Kiribati: The world's next Atlantis?

The Pacific Island nation of Kiribati may be the first country to disappear under the rising sea levels of climate change. Its people fear their homeland may become the world's next Atlantis.

As our boat nears the shore, the dark shadows beneath the sea sharpen into focus. Chiseled coral stones, organized neatly into rows, glisten from the reef of this shallow cove.

READ: President of Kiribati on climate change: "It's too late for us"

We are drifting over the foundations of the surrendered neighborhoods of Tebunginako. The village was once home to more than 200 households, but today, it lies beneath several meters of turquoise water.

"We used to swim out there to see the ships when we were boys. They'd tie them up to the coconut trees just over here," explains the Mayor, pointing enthusiastically as we coast over the remains of his town. Locals say Tebunginako was once the island's main harbor -- before the rising sea swallowed its coast.

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Now stumps of dead coconut trees line the lagoon, their tips peaking out from the water like little grave stones of a civilization lost.

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The extreme coastal erosion of Tebunginako is becoming increasingly common in Kiribati, a South Pacific nation of 33 islands strung along the equator.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has identified Kiribati as one of the six Pacific Island countries most threatened by rising sea-levels. The report claims that, due to coastal erosion and freshwater contamination, Kiribati could become uninhabitable as early as 2050.

"Right now we're experiencing total inundation of areas that previously were not vulnerable to normal tides," says Andrew Teem, Kiribati's Senior Adviser on Climate Change. "We're getting something called King Tides -- extremely high tides. These were non-existent when I was a boy."

A large number of Kiribati's citizens are already internally displaced from climate-related disasters, and many have fled to the capitol island, South Tarawa.

Today, half of Kiribati's population crowds onto South Tarawa's tiny crescent of land, making it one of the most densely populated areas on earth, mirroring the population density of To or London. Unless birthrates or internal displacement are curbed, the population of South Tarawa is expected to double by 2030.

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"Like any developing island state, our population is quite young and developing at a very high rate, which already strains our fresh water supply," Teem explains. "Climate change and the rising sea exacerbate a problem we already have with regards to our water resources."

This week, representatives from 190 countries will gather in Lima, Peru for the twentieth session of the U.N. Climate Change Conference. The Lima conference will lay the groundwork for a climate treaty at the end of 2015, for implementation by 2020.

But for low-lying island nations like Kiribati, these commitments may not materialize soon enough. For communities like Tebunginako, these treaties are already long overdue.

"Climate change has major implications for our people today, not in the future like some other countries," explains Teem.

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Farming in an ocean under threat

Kiribati's government has pursued various adaptation initiatives over the last decade. These efforts range from employment-related migration programs with Australia and New Zealand to the exploration of man-made floating islands. This year, Kiribati finalized a purchase of a plot of land in Fiji that it hopes to use in the future.

But the people of Kiribati are unwilling to abandon their homes without a fight.

In addition to their local efforts, they are challenging the root of the problem, global carbon-emissions, at the international level. The government of Kiribati, along with a coalition of other small island states, has been lobbying for binding carbon-emissions treaties. They have also supported the concept of "climate change reparations," or compensation to non-industrialized developing countries for the climate-related damages caused by the industrialized powers.

In the past month, breakthroughs were made on both fronts. The United States and China -- the world's largest emitters of carbon -- announced plans to cut emissions over the next two decades. At the recent G20 conference, several nations joined President Obama in committing billions of dollars to the United Nation's Green Climate Fund, which will support developing nations in combating the effects of climate change.

READ: U.S. and China reach historic climate change deal, vow to cut emissions

While the government of Kiribati welcomed this news, the measures are only a first step towards addressing their national needs. Environmental groups have criticized the developments, calling the measures "a drop in the ocean."

"Climate change is something we were not responsible for. If we were responsible for this fate, that would be a different story all together," responds Teem, on the issues of climate change reparations and carbon emission cuts.

"We are very simple people with very simple needs, but we do not want to be faced with something that is not entirely of our own doing."

READ: What Obama gets right about climate-change fight

As the sun sets in Tebunginako, the Mayor guides us to the shore of the town's two remaining structures, a Church and a traditional community center, known as a maneaba. The tall structures jet out defiantly from the middle of the lagoon, fortified only by leaking sandbags and battered seawalls.

