Tenants Stop Paying Rent to Protest Insanitary Conditions, Owner Removes Doors and Windows in Retaliation


It’s been over a month since Nicole and Pascal Vermeulen, a middle-aged couple from Lignières, France, have had to sleep in fear of someone simply walking into their home at night. That’s because they don’t have a front door anymore, or windows for that matter, after the house owner removed them as punishment for not receiving the rent.

Three years ago, when the Vermeulen family found a 110 square-meter house for rent in the village of Lignières, for €500 a month, they thought they were getting a good deal, but things started going south soon after they moved in. The building’s septic tank got clogged years ago, which rendered the toilet and shower virtually unusable. The tenants have had to deal with human waste coming up through the toilet and the shower drain on more than one occasion, and the bathroom walls are constantly covered with mold. Also their garage always smells like a sewer. Despite their repeated pleas to the owner of the apartment to get the septic tank fixed, and the home being declared insanitary by the CAF (Direction of Family Allocations), the owner simply disregarded the problems.



Because Nicole and Pascal have a low monthly income, they can’t simply look for another place to live, so they did the most extreme thing they could do to get the owner’s attention – they stopped paying their rent. That didn’t quite work out the way they had hoped, though. Instead of either getting the septic tank fixed or asking them to leave if they didn’t find the house suitable to their needs, the man took some drastic measures of his own, cutting their electricity and water.

Nicole Vermeulen has to wear an oxygen mask at night, so having no power was a big deal, but the couple decided they weren’t going to back down. They refused to leave or pay the monthly rent, but that only made the owner angrier. Last month, he came by and simply removed the front door and the windows of the house, the living-room door, the mailbox and the garden gate. The tenants could do nothing but sit and watch, because, well, they were his property.

“We do not sleep at night, we take turns keeping guard,” Nicole said in a radio interview. “Since we have no more doors, we are afraid that the owner will just walk in.”



The couple are terrified, as the owner of the house reportedly has a prior conviction for armed violence during a previous neighborhood conflict.

In case you’re wondering why the Vermeulen’s don’t just file a complaint or take the owner to court, they apparently already did that, but have little to show for it. After they won the trial and the appeal, a judge ordered the owner of the house to pay the couple €2,800, but they have yet to see a cent from him.

Nicole and Pascal are currently looking for an emergency relocation solution, but with a modest monthly budget of just €530 between them, the task looks daunting. Meanwhile, they continue to live in a house with no front door or windows.
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Woman Gets Jail Time for Looking Through Husband’s Phone Without Permission


A court in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) recently sentenced a woman to three months in jail after her husband sued her for looking through his phone without his permission.

In a statement made against his wife, the unnamed husband claimed that she would access his phone while he was asleep, copying all the data, including pictures and chat conversations to her own smartphone so she could look through all the information at a later date. The man also complained that his wife would share some of his private information with her siblings. Although the woman defended herself by saying that her husband had given her the password to his phone and permission to look through it, because she had previously caught him chatting with other women, a court in Ras Al Khaimah found her guilty.



The husband filed a complaint against his wife, and police called her in for questioning. A case was then filed against her for violating the UAE’s strict privacy law, which states that married couples are forbidden from accessing each other’s personal phones without permission, even if one of them suspects the other of cheating.

This case was originally reported on October 1st, and has since sparked a heated debate on social media. While some feel that the woman got what she deserved for breaking the law, others think that it was morally wrong for the husband to send his wife to jail for several months, even if she did look through his phone without his permission.

“She deserves this. No one told her to go through his phone,” one Twitter user wrote.

“If she wasn’t suspicious over something, she wouldn’t have gone through his phone. Isn’t it shameful for him to jail his own wife?” another person commented.
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Curiosity switches 'brains' as NASA activates backup computer in bid to bring crippled rover back to full operation


NASA has switched its Curiosity rover to a 'backup brain' in a bid to restore to rover.

The Martian vehicle has been suffering from a major technical issue that has prevented the rover's active computer from storing science and some key engineering data since Sept. 15.

Researchers hope that by switching the rover to its backup side, it can resume full functionality. 


The Martian vehicle has been suffering from a major technical issue that has prevented the rover's active computer from storing science and some key engineering data since Sept. 15.


'At this point, we're confident we'll be getting back to full operations, but it's too early to say how soon,' said Steven Lee of JPL, Curiosity's deputy project manager. 

Like many NASA spacecraft, Curiosity was designed with two, computers, known as a Side-A and a Side-B computer. 

