Open-air bride market of Bulgaria where teenage girls find their suitable matches

#BrideMarket #Bulgaria #StaraZagora #coppersmiths Welcome to the open-air bride market of Stara Zagora in Bulgaria where young Roma women are paraded before potential suitors and where poor families get a chance to arrange financially beneficial marriages for their children. This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 28 February 2015.
The potential brides are provocatively dressed, they don gobs of mascara and wear flashy jewelry, towering heels and mini-skirts to attract future husbands who form the band of prospective grooms. The intention of the groom’s families are to find a wife at a good cost.
The families who assemble in Stara Zagora belong to a community of about 18,000 Roma known as Kalaidzhi – they are traditionally coppersmiths and are among the most poverty-stricken people in a deeply impoverished region.
The objective of the bride-market is to forge mutually beneficial unions so that they can weather the economic downturn of Bulgaria.
This unique 'bride market' is held four times annually on various religious holidays during the spring and summer and provides a chance for the Roma's nomadic tinkers to meet, catch up on gossip an, simultaneously, play matchmaker for their growing up offspring.
On this occasion, the boys and girls dance side-by-side on the cars and get the rare opportunity to mix with the opposite sex – normally, youths are very seldom to mingle with the opposite sex.

Robert Mugabe relishes elephant meat on his 91st birthday

#RobertMugabe #Zimbabwe #TendaiMusasa #VictoriaFalls President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe celebrated his 91st birthday in a luxury hotel in the Victoria Falls resort by releasing 91 balloons and gorging himself on elephant meat as reported in news.sky.com dated 28 February 2015.
As per reports, thousands of people have flocked to the lavish birthday party and two young elephants had been slaughtered for the feast which was held on the hotel golf course, with white marquees housing guests.
The first elephant, it seems, was shot, cut up and passed to the organizers of the party while the second was reportedly to be given to members of the community.
The animals had been donated by game farmer Tendai Musasa – apart from the pair of elephants, he had also given a lion and a crocodile to be stuffed, and a herd of impala. Moreover, two members of the president's government offered 40 cows for slaughter for the bash.
President Mugabe has been in office for 27-years and, in the course of a 90-minute speech to his guests, he lambasted the US, which has imposed sanctions on him and Zimbabwe by saying that they cannot have it both ways. If they wanted friendship then they must be friends in totality.
Mugabe is the longest-serving leader of Africa and he is respect by many on the continent after he led Zimbabwe to independence. But, he is subject to travel bans in the European Union and also in the United States.

Baheri to paint normal dogs in blue to differentiate from killer dogs

Baheri in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, has witnessed attacks by killer dogs that have devoured as many as five children in the last 40 days and, hence, the authorities have devised a unique plan to tackle the menace. They want to paint all the normal dogs in blue to identify the killers which would, obviously, not be having the blue identification. This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 26 February 2015.
It is, no doubt, a fantastic idea but the question is of how to catch the animals and paint them in colors that would remain for at least 10 days. Hence, a suggestion has been put forth that villagers pour buckets of blue paint on the dogs.
Accordingly, a team consisting of a group of 15 villagers along with officials of the forest department and Nagar Palika will begin the painting operation. Moreover drugs will be administered to the canines to induce behavioral changes in them. These dogs would also be sterilized to control their population.
The animal activists have raised objections by saying that the villagers might end up painting the wrong set of dogs. Moreover, when buckets full of color are poured on dogs, the paint could get into their eyes – then there could be blind dogs around!!
Wonder why no one wants to catch the rogue dogs – their numbers would be much less than the normal ones.

Auckland sees nail biting finish to the Australia New Zealand thriller in CWC 2015

#CWC2015 #MitchellStarc #AusvNz #kiwis #wallabies Cricket is called the game of glorious uncertainties, more so the short ODI version – and this was once again proved in Eden Park, Auckland in the CWC 2015 match between Australia and New Zealand. Having bundled the mighty Australians out for just 151 when scores of 300 plus was becoming the norms, it was expected to be a simple and easy sailing home for the Kiwis but that was not to be as has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 1 March 2015.
It was the left arm quick bowler Mitchell Starc who spoilt the show for the home team because of the never say die attitude of the Aussies. But, he could not prevent the final outcome since New Zealand's Kane Williamson saw the Kiwis home by hitting a mighty six off bowler Pat Cummins to clinch the epic World Cup clash with just one wicket to spare.
The match could have gone the Aussie way – it was a matter of getting the last wicket.
Mitchell Starc returned figures of 6 for 28.
Pat Cummins became the villain of the day for the Wallabies.

Death toll in swine flu in India crosses the 1000 mark with more than 18000 affected

#swineflu #JPNadda #H1N1 #health Figures released by the Health Ministry indicate that the total number of deaths due to swine flu has reached 1,005, while the number of those affected was 18,105 till yesterday. This has been informed by Health Minister J P Nadda while he was responding to questions on the issue in the Lok Sabha and reported in zeenews.india.com dated 27 February 2015.
He has also added that there are only 21 laboratories for testing swine flu and that is inadequate therefore there are plans to set up H1N1 testing laboratories in every state of the country for which necessary financial provisions are being made.
Most of the casualties have been in Rajasthan where the toll is 251 and in Gujarat where it was 246. The figures for other states are 143 in Madhya Pradhesh while Maharashtra reported 125, 56 in Telangana, and 10 in Delhi.

The lighter side of ISIS jihadists – the Leaning Tower of Pizza

#jihadifoodtour #AdamHills #JoshWiddicombe #AlexBrooker #LastLeg The Islamic State jihadists have been caught on the wrong foot when they vowed to take over Rome and 'throw homosexuals off the leaning tower of pizza' – immediately, the internet world was flooded with other delicious hotspots that the ISIS could consider for such actions. This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 28 February 2015.
The Italians were the first to respond with a whole lot of mocking responses. Examples – in the UK the jihadi tourists could take in the 'London Pie', 'Sconehenge', 'Big Ben and Jerrys' and the 'Angel Cake of the North'. Other similar must-visit foodie destinations that have been suggested are the 'Trifle Tower', 'The Great Wall of Quinoa' and the 'Sydney Okra House'.
Twitter users have jokingly suggested a whole lot of other culinary hotspots for militants to visit with the hashtag #jihadifoodtour.
It seems the trend was started in an episode of The Last Leg on Channel 4 – in this program comedians Adam Hills, Josh Widdicombe and Alex Brooker have a look at the events of the week. Adam Hills set the ball rolling with his 'Empire Steak Building' and Josh Widdicombe responded with 'Battenburg Gate'.

China thrilled with increase in numbers of the wild giant panda

#giantpanda #sichuan #WWFChina As per the latest survey of wild giant pandas undertaken by China’s State Forestry Administration, it has been revealed that the animals are making a comeback in the country as reported in foxnews.com dated 28 February 2015.
The last census had been taken in 2003 and, now, the figure is much more – it has grown from only 268 in 2003 to 1864 now. Most of the Chinese panda population lives in the province of Sichuan – nearly 75% - while the balance live in Shaanxi and Gansu, which are near Sichuan.
In the opinion of Ginette Hemley, senior vice president of wildlife conservation for World Wildlife Fund, this rise in the population of wild giant pandas can be termed to be a victory for conservation. Credit for this should go to the Chinese government and its programs.
The survey has revealed that 1,246 wild giant pandas live within nature reserves and there are 67 of them in China – this is an increase of 27 since the last survey. Obviously, it can be concluded that the effectiveness of nature reserves in boosting wild giant panda numbers cannot be ignored.
Of course, there are threats - economic development in the regions are the main threat to future growth of the panda’s population because, as many as 319 hydropower stations and 832 miles of roads have been built in its natural habitat. This has been pointed out by Xiaohai Liu, executive program director for WWF-China.
Incidentally, the current census started in 2011 and took three years to complete.

Two great knocks so far in CWC 2015 – Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers

#CWC2015 #abdevilliers #chrisgayle #rohitsharma First of the great unbelievable knocks of CWC 2015 came from the West Indies batsman 35-year-old Chris Gayle who is well known for his hard hitting abilities. In the game against Zimbabwe, Chris hammered 215 runs in 147 balls - it included 16 sixes to match the record for most sixes in an ODI innings. This record is shared by India’s Rohit Sharma and South Africa’s AB de Villiers. This has been reported in indianexpress.com dated 24 February 2015.
The second of the wonderful knocks this World Cup was that of AB De Villiers in the match between South Africa and West Indies.
The Proteas captain AB de Villiers hammered 162 not out in just 66 balls to floor the West Indies. It included 17 fours and 8 sixes and was a grand show of how cricket can be played to the galleries. The fans flock to the venues to watch those magnificent sixes and applaud every shot – sometimes the runs come through flukes, sometimes due to poor fielding but, when shots are lofted high and beyond the reach of players, they are a treat to watch.
De Villiers put on the fastest ever 150 in ODI cricket - in just 64 balls – and South Africa had 408 runs on the board by the time the show ended. This is as per report in ibnlive.in.com dated 27 February 2015.
These are all Pool B matches in which India is also there – let us see if any Indian batsman can create a new record in CWC 2015.

