Video of a parade shooting in New Orleans has been released. The footage, from a surveillance camera, one man standing at the outskirts of a packed parade route. But then he charges toward them.

Officials believe the man, who ran the other way after shots were fired, is a suspect in the case that injured 19 people and sparked worries that no one will come forward, despite the number of witnesses.

The images show the panicked crowd looking for cover while the man runs the other way, leaving bicycles and bodies behind him. Sunday’s parade shooting was the third time guns were fired into a crowd during a holiday in New Orleans this year.

A Martin Luther King Day parade on January 21 was interrupted by a shooting, which injured five people. Four more were hurt in an attack during Mardi Gras in February.

Authorities are worried that witnesses won’t come forward for the parade shooting, because of years of corruption and a mistrust of police officers. But despite this, authorities still vowed to catch the shooters. Police Superintendent Ronal Serpas stated on Monday:

“There were dozens of people in yesterday’s second-line [parade]. We know that there’s still some of you who know information so please reconsider and let us know.”

Police have also said that there were three gunmen involved in Sunday’s parade shooting, though it wasn’t clear if they had all three on surveillance tape. At least two different weapons were used in the incident. The surveillance photo showed a man in a white t-shirt and dark pants. Authorities released the tape hoping that someone will recognize the suspect and come forward.

Of the 19 victims, seven have already been discharged from Interim LSU Public Hospital. The two children, a boy and a girl, are in good condition with graze wounds from the bullets. Three of the victims at Interim remained in critical condition.

[Image via ShutterStock]

Parade Shooting Video Released, Shows Possible Suspect is a post from: The Inquisitr

Michael Vick recently beat LeSean McCoy in a foot race but the Eagles running back doesn’t believe it was a fair fight. McCoy said that Vick cheated and challenged him to another race.

McCoy claims that Vick took off before the gunshot and that he has a video to back up his claims. Vick denied the accusations and has received support from several NFL players who said that he absolutely “dusted” McCoy during the race.

Colt Anderson said: Vick just beat Shady in a 40 yard race.

Clay Harbor said: “The rumors are true… Vick dusted McCoy in the 40yd dash. The Vick McCoy race had striking similarities between the Willie Beamen (Jaime Foxx) Julian Washington (LL Cool J) race.”

Harbor likened the Vick – McCoy race to Any Given Sunday but the writers at Pro Football Talk think the scenario is more similar to the famous Seinfeld episode where Jerry is accused of cheating in a foot race. Like McCoy, Duncan Meyer accused Jerry of taking off before the gunshot. Jerry never raced again (until he did later that episode) and a myth began to grow about his speed.

Do you believe McCoy? Did Michael Vick cheat during the foot race? Who’s George in this scenario?

McCoy wants to race Vick again but the Eagles quarterback should do the smart thing and “choose not to race.”\

U know me he cheated n by one step RT @jasonpinkstonol: @cutondime25 I know he ain’t get you by 5 yards

— Lesean McCoy (@CutonDime25) May 2, 2013

False statement. RT @mpolito_23: @mikevick I heard you had a head start when you and Shady raced, any truth to that?

— Mike Vick (@MikeVick) May 7, 2013

[Image Via Jerry Zitterman / Shutterstock.com]

LeSean McCoy: Michael Vick Cheated In Foot Race is a post from: The Inquisitr

San Leandro, CA – In March of 2011, a California woman was arrested and accused of killing her physically and mentally disabled daughter in what investigators believe was a botched murder-suicide.

Police claim that around 1pm, Friday, March 11, 2011, Christel Johnson, now 56, placed her 8-year-old daughter Lylah alongside her in a minivan parked inside the closed garage of their home on Leonard Drive.

With the intention of committing a murder-suicide, Johnson attached a vacuum hose to the vehicle’s exhaust pipe and funneled the other end through the van’s rear window. Thus gradually filling up the interior with toxic fumes.

Lylah suffered several serious disabilities including brain damage, cerebral palsy, and had scoliosis, and required a regular care provider. The care worker arrived at the home, discovered the mother and daughter inside the running van, and contacted authorities.

The two suffered severe symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning. Subsequently, Lylah was pronounced dead by medical staff upon arriving at the local hospital for treatment, and her mother was charged in her death.

On Thursday, an  Alameda County Superior Court jury convicted Johnson of second-degree murder, reports CBS News.

The California penal code states that any person found guilty of second-degree murder – a person who willfully, deliberately, and premeditated killed – could face 15-years-to-life in a state prison.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that carbon monoxide poisoning claims nearly 400 lives, and causes more than 20,000 visits to hospital emergency departments annually – both accidental and intentional.

Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs after enough carbon monoxide (CO) – a toxic, colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas – is inhaled to cause extreme lightheadedness, dizziness, confusion, headaches, unconsciousness, and ultimately death. Exposures at 100 parts per million (ppm) or greater can be dangerous to human health.

The adverse effects of carbon monoxide exposure is mainly caused when CO combines with hemoglobin to form carboxyhemoglobin (HbCO) in the blood. This action prevents hemoglobin from releasing oxygen in tissues, thus diminishing the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood, and leads to hypoxia.

Carbon monoxide is a product of incomplete combustion of organic matter due to insufficient oxygen supply to enable complete oxidation to carbon dioxide (CO2). It is often produced in domestic or industrial settings by older motor vehicles and other gasoline-powered tools, heaters, and cooking equipment.

Acute overexposure can be treated by administering 100 percent oxygen or providing hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Oxygen works as an antidote as it increases the removal of carbon monoxide from hemoglobin, in turn providing the body with homeostatic levels of oxygen.

[Image via Shutterstock]

Mother Convicted Of Murder, Killed Disabled 8-Year-Old Daughter is a post from: The Inquisitr

Tim Tebow is receiving plenty of offers these days. Unfortunately, none of them are from the NFL. The latest team to offer Tim Tebow a job is the Philadelphia Soul.

Unlike other offers made by the Omaha Beef and the Lingerie Football League, the Soul actually have a chance to land Tebow.

Tim is still holding out for a job in the NFL but there aren’t too many teams looking for a third string quarterback at the moment. Tebow may have to swallow the fact that, for now at least, he’s days in the NFL over.

But that’s where the Soul could help Tebow. Team owner Ron Jaworski, a former Pro Bowl quarterback, said that the Soul could give a Tebow to improve his skills before making another try at the NFL. Jaworski said that Tebow is often criticized for being slow and methodical and that playing in the Arena league could help him speed up his game.

Jaworski said: “One [criticism] of Tebow is that he is slow and methodical … He would be forced to quicken it up in this league and it would be good training for him. You can learn a lot in this league. It’s about processing information and getting the ball out … or you get whacked.”

Jaworski could help Tebow improve his quarterback skills but the Soul owner admitted that he didn’t plan on using Tebow as the starting QB. Instead, Tebow would be in a situation similar to last year where he was used as a backup QB for special plays. The only difference is that Jaworski actually plans on using Tebow instead of putting him out there as media bait.

Do you think Tim Tebow should play with the Philadelphia Soul?

Tim Tebow To Philadelphia Soul? Arena League Team Makes An Offer is a post from: The Inquisitr

A 1939 photo featuring a Jay-Z look-alike went viral this week after it was unearthed at a library in New York.

The photo was found by the Schomburg Center For Research In Black Culture at the New York Public Library earlier this week. The  photograph was taken by photographer Sid Grossman in Harlem in 1939 and features a Jay-Z lookalike.

The man in the photo wasn’t identified by Grossman but there are plenty of theories floating around out there.

One theory is that Jay-Z is a vampire. The blood-sucking beasts don’t age the way humans do and some people believe that the rapper could be hundreds or thousands of years old. That would explain the singer’s in depth knowledge of New York City.

Another theory is that Jay-Z is a member of the Illuminati. The secret society reportedly rules the world from behind the scenes and some believe that Jay-Z has found his way into the ranks. Of course, that doesn’t really explain the 1939 photo of the Jay-Z look-alike.

The most plausible theory is that Jay-Z is a time traveler. The singer recently wrote several songs for the movie The Great Gatsby and may have wanted to travel back to 1920s New York to get some inspiration. Naysayers of this theory say that The Great Gatsby took place in the 1920s and the photos is dated in 1939. But come on, if you had a time machine, you wouldn’t check out some other time periods as well? Maybe Jay-Z is working on a depression era blues album…

What do you think? Is Jay-Z a vampire (like Nicolas Cage) a member of the Illuminati, or a time traveler (like John Travolta).?

1939 Photo Of Jay-Z Look-Alike Sparks Conspiracy Theories is a post from: The Inquisitr

Manchester City has officially relieved manager Roberto Mancini of his duties exactly one-year to the date of the club’s resurgence as Premier League Champions in 2012.  City’s decision to sack Mancini is due to the club’s failure to reach their target goals outside of qualifying for next season’s Champions League, according to the club’s website.

Assistant Manager Brian Kidd will lead the club over it’s final two matches of the season. Mancini’s sacking comes to the disbelief of many supporters, as the Italian manager led City to it’s first league title since the 1967-68 season and also won the F.A. Cup in 2011.

