Part of a 9/11 plane’s landing gear is believed to have been found in Manhattan on Wednesday wedged between a luxury apartment building and a planned mosque site.

The twisted, rusted five-foot-tall chunk of landing gear is believed to be from one of the planes hijacked on September 11, 2001 and crashed into the World Trade Center towers.

The plane landing gear still has cables and levers attached. It is roughly three feet wide and 1.5 feet deep. A Boeing Co. identification number is clearly visible on the plane piece as well, meaning that authorities will be able to find out which plane it came from.

New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne added on Friday, “The odds of this being wedged between there is amazing. It had to have fallen just the right way to make it into that space.”

Browne added that it is not surprising it took so long to find the 9/11 plane’s landing gear piece after more than a decade, because of its location. Other wreckage from the World Trade Center attack has been discovered in the area in years past.

The 9/11 plane part was discovered by surveyors who were inspecting the lower Manhattan site of a planned Islamic community center on behalf of the building’s owner. the same building was hit by a piece of landing gear on September 11, 2001. That piece punctured the building’s roof.

An inspector on the roof noticed the debris on Wednesday and called 911. Police arrived and secured the scene, documenting it with photographs. Police detectives and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will work to discover whether the landing gear came from the United Airlines flight or the American Airlines plane that slammed into the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001.

Police also stated that the medical examiner’s office will complete a health and safety evaluation around the building to see if they should sift the soil around the lower Manhattan buildings for possible human remains. City officials continue to turn up debris from the 9/11 terrorist attacks, including human remains.

Parts have been discovered on rooftops, in storm drains, and now in small alleyways as well. This month, the medical examiner’s office announced the discovery of 39 potential human remains. They were round in 9/11 debris hauled from Staten Island years ago. The painstaking work by the office has led to 34 new positive identifications of victims.

It is unclear when the 9/11 plane’s landing gear will be removed from its resting place in the alleyway.

[Image via Twitter]

Part of 9/11 Plane’s Landing Gear Found In Manhattan is a post from: The Inquisitr

Call of Duty: Ghosts has been more of a set of rumors than anything tangible, but a UK retailer has seemingly outed the game by allowing online visitors to check out the game’s box art.

Sadly, it doesn’t appear there are still very many details beyond what the cover is going to look like. Though we have apparently found out that the game will be put together by Infinity Ward, which has long been the studio that has worked on this series.

The UK retailer, Tesco simply listed the game on its website with the release date of December 30. As many have pointed out, it is likely that this is just a placeholder for the real release date. As a general rule, games in this series tend to release in November.

Call of Duty: Ghosts hasn’t even been officially confirmed, so the release date could be way off and we might not even be seeing this game until 2014, but if a retailer is actually listing the game it seems a likely bet that it will be out sooner, rather than later.

Activision has said that they will be announcing news about their Call of Duty series at E3. This likely means we won’t have to wait to much longer to get the downlow.

Despite the fact that we don’t have much info, the game box art comes with both Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 logos so it appears it will definitely be on those two consoles.

Missing is whether or not there will be any effort to also bring this title to next gen consoles. It seems any game that is being launched this fall would be smart to try and get onto the Xbox 720 and the Playstation 4.

What do you think Call of Duty: Ghosts will bring to the long running video game series?

‘Call of Duty: Ghosts’ Box Art Revealed is a post from: The Inquisitr

A Pittsburgh man who threatened ex-Steelers wideout Hines Ward will spend two years on probation.

According to Sports Illustrated, 26-year-old Joshua Van Auker pleaded guilty Tuesday to extortion charges after attempting to bilk Ward for $15,000.

Court documents show that in the fall of 2012, Auker contacted Ward’s assistant, Raymond Burgess, claiming to have damaging information about a woman that the four-time Pro Bowler previously dated.

Ward’s assistant revealed that an envelope containing the so-called “dirt” consisted of only papers, not photos.

Burgess declined to otherwise describe its contents.

Following the initial threat on Ward, Burgess went to investigators and afterward spoke again with Van Auker, who repeated the extortion demand by saying, “It’s called buying silence, brother.”

Detectives observing the second encounter in October arrested Van Auker.

Ward’s alleged former girlfriend was never identified in the complaint, and authorities never described the information Van Auker claimed to have or said whether it was even true.

