Russian President Putin, 60, and 55-year-old wife announce that their 29-year marriage is over

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his wife, Lyudmila, have announced today that they have separated and their marriage is over.

The 60-year-old and his 55-year-old wife broke the news of the end of the 29-year marriage on television. 

Asked on Rossiya-24 television about longstanding rumours that they no longer lived together, the 60-year-old Putin said: 'That is true.'

World's most idyllic bomb site: Hidden beach created by giant blast from Mexican government

This secluded paradise, with its sandy beaches and crystal clear warm water, is believed to have formed decades ago when it was used as target practice by the Mexican Government in the early 1900s. But where you might expect to find ruins and devastation, here there is a sensational, deserted beach on the Marieta Islands in Puerto Vallarta. Located in a world of its own just a few miles off the coast of Mexico, the islands were used to conduct military tests because they were uninhabited.

Is this revenge for Lee Rigby's murder?

The blaze broke out in the Islamic centre in Muswell Hill, north London, (inset) shortly after 3am today. Firefighters and counter terrorism officers were called in after flames engulfed the premises (pictured left). The Metropolitan Police said graffiti reading EDL - the initials of the English Defence League - was found on the building and they are investigating any possible link. Forensics officers were today searching the remains of the centre which was burnt to the ground (pictured right) for evidence to find out how the blaze started.

Scary moment daredevil hangs from Southampton docks crane by one hand

Dangling one-handed from the top, climber James Kingston is shown carefully edging along a narrow steel beam on a crane in Southampton. In footage that appears to have been filmed with a chest-mounted camera, he is seen standing on the crane, with the city below him. The stunt appears to ape a bizarre craze that has swept Russia in which people clamber 1,000 feet up the sides of buildings without a safety harness.
See Video below:

 From 250ft up, it looks utterly terrifying.
But that didn't stop daredevil climber James Kingston who filmed himself scaling a giant crane in Southampton's Ocean Village.
At one point, he dangles one-handed from the top before carefully edging along a narrow steel beam.

In footage that appears to have been filmed with a chest-mounted camera, he is seen standing on the crane, with the city below him.
The stunt appears to ape a bizarre craze that has swept Russia in which people clamber 1,000 feet up the sides of buildings without a safety harness.

The extraordinary craze has seen hundreds of youngsters climbing incredible heights just to admire the view and hang out with friends.
Commenting on the video afterwards, Mr Kingston posted online: 'I didn't go up there to die. I went up there to live. Video:

Two Western women raped in India:

Culled from Dailymail.

An American woman has been gang-raped by three men in India while hitchhiking back to a guest house, police announced today. 

The 30-year-old was picked up this morning by men in a truck and then attacked as she made her way home after visiting a friend. 

It comes just one day after it emerged a 21-year-old Irish charity worker was allegedly drugged and raped while volunteering with an aid agency in Kolkata. 

They are the latest in a spate of sexual assaults on foreign women in India that have led to safety warnings and a drop in the number of female tourists travelling to the country. 

The American woman said three men in the truck drove to a secluded spot in the northern Indian resort of Manali and raped her.

She went to police to report the attack and Mr Singh said no arrests had yet been made. 

Authorities issued an alert for the three men and set up roadblocks to check any trucks leaving the town, he said. 

The Irish charity worker told police officers she was raped while semi-conscious after drinking a cup of tea following a birthday party on Saturday night. 

Indian police have arrested Indian businessman Sujoy Mitra, 35, and he has been remanded in custody until later this week. 

‘We suspect the accused laced the tea with drugs and raped the Irish woman,’ police officer Subrata Dey said. 

Local media said Mitra brought the woman to his house in the Kalighat area of the city after a night out. 

He appeared in court in Alipore on Sunday for a preliminary hearing and denies the allegations.

A lawyer for the accused, Dibyendu Bhattachrya, told local media: ‘After accompanying him to his house, the lady stayed with him for nearly two hours and even had breakfast. The allegations are totally false and motivated. My client is a teetotaller.’

The alleged attacks are the latest cases of sexual assaults on foreign women in India that have led to warnings about women travelling to the country. 

A spokesman for the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs said it was providing consular assistance to the woman.

It is understood diplomatic staff were notified of the case at the weekend and officials from the embassy in New Delhi are dealing with it.

