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22 Times Tumblr Got Real About Being Desi

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Me: *visits relative I haven’t seen since I was 2* Relative: have you gained weight?

On dying alone:

On finding a partner:

On fool proof methods to success:

On our obsession with mangoes:


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5 Thoughts That Led To Daniel Berehulak's Pulitzer Prize-Winning Photo

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Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

Photojournalist Daniel Berehulak

Supplied by Getty Images

For a period of 14 weeks in September 2014, photojournalist Daniel Berehulak documented how the Ebola epidemic affected the communities in West Africa.

In his Pulitzer Prize-winning photo (above), medical staff carry 8-year-old James Dorbor into the JFK Ebola treatment centre in Liberia after showing symptoms for four days. Dorbor was just one of 10,000 cases in Liberia, and in the days shortly after this photo was taken, became among the 4,500 who died from the Ebola virus.

Berehulak shared with BuzzFeed News some of his thoughts, as well as some of his other well-known photos, that led to the Pulitzer Prize recognition.

1. On expectations versus reality:

"I expected it to be extremely difficult, and it was. But the emotional and physical toll was unexpected. I was shocked just by how widespread the epidemic had become and how it had crippled the city."

The bathing day of Makar Sankranti , the start of the Maha Kumbh Mela, in Allahabad, India, on January 14, 2013.

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

2. On photographing difficult situations:

"I have to force myself to remember that if I can’t do my job, people’s stories won’t get told and that helps me to focus on the task at hand."

Hindu pilgrims on their way to Amarnath Cave near Baltal, Kashmir, India June 28, 2012.

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

3. On covering social issues:

"You are sharing stories and information about issues that affect everyone, and also, hopefully bring the attention needed to improve a situation or even someone’s life."

A fire at the LDA Plaza in Lahore, Pakistan on May 09, 2013.

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

4. On covering the Ebola epidemic:

"Heartwrenching"

An election rally in Lahore, Pakistan on May 09, 2013.

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

5. On snapping that Pulitzer Prize-winning photo:

"When you’re in the field you just focus on the task at hand...We don’t do this kind of work for awards or to be recognised. We do this to share stories with the world."

A Lathmaar Holi celebration in the village of Barsana, near Mathura, India on March 21, 2013.

Daniel Berehulak / Getty Images

Matt Lauer Raised Nearly $70,000* For Charity After Agreeing To Donate Whenever Someone Thanked Him At The Daytime Emmys

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*It depends on how he counts, but we’re dreaming big.

Matt Lauer and Ellen DeGeneres kicked off the 2015 Daytime Emmys with a very important announcement:

youtube.com

PopTV

PopTV


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19 Life Struggles Only Disney Villains Understand

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You poor unfortunate soul.

Whenever there is a party, your invitation seems to have been conveniently lost in the mail.

Whenever there is a party, your invitation seems to have been conveniently lost in the mail.

The king and queen invited the ENTIRE kingdom to the christening and somehow thought this wouldn't get back to you. That's just plain shady. SHADY.

Walt Disney Animation

You're constantly being humiliated, harassed, attacked, and mutilated by your tween neighbors.

You're constantly being humiliated, harassed, attacked, and mutilated by your tween neighbors.

Let's be honest, you need to protect yourself from the notorious Neverland gang known as the Lost Boys.

Walt Disney Animation

You're annoyingly reminded that you're an outsider to your own family and play NO important role.

You're annoyingly reminded that you're an outsider to your own family and play NO important role.

Could really use some advice from Prince Harry on how to deal with this.

Walt Disney Animation


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The King Of Bullsh*t News

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Last November, within a few hours of each other, some of the planet’s biggest news websites published an irresistible story. An attractive Argentinian teacher called Lucita Sandoval, from Santiago del Estero, had been having sex with her 16-year-old student, and the video of their tryst had made its way to a porn website. With its heady blend of titillation and depravity, it was the perfect tabloid scandal.

Websites including the Daily Mirror and Metro in the UK and the New York Daily News in the US duly published the story, alongside an image showing the teacher posing poolside in her bikini. “Teacher suspended after sex session with teen pupil ends up on hardcore porn website,” read the Mirror’s headline. The Daily Mail – the most successful English-language newspaper website in the world – even went so far as to claim that there would be a criminal investigation, and that this wasn’t the first time that the teacher in question had sexual relations with a student.

