These incredible pictures show the moment an elephant who was held in chains and beaten and abused for fifty years cried as he was released to freedom. Raju the elephant was left bleeding from spiked shackles and living on hand-outs from passing tourists after he was captured and tied up by his ‘owner’. MORE

This is the shocking moment ISIS militants took sledgehammers to Iraqi tombstones  – smashing them to pieces. The rebels, who are members of the Islamic State terror group, were filmed attacking centuries-old graves in the north-west city of Mosul in Ninevah province. MORE

A Monday joint press conference was held by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and Guatemalan president Otto Perez Molina to announce their agreement to jointly cooperate in and facilitate the invasion of their northern neighbor, the United States.  MORE

The battle over gay marriage is being fought in nearly every corner of American society — from public schools to the highest courts, and from television sitcoms to neighborhood barbecues. MORE

In central New York, four people died after the storms hit the rural town of Smithfield, between Syracuse and Utica, the Madison County Sheriff’s Office said. At least four homes were completely destroyed and numerous others were damaged. Nearly 56,000 utility customers in central and northern New York were still without power early Wednesday. MORE

Researchers in California have for the first time created an organism whose genetic code comprises six letters, instead of four. This means that the bacterium, described in a study published in Nature today, is the first life form to contain artificial genetic building blocks. MORE

Today was the day that I was going to produce the final chapter on the present immigration crisis. What a difference 24 hours can make. It is with a heavy heart that I am compelled to state that there is so much new information surfacing about the current government planned and sponsored immigration crisis, that the end is no longer in sight. MORE

The FBI describes MS-13 activity as “perpetuating violence—from assaults to homicides, using firearms, machetes, or blunt objects—to intimidate rival gangs, law enforcement, and the general public. They often target middle and high school students for recruitment. And they form tenuous alliances…and sometimes vicious rivalries…with other criminal groups, depending on their needs at the time.” MORE

America’s largest reservoir will fall this week to its lowest level since it was filled nearly 80 years ago, according to federal water managers. Lake Mead, Las Vegas’ main water source located on the Colorado River, will fall to about 1,080 feet above sea level due to crippling drought. MORE

On Tuesday’s broadcast of “The Real Story with Gretchen Carlson,” Fox News reporter Will Carr stated that congregation members had told him that Catholic churches in California are providing housing “for some immigrants who have been processed and released.”

Carr reported that a congregation in Riverside, CA held “a very heated meeting” last night that mirrored what we’ve been seeing out here in Murrieta between protesters and supporters,” and that “in the end…the priest decided they would take 25 of these immigrants in. they’re going to help house them for at least a month.” MORE

On Friday, Vice President Joe Biden used an Independence Day celebration and speech in Philadelphia to compare gay marriage to the Civil Rights Movement and push for more gay marriage. MORE

We like to imagine that musical talent is just a matter of putting in enough hours. The Beatles became superstars because they spent years honing their craft in Hamburg, right? Well, maybe not. A recently published study from the Karolinska Institute’s Miriam Mosing suggests that you need the right genes to become a true maestro. MORE