After reviewing several options, JPL engineers recommended that the rover switch from Side B to Side A, the computer the rover used initially after landing. 

'We are operating on Side A starting today, but it could take us time to fully understand the root cause of the issue and devise workarounds for the memory on Side B,' said Lee.

'We spent the last week checking out Side A and preparing it for the swap,' Lee said.

'It's certainly possible to run the mission on the Side-A computer if we really need to.

'But our plan is to switch back to Side B as soon as we can fix the problem to utilize its larger memory size.'    

The rover continues to send limited engineering data stored in short-term memory when it connects to a relay orbiter, adn NASA says it is otherwise healthy and receiving commands. 

However, whatever is preventing Curiosity from storing science data in long-term memory is also preventing the storage of the rover's event records, a journal of all its actions that engineers need in order to make a diagnosis. 

The computer swap will allow data and event records to be stored on the Side-A computer.

Side A experienced hardware and software issues over five years ago on sol 200 of the mission, leaving the rover uncommandable and running down its battery. 


Curiosity's last significant release was a 'selfie' unveiled by Nasa earlier this month (pictured). A thin layer of dust is visible on Curiosity, the result of the huge storm that enveloped Mars this summer. Nasa's Curiosity mission has now ground to a halt due to a glitch that forced the $2.5 billion (£2 billion) rover to terminate its science experiments

At that time, the team successfully switched to Side B. 

Engineers have since diagnosed and quarantined the part of Side A's memory that was affected so that computer is again available to support the mission.  

It follows one of the biggest Martian dust storms on record, which at its peak covered covered 14 million square miles (36 million sq km), knocking out Nasa's solar-powered Opportunity rover for three months.

Curiosity weathered the storm as it runs on a nuclear-powered battery and so does not rely on the sun's rays to fuel its operations. 

Researchers said barring the glitch, Curiosity is 'otherwise healthy and responsive', and can still stream real-time data about its status back to mission control.

This data should allow Nasa to diagnose and patch the problems with the main computer.

'Engineers are expanding the details the rover transmits in these real-time data to better diagnose the issue,' Ashwin Vasavada, of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, wrote in an update Wednesday.

'Because the amount of data coming down is limited, it might take some time for the engineering team to diagnose the problem.'

This is not the first time Curiosity has experienced issues with its computer systems.

The backup system, which is identical to the primary computer, served as Curiosity's primary system for the rover's first 200 sols on the Red Planet before it started to experience issues of its own.

Vasavada wrote: 'While the engineers work to understand the problem, Curiosity's science team is using the time to pore over data gathered on Vera Rubin Ridge and come up with the best location for another drilling attempt.

'We're looking at any clues that tell us the rocks are weaker and better for drilling. As the JPL-based project scientist, I really enjoy watching our scientists from all over the world take on these challenges.

'And, I also get to witness the brainpower that JPL brings to bear when the rover has a technical issue. We're rooting for the engineering team 100%!'

The rover's last significant release was a 'selfie' unveiled by Nasa September 7.

A thin layer of dust is visible on Curiosity, the result of the huge storm that enveloped Mars this summer.

The darkish sky indicated dust was still clogging the atmosphere in August, when the panorama was shot by Curiosity's mast camera.


A striking image shared by the space agency in June showed the dramatic atmospheric changes caused by the 'planet encircling' event, with sites that were once clearly visible shown to be obscured by red-tinted dust. 

he sunlight-blocking haze has hit the highest levels the mission has ever recorded. 

A side-by-side of images captured with Curiosity rover's MastCam showed just how extreme the storm had gotten, comparing the 'Duluth' drill site on May 21 and June 17.


A striking image shared by the space agency in June showed the dramatic atmospheric changes caused by the 'planet encircling' event, with sites that were once clearly visible (left) shown to be obscured by red-tinted dust (right)
NASA's veteran Mars rover had been hunkering down for weeks in the midst of the unprecedented dust storm.

The Opportunity rover fell silent on June 12, when engineers attempted to make contact with the 15-year-old rover but did not hear back.

In a press conference June 13, scientists involved in the Opportunity mission confirmed the rover has 'fallen asleep' as it waits out the storm that has blocked the sun - effectively cutting off its power supply.

The storm had been growing since the end of May, and by mid-June had already covered 14-million square miles (35-million square kilometers) of Mars' surface, or a quarter of the planet.

Experts announced in June the storm had grown to be a planet-encircling dust event – though they didn't know what was driving it.