There was just one problem: It wasn’t true.

As BuzzFeed News has previously reported, the story had already been debunked by a local paper in Argentina a full two weeks before the English-language press picked it up. The video didn’t show an underage boy. Although the woman in the video was a teacher, she was from Corrientes, rather than Santiago del Estero, as had been claimed in the incorrect articles. She probably wasn’t even called Lucita Sandoval. Some of the sites have updated their articles, but others remain unchanged (at the time of this story's publication).

Daily Mirror

So how did this fake story make the leap from South America to the English-language press? The answer is tucked away in the bottom right-hand corner of the photo of the woman in her bikini: a credit labelled “CEN”.

Central European News (CEN) and its sister outfit EuroPics are small news agencies, largely unknown outside certain sections of the media, whose headquarters are in Canterbury in the UK (although they claim to have 35 staff based in offices across central and eastern Europe). In recent years, CEN has become one of the Western media’s primary sources of tantalising and attention-grabbing stories. They’re often bizarre, salacious, gruesome, or ideally all three: If you’ve read a story about someone in a strange country cutting off their own penis, the chances are it came from CEN.

The firm’s business model, like that of many other news agencies, is to sell a regular stream of stories and pictures to other media companies, which publish them under the bylines of their own reporters. In CEN’s case, these include a string of stories from relatively remote parts of China, India, Russia, and other non-Western countries. They tend to depict the inhabitants of those countries as barbaric, sex-crazed, or just plain weird. And often they are inaccurate or downright false.

Austrian Times

The Chinese woman offering to sleep with men to fund her cross-country road trip? That was CEN. The Russian fisherman who was saved from a bear attack by a Justin Bieber ringtone? CEN. The Macedonian man who chopped his own penis off after his girlfriend told him it wasn’t big enough? Also CEN.

CEN’s "weird news" stories and images appeal to news organisations precisely because they fall into the category of “too good to check”. They also appeal because they are perfectly tailored to the current media ecosystem, in which the holy grail is to have content go viral on Facebook and other social media platforms, delivering a surge of traffic.

One tried and tested method for gaining those viral clicks is running precisely the kind of oddball human interest pieces in which CEN specialises: stories that are so intriguing or horrifying or just plain weird that you can’t help but share them with your friends.

CEN also publishes many unremarkable, genuine news stories – in a statement to BuzzFeed News, the company estimated its total output at 8,000 stories since January 2014. But after growing suspicious of the weird, wonderful, and exotic stories CEN has made a name for itself with – including a few picked up by BuzzFeed News – we decided to investigate, with the help of Craig Silverman, whose website Emergent tracks and evaluates online rumours (since writing this article, Silverman has been appointed as the founding editor of BuzzFeed Canada).

In all, we evaluated 41 CEN pieces that struck us as particularly attention-grabbing. Of those, 11 proved to be completely false or to be based on images that did not match the stories; eight more contained suspicious details such as perfect quotes that appeared in no other coverage; 13 we were unable to verify either way; and nine appeared to be real or mostly real.

The Daily Star

In other words, whether it was the story of Bieber and the bear, the Chinese backpacker offering sex in return for help funding her vacation, a man who got a tapeworm after eating sashimi, or the teacher accused of sleeping with her student, the evidence assembled by BuzzFeed News suggests that an alarming proportion of CEN’s "weird news" stories are based on exaggeration, embellishment, and outright fabrication – and that the company has scant regard either for the accuracy of its content or for what happens to the people, such as the woman in the bikini, whose names and images are spread across the world.

In a letter to BuzzFeed News, CEN’s legal representatives said the firm “denies absolutely that it makes up false stories or fabricates quotes”. They claimed that the firm “relies on trusted contributors to source content”, that there is “no evidence of a ‘pattern’ of behavior of fabricating stories”, and that the fact that “a tiny minority” of its stories “might raise questions is not indicative” of such.

They insisted that since CEN “is BuzzFeed’s main competitor for viral news content in the UK market” – something BuzzFeed would dispute given our completely different business models – they would not be answering questions about its journalistic methods because it would “involve giving information about its sources and practices to a competitor”. We have made the full letter available online, but have redacted one section dealing with matters outside the scope of the current story.

