the 41st International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva. The inventor and the development company have not revealed yet any information on its cost, but say it will be available soon.

“Valentin deserves such a recognition,” said SRS co-inventor and president of MB Telecom, Mircea Tudor. “His invention will certainly improve Romania’s image in the world and definitely he will join our team when he is set to be released from jail,” added Mircea Tudor about Valentin Boanta.

Video: Anti-skimming device SRS developed by imprisoned Romanian hacker

May 192013
 

Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport was temporarily closed Saturday morning after a plane coming from Stavropol with about 140 people onboard, caught fire during the landing procedure. Fortunately nobody was injured in the incident, reported RIA Novosti (scroll down for video).

UTair plane fire

Passenger climbing down the wing of an UTair B737 plane whose landing gear caught fire at Vnukovo airport (Youtube)

“The landing gear on the left side caught fire during the touch down. Preliminary information suggests that the wheel brake was damaged,” said the authorities adding that the plane, a Boeing 737 operated by the Russian airline UTair (YOOT-air) was taken out of the runway.

News channel Rossiya 24 showed images of the plane surrounded by intervention teams on the track. A firefighter at the scene told the channel that the incident was “dangerous”. Video footage shows how passengers leave the jet by leaping off its right wing.

Among the passengers there were also members of the Russian pop band Laskoviy Mai who returned from a tour with their producer, and a member of the State Duma, Andrei Razin. He told RIA Novosti that the plane was “almost full” and that he was evacuated “quickly”.

Emergency Situations Ministry said the plane carrying 136 passengers and six crew members, while the Transport Department of the Ministry of Interior announced that the aircraft had 136 people including also the crew members.

Video: UTair plane wheel catches fire during landing at Moscow airport Vnukovo

May 192013
 

A plane belonging to the company U.S. Airways landed Saturday morning without landing gear at Liberty International Airport in Newark, New Jersey.

Newark plane landing gear crash

Plane operating US Express Flight 4560 lands on its belly at Newark airport after reporting landing gear issues

The airplane was carrying 31 passengers and three crew members. A spokesman for the airline, Davien Anderson, told CNN that no one was injured in the crash landing maneuvers.

“US Express Flight 4560 which was operated by Piedmont Airlines took off in Philadelphia Friday night at 23.00 local time (Saturday, 3.00 GMT). The aircraft reported a problem with the landing gear on the approach to Newark, and flew over the airport for a while before landing on its “belly” on Saturday at 1.00 am local time (5.00 GMT), with a delay of one hour compared to the scheduled arrival. After the landing, the passengers and crew were evacuated. They were transported to the terminal, where they claimed their luggage and left the airport,” said Anderson.

“An investigation of the incident was opened and U.S. Airways cooperates with U.S. National Transport Safety Commission (NTSB)”, added the spokesman.

May 182013
 

Le Grand Journal, the main evening news program of the Canal Plus television, interrupted its live broadcast from Cannes’s Hotel Martinez on Friday night when two gunshots were heard (scroll down for video).

Daniel Auteuil and Christoph Waltz, two jury members of the Cannes Film Festival, were on set when the incident emerged. The shooting caused moments of panic which triggered the discontinuation of the programme as the audience scattered away quickly.

“Le Grand Journal” host Michel Denisot, came back live on TV soon after, saying that it was a police action during which a man who carried a fake grenade and fired two blank gunshots was captured.

There were no fatalities and police arrested the individual. The two guests, the public and the crew returned to the set after the incident and the program continued.

Video: Gunshots fired during Le Grand Journal in Cannes, France

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May 182013
 

A Chinese company known mainly for developing air conditioning systems intends to build the tallest building in the world in the middle of an empty field.

Sky City Tower China

World’s tallest building Sky City Tower will be 838 meter high and is set to be constructed near Changsha in China (qz.com)

According to representatives of Broad Sustainable Construction (BSB), the building will not only be a simple skyscraper, but a true vertical city.

The tower called “Sky City” is planned to be built in the middle of a field near the city of Changsha, and will have a height of 838 meters, just 10 meters taller than world’s highest skyscraper at the moment, Dubai’s Burj Khalifa.

Dubbed as “the next step in the urbanization”, Sky City will house about 30,000 people in 202-storeys. Moreover, the tower will include office spaces, a school, 17 helipads and a hospital. People have to travel inside the gigantic construction using its 92 elevators.

May 152013
 

An ancient pyramid built by the Maya civilization in Belize was demolished by employees of a construction company who wished to use the resulting materials for the construction of a highway.

The 2,300-year-old pyramid known as the Nohmul Temple, was one of the oldest in Belize, and is now reduced to the level of the limestone ground.

Archaeologists said that such incidents took place a couple of times in the past. For the demolition of the Nohmul pyramid, they were notified 1 week in advance.

Video: Construction workers destroyed Mayan pyramid for road building

May 122013
 

It is suspected that the new virus, dubbed “coronavirus”, that killed 18 people in Saudi Arabia and Europe, would have the airborne ability to infect, therefore the virus could spread between humans, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Sunday.

“Very worrying for us is the fact that the existence of different strains in many countries increasingly supports the hypothesis that in the event of a close contact, the SARS-like coronavirus could be transmitted from person to person,” said Assistant Director General of the WTO , Keiji Fukuda.