A district attorney’s spokesman didn’t immediately comment Friday.

More on extortion plot on Hines Ward in the video below:

Ward, 36, was selected by Pittsburgh in the third round of the 1998 NFL Draft. He the retired from the Steelers last year after 14 seasons with the team.

Over the course of his career, Ward snagged 1,000 catches for 12,021 yards — both franchise records — and 85 receiving touchdowns. He also rushed for 428 yards and one score on 57 attempts.

In addition to four Pro Bowl appearances (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004), Ward has also been selected to the All-Pro second team three times, and was MVP of the Super Bowl XL, which the Steelers won in 2006

Shortly after his retirement, Ward signed on with NBC Sports to be a football analyst, highlighted by his role on the Sunday Night Football pregame show Football Night in America.

Hines Ward Threat: Pittsburgh Man Gets 2 Years Probation For Threatening Steelers Receiver is a post from: The Inquisitr

A debt collector wanted $8.97 for a DVD rental from five years ago, an email to a credit advice blog recently revealed.

Although attempting to collect such a small sum of money may sound ludicrous, many companies are attempting grab as much money as they possibly can in an effort to stay profitable. Collection agencies started purchasing portfolios from just about anyone around three years ago.

A woman named Jillian reached out to the folks at Credit.com after she received a notice from a debt collector that was looking to recover $8.97 for a five-year-old DVD rental.

Her email to the website read:

“Today I received a letter in the mail from a collection agency stating that a DVD I rented from Family Video (probably 5 years ago) has gone to collections. The total that I owe is $8.97. Am I going to get a bad credit score for an unpaid bill of $8.97?! Help would be greatly appreciated.”

While a person’s knee-jerk reaction might be to ignore a debt collector that wants you to pay $8.97 for something that occurred half-a-decade ago, doing so could have an affect on your credit score. In fact, the website suggests to pay these bills instead of dealing with the headache down the road.

Most folks may not realize that a $10 debt can do just as much damage to your credit score as one totaling thousands of dollars.

A report by Marketdata Enterprises released last year explained that collection agencies are taking drastic measures to stay afloat. This means going after people who owe, for example, $8.97 on a late fee they may have forgotten to pay.

“Although the number of placements at collection agencies has increased, their collectability has fallen. Agencies have to work much harder to collect, making more calls, using more aggressive tactics,” Research Director John LaRosa explained.

What do you think about the woman who encountered a debt collector that wanted $8.97 for a DVD rental from five years ago?

[Image via Shutterstock]

Debt Collector Wanted $8.97 For DVD Rental is a post from: The Inquisitr

Readington Township, NJ – A strapless dress ban, instituted by Readington Middle School principal Sharon Moffat, and backed by school superintendent Barbara Sargent, has escalated to a cancellation of an end-of-year eighth-grade dinner dance due to threats made against school officials.

Originally the school outlawed strapless dresses from the upcoming June 14 event, citing the style of gown as distracting to the male classmates. Parents and students objected to Moffat’s dress code ruling at a school board meeting held on April 23. The decision infuriated parents and students alike, many protesting the ban as both absurd and a violation of their 14th Amendment rights.

MyCentralJersey reports the parent-funded dance would have been held at a private venue, Razberry’s in Frenchtown, and many of the attendees had purchased dresses prior to the introduced dress code, further stirring the conflict.

Earlier in the month Moffat sent parents a letter, addressing appropriate attire for the event, stating, “Young gentlemen are encouraged to wear collared shirts and trousers; many boys wear ties or jackets. Young ladies should wear a skirt, dress with straps, or dressy pants outfit. Jeans or sneakers are not appropriate for this event.”

Arguably, (most) strapless dresses, which had been permitted in previous years, are not nearly as provocatively revealing as back-exposing halter dresses or those with plunging necklines.

After listening to several complaints, the school board decided to seek advice from its policy committee and pledged to readdress the issue at its May 14 meeting.

Friday morning, Moffat received a threatening e-mail regarding the dress code policy and authorities were contacted. Readington Police did not consider the threat as credible but offered to have an officer present at the dance. Instead, Moffat and Sargent elected to cancel the dance entirely. The content of the e-mail threat was not publicly disclosed.

