Flotilla activist posts video of Gaza's assault online

GAZA FLOTILLA

A speedboat and a helicopter from the Israeli army approach the ship, gun shots ring out and the first among the wounded are taken to safety. These images were filmed during the deadly raid of the Mavi Marmara, the Gaza bound international aid flotilla.

 Iara Lee, a Brazilian activist and film maker is behind the camera and hid the memory card holding the images to stop it getting confiscated by Israeli soldiers. What we have is one hour of non-edited video that the film maker decided to post online.

The images were filmed in the lower decks of the boat where the wounded were taken, they do not give a clear picture of the violent clashes that took place on deck, but Iara Lee hopes that further investigation into the video will show just when the first gun shots were fired.

On Monday Israel announced the creation of a flotilla investigation commission, but their version of events is still being questioned on the web. The Turkish NGO IHH that organized the flotilla, have posted this photo online where we see doctors treating an Israeli soldier overridden by passengers at the start of the raid.

For this pro-Palestinian blogger, this image contradicts those posted online by the Israel Defence forces that suggest that members of the commando operation, even when they disarmed, were attacked.

 FOOTBALL FANS AGAINST VUVUZELAS

In the streets, in the stadiums, on the television, the noise is everywhere. Ever since the start of the World cup, football fans have been living with the deafening sound, similar to that of a swarm of bees, of vuvuzelas, the famous South African trumpets. Many supporters are complaining about this permanent humming on the web.

Several anti-Vuvuzela Facebook groups have been set up since the start of the tournament last Friday. Thousands of web users have joined these groups and have already had enough of this trumpet sound, considered by some as an instrument of torture.

This site is inviting fans who can no longer stand the sound of the vuvuzelas to sign a petition to get them banned from stadiums. The petition has already gathered 25 000 signatures in just a few days. And those who are really passionate about it can demonstrate their rejection of the vuvuzela by buying these t-shirts, available online.

Yet, despite the infernal noise, not all web users are hostile to the instrument. This Facebook group reminds us that it a local tradition and it is important to respect it.

And for those who like the sound that comes out of this trumpet, on the site vuvuzelaroulette, a copy of the Chatroulette model, you can watch dozens of videos of fans blowing into this instrument.

 THE SECRET ANNEX

 The Secret Annex is where the young Anne Franck was hiding before she was deported and where she wrote her famous diary. For its 60^th anniversary, the Anne Frank museum in Amsterdam, has posted a virtual recreation of this building on its website. Secret corners, hidden rooms, it has been recreated from the attic down to the basement. Web users can visit it via 360 ° images. There is audio information, both with videos and texts for each of these rooms, telling the stories of the people who lived there.

STAR WARS KID

 Who could forget the “Star wars Kid”? In 2003, this teenage boy imagined himself as a Jedi knight and the film of him pretending to be one was watched by millions of web users without him knowing. The site Mother Board has caught up with him. The good news is that Ghyslain Raza has since had therapy to help him deal with this overexposure in the media, he has also studied law and recently became president of a Conservation society in Trois Rivières in Canada.

 VIDEO OF THE DAY

 This is currently one of the most popular videos on the American web. In the middle of a meeting about the oil spill in Louisiana we see one of these fake heads of BP spill his coffee all over the table. In a panic, they all try and stop is from spreading, each ot their methods being more ridiculous than the next. It’s a parody of BPs attempts to deal with the crisis ever since the explosion of their oil rig.