City started this season off well by winning the Community Shield over Chelsea but things quickly turned for the worse as the club failed to pick up crucial wins against club’s they were favored against going forward. Instead, City played to a draw early in the season against Stoke and West Ham before drawing even with the Queens Park Rangers, who are now being relegated, in late January.

Before they knew it, rival Manchester United had taken control of the Premier League Table, which they never back. United secured their 20th title in April after a 3-0 win over Aston Villa. Now, Roberto Mancini is out of job, though that may not last long either.

City’s frustration with the club’s performance this season boiled over this past Saturday, as Wigan upset the Blues 1-0 in the F.A. Cup Final. Wigan came in as a huge underdog but they out-matched the stronger City players and had control for the majority of the contest.

Shortly after, rumors began making their rounds about Mancini’s future dismissal. The club has officially ended all speculation as Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak thanked Mancini for his time at the Etihad Stadium.

“He has done as he promised and delivered silverware and success, breaking the Club’s 35-year trophy drought and securing the title in 2012,” the Chairman said in a statement on the teams website. “I would like to personally and publicly thank him for his dedication to the progress that he has overseen and for his support and continued friendship.”

As Mancini will no longer return to Maine Road and lead the Blues onto the pitch, the club will now look to replace their popular manager. It has been reported by nearly every source in Europe that Malaga’s Manuel Pellegrini will be named the successor to Mancini ,and quite possibly bring Isco, the club’s talented striker, along with him.

Roberto Mancini delivered when all hope seemed to vanish in 2012 as Sergio Aguero netted the most historic goal in the club’s history and possibly the league. Mancini’s club stole the title right out from under United, which stole the hearts of City supporters.

With the fans behind his back and a title defense in the waiting, it looked as if nothing could go wrong for Mancini in 2013. Things change, even when your supporters least expect it. Roberto Mancini has been sacked just one-year to the date of Aguero’s dramatic goal in stoppage time that gave Manchester City their third Premier League title ever.

Did Roberto Mancini deserve to be fired by Manchester City?

[Image via Roger Goraczniak]

Manchester City Fires Roberto Mancini On One-Year Anniversary Of Premier League Title is a post from: The Inquisitr

If an Independence Day sequel is going to happen, the least they can do is bring back Jeff Goldblum.

ID4 director Roland Emmerich, producer and co-writer Dean Devlin, and the Jurassic Park star were at the Los Angeles Times Hero Complex Film Festival in Hollywood on Sunday for a special screening of the 1996 action flick.

Once the movie had concluded, Emmerich revealed that he was working hard to get sequels off the ground as soon as possible. Jeff Goldblum also revealed that he was willing to return for the Independence Day follow-up.

When someone in attendance asked if the flicks were still moving forward, Devlin stated that he and Emmerich were committed to getting the ball rolling on the sequels as soon as possible.

“Roland and I would really like to do one. We have some pretty darn good ideas on how to do one and, hopefully, that will all come together. A lot of things have to align. The planets have to piece together and if they do, it’ll happen,” the producer explained.

Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin seem interested in developing the sort of mythology that would allow for as many sequels as the studio is willing to bankroll. From the way Emmerich described the amount of time and energy he’s putting into the story, the Independence Day franchise could be around for a very long time.

The director explained:

“When you get a bigger mythology going, I think then you have the chance to do not only one or two or three but you can create a series and that’s what we want to do,” the director explained.

Regardless of what the film is about or how many sequels they manage to pump out, Goldblum is apparently interested in reprising his role as David Levinson. That’s definitely not a bad thing.

What do you think about the upcoming Independence Day sequels? Are you glad Jeff Goldblum is coming back?

Jeff Goldblum Returning For ‘Independence Day’ Sequel is a post from: The Inquisitr

Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez are no longer in a romantic relationship that was never actually confirmed to begin with.

Yes, despite the ‘sweetheart’ Instagram, later deleted, the 9 and 1/2 weeks one, and the general, reasonable consensus that the pair were back together, Selena is very much “available” and “Jelena” is just another truncated anagram that’s outlived its purpose.

Which bring us neatly to Bieber’s most recent tattoo.

In addition to the 11 other tattoos he already had — listed here — after adding a Koi Carp to his left arm in Copenhagen, Denmark, during a tour stop, the 19-year-old added a tiger then an angel that looked suspiciously like Gomez while in Stockholm, Sweden.

To recap, Gomez flew to Oslo, Norway to visit Bieber on April 18.

The 20-year-old then traveled on with the Believe tour, jumping off after three days in Stockholm.