[Image via Shutterstock]

New Jersey Middle School Cancels Event Over Strapless Dress Ban is a post from: The Inquisitr

A celebrity publicist accused of sex assaults over a range of two decades has vowed to clear his name.

Max Clifford faces charges of 11 indecent assaults, incidents including seven teenagers that allegedly took place between 1966 and 1985. Calling the charges “completely false,” the publicist to celebrities mainly in the UK vowed to fight the sex assault case.

The fact that the first assault allegedly took place close to 50 years ago is not easy for the publicist to swallow.

“I find it hard to accept that women, 30 to 40-odd years later, can make complaints like this and they remain anonymous,” Clifford told Sky News. “And, of course, you have got to prove that you’re innocent.”

The celebrity publicist was caught through a sting for another media personality, BBC host Jimmy Savile. Police set up what became known as Operation Yewtree to investigation claims against Savile after a documentary by broadcaster ITV uncovered a number of allegations against him.

Savile had a  reputation as a charismatic but somewhat eccentric star who was active in charitable causes. Though police were initially looking into charges against the late Savile, they ended up uncovering allegations of sex abuse against the publicist and led to Clifford’s arrest in late 2012.

Clifford said he’s got many people in his corner as he faces the sex assault charges.

“I’ve had tremendous support from everywhere, not just people who know me and did know me, but my clients and also people I meet everywhere I go,” Clifford said. “All of my clients have remained loyal and I’m working with all of my clients on a regular daily basis. That support is as strong as it has ever been, which I’m very grateful for.”

The publicist will face the sex assault charges in court on May 28. Police noted that there were more allegations against Clifford than the 11 he was charged for, but said there wasn’t enough evidence to bring more charges.

Celebrity Publicist Accused Of Sex Assaults Vows To Clear Name is a post from: The Inquisitr

Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson recently revealed that he turned down Michael Bay’s offer to star in Transformers 4.

Studios used the Pain and Gain star to reinvigorate a number of franchises that have started to slip at the box office. Although Bay originally offered the lead role to Johnson, the actor said he was forced to turn it down due to his participation in Hercules.

Dwayne Johnson recently discussed the rumor with one of his Twitter followers. When Nadya Denisova asked if there was any truth to these Transformer 4 reports, The Rock revealed that Michael Bay had offered him a part in the upcoming sequel.

Johnson and Bay recently teamed up for the crime caper Pain and Gain. Since the two apparently enjoyed working together, the director reportedly offered him a role in the film. After Johnson turned it down, Bay slid the offer to co-star Mark Wahlberg.

The wrestling icon is tackling the lead role in Rush Hour director Brett Ratner’s big-budget action flick Hercules. The movie, which is based on the graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars, will drop the supernatural elements in favor of a more realistic story.

If you’re disappointed that Dwayne Johnson won’t be signing on for Transformers 4, then you’ll be happy to know that the busy actor has a plethora of other projects in the works. In addition to Hercules, he is slated to star in his very own Fast and Furious spin-off.

Internet Movie Database has Johnson listed as starring in Brad Peyton’s Journey 3: From the Earth to the Moon. The website also lists Hunger Games star Josh Hutcherson as being involved with the project.

Michael Bay offered me Transformers, but I was unavailable due to Hercules. Then Wahlberg was offered the role. #RockTalk @nadydi

— Dwayne Johnson (@TheRock) April 26, 2013

Are you a fan of Dwayne Johnson? What do you think about the busy actor turning down the lead role in Michael Bay’s Transformers 4?

Dwayne Johnson Turned Down ‘Transformers 4′ is a post from: The Inquisitr

Rhino poachers have caused the extinction of the species in Mozambique’s huge Limpopo National Park. Park director António Abacar said that the last sighting of a living rhinoceros in the park was in January. The lack of sightings since then means that the 300 animals that lived in the park around 2002 are now presumed dead.

He said that poachers, including 30 employees who worked as park rangers, were involved in the killing. The 30 accused men will appear in court to answer charges related to the poaching, but that won’t bring back the rhinoceros.

Abacar warned that the poaching won’t stop. Instead, the poachers will turn their attention to the remaining Limpopo National Park elephants.

The huge park, which covers 1.1 million hectares — described by Scientific American as about the size of the entire state of Rhode Island — is also part of the Cross-border Limpopo International Park which includes South Africa’s Kruger National Park and Zimbabwe’s Gonarezhou Park.