"We struggle to maintain them as a remembrance of Tebunginako," explains the Mayor. "These places are important to our people because of their religion and because it was the last place they were all together."

When asked about his people's future, he clings to their past.

"We are very scared, and we need help," he shrugs. "We believe in our government and their strong voice to the world, but we are still waiting for the world to reply."

"We used to swim out there as children," he repeats quietly, his gaze shifting blankly to the ocean. "And tie the boats to the coconut trees..."

Student told to unclog toilet with bare hands

OTHELLO, Wash. (AP) — A Washington state teacher acknowledged ordering an 8-year-old student to unclog a toilet with his bare hands, and the boy's parents say the educator deserves more than a reprimand.

Artie and Lisa Adams told KEPR-TV (http://bit.ly/1vml84o ) that they learned of the Nov. 6 incident at Scootney Springs Elementary School in the small, central Washington city of Othello when they asked their son about his day at school.
The third-grader said he reported the clog and teacher Brent Taylor told him to clear it with his bare hands.
The parents complained. The principal reprimanded Taylor, warned him that any further such incidents would lead to his termination, and ordered the 23-year teaching veteran to review a hygiene course.

Othello Superintendent George Juarez told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the punishment was made in consultation with the school district's lawyer and was appropriate considering the teacher's record and contract protections.

While the pupil reached into the toilet and pulled out a couple strands of paper, the teacher himself ultimately reached in barehanded and pulled out the clog, which consisted "only of paper," Juarez said.

Juarez called the teacher's actions "very poor professional judgment" and said the district regrets what happened.

"The child had flushed the toilet several times, and it didn't go down," Juarez said. "I am sure that the best judgment would have been to call our custodian to handle the matter."

A message left for Taylor at the school was not immediately returned.

The district granted a request from the boy's family to transfer him to another school.

 

'Peter Pan' and 6 Other Beloved Disney Movies Based On Dark, Horrifying Books

With the live, musical stage production of Peter Pan airing on NBC on Thursday, and the recent release of the trailer for the upcoming adventure drama Pan – a re-imagined live-action version of J.M. Barrie's classic tale – it seems that America is once again experiencing full-blown Peter Pandemonium.

And why not? It's fun for the whole family, right? On the surface, Peter Pan is about a young boy leading his friends on the adventure of a lifetime. Like most children's stories, it's a cherished morality tale that teaches kids a lesson while keeping them entertained.

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And, like most beloved children's stories, the familiar tale of Peter Pan is based on a book full of horrible murder and deeply traumatizing acts of depravity. Seriously, children's stories are messed up. To show you what we mean, here are seven beloved (Disney-adapted) tales of fun and adventure that are based on some of the most shocking, horrifying stories imaginable.

Peter Pan- Peter Pan, the character, is always remembered as the lovable scamp who whisks children off from their homes and into a magical world of adventure. What people seem to forget about is all the hard-core murder.

In the books written by J.M. Barrie, when Wendy first flies to Neverland, Tinkerbell convinces one of the Lost Boys, named Tootles, that she's actually a bird that Peter wants killed, so he shoots Wendy with a bow and arrow, and she almost dies. Ashamed of his actions once he finds out the truth, Tootles begs Peter to kill him. These are children, mind you.

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Also, at one point, the pirate Hook – a grown man in this universe – attempts to butcher Peter with his hook, and claws him badly. Peter lays on a rock as the tide comes in, waiting to either bleed to death, or drown. Again, Peter is a child. Just wanted to make that extra clear.
And, unlike in the Disney adaptation, Peter kicks Hook over the side of the boat and he is brutally eaten by the crocodile. All of these murder attempts overshadow all the many themes of racism and underage kidnapping that also seem to exist in every facet of the original story.
The Little Mermaid- Hans Christian Andersen's original 1837 fairy tale The Little Mermaid is almost the exact same as Disney's adaption, minus the "love conquering evil" stuff, or any of the happiness.

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In the original version, the potion that the Sea Witch gives the young princess makes her tail turn into legs, but walking on them causes horrifying agony, and feels like stepping on knife blades. Also, the Prince is a jerk who makes her dance for his amusement, despite the pain it causes her.

