Rhino born from artificial insemination

BUDAPEST, Hungary - The world's first rhino conceived by artificial insemination has been born at Budapest Zoo, officials said in a statement on Wednesday.
The female baby rhino, born at 5:55 p.m. on Tuesday, weighed in at 128 lbs. "The little one seemed active and vital. An hour after being born it stood up on its own legs," the statement said.
The baby rhino has yet to be named, said zoo spokesman Zoltan Hanga, who added the zoo hoped to find a sponsor for her.
The mother, 26-year-old Lulu, had failed to conceive naturally, even when put with a male rhino named Easyboy. A group of international veterinarians from Germany, Austria and Hungary started in-vitro fertilization and she finally became pregnant in 2005.
"An in-vitro fertilization was necessary because the two rhinos had not shown any sexual interest in each other," the statement said. "The two have rather developed a friendship, more of a relationship between siblings."
Since mid-December, rhino "caretakers" have been monitoring Lulu's progress around the clock.
After giving birth, the proud mum has been protective of her newborn but has so far failed to nurse the baby. The zoo said she had also turned aggressive, but added an initial refusal to feed was natural with inexperienced mother rhinos.
Until Lulu gets the hang of things, the baby rhino is being fed by zoo workers.
The baby rhino was carried for 16 months and 15 days, which is normal.
In a couple of months, by early spring, the zoo's new addition will appear in public for the first time, Hanga said.

Toddler Outburst Gets Family Booted From Flight

An airline is defending its decision to bump a family from a flight after a child's temper-tantrum delayed take-off.
AirTran Airways says "in fairness" to the other passengers, the crew made the decision to remove the family of three. It happened after a Massachusetts couple's crying three-year-old daughter refused to take her seat before takeoff.
The flight was leaving from Fort Myers, Florida. The parents say they needed a little more time to calm their daughter, but "weren't given an opportunity to hold her, console her or anything."
The airline also refused the mom's request to hold the child on her lap. Crew members cited FAA regulations. AirTran reimbursed the family for the three tickets, and flew them home the next day. The airline also offered the family three free roundtrip tickets.
But the family vows never to fly AirTran again.

Courtesy : The Associated Press.

Man Survives Being In Great White Shark's Mouth

EDEN, Australia -- An Australian abalone diver said he survived having his head in the mouth of a great white shark.
The 41-year-old diver was partially swallowed, breaking his nose and leaving bite marks on his body.
Lucky for him, abalone divers use lead-weighted vests, so he was partially protected from the attack.
During the attack, his arms were still free and he punched the shark in its eye until it released its grip and spat him out, authorities said.
The man was recovering in an Australian hospital.
Attacks by great white sharks are usually fatal because of their size.

U.S. drivers eat, shave, email -- oh, and drive

CINCINNATI, Jan 22 (Reuters Life!) - Talk on the phone while you're driving? Fix your makeup? Check e-mail? You're not alone.
A survey released on Monday shows 81 percent of Americans do more than drive when they're behind the wheel.
More than eight of 10 people surveyed by Nationwide Mutual Insurance said they adjust the radio or music while they drive, while 73 percent talk on the phone, 68 percent eat, 19 percent send text messages and 5 percent checked their e-mail.
Personal hygiene was also a big driver distraction, with 19 percent fixing their hair, 12 percent putting on makeup and 2 percent shaving while at the controls of a car.
"Clearly Americans have much to do and little time to do it, so to cope with that we've become multi-taskers," said Bill Windsor, associate vice president of Safety at Nationwide.
"The problem with that is driving requires focus, and multi-tasking while driving puts you and your fellow drivers at risk."
Drivers in the survey also admitted to changing seats with passengers, watching a movie, painting their toenails, nursing a baby and putting in contact lenses while driving.
Younger drivers multi-task the most, the survey found, with 35 percent of 18-to-27 year olds saying they always multi-task in the car, compared to 21 percent of baby boomers.
Windsor said the consequences for young drivers are severe, with car accidents being the number one cause of death for Americans aged 18 to 27.
"The bottom line is if it can be done in the kitchen, bathroom, office or bedroom, it should not be done in the car," Windsor said.
While some U.S. jurisdictions require hands-free devices for cellphone use in cars, most of the activities listed in the survey are not illegal unless they are determined to be the cause of an accident.
The survey of 1,200 drivers between the ages of 18 and 60 found that while 83 percent believe they are safe drivers, 38 percent admitted they have driven a certain distance without any recollection of doing so.
Sandra Guile, spokeswoman for AAA in Cincinnati, said the automobile club's driving instructors have seen it all, and work hard to try to correct the bad habits.
"Imagine if you're going 55 miles an hour down the road and you spill something on your suit and you have a meeting that day -- you're going to be more worried about grabbing a napkin than watching the road," said Guile. "But it just takes a split second to look away and there's an accident."
Cincinnati professor Penny Braboy said that while she never eats or makes phone calls while driving, she does answer the phone if it rings -- and she admits to other distractions.
"I have put on lipstick in the car," Braboy, 55, said with a laugh. "And I might try to look for something in my purse, which I know is dangerous."
But she said her distractions have never caused an accident.
"I try to be careful," said she, getting into her sport utility vehicle, Starbucks coffee in hand

