The Somali pirates have spent the € 2.7 million they got for the liberation of the Alakrana trawler from the Spanish government on weddings and orgies.

A journalist from the Spanish El Mundo newspaper have managed to penetrate the pirate base in the town of Harardhere and settle in a local hotel, watching the behavior of the buccaneers.

The town is home to about 6.000 thousand people, most of whom are involved activities connected with piracy. According to various sources, the number of the Somali pirates is not more than 1,200 people.

"Yesterday they celebrated eight weddings. All the grooms were pirates," the hotel owner told the Spanish reporter.

According to the journalist’s observations, after Alakrana was released, Harardhere became the center of endless “orgies, money, shooting and sex.”

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Professional freedom lovers spend an inordinate amount of time and money going around feeling all concerned.

They tend to be concerned about many things in this world – but one recurring worry is the state of the free press in Russia.

It even has a name. It is called “a robust independent press”.

OK. Robust and independent. We buy that.

But even the most independent press needs to sell itself to many, many people called “ readers and viewers” in order to pay its bills.

Some are trying to sell to the select few – typically they are called “quality” – and then there are those who try to sell to many – and they shall be called, alas, “yellow”

Yellow newspapers are often thriving when the “quality” ones are suffering. An unpleasant fact, but a fact nonetheless.

So, when a Russian newspaper (on the thriving side of the spectrum) published an account of the steamy escapades of a certain foreign diplomat at a hotel, it did what newspapers do – worked on attracting readers and viewers.

Stop for a second and ask yourself: would you read about something like that? With photos and grainy sneaky camera footage?

If you would close the paper in disgust instead of reading the story – congratulations. You are above all that filth and are an exemplary citizen overall.

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In the US, dozens of people took to the streets of New York to call for an audit of the Federal Reserve Bank.

The activists campaigned for the Senate to push through an act which would force the institution to give an account of its financial operations.

Thousands of signatures backing the action were delivered to several US congressmen.




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The Red Bull “Flugtag” is a special event in which anyone can build a flying machine and try to soar through the sky, like Leonardo Da Vinci tried to over five centuries ago. Watch 45 teams of daredevils in action!





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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez brings the house down with his multi-talented performance on stage in front a group of university students in Moscow.





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Separations at the click of a mouse in Brazil, TV ads promoting online divorce companies in the UK, and a surge in MP break ups following the expenses scandal… Are divorces becoming commercialized and crassly accepted?

Cracking under the public humiliation of this summer's expenses row, a surge in the number of MPs at Westminster divorcing is expected. According to the Mail on Sunday, marriages within the Commons are under “unprecedented strain” in the wake of the scandal that blighted the reputation of British politicians. A source from the Conservative party's whips' office told the Mail on Sunday:

“Only last month, a senior member of David Cameron's frontbench was overheard asking a colleague, ‘Are you getting divorced? Everybody's getting divorced!’”

Divorce is becoming not only more socially accepted but also increasingly commercialized. Whilst MPs make light and joke about what is a deeply serious and sorrowful affair, “quick”, “convenient” and “cheaper” methods of divorce are becoming available, and not only in the UK.

Brazilians will no longer have to go through the anguish and torment of meeting with an ex and arduously trawl through paperwork, as a law that enables couples to end their marriages online was recently announced and is pending approval by the senate. Divorces are the latest legal procedure made possible on the Internet in Brazil, as lawyers recognize the sense in saving the money invested in what usually can be considered grueling processes.


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The U.S. state of Hawaii has once again checked and confirmed that President Barack Obama was really born in that state and, so, is a natural-born American citizen.

But bloggers and TV commentators arguing Obama was born outside America are becoming increasingly vocal.

American President Barack Obama is being asked a lot of questions, but this one is particularly embarrassing: was he or was he not born in the U.S.?

There remains a group of people in the U.S. who say that Barack Obama is ineligible to be president, not because he did not win the election but because he was not born in the U.S. and his birth certificate is a forgery.
But officials in Hawaii confirm that Barack Obama was born there and Congress also insists Obama’s birthplace is Hawaii.

White House correspondent for World-Net-Daily, Les Kinsolving, says Obama’s birth certificate is not  proof because there is neither a doctor’s name nor the name of the hospital on it.
“A full birth certificate should list the name of the doctor and the hospital – that is missing. If he [Barack Obama] has a real birth certificate with the name of the hospital and the physician – he ought to display it!”



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Joe Biden happens to be the Vice President of the US. He’s also known as “Biden Gaffe Machine” – and not without merit.

Domestically, he made his mark by advising the Americans not to take any commercial flights or to ride on trains because the “swine flu virus can spread in confined places.”

“I would tell members of my family – and I have – I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now.”

The near panic that ensued, naturally, had to be calmed down by the combined efforts of the rest of the Obama administration.

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An international crew of six men spent 105 days in isolation, imitating a flight to the Red Planet as part of an experiment.

It took place at the Institute of Medical and Biological Studies in Moscow and has just finished.

During the mission, the crew of six volunteers experienced all aspects of a flight to Mars, from the launch to the return journey.

Staying in an isolated capsule, they also had to deal with simulated emergencies, and communication delays of 20 minutes, as this is how long it takes for a signal to travel to Mars and back.

The astronauts said they all became friends and added that, if there was a real expedition to Mars, they’d be ready to take part.

Sergey Ryazansky, the captain, said “the experiment was truly a cooperative effort between many scientists and the crew”.

“We constantly felt they were supporting us. We felt there were no differences between Russian and European astronauts – it was all one crew. I want to thank all the guys for this,” he said.

Along with Sergey, three more Russians – astronaut Oleg Artemyev, oncologist Aleksey Baranov, and sports physiologist Aleksey Shpakov – and two members of the European Space Agency, French civilian pilot Cyrille Fournier and German mechanical engineer Oliver Knickel took part in the simulated flight.

Each of the volunteers will receive 15,000 euros plus bonuses for successful experiments.

The 105-day study precedes a full 520-day simulation of a mission to Mars due to start later this year. It will include all stages of a trip to Mars: a 250-day flight to the planet, a 30-day stay on its surface, and a 240-day return flight.

The crew members’ routine will be similar to that of astronauts on a real space flight. They will even have the same diet.

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