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And if that's not disturbing enough, the Sea Witch's agreement dictates that if the Prince doesn't fall in love with her, the Little Mermaid will die and disintegrate into sea foam. And what do you know? The prince falls in love with some other random woman. The Little Mermaid is given a chance by the Sea Witch to kill the Prince and escape the punishment of the deal, but she loves him too much!
So she dies, and turns into sea foam. Sweet dreams, kids! Remember that love is fleeting and any attempts at happiness lead to death.
Sleeping Beauty- Wow. The Sleeping Beauty we all know is based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale of the same name. That, in turn, is based on a story, published in 1634, by Giambattista Basile called Sun, Moon and Talia. To say it's dark is an understatement.

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In Sun, Moon And Talia, the princess – known as Talia in this version – is put in a deep, magical sleep when she pricks herself with a flax splinter. After she goes into her mystical coma, her father abandon's the castle, leaving her there. Years later, a different king enters the castle and finds Talia unconscious. Unable to wake her, the king decided to have sex with her nearly lifeless body instead.
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Talia gives birth to twins, who suck on her finger and happen to pull out the splinter (Was that really the solution? No one thought of that?) When she awakens, the rapist king returns and they bond over their mutual interests, such as his bastard children.
When the king's wife, the evil queen, learns of Talia and the two kids, she invites them over under a false pretense, and she kidnaps the babies. She tells the royal chef to kill the kids and make them into a meal for the king, so he will unknowingly eat his own children.
The chef hides the babies with his wife and cooks lamb instead, saving the children. The evil queen then tries to burn Talia at the stake, but the king - now the hero of this fable - saves Talia, and kills his wife instead.
Cinderella- In the Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella, known as Aschenputtel, there are a few minor differences from the Disney film that became a hit. First off, there's no fairy god mother. Instead, there is a magical wishing tree and some talking doves. Also, the slipper isn't glass, it is gold.

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Oh, and to convince the Prince that the all-important footwear belonged to them, one evil step-sister saws off her heel until blood is pouring out of the slipper. The other step-sister slices off all of her toes. Neither attempt works.
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Finally, when Aschenputtel and the Prince get married, the evil step-sisters serve as her bridesmaids in an attempt to win the favor of the future princess. But the wedding is interrupted by doves that fly down from heaven and brutally peck out the step-sisters' eyes. Good times.
Snow White- This is yet another gruesome offering from the Brothers Grimm! When Disney adapted this iconic German fairy tale for their 1937 animated classic Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, they stayed close to the source material, only leaving out the more horrific depictions of torture and some of the darker details.

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One major difference in the original Brothers Grimm story is that the Evil Queen was not Snow White's step-mother, but her biological mother. Snow White's own mother wanted to brutally murder her for being pretty. The Grimm brothers decided that this was too cruel even for their stories, and later made the Evil Queen Snow White's step-mother instead.
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In the Disney version, the Evil Queen wants the Huntsman to cut out Snow White's beating heart - which is pretty gruesome for a Disney film. But the original still manages to top that. In the fairy tale, the Queen wants the Huntsman to cut out Snow White's lungs and liver so that the queen can cook and eat them.

Finally, in what is probably the creepiest difference, the Evil Queen doesn't fall to her death after being chased by the dwarfs. Instead, she's forced to put her feet in red-hot iron shoes and dance until she dies.

Rapunzel- Tangled is Disney's adaptation of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale Rapunzel, and aside from the core concept of a girl with long, flowing hair who is locked in a tower by an evil witch, nothing else really stays the same. Which is probably a good thing, what with all the sex and maiming in the original version. Of all the stories in this list, Rapunzel is probably the tamest, but that's not saying much.

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In the story, a prince is riding through the woods near Rapunzel's tower. The 12-year-old Rapunzel lets down her hair and he climbs into her room, where he proceeds to immediately ask for her hand in marriage. Weeks later, it's revealed that her dress is getting tight around her stomach – a subtle way of revealing that some random, roaming prince knocked up an obviously kidnapped pre-teen girl.
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Eventually, the prince helps Rapunzel plan her escape. However, the evil witch discovers the plan, cuts off Rapunzel's hair and casts her out into the woods to die. When the prince shows up, ignorant to the turn of events, the witch throws down one end of Rapunzel's lopped-off hair, letting him climb up to the window. When he gets there, the witch shoves him off the tower and he falls into a bush of sharp thorns which gouge out his eyes.

