Babies

In Vietnam some villagers bury "unlucky" babies alive. Thanh Nien has the details.

Jumbo the Elephant

A new book by Paul Chambers tells the sad story of the world's most famous circus elephant.

Children

Malawian cops arrested two women for allegedly burning two children to death in a ritual to exorcise demons.

Steinbeck

Maggie's Farm linked to an interesting piece about John Steinbeck.

John Steinbeck's short novels influenced my writing style. So did the hard-boiled crime novels of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and James M. Cain.

Necklace

Via IOL: "Archaeologists have unearthed a nearly 4,000-year-old necklace which shows that gold was being used as a status symbol in the Americas much earlier than previously thought, according to a study released on Monday."

Hoosegow

Mexicans jailed a bull for devouring crops and destroying shops.

Abu Dhabi

More than 10,000 camels will compete in a beauty contest.

Rooks

The BBC: "Rooks team up to solve problems."

Roads

An old horse trail along an opium smuggling route has become part of a network of roads to speed trade between China and its southern neighbors.

Al Gore

Some Democratic operatives want to make Al Gore the Democratic Party's nominee this year. In other words, the insiders want to ignore the results of the primaries. I can't think of a quicker way to make American democracy a laughingstock around the world.

Man Bites Snake

In India's state of West Bengal, a man reportedly bit a cobra.

Killing Fields

Douglas Martin of the New York Times:

Dith Pran, a photojournalist for the New York Times whose gruesome ordeal in the killing fields of Cambodia was re-created in a 1984 movie that gave him an eminence he tenaciously used to press for his people’s rights, died in New Brunswick, N.J., on Sunday.

Cheetah Attack

Cheetah

Photo: Thomas A. Hermann/NBII

Two cheetahs mauled a woman in Florida. The Palm Beach Post has a report.

The incident surprises me. When I worked as the operations manager of an African wildlife preserve in California, I often walked among the 26 free-roaming cheetahs at the park. I never had a problem.

GoodFellas

On the streets of New York the inspiration for the movie GoodFellas talked about his wife and mistress: "If you can't love two people at once, there's something wrong with you."

Last Days of Switzerland

Switzerland's storied role as secret banker to the world’s wealthy is in jeopardy.

Fall Guy

Trying to escape from a brothel during a vice raid, a 39-year-old man fell to his death from a third-floor window of an apartment building in Saudi Arabia.

Ancient Weapons

The BBC has news about the discovery of ancient weapons in India's state of West Bengal.

Somaliland

A lion killed a woman in the self-declared Republic of Somaliland.

Waiting for Daddy

Stories like this one turned me against government bureaucracies.

Stray Dog

A passenger plane hit a stray dog on a runway in India.

Johns

The New York Daily News learned secrets from the "little black book" of an accused Manhattan madam.

Catemaco

James C. McKinley Jr. of the New York Times wrote an article about witchcraft in Mexico:

To kill a man, Alejandro Gallegos García explains, all you need is a black cloth doll, some thread, a human bone and a toad. Oh, and you must ask the devil permission, in person, at a cave in the hills where he is said to appear.

Rogue Monkey

A sex-crazed monkey reportedly tried to rape women in India.

Cambodia

Cambodian lawmen arrested two men for allegedly poisoning a 62-year-old elephant to sell its tusks.

Chhattisgarh

Faisal Mohammad Ali of BBC News: "Police in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh say they have arrested 17 villagers over the killing of a woman suspected of being a witch."

Miner

Australian cops saved a drunken miner from a crocodile.

Travel Note

Delete Amsterdam's Yab Yum brothel from your address book.

Smoking Tortoise

In China a tortoise smokes cigarettes.

Swimmers

Alice Lander of BBC News: "A South African village is demanding that a bridge be built across a crocodile-infested river to stop children swimming it to get to school."

Government in Action

From the New York Times:

Since 2006, when the insurgency in Afghanistan sharply intensified, the Afghan government has been dependent on American logistics and military support in the war against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.

But to arm the Afghan forces that it hopes will lead this fight, the American military has relied since early last year on a fledgling company led by a 22-year-old man whose vice president was a licensed masseur.

On the Verge of Ruination

In northwestern Bangladesh some locals are using the walls of a 12th-century temple to dry cow dung cakes for fuel. Bangladesh's Daily Star newspaper has the story.

Ancient Europe

John Noble Wilford of the New York Times: "Excavations in a cave in the mountains of northern Spain have uncovered the oldest known remains of human ancestors in Western Europe, scientists reported Wednesday."

Bruno

Spiegel Online:

Remember Bruno the brown bear, the tragic hero who rampaged around the Alps in 2006 and was shot dead on the orders of the Bavarian government? His many fans will be able to pay homage to him from this week when his stuffed remains go on show in a Munich museum.

A long time ago, I knew a black bear by the name of Bruno. He was the bear in the 1960s television series Gentle Ben. He also was the bear in the 1972 movie The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean. He used to bum Tootsie Rolls off me.

