Chimpanzees at an animal sanctuary in South Africa have left an American researcher in critical condition, after bitting him severely and dragging him nearly half a mile (0.8km).
Human .. it's what's for dinner...
The man was giving a lecture at the Jane Goodall Institute Chimpanzee Eden on Thursday when two chimpanzees grabbed his feet and pulled him into their enclosure, said emergency worker Jeffrey Wicks.
"We'll grab his feet, you guys bite him!"
He was in intensive care on Friday after undergoing surgery at the Mediclinic hospital in Nelspruit, 180 miles (290km) from Johannesburg, hospital officials said.
The man has "multiple and severe bite wounds", Wicks said.
Edwin Jay, chairman of the Jane Goodall Institute South Africa, said the two chimpanzees involved were part of a group that had been rescued from Angola and brought to South Africa more than a decade ago.
Ingrates...
He said sanctuary officials were investigating the attack.
"So Pieter, what happened?"
"Looks like the chimps bit 'im, sir."
"Yes, that happens with chimps, eh?"
The man lost part of an ear and parts of his fingers in the attack, according to the South African newspaper Beeld.
Wonder if the chimps had a chianti to go with that...
It said reported that the sanctuary's director fired into the air to scare the chimps away, then chased them away.
Wait til next time, the chimps will have a plan for that...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/30/2012 00:00 ||
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According to my HP 48SX, handy-dandy engineering calculator, that's over 5 inches long!
A doctor in India has pulled a live 13 centimetre-long worm from the eye of an elderly patient who was complaining of persistent pain in an operation reminiscent of a far-fetched alien movie plot.
When Dr V. Seetharaman examined 75-year-old patient P.K. Krishnamurthy at Mumbai's Fortis Hospital this week, the eye expert was shocked by the highly unusual sight of the writhing parasite and had to operate speedily to remove it before serious damage was caused.
"It was wriggling there under the conjunctiva," Seetharaman told AFP, referring to the thin membrane lining the eye. "It was the first time in my career of 30 years that I had seen such a case." I'ma wonderin' how come Mr. Krishnamurthy didn't *feel* the thing. The other side of my mind boggles at how it got in his eye...
Krishnamurthy had been suffering for more than two weeks with redness and irritation before the doctor pin-pointed the threadlike creature under a microscope on Wednesday.
Posted by: BA ||
06/30/2012 00:00 ||
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[Daily Nation (Kenya)] The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) on Thursday urged Rwanda to stop fuelling conflict in the east, after a UN report found that Kigali officers had assisted a mutiny there.
"We demand that the Rwandan authorities prevent their officers from continuing to fuel the war in Congo," government front man Lambert Mende said.
"We ask them to unconditionally dismantle networks, stop recruitment and supplies feeding the nefarious forces in Congo," the front man said at a presser.
Kigali has vehemently denied accusations it had been helping a mutiny in the eastern DRC by former Congolese Tutsi rebels who had been integrated into the army but defected again this year.
The UN released a report on Tuesday whose annex, as yet unpublished but a copy of which was obtained by AFP, said senior Rwandan Defence Forces officers "in their official capacities, have been backstopping the rebels through providing weapons, military supplies, and new recruits."
The eastern DRC has been rocked by an uprising by mutineers who have formed themselves into a group called M23, led by Bosco Ntaganda, a renegade general wanted by the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ...
"Over the course of its investigation since late 2011, the group has found substantial evidence attesting to support from Rwandan officials to gangs operating in the eastern DRC," the annex said.
The annex said Rwandan military officers had given "direct assistance" in the creation of M23 by providing weapons and soldiers, as well as helping to recruit Rwandan youths and Congolese refugees and mobilising Congolese political and financial support.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2012 00:00 ||
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Yemen faces a new crisis: a potentially crippling food shortage that's threatening the economic survival of the Arab world's poorest state.
UNICEF says malnutrition and food shortages, largely the result of chronic under-development and a worsening water crisis, is acute.
"It's an emergency very much comparable to the Horn of Africa and the Sahel in North Africa, but it's not getting as much attention," said Geert Cappelaere, the UNICEF chief in Yemen.
With 58 percent of children under the age of 5 stunted by malnutrition, Yemen has the second highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world, behind Afghanistan, he noted.
The lack of access to water is a key factor in the growing food crisis, he said."Close to 60 percent of Yemenis have difficulty in getting drinking water," he said.