IndiaToday reported that the woman had been in India working with an NGO based in Darjeeling.

Tourists travelling to India have dropped by 25 per cent since the high-profile rape and murder of an Indian student in New Delhi.

The number of women tourists has dropped by 35 per cent, a study found, following warnings about safety in the country. 

The Irish Department of Foreign Affairs has advised women going to India to exercise caution.

Its website says women should not travel alone and be careful when selecting accommodation, and as recently as May 21 it updated information on the risks involved.

It warns: 'Tourists have been the victims of sexual assault in Agra, Goa, Delhi, Bangalore, Madyha Pradesh and Rajasthan. Women travellers often receive unwanted attention in the form of verbal and physical harassment.

'Women travellers should exercise caution when travelling in India.'

A Swiss woman was gang-raped during a cycling holiday in central India with her husband in March.

A South Korean tourist was allegedly drugged and raped in the same state in January by the son of the owner of a hotel where she was staying.

Also in January, a British woman leaped from her hotel room balcony in Agra, where she was visiting the Taj Mahal, when she feared being sexually assaulted by a member of her hotel staff.

The assaults come amid heightened concern about sexual assaults in India that followed the fatal gang-rape of a young woman on a moving bus in New Delhi in December. 

That rape sparked public protests demanding better protection for women. 

In response, the government passed a law increasing prison terms for rape and providing for the death penalty in cases of rape that result in death or leave the victim in a coma. It also made voyeurism, stalking, acid attacks and the trafficking of women punishable under criminal law.

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‘Black virgin’ gang-raped at just 13 ordered to be killed for daring to fight for justice..

The brave fight of a gang-rape victim shunned by her rural Pakistani village for accusing her alleged attackers is now the subject of a heartbreaking documentary.

Kainat Soomro was labelled a 'kari', or 'black virgin', and her own family ordered to kill her in order to rid themselves of shame after she said she was attacked by four men as a 13-year-old in 2007.

But the teenager's relatives refused to turn their back on Kainat, and vowed to support her as she took the extraordinary step of fighting for justice in defiance of moral laws that have been in place in Pakistan for centuries.

The years that have passed since Kainat's nightmare ordeal have proved no less difficult, with her family forced out of their village, Dadu, amid threats of violence and murder.

Her father and one of her brothers were beaten, while an older brother disappeared for three months before being found murdered.

Kainat's pursuit of the case through a legal system which places the burden of proof on the victim ended with her alleged attackers being acquitted.

Kainat and her family, who now live in a cramped two bedroom apartment in Karachi, say they have 'lost everything', a report on news.com.au said.

A documentary, called Outlawed in Pakistan, tells the story of Kainat's fight for justice against the odds. The documentary, first unveiled at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival, aired for the first time on U.S. television last week.

'They told me I am not a real man,' Kainat’s brother, Sabir, tells film-makers Habiba Nosheen and Hilke Schellmann.

'[that] you failed to follow your tradition, you failed to kill your sister.'

Viewers watch as Kainat hires a lawyer, makes television appearances and appeals against court decisions.

But despite her persistence, the film's narrator tells how the judge describes her accusations as 'a product of her own fantasy'.

Following their acquittal, the men she accused wonder why she didn't just stay home 'and keep quiet'.

Outlawed in Pakistan shines a spotlight on the fight Kainat insists she will never give up, in spite of the seemingly insurmountable obstacles in her path. 

Posing like Usain Bolt and kissing the Koran "the woolwich suspect"

Raising his arm into a Usain Bolt pose, Michael Adebolajo (pictured) kisses a copy of the Koran. The terror suspect went through this routine as he appeared in court yesterday accused of murdering Drummer Lee Rigby. Stooping in the dock with a large bandage on his left arm, the 28-year-old demanded to be called 'Abu Hamza'. Clutching a copy of the Koran in his right hand, Adebolajo repeatedly interrupted the hearing. An artist's impression of Adebolajo clutching the Koran and striking the Bolt pose is pictured and (inset) he is seen blowing kisses with a relative...

Female Israeli soldiers disciplined for 'unbecoming behavior' after posing for pictures

 The Israeli military said yesterday the group of women were punished for their 'unbecoming behaviour' after the pictures emerged on local news sites. The images, originally published on Israeli news site Walla, showed the soldiers removing their fatigues to expose their underwear and back sides. In another, five women posed in what appeared to be a barracks room, dressed only in helmets and a small amount of combat equipment.