NYPD

NYPD KO'd a high-end hooker ring. The New York Daily News has the lowdown.

Men in Trees

On Tuesday an elephant killed one man and injured another man near Kaziranga National Park in the Indian state of Assam.

Mammoth Ivory

New York Times: "The Russian tradition of carving mammoth ivory has been given a lift by global warming, which has melted away the tundra and exposed more frozen remains."

Boom!

In Russia's Far East a military pilot blasted his buddy out of the sky.

Eek!

"A German man panicked when he saw a mouse in his living room and fled into the snowy night wearing only boxer shorts and slippers," Spiegel Online reports.

Rodents with Rakes

Scientists taught rodents to use rakes. After two months of practice, the small animals can move rakes with the efficiency of croupiers.

Piranhas

Via Australian Broadcasting Corp.:

Police have rescued two teenage Bulgarian sisters from a circus in southern Italy which forced one of them to swim with flesh-eating piranhas for the amusement of guests.

Another Tiger Attack

A tiger killed a 50-year-old man in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

"According to officials, the man and his family went into the jungle to collect leaves for handmade plates," a trader said in an email to me. "The tiger attacked the man from behind, killing him instantly."

Death in Uttarakhand

Fleeing from a wild elephant, an old man fell when he ran through a field in the Indian state of Uttarakhand. The tusker squashed him.

Journalists in China

Via China Daily:

A press junket nearly ended in disaster when a vehicle taking 10 journalists on a tiger safari tour caught fire at the Jiufeng Forestry Wildlife Park in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province, on Wednesday.

The journalists were trapped on the vehicle for 10 minutes, surrounded by tigers.

Cats and Dogs

In Thailand's province of Phichit, many pet owners abandoned their dogs and cats at temples after the mysterious deaths of several dozen cats in the country.

"Monks at the temple will have to be responsible for cleaning up animal feces; few get enough sleep now because of all the noise from cat-and-dog fights and all the howling," one abbot complained.

Lonely

Spiegel Online:

Hand-reared celebrity bear Knut should leave Berlin Zoo, says one of his keepers — he's had so much contact with humans that he doesn't realize he's a polar bear. The zoo star has been howling plaintively because his keepers are no longer allowed to play with him.

Through Bulgaria

New research exposes the extent of various escape attempts through Bulgaria during the Cold War.

Nicholas Kulish of the New York Times:

Mr. Hetze still believes that he and his girlfriend, Barbara Hille, might have made it if he had managed to cover their tracks better, trimming the loose ends after cutting the top wire of a border fence. If he had, Mr. Hetze said in an interview at his home in Munich earlier this year, he might never have seen the shooting stars of tracer bullets arcing across the night sky, or had to watch his girlfriend twist in the air and fall to the ground, blood rushing out of a life-threatening wound to her shoulder.

Kulish's article is here.

Warning Shots

From Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/Commander, U.S. 5th Fleet:

The Global Patriot, a ship on short term charter to the U.S. Navy's Military Sealift Command, fired warning shots at a small boat approaching the ship as it was preparing to transit the Suez Canal March 24. There were no reports from the Global Patriot of casualties.

Global Patriot was approached by several boats while preparing to transit the Suez Canal. The boats were hailed and warned by a native Arabic speaker on the Global Patriot to advise them to turn away. Other warning steps, including a signal flare, were used to caution the boats.

One small boat continued to approach the ship and received two sets of warning shots 20-30 meters in front of the boat's bow. All shots were accounted for as they entered the water.

The incident is under investigation. The U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet Command is cooperating with Egyptian authorities, including the Suez Canal authorities, through the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.

From CNN (updated):

Egypt's state-run news agency and other media reports say one person was killed and at least two others wounded on Monday when the U.S. security team aboard the vessel fired on a small boat that approached it.

Dinosaur with Horns

Via IOL:

Scientists have discovered a new species of plant-eating dinosaur in Mexico whose large neck frill and three giant horns helped it attract mates and fight predators on a jungly beach 72 million years ago.

Lion Skulls

Researchers learned more about historic animal trafficking.

Bat Deaths

Bats are dropping like flies.

Luggage

A Virginia man found a surprise in his luggage — a young rattlesnake.

Wrestlers

Nico Colombant at Voice of Ameria:

Traditional wrestling is one of the major sports in the Sahelian part of West Africa, the arid areas between the forest and the Sahara desert. Hundreds of young men dream of superstardom and count on mystical powers as they train nearly every day for their next big match.

Farmers

"It turns out ants, like humans, are true farmers," the Smithsonian says. "The difference is that ants are farming fungus."

Fists

A 68-year-old man used his fists to fight an attacking leopard in the Indian state of West Bengal.

"Several times during the fight, the old man punched the leopard in the face," a trader said. "The leopard ran away."

Monster Rabbits

David Crossland at Spiegel Online: "The man who breeds the world’s biggest bunnies has gotten over the drama of last year when, he claims, North Korea’s leaders ate the prize rabbits he sold them to set up breeding farms."