In the end, he and Rapunzel find each other, and her tears of joy restore his eyesight – so that's nice. However, the witch dropped Rapunzel's hair out the window when she shoved the prince. Since the tower has no door and no stairs (people only got in through the window by climbing up Rapunzel's hair like a damn jungle gym) the evil witch starves to death - which was really her fault for building such a stupid tower in the first place.

Pinocchio- As creepy as the Disney version of Pinocchio was – and it was, without a doubt, super creepy – it can't hold a candle to the deeply disturbing horror-fest that is the 1883 Carlo Collodi book The Adventures of Pinocchio.

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The element that stands out the most about this Italian novel, which Collodi claimed was for children, is its intensely depressing subject matter. For instance, the lovable Jiminy Cricket, from the Disney version, is actually the ghost a dead cricket that Pinocchio stepped on, in the book.

Also, in the original story, there is a town called Catchfools, which is full of sad, dying animals such as starving dogs, freezing sheep, half-dead butterflies and a whole depressing menagerie of other hopeless creatures. In this town, any foolishness is punished with jail time, and Pinocchio is arrested and imprisoned as punishment for getting conned out of his only possessions. It's a truly terrible legal system.

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In another dark scene, Pinocchio runs off with a young boy to Toyland, where an old man collects children by luring them with toys. Then, Pinocchio is turned into a donkey because this book hates children. As a donkey, he's eventually sold to a man who wants to skin him and turn him into a drum. The man tries to drown Pinocchio in the ocean, but carnivorous fish bite off all of his magical donkey flesh, turning Pinocchio back into a regular living marionette. Yay?

And all of this doesn't even begin to address the constant maiming, killing and torturing of animals. It happens so often that it seems to be the book's main motif. From a starving fox who cuts off his own tail to sell for food to a snake that laughs at Pinocchio's misfortune so hard it bursts an artery and dies, this is a wonderful book to read to your kids if you absolutely want them to have night terrors well into adulthood.

Cleveland boy with pellet gun dies after police shoot him

CLEVELAND (Reuters) - A 12-year-old boy who was shot by police after he brandished a pellet gun at a Cleveland recreation center died on Sunday from his injuries, officials said.

The boy was identified as Tamir E. Rice, 12, of Cleveland by the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner.

Rice was shot in the abdomen by a city officer at a playground on the city's west side on Saturday, said Timothy Kucharski, an attorney for the boy's family.

According to the recording of a 911 call, a witness at the Cudell Recreation Center park told the police dispatcher that he saw somebody with a pistol and he was pointing it at people.

The caller told the dispatcher that the gun was "probably fake." But he said that it was scaring people.

Officers responded and advised the boy to raise his hands, according to a police statement.

"The suspect did not comply with the officers' orders and reached to his waistband for the gun. Shots were fired and the suspect was struck in the torso," the statement said.

After a preliminary investigation, authorities said the gun Rice had was an airsoft-type replica gun resembling a semi-automatic pistol.

Airsoft weapons are realistic-looking guns used in play combat, and they usually shoot plastic pellets. Most are made with bright orange tips so that they aren't confused with real guns. Police said the orange safety indicator was removed from the replica gun Rice was holding.

The boy was taken to MetroHealth Hospital where he underwent surgery Saturday and remained in critical condition until his death early Sunday, Kucharski said. The death was confirmed by hospital spokesman Jonah Rosenblum.

The two officers involved in the incident were placed on administrative leave. One of them was treated at Fairview Hospital for an ankle injury.

The shooting followed another incident that shook the city. On Friday, Cleveland police said four people, including a 41-year-old pregnant woman, were shot and killed at a home on the city's east side. A 9-year-old girl was shot in the chest and was treated and released from a local hospital.

Married Jesus? New book adds fuel to conspiracies

LONDON (AP) — A researcher who has attracted attention and criticism with his revisionist Biblical theories says he has found new evidence that Jesus was married to Mary Magdalene and that early Christians considered her a deity.