Dressed only in their underwear and provocatively holding weapons for the camera, they appear to be having a great time posing for photographs in their barracks room.

But four Israeli female soldiers have now been disciplined by the country's military for their 'unbecoming behaviour' after the raunchy pictures were posted on Facebook.

The images, published on Israeli news website Walla, showed the soldiers removing their fatigues to expose their underwear and backsides.

Two faces of white Muslim convert who told police day after Lee Rigby murder: 'I want to kill Prince Harry'

Ashraf Islam, left and inset, was formerly known as Mark Townley. The convicted conman from Northern Ireland is thought to have converted to Islam in prison. He has admitted threatening to kill Prince Harry, right, after handing himself in to Hounslow Police. Officers found he had searched for 'kidnapping', 'guns' and 'vans' on his laptop..... 

Photos: Footballer John Utaka weds in France.

"Left" The Super Eagles striker got married this weekend in France. "Right" Kanu Nwankwo and his wife pictured with the newly married couple in the right photo.

The mother at the centre of £1.6million Bali cocaine-smuggling trial... as her co-conspirator Lindsay Sandiford languishes on death row..

The British mother involved in a £1.6million cocaine smuggling plot is back home after spending a year behind bars in a Bali jail.

While her co-conspirator, grandmother Lindsay Sandiford, has been left languishing on death row, Rachel Dougall has been reunited with her daughter, Kitty, 7, who has no idea why she vanished for so long.

Dougall has been freed after serving a year in the squalid Kerobokan Prison. 

Speaking yesterday as she left her mother’s flat in Brighton for a break with Kitty, she said her daughter’s welfare was her priority.

She was later seen drinking beers with friends on a yacht on Brighton Marina. 

She said: ‘I want to spend a week or so with my daughter before I think about saying anything about what happened to me in Bali.

‘Naturally I want to keep Kitty out of this. She is the most important person to me.

In contrast to the welcome home balloons that greeted Dougall, Sandiford is still in Kerobokan while her lawyers work on the final appeals against her death penalty.

She was one of four Britons arrested last May over a 10.6lb stash of cocaine brought from Bangkok.

All four initially faced possible death sentences for trafficking. But while Sandiford, 56, who gave evidence against her co-conspirators after being arrested at Bali airport was put on death row, Dougall got just one year for failing to report a crime.

Her partner Julian Ponder, 44 – the syndicate’s alleged ringleader – got six years for possession of cocaine found in the luxury villa he shared with Dougall and their daughter Kitty, while Paul Beales, 41, was sentenced to four years for possession.

Dougall’s release came as a former fellow inmate claimed that Ponder arranged huge bribes to get himself, Dougall, Beales and Indian national Nanda Gopal off trafficking charges. 

The former inmate claims it was confirmed to him in a conversation in Kerobokan that sums averaging ‘around $350,000 (£231,000) each’ had been paid to have the trafficking charges against the four reduced.

No money was apparently paid on behalf of Sandiford, whose death sentence is being challenged in a final appeal before the Supreme Court in Jakarta.

Speaking to The Mail on Sunday on condition of anonymity, the former inmate offering to testify on Sandiford’s behalf said he had come forward because he felt she had been treated unjustly.

In an unusual step, prosecutors – who asked for a 15-year jail term for Sandiford at her trial – have also appealed against the death penalty.

A decision on the appeal is expected in the next two months. 

Younger brother of Michael Adebolajo 'was paid thousands to spy in Middle East'

Teacher: Michael Adebolajo's brother Jeremiah, pictured, was paid thousands by MI6 to become a spy in the Middle East

The younger brother of one of the men accused of murdering Drummer Lee Rigby was paid thousands of pounds by MI6 as part of spying operations in the Middle East, The Mail on Sunday has discovered.

Jeremiah Adebolajo, who uses the name Abul Jaleel, was also asked to help ‘turn’ his brother, Michael, to work for MI5, who were already aware of Michael’s close links to extremist groups.

The claims are made by the Adebolajo family and a well-placed source who contacted The Mail on Sunday.