South Africa is particularly upset by the continued poaching, which is a human as well as an animal tragedy.

Wildlife investigator Ken Maggs said bluntly: “We are up against a counter insurgency war.”

The South African army and police have killed 279 poachers from neighboring Mozambique since 2008. Another 300 Mozambican poachers have been captured alive.

As the last stronghold for rhinoceros species in Africa, the nation of South Africa and particularly its Kruger Park have been under assault in recent years. The price of powdered rhino horn has skyrocketed on the black market.

With the horn reportedly selling for tens of thousands of dollars a pound, rhino poachers are willing to take any risk — and willing to kill the very last animal.

South African officials have even threatened to drop out of the international park system and replace the former anti-poaching fences on its border with Mozambique. With Limpopo’s rhinos gone, the poachers seem certain to continue to assault Kruger’s remaining rhinos.

At least 232 rhinos have already been killed in South Africa by poachers since the start of the year. Could rhino extinction in South Africa’s parks be next?

[wild rhinoceros photo by Jane Fresco via Wikipedia Commons]

Rhino Poachers Wipe Out Species In Mozambique’s Limpopo National Park is a post from: The Inquisitr

Have you ever wondered what Chelsea Handler looked like in high school?

On Thursday, Handler tweeted a photo of herself from when she was a teenager. Handler posed in the photo with two of her siblings, with the caption “Jersey sisters” in a tweet that went out to her 5 million followers.

Handler grew up as the youngest of six in Livingston, New Jersey. In the photo, she appears in a casual tank top with darker blond hair. Her Twitter followers complimented her youthful beauty, which (of course) resulted in a bit of a fight over whether or not she’s still beautiful (she is).

Despite the debate over her looks, the 38-year-old comedienne admitted in a recent interview to being bullied in high school.

“I’m so over it now I don’t even care,” Handler said in an interview with The Telegraph. “I’ll always get notes … Someone’s here to watch a taping and I’m like, ‘Who? The girl who used to chase me down the hallway?’ By the time you can have revenge and say, ‘Ha ha,’ you don’t even care about them anymore, you know? It would be sad if my career was built on that.”

Here’s Handler’s tweet, with the photo. It’s not clear when this photo was taken, but we’re guessing late 80s or early 90s from the hair. Pictured alongside Handler are sisters Simone and Shoshanna. Take a look!

[Top image via: David Shankbone, Wikimedia Commons]

Jersey sisters twitter.com/chelseahandler…

— Chelsea Handler (@chelseahandler) April 25, 2013

‘What Did Chelsea Handler Look Like In High School,’ You Ask? is a post from: The Inquisitr

Magicka: Wizards of the Square Tablet hits iOS tomorrow. Here’s what the critics said about it.

Magicka was a simple yet fun Diablo III type action RPG before there even was a Diablo III. You played a wizard resembling a black mage from Final Fantasy, using element powers to kill your enemies before they killed you in a story based on Norse mythology. Enemies sounded like an overactive chihuahua wrestling with a steak bone every time they were about to attack you, adding a certain charm to the feel of a well-polished game. Developed by eight students at Lulea University of Technology in Sweden, Magicka was an instant success, selling over 200,000 copies in less than a month.

Seeing as the original Magicka depended heavily on the keyboard and mouse to control its four player games, it was surprising how well it does on a portable device, but the transition was well-done. This is a game that iPad users will be playing for hours. Instead of an overhead map, Magicka: Wizards of the Square Tablet is a side-scroller. It keeps everything that was entertaining about its big brother, and streamlines it.

You play a nameless red-robed wizard possessed by some underworld meanie, in league with a weird vampire as the two of you attempt to stop the end of the world.

Four of the eight elements remain from the original Magicka, but the interface has been simplified to the point where it won’t matter. You will still have fun creating exploding rocks and defensive barriers. If you happen to catch on fire, a simple combination of fire and water will create steam and put the fire right out. The magic system is very much intact, just simplified.

The environments are quite varied in Magicka: Wizards of the Square Tablet. You’ll fight off bad guys in pestilent swamps, beaches, and dilapidated ruins.

Magicka is quite intact; it’s just been shrunk.

What do you think of Magicka: Wizards of the Square Tablet?