So it’s highly likely that the Canadian, who sent the second, steamier Instagram during the “Come and Get It” singer-actress’ visit, did intentionally get an angel tattoo that resembled her.

So, what to do?

Will Bieber simply grin and bear it and avoid looking at the several inches long ‘Selena-seraph’ on his arm? Or will he, or some assistant, make urgent inquiries about tat removal. In the interests of helpfulness Justin, see below.

Lasers, apparently, are the way to go for getting rid of once cherished now embarrassing ink stains.

One of the brands in the field and the preferred choice of most modern clinics is the Lynton Laser, which uses a Q-switched laser platform. In the bad old days — pre 1990′s — dermabrasion or acid-based or salt-based substances and even excision (cutting out the said tattoo) were the techniques used.

Further back than that things got even muckier, with wine, garlic, lime and the waste of pigeons even applied. Fast forward to today and non-invasive removal of tattoo pigments can remove black and colored ink completely.

Which is handy since Bieber’s ‘Selena Seraph’ has dark hair, and lots of it.

But it’ll probably require repeated visits to get the thing out, so if the teen star is going to go this route, probably best to get it done now while the Believe tour breaks for five weeks. According to medical sources, risks of hypopigmentation (white spots), burns and scarring are pretty small, so there’s that.

Interestingly, some illustrated people looking to downsize their tattoo square footage often decide to cover up the offending tat. Bieber, as we know, is rather partial to exotic animals. So, seeing as he spent fruitful time on a safari in South Africa, perhaps an elephant or a monkey to replace the ‘angel’ might work?

Maybe not a monkey.

Of course, there is one achingly simple way to avoid the sorrow — and minimal pain — of removing an unwanted tattoo. All together now, don’t get one in the first place.

So, Um, Justin Bieber, Can We Talk About That Selena Gomez (Like) Tattoo Now? is a post from: The Inquisitr

The folks at Skechers have been ordered to pay $40M over false claims the company made about its toning shoes.

A federal judge approved the settlement after it was determined that Skechers intentionally misled consumers about the effectiveness of the footwear in question.

US District Judge Thomas B. Russell ordered Skechers to pay upwards of $40 million in Louisville on Monday. The settlement will reportedly cover around 520,000 claims made against the company by people who were less than satisfied with how the toning shoes performed.

The Federal Trade Commission believes that Skechers “deceived its customers” by making unfounded declarations about a handful of its products. The shoes that didn’t live up to expectations include Shape-ups, Resistance Runner, Toners, and Tone-ups.

Bureau of Consumer Protection director David Vladeck explained:

“Skechers’ unfounded claims went beyond stronger and more toned muscles. The company even made claims about weight loss and cardiovascular health. The FTC’s message, for Skechers and other national advertisers, is to shape up your substantiation or tone down your claims.”

However, Skechers doesn’t feel that it has done anything wrong. According to Chief Financial Officer David Weinberg, the advertisements for shoes were “appropriate” and in no way misleading.

Weinberg said in his own statement:

“While we vigorously deny the allegations made in these legal proceedings and looked forward to vindicating these claims in court, Skechers could not ignore the exorbitant cost and endless distraction of several years spent defending multiple lawsuits in multiple courts across the country.”

Skechers isn’t the only company that’s had to fork over a considerable amount of money over false toning shoe claims. Fellow footwear peddler Reebok had to pay around $25 million after the company was found guilty of making false statements about its EasyTone and RunTone lines.

What do you think about Skechers having to pay $40M for falsely advertising several of its toning shoes?

[Image via Shutterstock]

Skechers To Pay $40M Over False Toning Shoe Claims is a post from: The Inquisitr

Dr. Joyce Brothers, the popular psychologist and advice columnist, died Monday in New York City. She was 85 years old.

Brothers’ publicist, Sanford Brokaw, said she died of natural causes.

Brothers was a pioneer of the television advice show, first rising to fame as a winning contestant on The 64,000 Question in 1955. She appeared as an expert on boxing, although it wasn’t her original intention. The program’s sponsors suggested it, and Brothers agreed. According to the Associated Press, she was the only woman to ever claim the top prize.

However, because of a cheating scandal on the quiz show Twenty One, allegations surfaced that such shows were rigged, and some questioned whether the show’s producers slipped Brothers the answers. She insisted that she never cheated, and investigations proved that she won the competition honestly.

Due to her success on The $64,000 Question, Brothers was asked to be a color commentator during the boxing match between Carmen Basilio and Sugar Ray Robinson, which was broadcast on CBS. She is the first woman ever to become a boxing commentator.