Boats

Pirates stole two boats in Somalia.

Gold Fever

Thilo Thielke at Spiegel Online: "Thousands of fortune hunters are digging for gold in the mountains of Mozambique. Scores have come across the border from bitterly poor Zimbabwe. But for most, the dream of fabulous treasure ends up in endless toil, disease and death."

Temple Dog

"Attendance at a Buddhist temple in Japan has increased since the temple's pet, a two-year-old dog, has joined in the daily prayers." the BBC says.

Alcalde

Victoria Burnett of the New York Times: "The owner of Alcalde, an aging bull who has sired many top opponents for Spain’s bullfighters, has decided to clone him."

Horse

The BBC: "A Hawaiian hospital has restated its rules on pets after a man took a horse up in a lift in a bid to cheer up a sick relative with his favourite steed."

Years ago I took an uncaged male lion with me on an elevator in a Los Angeles high-rise office building. I had a little trouble with the cat during the ride to the 19th floor. Next time I will use a leash.

India

"A straying leopard today mauled nine residents of an Assam village, but left all of them alive to recount a close encounter with the jaws of death," reports the Telegraph in Kolkata.

Land of the Thunder Dragon

The secluded Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan will hold its first national election tomorrow.

Water World

Kathy Marks via IOL:

After 50 days exploring the frigid waters of Antarctica, a group of New Zealand-led scientists is certain of two things: there are lots of previously unknown creatures out there and some of them are positively enormous.

Ancient Statue

Archaeologists discovered a giant statue of a pharaonic queen.

Bangkok Market

Wildlife cops seized more than 200 rare animals at a weekend market in Bangkok.

Rat Infestation

Mark Dummett of BBC News put together an update on the battle against crop-destroying rats in the Chittagong Hill Tracts region of Bangladesh:

Sangram now needs the rats to keep his family members alive.

They eat two bowls of smoked rat a day, accompanied by the wild roots he finds in the forest.

"My wife, my five children and I normally eat rice, but the rats have destroyed everything," the grim-faced Sangram said.

Previous: Plague of Rats

Former Madam

A former New York City madam expressed sympathy for Eliot Spitzer's high-priced hooker. The New York Daily News has the story.

Hypnotist

In Italy a man uses hypnosis to steal money.

Village People

A leopard injured two adults and a 10-year-old child at a village in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. After the attacks, the cat ran into a nearby forest.

Spy Games

Erich Follath, John Goetz, Marcel Rosenbach, and Holger Stark at Spiegel Online:

Five years ago, the US government presented what it said was proof that Iraq harbored biological weapons. The information came from a source developed by German intelligence — and it turned out to be disastrously wrong. But to this day, Germany denies any responsibility.

Previous: Curveball

Marxist Monk

Last January the Dalai Lama gave a lecture at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad.

"I am a Marxist monk, a Buddhist Marxist," he said. "I belong to the Marxist camp, because unlike capitalism, Marxism is more ethical. Marxism, as an ideology, takes care of the welfare of its employees and believes in distribution of wealth among the people of the state.”

What does Nancy Pelosi think about that?

Zoo Fire

RIA Novosti in Russia:

Two monkeys and many fish were killed early on Friday in a fire in a zoo in East Siberia, the head of the Chita City Zoo said on Friday.

Five fire engines were sent to put out the blaze but were too late to save Anya and Rocky, two pig-tailed macaques. The two monkeys climbed to the top of their enclosure in a desperate effort to avoid the flames, but were overcome by fumes.

Bank Job

IOL: "South Korean police said on Friday they had arrested a woman accused of telling her six-year-old daughter to steal some $140,000 from a bank."

Zebras

In Baltimore three zebras made a run for it.

Latin America

"Results from a genetic study of Latin America suggest most Latin Americans are descended from European men and Native American or African women," the BBC reports.

Altai Princess

RIA Novosti: "A tomb to house the remains of a woman found after being preserved in ice for 2,500 years will be built in Siberia's Altai Republic, the director of a local museum said on Thursday."

Russian Polar Bears

Illegal trade in polar bear hides is on the rise in Russia.

"We put the number of polar bears killed at 150 to 200 animals per year," said one Russian expert.

Walking Upright

George Washington University: Our early ancestors had the ability to walk upright on two legs almost six million years ago.

Spotted Eagle Ray

A spotted eagle ray killed a Michigan woman on a boat off the Florida Keys. CNN has the news.

Abandoned

Lawmen in Bangladesh found a 1,000-year-old statue on the side of a road.

War Strategy

Wild elephants are victims of a government strategy to arm villagers against rebels in Sri Lanka.

Curveball

Spiegel Online:

Five years ago, US troops marched into Iraq, convinced they would find weapons of mass destruction. One threat seemed particularly palpable — biological weapons produced in mobile facilities. US officials now say the assumption originated in part from bad intelligence out of Germany.

Assumptions

Erroneous assumptions lead to bad decisions. As an international trader I avoid assumptions whenever possible. That's why I'm still alive.