‘Magicka: Wizards Of The Square Tablet’ Review Roundup is a post from: The Inquisitr

Nebraska, the upcoming film from director Alexander Payne, has been given a November 22 release date from Paramount, just in time for Awards season, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The website noted on Friday that Nebraska would pair screen veteran Bruce Dern — or as we like to refer to him, “that a**hole that once killed John Wayne — with SNL‘s Will Forte in a black-and-white, father-and-son road trip drama about an old man, who thinks he’s won a multimillion-dollar magazine sweepstakes.

The son (Forte) agrees to escort his dad (Dern) on a journey from Billings, Montana, to Lincoln, Nebraska, to collect the presumably fictional prize.

The film will play limited release, so any future success will have to come through the nomination process. After all, it’s going head-to-head with The Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Who do you think’s going to win that little battle?

Of course, that’s not to say the Nebraska film won’t be worth a look. Payne has Citizen Ruth, Election, About Schmidt, Sideways, and most recently, The Descendants, on his director resume at IMDb, and all of those were well-received.

Sideways received the Movie of the Year Award from the American Film Institute in 2005 and also picked up five Oscar nominations, winning the statue for Best Adapted Screenplay, which Payne co-wrote with Jim Taylor.

Seven years later, in a virtual repeat of Sideways, The Descendants captured a second AFI Movie of the Year win, and Alexander Payne was back on the Oscar stage accepting another Adapted Screenplay award with writing partners Jim Rash and Nat Faxon.

He also had the opportunity to work with this guy:

As for Will Forte, he’s got Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 and Grown Ups 2 lined up for 2013 and an Untitled Elmore Leonard Project for 2014.

Whatever title that Elmore Leonard (Jackie Brown, Justified were based on his works) project ends up with, it will be based on the novel The Switch about two cons with a penchant for grand theft auto that reconvene upon release from prison for one last score.

Forte will play Louis Gara, previously brought to life on the big screen by Robert De Niro in Jackie Brown, which in turn was based on Leonard’s novel Rum Punch.

Do you want to see Forte in a drama like the Nebraska film, or would you rather he stick to laughs?

[Image via Featureflash / Shutterstock.com]

‘Nebraska’ Film Gets Awards Season Release Date From Paramount is a post from: The Inquisitr

It’s over! The long-running and awfully ugly feud between Elton John and Madonna has come to an end.

Sir Elton and Madge have been feuding for over a decade. It all started in 2002, when John criticized Madonna’s song for the Bond film Die Another Day as “the worst Bond tune ever.” He also accused her of lip syncing in 2004, and again before her Super Bowl appearance, quipping “make sure you lip-sync good.”

“She’s such a nightmare,” John said in supposedly off-the-record comments, adding, “she looks like a f–king fairground stripper.”

Madonna has mostly waged her side of the war through her publicists, who release statements that counter John’s more disdainful comments. Still, the feud between Elton John and Madonna has been called one of the music industry’s biggest feuds.

And now it’s over.

Over the summer, John was dining with his husband David Furnish in a French restaurant when Madonna coincidentally showed up.

“She came in, and I sent over a note,” said John. “She was very gracious. I apologized profusely because what I said should never have appeared in public. She accepted our apology, and then we bought her dinner. That’s over and done with. She was really great about it.”

John also complimented the ease with which Madonna forgave him after a decade of vitriol.

“I have to say, she was fantastic. She was just, ‘Okay, let’s get a move on,’” said John. “I was very relieved, because she had every right to say ‘I don’t want to talk…’ I said, listen — you have an option of not talking to me again and I completely understand it, and she said ‘No, no. I accept your apology. Let’s move on.’”

You can check out a video of Elton John admitting that his feud with Madonna is over here. What do you think of their former feud? Was it one of the music industry’s biggest? Sound off!

[Images via: David Shankbone, Ernst Vikne, Wikimedia Commons]

Elton John And Madonna End Long-Running Feud is a post from: The Inquisitr

Danica Patrick’s feud with David Gilliland may be over — at least for now. The two NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers spoke before Friday’s practice at Richmond International Raceway on Friday.

Patrick’s intention in visiting her fellow driver was to set the record straight on how she felt he was racing her during last week’s race at Kansas.