In 1958, Brothers became a licensed psychologist and landed her own TV show on a New York station. She answered questions from the audience, giving advice about relationships. She claimed she was the first television psychologist, telling The Washington Post in 1989, “I invented media psychology. I was the first. The founding mother.”

Brothers went on to host syndicated advice columns on radio and TV. She also had her own monthly column in Good Housekeeping for nearly four decades, as well as a syndicated newspaper column she began writing in the ’70s.

Brothers’ television appearances weren’t limited to her own shows. She appeared on a number of shows, including Saturday Night Live, The Nanny, Frasier, My Two Dads, Space Ghost Coast to Coast, and Melrose Place. She also had a cameo appearance in Naked Guns and other films.

Born Joyce Diane Bauer on October 20, 1927 in New York City, Dr. Joyce Brothers completed her undergraduate degree at Cornell University before earning her Ph.D. in psychology from Columbia University. She married Milton Brothers, an internist, in 1949, and the two had a daughter, Lisa. Milton Brothers died 40 years later from cancer.

[Photo credit: s_bukley / Shutterstock.com]

TV Psychologist Dr. Joyce Brothers Dies At 85 is a post from: The Inquisitr

40,000 bees in a bedroom wall? It sounds like a Stephen King novel if you ask me, but it was the harsh reality for Tyler Judd in Provo, Utah. You don’t have to take my word for it, because the beekeeper who located the problem swarm has provided plenty of high quality video evidence.

In beekeeper Albert Chubak’s video, you can even see drones (male bees) hatching out. Eek.

The Judds could hear the bees but couldn’t figure out where they were. As you’ll see, Chubak tracked ‘em down to the master bedroom walls.

According to local news station KUTV, Chubak believes that someone might have tried to kill off the bee hive five or six years ago. Apparently, they didn’t finish the job, allowing the colony to continue to grow within the bedroom walls. The Judds have only lived in the home about five months, so it wasn’t the world’s most pleasant surprise.

You wondered what happened to America’s honeybees?  Well, now you know.   Forget all that honeybee colony collapse jive. They’ve been tunneling into bedroom walls in Utah and biding their time until it’s time to bust out and take over the planet.

All kidding aside, I’d say that Albert Chubak’s video is enough to cause heart failure in your average homeowner. The bee swarm he discovered is unbelievable. If termites had stingers, they’d be this hive of 40,000 buzzing bees.

You can see the determined buzzing insects actually removing insulation and doing I don’t know what-all to turn the Judd’s house into a freakin’ beehive.  Chubak said that they were sending out colonies in the area, presumably to set up shop in more homes around the neighborhood.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

I think I’m gonna pretend I didn’t just see that. I’m getting a little queasy just thinking about 40,000 bees in bedroom walls.

[honeybee photo by Ken Thomas via Wikimedia Commons]

40,000 Bees In Bedroom And Not The First Time Either [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

The first extended trailer for The Michael J. Fox Show has arrived online.

The series marks the talented actor’s first starring role since he left Spin City in 2001. Although he’s appeared in a handful of shows in guest roles, the new comedy is a serious step forward for the Back to the Future star.

Judging from the trailer embedded below, The Michael J. Fox Show draws a lot of inspiration from the actor’s own personal experiences with Parkinson’s disease.

Fox stars as Mike Burnaby, a news anchor who quits his job after his struggle with the disease becomes too much to handle. After taking a break and getting his life back in order, Burnaby decides to return to his old job.

The show seems to take a very lighthearted approach to the material without making fun of those who suffer from Parkinson’s. One scenes at the beginning of the trailer finds a police officer asking for Mike’s autograph because his uncle suffers from Alzheimer’s. It’s a humorous moment that paints a good picture of how the comedy will operate.

NBC was quick to bring the concept to series after receiving a pitch from Michael J. Fox. It was immediate from the get-go that the disease would be a focal point on the show.

Fox explained:

“Well, I don’t have a choice. But my personal life — you can sit and project out and say, ‘Oh, I’m going to have this and it’s going to be like this and I won’t be able to do that.’ But it’s much more about right now. ‘What can I do right now?’ Right? I just thought, I love to do this and as much as anyone will let me do it and give me their time to do it – I should do it. And so, I’m doing it.”

The Michael J. Fox Show is set to premiere next season on NBC. What do you think about the new trailer?

[Image via drserg / Shutterstock.com]

‘The Michael J. Fox Show’ Trailer Arrives Online [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Star Trek Into Darkness may have had a major plot point spoiled in a sketch by Conan O’Brien.