'We don't have any good idea,' said Scott D. Guzewich, an atmospheric scientist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, on why some storms grow so large while others fizzle out quickly.

With a layer of dust blotting out the sun over Perseverance Valley, Opportunity's solar panels were unable to charge the rover's battery. 

'The project team is very concerned,' said Opportunity Project Manager John Callas during the NASA press conference in June.

'We're watching the weather and listening for signals.'


The first indications of a dust storm appeared back on May 30. The team was notified, and put together a 3-day plan to get the rover through the weekend. But, when the weekend passed, the storm was still going, with atmospheric opacity - or the amount of dust in the atmosphere (pictured above) - jumping dramatically with each day. As of June 20, it's still going


According to Callas, the first indications of an emerging dust storm appeared back on May 30. The team was notified, and put together a 3-day plan to get the rover through the weekend.

But, when the weekend passed, the storm was still going, with atmospheric opacity - or the amount of dust in the atmosphere - jumping dramatically with each day.

'The rover has gone to sleep,' Callas said during the conference. 'It's in this low power mode, and will remain in that low power mode until there is sufficient energy to charge the batteries above the threshold.

'At that point the rover will autonomously try to wake up and communicate with us. We're in a waiting mode - we're listening every day for possible signals.'

The team is also monitoring the rover's temperature, as the prolonged darkness means it will be getting colder. So far, the experts say it should stay above the minimum temperature needed to continue its long-term operations.

'We should be able to ride out this storm,' Callas said. 'When the skies clear and the rover begins to power up, it should begin to communicate with us.' 

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Family Sued Over Unpaid Electric Bills Place Blame on Their Cat


A family in Russia’s Barnaul region was recently taken to court by the local energy company for accumulating a debt of approximately 80,000 rubles ($1,218) in unpaid bills. In their defense, the accused claimed that it was all their cat’s fault, not theirs.

It’s one thing for kids to say “the dog ate my homework”, but you don’t often hear adults trying to lay the blame on their pets in order to avoid taking responsibility for their actions. That’s exactly what this family in Barnaul did, though, and not just anywhere, but in front of a judge. Accused of refusing to pay the local energy company around 80,000 in electrical bills, they claimed that they hadn’t actually used the electricity, but that meter had been tampered with by their mischievous cat.


After being taken to court by the energy company, the accused explained to a judge that their cat has the habit of scaling the walls of their house and spending a lot of time on the roof. Often times they spotted it climbing on the electricity meter in order to reach the roof, and even tried moving the meter on an adjacent wall, but to no avail. They told the judge that the cat eventually broke the meter’s wire seal and somehow tampered with the device, which resulted in absurdly high bills.

Fortunately for the cat, the energy company’s lawyer managed to prove its innocence in front of the judge. He brought in Sergey Platonyuk, an experienced electrician, who testified that the wire seal on electricity is so strong that energy company employees have to use wire cutters. It would have therefore been impossible for the cat to break the seal with its claws or even clinging on it with all its weight.

“It is impossible to accidentally rip a seal off the meter,” Platonyuk said. It is positioned very close to the meter and the wire is so strong that the electricians themselves use pliers to access the meter. Therefore, even if the cat had clung to the seal its claw, it would have held.”

The court found the electrician’s arguments convincing and ruled that the family must pay the roughly 80,000 rubles they owe, as well 2,500 rubles in court fees.
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Dolphin and Other Marine Life Abandoned in Japanese Aquarium That Closed Down Months Ago


International media outlets have been reporting the shocking case of a dolphin, dozens of penguins and other wildlife that have been abandoned in a derelict Japanese aquarium that closed down months ago.

The operator of the Inubosaki Marine Park Aquarium in Choshi, a city in Japan’s Chiba Prefecture, closed down in January 2018, citing a steady decline in visitors following the strong earthquake and nuclear crisis of 2011. However, the marine life that used to entertain guests – including a bottlenose dolphin and dozens of humboldt penguins – has been locked inside the abandoned facility ever since and are living in improper conditions. Although someone has reportedly been feeding them regularly, animal activists claim that Honey the dolphin is showing signs of stress due to loneliness and suffered serious sunburns this summer, while the penguins are living in crumbling pens, among debris. Park representatives could not be contacted about the situation and local authorities claim that their hands are tied.




Photos and videos taken by activists from a group called Put An End to Animal Cruelty and Exploitation (PEACE) show honey floating all alone in a small pool inside the abandoned water park, and dust-covered penguins perched on a crumbling structure. Hundreds of fish and reptiles are reportedly also locked inside the Inubosaki Marine Park Aquarium, and no one knows if or when they will be transferred to a facility where they can be properly taken care of.