Sanaa, Yemen's ancient capital with a population of 2 million, looks like being dry by 2025, the first metropolis in the world to run out of water
"Unless urgent humanitarian action is taken, Yemen will be plunged into a hunger crisis of catastrophic proportions,"
Growing water scarcity, with highland aquifers shrinking 10-20 feet a year, is threatening agriculture in Yemen whose population, the World Bank says, is exploding at an estimated 8 percent a year.
Yemenis use 40 percent of their available water to grow qat, a mildly narcotic plant that's the country's largest cash crop and highly prized across the Arabian Peninsula. That's far more than they allocate to grow food.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
06/30/2012 00:00 ||
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Yemenis use 40 percent of their available water to grow qat, a mildly narcotic plant that's the country's largest cash crop and highly prized across the Arabian Peninsula. That's far more than they allocate to grow food.
Sounds like a self inflicted problem and a self correcting issue.
[Saudi Gazette] The Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Hai'a) has officially inaugurated its new control room which will enable it to monitor the movements of its field staff, Al-Watan Arabic daily reported.
The control room which was officially opened at its headquarters in Riyadh and will enable officials to track field staff Kingdomwide. The new system will also enable the Hai'a to distribute its patrols according to geographic location. The system is designed to alert the control officer if a commission member leaves his designated area.
Earlier, the Hai'a had signed an agreement with King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) to develop a satellite tracking system. This led to the creation of the control room.
The agreement also stipulates that KACST shall provide the Hai'a with digital maps and aerial photos, which will help the latter establish a geographic database.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2012 00:00 ||
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They do lolcats in the Kindom? Hai'a! I can haz Virtue?
[Bangla Daily Star] Mob beat up a man to death and injured two others suspecting them to be robbers at Char Sahabhikhari village in Sonagazi upazila of the district Thursday night.
According to locals and police, a gang of armed robbers tried to force enter the house of one Mosharraf of the village after breaking the outer collapsible gate. Sensing their presence, My spider sense! It's tingling again! To arms! Aux barricades! the household informed neighbours of the incident over the mobile phone.
The neighbours then announced the news through the loudspeaker of a local mosque. At this, villagers chased the robbers with sticks and managed to capture three of them.
The man killed in the beating following the capture was identified as Azad, 35, of Musapur village under Companyganj upazila of Noakhali district. Police sent his body to Feni sadar hospital morgue for an appointment with Dr. Quincy.
Injured Nurul Alam, 32, and Selim, 35, both of Dagonbhuiyan upazila in Feni, were handed over to police in a critical condition. They were admitted to the sadar hospital.
Nabir Hossain, officer-in-charge of Sonagazi Police Station, confirmed the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2012 00:00 ||
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Korea has requested a last-minute postponement of the signing of an unprecedented agreement with Japan allowing the sharing of classified military data. The delay was caused by political sensitivities in Korea.
The pact to exchange military intelligence would be the first between Seoul and Tokyo since Japan's occupation of Korea. The two neighbors, long wary of each other, share increasing defense concerns about North Korea and China.
The signing by Japan's foreign minister and Korea's ambassador had been expected to take place in Tokyo Friday afternoon. But shortly before pens were to be put to paper, came word that Seoul had requested a delay so the agreement could be explained to worried governing party and angry opposition members of the National Assembly.
The politicians object to what they term "a lack of transparency" this week by the Korean government in approving the pact, as well as lingering but strong anti-Japanese sentiment among citizens. Korean civic groups and opposition politicians have denounced the military agreement, with some alleging it gives Japan a de facto pardon for its wartime atrocities.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/30/2012 00:00 ||
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ION CHINA DAILY FORUM > CHINA ASKS JAPAN TO STOP CAUSING DISTURBANCES OVER DAOYUS ISLANDS, + instead focii on preserving harmonious bilateral relations.
* SAME > CHINA PLEDGES TO PROTECT ITS WATERS | ... MARITIME SOVEREIGNTY.
* CHINESE MILITARY FORUM > CHINA STARTS "COMBAT READY" PATROLS IN SOUTH CHINA SEA.
* SAME > CHINA SEEKS DOMINANCE OF THE SOUTH CHINA SEA WITH NEW "SANSHA" ["Sanshi"] CITY.
* DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > CHINA TO SET UP MILITARY BASE IN SOUTH CHINA SEA, vee its new "Sansha" City.
* RELATED SAME > [China Defence ...] MINISTRY: CHINA WILL REACT TO PROVOCATIONS.
