Brazil Killing Spree Leaves 12 Dead

A five-hour killing rampage in Brazil’s southeastern city of Campinas has left 12 people dead.

The victims were gunned down in several separate incidents on the outskirts of the city, in what Brazilian media said appeared to be execution-style killings.

Authorities say they are looking into all possibilities, including whether the killings were gang-related.

But they also say the timing and location of the shootings add weight to a theory that they were revenge killings carried out by the police.

The slayings occurred between Sunday night and Monday morning, just hours after an off-duty military police officer, Arides Luiz dos Santos, was killed in an attempted robbery at a gas station.

According to Brazilian media, in one of the cases, a car pulled up, its occupants told children to go inside and then opened fire.

Hundreds of angry residents took to the streets to protest the killings. They attacked buses, burning three of them.

Police have stepped up their presence in Campinas, located about 50 miles northwest of Sao Paulo, to prevent further violence.

The latest deadly incidents come as Brazil prepares to host the 2014 World Cup in June.

None of the venues for the soccer tournament is in Campinas. However, fans from around the world are expected to flock to nearby Sao Paulo, the country’s financial and business hub.

World's Dirtiest Man: Man Who Hasn't Had His Bath for Over 60 Years

Amou Haji has not washed for 60 years, because he believes being clean will make him sick, and his favourite food is rotten porcupine.

Smoking hot: The man who hasn't bathed for 60 years, Amou Haji, pictured here smoking his pipe.

To relax he likes to sit down and have a smoke, from a pipe packed with animal faeces.

Mr Haji, 80, says he chose this way of life after going through some emotional setbacks in his youth and since then - perhaps unsurprisingly - he has become a bit isolated.

His home is in Dejgah village in the southern province of Fars in Iran where, once, a group of young men offered to give him a shower - but luckily he managed to escape.

At night he either sleeps in a hole in the ground, which is quite like a grave, or in an open brick shack which concerned locals built for him.

Amou amour: Mr Haj's home is in Dejgah village in the southern province of Fars in Iran where, once, a group of young men offered to give him a shower - but he managed to escape.

As well as cleanliness, Mr Haji also has an aversion to clean food and drink. He much prefers the rotten meat of dead animals and five litres of water a day from a rusty oil can.

But don't think Mr Haji doesn't look after himself - when he wants to look his best he uses car mirrors for grooming and when he needs a haircut, he simply burns his locks in a fire.

As for clothing, he wears rags and, in the winter, a war helmet to ward off the cold .

The last record of longest time going without showers belonged to a 66-year-old Indian man, Kailash Singh, who had not taken a bath over 38 years. Mr Haji claims to have beaten that.

AK-47 Inventor Mikhail Kalashnikov dead

The inventor of the Kalashnikov assault rifle, Mikhail Kalashnikov, has died aged 94, Russian TV reports.

The automatic rifle he designed became one of the world’s most familiar and widely used weapons.

Its comparative simplicity made it cheap to manufacture, as well as reliable and easy to maintain.

Although honoured by the state, Kalashnikov made little money from his gun. He once said he would have been better off designing a lawn mower.

Mikhail Kalashnikov was admitted to hospital with internal bleeding in November.

Man Marries Tree in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina - An environmental activist “married” a tree in Argentina.

Dressed in a crisp white suit and blue hat, Richard Torres carried a bouquet as the wedding party approached his "bride-to-be” in one of the capital's main parks on Sunday.

The Peruvian actor and activist read vows and was given a ring. He even gave the tree a kiss to keep the ceremony authentic.

Torres said the spectacle was intended to draw attention to environmental issues.

While this is the actor's first ecological event outside of Peru, he said it's the start of his championing of the environment and plans to take his unique style of activism to countries throughout Latin America.

Angry Ronaldo Blasts FIFA President for Making Jokes About Him

Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo has responded angrily to a video of FIFA president Sepp Blatter imitating him and describing him as a “commander on the field.”

Speaking at an event at Oxford University last week, Blatter said he preferred four-time World Player of the Year Lionel Messi to Ronaldo, who he claimed spends more money on his hairstyle than the Argentine.

Ronaldo has finished second to Messi in three of the last four years in the voting for the Ballon d’Or, although the Portuguese did win the award whilst still at Manchester United in 2008.

And both men were once again selected in the shortlist of 23 for this year’s award which was released on Tuesday.

“This video shows clearly the respect and consideration that FIFA has for me, for my club and my country,” Ronaldo said on his official Facebook page.

“Much is explained now. I wish Mr. Blatter health and a long life, with the certainty that he will continue to witness, as he deserves, the successes of his favourite teams and players.”

The comments also enraged Ronaldo’s club and country as both Real Madrid and the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) sent letters to FIFA to complain about Blatter’s conduct.

However, in a reply to Madrid, published on the club’s website, Blatter defended his comments and said he believes Ronaldo is on a par with Messi as a player.

“In response to a question about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the moderator asked me to choose between one of the two and, in this moment having commented that Messi is the type of son all mothers would like to have, I ended up saying his name.

“However, I want to make it clear that for me Cristiano Ronaldo is at the same level as Messi and that they are both exceptional players, each one in their own way.

“It was never my intention to upset or show a lack of respect towards Real Madrid, one of their players or their fans.”

Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti said the comments lacked respect for a player he described as a “great professional”.

“It seems to me like a lack of respect,” remarked the Italian.

“I haven’t spoken with Cristiano about it. Today he trained very well as he always does.

“He shows every day that he is a great player. He is serious, professional and respects everyone.”

And a statement on behalf of FPF president Fernando Gomes on the federation’s website was even more damming of Blatter’s behaviour.

“I can’t, in any way, agree with the position expressed by the person who leads world football in his comments about the national team and about someone who is a symbol of Portuguese football,” he said.

“Moreover, they seem unfit and inappropriate and clearly show a lack of respect for Cristiano Ronaldo and for Portugal.

“We learned today that Cristiano Ronaldo was one of the nominees for the Ballon d’Or, it does not seem appropriate or adequate that the president of FIFA makes comments saying which player he prefers between one or other.”

Lady Gaga Goes Stark Naked On Stage at London GAY Club

She never fails to shock and entertain her fans, with one outrageous outfit following another. 

So as Halloween draws closer, Lady Gaga took inspiration from ghosts and ghouls and stripped naked as she performed in a banshee costume at G-A-Y on Friday. 

The 27-year-old singer appeared on stage looking pale and ethereal in a long, white petticoat-style gown.

She sported a long frazzled blonde wig and enhanced her already porcelain skin with a dusting of white powder on her hands and neck.

She also lined her eyes with white shadow and eyeliner and made her eyebrows paler, while she also reminded fans that she was still in the land of the living with a touch of blusher and rose-pink lips.

iPad Air Unveiled by Apple

Apple trotted out its fifth-generation iPad today in San Francisco at the company's annual unveiling event. This model, which is now called the iPad Air, is "thinner, lighter, and more powerful than ever before," Apple's Phil Schiller said.

In this model, the 9.7-inch tablet with Retina Display weighs just a pound (down from 1.9 in the fourth-generation iPad. It weighs an extremely thin 7.5 millimeters, down from 9.4mm -- that's a 20 percent slimmer build, if you're keeping count. The bezel is also much narrower, too; 43 percent so, in fact.

A new A7 chip inside makes it 8 times faster than before. For reference, this is the same 64-bit chip populating the iPhone 5S, and also comes with its M7 motion co-processor. M7 promises graphics that render at twice the rate as the previous iPad.

Graphics-wise, that means that this iPad Air is 72 times faster than the original iPad in GPU performance. In terms of Wi-Fi, there's MIMO wireless technology onboard, but the Air is using 802.11n standard, not the the more current 'ac' Wi-Fi designation.