Because BuzzFeed News – contrary to the claim made in the legal letter – is no longer one of CEN’s clients, it has sometimes proved impossible for us to verify absolutely that a particular story has been circulated by CEN, as opposed to just the pictures on which its credit sits, although we believe that selling both picture and story together is the firm’s invariable practice. Instead, we have relied on similarities between the copy on the company's sites and other published versions of the story, or on the fact that competing news organisations have produced near-identical stories, featuring matching quotes and details, accompanied by pictures credited to CEN. We have also asked CEN to verify whether it was responsible for the details and quotes we have concerns over. It has, as mentioned above, refused to do so.

Going Viral

To illustrate why we became concerned in the first place, let’s take the example of a CEN story that swept across the internet last August. The premise was simple, dramatic, and delightful: A Russian man on a fishing trip was attacked by a bear. As it mauled him, the man’s phone played a ringtone that startled the animal so badly it ran off, saving the fisherman’s life. The ringtone was the song “Baby” by Justin Bieber.

As with the Lucita Sandoval story, it resulted in articles on some of the world’s biggest newspaper websites – including the Daily Mail, the New York Post, the Sydney Morning Herald, the New York Daily News, the Daily Express, the Daily Mirror, and indeed BuzzFeed News. (We estimate that BuzzFeed News has run approximately a dozen stories based on CEN’s content, which have now been updated to alert our readers to our doubts over their credibility. A full list is at the bottom of this article.)

New York Daily News

“Even bears can’t stand Justin Bieber’s music,” reported the New York Post. “Finally proof that Justin Bieber IS unbearable,” chortled the Daily Mail. The story was shared more than 20,000 times on social media (counting only the articles mentioned above). The Bear vs Bieber tale even made it into a Seth Myers monologue for his late-night show on NBC.

Yet the original story about the bear attack, which was published in Russia’s Komsomolskaya Pravda, said nothing about a Bieber ringtone. Instead, it reported that the man’s phone had a setting that caused it to speak the current time. That’s what actually scared off the bear.

Komsomolskaya Pravda published its story about Igor Vorozhbitsyn, the Russian man who survived the bear attack, on 31 July. Five days later, the story appeared on the Austrian Times, a website run by CEN’s owner and co-founder, Michael Leidig, with a photo of the fisherman (properly credited to KP) and the new detail about Justin Bieber.

That same day, CEN sold the story and images to the Daily Mail, whose story credits the images taken from Pravda to CEN instead. The agency never takes a byline on its stories: They are always credited to in-house reporters. But the emails the firm sends to its clients every day with a lengthy list of stories to pick from offer packages of pictures and text that are often published virtually unchanged. The copy also often appears on sites owned by Leidig, making it clear where the stories have originated. In this instance, the Mail’s story included the same key quotes and details, and many similar phrases, as the one published on Leidig’s Austrian Times site. (All told, more than half of the suspect CEN stories cited in this article had identical or nearly identical versions published on a site owned by Leidig.)

With the story taking off online, one of the authors of this article, Craig Silverman, attempted to verify its veracity by speaking to Leidig. A woman who answered the phone at the Austrian Times said he was on vacation in Romania. When asked how the agency would find and cover such a story, she said: “A lot of stories are found on the wire or in local media but also from local interviews on the ground, or we speak to the reporters who wrote them; we speak to police to get things confirmed.”

She promised to check with the company’s freelance agent in Russia and follow up. From that point, Austrian Times/CEN/EuroPics stopped providing information or responding to emails.

More recently, CEN sold another Russian story. The agency’s copy, purchased and published by the Daily Mirror, claimed that two Russian women from Khabarovsk, near Vladivostok, had been fired from their jobs at a department store after they spent an afternoon participating in a nude photo shoot.

BuzzFeed News tracked down the images and found they originated with a Russian news outlet from the area. That piece identified the photographer as Gene Oryx, whose online portfolio includes nudes. The Mirror story credited the images to a “Dimitry Kulishenko, 30” – but online searches for that name return no mentions apart from those linking back to the Mirror piece.

