The Effable Wrath Of The God

Five Mexican children were killed when a large metal cross they were praying at was struck by lightning in central Mexico, local media reported. Five children between 9 and 16 years old died and several others suffered burns when lightning struck a white-painted metal cross set on a hill in the town of Santa Maria del Rio early on Sunday, according to two newspaper reports. "The lightning went straight into them and killed them instantly," local Red Cross chief Eduardo Suarez told the daily El Norte.

Mandarin Macabre

Police in China are investigating whether the discovery of more than 120 human skulls may be part of a growing trade in macabre handicrafts. The skulls were found last week wrapped in plastic bags and dumped in a ravine on the edge of the Tibetan plateau. All of the skulls were missing their top half, which appeared to have been sawn off. China's media and internet have buzzed with wild speculation about the grizzly discovery in the remote north-west. Are the bags full of sawn-off skulls the gruesome product of a mass murderer or perhaps the detritus of some grim medical experiment? Both have now been ruled out. The most likely answer is, if anything, even more bizarre. Investigators think the skulls are the leftovers from a surging industry in ghoulish handicrafts. The 121 hacked up skulls were dumped close to the borders of Tibet. Ceremonial bowls made from human skulls have a long tradition in some branches of Tibetan Buddhism. The huge growth in tourism to Tibet has apparently led to an equally large increase in demand for Buddhist artefacts. In the markets of Lhasa, bowls made from fake skulls sell for two or three pounds each. But bowls made from genuine human skulls are said to fetch hundreds of pounds. The question that so far no one has been able to answer is where did the skulls come from in the first place, and did their owners die from natural or unnatural causes?

That 70s Kung-fu Show

Three Singaporeans were lost for a day in the freezing mountains of Aomori, Japan on a quest to fulfil the dying wish of a family member by trying to find a karate master... It was on Thursday that the Japanese media began reporting about the 13 Singaporeans in Aomori prefecture, northern Japan. Three of them went missing on Wednesday in the mountains, where there was still two metres of snow. Luckily, they were spotted trying to beat the freezing weather in an abandoned car. They were in search of a karate master in Aomori's Soma village. It was to fulfil the wish of a karate master in Singapore, who died some years ago, to find a man in Japan who possessed secrets about karate. According to Ms Asari of Hirosaki City in Aomori, the group did not possess a photo or any concrete materials about the man, except that he was quiet, a widower and had two daughters. The city brought the one and only person who practises karate in Soma village to meet the group, but the Singaporeans said he wasn't the one. Hirosaki's tourism board is hoping to help them find the man and most of the Singaporeans intend to stay in the area until the end of this month. Reminds you of that 70s Kung-fu show, eh? Well, it also reminds me of one major pain-in-the-ass back in 1992, someone by the subtle name of, Mr. Karate, of Art of Fighting (龍虎の拳: Ryūko no Ken) fame. Here's a pic of da man, along with a very tongue-in-cheek quote of his.

"Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country." - Nazi Reich Marshal Hermann Goering, before committing suicide at the Nuremberg Trials