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A man sets himself on fire Wednesday on the Ellipse in downtown Washington, across from the White House, the Secret Service said. A spokesman for the Washington Fire Department tells CNBC, “I can confirm that we’ve transported one patient with burns from the Ellipse and we’re now on the scene assisting law enforcement,” referring to Park Police and U.S. Secret Service officers. Alina Berzins says she was visiting the National Mall with two of her cousins from Bolivia when “we saw this man” on the Ellipse and “he starts running, and then we saw him covered in flames.”

A sad case of self-immolation with fossil fuels, to protest fossil fuels A green activist who was a pioneering lawyer for gay and transgender rights — including in the infamous “Boys Don’t Cry” murder case — committed suicide by setting himself on fire Saturday morning in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park.In a gruesome protest against the ecological destruction of the earth, David Buckel, 60, left behind a charred corpse and a typed suicide note that said he was burning himself to death using “fossil fuel” to reflect how mankind was likewise killing itself, police sources said. He left the note behind in...

An elderly Polish man on Thursday (19 October) attempted self-immolation in protest against the country's right-wing government. Several leaflets were found near the Palace of Culture in Warsaw where the man poured an inflammable liquid to set himself alight, police said. The leaflets reportedly carried statements accusing the government of violating the constitution, destroying the constitutional court and damaging the independent judicial system. Warsaw police spokeswoman Magdalena Bieniek told AFP news agency that the incident took place around 4pm local time (3pm BST) on Thursday. The man suffered extensive burn injuries and was taken to hospital in a "serious condition",...

UPDATE: ESPN ISSUES OFFICIAL STATEMENT: “We collectively made the decision with Robert to switch games as the tragic events in Charlottesville were unfolding, simply because of the coincidence of his name. In that moment it felt right to all parties. It’s a shame that this is even a topic of conversation and we regret that who calls play by play for a football game has become an issue.” In a story that seems made for The Onion, but is actually true, according to multiple Outkick fans inside ESPN MSESPN decided to pull an Asian college football announcer named Robert Lee...

Prosecutors say a fire at a hospital in western Germany last week in which two people died was caused by a patient pouring disinfectant over herself and setting it alight in an attempt to kill herself. The fire broke out in the 69-year-old woman’s 6th-floor room at the Bergmannsheil hospital in Bochum in the early hours of Friday. She died in the blaze, along with a bedridden 41-year-old man in a neighboring room. …

Hosni Kaliya pulls a cigarette out his pack with his mouth. When he poured gasoline on his body and set himself on fire, most of his right hand was consumed by the flames and all that remains is a stump without fingers. He still has four fingers on his left hand, but they jut out like claws, burned, stiff and contorted. His fingernails are curled. He wears black wool gloves with the fingertips cut off, so that they won't dangle emptily. A knit cap protects Kaliya's head, where his hair was burned off, and his unusually small ears. But the...

"I see absolutely no value to a judge... studying the Constitution, the history of its enactment, its amendments, and its implementation. Eighteenth-century guys, however smart, could not foresee the culture, technology, etc., of the 21stcentury. Which means that the original Constitution, the Bill of Rights... do not speak to today." This erosion of loyalty to the Constitution -- by large sectors of the populace and those charged with protecting and preserving it -- is both foolish and dangerous. Let us not forget that the "feelings" of white Southerners would have been protected with restrictions on Dr. King's speech. Fortunately, King...

One Monday in June, 79-year-old Charles Moore, a retired United Methodist minister, drove to Grand Saline, Tex., his childhood home town some 70 miles east of Dallas. He pulled into a strip mall parking lot, knelt down on a small piece of foam and doused himself with gasoline. Then, witnesses said, he set himself on fire. ... The Tyler Morning Telegraph obtained a copy of the suicide note from Grand Saline police. In it, Moore lamented past racism in Grand Saline and beyond. He called on the community to repent and said he was “giving my body to be burned,...

Conventional agriculture is causing enormous environmental damage in Germany, warns a study by the country’s Federal Environment Agency, saying a transition to organic farming and stricter regulation is urgently needed. EurActiv Germany reports. Spanning over 50% of the country, agriculture takes up by far the biggest amount of land in the country, and is one of its most important economic sectors. But intensive farming still harms the environment to an alarming extent, according to a study conducted by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA). The use of pesticides and fertilizers, as well as intensive animal husbandry, have a negative impact on...