In an email, Oryx confirmed to BuzzFeed News that he was the original photographer and attached an high-resolution, uncensored copy of one of the photos to prove his claim. He also said that the women in the picture do not work in a department store, and that the names listed for them in the CEN/Mirror story are false. By implication, that also means the quotes attributed to four different people in the story – one of the women, a “shocked” onlooker, a police spokesperson, and a spokesperson from the department store – are fabricated.

In other words, it appears that CEN took the photos, invented a newsworthy narrative, inserted false names for the women, credited a nonexistent photographer, and fabricated four sets of quotes to fill out the text. Then it sold the story and images. (Oryx said no one from CEN contacted him to license his images for resale.) BuzzFeed News asked CEN to explain how this happened but received no specific response beyond the more general denial.

The Man From CEN

In a 2013 op-ed for the British trade magazine Press Gazette, Michael Leidig proudly described the kind of traffic CEN could drive to large websites:

“Most of our regular content is also for the tabloid market. Not the celebrity stuff, but the quirky bizarre news designed to get people talking – today they call it viral news.

“Our content is often frequently in the Most Read section on the Mail Online.”

Leidig is the owner and co-founder of CEN. He is also runs a charity called Journalists Without Borders, which claims to provide money to the needy sources featured in CEN’s stories. It solicits donations on CEN’s site via PayPal that it says it redirects to people featured in the articles who may be in need of medical care or financial support.

Journalism Without Borders

This Video Shows How Society's Sexism Affects Indian Men, Too

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Here’s why “be a man” are the three most harmful words you can say to a man.

YouTube channel Old Delhi Films has put up a video highlighting how society's gender norms affect how men can and cannot behave.

youtube.com

They highlight the various rigid rules for what is and isn't "manly".

They highlight the various rigid rules for what is and isn't "manly".

Old Delhi Films / Via youtube.com

And they discuss the inherent problems with a culture where men are required to prove their manhood time and time again.

And they discuss the inherent problems with a culture where men are required to prove their manhood time and time again.

Old Delhi Films / Via youtube.com

And finally, they take a vow to break the cycle of sexism that keeps these expectations alive.

And finally, they take a vow to break the cycle of sexism that keeps these expectations alive.

Old Delhi Films / Via youtube.com


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19 Things You Need To Eat In Liverpool Right Now

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Because there’s more to this great city than football and tracksuits.

Fish and chips from the Bridewell.

Fish and chips from the Bridewell.

We all know northern fish and chips is better than what you can get in the south, but this effort really does need sampling ASAP when you're next knocking around Liverpool One. The Bridewell's also a former prison, which is a rather unique talking point on top of the great food.

Flickr: norio-nakayama

Any pizza from TriBeCa.

TriBeCa is renowned for serving great pizzas, so the only question that remains is which topping will you choose? And if you really can't decide, you can go half-and-half.

(N.B. They're all amazing.)

instagram.com

The Triple Nom burger from Almost Famous.

TheTriple Nom (double cheeseburgers, pulled pork, coleslaw, redneck BBQ sauce) is to die for. Well, not literally, but it's pretty darn nice.

instagram.com

Pan Asian cuisine at Matou.

Only opened since 2010 and located on Liverpool's scenic waterfront, the views from the restaurant are especially pleasant, as are the many meals on offer.

instagram.com


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Live Out Your Bollywood Dream With This Hilarious New App

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Roll sound… Action!

Have you been mouthing Bollywood dialogues for as long as you can remember?

Have you been mouthing Bollywood dialogues for as long as you can remember?

Shemaroo

Do you get called "dramebaaz," "filmy," and "nautanki"?

Do you get called "dramebaaz," "filmy," and "nautanki"?

Alok Trivedi / Via behance.net

Did you love it when you were told, "Isko toh Bollywood mein hona chahiye!"?

Did you love it when you were told, "Isko toh Bollywood mein hona chahiye!"?

Sohail Khan Productions

Well, congratulations! The gods of technology have blessed your filmy heart with an app that gives you the stage to act out your favourite scenes, called "Dubsmash."

Well, congratulations! The gods of technology have blessed your filmy heart with an app that gives you the stage to act out your favourite scenes, called "Dubsmash."

Dubsmash / Via moreandroid.org


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Best Buy Will Accept Apple Pay, First Defector From Rival Payments Alliance

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The electronics retailer gave a major boost to Apple’s mobile payments system, even though it’s a founding member of a competing payments alliance.