Canadian-Israeli documentary-maker Simcha Jacobovici says an ancient manuscript in the British Library offers a glimpse at an early version of Christianity radically different from the faith practiced today.
"This shows that Mary Magdalene really got ripped off" in mainstream Christian theology, Jacobovici said Wednesday at the launch of "The Lost Gospel," a book co-authored with York University religious studies Professor Barrie Wilson.
But many religious scholars are skeptical about the latest addition to the crowded field of Biblical conspiracy theories.
"The Lost Gospel" is built around a new interpretation of an ancient text, "The Story of Joseph and Aseneth." Jacobovici and Wilson studied a 1,500-year-old Syriac-language version of the story in the London library.
Most religious scholars think the text explains why the Hebrew patriarch Joseph came to marry a gentile, but Wilson and Jacobovici say it is a coded tale that actually relates the story of Jesus, his wife and their children.
Jacobovici said that in the document, Mary Magdalene is "not just Mrs. Jesus. She's a co-deity, a co-Redeemer."
But Greg Carey, professor of New Testament at Lancaster Theological Seminary, said the story was already well known to Bible scholars and "doesn't require any decoding."

"That's not to deny that some early Christians interpreted the story allegorically," he added. But he said there was no evidence for "the idea that it's about Jesus and his wife and their two children."

Jacobovici has a record of headline-grabbing but contested claims.

He co-wrote "The Jesus Family Tomb," which was strongly criticized by scholars and archeologists for alleging that a tomb found in a Jerusalem cave contained the remains of Jesus and possible family members.

Other researchers also have claimed to have found references in ancient texts to a married Jesus. Dan Brown used such theories as the basis for blockbuster thriller "The Da Vinci Code."

Ancient Egyptian Handbook of Spells Deciphered

Researchers have deciphered an ancient Egyptian handbook, revealing a series of invocations and spells.

Among other things, the "Handbook of Ritual Power," as researchers call the book, tells readers how to cast love spells, exorcise evil spirits and treat "black jaundice," a bacterial infection that is still around today and can be fatal.

The book is about 1,300 years old, and is written in Coptic, an Egyptian language. It is made of bound pages of parchment — a type of book that researchers call a codex.

"It is a complete 20-page parchment codex, containing the handbook of a ritual practitioner," write Malcolm Choat and Iain Gardner, who are professors in Australia at Macquarie University and the University of Sydney, respectively, in their book, "A Coptic Handbook of Ritual Power" (Brepols, 2014).

The ancient book "starts with a lengthy series of invocations that culminate with drawings and words of power," they write. "These are followed by a number of prescriptions or spells to cure possession by spirits and various ailments, or to bring success in love and business."
For instance, to subjugate someone, the codex says you have to say a magical formula over two nails, and then "drive them into his doorpost, one on the right side (and) one on the left."
The Sethians
Researchers believe that the codex may date to the 7th or 8th century. During this time, many Egyptians were Christian and the codex contains a number of invocations referencing Jesus.
However, some of the invocations seem more associated with a group that is sometimes called "Sethians." This group flourished in Egypt during the early centuries of Christianity and held Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve, in high regard. One invocation in the newly deciphered codex calls "Seth, Seth, the living Christ." [The Holy Land: 7 Amazing Archaeological Finds]

The opening of the codex refers to a divine figure named "Baktiotha" whose identity is a mystery, researchers say. The lines read, "I give thanks to you and I call upon you, the Baktiotha: The great one, who is very trustworthy; the one who is lord over the forty and the nine kinds of serpents," according to the translation.

"The Baktiotha is an ambivalent figure. He is a great power and a ruler of forces in the material realm," Choat and Gardner said at a conference, before their book on the codex was published.
Historical records indicate that church leaders regarded the Sethians as heretics and by the 7th century, the Sethians were either extinct or dying out.  

This codex, with its mix of Sethian and Orthodox Christian invocations, may in fact be a transitional document, written before all Sethian invocations were purged from magical texts, the researchers said. They noted that there are other texts that are similar to the newly deciphered codex, but which contain more Orthodox Christian and fewer Sethian features.