Fukuda spoke to journalists in Riyadh during a visit he made ​​in Saudi Arabia.

Another virus belonging to the same family was the source of the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) that rocked the world back in 2003 when about 770 died from infection. SARS first erupted in Asia at that time.

May 122013
 

Billionaire Richard Branson lost a bet with Tony Fernandes and honored the promise of dressing in stewardess outfit and offering services to passengers on an Air Asia aircraft (scroll down for video).

Richard Branson and Tony Fernandes

Virgin Group boss Richard Branson (left) posing with AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes (right) during a press release at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Sepang, near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 12 May 2013. (EPA/AHMAD YUSNI)

Dressed in a vest and short skirt, using red lipstick and shoes of same color, Sir Richard Branson served passengers on a five-hour charity flight from Perth (Australia) to the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur on Sunday morning.

“It was something new and exciting for me. I loved the experience and I am happy to have finally honored the bet which I lost 2 years ago” said Branson in an AirAsia statement.

The British entrepreneur also shaved his legs as promised but insisted on keeping his beard, which made a remarkable contrast to the lipstick he had slicked on.

In 2010, Branson sponsored the Virgin F1 team who finished second last position in the Formula 1 World Championship, after the Lotus team, owned by Tony Fernandes. The position of the two “competitive” teams in the ranking was the subject of a bet between Branson and Fernandes.

Neither Lotus nor Virgin F1 got any point in 2010. But Finn Heikki Kovalainen who drives for Lotus finished 12th at the Japanese Grand Prix, which enabled the Malaysian team to claim the tenth position in the overall standings just before the British team owned by Branson.

Richard Branson is the chairman and founder of the Virgin Group that includes Virgin Atlantic airline while Tony Fernandes is the Air Asia Chief Executive Officer. Both billionaires own Formula I motor racing teams.

Video: Sir Richard Branson becomes Air Asia stewardess after losing bet

Richard Branson stewardess AirAsia

British magnate Richard Branson dressed in red stewardess outfit to honor Formula 1 bet lost to Tony Fernandes in 2010

May 122013
 

World War III allegedly breaks out in the Middle East, but its spark will be lit in the Balkans after a senior man is killed with a knife.

Alois Irlmaier

German seer Alois Irlmaier foretold that WW3 will start after crime in Balkans

This is the prophecy made by the German visionary Alois Irlmaier, who died in 1959 in suspicious circumstances. Some say he would have died of cancer, others that he had been poisoned. His life was studied by writer Conrad Adlmaier who published a book about his predictions. Irlmaier revelations on the WWIII possibility appear to remind us of the starting circumstances of the WWI, especially the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary empire, on 28 June 1914 by Yugoslav nationalist Gavrilo Princip in Sarajevo. That crime triggered a global political crisis as Austria-Hungary gave shortly an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia and one month later (28 July 1914) World War I began.

In his visions, Irlmaier describes the onset of the Third World War and the way it will shake the mankind, writes Alamongordo, a portal which collected all world’s prophesies.

“It will be in the name of peace. WW3 begins suddenly in the Middle East and giant naval forces clash in the Mediterranean – the situation is extremely tense. But the stake is in the Balkans. There is where the war sparks.

I see a big a fall, a bloody dagger lies beside him. Two men kill a third one. The victim is a high ranking senior. The killers were paid by other people. One of the murderers is a small black man, the other a bit taller, with pale hair.

It will happen in the Balkans, but I can not say exactly where. The war will begin overnight. I see very clearly three numbers, two eights and a nine. But I can not say what that means and can not give a time estimate. War will come from the east…and will come very quickly.

I see people sitting in bars and playing cards when foreign soldiers come through the windows and the doors. Dressed in black, an army comes from the east, but it happens very quickly. I see a three (number), but I do not know if that means three days or three weeks,” Alois Irlmaier begins his prophecy announcing the Third World War.

Apocalyptic tone continues, the German talking about an “army marching through Belgrade and reaching Italy”.

“I see strange machineries advancing like lightning in the north of the Danube over West Germany without any warning. People run in panic toward west. Many cars will block the roads, and people will get stranded during their runaway efforts, because of the abandoned vehicles. Tanks move along high-speed freeways and other fast highways. There will be a huge destruction and not much will be left from the big city of Frankfurt.

Rhine Valley will be devastated, mainly by air. Nothing will escape. I see three spear tips coming. That is the Russian force and is unstoppable, as it moves with the three peaks that pierce everything on their way. Day and night progress is made as the main objective is Germany,” reads the prophecy issued by Irlmaier.

It is not clear, but Russia seems to be at the center of Alois Irlmaier predictions.

“A death stretch is created straight from the Black Sea to the North Sea, as large as half of Bavaria. Grass does not grow in this area and people are all dead. Russia breaks links with all friends”, claimed Irlmaier.

According to Pleyades Library, Alois Irlmaier lived in Bavaria, between 1894 and 1959.

His views made him famous in Germany and, after the Second World War, people came to him to locate their lost family members.

He was accused of witchcraft, but during his trial, he came up as innocent after telling the judge how his wife is dressed and what she does during to the lawsuit. When talking about his visions, Alois used images like split from movies.