A man set himself on fire outside the Israeli embassy in Berlin on Monday night. Police said it was too soon to say whether it was part of a political protest. Amid tensions in Berlin over pro-Gaza protests and a rise in anti-Semitism, the 46-year-old doused himself in a flammable liquid and then set himself alight with a cigarette lighter at 11.45pm on Monday. Police said the man, who is of Arab descent, only suffered minor injuries outside the Israeli embassy in south-west Berlin. …

A monk set himself on fire Sunday in an ethnic Tibetan area of northwest China, the country’s official news agency reported. […] Qinghai neighbors Tibet. More than 100 people have self-immolated in Tibetan areas since 2009 to protest Chinese restrictions on Buddhism and denigration of the Tibetans’ spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, who lives in India. …

Hot Air’s Allahpundit and Erika Johnsen have both documented a growing movement to boot Tea Party members of Congress over the next two election cycles. It seems that the business community is behind this conspiracy; horrified over the fact that a rather significant proportion of Republicans in Washington were willing to roll the dice on default. In the aftermath of the government shutdown, which was highly enjoyable, the Republican establishment is striking back – and one of their targets in the Senate is Mike Lee. [In Utah,] prominent Republicans and local business executives are openly discussing the possibility of mounting...

An Iranian semi-official news agency is reporting that a member of a small religious minority set himself on fire next to the country’s parliament building. ISNA’s late Saturday report says the man, a member of the Ahl Al-Haq, suddenly poured a bottle of fuel on his body and lit it. It said he was taken to hospital. …

Chinese authorities are tightening controls in an ethnic Tibetan region where at least 10 people have set themselves on fire last month to protest Chinese rule. … China has blamed the Dalai Lama for the spate of self-immolations. …

A disabled Israeli war veteran is said to be in a serious condition after setting himself on fire at a bus stop near Tel Aviv. The man was in dispute with officials in charge of rehabilitating veterans, according to a veterans' group. Sunday's case came hours before the funeral of Moshe Silman, who died a week after setting himself on a fire at a protest against inequality. More than 1,000 people took part in vigils for Mr Silman on Saturday. ...

About 2,000 people arrived on Sunday evening at the government complex in Tel Aviv to demonstrate against public housing conditions in Israel. During the protest, the demonstrators tried to block major traffic arteries. At the same time, there were also demonstrations in Jerusalem, Haifa and Be’er Sheva. Five protesters were arrested during the demonstration in Jerusalem after they tried to block a street. The latest protests came following Saturday night’s self-immolation of Moshe Silman, a social justice protester who set himself ablaze during a rally in Tel Aviv, blaming government officials for his troubles. Prior to lighting the match, the...

Chinese man sets himself on fire in Tiananmen Square A Chinese man set himself on fire in Beijing's Tiananmen Square in what is thought to be the first act of self-immolation at the scene of the 1989 pro-democracy protests for more than a decade. By Peter Foster, Beijing 10:30AM GMT 16 Nov 2011 The incident - which happened on October 21 - appeared nowhere in China's censored state media, but was also witnessed by a Daily Telegraph reader who photographed the aftermath as Chinese police rushed to douse the flames using fire extinguishers. "The man did it right in front...

A Tibetan Buddhist monk burned himself to death in western China on Wednesday, triggering a street protest against government controls on the restive region, a group campaigning for Tibetan self-rule said. The self-immolation appeared to be a small repeat of protests that gripped Tibetan areas of China in March 2008, when Buddhist monks and other Tibetan people loyal to the exiled Dalai Lama, their traditional religious leader, confronted police and troops. The 21-year-old, named Phuntsog, was a monk in Aba, a mainly ethnic Tibetan part of Sichuan province that erupted in defiance against Chinese control three years ago. The monk...

As my readers know, I am a fan of economics and of history, as well as politics, a combination that forms some very interesting cycles to research, discuss and argue on. None is so interesting than the death of great nations, for here there is always the self destruction that comes before the final breakups and invasions. As they say: Rome did not fall to the barbarians, all they did was kick in the rotting gates. It can be safely said, that the last time a great nation destroyed itself through its own hubris and economic folly was the early...

ISLAMABAD — A Taliban faction leader who criticized the militant group's Pakistani head over attacks that killed civilians was fatally shot Tuesday, reportedly by one of his own guards. The attack on Qari Zainuddin appeared to be a sign that divisions within the Taliban have broken into the open as they come under military assault. The army is clearing out militants from the Swat Valley and has been pounding strongholds of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud in the South Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan in apparent preparation for a major offensive. Zainuddin was gunned down in nearby town of Dera...