When she was on the radio with her team, the Sprint Cup’s only woman driver commented, “He tries to take me our every time.” After the race, Gilliland released a very short statement through his public relations representative. He told Patrick plainly to “shut up and drive.”

The comment received national attention as race fans wondered if the pair were going to have an even bigger altercation during the Richmond race. Gilliland apparently made the comment after concerned texts he received from his wife and 13-year-old son, who heard Danica’s comments on the radio.

The No. 10 driver also stated of Gilliland, “Tell his spotter that I’m coming after him if he does it again. In fact I might just do it right now.” On Friday, Danica acknowledged that she was upset. She added that she believes there has been a recurring pattern with her and Gilliland since the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway last May. The Go Daddy driver explained:

“I’ve felt like he drives very aggressively against me from Darlington last year on. It was just a lot more of it last weekend. He was just driving in a way that I didn’t think was appropriate and I haven’t thought it was appropriate for a long time.”

Gilliland has agreed with Patrick’s assessment that he races her differently than he races other drivers. He added, however, that no one gave him a free pass when he was a rookie. Gilliland explained:

“We talked this morning and feel like we’re on track to race each other the way we feel like we want to be raced. That’s just it — a mutual respect thing that hopefully we got figured out. I think we’re on the same page.”

We’ll see during Saturday night’s Richmond race whether Danica Patrick’s feud with David Gilliland has really ended.

[Image via Action Sports Photography / Shutterstock.com]

Danica Patrick Calms Feud With David Gilliland is a post from: The Inquisitr

With Zack Snyder’s eagerly anticipated Man of Steel still preparing for landing, the painful wait has been lessened a little by a fantastic fan-made re-imagining of the opening title sequence, which has now gone viral.

Put together by production team WILL & TALE, the 1:39 minute clip took three months to assemble. Uploaded to YouTube on April 24, it’s already notched up over 220,000 views and counting.

The footage begins with a superb space scene of the in-flight baby Kryptonian on his way to Earth.

This gives way to various voiceovers of a television newsreader and passengers on a Kansas-destined flight talking about a UFO sighting and a “fire” in the sky.

From there, we are taken through the beats of the well-worn Superman origin story.

A slow camera pan over pictures of an 11-year-old Clark Kent’s basketball and track trophies, a TV segment about the now adult Superman saving a man from a burning building, the voice of Lois Lane reporting, the Daily Planet HQ and a lingering shot of the caped hero himself hovering above Metropolis.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the creators of the video described it as a “passion project” adding that it did not use any previously existing footage.

Returning to the actual Man Of Steel, Warner Bros. followed up the April trailer with something a little bit different.

The latest promotional footage veered away from a straight-up trailer to focus on General Zod, played by Michael Shannon.

In the clip, which is deliberately distorted, a static-y outline of Zod is seen and heard demanding Superman’s imprisonment before commanding earthlings to hand the hero over.

Warner Bros. official synopsis:

“A young boy learns that he has extraordinary powers and is not of this Earth. As a young man, he journeys to discover where he came from and what he was sent here to do. But the hero in him must emerge if he is to save the world from annihilation and become the symbol of hope for all mankind.”

Man of Steel stars leading man Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Russell Crowe, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne, Antje Traue, Ayelet Zurer, Christopher Meloni, Michael Kelly, Harry Lennix and Richard Schiff. The film hits theaters on June 14.

Tell us what you think of the fan-made opening sequence in comments below.

‘Man Of Steel’ Superfan Opening Sequence Goes Viral And It’s Great [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, the mother of Boston Marathon bombing suspects Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was placed in a U.S. terror database in the fall of 2011.

NBC News spoke with a counterterrorism official who confirmed the recent rumors that Tsarnaeva had been under suspicion by U.S. authorities for several years. She was placed in the database by the C.I.A. at the same time as Tamerlan, who was shot and killed by police after the Boston attack late last week.

The official noted that just because Tsarnaeva was placed in the database doesn’t mean that the CIA believed her to be a threat.

Tamerlan had been entered into three classified counterterrorism databases prior to the Boston bombing. When he traveled to Russia in 2012, an email alert was sent to a Homeland Security official in Boston, but it didn’t result in an investigation.

In previous interviews, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva admitted that her son was being watched by the FBI.

“They were monitoring him and I know that because I used to talk to them,” she told ITN News. “They used to come to our house, like two, three times. And then my son Tamerlan used to tell me that he used to talk to them, too, because they called me once and they wanted his number.”