* IIRC SAME > PHILIPPINES TO SEARCH FOR OIL ALONG CHINESE COASTS.
ARTICS above specifically mentioned or inferred Vietnam most of the time, but methinks its safe to say China's warning also applies to the Philippines, etal.
Wid its new "Sansha/Sanshi" City, China is indirectly warning its ASEAN neighbors that it will defend its SCS claims wid Military Force iff necessary.
From now on???
Again, China desired to establish PLA Milbases + other throughout the "First Island Chain", + ITS NOT GETTING IT. IMO, in China's view, continued US arms sales to TAIWAN only serves to delay its formal integartion + ultimately re-unification wid the Mainland. CHINA IS THUS FRUSTRATED WID THE "STATUS QUO" IN EAST ASIA-WESPAC, + NOW DESIRES TO BEGIN ASSERTING ITS RIGHTS VIA THE PLA.
#1
Randy behaved exactly as I expected him to, a son of a bitch who pisses off everyone. Randy does behave quite pretentious, but the performance was important to him.
That's gonna make him popular during his 5-10 years in Czech prison.
European leaders have moved to halt the crisis engulfing Spain and Italy by agreeing a radical bailout package for the single currency's teetering banks.
Amid deep divisions over the debt and currency crisis, and under immense pressure to come up with credible moves, Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, softened her hard line on fiscal discipline and debt repayment to hand Mariano Rajoy, the Spanish prime minister, a summit triumph.
Leaders agreed to set up a supervisory system for eurozone banks that will form the first step towards full banking union, scrapped the requirement that governments get preferential status over private investors in the event of a default and eased the stiff terms for future bailouts.
Markets surged after the deal was agreed, giving European leaders the respite they have been seeking for several months. The German and French stock markets jumped more than 4% while the main market in New York soared in early trading as renewed confidence among investors erased several weeks of losses.
In Madrid and Rome, the deal was hailed as a victory over the all-important bond markets, which have crippled both governments with sky-high interest rates. The interest rate on Spain's 10-year bonds fell the most since August to 6.3% after hitting 7% in recent weeks, a level analysts believe is unaffordable.
There was also relief for prime minister Mario Monti of Italy, below, who spoke of "double satisfaction" following the defeat of Germany in the Euro 2012 football contest.
A two-day summit ran on through Thursday night as brinkmanship from Rome and Madrid pitched the meeting to the brink of collapse. It concluded with some of the more far-reaching political decisions to emerge from 30 months of crisis in the single currency.
Divisions remain, however, and working out the detail and implementation of a "banking union" -- a first step towards establishing a eurozone federation -- will be protracted. The most immediate decisions concerned Spain and its attempts to contain a crisis sparked by bad banks.
Merkel's main concession was to agree to waive so-called preferred creditor status on the mooted 100bn eurozone rescue programme for the banks. This is to take place within weeks, meaning that private investors will not play second fiddle to the eurozone bailout fund if the debt has to be rescheduled. In effect, eurozone taxpayers are at as much risk as private creditors in the Spanish bank bailout, a politically sensitive concession for the German leader. The other big decision was to change the eurozone bailout rules to enable direct recapitalisation of banks without the money going via governments and adding to national debt levels.
This can only take place once the new bank supervisory system is up and running -- that could take two years -- but at that point the Spanish government would be allowed to erase the borrowing from its books. "I'm quite pleased with the outcome," said Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, who has been a fierce critic of political leaders' failure to get to grips with the crisis. He confirmed the new supervisory powers would be vested in the ECB.
While Rajoy emerged as the main beneficiary of the summit, Monti also claimed success from a vaguely worded decision enabling the eurozone bailout funds to buy up government bonds, a move he hopes will reduce the cost of Italy's borrowing. While the statement said that the funds could be used more "flexibly", Draghi and Merkel emphasised continuing "conditionality" or strict terms for any country seeking help.
President François Hollande of France mentioned Italy as a possible beneficiary and said: "We agreed to fully use [these] tools without additional requirements from these countries."
Monti and Rajoy ambushed the summit on Thursday evening, blocking any progress on an overall deal until they were guaranteed specific decisions aimed at bringing down their soaring borrowing costs. That meant that the 17 leaders of the eurozone held their own summit for several hours until four in the morning and hammered out the accord.
Tempers were frayed. North European diplomats spoke of brinksmanship from Monti. "Because of the crazy demands of Spain and Italy, the end result is not satisfactory," said one.
