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David Shayler worked for MI5, Vissarion was a traffic policeman… now both preach as the son of God. Jonas Bendiksen tells Paula Cocozza about his portraits of 21st-century messiahs Jonas Bendiksen grew up in a “godless home” in Tønsberg, Norway, which makes him an unlikely candidate to photograph the messiah, let alone six of them. But this is what he has spent the past three years doing: chronicling the lives of men – and they are all men – who claim to be Jesus returned to Earth, from Siberia to the Philippines, Japan to Devon. A member of the Magnum photo agency , 39-year-old Bendiksen describes himself as ardently scientific: “Faith has always been very hard for me to conceptualise,” he says. He thinks it might be this lack of preconceptions that has allowed him “to go and touch divinity itself”. He has no interest in mocking or defrocking his Jesus claimants: “My mission was to say, ‘OK, if one were to accept the prophecy of Jesus’s return, why wouldn’t it be this guy?’” Co

Bill Wolfe, who was evacuated from his home in Houston, returns to waist-deep water to survey the damage Hurricane Harvey wrought on his home. CNN.com - RSS Channel - HP Hero http://ift.tt/2wrNoHL September 01, 2017 at 09:19AM

In 2014, documents alleging a conspiracy to Islamise Birmingham schools were leaked to the media, sparking a national scandal. The papers were debunked – but the story remains as divisive as ever. What really happened? By Samira Shackle In November 2013, Birmingham city council received a strange document in the post. It was a photocopy of a letter, which seemed to be part of a correspondence between Muslims conspiring to take over local schools and run them according to strict Islamic principles. The photocopy was accompanied by a note from an anonymous person claiming that they had found these pages in their boss’s office. The letter – supposedly written by an Islamist offering advice to a co-conspirator – outlined a five-stage strategy called “Operation Trojan Horse”. Step one: identify vulnerable schools where most of the pupils are Muslim. Next, identify a group of sympathetic parents to agitate for an Islamic agenda. Then put in place governors who adhere to the same conservati

Suicide is New Zealand’s silent epidemic. The country has the highest youth suicide rates in the developed world and some people want to talk about it It has been just over a year since Georgia MacBeath died, when life support was turned off at the hospital where she was taken. Georgia had been found unconscious in the garage of her home in Rotorua in New Zealand’s North Island. Continue reading... The Guardian http://ift.tt/2vOMaEC September 01, 2017 at 08:42AM

At a Salford school, once the worst in the country, heartwarming friendships are formed and the pupils must come to terms with a terror attack Ding-a-ling-ding-ding-ding! Is that the school bell you can hear? It is: break’s over, holiday’s over, it’s a new term, new school. New terrifying, inspiring tales from the chalkface. This time we are in Salford, at Harrop Fold school , for Educating Greater Manchester (Channel 4). Who is going to emerge as an absolute legend this time? In Educating Essex , it was Mr Drew. Deputy head, disciplinarian, but brilliant with it, he was a great teacher and he really cared. In Yorkshire , first it was headteacher Mr Mitchell, also tough, also caring. Then lovely English teacher Mr Burton; you will have cried at the episode when he helped Musharaf overcome his stammer . Continue reading... The Guardian http://ift.tt/2vOeib4 September 01, 2017 at 09:59AM

Hollywood star Gal Gadot rallies behind two cosplayers from Sri Lanka to defend them from bullying.BBC News - World http://ift.tt/2vOOQ52 September 01, 2017 at 10:20AM

The world’s largest beverage company has big plans for India. The Coca-Cola Company wants the country to be its third-largest market globally, up from the sixth position currently, recently appointed chief executive James Quincey told local press on his maiden visit to India. He took the helm of the Atlanta-based firm in May this year . “The most immediate challenge for the country is to become No. 5 in the foreseeable future but in the end, my vision for India is we will be one of the top three markets in the world for Coca-Cola Company,” Quincey said on Aug. 31. At the moment, the company’s top five markets are the US, Mexico, China, Brazil, and Japan. But with urban Indian consumers veering away from sugar-loaded sodas and looking for healthier options, the maker of Coke, ThumsUp, and Sprite is looking to diversify its portfolio, focusing more on selling fruit-based and nutritious beverages, instead of the fizzy drinks its known for. “The company needs to be bigger than bran

A group of amateur rescuers was electrocuted while on a boat trying to help survivors of Houston's historic flooding. CNN's Randi Kaye reports. CNN.com - RSS Channel - HP Hero http://ift.tt/2gnFveV September 01, 2017 at 08:25AM

NFL player J.J. Watt has one message for victims of Hurricane Harvey, "we have your back." CNN.com - RSS Channel - HP Hero http://ift.tt/2gvQRB5 September 01, 2017 at 09:53AM

Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt talks about raising money for victims of Hurricane Harvey with CNN's Anderson Cooper. CNN.com - RSS Channel - HP Hero http://ift.tt/2iMw8Kh September 01, 2017 at 08:04AM

Undercutting the ageless tradition of sugaring ethical lessons with endearing animals, new research suggests human protagonists are needed to change behaviour Forget the morals that millennia of children have learned from the Hare and the Tortoise and the Fox and the Crow: Aesop would have had a greater effect with his fables if he’d put the stories into the mouths of human characters, at least according to new research from the University of Toronto’s Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). In the Canadian study, researchers read one of three stories to almost 100 children between four and six years old: Mary Packard’s Little Raccoon Learns to Share , in which anthropomorphic animals learn that sharing makes you feel good; a version of the story in which the animal illustrations were replaced with human characters; or a control book about seeds. Continue reading... The Guardian http://ift.tt/2enypq9 September 01, 2017 at 09:00AM