Jeremiah Adebolajo, 26, who works as an English teacher at a  university in Saudi Arabia and returned to Britain this week, is to be questioned about his brother by Scotland Yard counter-terrorism detectives today. 

Government sources have already confirmed that Michael Adebolajo was known to MI5. Last week it was alleged that he rebuffed efforts by the security service to recruit him as a spy.

Michael, 28, was discharged from hospital on Friday and was yesterday charged with the murder of Drummer Rigby and attempted murder of two police officers on May 22 in Woolwich, South London.

Now it has emerged that MI5’s  sister agency, MI6, had targeted Jeremiah, a married teacher based at the University of Ha’il.

MI5 and MI6 work closely together on counter-terrorism operations. MI5 focuses on home security, while MI6 targets threats from overseas.

A document seen by The Mail on Sunday details concerns raised by Jeremiah’s family about MI6’s alleged harassment in April last year.

In it, Jeremiah’s sister, Blessing Adebolajo, 32, who works as a human resources assistant in London, says her brother was approached by MI6 while he was working at the University of Ha’il – an important strategic location in the Middle East because it takes only one hour by plane to reach 11 Arab capitals.

Complaint: A redacted copy of the allegations made by the Adebolajo family

A friend of Jeremiah has confirmed her account.

The friend said: ‘They asked him about Michael and asked him to help “turn” him to work for MI5.

‘They also told him to go to certain hotels, order a cup of tea and wait for his contact.

‘On these occasions he was handed £300, and was paid to fly first-class and stay in five-star hotels.’

The document, prepared by case workers with the charity Cageprisoners, says Blessing approached the East London charity for help because she was worried about the harassment and intimidation of both her brothers by the security and intelligence services.

She says MI6 bought a ticket so Jeremiah could fly to an Intercontinental hotel in another Middle East country (believed to be the United Arab Emirates) and that he was given local currency worth more than £1,000.

She also alleges Jeremiah told her that he was interrogated about specific people and was shown pictures of himself with named individuals taken in the UK. But Blessing told Cageprisoners that Jeremiah had ‘strongly’ rejected MI6’s offer to work as one of their agents.

Blessing Adebolajo says her brother Jeremiah was approached by MI6 and asked to become an informant

As a result of this rejection, his sister says he was ‘intimidated’ until he was finally told that he would be stopped from leaving the UK.

The friend said that two years ago Jeremiah was approached by UK security officers when he was held at Heathrow on his way back from Saudi Arabia.

During the interview, he was warned about what happens to Muslims who don’t help the Government and was shown documents that confirmed people he knew were being held in prisons throughout the world.

Police and security services are under huge pressure to explain what they know about Adebolajo and his alleged accomplice, Michael Adebowale. Despite warnings stretching back ten years, Michael Adebolajo is said to have been considered ‘low risk’ by MI5. He was photographed at high-profile protests – even standing next to hate preacher Anjem Choudary.

He was arrested in Kenyan 2010 over his alleged plans to travel to Somalia to join terror group Al-Shabaab before being returned to the UK. Jeremiah married Charlotte Patricia Taylor in 2008 at Sutton Register Office in Surrey.

Shortly afterwards the couple are believed to have left for Saudi Arabia where Jeremiah found work teaching. The University of Ha’il is one of Saudi Arabia’s most progressive education establishments and was established by Royal Decree in 2005. It consists of five colleges – Sciences, Medicine and Medical Sciences,  Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, and a Community College – and has more than 16,000 students.

Is this the best breakup letter ever? Woman dumps cheating boyfriend.

Breaking up is so very hard to do goes the old Burt Bacharach song, yet the writer of this letter seems to have done rather a good job of compartmentalizing her emotions as she writes to her lover to inform him that it’s all over.
An armchair psychiatrist could have a field day trying to decipher if the jilted lover writing the letter has taken the end of the relationship well or is perhaps overacting to what she has discovered.
What we do know is that when the writer accesses her boyfriend’s Facebook account she notices he has received a message from another girl, called Kelsi.

Sadly we don’t find out what was in that message but clearly it is the last straw for the letter writer who promptly decides she has had it with her boyfriend and decides to end their two-year relationship.
A more typical response to finding out your boyfriend has cheated on you might be simply tell him he is a loser and dump his belongings on the street, but this letter writer has a different idea.