“I did not expect that the animals would be abandoned. However, even in February, people were able to see there were still animals in the park. So I started researching and found out that the negotiations to transfer them had not progressed,” Sachiko Azuma, an activist with PEACE, told CNN.



Sachiko Azuma have been investigating and reporting on this shocking case since March, but despite their efforts, little progress has been made to help the animals. On its website, PEACE has been urging concerned citizens to send postcards to Choshi City office calling for action, and people responded by sending thousands of postcards and emails, but local authorities have yet to act. They claim hat the aquarium is privately-owned and that it is the owners’ responsibility to deal with the situation.

CNN, Reuters and other international media outlets have reached out to the parent company of Inubosaki Marine Park Aquarium, but so far have received no answer. A Choshi city official said that they also have been unable to contact aquarium representatives. So for now, the fate of Honey and the other animals abandoned inside this closed marine park remains uncertain.

“The aquarium is an agency dealing with animals so it’s their responsibility to explain what they are going to do with Honey and the other animals,” Sachiko Azuma said. “I get feelings of danger and doubt from the fact that they are so silent about this. As a group that handles animals, they have a responsibility to explain what they intend to do with Honey and the other animals.”

This shocking story was reported by western media in August, but despite several campaigns and petitions asking for the release of Honey and the other animals at the Inubosaki Marine Park Aquarium, nothing appears to have changed. The owners of the abandoned marine park remain absent, and until they approve a transfer, authorities insist that there is nothing they can do.
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Creative Farmer Makes Herself a Gorgeous Wedding Dress Out of 40 Discarded Cement Bags


A creative female farmer in China recently broke the internet with a gorgeous wedding dress she made out of 40 cement bags leftover after repairing her country house.

28-year-old Lili Tan has never taken fashion design courses, and spends most of her time farming, not creating wedding gowns, but looking at the amazing dress she created on a rainy day, when she couldn’t work in the fields, you could swear she makes dresses and accessories for a living. Using 40 discarded cement bags, the contents of which had gone toward renovating her village house near Longnan city, in China’s Gangsu province, Tan was able to create an elaborate wedding dress like the ones she saw in magazines, an impressive train for it, as well as a fancy hat. She showed them off on social media in a video which instantly went viral with several millions of views.


“I did not expect the overwhelming response online, it’s such a nice surprise,” the amateur fashion designer told Pear Video, jokingly adding that “I could probably get more likes and views online if I were prettier”.

Even so, the 28-year-old’s video got over 5 million views in China and is now doing the rounds on western social media as well. People just can’t get enough of her cement bag dress and accessories, and the fact that she created them all in just three hours, out of boredom, because it was raining and she couldn’t work the fields just adds to their charm.

And just in case you’re wondering, Lilil Tan will not be using her unusual wedding dress at her own wedding, as she has been happily married since 2012, and also has a son.
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Couple Leave 5-Year-Old Boy Alone in the Woods as Punishment for Wetting Himself


A Minnesota couple has been accused of abandoning a 5-year-old child in the woods as punishment for wetting his pants. The couple did reportedly come back for the boy after driving away a short distance, but couldn’t find him.

Lynda Michel and Gregory Wilson can kiss away their chances of winning a parents of the year award after showing off their parenting skills – or lack thereof – late last month, when they left a young child all by himself in a forest to teach him a lesson after he reportedly wet himself. The couple allegedly came back to get him after driving off a short distance, but the boy was nowhere to be found. He was spotted by a motorist on Aug. 28 walking along a highway south of St. Peter in Minnesota, all wet and sobbing.


When asked by police how he had ended up all by himself, the 5-year-old said that he had been dropped off by his mom and dad because he had been “naughty”. Wilson, who is the child biological father, and his partner Michel were still searching for him when they were found by police, but they had yet to report his disappearance. A third adult, who was in the car when the couple abandoned the boy, told authorities that he had tried tried talking them out of it, but  failed.

“Multiple black and blue and red bruises” were found on the boy’s back, buttocks and hips, indicating that he had been caused over a longer period of time. Wilson admitted to regularly spanking the boy with an open hand. He and his partner charges of gross misdemeanor malicious punishment of a child and misdemeanor domestic assault. The 5-year-old boy was taken into protective custody and is currently in foster care.

So the next time you feel like leaving your child all alone in the woods, no matter how naughty he\she is, don’t, just don’t!
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