The researchers believe that the invocations were originally separate from 27 of the spells in the codex, but later, the invocations and these spells were combined, to form a "single instrument of ritual power," Choat told Live Science in an email.

Who would have used it?

The identity of the person who used this codex is a mystery. The user of the codex would not necessarily have been a priest or monk.

"It is my sense that there were ritual practitioners outside the ranks of the clergy and monks, but exactly who they were is shielded from us by the fact that people didn't really want to be labeled as a "magician,'" Choat said.

Some of the language used in the codex suggests that it was written with a male user in mind, however, that "wouldn't have stopped a female ritual practitioner from using the text, of course," he said.  

Origin

The origin of the codex is also a mystery. Macquarie University acquired it in late 1981 from Michael Fackelmann, an antiquities dealer based in Vienna. In "the 70s and early 80s, Macquarie University (like many collections around the world) purchased papyri from Michael Fackelmann," Choat said in the email.

But where Fackelmann got the codex from is unknown. The style of writing suggests that the codex originally came from Upper Egypt.

"The dialect suggests an origin in Upper Egypt, perhaps in the vicinity of Ashmunein/Hermopolis," which was an ancient city, Choat and Gardner write in their book.

The codex is now housed in the Museum of Ancient Cultures at Macquarie University in Sydney.

Trojan is likely state sponsored, has attacked Russian, Saudi internet providers and telecoms since 2008

Security researchers have discovered one of the most advanced pieces of malware ever created — and it's been in use since at least 2008. Symantec researchers published their findings today on a new Trojan they're calling "Regin."
The researchers say the tool is "a complex piece of malware whose structure displays a degree of technical competence rarely seen." It's been cleverly designed to spy on computer systems around the world while leaving hardly a trace behind. The software's "authors have gone to great lengths to cover its tracks," reports Symantec, by using multiple layers of complex encryption to mask spying activities. Even when Symantec's researchers did discover the presence of malware on clients' machines, they had to decrypt an entire sample package of files just to get some idea of what the tool was up to.

The espionage tool has been found primarily on systems in Russia and Saudi Arabia, though its presence has been detected in smaller numbers in Mexico, Ireland, India, Afghanistan, Iran, Belgium, Austria, and Pakistan. Over half of all confirmed cases were on machines in Russia and Saudi Arabia.
"Its authors have gone to great lengths to cover its tracks."
Attacks on internet providers and telecom companies — with the goal of obtaining information from the small businesses and individuals that use their services — accounted for roughly 75 percent of infections. Airlines, energy utilities, research agencies, and hospitality companies were also targets of such attacks.

As you might expect, something this complex isn't designed to steal your credit card numbers. The sophistication of the software and its confirmed targets, according to Symantec, makes almost certain that the malware is state-sponsored. In fact, the researchers say that it is similar to the Stuxnet worm that was allegedly designed to sabotage Iran's nuclear program. They should know: this group of computer security experts are the same team that first discovered Stuxnet. The US, Israel, and China are believed to be among the nations with the funding and expertise to develop and execute such attacks.
"A huge spying campaign dating back at least to 2008."
Whichever nation-state sponsored this malware, it's believed that Regin is likely that government's primary means of executing cyber espionage around the world. One of the malware's fairly unique traits is that it is highly customizable. Different packages can be built into the payload that infects computer systems. Some of the typical tools the software has at its disposal is the ability to remotely control the mouse and keyboard, take screenshots, record key presses and network activity, and recover deleted files. But spies could also load more specialized functionality designed for specific monitoring of energy utility or telecom systems, according to researchers. Those custom payloads "exhibit a high degree of expertise in specialist sectors," according to researchers — another sign that a large state player is behind the software.
What's not clear is how the malware executes an attack. In just one single confirmed case, it exploited an undiscovered Yahoo Messenger vulnerability, but the researchers speculate that it can use spoofed versions of popular websites or other application holes to gain access to computer systems.
The pattern of attacks does show, however, that the software has been used for years. "This has been a huge spying campaign dating back at least to 2008 and maybe even as early as 2006," researcher Liam O’Murchu tells Recode. Attacks abruptly halted in 2011, before an updated version of the malware was introduced to the web in 2013. There's still much that's unknown, but now that Regin's existence has been publicized, we should expect more details to trickle out over the coming months.