Sarah Brightman scheduled to visit the International Space Station for 10 days

#internationalspacestation #Baikonur #Soyuzrocket #Reignwood #Kazakhstan Yes, it is now known that the ISS would soon get a British visitor – she will be Sarah Brightman, a British soprano and she would be there for a period of ten days as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 26 February 2015.
It is understood that on Septemvber1, Sarah Brightman, the big haired Phantom Of The Opera star, would blast off in a mighty Soyuz FG rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome deep in the desert steppes of Kazakhstan.
Along with her on board the space capsule would be three highly-trained cosmonauts and all of them would be bound for the International Space Station (ISS).
42-year-old Colonel Sergei Volkov will be commander and he would be leading his third mission into space. He will be accompanied by 35-year-old Danish Flight Engineer Andreas Mogensen, the holder of a doctorate in engineering from the University of Texas.
55-year-old English soprano Sarah Brightman would be the third member of the team. She has plans to hold a press conference on March 10 to discuss the mission. As per estimates, her ten-day sojourn on the ISS will cost her £34 million.
There is a big mystery on who is funding her trip – but, as per reports, she has agreed to perform a concert during her time in the International Space Station that would be streamed live back to Earth ‘during an event organized by Reignwood’ – this is a Chinese firm that has plenty of interests in England like luxury clubs, resorts, apartment blocks etcetera.
Obviously, a concert from the ISS would be a huge publicity program for the sponsors Reignwood.

Drones are the eyes in the sky for farmers, the future of agriculture

#drones #UAV #pesticides #fertilisers Drones or UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) have proved their worth in innumerable wars of the last decade and are gradually finding acceptance in civil lives - in the opinion of farmers, these drones could soon become indispensable as a farming equipment to agriculture and occupy a position alongside the tractor and combine harvester. This has been reported in foxnews.com dated 27 February 2015.
The Federal Aviation Administration is seized of the problems and has recently released new rules that would be governing the use of drones. Therefore, farmers, who view drones as a method of getting a birds-eye view of their fields so as to monitor crops accordingly would be able to pinpoint areas that would require fertilizer and pesticides.
Incidentally, commercial use of drones is still not approved but many farmers have begun to use them over their property. To them, an eye in the sky can be a great help for the farmer to assess more accurately the needs of the farm and its crops.
An example is the X8M drone – it has the ability to not just fly over a large area but also detect discoloration that might not be visible to the human eye, thanks to the equipment installed in the drone. That way, pesticides can be used only in areas that require them and, in the long run, it would mean less of harmful chemicals in the world.

Pot gets tag of legality in District of Columbia

#marijuana #pot #MarijuanaPolicyProject #whitehouse It has finally come to pass and the District of Columbia has given the tag of legality to the possession of small amounts of marijuana in spite of opposition from Congress as reported in news.sky.com dated 26 February 2015.
The capital now falls in line with Alaska, Colorado and Washington State by making marijuana lawful for recreational use and, this reflects a rapidly shifting legal landscape for the drug. However, it still remains illegal under the federal law.
It is now legal to possess up to 2oz (56g) for use at home, and permission is given to people to grow up to three mature plants. Of course, smoking marijuana in public remains illegal, as also the buying or selling of the drug.
As Robert Capecchi of the Marijuana Policy Project, a group that advocates for legalization, has remarked – this action can be considered to be a major milestone to putting the curtains down on the prohibition of marijuana in the United States.
He went on to add - if the president can brew and drink beer in the White House, adults should also be allowed to grow and consume a less harmful substance like pot in the confines of their houses.

Sunshine means Vitamin D – good for health in measured dose

#VitaminD #sunshine #melanoma #skincancer #health Research has found that sunlight in measured dose is good for health because of the amount of Vitamin D in it. This is because Vitamin D is available in only a few foods like fatty fish and mushrooms. Hence, sunlight is important for our health because we get most of Vitamin D from sunlight. This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 27 February 2015.
Insufficient exposure to the sun, or pigmentation of the skin (which diminishes the production of vitamin D precursors), usually gives rise to low levels of Vitamin D.
Of course, one needs to ensure that excess may be harmful because of the presence of the UV rays. Sunlight consists of two types of solar radiation UVA and UVB. The former results in reddening and burning of the skin, while the latter increases the production of an inactive form or precursor of vitamin D by the skin. This, in turn, is activated by the liver and kidneys.
Moreover, both UVA and UVB increase the risk of skin cancer. This could take the form of the most deadly type of cancer called melanoma.
Hence, one must invariably take a balanced approach to sunlight exposure.
Incidentally, deficiency of vitamin D deficiency could give rise to complications like low bone density, broken bones due to osteoporosis, muscle weakness, diabetes, multiple sclerosis, cardiovascular disease, colon cancer with fears of premature death.

Indian Railways – Budget 2015 is a budget of hollow promises

#RailBudget2015 #PrabhukiRail #biotoilet #IndianRailways The Railway Budget presented by Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu in the Parliament has made plenty of claims that may not be feasible given the mindset of Indians. In this connection reference can be made to ndtv.com dated 26 February 2015.
The fact that there is no change in passenger fares and no hikes is passe. But, why the reservation booking period of 4 months – can anybody predict what would happen in 4 months’ time. And – when he is unable to perform the journey, he would have to cancel it and pay cancellation charges. That is unfair. The reservation booking period should be much less – 10 days, as it used to be in the 1960s and 70s.
When it comes to cleanliness, we all know that it is of prime importance but, Indians are a typical set of people who have a different concept of cleanliness that may not match with the ideas of the Minister. It is good to know that integrated cleaning will be taken up through private agencies – what is left unsaid is that the contracts would probably go to people who have contacts that matter.
The Minister has indicated that 600 new bio-toilets would be brought in – probably these would be fitted in the Rajdhani Express and Shatbdi Express trains. But, the idea of replacing 17,000 old toilets with bio-toilets is vague. The toilets are an integral part of each coach. Each coach has four toilets and, to replace them, the coaches would have to go to the sheds for major repair work.
With 4 toilets in each coach and with each long distance train usually having around 30 coaches – that would mean 120 toilets in every train. Therefore, 17000 toilets would mean roughly 140 trains. Would the replacement of 17000 toilets become a 10-year project?
Before going in for such dream projects, the railways can come down to ground realities and take some action to check and repair or replace latches of existing toilets – many of them are unserviceable, broken or even missing.
Another area that needs to be clarified is that of audio-based warnings at unmanned railway crossings – the number of unmanned level crossings in the country is over 3000 as admitted and majority of these are in remote locations where electricity has yet to reach – therefore, the Minister should explain just how the audio-based warnings would work. Would these be solar operated systems or manual with fog horn like equipment?

Three reporters of Al-Jazeera arrested for flying a drone in Paris

#drone #Paris #EiffelTower #Aljazeera #BastilleSquare The sightings of drones flying at night over important landmarks of Paris had the police in a real frenzy because the general presumption was that there was some ulterior motives, probably with links to terrorists.
The Paris police have now got hold of three Al-Jazeera reporters who were allegedly flying a drone just after drones in the night sky had sparked a terror alert in the city as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 25 February 2015.
The three journalists from the Qatar-funded news network have been arrested in a park in Paris from where they had been operating a drone illegally. The arrested men are aged 70, 54 and 36 and the arrest was done after the police saw a drone flying in the Bois de Boulogne woods in western Paris. The first man was piloting the drone, the second one was filming and the third was watching.
The motive of flying the drone is still not clear. Incidentally, flying drones without a license in France is illegal and it carries a maximum one-year prison sentence and a fine of 75,000 euros.
It may be recalled that, in the recent past, drones had been seen in the vicinity of important landmarks like the Eiffel Tower, Bastille Square, the U.S. embassy, the Place de la Concorde and the Invalides military museum, where Napoleon lies buried. Obviously, the police would check out whether there is any link.

Iranians hang Obama’s effigy from gallows even as Kerry pursues nuclear deal with Iran

#IranNuclearDeal #IslamicRevolution #sanctions #Tehran The U.S. and Iran have been trying to reach a final nuclear agreement on a nuclear deal by a March 31 deadline against a backdrop of ongoing anti-American hatred in the Islamic republic but, the ground reality shows that there is no love lost between the US and Iran.
It has been reported in foxnews.com dated 25 February 2015 that Iranians had shown an effigy of President Barack Obama hanging from the gallows at a huge Tehran-sponsored rally held to mark the Islamic Revolution’s 36th anniversary. US Secretary of State John Kerry has been depicted as a devious fox.
It seems hundreds of thousands of Iranians took part in the Feb. 11 Revolution Day. This day commemorates the 1979 overthrow of the U.S.-assisted Shah of Iran and the Iranians, as they have in past, chanted, “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” and also burned and trampled an American flag.
The bone of contention is Iran’s nuclear ambitions – while the U.S. and other superpowers want to stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, Iran continues to justify its stand by insisting that its nuclear intentions are peaceful. The U.S. and the other superpowers have been trying to work out a deal with Iran so that Iran’s nuclear program is put on hold and, in exchange, the U.S. would lift billions of dollars in sanctions that have damaged Iran’s economy. However, nothing seems to be happening.