Oldest surviving Ford sold for $800,000

A 1903 Model A, considered to be the oldest surviving Ford, has sold for $US630,000 ($800,000) at a collector car auction in Phoenix, Arizona.

Following a flurry of bidding at a Phoenix resort today, lawyer John O'Quinn took home the brick-red, black-upholstered car that was one of the first three sold by newly incorporated Ford Motor Co.
Pre-auction estimates had pegged the sale price at between $US400,000 ($507,840) and $US800,000 ($1.02 million).
"History, history, history,'' Mr O'Quinn said, when asked why he bought the vehicle. "There are a lot of great cars in the world, but Ford is the basic car of America.''
The rare vehicle has had only four owners since it rolled out of the shop on Mack Avenue in Detroit along with two other cars.
It was originally sold to butter-maker Herbert McNary of Britt, who paid a $US170 ($216) deposit on the $US880 ($1117) vehicle. It was last owned by an undisclosed individual who bought it in 2001.
Mr O'Quinn, well known in Houston for winning several major plaintiff verdicts, said the Ford will be displayed in an automotive history museum he plans to open in three years in the city.
The avid collector owns more than 800 vehicles, including a 1938 Duesenberg SJ Rollson Limousine he also bought today for $US2.55 million ($3.24 million).
The sale, conducted by RM Auctions of Ontario, Canada, is one of five held by different auction houses in January in the Phoenix area. Last year, collectors spent more than $US165 million ($209 million) for the keys to a wide range of collector cars.

Illinois UFO Sighting

This famous UFO case involved the sighting of a huge unidentified triangular-shaped UFO by police officers and others in the early morning hours of January 5, 2000, over the state of Illinois. The officers, from a number of small Illinois towns, were able to track the unknown object and maintain radio contact with each other during the event. Their in-depth testimonies have been fully documented by investigators.

http://www.ufoevidence.org/topics/illinoissighting.htm

UFO Apparently Sighted Over O'Hare Airport

Chicago, IL (AHN) - A group of United Airline employees were apparently stunned to see what they believed was a UFO sighting. The incident reportedly happened in November when the UA workers, including some pilots, informed the Federal Aviation Administration that they had seen a strange object hanging above O'Hare Airport.
According to The Chicago Tribune, air controllers at the O'Hare control tower were, however, unable to find any trace of the mysterious, sausage-shaped craft, with the radar showing no evidence that it was ever there at all.
"Our theory on this is that it was a weather phenomenon. That night was a perfect atmospheric condition in terms of low (cloud) ceiling and a lot of airport lights. When the lights shine up into the clouds, sometimes you can see funny things," Elizabeth Isham Cory, FAA spokeswoman, told the paper.
With that theory in mind, the FAA will not be investigating the incident, Cory said.
The witnesses of the alleged spacecraft said that the object didn't have lights as it hovered over an airport terminal before disappearing into the clouds.
Craig Burzych, one of the controllers at O'Hare, joked: "To fly seven million light years to O'Hare and then have to turn around and go home because your gate was occupied is simply unacceptable."