Rob Carr / Getty Images

Best Buy said today that it would start accepting Apple Pay in its app immediately and in stores laster this year, a major win for Apple in the battle over who can build the most popular mobile payment system among both customers and retailers.

Best Buy is one of the biggest retailers to join Apple Pay, and the first defector from MCX, a consortium of merchants including Wal-Mart, CVS, and Best Buy, that formed in 2012 to build a mobile payments app that avoids costly credit card interchange fees and allows merchants to keep more data and integrate gift cards and branded credit cards.

"Today's consumers have many different ways to spend their money and we want to give our customers as many options as possible in how they pay for goods and services at Best Buy," the company said in a statement.

The MCX consortium seemed to accept the move from one of its founding members. "Best Buy remains a strong MCX partner and supporter of the CurrentC initiative," MCX chief operating officer Scott Rankin said in an e-mailed statement. "We understand – and strongly support – our merchant partners' quest to do what's best for their customers. As we have stated in past, we are of the firm belief that there need to be at least 2-3 major players within the mobile payments ecosystem for it to succeed."

While Apple Pay is planned to be rolled out in its stores this year, it's not clear if or when the rival payment system being tested by MCX will make it to Best Buy. Jeffrey Shelman, a Best Buy spokesman, told BuzzFeed News: "Best Buy remains part of MCX. We will actively monitor CurrentC pilots. It is too early for us to speculate on timing."

MCX released a pilot for its CurrentC payment application last year and said it will roll out more fully later this year. The consortium was first formed in 2012.

While Best Buy is the first mega-retailer to say it will accept Apple Pay, the country's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart, told the Wall Street Journal in March that it was "open" to Apple Pay.

When Apple Pay was first introduced in October, two MCX members, Rite Aid and CVS, disabled the technology on their scanners that allows Apple Pay to work to comply with MCX rules about exclusively using their own technology.

Best Buy did not say when it would start accepting Apple Pay, meaning that CurrentC could still roll out in its stores. Best Buy is a major seller of Apple products.

"The number of locations accepting Apple pay has tripled and we continue to see great progress with merchants," Apple chief executive officer Tim Cook said on a call with analysts to discuss the company's second quarter earnings.

Adding Best Buy fully will be a major coup for Apple. While it has a wide range of merchants signed up for Apple Pay, it does not have any of the mega-retailers that are part of MCX.

Best Buy, with its $36 billion in annual U.S. revenues far outpaces, for example, the $13.7 billion in annual revenues at Whole Foods, an original Apple Pay partner.

With the introduction of the Apple Watch, millions of consumers will be able to make payments from their wrists, which could be more convenient than having to pull out their iPhone or their credit card.

21 DIY Gifts Your Mom Will Love This Mother's Day

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Because homemade is ALWAYS better.

Make a chocolate flower bouquet.

Make a chocolate flower bouquet.

Perfect for any chocolate lover. Find out how to make it here.

Shannon Madigan / Via madiganmade.com

Paint a Mason jar picture frame.

Paint a Mason jar picture frame.

Find out how to make it here.

Beth / Via homestoriesatoz.com

Make some tiny photo magnets.

Make some tiny photo magnets.

Show off your family year round. Find out how to make it here.

SUNDAESINS / Via sundaesins.blogspot.com

Make a photo candle.

Make a photo candle.

Light up your mom's life with this gift! Find out more here.

Evite / Via blog.evite.com


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The 9 Most Important Photos Of Zac Efron In A Fringe Crop Top

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Nevermind the blood stained sweatpants and loafers.

Erm.

Erm.

Sbmf / SBMF/FAMEFLYNET PICTURES

UMMMMM.

UMMMMM.

Sbmf / SBMF/FAMEFLYNET PICTURES

UHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

UHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Sbmf / SBMF/FAMEFLYNET PICTURES

!!!!!!!

!!!!!!!

Sbmf / SBMF/FAMEFLYNET PICTURES


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Celebrity Brother Facts You Probably Didn't Know

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Liam Hemsworth threw a knife at Chris’ head!? Oh, brother!