She explains that she has left some of her exes most treasured possessions in a variety of places that once meant so much to their relation.
So we find out his clothes have been left where they first met, his video games where they first kissed, his television where they first went 'all the way' etc etc

'Don't worry I didn't break anything!' she writes and depending on your point-of-view this might sound all very reasonable given the circumstances or like the actions of someone displaying all the psychotic tendencies of Glenn Close's infamous bunny boiler character in Fatal Attraction.
'Happy hunting!' she signs off the letter, but I get the impression she doesn't really mean it.
The letter was posted on Imgur yesterday by Nipplesquirrelham and has already been viewed more than 180,000 times. There are also lots of hilarious comments from Imgur readers including 'I loved the restrained rage' and  'Anyone up for a bet that he only found the T.V.?'
A nation waits with baited breath to find out more about this intriguing couple and not forgetting Kelsi.

The world's loneliest schoolboy..

Bacho Tsiklauri, nine, is the only pupil at the primary school in the remote mountain gorge village of Makarta, Georgia, 62 miles north of the capital Tbilisi. The boy has one-to-one teaching at the school, top right, which takes place in a room in a private house. The village's three other children, including his older brother Dato, attend high school in a neighbouring village. Once Bacho joins them, his school will close.

At the start of the school day, teacher Lia Tsiklauri takes the register. But the morning task is over in a flash - because there's only one name to tick off.
Bacho Tsiklauri, nine, is the only pupil at the primary school in the remote mountain gorge village of Makarta, Georgia, 62 miles north of the capital Tbilisi.
He is one of only four children in the village, which is home to about 30 people. The older children, including his brother Dato, attend a high school in a nearby village two miles away.

Reuters photographer David Mdzinarishvili travelled along 12 miles of dirt track through the Gudamakari gorge, which separates Makarta from the rest of Georgia, to meet Bacho.
The journey through the gorge took as long as it did to cover 50 miles on the main road.
He found a village of abandoned houses left behind by those who have left Makarta for better opportunities in more developed areas of the country.
The young boy wakes early and prepares breakfast at about 7am before doing homework with the help of his mother Lela Machkhashvili, 39.

Dato has to leave earlier than his sibling to make the hour-long journey to high school.
'I used the remaining time before the beginning of the school day to try to get acquainted with Bacho,' said Mr Mdzinarishvili in a blogpost.
'I asked how he spent his spare time, but he was just interested in my photography equipment: “What do you do after school?” I asked.
'“Nothing special. Can your camera shoot pictures of the top of that mountain?” he replied.

'“When you grow up, who do you want to be?” I continued.
'“I don’t know. And your camera can shoot at night?”
'I gave up. We discussed my camera and Bacho even took a few shots.'
Bacho knows it is time for lessons when he sees 47-year-old Ms Tsiklauri, who teaches Georgian and mathematics, walking past his house at about 10am each day.
His father Gia does the school run with the aid of the family dog.
Ms Tsiklauri also studied at the primary school, where lessons take place in a room with four desks and a wood stove on the second floor of a private house.

Mr Mdzinarishvili, who went to meet Bacho, said: 'At the beginning, I saw that the teacher and student didn’t feel comfortable with me being there: having a third person in the class, and one with a camera, was an unfamiliar situation.
'Lia began the lesson by taking the register, but then she laughed and with this the tension disappeared.
'They soon forgot about my presence, and the class went as usual: checking homework, going over previous lessons, being called to the board, and learning new material.
'Of course, it was always Bacho who performed all the tasks, Bacho who answered all the questions, and Bacho who came to the board.

'He couldn’t get out of it, and there was no one to whisper the answer if he didn’t know – although I don’t think he needed the help.'
At break time, Bacho kicked a half-flat football around the courtyard by himself and did a few laps, Mr Mdzinarishvili said. Then the boy's other teacher, 40-year-old Inga Chokheli, arrived for his English lesson.
Both the teachers were full of praise for their only student. They just had one disappointment: when he goes to high school, the primary school in Makarta will close.

A Massachusetts police dog 'Kaiser' was saluted by fellow officers as he was taken to be put down after losing fight with kidney disease

A Massachusetts police dog got an official send off from his fellow human officers when he was put down after a battle with kidney disease. Pictures show the K-9 officer being saluted by police dog handlers as he is being walked into the animal hospital..