Officially Doctored Image of Prime Minister Modi at Chennai Floods Causes Scorn In India

The collective sadness at the devastation due towidespread flooding in southern India this week briefly gave way to outrage — and mockery — as the Indian government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) tweeted an embarrassingly doctored photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi surveying the submerged city of Chennai from the air.

The Photoshopped tweet, superimposing a clearer porthole view on an existing image that Modi himself had tweeted, was quickly deleted from the PIB feed — but not before the screenshot-enabled jokesters of Twitter got a hold of it.

Most users, however, slammed the government agency for what they saw as an unnecessary edit given that Modi did actually conduct the aerial survey.

Officially Doctored Image of Prime Minister Modi at Chennai Floods Causes Scorn In India

The collective sadness at the devastation due towidespread flooding in southern India this week briefly gave way to outrage — and mockery — as the Indian government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) tweeted an embarrassingly doctored photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi surveying the submerged city of Chennai from the air.

The Photoshopped tweet, superimposing a clearer porthole view on an existing image that Modi himself had tweeted, was quickly deleted from the PIB feed — but not before the screenshot-enabled jokesters of Twitter got a hold of it.

Most users, however, slammed the government agency for what they saw as an unnecessary edit given that Modi did actually conduct the aerial survey.

Officially Doctored Image of Prime Minister Modi at Chennai Floods Causes Scorn In India

The collective sadness at the devastation due towidespread flooding in southern India this week briefly gave way to outrage — and mockery — as the Indian government’s Press Information Bureau (PIB) tweeted an embarrassingly doctored photo of Prime Minister Narendra Modi surveying the submerged city of Chennai from the air.

The Photoshopped tweet, superimposing a clearer porthole view on an existing image that Modi himself had tweeted, was quickly deleted from the PIB feed — but not before the screenshot-enabled jokesters of Twitter got a hold of it.

Most users, however, slammed the government agency for what they saw as an unnecessary edit given that Modi did actually conduct the aerial survey.

HBO’s Genius Strategy for Handling Jon Snow’s Resurrection

After months of claiming, “Jon Snow is dead,” HBO has done something rather clever. They’ve slapped the face of a very much alive (though bloody) Jon Snow on a poster and teased his comeback in a trailer for Game of Thrones‘ upcoming sixth season. It’s a savvy move that both satiates and intrigues fans.

Because here’s the thing: Jon Snow is alive. Or at least he’s up and moving—his quality of life is still in question. Actor Kit Harington has been reportedly spotted on set in Belfast. And in the words of George R.R. Martin, author of source material A Song of Ice and Fire “If there’s one thing we know in A Song of Ice and Fire is that death is not necessarily permanent.”

So rather than dragging out the debate—Redditors are still bickering over the topic six months after that adorable traitor Olly shivved Jon Snow—HBO is basically admitting that we will see Harington’s long locks again.

The new trailer shows no new material from season six, instead offering the audience a brief recap of the terrible things our beloved Starks have suffered through while intoning, “The past is already written. The ink is dry.” But just as this statement is uttered we get a shot of Jon bleeding out followed quickly by one of Bran warging. Could they be related? You decide.

While this will surely fuel more debate about Jon Snow’s fate—which can only be good for HBO—it will also put to rest its rather exhausting efforts to trick the audience. Just in the last year, culture fans have been rebelling against the fake-out. They didn’t buy the untimely demise of Glenn on The Walking Dead nor was anyone surprised when Christoph Waltz’s character was revealed to be Bond’s longtime nemesis Blofeld in Spectre. Even writer Damon Lindelof admitted this week that keeping the identity of Benedict Cumberbatch’s character Khan a secret in Star Trek Into Darkness was a bad call. Claims to the contrary felt shallow. Campaigns to fool the audience insulted intelligent viewers.

Perhaps HBO learned from these incidents, but thankfully poor Kit Harington won’t have to field any “But really, is he dead?” questions anymore—just “How is he alive?” questions. It’s a smart decision by a network and show that have already suffered through plenty of backlash. Well done, HBO.

Amazon Wants Holograms In Your Living Room

A diagram showing how the proposed technology could work

Augmented reality usually means wearing a clunky headset, but Amazon says it could bring holograms to your living room without the ugly spectacles.