BuzzFeed Video / Via youtu.be

$10,000 Reward Now Offered In Theft Of Baby Sea Lion In California

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On April 19, four suspects stole a sea lion pup from it’s mother on a beach. With police no closer to finding the pup more than a week later, a $5,000 award from PETA has been doubled by a donor for information that leads to the arrests of the culprits.

A rescued sea lion looks out from a bin in San Diego in March.

Gregory Bull / AP

The Los Angeles Police Department said four people were seen snatching the baby sea lion from its mother on Dockweiler State Beach at around 3 a.m. on April 19.

With few leads for police to go on, PETA announced a $5,000 reward on April 22 for any information leading to the arrest and conviction of the culprits. The reward was doubled on April 27 to $10,000, after Shera Danese, the widow of Columbo actor Peter Falk, added $5,000 to PETA's reward for information.

"This seal pup has already suffered greatly from the trauma of being separated from his or her mother and is most likely terrified, lacking proper nutrition, and in desperate need of rescue," PETA Senior Director Martin Mersereau said in a statement.

The second pup is seen at the Marine Animal Rescue recovering.

ABC7 / Via abc7.com

The LAPD said the people who stole the sea lion include two women and two men, all Latinos in their early 20s.

The suspects apparently attempted to capture a second sea lion pup, possibly the first animal's sibling, but it fought back and escaped into the bushes, Los Angeles' KABC reported.

The second pup, which is 10 months old, was found later by authorities cowering in the bushes and taken to Marine Animal Rescue, where it is recovering.

Peter Wallerstein, director of Marine Animal Rescue, told KABC that sea lions are being stolen more often than in the past, due to a record number of malnourished pups showing up along the Southern California coastlines.


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If "Silicon Valley" Quotes Were Motivational Posters

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“I’m not humiliating you. I’m elevating you.”

author / Via Google Images

author / Via Google Images

author / Via Google Images

author / Via Google Images


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If This Video Doesn't Inspire You To Do A Random Act Of Kindness, You Are Dead Inside

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“If you are lost at sea, looking for humanity in this world, this video could be your guiding star.”

youtube.com

This video is part of Maya, a yearly concept of Zorba, a holistic yoga and therapy studio in Chennai, "where they talk about how it is important to love and help others to love and help yourself," according to the description on the video.

This video is part of Maya, a yearly concept of Zorba, a holistic yoga and therapy studio in Chennai, "where they talk about how it is important to love and help others to love and help yourself," according to the description on the video.

Via youtube.com

Plus the video has puppies and adorable little kids that will transform you into an emotional, bawling mess.

Plus the video has puppies and adorable little kids that will transform you into an emotional, bawling mess.

Via youtube.com


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Immigration Minister Says Boy With Autism Could Be Allowed To Stay In Australia

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Hope for 10-year-old Queensland boy Tyrone Sevilla, after Peter Dutton promised to review the case.

Australia's immigration minister has indicated that he will look at the case of Tyrone Sevilla, a 10-year-old boy with autism at risk of being deported to the Philippines.

Australia's immigration minister has indicated that he will look at the case of Tyrone Sevilla, a 10-year-old boy with autism at risk of being deported to the Philippines.

Tyrone and his mother Maria migrated from the Philippines to Townsville eight years ago, where she now works as a nurse.

Tyrone's mother Maria had been told by the Migration Review Tribunal that she would not be granted a skilled worker visa because her son's condition would be a burden on the health system, but it's now looking like immigration minister Peter Dutton will step in and use his ministerial discretion to help them.

"I think this is a case where we would be able to help the family," Mr Dutton told ABC Radio.

"I hope that we can provide a good outcome for this family that I think they deserve."

The immigration minister has the power under the Immigration Act to overrule the department's decision.

Via change.org

Peter Dutton said a new bridging visa would be issued to Tyrone's mother while he considered her application. But Maria Sevilla told BuzzFeed News that she has not received it yet, nor has she been contacted by anyone from the immigration department.

Peter Dutton said a new bridging visa would be issued to Tyrone's mother while he considered her application. But Maria Sevilla told BuzzFeed News that she has not received it yet, nor has she been contacted by anyone from the immigration department.

"We only heard the minister was reconsidering our application through media reports" she said.

A spokesperson for Mr Dutton told BuzzFeed News the review could take a few weeks.

"Obviously in these cases, we need to apply common sense," Peter Dutton told ABC radio.