Afghanistan avalanche leaves more than 100 dead, dozens missing

#Afghanistan #Panjshir #avalanche #salangpass #Kabul Termed as the worst avalanche in Afghanistan in the last 30 years, the latest reports of two avalanches in the Panjshir province has killed more than 100 and dozens of people are missing. This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 25 February 2015.
The disaster was a result of avalanches triggered by two days of heavy snowfall in Afghanistan and the rescue teams are battling treacherous weather conditions as they try to reach those who may still be buried underneath the snow. The majority of the victims belonged to the northern Panjshir province. Snow has blocked main roads leading up to the affected villages and dozens of people continue to remain unaccounted for.
Provincial governor Abdul Rahman Kabiri has revealed that a 300-strong team of emergency workers had been sent to help, but lack of adequate tools was causing difficulties and hampering the operation because proper equipment is not available.
It is strange that in spite of so much international aid flowing to Afghanistan after the collapse of the Taliban, the country is still one of the poorest countries in the world and rescue operations get delayed due to lack of funding and infrastructure.
Apart from the deaths, at least 100 homes have also been destroyed and the blizzard has left parts of Kabul without electricity since power cables along the Salang Pass have been damaged.

Jamaica decriminalizes small amounts of marijuana

#marijuana #jamaicanweed #reggaemusic #ganja Taking from the United States that has legalized use of marijuana and its purchase and sale in some states, Jamaica is set to follow suit. A proposal has been approved in parliament to assign final legislative approval to an act that will decriminalize small amounts of pot and establish a licensing agency that will regulate a marijuana industry that would be lawful.
This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 26 February 2015.
Marijuana has been illegal in Jamaica for decades whether taken a medicinal herb or puffed as a sacrament by Rastafarians or converted into songs in the island's famed reggae music.
However, following years of dialogue about this drug, and emboldened by changes to drug laws in US states, Jamaica's Parliament gave its legislative approval and, this would pave the way for a "cannabis licensing authority" to be established that would deal with regulating the cultivation and distribution of marijuana for medical and scientific purposes.
It is expected that the Governor-General will be formally signing it into law in coming days.
As per the provisions of the act, possession of up to 2 ounces of marijuana would be treated as a petty offense that could result in a ticket but not in a criminal record. Moreover, it will be permissible to cultivate up to five plants on any premises. And, tourists who have been prescribed medical marijuana abroad will be able to apply for permits that would authorize them to legally buy small amounts of Jamaican weed which is also known as "ganja".

South Africa trains elephants to take up jobs of sniffer dogs

#snifferdogs #explosives #poachers #africanelephants South Africa is breaking new ground by training elephants to take over jobs of sniffer dogs by making use of their super-strength sense of smell to sniff out explosives and poachers as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 25 February 2015.
The project is supported by the U.S. Army Research Office who have been inspired after watching elephants in Angola using their trunks to help avoid areas full of land mines that had been left over from decades of civil war.
As explained by Sean Hensman, operator of Adventures with Elephants game ranch in South Africa, the nose of an elephant has amazing properties – this becomes all the more apparent when we imagine mammoths that had to find food through the ice.
During tests conducted by the U.S. Army Research Office, a 17-year-old male elephant was walked past a row of buckets- one of which would have a swab laced with TNT scent stapled to the bottom. The elephant had to insert his trunk into each bucket and, he was taught to stop and raise a front leg when he came across the one with the swab.
After some tries, he managed to get the bucket right every time and he was rewarded like a sniffer dog – his reward was the marula fruit.

Mysterious tunnel near venue of Pan Am Games in Toronto baffles the police

#PanAmGames #Toronto #Rexallcentre #MysteryTunnel The discovery of a mysterious tunnel measuring 23 feet long and able to accommodate a standing man near the venue of this summer’s Pan Am Games in Toronto has baffled the authorities as reported in foxnews.com dated 24 February 2015.
The Pan Am Games are scheduled for July 10-26.
The tunnel had been dug in the woods near Toronto's Rexall Centre and York University's Keele campus and, even though it had been discovered by police several weeks ago, has been officially made public only now.
Tennis Canada operates in the Rexall Centre and it is working with police in the investigation. In the opinion of the authorities, the tunnel sis not pose any risk to the games but they want the help of the public to find out who built the tunnel and why.
As per information, the tunnel was large enough for a person to stand in and was equipped with lights powered by a generator. It was now been filled in by authorities.

MI5 agents, in disguise, attend trial of a terror suspect in New York court

#MI5 #Manchester #disguise #terrorsuspect Agents of the British spy agency MI5 are appearing in a court in New York as witnesses in the trial of a terror suspect who had, reportedly, made plans to carry out multiple terrorist attacks in Britain as reported in news.sky.com dated 24 February 2015.
The individual on trial is a Pakistani student Abid Naseer and he is accused of planning attacks on targets in Manchester, New York and Copenhagen. He is his own defense counsel and defending himself.
It seems the judge in the trial has agreed that the agents of MI5 can wear a "light disguise" to protect their identities.
The first agent has been identified by the code 1661 – he appeared before the jury wearing a blue suit and tie with a full dark beard and moustache, black hair that covered his ears in a 1970s style parted to the right, and wire-framed glasses. This disguise would allow the jury to observe and assess the facial expressions of the witness. He looked to be in his 20s or early 30s and spoke with a Manchester accent. He has said that he had been a member of MI5 for eight years and, he looked to be wearing a wig and there are doubts on whether his beard was real.
The second MI5 agent who was on the witness stand was a woman identified by the number 1448 – she wore shoulder-length hair that may have been a wig, and black-framed glasses. She had, by her own admission, been in the service for 11 years.

19 manatees stuck in Florida storm drain rescued and returned to Indian River Lagoon System

#manatees #Florida #stormdrains #SatelliteBeach As many as 19 manatees had got stuck in a storm drain in Florida and rescue workers of the Satellite Beach Fire Department along with a manatee-rescue team from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission had to work overtime to free them and return them to the Indian River Lagoon System. This has been reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 25 February 2015.
In order to carry out this work, the rescuers had to bring in heavy earth-moving equipment to the Satellite Beach neighborhood, located on a barrier island on Florida's central Atlantic Coast near Cape Canaveral.
FWC Research Institute spokesman Brandon Basino has indicated that it is not clear exactly how the manatees became stuck, but noted that there was no grate on the storm drain. Moreover, during the winter months, the manatees usually sought out warm habitats. And then, of course, their unique properties of being curious.
Just before setting them free, the FWC biologists marked all the manatees on their backs with a grease pen. This non-toxic markers will allow the biologists to identify the rescued manatees as and when they check on their conditions.

Switch over from green cabbages to the red ones to get 10 times more Vitamin A

#redcabbage #VitaminA #healthcraze Yes, switching over from the conventional green cabbages to the red variety is the latest health craze because the red ones have 10 times more Vitamin A and twice the amount of iron as compared to the green ones. This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 23 February 2015.
It seems in the past year, 545 tons have been bought in Britain – this is up by nearly 50 per cent on the previous 12 months. And the amount that consumers had spent on red cabbage soared accordingly by 26.4 per cent to £590,000. These figures have been given by the trade magazine The Grocer.
The sale of red cabbage are booming as more and more numbers of shoppers get wise to its health benefits.
It may be noted that cabbages have been part of a staple diet of many UK households for a long time due to its nutritional value and versatility as a vegetable. Moreover, the conditions in the UK are ideal for growing the best cabbages in the world.

Santa Barbara to reactivate its desalination plant to tackle drought situation

#Californiadrought #desalination #water Santa Barbara had set up a desalination plant way back in 1991 when California was parched, the plant was turned on for a test run and then shut down when the skies opened up and tremendous amount of rain was dumped in, what has since been known as, the "miracle rain" on California.
It was an expensive investment and, has been sitting idle for the last 24 years and is now being reactivated in order to tackle the severe drought situation in California as reported in foxnews.com dated 23 February 2015. It is the Charles Meyer Desalination Plant in the city neighborhood known as the Funk Zone and, in technical terms, in "long-term storage mode."
Restarting the plant would involve costs to the tune of nearly $40 million to do it – the result would be that the residents of Santa Barbara would be drinking, bathing and washing clothes in the most expensive tap water in America.
As per information, Santa Barbara has been in a Stage II drought since May 2014. Stage III is as bad as it gets and, in the opinion of Santa Barbara water resources manager, Joshua Haggmark, the city could reach that flashpoint by May.

North Korea wants to promote tourism but Ebola scare plays spoilsport

#PyongyangMarathon #NorthKorea #Ebola #biologicalweapon It is a real paradox for North Korea – while it wants to see more tourists, the scare of Ebola has forced it to ban foreign marathon runners from the annual Pyongyang marathon as reported in news.sky.com dated 23 February 2015. This ban has been imposed even though the secretive country does not have any previous recorded of any case of Ebola virus.
The race officially as the Mangyongdae Prize International Marathon, runs through the streets of Pyongyang and had been thrown open for the first time to foreigners last year – the response was positive and it was a huge success.
Accordingly, hundreds of foreigners had signed up to run in this year's event on 12 April – their incentive was to avail of this rare chance to compete in the mysterious country. However, they are now a disappointed lot because tour operators have been told that the race is now only open to North Korean runners, due to fear of Ebola.
The marathon, in its 27th year, is part of a series of sporting competitions, arts festivals and cultural events to mark the birthday of North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung, which falls on 15 April.
The Ebola virus has killed upwards of 9,000 people in West Africa - but there ae no reports of infection either in North Korea or in the surrounding region. Incidentally, the country's media has previously suggested that the disease was a human creation of the US military and that Ebola was a biological weapon.