With enough information an executive usually can make the right decisions without difficulty. On numerous occasions I told members of my staff: "I don't care about your guesses. I can guess all by myself. I need you to know."

Plesiosaur

Skull of Nichollsia borealis

Photo credit: Royal Tyrrell Museum, Drumheller, Alberta

University of Calgary:

One of the oldest and most complete plesiosaur fossils recovered in North America, and the oldest yet discovered from the Cretaceous Period, represents a new genus of the prehistoric aquatic predator according to University of Calgary palaeontologists who have formally described the creature after its remains were uncovered in a Syncrude Canada Ltd. mine near Fort McMurray in 1994.

Old Witch

Two men beat a suspected witch to death in the Indian state of Bihar.

Wallaby

A python wanted to devour a wallaby in Australia. The Cairns Post has the details.

Pain in the Butt

Australia's Daily Telegraph: "A German pensioner is taking a hospital to court after she turned up for a leg operation — and got a new anus instead."

Wolves

Kirk Johnson of the New York Times:

One of the most famous sounds in nature is going digital. Under a research project at the University of Montana in Missoula, scientists are betting that the famous call-and-response among wolves can be used to count and keep track of the animals.

CWCID: Brendan Alexander, Rakotis

Illegal Timber

Vietnam reportedly is a major Southeast Asian hub for processing illegally logged timber.

Idi Amin

Idi Amin's dream mosque opened in Uganda's capital.

Guns in Churches

RIA Novosti:

Police in central Russia's Kostroma Region have recommended that church watchmen buy firearms, a police spokeswoman said on Wednesday.

Russia has recently seen a dramatic rise in raids on churches as robbers seek to steal icons and other religious artwork.

Report

Patricia Yollin of the San Francisco Chronicle:

The San Francisco Zoo was drastically understaffed and inadequately prepared for what ensued when a tiger escaped from her outdoor grotto and killed a 17-year-old visitor late Christmas afternoon.

Lack of training and equipment, a severe staff shortage and hard-to-find weapons and keys were cited in a report by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums that was released Tuesday.

Tusker Attack

A wild elephant trampled an old man to death near a coffee estate in the Indian state of Karnataka.

Raiders

Rustlers killed eight people in Kenya's Rift Valley.

Dancing Tiger

RIA Novosti: "A tiger is to take part in a performance for the first time in the history of Russian ballet, a spokeswoman for St. Petersburg's Imperial Mikhailovsky Theatre said on Wednesday."

Gorilla Killings

The BBC: "A senior wildlife park official in Democratic Republic of Congo has been arrested amid claims that he organized the killing of rare mountain gorillas."

Geckos

Press release: "How useful is an animal's tail? For the gecko, unlike most animals, it could be a matter of life or death, according to new research from the University of California, Berkeley."

Corridor

In Rwanda conservationists plan to link the home of 15 chimpanzees to a distant forest.

Spanish Bears

Uppsala University in Sweden:

Brown bears from the Iberian Peninsula are not as genetically different from other brown bears in Europe as was previously thought. A new study shows that, on the contrary, the Spanish bear was only recently isolated from other European strains.

Ordinary People

Georg Bönisch and Klaus Wiegrefe at Spiegel Online:

From doctors to opera singers, teachers to truant schoolchildren, the extermination of European Jews was the work of roughly 200,000 ordinary Germans and their helpers. Years of research — not yet complete — reveal how sane members of a modern society committed murder for an evil regime.

Hillary

The Clinton campaign booked Sir Elton John for a fundraiser in New York on April 9.

Why didn't Hillary pick an American entertainer?

From the U.S. Federal Election Commission:

The Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) prohibits any foreign national from contributing, donating or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly. It is also unlawful to help foreign nationals violate that ban or to solicit, receive or accept contributions or donations from them. Persons who knowingly and willfully engage in these activities may be subject to fines and/or imprisonment.

Who is a Foreign National?

The following groups and individuals are considered "foreign nationals" and are, therefore, subject to the prohibition:

• Foreign governments;
• Foreign political parties;
• Foreign corporations;
• Foreign associations;
• Foreign partnerships;
• Individuals with foreign citizenship; and
• Immigrants who do not have a "green card."

About volunteer activity by foreign nationals, the commission says:

Generally, an individual may volunteer personal services to a federal candidate or federal political committee without making a contribution. The Act provides this volunteer "exemption" as long as the individual performing the service is not compensated by anyone. 11 CFR 100.74. The Commission has addressed applicability of this exemption to volunteer activity by a foreign national, as explained below.

In Advisory Opinion 1987-25, the Commission allowed a foreign national student to provide uncompensated volunteer services to a Presidential campaign. By contrast, the decision in AO 1981-51 prohibited a foreign national artist from donating his services in connection with fundraising for a Senate campaign.

How much is Hillary paying Elton John? Did he give her a discount?

The Clinton campaign probably figured out a way to obey the letter of the law. But is the campaign's behavior in harmony with the objective of the law — to keep undue foreign influence out of American politics?