"We're a compassionate society and we want to help families that are in difficult situations."

Stefan Postles / Getty Images

Tyrone wrote his own plea to the minister, saying "Dear Mr. Dutton. Can I stay in Australia please?"

Tyrone wrote his own plea to the minister, saying "Dear Mr. Dutton. Can I stay in Australia please?"

Save the Children


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Cody Simpson Tweets And Then Deletes Anti-Vaccine Rant On Twitter

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“Free Australia. Free Humanity.”

Australian pop star Cody Simpson has dramatically declared his stance on Australia's vaccination laws before quickly deleting a set of tweets.

Australian pop star Cody Simpson has dramatically declared his stance on Australia's vaccination laws before quickly deleting a set of tweets.

Twitter

Simpson deleted the tweet and then posted it again three minutes later...

Simpson deleted the tweet and then posted it again three minutes later...

Twitter

... before deleting it once more and tweeting a series of less controversial tweets.

... before deleting it once more and tweeting a series of less controversial tweets.

Twitter


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TV Guest Defends Sunrise Host After "Racist" Comment

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“I would be mortified if anyone thought I would say or think anything racist.”

"I would be mortified if anyone thought I would say or think anything racist. It's not in my nature. To anyone who I might have offended, I'm sorry," she said.

Sunrise producer Michael Pell also issued a statement "to avoid further misunderstanding" about the comment.

"Sam has always admitted that her own fair complexion was a disadvantage in the Australian environment. We apologise if anyone misunderstood or if they were offended."

One of the women at the heart of the controversy has spoken out in support of the Sunrise host.

One of the women at the heart of the controversy has spoken out in support of the Sunrise host.

Maria (L) and Lucy Alymer, twins from the UK.

Network Seven

While introducing the twins, Armytage congratulated Lucy on her pale skin.

"The Aylmer twins come from a mixed race family in the UK," she said.

"Maria has taken after her half-Jamaican mum with dark skin, brown eyes and curly, dark hair, but Lucy got her dad's fair skin – good on her – along with straight red hair and blue eyes."

The "good on her" comment has since sparked criticism and a petition with about 3,000 signatures calling on Armytage to apologise.

Maria Aylmer has since written on Facebook that she wants the petition taken down, saying "Sam is not a racist".

Maria Aylmer has since written on Facebook that she wants the petition taken down, saying "Sam is not a racist".

Maria Aylmer / Facebook


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Student Editors Are Signing An Open Letter In A Protest Against Censorship

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Update: A student editor who deleted past articles that were critical of him and his political faction has been suspended while an investigation takes place.

BuzzFeed News has obtained a statement from UNSW student organisation 'Arc', which publishes Tharunka, announcing Byron's suspension. It is signed by Chair of the Board Ben Heenan and CEO Brad Hannagan.

"Arc has been informed a number of previous Tharunka articles have been removed from the Tharuka website by a current editor of the publication," the statement reads.

"No editor has the authority to alter or remove previously published Tharunka articles."

"Arc is investivating whether this editor has breached Arc policy... the Editor has been suspended from his role as Tharunka Editor until such time as Arc completes its investigations."

Supplied

Student journalists across Australia have signed an open letter in protest against the actions of an editor from the University of New South Wales student paper, Tharunka.

Student journalists across Australia have signed an open letter in protest against the actions of an editor from the University of New South Wales student paper, Tharunka.

Via Twitter: @tharunka

Byron, a student politician associated with Labor Right, confirmed on Facebook that he deleted a 2012 article, which can be accessed using the internet archive site WayBack Machine.

The deleted article describes Byron as a "perennial SRC election candidate" and reports on his efforts to form a ticket to run in the 2012 election for the editorship of Tharunka.

It describes Byron's political history, saying "Byron had last year been involved with the Labor Right 'Fresh' ticket for SRC elections, running unsuccessfully for the NUS Delegate and Undergraduate Councillor positions."

"He also nominated for the Tharunka editor position under the 'Turning Over A New Leaf' ticket alongside Adam Marsters and Sadaf Hakimi, before being disqualified from that vote," the article read.

The article goes on to detail Byron's efforts in creating a ticket, saying the Students' Representative Council had expressed concern over him working with a journalism lecturer to recruit students.


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