Chinese Military Buff Somehow Buys 4 Books Of Military Secrets For Under $1

BEIJING (AP) — A military history buff in China appears to have made an alarming discovery after picking up four discarded books for less than $1 at a neighborhood recycling station: They were confidential military documents.

The country’s Ministry of State Security told the story in a social media post on Thursday, praising the retired man for calling a hotline to report the incident. It identified him only by his family name, Zhang, and did not say what the documents were about.

“Mr. Zhang thought to himself that he had ‘bought’ the country’s military secrets and brought them home,” the post reads, “but if someone with ulterior motives were to buy them, the consequences would be unimaginable!”

The post, which was reposted on at least two popular Chinese news websites, was the latest in a series by the powerful state security agency that appears to be trying to draw in new audiences with dramatic stories. Some have been told in comic-book style.

The campaign seems designed to raise awareness of the importance of national security at a time when confrontation with the U.S. is rising and both countries are increasingly worried about the possible theft or transfer of confidential and secret information.

The post describes Zhang as a former employee of a state-owned company who likes to collect military newspapers and periodicals. It says he found two bags of new books at the recycling station and paid 6 yuan (about 85 cents) for four of them.

State security agents rushed to the station after Zhang reported what had happened, the post says. After an investigation, they found that two military employees charged with shredding more than 200 books instead got rid of them by selling them to a recycling center as paper waste — 30 kilograms (65 pounds) in all — for about 20 yuan ($2.75).

The agents seized the books and the military has closed loopholes in the handling of such material, the post says.

China’s opaque state security bodies and legal system often make it difficult to tell what is considered a state secret.

Chinese and foreign consultancies operating within the country have been placed under investigation for possessing or sharing information about the economy in an apparent broadening of the definition of a state secret in recent years.

___

Associated Press video producer Penny Wang in Bangkok and researcher Wanqing Chen in Beijing contributed.

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23 Sets Of Twins Graduate From Massachusetts Middle School

NEEDHAM, Mass. (AP) — Twenty-three sets of twins have graduated from a Massachusetts middle school, making up about 10% of the eighth-grade class.

The identical and fraternal twins graduated from Pollard Middle School in Needham, Massachusetts, on Wednesday. Another student, who is also a twin, graduated but her brother attends a different school, said principal Tamatha Bibbo.

It’s “quite unusual,” said Bibbo. “We typically have anywhere from five to 10 sets at most. Given our numbers, we have approximately 450 to 500 children in each grade so this was extraordinarily high.”

The school gave a special shout-out to the 23 sets of twins during the so-called “moving up” ceremony on Wednesday, she said. Twins account for around 3% of live births in the U.S., according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

The Pollard Middle School graduates must all have completed up to 10 hours of service learning in their communities and every year the Needham Exchange Club offers five community service awards. For the first time this year a set of twins — Lukas and Sameer Patel — won an award and a donation to their charity, Bibbo said.

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WWII Veteran Is Also The Only Living Son Of A Civil War Soldier

Serving in the military is a family tradition for William Pool.

The 99-year-old veteran fought at the Battle of the Bulge in 1944, while his father fought for the Union Army during the Civil War in the 1860s.

Yes, that’s not a typo. Pool is the only living son of a Civil War soldier, according to KYTV, an NBC affiliate in Springfield, Missouri.

In honor of Flag Day, KYTV did a deep dive on Pool’s unusual family heritage, speaking with Pool, his daughters, Carolyn George and Jeanie Price, and author Tim Pletkovich about it.

Citing Pletkovich’s book, “Civil War Fathers: Sons of the Civil War in WWII,” which includes a chapter on the Pool family, KYTV explained how Pool’s father, Charles Pool, fought for the Union with the Sixth West Virginia Volunteers during the Civil War and received a pension for his service.

Afterward, he married a woman named Clara, and they had William Pool in 1925.

Although Charles Pool died when his son was just seven, William Pool had vivid memories of watching his father hunt squirrels despite missing a leg as a result of a war injury.

“If he wanted to hunt, he walked on crutches,” he told KYTV. “If he got a squirrel, he put it down in the crosses of his crutches.”

As for William Pool’s mother, she died at the age of 102 in 1990. She was Missouri’s last Civil War widow to draw Union benefits.

Later this year, William Pool, who turns 100 in January 2025, will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge, a grueling event that helped the Allied forces beat Nazi Germany.

While speaking with KYTV, William Pool recalled rescuing an injured soldier and becoming a prisoner of war after getting caught in a trap as he returned to an area he thought was secure.

“There was a big bomb crater outside that place, and [they] put us in that,” he said.

Fortunately, the German soldiers who caught William Pool and his comrades didn’t shoot them, which he noted was “unusual” but “figured that was a miracle.”

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Mexican Mummy's Arm Comes Off After Mishandling By Museum Staff

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s federal archaeology agency on Monday accused the conservative-governed city of Guanajuato of mistreating one of the country’s famous mummified 19th century bodies.

The National Institute of Anthropology and History, INAH, said that during recent renovations at the museum where the mummified bodies are on permanent display, the arm of one of the mummies, well, came off.

One might think the complaint is all about the dignified treatment of corpses buried around the early 1800s and dug up starting in the 1860s, because their families could no longer pay burial fees.

But in fact, the mummies have been on a somewhat grisly display in glass cases in a museum in Guanajuato, the capital of the state of the same name, and toted around to tourism fairs for decades. Some were exhibited in the United States in 2009.

What appears to be at the root of the latest dispute is a turf battle between the INAH, which believes it has jurisdiction over the mummies because it says they are “national patrimony,” and Guanajuato, which considers them a tourist attraction. The state and city are governed by the conservative National Action Party, which the Morena party – which holds power at the federal level – considers its arch enemy.

On Monday, the institute said it would demand an accounting of what permits and procedures were followed during the museum renovations.

“These events confirm that the way the museum’s collection was moved is not the correct one, and that far from applying proper corrective and conservation strategies, the actions carried out resulted in damages, not only to this body,” the institute wrote in a statement.

It did not say what, if any, other bits of mummies had fallen off.

“It appears that this situation is related to a lack of knowledge about proper protocols and the lack of training of the personnel in charge of carrying out these tasks,” it continued.

The Guanajuato city government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The preserved corpses were unintentionally mummified when they were buried in crypts in a dry, mineral-rich soil environment in the mining state of Guanajuato. Some still have hair, leathery skin and their original clothing.

The institute appeared to be miffed because personnel in Guanajuato, not the institute’s own staff, is in charge of the approximately 100 mummies. In part because they were mostly dug up before the institute was founded in 1939, they remain under local control, something that has rankled federal officials in the past.

In 2023, experts from the institute complained that a traveling display of mummies could pose a health risk to the public, because one of the mummies appeared to have fungal growths.

It is not the first time that the extremity of a long-dead person becomes a national political issue.

In 1989, the Mexican government weathered a wave of criticism after it removed the arm of revolutionary Gen. Álvaro Obregón – severed in battle in 1915 – after being displayed in a jar of formaldehyde in a marble monument for a half-century. Visitors said it had become ‘unsightly,’ and so the arm was incinerated and buried.

In 1838, Antonio López de Santa Anna, who served as president of Mexico 11 times, lost his leg in battle, and had it buried with honors. By 1844, an angry crowd that accused him of treason dragged the leg through the streets of Mexico City and apparently destroyed it.

___

Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america

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Rare Blue-eyed Cicada Spotted At Suburban Chicago Arboretum

LISLE, Ill. (AP) — It was late morning when The Morton Arboretum’s Senior Horticulturist Kate Myroup arrived at the Children’s Garden with a special guest: a rare, blue-eyed female Magicicada cassini cicada, spotted earlier in the day by a visitor.

A lucky few saw the cicada Friday at the arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, before its release back into the world in suburban Chicago to join its red-eyed relatives, the more common look for most cicada species, as the 2024 cicada emergence gets underway.

As the enclosure opened, the blue-eyed lady took flight into a tree. The unique bug then flew down to land on the pants of Stephanie Adams, plant health care leader. Intrigued young guests snapped photos.

“It’s a casualty of the job,” said Adams, who frequently is decorated with the bugs.

Floyd W. Shockley, collections manager of the Department of Entomology at the Smithsonian Institute, said the blue-eyed cicada is rare, but just how rare is uncertain.

“It is impossible to estimate how rare since you’d have to collect all the cicadas to know what percentage of the population had the blue eye mutation,” he said.

Periodical cicadas emerge every 13 or 17 years. Only the 17-year brood is beginning to show so far in spots as far north as Lisle, where three different species are digging out of the ground, attaching to trees, shedding their exoskeleton and putting on a show.

“The appearance of them on the trees, just the sheer volume of them, looks like science fiction,” Adams said. “It’s definitely something to see.”

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Big Apple Shines As New York City Celebrates Manhattanhenge

NEW YORK (AP) — Twice per year, New Yorkers and visitors are treated to a phenomenon known as Manhattanhenge, when the setting sun aligns with the Manhattan street grid and sinks below the horizon framed in a canyon of skyscrapers.

The event is a favorite of photographers and often brings people out onto sidewalks on spring and summer evenings to watch this unique sunset.

The first Manhattanhenge of the year happened Tuesday at 8:13 p.m., with a slight variation happening again Wednesday at 8:12 p.m. It will occur again on July 12 and 13.

Some background on the phenomenon:

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson coined the term in a 1997 article in the magazine Natural History. Tyson, the director of the Hayden Planetarium at New York’s American Museum of Natural History, said he was inspired by a visit to Stonehenge as a teenager.

The future host of TV shows such as PBS’ “Nova ScienceNow” was part of an expedition led by Gerald Hawkins, the scientist who first theorized that Stonehenge’s mysterious megaliths were an ancient astronomical observatory.

It struck Tyson, a native New Yorker, that the setting sun framed by Manhattan’s high-rises could be compared to the sun’s rays striking the center of the Stonehenge circle on the solstice.

Unlike the Neolithic Stonehenge builders, the planners who laid out Manhattan did not mean to channel the sun. It just worked out that way.

Manhattanhenge does not take place on the summer solstice itself, which is June 20 this year. Instead, it happens about three weeks before and after the solstice. That’s when the sun aligns itself perfectly with the Manhattan grid’s east-west streets.

Viewers get two different versions of the phenomenon to choose from.

On May 28 and July 13, half the sun will be above the horizon and half below it at the moment of alignment with Manhattan’s streets. On May 29 and July 12, the whole sun will appear to hover between buildings just before sinking into the New Jersey horizon across the Hudson River.

The traditional viewing spots are along the city’s broad east-west thoroughfares: 14th Street, 23rd Street, 34th Street, 42nd Street and 57th Street. The farther east you go, the more dramatic the vista as the sun’s rays hit building facades on either side. It is also possible to see Manhattanhenge across the East River in the Long Island City section of Queens.

Manhattanhenge viewing parties are not unknown, but it is mostly a DIY affair. People gather on east-west streets a half-hour or so before sunset and snap photo after photo as dusk approaches. That’s if the weather is fine. There’s no visible Manhattanhenge on rainy or cloudy days.

Similar effects occur in other cities with uniform street grids. Chicagohenge and Baltimorehenge happen when the setting sun lines up with the grid systems in those cities in March and September, around the spring and fall equinoxes. Torontohenge occurs in February and October.

But Manhattanhenge is particularly striking because of the height of the buildings and the unobstructed path to the Hudson.

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Man With Suspended Driver's License Dials Into Court Hearing While Driving

UPDATE: Newly discovered evidence shows that Corey Harris was actually allowed to have his driving privileges reinstated years ago.

You can read the updated story here, while the original piece is below.

Michigan man Corey Harris probably thought he was doing the right thing when he dialed into a court Zoom call for his case about driving on a suspended license.

The problem was, he joined the May 15 call while driving a vehicle, something that isn’t allowed when a driver’s license is suspended ― trust us on this!

The whole bizarre story began with Harris’ public defender announcing to the Ann Arbor courtroom that her client “should be present via Zoom.”

When Harris joined the call, something about him caught the eye of District Judge J. Cedric Simpson. Not only was there a seat belt across the defendant’s body, but he was in a moving vehicle.

Simpson asked if Harris was behind the wheel of a car, and the defendant told the court: “Actually, I’m pulling into my doctor’s office, actually. So just give me one second. I’m parking right now.”

Harris’ lawyer then requested an adjournment for a few weeks. However, the judge needed clarity on a key point in the case.

“OK, so maybe I don’t understand something,” Simpson said. “This is a driving while license suspended [case], and he was just driving, and he didn’t have a license.”

The public defender initially replied that “those are the charges, your honor,” but eventually agreed, “That is correct, your honor.”

“I don’t even know why he would do that,” Simpson said, before revoking Harris’ bond and ordering him to turn himself in at the county jail by that evening.

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Stingray Who Got Pregnant Without Male Now Has Reproductive Disease

HENDERSONVILLE, N.C. (AP) — A North Carolina aquarium that said it had a pregnant stingray with no male companion now says the fish has a rare reproductive disease.

Thursday’s statement from the Aquarium and Shark Lab in Hendersonville did not say what disease the stingray, Charlotte, has or comment on the status of her pregnancy. The aquarium did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking more information.

“Charlotte has developed a rare reproductive disease that has negatively impacted her reproductive system,” the aquarium said. “The findings are truly a sad and unexpected medical development. Our priority is to focus on Charlotte’s health and well being.”

The aquarium in the Blue Ridge Mountains had announced Charlotte’s pregnancy in February, stating that she hadn’t shared a tank with a male of her species in at least eight years. The aquarium said at the time that she was pregnant with as many as four pups and could give birth within two weeks.

The pregnancy was thought to be the result of a type of asexual reproduction called parthenogenesis, in which offspring develop from unfertilized eggs, meaning there is no genetic contribution by a male. The mostly rare phenomenon can occur in some insects, fish, amphibians, birds and reptiles, but not in mammals. Documented examples have included California condors, Komodo dragons and yellow-bellied water snakes.

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33 Weird Father's Day Gifts Perfect For Your Strange Dad

Have you done your Father’s Day shopping yet? Whew! Glad we caught you in time.

Although there are lots of businesses that think they know your dad better than you do, don’t be manipulated into buying the same old boring ties and tools recommended by those, ugh, normal gift guides.

Chances are, if your dad is like you, he’s a weirdo, and he deserves gifts that reflect his innate nuttiness.

Luckily, HuffPost Weird News has once again taken charge and scoured the world looking for strange gifts that will be perfect for even the most bizarre dad.

You don’t have to thank us. Our reward will come when we see all the fathers wearing pagan breakfast masks this summer.

HuffPost receives a share from retailers on this page. Every item is independently selected by HuffPost. Prices and availability are subject to change.

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New York Magnet Fisher Recovers Safe Full Of Soggy $100 Bills

NEW YORK (AP) — James Kane has used a magnet to fish all manner of junk from New York City waterways, but stacks of $100 bills he pulled from a safe were something else entirely.

Kane’s girlfriend, Barbi Agostini, 39, thought he was joking when he said their life was about to change, she told The Associated Press on Monday. She was filming as Kane, 40, pulled a slimy safe out of a lake in Flushing Meadows Corona Park and extracted bags of waterlogged Benjamins from inside it.

“Oh, that’s money,” Kane said Friday in video he posted online. “Oh, it is! Stacks of bills, dude!”

“Oh, my God!” Agostini said in the video.

The couple estimates that the safe contained $100,000 in damaged currency.

The bills featured the 3D security ribbon that indicates recent vintage, but the safe bore no clues to a rightful owner.

Kane and Agostini said they called the police to report their discovery and the police said there was no evidence of a crime.

“They gave it to us, as, I guess you call it a finders keepers thing,” Kane said.

The New York Police Department did not respond to requests for confirmation of Kane’s discovery.

Kane said he and Agostini plan to take their soggy money to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing in Washington to redeem it.

Some portion of the bills will likely be too damaged to recover, he said.

The pair have ideas for spending whatever they end up with, including a new vehicle and upgrades to the equipment they use to produce content.

Kane is far from the only magnet fisher who has made a mark in recent years. All it takes is a powerful magnet, a body of water and a rope.

A magnet fisher found a human skull padlocked to an exercise dumbbell in New Orleans last month, and someone fishing in a creek in Georgia in April pulled up a rifle and some belongings of a couple who were killed nine years ago.

As magnet fishing videos rack up views on YouTube, skeptics grumble on Reddit that some of the finds must be fake.

Kane may just be lucky. He’s hauled up bicycles, guns, grenades, and jewelry from New York City waterways, promoting his exploits on YouTube, TikTok and Instagram.

“I have seen and worked with other magnet fishers that can hit a spot for three months, and I’ll come along and throw the same magnet and get and find something that they’ve been trying to get the entire time,” he said. “I personally can’t explain that.”

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Giraffe Takes Texas Toddler To Frightening Heights In Shock Safari Move

GLEN ROSE, Texas (AP) — A Texas family got a brief scare when a nibble from a giraffe turned a 2-year-old’s safari visit into an airborne adventure.

Paisley Toten was in the bed of a pickup truck on June 1 when her family drove through the Fossil Rim Wildlife Center, where visitors can see exotic animals such as zebras, giraffes and sable antelope, and feed some of them from their car.

The family had stopped to feed a giraffe when it grabbed Paisley’s shirt with its mouth and lifted her several feet. Paisley’s mother was in the pickup bed with her and shouted, prompting the giraffe to drop the toddler into her arms unhurt. Video of the encounter taken from the car behind went viral. The girl’s family also shot their own video.

“Paisley was holding the bag and the giraffe went to go get the bag, not get her, but ended up getting her shirt too and picking her up,” Jason Toten, the girl’s father, told television station KWTX.

“My heart stopped, my stomach dropped … it scared me,” Toten said.

A Texas family got a brief scare when a nibble from a giraffe turned a 2-year-old’s safari visit into an airborne adventure. Her mother was in the pickup bed with her and shouted, prompting the giraffe to drop the toddler into her arms unhurt. pic.twitter.com/OsbAipFd4I

— The Associated Press (@AP) June 6, 2024

The family then took the girl to the shop and bought her a toy giraffe.

Park rules when the family visited allowed riding in an open truck bed as long as an adult was riding with any children. The park on Thursday changed its safety rules to require everyone to stay inside their vehicles with doors closed.

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