Star Trek fanboys everywhere were outraged at a sketch on the Conan O’Brien show which showed fake credits for Star Trek Into Darkness, and one of the credits was apparently a major spoiler. It seems actor Benedict Cumberbatch is actually … a really good actor.

What, did you think we’d just give you a potential spoiler right up front? Read on.

After the sketch that Conan O’Brien viewers called shenanigans on for revealing a major spoiler, the late night show host decided to take the joke a little further and slam us with all kinds of spoilers. In the words of George Takei, “Oh myyyy …”

So the clip from last night’s show, posted below for your viewing pleasure, begins with Conan O’Brien at his desk at usual:

“Last night on the show we did a sketch about the new Star Trek film. Remember that? Okay, and at the end of the sketch, we ran fake Star Trek credits. Fake credits. Well now the site ComicBook.com is claiming that we may have spoiled a major plot point of the new movie in our credits. They really go on and on about it. Well, I have to respond, just to clarify, those credits that we ran were completely fake, okay? We were not trying to spoil anything regardless of what that website says.”

As the video continues, there are some heavy spoilers dropped.

Lt. Uhura gets impregnated with a Klingon baby, a voiceover says while the words appear on screen.

Someone in the audience holds up a sign saying, “Conan, we chose you over studying for finals,” and someone steps in with another sign over it saying, “Kirk’s gay.”

There is a clip where an actor in a blue Star Trek shirt is looking down, saying, “Spock is dead!”

Conan O’Brien introduces the band Iron and Wine, and the lead singer croons about how twenty minutes in, the Enterprise crashes on Tattooine, and Captain Kirk and Princess Leia bang.

If you’ve read this far, please be considerate and don’t tell anyone about these huge spoilers for Star Trek Into Darkness. For one thing, none of them are true.

What do you think of Conan O’Brien leaking fake spoilers for Star Trek Into Darkness?

‘Star Trek Into Darkness’: Conan O’Brien Spoils Film … Or Does He? [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

The HTC First was heralded in as the first fully featured Facebook phone but customers didn’t bite and now the smartphone is facing the possibility of being discontinued.

Sources close to sales of the HTC device claim that AT&T Wireless has sold less than 15,000 units nationwide. Those sales included AT&T’s special $1 smartphone sale.

According to BGR the $1 sale was a precursor to total discontinuation of the phone, with salespeople making “little if any effort to sell the handset to customers.”

What’s worse is that HTC paid AT&T to guarantee that the Facebook friendly phone would receive prime positioning at point-of-sale displays throughout AT&T retail stores.

It’s believe AT&T is only keeping the phone in stores now because its contract requires the phones to remain.

In responding to the claims AT&T says:

“As mentioned previously, we do pricing promotions all the time and have made no decisions on future plans.”

AT&T reps have called the phone “hard to justify” in terms of keeping it on store shelves.

The HTC First has been marred with problems associated with the Facebook Home platform. HTC Home was met with many one and two star ratings. At the time of his post 47.7 percent of Facebook Home ratings suffer from a one-star placement. The Facebook Home OS as a whole averages just 2.3 stars. In comparison Facebook’s Android app has a 3.6 rating and Facebook Messenger scores much higher with a 4.4 out of 5 star rating.

HTC use to command a majority of the smartphone market and now the mobile phone manufacturer is pinning all of its hopes on the well received HTC One. The company’s CEO has promised to step down from his post if the HTC One fails to gain traction and the company’s profits continue to suffer.

Do you think the HTC First was a major misstep for both HTC and Facebook?

HTC First Sales Awful, Facebook Phone Being Discontinued By AT&T is a post from: The Inquisitr

A Mayan pyramid was bulldozed for roadfill gravel, according to a shocking report today from Belize News reporter Jules Vasquez. The site of Nohmul main temple and ceremonial grounds was thought to be around 2,300 years old. Made of limestone brick, it had withstood hurricane winds and the sands of time — but it couldn’t withstand the excavators and bulldozers that attacked the site last week.

“[W]hat the Maya built with stone tools and manual labour ages ago is being demolished with heavy equipment, because these contractors are too lazy to find a proper quarry,” Vasquez wrote.

He traveled to the disgraceful scene, where nothing remains but the very core of the once-huge pyramid, with two archeologists. Dr. Allan Moore and Dr. John Morris were clearly in shock.

It is illegal in Belize to destroy pre-Colombian structures. Moore said that if he had known in time, he would have brought in the police to halt the bulldozers.

Morris told Vasquez: “This is Noh Mul…one of the largest sites in Belize. It is incredible that someone would actually have the gall to destroy this building out here. There is no way that one can say that they did not know.”

An Associated Press report added that Belize Institute of Archaeology head Dr. Jaime Awe said that he was “sickened” by the pointless destruction.

And it isn’t the first incident of this kind. In 2003, a Mayan mound in Benque Viejo, Belize was mostly destroyed in a single day, by a property owner who claimed that he’d gotten the go ahead to build on the site.

“Archaeological terrorism is probably too strong a description in this case, but in terms of what was lost when a Benque Viejo del Carmen property owner pushed a bulldozer through a Mayan mound, few other words come to mind,” wrote News Channel 5 reporter Patrick Jones at the time.

According to Maya Studies, Nohmul means “great mound” or “great hill.” The Mayan complex was a major ceremonial center localted on the crest of a ridge. It is — or was — “the highest landmark in the Orange Walk/Corozal area.”

Unfortunately, the bulldozed Mayan pyramid is now mostly gravel.

[pyramid at Lamanai, Belize photo by Elaine Radford]

Mayan Pyramid Bulldozed For Roadfill Gravel Near Orange Walk, Belize is a post from: The Inquisitr

A gay man was allegedly tortured to death in Russia, raising fears of an increase in anti-gay sentiments in the country.

The 23-year-old man was found naked in the courtyard of an apartment building in the southern city of Volgograd on Friday morning. He suffered numerous injuries across his body and genitals and had been sodomized with several beer bottles.

Russian officials said it was clear the gay man had been tortured.

“He was raped with beer bottles and had his skull smashed with a stone,” Natalia Kunitskaya, a spokeswoman for the Volgograd region branch of the Investigative Committee, told AFP.

Though Russian officials have been criticized for failing to acknowledge attacks against gays, law enforcement officials did label the gay man’s killing a hate crime. Officials arrested two men, a 22-year-old and a 27-year-old, in connection with the killing.

Russian media reported that the two men started beating the victim when he told them he was gay.

As a whole Russia remains slow to take action against homophobia, and at times seems to condone it. There are almost no public figures who are openly gay, and Russian parliament has proposed a law banning “homosexual propaganda” among minors.

Homosexuality was illegal in Russia until 1993, and it was not until 1999 that it was removed from the list of recognized psychiatric disorders.

More recently, President Vladimir Putin introduced a measure that would only allow heterosexual couples to adopt children. Under the regulations, foreign same-sex couples will no longer be able to adopt orphans from Russia.

The move is said to be in response to several other nations, including the UK, France, and the United States, moving toward legalizing gay marriage.

In the case of the gay man who was tortured and killed, the Moscow-based Investigative Committee said they could not comment on motives of the suspects.

Gay Man Tortured To Death In Russia In Alleged Hate Crime is a post from: The Inquisitr

LinkedIn has banned escorts and prostitutes from its massive social network of working professionals. While the company has always encouraged users from all walks of life to join its ranks the network apparently doesn’t want “working” girls to take part.

Since the early days of LinkedIn the company has maintained a clause that calls for “no unlawful activity” via its network. However, in some countries where LinkedIn operates there are no laws against prostitution. Essentially the network had no recourse since those working girls were working legally.

On Monday however the network updated its user agreement to state that users can not take part in the following:

Upload, post, email, InMail, transmit or otherwise make available or initiate any content that: Even if it is legal where you are located, create profiles or provide content that promotes escort services or prostitution.

Social News Daily quotes a rep from LinkedIn who states:

“In the old [user agreement], we had it covered by saying that one could not use a profile to promote anything ‘unlawful. However, in some countries, that activity actually is lawful.”

Social networks from Reddit and Facebook to Twitter and Craigslist have all fallen prey to some form of prostitution advertising. Craigslist in 2012 deleted the “adult” section from its website and those listings were quickly picked up by Backpage.com.

In the meantime we are almost certain that most escorts and prostitutes weren’t hoping to jump on LinkedIn and receive a bunch of endorsements from former clients, let alone recommendations and job offers.

Do you think LinkedIn made the right decision in banning prostitutes and escorts from its social enterprise network?

LinkedIn: No Escorts Or Prostitutes Allowed is a post from: The Inquisitr

A youth hockey game in Russia turned into a giant brawl that lasted more than two minutes with seemingly no interference from adults, and now video of the fracas is going viral on the internet.

The fight came from a tournament in Novokuznetsk, Russia, and involved all of the young players on the ice squaring off and beating each other senselessly. The players are around 10 or 11 years old, and appear oblivious to the unspoken rules of fighting on the ice.

At several points during the Russian youth hockey brawl, players in white jerseys surround and gang up on players from the blue team (in professional hockey fights are strictly one-on-one).