Now a statue to honour prostitutes

Amsterdam: Amsterdam's red-light district will soon get a new attraction: a statue to honor prostitutes around the world.
The statue, designed by artist Els Rijerse, will likely be unveiled at the end of March, Dutch news agency ANP reported.
"In many countries, prostitutes struggle and people have no respect for them whatsoever. The statue is meant to give all those men and women strength," Mariska Majoor, a former prostitute who commissioned the statue, told ANP.
ANP said the statue, made of bronze, shows a woman who confidently looks out into the world.

Rumour sparks owl hunt in N India

Srinagar: A bizarre rumour in Jammu and Kashmir that an owl weighing over three kilogrammes can turn its owner into a millionaire has spread like wild fire in the rest of northern India.
The Srinagar office of IANS is receiving scores of telephone calls daily from northern India, with callers desperate to know the contact numbers of the mysterious man who has offered a fortune for such owls.
And at least one Hindi newspaper that carried the original story says its phone lines are literally jammed.
"Sir, I have an owl weighing 3.1 kilo. The bird is in good health and unharmed. Please tell me where it is to be delivered so that I can collect my reward," pleaded Naresh Kumar, who said he was calling from Delhi.
Similar calls have come to the IANS office from Ludhiana and Jalandhar in Punjab, Hissar in Haryana, New Delhi and also Jammu, the winter capital of Jammu and Kashmir.
Bhupinder Singh of Ludhiana said: "I have an owl of the right weight.
I am feeding rats to the bird. Where can I claim my reward?"
Those making the queries about the dream merchant who floated the rumour about the million-rupee owl are not just the ordinary citizens.
Many journalists too are eager to interview either the elusive owl buyer or simply some of the locals who have been braving the winter chill in Kashmir to chase an owl in the state's northern parts.
That is where the rumour began. Just how, no one seems to know.
"It is such an interesting story. I want to interview somebody who went on the wild owl chase. We also need a photograph of the person. Can you help us?" a desperate journalist from Jammu asked.
The beauty is that almost all the callers seemed to believe that there must be some truth in the rumour.
One agitated caller from Delhi even threatened to go to court if the identity of the one who was reportedly willing to shell out huge amounts of money for a select owl was not revealed.
Animal rights activists need not worry about the owl hunt now on in Kashmir, as the owls are to be caught alive and sold unharmed - as the rumour goes.
But the buyer is proving to be as elusive as the dream he has sold to the people.
Kashmiri villagers say they have heard that they would be paid a staggering Rs 3 million (about $68,000) for such a creature.
According to the rumours, the mystery man looking for the bird wants nothing that weighs less than three kilogrammes.
According to one Kashmiri villager, another villager had given him a mobile telephone number to establish contact with the buyer. He refused to divulge the so-called buyer's name or the contact phone number.
"I spoke to the buyer and he told me that the owl was needed for some scientific research and should not be harmed in any way. But only those birds weighing three kilos and above are in demand," he said.
"This proves that Kashmir's grapevine has strong elements of credibility," said Nizam-ud-Din, 87, a resident of downtown Srinagar.
"I am reminded of the days when Kashmir had little means of communication. All news got disseminated through word of mouth. In Srinagar, such wild rumours were called Khabar-e-Zaina Kadal. The owl story has fondled my childhood memory," Nizam-ud-Din added.

Scuffle between two senior Gujarat HC judges

In an unusual incident, two senior judges of the Gujarat High Court had a scuffle on Thursday, court sources said.
The scuffle took place between BJ Sethna and Justice PB Majumdar.
Acting Chief Justice of Gujarat High Court YR Meena spoke to mediapersons about the incident, "Justice Majumdar did tell me orally about the incident he had with justice Sethna". He said that the justice had misbehaved with him.
It is learnt that when Justice Majumdar and his wife were on morning walk, Justice Sethna crossed them and invited them for a cup of tea to his house.
Discussion between the two judges over tea turned into arguments and ended up in a scuffle, sources said.
High court sources said Justice Sethna allegedly 'manhandled' Justice Majumdar and also 'abused' him.
However, the topic of discussion and what led to the fracas between the two judges is not known.
Justice Majumdar approached the acting chief justice of Gujarat High Court YR Meena to allow him to register a police complaint against Justice Sethna.
However, the CJ intervened and stopped Majumdar from filing a police complaint.
Reacting to the incident, former president of Bar Council Yatin Oza said "yes I did hear about such an incident. All I can say is that it is an unfortunate incident."