She is also still convinced that her sons are innocent, and that they were set up by hostile governmental forces.

While she was living in the United States four years ago, Tsarnaeva also said that she began to practice a “pure” form of Islam. She since moved to the southern Russian republic of Dagestan with the suspects’ father, Anzor Tsarnaev.

Do you think that authorities should have paid closer attention to the Tsarnaev family?

[Image via: clarence s lewis, Shutterstock.com]

Boston Bombing Suspects’ Mother In U.S. Terror Database Since 2011 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Google Maps is now giving you the opportunity to visit virtual movie sets via Google Street View.

Did you know you could visit Mos Eisley on Google Maps? Thanks to recent updates to Google Maps and Google Street View, film locales and even places that you didn’t think existed are now visible with Google Maps.

One such image shows Luke Skywalker and pals approaching the Mos Eisley Cantina from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. It’s just odd, yet fun, to see the typical Street View trappings alongside Cee Threepio and Artoo on Luke’s hovering car just floating along the street.

Another Google Maps locale is the hospital in Gotham City, showing the Joker walking out dressed in drag as a nurse with the backdrop sign that marks Emergency Drive. The hospital is just beginning to explode in the scene from The Dark Knight.

Yet another place on Street View is the road in Australia where Mad Max is walking by his car and looking down the road, no doubt planning his next attack on the cannibal thugs who killed his wife and baby.

Google Maps also has a scene from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, where Indy and his father are riding in a sidecar motorcycle and they’re passing a hulking truck on a dusty road in the jungle.

There is also a scene from Tommy Boy where you actually see Chris Farley and David Spade sitting on the bench in a big city.

Just for kicks, there seems to be a street view from a Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, with a store sign nearby announcing “Pat N Splat” or something (the words aren’t all that clear) and the main character is driving a yellow convertible.

There is also a scene from Twister, where the truck is heading along with the Dorothy sensors in the back, and a dark funnel cloud can be scene just over the greenery.

What do you think of these Street Views from Google Maps?

Google Maps Lets You Visit Movie Sets is a post from: The Inquisitr

Resident Evil: Revelations has been out on the handheld devices for quite some time now but its updated HD version is finally going to be hitting consoles this spring. Ahead of the full game, which is due out on May 21 Capcom is releasing a demo on the Xbox 360 and the PS3 as well as PC and Wii U.

While there isn’t an actual release date for the demo, demos generally come out a few weeks before the full version. That means we will likely see the demo around May 7. Along with the game being upgraded for the consoles, there are apparently plans to start offering up a season pass for the DLC that will be coming.

Resident Evil: Revelations’ demo will have you playing as Jill Valentine as you attempt to board the cruise ship the ‘Queen Zenobia.’ Once you actually get aboard the ship you have to try and rescue Chris Redfield and Jessica Sherawat.

Your former teammates have been missing but you have found coordinates that place them on this particular ship. The demo has you battling your way through a horde of enemies in order to get to your friends and then off the ship again.

Resident Evil has long been one of those series that had a bit of a cult following and the releasing of this edition on the console appears to be one way in which the game developers are trying to bring the series back into the mainstream.

It seems that having a game that puts Jill Valentine front and center again will do a good job of making sure that old school fans of the series will pick this title up as soon as it hits store shelves.

Are you a Resident Evil: Revelations fan from when it was on the 3DS and will you be picking it up when it moves over to the consoles?

‘Resident Evil: Revelations’ Demo Coming Soon is a post from: The Inquisitr

News that 38 die in mental hospital fires in Russia has been met with more tragic details today as ABC News reported that 29 of those 38 were burned alive.

Previous reports indicated that most of the patients died in their beds of smoke inhalation — see the video below — but the investigation is still underway.

The fire occurred at a hospital in the Ramensky settlement, about 50 miles to the north of Moscow.

Health Minister Veronika Skvortsova said half the patients were under heavy sedation during the night as a blaze ignited and spread throughout the one-story hospital building.

Health Ministry officials noted that the fire began in the building’s wooden annex and spread quickly to the 1950s-era main brick building, which also had wooden beams.

Reports indicate that 41 people were in the building at the time. Only one nurse and two patients managed to escape.