Amazon says a ceiling-mounted node could be used to track the movement of all people in a room.

A projector would then use this data to create glasses-free holograms that could be controlled using your hands.

It is unclear what uses Amazon has in mind for the technology.

The patent document describes the setup as "a room equipped with computerised projection and imaging systems that enable presentation of images on various objects within the room to facilitate user interaction with the images and/or objects".

The company has tried - and failed - to experiment with movement-tracking in the past.

Amazon's Fire Phone featured six front-facing cameras which tracked the movement of its user.

However, the device did not sell well and it was eventually discontinued.

If Amazon does use the patents, it is likely to be years before holograms at home become a reality.

Microsoft appears to be the main competitor in the field - it's releasing its HoloLens headset next year.

Story of how US soldier saved 200 Jews is finally told

Roddie Edmonds is the first US soldier to receive Israel's Righteous Among the Nations honor, 70 years after he risked his life to save 200 Jews. The native of Knoxville, Tenn., was captured in the Battle of the Bulge in late 1944 and held at German POW camp Staleg IXA, according to Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum.

When the Nazis ordered all Jewish-American POWs to step forward on Jan. 27, 1945, Edmonds—the highest-ranking noncommissioned officer at the camp—ordered 1,000 US soldiers to do so, regardless of their religion, per the AP.

"They cannot all be Jews!" a German commander said, per Yad Vashem. "We are all Jews here," Edmonds replied, adding soldiers didn't need to divulge their religion under the Geneva Conventions.

The commander then put a gun to Edmonds' head. He said, "'I'll give you one more chance. Have the Jewish men step forward or I will shoot you on the spot,'" Edmonds' son, the Rev.

Chris Edmonds, tells NPR. "They said my dad paused, and said, 'If you shoot, you'll have to shoot us all.'" The commander yielded. Chris Edmonds believes his dad's move saved 200 lives.

Edmonds died in 1985 and his untold story nearly died with him. How it surfaced is fascinating: Some time after his father's death, Chris Edmonds read an article about Richard Nixon's purchase of a tony Manhattan townhouse from a man named Lester Tanner—who mentioned that Edmonds saved his life.

The son then embarked on a quest to find Tanner. Edmonds was honored on Wednesday as only the fifth American to receive the Israeli honor, the country's highest for non-Jews who undertook heroic acts in WWII.

He is now being considered for a Congressional Medal of Honor. (Read about another WWII hero.)

Farage's Fury Over Oldham By-Election Result

Nigel Farage (R) with UKIP's Oldham West candidate John Bickley

As candidates were told about the outcome behind closed doors, the UKIP leader tweeted: "As a veteran of over thirty by-elections, I have never seen such a perverse result. Serious questions need to be asked."

Mr Farage later claimed he had evidence from an "impeccable source" that postal voting was "bent".

According to Sky's Political Editor Faisal Islam, UKIP supporters were "angry and annoyed" as the votes were counted.

Labour's Jim McMahon saw off the party's challenge with a majority of more than 10,000 and an increased share of the vote.

John Bickley collected 2,405 fewer votes than UKIP's candidate back in May - although the turnout was considerably higher at the General Election.

He claimed the postal voting system was "not fit for democracy right now", while UKIP's deputy leader Paul Nuttall said postal votes had "distorted the result".

Mr Nuttall said: "We should go back to the old system where you had to give a good reason why you can't get off your backside and go down to a polling booth.

"That would make it fair again. That would make polling day actually mean something."

Mr McMahon, the leader of Oldham Council, dismissed Mr Farage's accusations of irregularity.

""There is nothing wrong with people making a democratic decision not to support UKIP," he said.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said the result was a "vote of confidence in our party".

"Jim McMahon will make an excellent MP and a worthy successor to Michael Meacher, and I am looking forward to welcoming him to Labour's team at Westminster," he said.

"Jim ran a great campaign, focusing on bringing jobs to Oldham and giving every child the best opportunities.

"By-elections can be difficult for the party holding the seat, and turnouts are often low. But to increase our share of the vote since the general election is a vote of confidence in our party."

Mr McMahon polled 17,209 votes, with Mr Bickley trailing him in second on 6,487, a majority of 10,722.