By the way, have you noticed the large amount of money pouring into the campaign coffers of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama? How much of it comes from front men for foreign nationals?

"Not much," some people say.

I don't believe it. Dig deeper.

Sex Scandals

Gabor Steingart at Spiegel Online in Germany:

America's two main parties are suffering from the erotic escapades of some of their top politicians. As embarrassing as they are for those involved, the revelations are good for democracy. They expose a particularly audacious type of politician: the hypocrite whose supposed virtue is nothing but a sham.

I grew up in a political family. Years ago I had a decision to make: Do I want to chase women or enter politics? I decided to chase women. I never regretted the decision.

Ancient Temple

German archaeologists discovered at ancient temple in Yemen.

Stripes

On Monday a tiger killed a fisherman at a village in Bangladesh.

Spy

"A former Nazi officer and one of the most successful undercover Soviet agents in West Germany during the Cold War turned 90 on Tuesday," RIA Novosti says.

Pirates Release Tug

RIA Novosti:

The company that owns the Svitzer Korsakov ice-class tug vessel seized by Somali pirates on February 1 confirmed on Tuesday that the vessel has been released.

Svitzer spokesman Patrick Adamson told RIA Novosti the ship and crew had been released, but gave no details on the ransom paid to the pirates.

International news agencies cited officials as saying $700,000 had been paid.

Previous: Tug

A Cold War Tale

William J. Broad of the New York Times: "The icy surface of the Arctic Ocean may seem peaceful, but below the ice, its depths have boiled with intrigue."

New York's Governor

Juan Gonzales at the New York Daily News: "The thunderous applause was still ringing in his ears when the state's new governor, David Paterson, told the Daily News that he and his wife had extramarital affairs."

McGreevey Scandal, Part 2

New York Daily News staff writer Tina Moore has the latest on today's SEXsational story about former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey.

Forest Fight

Two people suffered injuries during a leopard attack in India's state of Maharashtra.

"The leopard attacked a husband and his wife in a forest," a trader stated. "The man lost part of one hand and the woman broke both of her feet during the fight."

Eventually the cat ran away.

Boar Rampage

A gang of wild boars caused chaos and destruction in a German town.

Camels

Katherine Zoepf of the New York Times: "In Saudi Arabia, camels are no longer crucial to life but are still being raised as a touchpoint to history, sometimes for milk and meat, for racing and, yes, for their beauty."

Hookers

William Sherman of the New York Daily News has the inside dope on the best hookers in the Big Apple.

Adolf Eichmann

Did Adolf Eichmann help protect some 800 Jews during World War II?

Horror Story

At IOL Chris Makhaye has a report about a series of brutal murders to obtain human body parts for traditional medicine in South Africa.

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The last piece of a puzzle falls into place.

Update: The BBC's story is here.

An Old Man and the Sea

"A seafaring gang operating off the coast of Mexico may have claimed the life of an Irish sailor who, at 78, had hoped to become one of the oldest people ever to sail solo across the Atlantic," Ralph Riegel reports at Independent.ie.

Search

The Australians are a step closer to finding the ocean grave of HMAS Sydney II.

Update (5:29 p.m.): Searchers reportedly found the Sydney.

Background: HMAS Sydney II

Asian Elephants

Australian Broadcasting Corp. has a Reuters article about the conflict between humans and elephants in Asia.

Death Railway

"The largest group of victims of the construction of the 'Death Railway' built by Japan in East Asia six decades ago are some 70,000 Asian laborers who are barely commemorated," observes Thomas Fuller of the New York Times.

Two Tiger Attacks

Tigers killed two more people in the forests of India. Villagers found the corpse of a old man in the state of Maharashtra and the partially eaten corpse of a young woman in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Snake in Nepal

Thousands of people flocked to see a strange snake in Nepal. Some locals started to worship the reptile.

Courtyard

A leopard snatched a 2-year-old boy from the courtyard of a home in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh.

"The boy's neighbors and grandfather ran after the cat," a traveler said. "After a long chase, villagers found the child on the ground. The boy died at a local hospital."

Jewish Inhabitants in Austria

Gold scroll

From the University of Vienna:

Archaeologists from the Institute of Prehistory and Early History of the University of Vienna have found an amulet inscribed with a Jewish prayer in a Roman child’s grave dating back to the 3rd century CE at a burial ground in the Austrian town of Halbturn.

The 2.2-centimeter-long gold scroll represents the earliest sign of Jewish inhabitants in present-day Austria.

This amulet shows that people of Jewish faith lived in what is today Austria since the Roman Empire. Up to now, the earliest evidence of a Jewish presence within the borders of Austria has been letters from the 9th century CE. In the areas of the Roman province of Pannonia that are now part of Hungary, Croatia and Serbia, gravestones and small finds attest to Jewish inhabitants even in antiquity. Jews have been settling in all parts of the ancient world at the latest since the 3rd century BCE. Particularly following the second Jewish Revolt against the Roman Empire, the victorious Romans sold large numbers of Jews as slaves to all corners of the empire. This, coupled with voluntary migration, is how Jews also might have come to present-day Austria.