Two of the dead were doctors and 36 patients, The Emergencies Ministry reported, with each of the victims ranging in age from 20 to 76. Most of the deceased patients suffered from severe mental health conditions, authorities claimed.

Responding to the tragedy, President Vladimir Putin emphasized the importance of safety regulations to regional authorities and called for a full investigation into the incident.

Yahoo! News reported that investigators were looking at “violations of fire regulations and a short circuit” as the probable cause.

The fire started around 2:30 am [local time]. By the time emergency fire services arrived on the scene, the entire one-story building was engulfed in flames.

The fire burned an area of about 420 square meters.

ABC added that Russia’s poor safety record goes beyond the 38 die in mental hospital story. In fact, last year, a lack of fire safety resulted in 12,000 deaths compared to the United States, which reported 3,000 deaths that were fire-related.

(The US has a population of about 310 million people compared to about half of that in Russia.)

What do you think caused 38 to die in the mental hospital blaze?

[Image via ShutterStock]

38 Die In Mental Hospital, 29 Were Burned Alive is a post from: The Inquisitr

US Marines are being sent to Spain as part of a new rapid reaction force that will respond to threats against US citizens, government personnel, or installations in Africa.

In all, 500 Marines will be part of the new task force, which is based at Moron Air Base in southern Spain. The base will give the task force easy access to northern Africa, where security concerns have grown since the September 2012 attack on the US Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

Deployment for the new unit began on Wednesday. When it is fully operational, the unit will be airborne within six hours of receiving orders. They will provide the kind of response that the Pentagon stated was not available last September.

The Marine unit’s duty in Spain will be to protect embassies and diplomatic compounds under attack or receiving threats. The group will also protect US citizens, rescue downed pilots, and assist with other elements of the US military if they need to evacuate American citizens for any reason.

Spain gave their final approval for the group’s presence at Moron Air Base on Friday. The team will be in place in 30 days. It is expected to include 225 Marines equipped for ground combat, along with intelligence and communications specialists. Another 225 personnel will man the six V-22 Osprey aircraft, along with two C-130 refueling aircraft.

The Marines in Spain will be equipped to go into areas that have combat conditions. They can also be deployed without a local government’s permission if they are ordered to do so. They will have grenade launchers, machine guns, and mortars in their possession.

The new unit is part of the Marine Corps’ efforts to beef up security around embassies. In doing so, the military branch is also adding 1,000 Marines to the embassy guard force. The new numbers will nearly double the size of the existing force. There will also be a special team of 100 Marines in the United States that can fly quickly to an area to back up embassy guards.

[Image via Anton Hlushchenko / Shutterstock.com]

US Marines Sent To Spain For Crisis Response Team is a post from: The Inquisitr

Kanye West agreed to perform yet again on Saturday Night Live, but the artist had one important condition: Be nice to his baby mama.

West’s SNL will be the season finale, so the writers naturally want to make the show as memorable as possible. For that reason, West is apparently afraid that they’ll take pot-shots at Kim Kardashian, who is carrying his child. So he struck a deal with the show’ producers.

They can parody Kim if they want to, but they have to be nice about it.

“Kanye as musical guest is a great get for SNL, but of course the writers want to push the envelope and take advantage of it with a Kim Kardashian skit,” a source said of the arrangement.

“That’s not unusual since her famous family has been spoofed before with some very hilarious and spot-on impersonations of a whining Kim. They have to tread lightly because Kanye hasn’t been happy with all the flack Kim’s been getting about her pregnancy weight gain.”

Avoiding easy shots is easier said than done, especially since, for better or worse, everyone is talking about Kim’s pregnancy. She is very obviously showing, and sometimes dresses as though she isn’t, resulting in some degree of media attention/criticism.

So how will they pull it off?

“They’ve come up with a win-win scenario where Kim actually gets a cameo at the end of the skit. That would probably make everyone in Kanye’s camp — and especially Kim — very happy,” the source added.

Kanye West will appear on Saturday Night Live on May 18 as the musical guest to host Ben Affleck.

Both Kanye and Kim have been parodied on SNL before, with Nasim Pedrad doing a particularly convincing Kim K. Check it out below:

[Image via: Joe Seer / Shutterstock.com]

Kanye West Tells ‘SNL’ To Be Nice To Kim Kardashian [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr