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Tomb of Don Quixote writer found
The tomb of Don Quixote author Miguel de Cervantes has been found, according to a team of forensic scientists working in Madrid’s Convent of the Barefoot Trinitarians. Cervantes was buried in 1616, but his coffin was later lost. When the convent he was buried near was rebuilt in the late 17th century, his remains were moved. And it has taken until now to find them. A team of 30 used 3D scanners, infrared cameras, and other technologies able to penetrate the ground beneath the building to locate the crypt. [Source: BBC]
Israel head to polls in tight race
Israel is heading to the polls today in what is anticipated to be a close race between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Zionist Union, a centre-left party promising to restore relations with Palestine, and the rest of the world. Netanyahu has been campaigning on security, and ruling out a Palestinian state, strengthening his right wing vote. But cost of living has seen significant hikes under his leadership, according to BBC correspondent Mark Lowen, adding that the country has not experienced a majority government under its proportional representation voting system. Opinion polls have the Zioinist party winning more seats, a prediction, which, if realized, would mean Netanyahu forms a collation government or cedes defeat. [Source: BBC]
Nintendo to make Mario Bros. available on smartphones
Soon, you will be able to play Mario Bros. and other Nintendo offerings on your smartphone. And that excites you, I bet, like it does me. Nintendo announced the move as part of a partnership with Japanese company DeNA. Declining sales and accepting that smartphones are, indeed, popular gaming systems worked in tandem to convince the company to allow non-Nintendo platforms to run their proprietary characters. No word on when this will happen. Hopefully soon. [Source: CNET]
Ikea wants you to stop playing hide-and-seek in its stores
It’s become thing to play hide-and-seek in Ikea stores, and the furniture giant is pissed about it. The craze began in July when 500 plus people entered a Belgian Ikea outlet and played the game. It was a hit. More games were planned and executed across the Netherlands. Ikea has asked for the shenanigans to stop, nixing a 32,000-person game planned for Eindhoven, a 19,000-person game in Amsterdam, and a 12,000-person game scheduled for Utrecht. “It’s hard to control,” Ikea Group spokeswoman Martina Smedberg told Bloomberg. “We need to make sure people are safe in our stores, and that’s hard to do if we don’t even know where they are.” [Source: NY Daily News]
Chemical weapons used in northern Syria, opposition alleges
Syria’s Bashar al-Assad regime dropped barrel bombs containing chlorine gas on a small, northwest community of Idlib on Monday night, according to opposition activists. Videos of attacks, if real and not propaganda as Assad claims, show people scrambling with oxygen masks, as well as children in burial shrouds. Syria is denying the authenticity of the graphic videos, dismissing them as lies. “We confirm that we would not use this type of weapon, and we don’t need to use it,” a Syrian military source said. The allegations come shortly after the UN condemned the use of chemical weapons, a form of warfare banned under the Geneva protocol of 1925. But the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, a group responsible for dismantling Syria’s program, said last year that there was compelling evidence chlorine was used “systematically and repeatedly” as a weapon in northern Syria. [Source: Guardian]
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