Scorpion stings Vermont man on airplane

MONTPELIER, Vt. - A scorpion stung David Sullivan on the back of his right leg, just below the knee, then continued up that leg and down the other, he believes, before getting him again in the shin.
It wasn't what he was expecting on a flight from Chicago to Vermont.
Sullivan, a 46-year-old builder from Stowe, was aboard the United Airlines flight on the second leg of his trip home from San Francisco, where he and his wife Helena had been visiting their sons. He awoke from a nap shortly before landing and noticed something strange.
"My right leg felt like it was asleep, but that was isolated to one spot, and it felt like it was being jabbed with a sharp piece of plastic or something."
The second sting came after the plane had landed and the Sullivans were waiting for their bags at the luggage carousel. Sullivan rolled up his cuff to investigate, and the scorpion fell out.
"It felt like a shock, a tingly thing. Someone screamed, 'It's a scorpion,'" Sullivan recalled. Another passenger stepped on the two-inch arachnid, and someone suggested Sullivan seek medical help.
He scooped up the scorpion and headed to the hospital in Burlington. His wife stopped at the United counter and was told the plane they were on had flown from Houston to Chicago. The Sullivans surmised the scorpion boarded in Texas.
"The airlines tell you can't bring water or shampoo on a plane," Helena Sullivan said. But the scorpion did make it aboard, she said.
United spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said the incident "is something that we will investigate and look into. We're very sorry for what happened. Our customer safety and security is our No. 1 priority." She said the airline would offer to reimburse Sullivan's medical expenses.
"We'll probably never know where the scorpion came from," she said. "People come through Chicago from all over the world."
Such incidents are not unheard of. An American Airlines flight was delayed for an hour in Toronto on Sunday after a passenger was stung by a scorpion that had made its way on board. Paramedics treated the man when the flight from Miami landed. The delay came when officials searched the aircraft to ensure no other critters had stowed away.
Scorpion stings are rarely fatal, except to babies or older people with health problems, said Dr. Stephen Leffler, director of emergency services at Burlington's Fletcher Allen Health Care hospital.
"We don't see many scorpion bites in Vermont," Leffler said.
For a healthy adult, a scorpion sting can mean numbness or shooting pain extending out from the sting, or flu-like symptoms, which Sullivan said he had the next day.
He said he hadn't seen the recent movie, "Snakes on a Plane," starring Samuel L. Jackson.
"I'm pretty selective about what I see," Sullivan said. "Maybe I have to see it now."

Courtsey : Associated Press.

Wild Traffic

Bank issues credit card to a cat

Sydney: From dog massages to gourmet kitty treats, people spend billions each year to pamper their precious pets. But giving your favorite feline or canine a credit card could seriously be crossing the line.

Katherine Campbell's suburban Moggie (cat) is pretty much a bludger. He doesn't work and doesn't have an income. In fact he doesn't even leave the house. He gets everything from his owner, However, he sure did get a little visa power after Katherine decided that bank security was a little slack and wanted to test it out.

"You know, when you're trying to open up an account, they want your pay slips and they want this information, but to get an additional account you don't need any of that to be verified," says Katherine.

Katherine had a credit card with the Bank of Queensland and applied for a second visa in Messiah - her Kitty's name. And that's when she caught the bank having a catnap.

"They called me probably about a week later saying they needed a hundred points of ID for Messiah, and sent me back the application form with his credit card," says she.

So now though Messiah doesn't have a driver's license, he doesn't own a passport and does not have a birth certificate, he has a credit card.