Child’s grave
The one or two year old child, which presumably wore the silver amulet capsule around its neck, was buried in one of around 300 graves in a Roman cemetery which dates back to the 2nd to 5th century CE and is situated next to a Roman estate ("villa rustica"). This estate was an agricultural enterprise that provided food for the surrounding Roman towns (Carnuntum, Györ, Sopron). The gravesite, discovered in 1986 in the region of Seewinkel, around 20 kilometres from Carnuntum, was completely excavated between 1988 and 2002 by a team led by Falko Daim, who is now General Director of the Roman-German Central Museum of Mainz, with the financial backing of the Austrian Science Fund FWF and the Austrian state of Burgenland. All in all, more than 10,000 individual finds were assessed, most notably pieces of glass, shards of ceramic and metal finds. The gold amulet, whose inscription was incomprehensible at first, was only discovered in 2006 by Nives Doneus from the Institute for Prehistory and Early History of the University of Vienna.

The inscription on the amulet is a Jewish prayer

ΣΥΜΑ ΙΣΤΡΑΗΛ ΑΔΩNΕ ΕΛΩΗ ΑΔΩN Α
Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one.

Greek script, Hebrew language
Greek is common with amulet inscriptions, although Latin and Hebrew and amulet inscriptions are known. In this case, the scribe's hand is definitely familiar with Greek. However, the inscription is Greek in appearance only, for the text itself is nothing other than a Greek transcription of the common Jewish prayer from the Old Testament (Deuteronomy, 6:4): "Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one."

Amulet to protect against demons
Other non-Jewish amulets have been found in Carnuntum. One gold- and three silver-plated amulets with magical texts were found in a stone sarcophagus unearthed west of the camp of the Roman legion, including one beseeching Artemis to intervene against the migraine demon, Antaura. Amulets have also been found in Vindobona and the Hungarian part of Pannonia. What is different about the Halbturn gold amulet is its Jewish inscription. It uses the confession to the center of Jewish faith and not magic formulae.

The gold-plated artifact from Halbturn can be viewed from 11 April 2008 onwards as part of the "The Amber Road – Evolution of a Trade Route" exhibition in the Burgenland State Museum in Eisenstadt.

Carrion

"Around Europe, vultures, eagles and bears are going hungry due to a lack of carrion," says Hans-Jürgen Schlamp at Spiegel Online.

Tehran

Earlier this week I missed this news: During a recent raid at a brothel in Tehran, the vice squad reportedly found the city's police chief in bed with six women. Iran's state media ignored the story. However, the Azeri-Press Agency in Azerbaijan had a brief report.

Bank in Poland

Choking and coughing, two unsuccessful robbers staggered out of a Polish bank after they had tried to use pepper spray on a cashier in front of an air-conditioning unit.

Raw Justice

Two cattle thieves died at the hands of an angry mob in Bangladesh.

Hamburg's Oldest Bordello

The oldest whorehouse in the German city of Hamburg will close down in April.

Vietnam War

This Sunday marks the 40th anniversary of the Mai Lai massacre.

Fangs

A cobra killed a pregnant mother and her 2-year-old daughter at a home in Malawi.

"The cobra chased the victims through the house," a businessman said. "When the woman's husband arrived home, he killed the snake in the bedroom."

Bat Plane

University of Michigan:

A six-inch robotic spy plane modeled after a bat would gather data from sights, sounds and smells in urban combat zones and transmit information back to a soldier in real time.

That's the Army's concept, and it has awarded the University of Michigan College of Engineering a five-year, $10-million grant to help make it happen.

Cache

Explosive experts dug up an old cache of bombs, bullets, grenades, and mortar shells in the capital of China's Henan Province.

"The cache was beneath the busiest area of the city," a police official said. "Some of the bombs were only 30 centimeters away from a gas pipeline. The outcome would be unimaginable if the bombs went off."

Indonesian Bird

Ornithologists announced the discovery of a previously unknown bird species in Indonesia.

Dead Lions

Three lions were speared to death near Kenya's Amboseli National Park.

Netherlands

The Dutch Parliament voted unanimously to ban sex with animals.

Temple

"Archaeologists in Peru have discovered ancient temple ruins that could predate the Inca empire," the BBC reports.

Ancestry

Via China Daily:

Nearly all of today's Native Americans in North, Central and South America can trace part of their ancestry to six women whose descendants immigrated around 20,000 years ago, a DNA study suggests.

Bandits Killed

Villagers lynched three robbers in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh.

Fugitive

At the New York Times, Seth Mydans has a report about the biggest manhunt in Singapore's history,

Previous: Escape

Money Munchers

Rats ate nearly one-third of an Ethiopian farmer's life savings.

Crocodile Fighter

A 50-year-old mother rescued her 25-year-old daughter from the jaws of a crocodile on the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Australia's Herald Sun newspaper has the story.