Hawaiian Airlines plans to spread its wings to New Zealand

#HawaiianAirlines #AirNewZealand #FijiAirways #Auckland #Honolulu Hawaiian Airlines at present operates three return fights every week to Auckland but, it now plans to increase the frequency and nurses hopes to step up the number of flights to New Zealand as reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 23 February 2015.
Hawaiian Airlines is based in Honolulu and has been flying to Auckland for just on two years. In the opinion of its president and chief executive Mark Dunkerley, while there are no plans announced right now but in the long term perspective, and if the traffic continues to grow, the possibilities of increasing frequency is certainly on the cards.
The airline has undergone rapid growth around the Pacific Rim in the past five years and was reported to be making "good money" on the Auckland route. In view of its presence the passenger traffic between Auckland and Honolulu has nearly doubled. As a result, Air New Zealand had to rejig its schedule, and add more seasonal capacity apart from dropping its fares.
Fiji Airways is also another option to fly to Hawaii via Fiji.
In spite of competition, the fastest growing market for Hawaiian Airlines was that of Americans who were flying south to this country – it is a reflection of a growing awareness of Hawaiian Airlines' network and the improvement in the United States economy.

Community spirit is dead – one in six of us do not know the name of our neighbor

#communityspirit #sharethewarmth #pregnantlady #elderly A study carried out by the Home Heat Helpline for its ‘Share the Warmth’ campaign has concluded that the milk of human kindness is not readily seen in today’s society and one in six of us do not have any idea of our neighbor’s first name – this has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 22 February 2015.
This has been revealed in the study which showed that even though nearly 94 per cent of us claim that we are ‘giving’ people, 16 per cent do not know their neighbor’s name. Moreover, nearly a quarter (23 per cent) have admitted that they have never performed any ‘random act of kindness’.
Some of these acts are allowing someone to go ahead of us in a queue - 51 per cent have said that they have done that. To add to the list - more than a quarter admitted that they would not trust a neighbor to look after their home while away and only 22 per cent said they had ever given up their seat on public transport to a pregnant woman or an elderly person.
Some more shockers – nearly fifty percent of those questioned said they did not feel part of a community, and 35 per cent admitted that they have not giving anything back to their local area.

Colorado gets 10 inches of snow – travel plans go awry

#Colorado #winterstorm #DenverAirport #travel A heavy winter storm threw life haywire in Colorado and snow up to three inches an hour fell across parts of Colorado's Front Range on Saturday and people braced themselves to face another blast of winter weather. There are fears that it could bring two feet or more to some areas by the beginning of next week as reported in foxnews.com dated 22 February 2015.
Denver International Airport officials indicated that 180 flights were canceled on Saturday – this was about 12 percent of scheduled flights. The airport has said that it has enough equipment like snowplows, broom trucks, runway sanders, snow melters and 4,000 gallons of chemicals on hand to clear the runways for planes in case the situation worsens.
Reports indicate that the latest snow started in northern Colorado on Saturday afternoon and began to move southwards. National Weather Service meteorologist Bernie Meier has indicated that the condition could last through Monday.
Most of the mountain snow is expected in north-central Colorado. The Colorado Avalanche Information Center has revealed that there was already 10 inches of new snow around Steamboat Springs and six inches around Aspen and Vail. In view of this some of the grocery stores were packed because the people wanted to stock up for the weekend. Consequently, bins of vegetables and rows of soup became empty in no time.

Ukraine sticks to ceasefire deal – withdraws heavy weapons from war zones

#ukraineceasefire #Minsk #VladimirPutin #Ukraine #Kharkiv #Mariupol In keeping with the ceasefire accord, Ukrainian forces have started the process of withdrawing its heavy weapons from the warzones as agreed with the pro-Russian separatist rebels. This has been confirmed by a military spokesman and reported in news.sky.com dated 22 February 2015.
Under the terms of the peace agreement signed in Minsk there was to be an exchange of all prisoners as well as a cessation of hostilities – so far, only 139 Ukrainian soldiers and 52 rebels have been swapped.
However, there appears to be no corresponding gesture from the other side because convoys of armored vehicles have been tracked entering Ukraine from Russia. Also, attacks from pro-Russia rebels have been continuing near the village of Shyrokyne which is close to Mariupol. To add to the confusion, at least two people have been killed and 15 others wounded flowing the throwing of an "unknown explosive device" from a car in the government-controlled city of Kharkiv.
The Interior Ministry of Ukraine considers this as an act of terrorism and has taken place during a peace march to mark one year since former president Viktor Yanukovych was ousted from power. The authorities have detained some suspects in this regard.
In this respect, Air Chief Marshal Lord Stirrup has accused President Vladimir Putin of running a ‘gangster regime’ and has also remarked that UK should think on whether it should supply weapons to Ukraine.

India breaks the World Cup jinx – beats South Africa convincingly in CWC 2015

#CWC2015 #INDvsSA #Dhoni #Proteas #MCG India had never beaten South Africa in any Cricket World Cup matches till it finally happened in Melbourne when India beat them convincingly by 130 runs as reported in zeenews.india.com dated 23 February 2015.
It was a wonderful win coming on the back of the win against arch rivals Pakistan and with twin wins under his belt, captain M S Dhoni is a much relieved man – thanks to his team delivering on all fronts. While the batsmen put on the runs on the board to reach a huge score of 307 runs, his bowlers kept chipping off at the South Africans till their miseries ended by the 41st over. They could not last for the full 50 overs.
Shikhar Dhawan’s 170 coupled with 79 by Ajinkya Rahane happened in the morning session when Dhoni chose to bat after winning the toss. And, in the afternoon it was Ravichandra Ashwin with his 3 wickets followed by 2 wickets each by Mohit Sharma and Mohammad Shami that brought the win for India. The Proteas were left wondering what had hit them!!
Before the start of the game, there were fears that Dale Steyn would create havoc but, the fears were unfounded because Indian batsmen played him to perfection and he managed to bag only one wicket for 55 runs.

Prince Harry to remain in the Army but would not fly

#PrinceHarry #Apachepilot #InvictusGames #WalkingWithTheWounded Prince Harry had been an Apache pilot in Afghanistan and he had, at one time, described his role as an Apache pilot fighting the Taliban as ‘the best experience ever’ but, it seems, he does not want to fly again as a combat helicopter again. This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 21 February 2015.
For al practical purposes, Prince Harry, who spent five months in the cockpit of a gunship in Afghanistan, has now decided to hang up his flying goggles in spite of the fact that there is a shortage of pilots in the Army.
The 30-year-old Prince Harry or Captain Wales as he is called in the Forces, was expected to return to the skies with the Army Air Corps after arranging the Invictus Games. This is an Olympic-style event for wounded service personnel that was held in London last year. However, it now appears that he has informed the top brass in the military that he wants to continue working with injured troops. Subsequently, he would return next year to his parent regiment, the Blues and Royals.
It is understood that this summer he would join a team of injured soldiers in their walk across Britain in aid of the charity Walking With The Wounded.

US astronauts onboard ISS have to work for their living – spacewalk is their routine

#spacewalk #ISS #NASA #AstroButch #AstroTerry #SpaceX #Boeing The US astronauts Butch Wilmore and Terry Virts who are onboard the ISS have to work hard for their living – these spacewalking astronauts have already routed more than 300 feet of cable outside the International Space Station. This is not an easy task but is tricky and tiring and they have to complete the task before the new American-made crew capsules arrive.
This has been reported on foxnews.com dated 21 February 2015.
Their latest spacewalk was the first of three such walks planned over the coming week. The total length of cable they have to run outside the ISS is 764 feet and they have already succeeded in completing the rigging of eight power and data lines, or roughly 340 feet.
In the opinion of NASA, the task ahead for Butch Wilmore and Terry Virts is the most complicated cable-routing job in the 16-year history of the space station and it would be equally difficult to run the cable on the inside of the complex. This extensive rewiring is necessary in order to get ready for NASA's next phase.
In 2017, it would be time for arrival of the first commercial spacecraft capable of transporting astronauts to the orbiting lab.
It may be recalled that NASA has contracted with Boeing and SpaceX to build the capsules and fly them from Cape Canaveral.
Once they arrive in the ISS, the docking ports must be ready hence, still more spacewalks would be necessary to set everything up.

Prisoner swap in Ukraine is a positive sign for peace

#Ukraineceasefire #Ukraine #Debaltseve #prisonerexchange #Luhansk After the announcement of cease fire in Ukraine, there have been reports of scattered violence but the exchange of government troops and pro-Russian rebels is seen to be a positive sign about the peace process as reported in news.sky.com dated 22 February 2015.
The peace agreement had been signed last week in Minsk and it envisages an exchange of all prisoners apart from cessation of hostilities.
The exchange of 139 Ukrainian soldiers and 52 rebels took place in no-man's land near the village of Zholobok, about 12 miles from Luhansk. This is a village located near the border in the country's war-torn east.
Some of the Ukrainians were on crutches and had to walk a distance of nearly two miles to a rendezvous point before the exchange was carried out. It has been observed that many of the soldiers exchanged looked to be injured and both sides accused the other of mistreating prisoners.
As understood from pro-Moscow rebels, most of the Ukrainian soldiers who have been released had been taken prisoner during fighting for the town of Debaltseve.
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has been informed about these exchanges.
A spokesman of the Ukrainian security has revealed that the rebels are continuing to move equipment toward the port city of Mariupol. This is a matter of concern because, the rebels could make attempts to seize the city and establish a land corridor between mainland Russia and the Crimea.

Cyclone Lam in northwest Australia plays havoc

#CycloneLam #ElchoIsland #NorthernTerritory Cyclone Lam has struck northwest Australia and has left behind a trail of destruction in the form of houses with roofs peeled back like tin cans, trees uprooted and tossed on to buildings, metal telephone towers levelled as reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 22 February 2015.
As per reports, four remote Australian Northern Territory communities have been hit hardest by the cyclone and rescue and recovery teams have taken up work to assess the damages.
The four worst affected areas are nearly 5000 residents in Galiwinku on Elcho Island, Gapuwiyak in Arnhem Land, Milingimbi and Ramingining – they have borne the brunt of the category four storm. The Northern Territory Government has declared a state of emergency in those areas.
Rescue teams are facing problems because, as acting Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw has said - some people do not want to move out and want to continue in reside in accommodation that is unfit for living.
Work has been taken up to progressively restore water and sewerage services.
It was a strong cyclone with wind speeds reaching 260km/h – even then, there had been no reports of any major injuries or loss of life.

Red Planet Mars in the limelight – NASA announces results of its competition

#NASA #MarsMission #marsexploration With the intention of generating an interest in the Red Planet Mars among the commoners, NASA had announced a competition in September 2014 and its results have come out now as reported in zeenews.india.com dated 21February 2014.
The competition was the Mars Balance Mass Challenge in which NASA had asked for design ideas for small science and technology payloads that could provide dual purpose as ejectable balance masses on spacecraft that would be entering the Martian atmosphere.
There were a total of 219 submissions from 43 countries as revealed by NASA chief technologist David Miller and the first prize of $20,000 has been awarded to Texas-based Ted Ground. His idea was to study the Martian atmosphere by releasing material that could be seen and studied by other Martian spacecraft in orbit and on the ground.
Moreover, an honorable mention and a prize of $5,000 went to a team of engineers from Grand Rapids, Michigan – their idea was to study Martian weather by looking at wind patterns near the planet's surface.
NASA feels that the two winning ideas would pave the way for bringing to the forefront more such innovative ideas into Mars missions.
As George Tahu, program executive for Mars Exploration at NASA headquarters in Washington, DC has remarked – ‘we want citizens to join us on the journey to Mars’.
Incidentally, the submissions ranged from analyzing Martian weather or the Martian surface, to demonstrating new technologies such as 3D printing or parachutes, apart from pre-positioning supplies for future human missions on the planet's surface.

Fortune telling in the Bronze Age revealed through three Armenian shrines

#bronzeage #armenia #cornelluniversity #fortunetellers #Ephedra With the discovery of three Bronze Age shrines in a hilltop fortress at Gegharot, Armenia efforts have been launched to try and fathom out how they might have been used to predict the future – this has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 20 February 2015.
Each of the shrines is approximately 3,300-year-old and consists of a single room in which there is a clay bowl that is filled with smaller ash and ceramic artefacts. In the opinion of researchers, these could have been part of an ancient ritual where local rulers would reach an altered state of mind by drinking wine and burning substances.
Archaeologists of Cornell University have found evidence of animal bones, stone and flour in all the three shrines. The researchers had taken the pottery, washed them with distilled water and, after analysis of the run off found residues of grape, and something similar to Ephedra – this is a type of stimulant.
The artifacts in the shrine include clay idols, animal bones, stamp seals and containers in which substances used to have been burnt.
Moreover, the archaeologists at Cornell University are of the opinion that items like the knucklebones of cows, sheep and goat were used as a type of dice to predict the future.
In one of the shrines, they came across 18 pebbles which had been selected for their smooth, rounded shape and their color palette, which ranged from black and dark grey to white, green and red.

79-storey skyscraper Torch Tower in Dubai engulfed by fire

#torchtower #dubai #tamweel The Torch Tower in Dubai is a 79-storey skyscraper and one portion of it was engulfed in a huge fire that sent the residents fleeing the scene from the 1100ft tall building as reported in news.sky.com dated 21 February 2015.
As revealed by witnesses, the blaze apparently started at around 2am in the middle of the residential building and rapidly spread across some 15 floors. Videos posted on social media websites showed multiple floors of the high-rise ablaze and strong winds fanned the flames while burning debris rained down from building.
Fire alarms had alerted residents and the building management sent workers to the doors to ensure that the residents got out. The fire was brought under control after several hours and no casualty has been reported.
The Torch Tower is located in the Marina district of the city has and 79 floors. It is one of the world's tallest residential buildings and the apartments are popular with Dubai's large number of expatriate professionals.
Marina district is home to a number of towering apartment blocks and hotels that have come up in the last decade. The reason for the fire in Torch Tower is still not known but, in 2012, there was a huge blaze that had gutted the 34-Tamweel tower in the nearby Jumeirah Lake Towers district – that fire had started from a cigarette butt that was thrown into a bin.

Kiwis beat England in CWC 2015 – finished 50 over game in just under 13 overs

#CWC2015 #timsouthee #NZvsENG #wellington It all happened in Wellington when New Zealand took on England in their Pool A match – England won the toss and opted to bat first and did not know the miseries that the Kiwis would pile on them as reported in indianexpress.com dated 21 February 2015.
It was a devastating spell by Tim Southee that sealed England’s fate when they went out for a score of just 123 in 33.2 overs. Southee returned figures of 7 for 33.
Then it was the turn of Brendon McCallum to show his class when he hammered the England bowlers to all corners of the stadium at will to score a quick fire 50 – he did it in 18 deliveries. It was the third fastest in the history of one-day internationals after A.B. de Villiers (16 balls) and Shahid Afridi (17).
He ultimately scored 77 in only 25 deliveries by hitting eight fours and seven sixes. It was the third straight win for New Zealand in Pool A within seven days and the game ended before the floodlights had been turned on in the day-night match.
England had earlier lost its opening match by 111-run against Australia and now face a tough task to remain in reckoning in the CWC 2015.

Stephen Hawking says survival of mankind depends on Space exploration

#StephenHawking #artificialintelligence #londonsciencemuseum #spaceexploration 73-year-old Professor Stephen Hawking is a firm believer in the fact that the future of mankind depends on man’s ability to explore space as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 20 February 2015. He made these remarks during a tour of London's Science Museum.
He went on to say that landing on the moon gave us new perspectives of life on Earth, and it is necessary to take note of this outlook which must be developed if mankind is to survive. While on the subject, he added that aggression should be wiped out of the human race and instead, there should be empathy to avoid a major nuclear war that could bring to an end civilization as we know it.
In the opinion of Professor Hawking, a major nuclear war could bring about the end of civilization, and possibly the human race. Therefore, space exploration was 'life insurance' for the human race and needed to continue.
By sending humans to the moon, man has changed the future of the human race but exactly how and to what extent can be known only after sometime.
Incidentally, in December 2014, he had issued another warning on artificial intelligence. He felt AI could spell the end of the human race. He was, at the time, speaking at an event in London and had told that the development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.

Obesity is a global problem and needs to be viewed as an epidemic

#obesity #health #overweight #healthyfood #unhealthyfood Obesity is a global problem and needs to be viewed as an epidemic. Efforts to tackle it at the international level is extremely slow and no country has, yet, been able to reverse the trend as revealed in a recent major study and reported in news.sky.com dated 19 February 2015.
The six-part series has been published in The Lancet and it examines how different countries across the world are dealing with an increasing obesity epidemic. The focus is on a whole range of issues beginning from not only the quality of diet but also on how to influence and encourage children to eat healthier food.
The study has found that while consumption of healthy foods has improved, it has been overtaken by people going in for more unhealthy foods – a paradox. As a result, some of the wealthiest regions in the world are still stuck with the lowest quality diets.
As per estimates, 600 million people worldwide are obese, with 2.1 billion now overweight. This aspect of being overweight should be given necessary importance because is believed to be the reason for death of 2.8 million people every year.
Reports indicate that in some countries like the UK, childhood obesity numbers have levelled off, but even today, no country can claim to have reversed the obesity epidemic. Therefore, experts want a worldwide action plan that would include restrictions on how food meant for children is marketed. Moreover, they would also like to have suitable regulation of food nutritional quality and availability in schools, better labelling with nutritional values and taxes on drinks that are high in sugar.
The intentions are to increase awareness and penalize those who do not toe the line.

Ghost closes Mysuru court hall for nine months

#ghost #mysuru #courtroom #astrologer A ghost has closed a court room in Mysuru – a court hall has remained shut for nine months due to the presence of a ghost as reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 20 February 2015. As indicated by sources, the hall has been branded as a "ghost room" after a judge who was holding court there lost his life in a road accident last year.
The district sessions judge's hall is located right above the closed hall.
The room was locked out in May 2014 and, before that date, it housed the First additional sessions judge, and many important judgments and sensational cases were read out of this hall. The hall is located at the entrance of the court premises and has, now, been reduced to a storeroom where broken furniture and chairs and tables are kept.
It is a bit strange that the court authorities have not opened the hall or posted a judge there, and, by their inaction, they have fueled rumors. Apparently, an astrologer has suggested that the court hall should remain locked until special pujas were performed so as to clean the place of evil influences.
This is happening in 21st century India where efforts are being made at the government level to rid the fear complex associated with the superstition.

New way to fight wrinkles – go in for guilt free chocolate

#wrinkles #antiaging #chocolate #antioxidant If you are in your 50s or 60s and are worried about those wrinkles, say bye-bye to antiaging creams and switch over to chocolates. A special type of chocolate called guilt free chocolate. It will make your skin look like that of 20 and 30 year olds as reported in nzherald.co.nz dated 20 February 2015.
This chocolate can help you to combat wrinkles and also do away with sagging skin problems.
Known as Esthechoc it is the brainchild of a Cambridge University-linked laboratory which lays claim to boost antioxidant levels and increase circulation which, in turn, will prevent lines and keep skin looking youthful and smooth.
It seems a small 7.5g bar of the chocolate contains the same amount of the antioxidant astaxanthin as a fillet of Alaskan salmon, and is more or less than the levels of free radical-fighting cocoa polyphenols as 100g of dark chocolate.
The claim is that it can change the underlying skin of a 50 to 60-year-old into that of someone in their 20s or 30s and, this has been established by conducting tests on 400 volunteers. The results were exciting - after four weeks of eating the chocolate every day they had less evidence of inflammation in their blood and increased blood supply to skin tissue. As explained by Dr Ivan Petyaev, a former Cambridge University researcher, and the founder of biotech firm Lycotec which is behind the product – use is made of the same antioxidant that keeps goldfish gold and flamingos pink.
Clinical trials have shown that inflammation in the skin starts to reduce and the tissues began to benefit through guilt free chocolate.
Reports indicate that the confectionery, also known as Cambridge Beauty Chocolate, will be available in boxes as a three-week supply, individually wrapped, and can be had in high-end retailers from next month – probably with a hefty price tag.

Aero India 2015 – two planes of Flying Bulls have a narrow escape while doing aerobatics

#aeroindia2015 #flyingbulls #bengaluru #radkamachova It was a narrow escape for two planes of the Flying Bulls team of Czech Republic when the wing of one scraped the wing of the other as they were over the runway. The team has come to Bengaluru to take part in the Aero India 2015 show as reported in thehindu.com dated 19 February 2015. The Aero India 2015 is being held at the Air Force station in Yelahanka, Bengaluru, and the two fliers of the four-member team of the acrobatic fliers, Flying Bulls, escaped unhurt.
It seems the aerobatics team was carrying out one of its performances when the accident took place and the wing of one of the planes hit the wing of the other. The plane that was hit was damaged almost up to the cockpit but, both succeeded to land safely.
66-year-old Radka Machova, lead pilot of Flying Bulls, was the pilot of the plane that was hit and, as a result of this accident, the air show was stopped to clear the runway from any objects that might have fallen. The show resumed once clearance was given after a half an hour.
In view of this accident, the team will perform for the rest of the Aero India show even though they were supposed to perform till February 22.

Dietary habits around the world – the best and the worst

#healthyfood #unhealthyfood #junkfood A study of the dietary habits of the world has revealed that people in Chad and Sierra Leone, in Africa, have the best diets because they consume plenty of fruit, vegetables, nuts and whole grains while the Belgians love their chocolate and waffles, and the Hungarians their rich goulash, they are the worst. This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 19 February 2015.
The result of the study conducted by Dr Fumiaki Imamura, of the University of Cambridge, has been published in The Lancet Global health journal and the study has assessed the quality of diet in 197 countries, covering almost 4.5 billion adults, 90 per cent of the global population.
In general, the study has found that there is a rise in consumption of fruit and vegetables worldwide probably due to various awareness campaigns but, this rise was offset by an increase in the consumption of junk food.
The observation is that people who live in many of the wealthiest regions like the U.S. and Canada, Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand even now have some of the worst quality diets in the world. The reason is because they have some of the highest consumption of unhealthy food worldwide.
However, some countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in Asia – like China and India - have seen no improvement in the quality of their diet over the past 20 years.
The study has identified 10 healthy food items as fruit, vegetables, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds, whole grains, milk, total polyunsaturated fatty acids, fish, omega-3s, and dietary fiber. Simultaneously, they have also identified an unfavorable diet that is based on seven unhealthy items namely - unprocessed meats, processed meats, sugar-sweetened drinks, saturated fat, trans fat, dietary cholesterol, and salt.

Global warming forces grizzly bears of Yellowstone to wake up before schedule

#grizzlybears #yellowstonenationalpark #bearspray #globalwarming Global warming is taking its toll on the grizzly bears of Yellowstone National Park because, this year, they have women up before time – on Feb 9, a grizzly has found to be feasting on a bison carcass and, that is roughly a month earlier than usual.
This has been reported in foxnews.com dated 19 February 2015.
Normally, visitors to Yellowstone in February do not need to be worried about running into a grizzly bear but, this year, they are being advised to pack the bear spray.
As revealed by officials of the Park, they have come across unseasonably warm temperatures this winter and believe that the reason is probably the warm climate.
Of course, they have added that the warm climate is an indicator, but it does not imply that there is a rush of bears leaving their dens. However, spotting one could mean that there could be others and the fact that it was eating would probably means that it had come out of its den for good.
There are nearly 600 grizzlies in the greater Yellowstone region, and they account for over half of the total population of bears in the lower 48 states.

Defense Secretary Michael Fallon feels Russia is testing the NATO nations

#michaelfallon #russia #balticstates #ukraine #NATO #davidcameron Defense Secretary Michael Fallon has voiced fears that Russia could be nurturing plans to destabilize NATO alliance countries like Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia following its activities in Ukraine and Crimea. In the opinion of Michael Fallon, there exists "real and present danger" that Russia could go in for using irregular troops, or carry out cyber-attacks or inflame tensions with ethnic Russian minorities.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 19 February 2015.
The Defense Secretary has gone on to add that his worry was about Russian President Vladimir Putin's "pressure on the Baltics" and that NATO must be ready to face any kind of aggression from Russia, in whatever form it comes.
While on the subject, Michael Fallon pointed out that quite recently, two long-range Russian bombers had flown down the English Channel off the coast of Bournemouth. It was the first instance after the height of the Cold War that such an incident has happened and it reveals the intentions.
His comments have come against the backdrop of Prime Minister David Cameron urging Europe to tell Russia that it would faces economic and financial consequences for "years to come" if it continues to destabilize Ukraine.
As proof on the involvement of Russia in the Ukraine affairs, the Prime Minister indicated that the pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine are using Russian rocket launchers, Russian tanks, and Russian artillery, you these cannot be bought on eBay. They are sourced from Russia and that is unacceptable.

Treasure trove of 11th century gold coins unearthed from ancient Israeli harbor

#fatimid #israel #egypt #caesarea #goldcoins A group of divers belonging to the Marine Archaeology Unit in Israel has stumbled upon the largest hoard of gold coins ever discovered in the country. It seems nearly 2000 gold coins of the Fatimid period, or the eleventh century, were unearthed from the seabed of the ancient harbor in Caesarea National Park.
This information has been released by the Israel Antiquities Authority as reported on foxnews.com dated 17 February 2015. In the opinion of Kobi Sharvit, director of the Marine Archaeology Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority, this could be the result of a shipwreck of an official treasury boat which was carrying taxes collected and was on its way to the central government in Egypt. The coins were probably meant to pay the members of the Fatimid military garrison that was stationed at Caesarea, Israel.
Another theory is that the coins could have belonged to a sunken merchant ship. The condition of the coins are good in spite of having been in the bottom of the sea for over 1000 years. This has been revealed by Robert Cole, an expert numismatist.
The five divers who have found the treasure have been called “model citizens” by the antiquities organization. In case they would have tried to remove them, or tried to sell them, they could have been imprisoned for up to five years.

16 revelers killed in Haiti carnival - an event of joy turns into one of mourning

#haiticarnival #portauprince #fantom #mardigras It was supposed to be an event of joy and celebrations in Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti, but it turned into one of death and mourning when at least 16 people died and 78 others were hurt after a carnival float hit a power line in the Caribbean country of Haiti. This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 17 February 2015.
It seems most of the victims were trampled to death in a stampede that followed after the float struck a high-voltage overhead cable. According to amateur video released in the social media, there were sparks after a singer called Fantom, who was on the float, was jolted by the power line near a stand that was packed with spectators.
The death was of seven people who were present on the float – they were electrocuted. Others were trampled to death in the stampede. Incidentally, the three-day event coincides with many Mardi Gras carnivals internationally.
Prime Minister Evans Paul has declared three official days of mourning and officials of Haiti have short closed the celebrations and cancelled the final day of events. They have also announced a state funeral and vigil on Saturday for the victims.
Haiti's president, Michel Martelly, has expressed his "sincerest apologies" to victims and their families. It may be recalled that before the celebrations began, Haiti's US embassy had cautioned visitors to be vigilant for robberies, assaults and pick-pockets.
The singer Fantom is part of the hip-hop band Barikad Crew and was among the injured – he is expected to survive.