While the bank already had Katherine's details, to issue a second card - a card she's liable for all charges on - all they needed was the actual card number, and that could have been provided by anyone.

"You don't need to hack into the internet when you can just steal someone's credit card number and create a card for yourself," says Katherine.

In fact, had Messiah been a fraudster - and not a feline - Katherine wouldn't even have known the card existed.

"I wasn't notified that a second card had been issued. Messiah could have put a different address and the card would have been sent there and I wouldn't have known. If it's that easy for a cat to get credit, imagine what a dog could get," says she.

Humorous it maybe, but for Scott Brower, a financial expert who spends all day getting people out of credit card debt and teaching them how to be financially savvy, it's downright frightening.

"Well it totally shows a concern both from a fraud point of view and also for other people to access money, whether it's children, whether it's partners and other members of the family to be able to access money and the potentially spend money without the primary card holder knowing about it," says Brower.

The Bank of Queensland has apologised for the mistake and they're investigating how Messiah the Moggie even got a Visa in the first place.

His credit card has now been canceled - so too has Katherine's.

Calf runs for life from slaughterhouse

New Delhi: A two-year-old calf saved his own hide on New Year's Day when he refused to be led into a Mumbai slaughterhouse, an animal activist said Wednesday.

The calf was being taken to an abattoir along with hundreds of buffaloes and goats when it charged into a nearby warehouse and kept butchers at bay until he was rescued the next day by animal activists.

J C Khanna of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals said police called in his team on Monday evening after trying for seven hours to draw the animal out of the warehouse.
Khanna's team was able to get close enough only on Tuesday morning and injected the frightened calf with a sedative. The calf is being treated for injuries incurred while scrambling around the warehouse.

''His body was bruised because he ran around the warehouse and was hit all over,'' said Khanna. ''But he is the luckiest animal out of so many thousands that were slaughtered that day. He saved his own life.''

Airline sues man for opening door

New Delhi: Low-cost airline Air Deccan filed a case against a passenger when he opened the emergency-exit door of the aircraft, reacting to the diversion of the Delhi-bound plane after over a day's delay due to fog.

Air Deccan has suffered $ 20,000 (around Rs 9 lakh) in damage and explained that the escape slide of the emergency door of the aircraft deflated after the incident.
The airline grounded the aircraft to do the necessary repair works. The airline will now have to replace it with a new one, officials said.

The aircraft had to be brought back to Mumbai as it could not land at Delhi due to poor weather conditions. When passengers were not allowed to deplane, a young passenger was noticed trying to open the emergency door, an airline spokesperson said.

The airlines has registered a case against the pasenger, Dheeraj Malhotra, with the airport police station for damaging its property, the spokesperson said.

Cops hunt for pub urinal thief

London: British police said Friday they were hunting a man who stole a urinal from a pub toilet.

The suspect walked into the Royal Oak pub in Southampton, on the English south coast, ordered half a pint of beer and then made several visits to the men's toilet.

There he carefully removed a white urinal from the wall, stuffed it into a rucksack and was captured on closed circuit television walking out with the bulging sack on his back.

"He made a very, very expert job of dismantling it from the wall and turning the water off. A very professional job," landlord Alan Dreja said in a video posted on the Southampton Daily Echo newspaper's website.

A police spokesman said the thief may have been a tradesman.

"One of the theories is the guy is some sort of cut-price plumber who is going round and stealing parts to order," he said.

Man hurls slippers at judge in court

New Delhi: An undertrial hurled slippers at a judge who was hearing his case at a local court in Puducherry on Monday.

According to police, Ramesh alias Chiranjeevi, accused in riot case was angry as his case was being frequently postponed.

In the beginning, Ramesh used harsh words against the judge, N Vaidyanathan, and later threw a slipper at him.
When no one stopped Ramesh, he hurled the other slipper at the Judge. The Judge left the court room immediately.

A complaint was preferred with Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Damodaran seeking action against Ramesh.

Meanwhile, members of the BAR association staged a demonstration at the court premises condemning the incident. They also met the CJM, seeking action against Ramesh.