Alligators

University of Utah:

Without a ripple in the water, alligators dive, surface or roll sideways, even though they lack flippers or fins. University of Utah biologists discovered gators maneuver silently by using their diaphragm, pelvic, abdominal and rib muscles to shift their lungs like internal floatation devices: toward the tail when they dive, toward the head when they surface and sideways when they roll.

"It allows them to navigate a watery environment without creating a lot of disturbance," says doctoral student T.J. Uriona. "This is probably really important while they are trying to sneak up on an animal but don't want to create ripples."

Germany's Cuckoos

Josh Ward at Spiegel Online: "The country that made the cuckoo bird famous with its clocks is now worried the bird might follow the tragic path of the dodo — into extinction."

Gold

Elizabeth Blunt of BBC News:

Ethiopia's national bank has been told to inspect all the gold in its vaults to determine its authenticity.

It follows the discovery that some of the "gold" it had bought for millions of dollars was gold-plated steel.

Pirate Attacks in Nigeria

"Pirate attacks in the waters of Africa's largest oil producer, Nigeria, have surged in recent weeks, linked to a decline in general security in the southern oil-producing region," Voice of America says.

For VOA, Sarah Simpson wrote an excellent article about the trouble.

Cannibalism

Voice of America:

More tales of gruesome practices, including cannibalism, have emerged from the war crimes trial of Liberia's former President Charles Taylor in the Hague.

Joseph "Zigzag" Marzah, who describes himself as Taylor's former death squad commander, testified Thursday that Taylor ordered his fighters to cook and eat the flesh of their slaughtered enemies.

Trial

A Macedonian court convicted a wild bear of theft and vandalism for stealing honey from a beekeeper.

Small Dogs

Authorities seized about 800 small dogs from a home in Arizona.

Snakes in the City

China's Xinhua News Agency has news from Brazil:

Snakes are increasingly invading the eastern Amazon's largest city, driven from the rain forest by destruction of their natural habitat, the government's environmental protection agency said Tuesday.

After the Fall

Spiegel Online: "A Berlin court has sentenced a man to seven months in jail for murdering a cat. He threw the pet from the balcony of his fifth-floor apartment in a fit of rage."

In the Heat of the Night

Via China Daily: "A Chinese man was killed in a fire set by his new bride for 'not washing his feet' before going to bed, police said."

The Naked and the Dead

In Taiwan a man invited a female stripper to perform a ten-minute dance at his father's funeral.

Rhinos and Tigers

Tigers are slaughtering adult rhinos at Kaziranga National Park in India's state of Assam. At the Telegraph in Kolkata, Pullock Dutta has an article about the problem.

Elephant Attack

A wild elephant killed three people at a village in eastern Nepal. One victim was a 9-year-old boy.

Last Rites

Abhijeet Chatterjee reports from the Indian state of West Bengal: "A tribal couple in a Bankura village have been forced to perform their daughter’s 'last rites' to atone for her 'sin' of marrying outside her tribe."

Read more at the Telegraph in Kolkata.

Crime in Bangladesh

Crime news from the Daily Star newspaper in Bangladesh:

• Angry citizens killed three muggers and injured four other muggers.
• Outlaws murdered an attendant and injured a passenger during a train robbery.
• Two old monasteries have become hangouts for gamblers, drug addicts, and other miscreants.

Brain Surgery

Archaeogists apparently unearthed rare evidence of brain surgery in ancient Greece.

Flying Skeleton

In Germany airport security personnel noticed a human skeleton in a woman's luggage.

Danish Castle

Burglars took two paintings — one by Goya and one by Rubens — from a Danish castle. Interpol has photographs of the stolen art.

Stolen Mummies

Independent Online in South Africa: "Egyptian police have arrested three would-be smugglers trying to sell intricately painted Pharaonic-era mummies for more than five million dollars, a security source said on Wednesday."

More Komodo Dragons

Komodo dragon

Photo: Jessie Cohen, NZP

Independent Online has an article about new Komodo dragons at an Indonesian zoo.

Fewer Tigers

The world's tiger population plummeted during the past quarter of a century.

Simon Mann

Via Independent Online: "A jailed British mercenary has accepted responsibility for trying to overthrow the government of Equatorial Guinea and has accused Spain and South Africa of backing his plot."

Previous: Mercenary

Israeli Mercenary

In Russia a court approved the extradition of an Israeli mercenary to Colombia.

Moko the Dolphin

A dolphin saved two beached whales in New Zealand. The BBC:

Conservation officer Malcolm Smith told the BBC that he and a group of other people had tried in vain for an hour and a half to get the whales to sea.

The pygmy sperm whales had repeatedly beached, and both they and the humans were tired and set to give up, he said.

But then the dolphin appeared, communicated with the whales, and led them to safety.

Bye-Bye, Birdie

Austrian cops shot an ostrich in self-defense.