Swine flu leaves behind over 600 dead in India

#swineflu #H1N1 #jpnadda Swine flu deaths have already crossed the 600 mark in this year and with the dreaded H1N1 influenza A virus apparently defying its survival limitations, the health ministry and doctors appear to be at their wits end as reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 18 February 2015.
As per official estimates, the number of swine flu deaths have increased twofold as compared to the previous year and the toll now is 624 out of a total of 9,311 people who have been infected. In February itself, there were more than 300 deaths across the country.
In comparison, during 2014, there were 937 cases all over India and out of them, a total of 218 died. Doctors have revealed that with the rise in temperatures and, as it gets warmer, the cases should reduce but that is not happening this year.
The general recommendation of Doctors is that only those patients who have moderate to acute symptoms should go to hospitals for tests and treatment and those with milder symptoms should remain at home and go in for antiviral medicines and take necessary precautions.
Union health minister JP Nadda has held several review meetings and the ministry has issued directives to pharma companies to expedite supply of antiviral medicines to state hospitals and licensed retail outlets. It seems last week, there were reports of retail medicine shortages from some states, including Maharashtra and Delhi.

Cleaning up India – 7.1-lakh toilets built during January under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan

#SwachhBharat #NirmalBharatAbhiyan #toilets As per latest information, as many as 7.1 lakh individual household toilets had been built in January and this was the highest for any month since the project was launched in October Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream project, Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.
However, it falls far short of the planned 1.2 crore toilets for the fiscal year as reported in economictimes.indiatimes.com dated 17 February 2015.
Data released by the government is that a total of 31.83 lakh toilets have been built between April 2014 and January 2015 – this is approximately 25.4% of the target for 2014-15. The program envisages an investment of nearly Rs 2 lakh crore over the next five years in order to construct 12 crore toilets.
It seems there is more than meets the eye because an official has indicated that the 'internal target' set for the year is 50 lakh and the associated ministry of drinking water and sanitation would be able to meet the target. He has clarified that the targets shown on the website are basically to push the states to do more.
The bottom line is that the internal target set earlier under the erstwhile Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan of 1999 of the previous UPA government, i.e. 50 lakh household toilets for this year and in subsequent years would be met since funds are not a constraint.

Scientists feel they have captured alien microorganisms from the Earth’s atmosphere

#NASA #microorganisms #astrobiologist #aliens #extraterrestrial Scientists from the University of Sheffield and the University of Buckingham are believed to have captured microorganisms sent by aliens to Earth inside metal balls to create seed life on our planet as reported in daliymail.co.uk dated 16 February 2015.
Dr Milton Wainwright, an astrobiologist, claims to have found a tiny metal sphere that was oozing a 'gooey' substance in samples that had been gathered by a balloon in the Earth's stratosphere. In his opinion, the tiny ball, about the width of a human hair, could be an example of directed panspermia. This is a term he has used to indicate that life was deliberately sent to Earth by some unknown extraterrestrial civilization.
He goes on to add that the strange material coming from the titanium ball is biological in nature and could, in fact, be a colony of tiny microorganisms. His team discovered the sphere when examining samples of dust and particulate matter collected by a balloon that had been sent around 16 miles into the atmosphere.
The theory put forth by Professor Wainwright and his team cannot be ignored in totality or be considered farfetched because the idea that life can survive high the Earth's atmosphere has been corroborated by NASA - scientists working with NASA have recently discovered bacteria living up to five miles above the Earth's surface.

Washington monument is not as tall as has been believed till now

#washingtonmonument #uscapitoldome #eiffeltower The Washington monument, a stone obelisk that was completed in 1884 to honor the first president of the USA, was till now believed to be of height 555ft, 5in (169.2m). However, the surveyors of the Government have revised the height. The revised height now is 10 inches (25cm) shorter than what has been thought for over 130 years.
The new official measurement is 554ft, 7in (169m), as measured from the floor of the main entrance to the top as reported in news.sky.com dated 16 February 2015.
Of course, it is a mystery as to how this discrepancy has taken place and, one theory is that there was a pyramid-shaped tip that had been rounded off over time. This had been noticed by surveyors in 1934 and it was probably a result of frequent lightning strikes that melted the aluminum tip.
However, in the opinion of experts, the difference could be attributed to using different base points for measuring – probably, the base point being used now is not the same as that used in the 1880s.
The original measurement taken in 1884 considered four brass markers as a base for measurement. Those markers are available even now but are 9in (22cm) below ground – and it could be that when measurements were taken, those markers were at ground level.
Incidentally, when the Washington monument was completed in 1884, it was the world's tallest structure until 1889 when the Eiffel Tower was built. Even today, it continues to remain by far the tallest structure in the nation's capital, which strictly restricts building heights. Most of the buildings are shorter than the US Capitol dome, which stands at 288ft (88m).

Kerala girl excited about the one-way ticket to Mars from Mars One project

#mars #kerala #manonmars #MarsOne 19-year-old Kerala girl Shradha Prasad from Palakkad has cleared the initial hurdles to get a one-way ticket to the Red Planet Mars through the Mars One project of Netherlands – she is the only candidate from India as reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 17 February 2015.
She is, naturally, upbeat about clearing the fourth round of the astronaut selection process. This has been confirmed by Mars One authorities.
She is the only child of her parents and is a student of mechanical engineering student of Coimbatore's Amrita University.
Incidentally, there are three other Indians who have been selected but two of them are based in the US and the third one is from Dubai.
It will now depend on how she prepares for the rigorous tests before getting selected in the elite 24-member crew that will be selected to go to Mars.
There we a total of 202,586 applicants, and 100 of them have qualified for the third round – 24 of them will make it to the Mars-One for the mission.
Mars-One is a non-profit organization of Bas Lansdorp and has its base in the Netherlands. Its objective is to set up a permanent human settlement on Mars by offering a one-way trip to those selected. Under the current plan, crews of four will depart every two years beginning 2024 and the first of these flights is expected to lift-off in 2018.

Ireland beats West Indies to cause major upset in 2015 Cricket World Cup

#irelandcricket #cricketworldcup #CWC15 It has been termed as a major upset in the 2015 Cricket World Cup when Ireland beat two times world champions West Indies. In the opinion of Ireland captain Will Porterfield, the victory was no fluke and that his players are determined to win every game at the World Cup as reported in theguardian.com dated 16 February 2015.
Yes, Ireland is a newcomer to the game having played against Pakistan and Bangladesh in their first tournament appearance in 2007. Subsequently, they had a memorable against England in India in the 2011 world cup. Hence, Ireland captain Will Porterfield, a Warwickshire professional insists that the world should not view the win against West Indies as an upset.
He has also made it clear that he and his team want to go into the UAE game to win and keep picking up two points in every game.
In the West Indies game, which was the opening match of their Pool B encounter, Ireland beat West Indies by four wickets in Nelson. They did it with 25 balls to spare while chasing down the West Indies score of 304 for seven. Paul Stirling, Ed Joyce and Niall O’Brien scored half centuries to reach the objective. Incidentally, the margin would have been more impressive because, at one point of time, Ireland were 273 for two from where they slipped to 291-6 and sending pulses racing. But, in the end, it was victory.
Ireland is in Pool B with India and all eyes would be on that match scheduled for 10th of March at Hamilton.

Egypt bombs ISIS targets in Libya in retaliation of killing of Coptic Christians

#copticchristian #ISIS #abdelfattahelsisi #f16jets #sirte #derna Egypt has launched airstrikes targeting ISIS-affiliated jihadists in Libya because it is believed that they have beheaded over a dozen Egyptian Coptic Christians as reported in edition.cnn.com dated 15 February 2015.
As per information released by the Egyptian military, the Egyptian F-16 jets bombed ISIS camps, training areas and weapons depots in Libya. It was in retaliation of the killings of Christians. The airstrikes had targeted ISIS locations in Derna.
The ministry has clarified that unless firm measures are taken to check the activities of such terrorist organizations, it would become a threat to international peace and security.
The airstrikes have been undertaken after the ISIS had released a video Sunday depicting beheadings of Egyptian Christians on a beach. The victims are shown dressed in orange jumpsuits and their hands are cuffed behind them. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has declared a week of mourning in the Muslim majority nation for the dead Christians.
It may be recalled that 21 Egyptian Christians had been kidnapped in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte in two separate incidents in December and January and they belonged to impoverished villages and had gone to Libya looking for work. The people who have been beheaded could most probably be from this group.

Ignoring threats from Kalashnikov wielding gunmen, Italian coastguard rescues 2000 migrants

#mediterranean #migrants #libyancoast #italy #UNHCR It was a major rescue operation undertaken by the Italian coastguard when it managed to rescue over 2,000 Mediterranean migrants off the Libyan coast as reported in bbc.com dated 15 February 2015. At the time of rescue, the search teams were threatened by Kalashnikov-wielding men. They had approached in a speedboat from Libya.
This rescue effort involved a plane, four coastguard ships, two tugboats and a navy vessel and, as informed by local media, the migrants were crammed into 12 boats – they have, since, been shifted to Italy.
It may be recalled that only last week, at least 300 migrants met a watery grave in the Mediterranean Sea. They were travelling in dinghies and ran into trouble when they faced stormy weather after leaving the coast of Libya. In between, another 600 migrants were rescued about 50 miles off the coast of the North African country.
Statistics of UNHCR reveal that almost 3,500 people died while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea and land in Europe in 2014. Such a large number of casualties makes this sea crossing the most dangerous one for migrants who are attempting to enter the European Union. Of course, during the same period, more than 200,000 people have been rescued also.