While much of the United States' focus is still on Texas and the destruction left behind by Hurricane Harvey and its historic rainfall, powerful Hurricane Irma is rapidly intensifying in the open Atlantic and poses a major threat to the Caribbean and potentially the United States next week. CNN.com - RSS Channel - HP Hero http://ift.tt/2vN5BOc September 01, 2017 at 09:55AM

Those using more than 900 watts and emitting more than 80 decibels are now banned in Europe's shops.BBC News - World http://ift.tt/2wqWrZv September 01, 2017 at 03:02AM

Scientists have identified a part of the brain that is triggered when someone else yawns.BBC News - World http://ift.tt/2xBUoC8 September 01, 2017 at 04:37AM

The conservative firebrand did not say in a brief statement why he was leaving.ABC News: Top Stories http://ift.tt/2gtI2bf September 01, 2017 at 09:39AM

Spanish veteran beats Japanese Taro Daniel 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 Nadal could meet Federer in semis but both have shown chinks in armour As the clock edged towards midnight on day four – literally if not yet metaphorically – the veteran champion, Rafael Nadal, turned struggle into an ultimately satisfactory fightback against an opponent seven years younger and 120 places below him in the world rankings, the admirable Taro Daniel. Yet there was cause for at least minor concern. Nadal’s four-set win to reach the third round of the US Open, a few hours after Roger Federer’s much patchier effort in five sets against Mikhail Youznhy, left the impression that two of the greatest rivals in the history of the game might never get to play each other at Flushing Meadows. Continue reading... The Guardian http://ift.tt/2eu0PTb September 01, 2017 at 09:00AM

PORT ARTHUR, Texas (Reuters) - A flood-hit southeast Texas city lost its drinking water supply and police and soldiers rescued thousands still stranded on Thursday after powerful storm Harvey killed 44 people and displaced more than a million on the Gulf Coast. Reuters: Top News http://ift.tt/2wnkYAt September 01, 2017 at 08:01AM

(This article was first published on Thinking inside the box , and kindly contributed to R-bloggers) An new version 0.0.9 of RcppAnnoy , our Rcpp -based R integration of the nifty Annoy library by Erik , is now on CRAN . Annoy is a small and lightweight C++ template header library for very fast approximate nearest neighbours. This release corrects an issue for Windows users discovered by GitHub user ‘khoran’ who later also suggested the fix of binary mode. It upgrades to Annoy release 1.9.1 and brings its new Manhattan distance to RcppAnnoy . A number of unit tests were added as well, and we updated some packaging internals such as symbol registration. And I presume I had a good streak emailing with Uwe’s robots as the package made it onto CRAN rather smoothly within ten minutes of submission:   Changes in this version are summarized here: Changes in version 0.0.9 (2017-08-31) Synchronized with Annoy upstream version 1.9.1 Minor updates in calls and tests

Here’s what you need to know to start your day.NYT > Home Page http://ift.tt/2vOmmIN September 01, 2017 at 08:12AM

The animal ran into an Australian funeral home and hit furniture and walls, staff say.BBC News - World http://ift.tt/2vOrrR6 September 01, 2017 at 08:54AM

Gloria Gaynor, singer of the song "I Will Survive," has rewritten the classic to benefit survivors of Harvey's devastation. CNN.com - RSS Channel - HP Hero http://ift.tt/2guKD4x September 01, 2017 at 06:19AM

Hundreds of business leaders signed a letter addressed to President Trump. ABC News: Top Stories http://ift.tt/2wn2csM September 01, 2017 at 09:00AM

A judge is to announce whether he's keeping alive charges against Penn State fraternity members linked to the death of a pledge whose agonizing night after a fall down stairs was captured by security cameras in FebruaryABC News: Top Stories http://ift.tt/2wmMQo6 September 01, 2017 at 08:42AM

Like in most cities of the country, motorists and pedestrians of Indore are not traffic rule enthusiasts. Jaywalking, jumping signals, and lane indiscipline are rampant in this Madhya Pradesh (MP) city in central India. The result: utter chaos as usual. One spot, High Court Junction on the arterial Mahatma Gandhi Road, had remained particularly bothersome for the authorities. Then, one day in 2010, constable Ranjeet Singh walked in, rather moonwalked in, to hold commuters in complete thrall and considerably improve compliance. People weren’t following staid hand movements or periodic beeps of the cop’s whistle anymore—the often dysfunctional signal lights were hardly noticed anyways. They were now swaying, figuratively speaking, to the directions of the new officer in sunglasses who danced, gestured rhythmically, turned around robotically, and sashayed in style to manage the busy intersection. “A change in the body language had made the whole thing interesting and people noticed. N

Robert Mugabe is 93-years-old, and ailing. What might happen after he dies is a source of hope but also deep anxiety in his troubled country Daniel Mugabe was waiting for his first customers of the day amid the 1000-year-old ruins of Great Zimbabwe , the former capital of one of the greatest African kingdoms. The 55-year-old tour guide to the ruins, perched high on a hilltop above miles of parched plains in south-eastern Zimbabwe, spoke in glowing of terms of his country’s elderly president, now in his 37th year in power. Continue reading... The Guardian http://ift.tt/2gnsBh0 September 01, 2017 at 08:00AM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States has told Russia to close its consulate in San Francisco and buildings in Washington and New York that house trade missions, the State Department said on Thursday, in retaliation for Moscow cutting the U.S. diplomatic presence in Russia. Reuters: Top News http://ift.tt/2wnk9Yt September 01, 2017 at 12:03AM