Other players continue punching opponents after they have stopped fighting back (the Yahoo! Sports block Puck Daddy notes that at the 1:08 mark, a player in white “all Ralphie on Scut Farkus” as he actually sits on his opponent to land more blows).

The video of the giant Russian youth hockey brawl has gone viral as several sports blogs have picked it up. Deadspin noted the popularity of the clip is in its sheer bizarreness of it all:

“These are kids. These are kids on skates absolutely beating the crap out of each other for a solid 2 minutes. At two separate points in time on this video a child flies in the air, tackles another child and continues to beat the crap out of him. Near the end, one kid has another kid pinned down and is wailing on him. The referees appear incapable of tearing these children off one another. There is weird, Russian rap.”

But the strangest part of the Russian youth hockey brawl isn’t the behavior of the children on the ice but instead the adults. The coaches from both teams seemed content to let the players fight out their differences, waiting a full two minutes before coming onto the ice to stop them.

Video Of Giant Brawl In Russian Youth Hockey Game Goes Viral is a post from: The Inquisitr

A 10-foot-tall statue of RoboCop has been built in Detroit after backers donated money to a Kickstarter campaign.

Their $67,436 total was raised by 2,771 backers and now to celebrate the sculpture has uploaded various images of his creation to the Kickstarter page.

On the campaign’s webpage, Team Robo, has uploaded information on the project, stating, “Just take a look at RoboCop in his 10-foot-tall pixel-atom-perfect glory.”

It then added, “So far he’s passed from you, the backers, to Fred Barton’s expert custom sculpting, to Across The Board Creation’s 3D scanning, digital enlarging, physical fabrication, and assembly in foam, wax, clay, and steel, and now he’s headed to to Venus Bronze Works in Detroit for casting and manufacturing in bronze. We bow to all parties for going above and beyond.”

The money was raised in 2011, after it was suggested to Detroit Mayor David Bing, and now backers have started to speculate where it will be placed in the city, with many suggesting that Roosevelt Park is top of the list. It could even be unveiled in spring 2014.

RoboCop is a 1987 science fiction action movie that was directed by Paul Verhoeven and starred Peter Weller as Alex Murphy, a police officer who is brutally murdered and then revived by Omincorp and turned into the titular cyborg.

It is now regarded as a cult classic and a reboot is planned to be released in 2014. It will star The Killing’s Joel Kinnaman, Samuel L. Jackson, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton, Abbie Cornish, Jay Baruchel, Jackie Earle Haley, and Michael Kenneth Williams.

Various images have now been uploaded showing off Kinnaman as Murphy, whilst a teaser trailer from July 2012 also gave us a brief glimpse of the new RoboCop, and introduced us to Omincorp’s robot based technology.

The corporation’s mission statement reads, “We don’t do passive technology. At OmniCorp, our solutions generate a beacon of safety that we shine upon on the dangers of the day. No matter the obstacle – political, cultural, philosophical – we pursue our convictions around the globe to secure peace of mind at home. And when this requires bold new direction, we never allow doubt to shrink our duty. When your quality of life is in the balance, our leadership team will tip the scales.”

Are you looking forward to the new RoboCop? What do you think of the statue?

Giant ‘RoboCop’ Statue Built In Detroit is a post from: The Inquisitr

Amazon on Monday debuted a dedicated Cloud Player app for desktop PCs.

The dedicated Cloud Player arrives just one week after Amazon debuted new iOS compatibility with Ford Sync-enabled vehicles.

While PC users could already access the Amazon Cloud Player through their web browsers they could not sore music offline. The new application also allows users to scan their hard drives for music files that have not yet been uploaded to their Amazon storage locker.

The Amazon Cloud Player allows users to stream any music files they have purchased from the Amazon MP3 store. Users can also stream music files they have uploaded to a cloud-based storage locker.

The free version of the Amazon Cloud allows for an unlimited number of  Amazon Songs and up to 250 songs purchased outside of the Amazon system.

Amazon first launched an application for the cloud service two years ago when it arrived for Google Android smartphones. Since that time the Amazon Cloud Player has arrived for OS, Mac, Sonos, Roku and Ford Sync vehicles.

The cloud space is continuing to heat up as Google, Apple, Amazon, and others fight for the right to store users data outside of their own computers and mobile devices.

For power users who need to store more than 250 of their own songs Amazon does offer paid Cloud Storage plans that provide for monthly subscriptions.

Do you plan on taking advantage of the Amazon Cloud Storage system or do you already use a different cloud-based platform that offers similar functionality?

Amazon Debuts Dedicated Cloud Player App For Desktop PCs is a post from: The Inquisitr