India opens 2015 Cricket World Cup journey with a win over arch rivals Pakistan

#2015cricketworldcup #IndVsPak #adelaideoval It was a memorable Sunday in Adelaide when India opened its 2015 Cricket World Cup journey with an emphatic win over arch rivals Pakistan. It was the 6th time that the two had met in World Cup matches and Pakistan lost all six times as reported in ibnlive.in.com dated 15 February 2015.
From the word go, the Indians showed that in spite of recent failures with the bat and the ball, they had brushed all past failures and emerged with more determination to do better and prove their worth.
After all, India are the defending champions and played like champions in spite of not having among them stalwarts like Sachin Tendulkar, Virendra Sehwag, Yuvraj Singh, Zaheer Khan and Harbhajan Singh. This was a match in which the top order fired and helped India put up a score of 300 which turned out to be a tough one for Pakistan who lost by 76 runs.
The plus point of the match was the 107 scored by Virat Kohli who was adjudged Man of the Match – in doing so, he beat the record set by Sachin Tendulkar of the highest number of runs posted by an Indian against Pakistan in the World Cup. India will now take on South Africa next Sunday and let us hope that also turns out to be another memorable match.

A shocker from J & K – 14 police stations and 48 police posts do not have any toilet!!

#swatchhbharat #policestations #RTI #toilets #drinkingwater Prime Minister Narendra Modi would be shocked to know that it has been revealed by an RTI activist that more than a dozen of police stations and police posts across the state of Jammu and Kashmir do not have any basic amenities like toilet and drinking water. This has been reported in zeenews.india.com dated 15 February 2015.
The Information has been made available by the Public Information Officer cum AIG Welfare of the Jammu and Kashmir Police Headquarters and it was in response to the application under RTI act and the information is that 48 police posts and 14 police stations in the state do not have any toilet facility.
Moreover, 49 Posts and 23 Police Stations do not have any drinking water facility.
The pet project of Prime Minister Modi is a Swachh Bharat or a Clean India and instructions have been issued to ensure that open toilets are gradually removed and replaced with regular toilet facilities. Awareness is being spread via TV ads and corporate houses are being roped in to take up the cause of schools – especially those meant for girls. This is important because there are reports that girls drop out of schools because there are no proper toilet facilities.
However, the pathetic state of J & K with its police stations minus toilets and drinking water facilities is something that must be addressed on immediate priority.

ESA cargo ship Georges Lemaitre take leave from the ISS to splash down on Sunday

#atv5 #ISS #NASA #georgeslemaitre #ESA #cargoship Georges Lemaitre, the cargo ship of the European Space Agency (ESA) is its fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-5) and it has left the International Space Station before its final splashdown on Sunday as revealed in space.com dated 14 February 2015.
The unmanned ATV-5, is named after the 20th-century Belgian priest and astronomer and with its departure from the ISS an era ends – it had been at the orbiting lab ISS for six months.
The reentry of ATV-5 into the atmosphere over the South Pacific Ocean will be documented by the Expedition 42 crew on board the ISS as well as NASA, ESA and other agencies around the world. The aim of the agencies is "to gather detailed information on the mechanics of the breakup of a spacecraft re-entering the Earth's atmosphere."
Of course, onboard sensors in the ATV-5 would also collect information via its temperature-measuring Break-Up Camera. Incidentally, ATVs have been supplying ISS regularly ever since 2008 - the ATV-1 ("Jules Verne") was launched in March of that year. Next came ATV-2 ("Johannes Kepler") which blasted off in February 2011 followed by ATV-3 ("Edoardo Amaldi") in March 2012, and ATV-4 ("Albert Einstein") in June 2013.
The ATVs have brought in a total of about 34 tons of cargo to ISS, the orbiting lab, NASA and, as informed by NASA officials, the ATV-5, which is as big as a double-decker bus, had delivered more than 7 tons of food, scientific experiments, spare parts and other gear when it docked with the station on Aug. 12, 2014.

Rio de Janeiro carnival expected to net $780 million – 5 days of fun assured

#riocarnival #kingmomo #sambaparade #petrobras #brazil The annual carnival of Rio de Janeiro consisting of five days of over-the-top parades and raucous, alcohol-soaked street parties has kicked off as reported in foxnews.com dated 15 February 2015.
This carnival is famous all over the world and people rom far off places gather to join in the fun in spite of major problems that Rio is facing. Problems like more evidence of Brazil's stalling economy, an ongoing drought and a snowballing corruption scandal at state-run oil giant Petrobras. But, these have not dampened the spirit.
As a part of the annual ceremony to mark the official start of the festivities, Eduardo Paes, the Mayor of Rio handed over the keys of the city to King Momo, the mythical jester who reigns over the extravaganza.
Musicians from Unidos da Tijuca, the samba group that won last year's flamboyant parade competition, played a medley of the samba classics that make up the city's tried and true Carnival soundtrack while some dancers showed off their fancy footwork.
The Mayor said the festivities were sure to bring more than a welcome dose of fun. As per estimates, over 450 street parties were expected to bring an estimated 975,000 tourists out onto the streets and these visitors are expected to add nearly $780 million into the local economy.
The carnival would end on Wednesday after the all-night-long samba group parades at the city's Sambadrome, where there would be thousands of musicians, sequin and feather-clad samba dancers and costumed revelers to compete for the title of the year's top group.

140 stranded pilot whales die on Farewell Spit beach in New Zealand

#strandedwhale #pilotwhales #farewellspit #newzealand Nearly 140 pilot whales stranded on Farewell Spit, a New Zealand beach on the northern tip of South Island have died, as reported in news.sky.com dated 14 February 2015. It seems the whales beached themselves and teams of rescuers tried to re-float the mammals on the evening high tide, but they swam aground again overnight in site of them being escorted out to deeper water.
There are another 60 whales and rescuers would once again try to re-float them at high tide later on Saturday, but in case that attempt fails, the whales might be euthanized.
As has been explained by Andrew Lamason, from the Department of Conservation (DOC), the area known as Farewell Spit located around 95 miles west of Nelson, has seen mass pilot whale stranding in the past. The area has been described as a whale trap because of its shallow waters that appear to confuse the animals and reduce their ability to navigate.
It is presumed that they come to hunt for fish and become disorientated and die. Every time they re-strand, it affects their health and there were plenty of young whales among the dead.

Three scantily clad girls engineer jailbreak for 28 hardened criminals from Brazil jail

#jailbreak #novamutum #brazil #prisonguards #orgy The daring jailbreak of 28 hardened criminals from the Nova Mutum public jail near Cuiaba in central Brazil has left the administration red-faced as reported in foxnews.com dated 8 February 2015.
The trio apparently knocked on the door and asked the guards if they could come inside to “chat and drink” and what followed was totally unthinkable.
The escape was engineered by three scantily clad girls who seduced the guards and then gave them spiked drinks. Once they were out to the world, the girls took the keys and freed the convicts. The plan was hatched by one of the inmates who is behind bars on an attempted murder and robbery rap, and the plan was played out to perfection by the girls.
It seems the three scantily-clad women promised the guards an orgy -- and then plied them with drugged cheap whiskey.
The three prison wardens were found inside the jail handcuffed to beds. Missing along with the inmates were guns and ammunition.
Subsequently, eight of the 28 escapees has been recaptured. The three seductresses left behind a bag of lingerie and dominatrix police uniforms.

Timely action by Canadian police foils a mass shooting bid in Halifax

#halifax #massshooting #canada #timberlea The Canadian police have revealed that they have foiled a plot to carry out a mass shooting in the Halifax area on Saturday as informed in bbc.com dated 14 February 2015.
It seems at least two suspects had plans to go to a public venue with the intention of opening fire and kill citizens, and then themselves. As per the opinion of the police, it did not appear to have links to terrorism.
Three suspects were arrested and a fourth apparently committed suicide after police surrounded his home. Two of the suspects are a 19-year-old man from the Halifax suburb of Timberlea and a 23-year-old woman from the US state of Illinois and both of them had access to firearms.
When they had gone to arrest the 19-year-old man from the Halifax suburb of Timberlea, he killed himself. However, a 20-year-old Canadian man was arrested along with the woman at Halifax Stanfield International Airport while the fourth suspect, a 17-year-old Canadian boy, was arrested at a house. Investigators are trying to find out what the roles of the latter two suspects were.
The suspects appeared to have been obsessed with killing and death and had been on a chat stream and also had many photos of mass killing.

Britain fears infestation by super rats due to drastic cuts in pest control budgets

#superrats #huddersfielduniversity With the drastic slashing of pest control budgets by nearly 25% by local authorities, there are genuine fears of a plague of 'super-rats' as revealed in dailymil.co.uk dated 14 February 2015. A situation could come when a search would be launched for a 21st century Pied Piper to tackle the menace of super-rats in Britain.
As per information released by councils there have been deep cuts in the amounts being spent on controlling vermin and it is understood that across 200 local authorities in England, pest control budgets have been cut by 24.4 per cent on average since 2010. Moreover, there has also been a 16 per cent cut in the amounts spent on street cleaning. The net result is possibility of the rat population going out of control.
The problem is that rats in the UK are becoming bigger, and some are becoming immune to traditional methods of control giving rise to the so-called 'super rats' and, these could outnumber humans two to one by next year.
That rats are becoming immune has been shown by genetic testing carried out by Huddersfield University – the results indicate that some rodents have developed a mutation that allows them to survive conventional poisons. This is true in counties like Berkshire, Suffolk, Surrey, Wiltshire, Hampshire and Kent – it was found that all the rats tested have become immune to poison.