With acute divisions remaining, there will be plenty of argument in the months ahead. "They will be quite difficult negotiations because we are in a new area," said Merkel. The Germans want the new banking regime to cover only the eurozone's "systemic banks," but Hollande said all eurozone banks should be included. "If any are left out, then we will be back to the Spanish situation."
And while the German parliament moved to pass Merkel's new euro rulebook, the fiscal pact, Hollande tied ratification in France to several other elements on the eurozone fiscal and economic agenda and a much slower schedule. Despite the concessions from Germany, Merkel also emphasised that she retained the power to block too liberal a use of the bailout funds. Banks could only be recapitalised directly once the new supervisory system was in place "in the medium-term" and she would be able to veto any such decisions. The decision to waive the preferential treatment for the bailout fund on the Spanish rescue was a one-off that would not be repeated in any further programmes, Merkel said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/30/2012 00:00 ||
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Yep, Europe's screwed, we knew that already.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/30/2012 6:27 Comments ||
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Good. You have to destroy what they have now completely before something worthwhile (or, at least, not a threat to the rest of the World) can be put in its place.
Posted by: European Conservative ||
06/30/2012 6:43 Comments ||
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This is a very biased view. From what I've read all they did is kick the can down the road again. Nothing is going to happen according to this until next year and then only if they can agree on a formal banking supervision formula run by the ECB.
That last one is the real sticker because that's the one that Merkel has said no easy money. AND that's probably going to require a change to the German constitution to pass.
This announcement is nothing more than propaganda for the masses to take some pressure off Rajoy and Monti.
#9
I had to google to find out what you meant by Bitter Clingers. Now I get the point.
The fact is that the Maastricht Treaty EXPLICITLY forbids a transfer union. Each state is required to mind (and mend) its own finances.
Today German parliament gave away its budget sovereignty to some undemocratic unelected body people cannot even spell out. We are witnessing a power grab of Eu bureaucrats which is simply unconstitutional and illegal. You could call it high treason, too, but those words sound so old-fashioned.
In a few years we'll pay by a currency cut. I will prepare accordingly.
Posted by: American at Heart (aka European Conservative) ||
06/30/2012 18:50 Comments ||
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Not sure exactly where to file.
HAIFA, Israel (AP) -- Grinning and waving, 14 women who survived the horrors of World War II paraded Thursday in an unusual pageant, vying for the honor of being crowned Israel's first "Miss Holocaust Survivor."
Billed by organizers as a celebration of life, the event also stirred controversy. In a country where millions have been touched by the Holocaust, many argued that judging aging women who had suffered so much on physical appearance was inappropriate, and even offensive.
"It sounds totally macabre to me," said Colette Avital, chairwoman of Israel's leading Holocaust survivors' umbrella group. "I am in favor of enriching lives, but a one-time pageant masquerading (survivors) with beautiful clothes is not what is going to make their lives more meaningful." There's a whiner in every group.
Pageant organizer Shimon Sabag rejected the criticism, saying the winners were chosen based on their personal stories of survival and rebuilding their lives after the war, and physical beauty was only a tiny part of the competition.
.....
Nearly 200,000 aging survivors live in Israel today, and the country's annual Holocaust Day is one of the most solemn occasions on the calendar. Restaurants and cinemas close, and the country comes to a standstill as sirens wail for two minutes. Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, frequently make references to the Holocaust when discussing the threat they believe a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to the Jewish state.
Thursday's contest was among the many unconventional beauty pageants that have sprouted up over the years. The war-torn countries of Angola and Cambodia have held "Miss Landmine" contests for survivors of land mine explosions, Star Trek fans enjoy the "Miss Klingon Empire" contest in Atlanta, and plus-sized women in Thailand compete for the honor of "Miss Jumbo Queen." There are also a senior citizens' pageants in the U.S. Jeebus, the mind boggles at some of these other pageants....
Posted by: BA ||
06/30/2012 00:00 ||
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Star Trek fans enjoy the "Miss Klingon Empire" contest in Atlanta
[Al Ahram] Myanmar's authorities have ordered opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to stop calling the country "Burma", state media reported Friday, its colonial-era name widely used to defy the former junta. "And don't call it 'Lower Volta,' neither!"
The old regime changed the country's official name two decades ago to Myanmar, saying the term Burma was a legacy of British colonialism and implied the ethnically diverse land belonged only to the Burman majority.
Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) party vigorously opposed the change, decrying it as a symbolic step by the generals towards creating a new country.
Berating her for using the name "Burma" during landmark recent visits to Thailand and Europe, the Election Commission accused Suu Kyi and party members of flouting a constitution they have vowed to uphold.
"As it is prescribed in the constitution that 'The state shall be known as The Republic of the Union of Myanmar', no one has the right to call (the country) Burma," it said in a statement, published in state mouthpiece The New Light of Myanmar.
"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi called Myanmar 'Burma' in her speech to the World Economic Forum in Thailand on 1 June, 2012," it noted. "Again, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi called Myanmar 'Burma' in her speeches during her Europe tour."
"Daw" is a term of respect in Myanmar.
Global leaders also face a dilemma of what to call the country, which is emerging from decades of army rule under the guidance of reform-minded Prime Minister Thein Sein.
Britannia's David Cameron ... has stated that he is certainly a big Thatcher fan, but I don't know whether that makes me a Thatcherite, which means he's not. Since he is not deeply ideological he lacks core principles and is easily led. He has been described as certainly not a Pitt, Elder or Younger, but he does wear a nice suit so maybe he's Beau Brummel ... calls it "Burma" while recent speeches by US President Barack Obama They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them... also referred to its colonial name.
But his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as The Woman to Call at 3 a.m. and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Bainbridge Colby ... chose a more diplomatic path on a trip to the nation in December, employing the term Burma but saying it sparingly, generally preferring to dodge controversy by saying "this country."
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2012 00:55 ||
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[Saudi Gazette] A member of a clan that is accused in the Philippines' worst political massacre was murdered as prosecutors urged him to testify against his relatives, police said Thursday.
Alijol Ampatuan was rubbed out in February as state prosecutors tried to put him on the stand, local police chief Marcelo Pintac said, adding that it was the sixth murder of somebody connected to the case.
"He (was) not a witness yet. I was told that they (prosecutors) were speaking to him about turning state witness," Superintendent Pintac told AFP by telephone.
He said the dead man was a distant relative of powerful political leader Andal Ampatuan Sr., one of 64 people standing trial in Manila over the massacre, and had worked as a security guard for the clan.
The Ampatuans are accused of massacring 57 people in the southern province of Maguindanao in Nov. 2009, allegedly to prevent a political rival from challenging a clan member in 2010 elections for provincial governor.
The family had ruled Maguindanao for a decade, armed by the previous government of then-president Gloria Arroyo, who used the clan's private army as a buffer against Mohammedan guerrillas.
Meanwhile, ...back at the Esquimeau village our hero was receiving a quick lesson in aeronautics......
...back at the pool hall, Peoria Slim had found another sucker...
a Philippine provincial governor says his political rival tried to kill him and his brother months before a 2009 election-related massacre.
Esmael Mangudadatu, governor of southern Maguindanao province, testified at the trial Thursday that the main suspect in the 2009 killings had sent hundreds of government soldiers, police and civilian militia to attack his brother's residence on the pretext that a rebel was hiding there.
Mangudadatu said he prevented the attack at his brother's residence by persuading gunnies to withdraw.
The massacre victims included the Ampatuan rival's relatives as well as 32 journalists and media workers, whose bodies were all found shot to death and buried in a shallow pit.
Pintac said the true identity of the latest murder victim took months to emerge because local police had initially identified Alijol Ampatuan's corpse as that of another person.
Prosecutors this month said the body of another man who has already testified against the Ampatuans, clan driver Esmael Amil Enog, was found "chain-sawed to pieces" and stuffed in a sack.
A third witness, a member of the clan's private army, was killed in 2010, while three relatives of other witnesses have also been murdered in separate incidents.
Carlos Conde, Philippine researcher for New York-based Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... , called on the government to boost its witness protection program to enable the state to send the massacre suspects to jail.
"This is meant to silence the witnesses and terrify those still thinking of testifying," he said. --
Posted by: Fred ||
06/30/2012 00:00 ||
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Sounds like the Hatfield's and Coys?
(no, not the fictional Mc Coys)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/30/2012 6:25 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
International Criminal Court
Mob beat up a man to death and injured two others suspecting them to be robbers at Char Sahabhikhari village in Sonagazi upazila of the district Thursday night.
European leaders have moved to halt the crisis engulfing Spain and Italy by agreeing a radical bailout package for the single currency's teetering banks.
David Cameron