East German Spies

Spiegel Online:

The former East German Communist regime had one of the world's most pervasive and repressive secret police forces in the world. Now, a study says, the Stasi had many more civilian spies than historians thought.

Thump

A Russian woman fell from the ninth floor of an apartment building in Siberia. She rose from the ground and returned to the party.

Ants

University of Leeds:

Far from being a model of social cooperation, the ant world is riddled with cheating and corruption — and it goes all the way to the top, according to scientists from the Universities of Leeds and Copenhagen.

Ants have always been thought to work together for the benefit of the colony rather than for individual gain. But Dr. Bill Hughes from Leeds' Faculty of Biological Sciences has found evidence to shatter this illusion.

With Professor Jacobus Boomsma from the University of Copenhagen, he's discovered that certain ants are able to cheat the system, ensuring their offspring become reproductive queens rather than sterile workers.

Argentine Zoo

Thieves stole a baby monkey from a crowded Argentine zoo.

Greece

Digging a subway, workers discovered about 1,000 ancient graves in the historic city of Thessaloniki. Some of the graves contained coins, jewelry, and other valuable items.

No Bail

A Thai court denied bail for international arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Previous: Reputed Gunrunner

Leopard Captured

Earlier this month villagers and forest officials trapped a man-eating leopard in the Indian state of Gujarat.

"The female leopard killed six people during the last three months," a trader told me.

Palau

John Noble Wilford of the New York Times:

More bones of unusually small-bodied people who lived long ago have been found on another Pacific island, and some scientists say this calls into question claims that the first such specimens, from Indonesia, represent a separate human species.

Previous: Little People

Kick

A 2-year-old domesticated elephant kicked a 25-year-old woman at a Thai beach. The woman suffered spinal injuries.

Thirty years ago, a young elephant intentionally stomped on the right foot of my friend J.F. The man walked with a cane for the rest of his life.

Fourteen Crocodiles

Fourteen crocodiles escaped from rickety cages in Vietnam's Mekong Delta.

Roughly 150,000 crocodiles live on reptile farms in southern Vietnam.

Rescuers

U.S. Navy personnel recovered 11 fishermen from a life raft near the Korean Peninsula.

Axes

An amateur archaeologist discovered 100,000-year-old axes in gravel from the North Sea.

Money Man

Michael Gisick of Stars and Stripes writes about U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Dale Horn in Iraq:

On Friday, he stepped off a Mine Resistant Ambush Protected combat vehicle carrying a nondescript nylon briefcase. It might have been a cheap bag, but it carried more than $340,000 in bundles of crisp, newly minted hundred dollar bills. It was pay day for the Sunnis, and Horn was the money man.

Read the whole thing

Ritualistic Murder

Cops arrested three people for the ritualistic murder of a 13-year-old boy in Liberia.

Snake Fighter

In Australia a woman fought a hungry python to save a kitten.

Kitten

A cannibalistic kitten survived a long trip inside a shipping crate.

Pygmy Hippos

Mary Harper of BBC News:

Two civil wars, illegal logging and poaching — it was thought this was more than enough to wipe out Liberia's population of pygmy hippos.

But this rare and endangered species has survived against the odds and there are photographs to prove it.

Gong Factory

The New York Times has a feature story about the Gong Factory in Indonesia.

Limpopo

A crocodile attacked an 11-year-old boy in the South African province of Limpopo.

Personal Note

On Sunday I traveled all day. My plane lost an engine over the Black Sea.

Rapid Action Battalion

In Bangladesh crime fighters from the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) recovered a ninth-century statue at a village last night. They also recovered ancient tiles at another village.

Bushranger

Archaeologists may have found the final resting place of Australia's most notorious bushranger, Ned Kelly.

Biography: Ned Kelly

Vermont

At Maggie's Farm I learned about Rudyard Kipling's home in Vermont.

Tank

A Russian soldier accidentally rammed his tank into a cottage during a trip to buy vodka.

Kissing Killers

"Two Australian women who bludgeoned a British girl and then kissed as she lay dying have been jailed for life," the BBC says.

One of the killers had a history of drinking blood as part of a vampire subculture.

Ghost Fish

For American soldiers, catching a ghost fish is almost as difficult as catching Osama bin Laden.

Adultery

"Italy's highest appeal court has ruled that married Italian women who commit adultery are entitled to lie about it to protect their honor," reports Christian Fraser of the BBC.

Reputed Gunrunner

The New York Times has more news about the arrest of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.

Yesterday: Merchant of Death
Profile: Viktor Bout

Leopard Attacks Villager

Last evening a leopard mauled a man in India's state of Jammu and Kashmir. Wildlife rangers trapped the cat.

Deadly Skies

Poachers use helicopters to kill wildlife in Russia.

Execution Threat

BBC News science and nature reporter Mark Kinver: "Rebels who have seized control of eastern DR Congo's Gorilla Sector have said they will execute any wildlife ranger who attempts to enter the area."

Hamsters

Vietnam banned the sale and possession of hamsters.

Tibetan Gazelles

Since mid-January, more than 1,000 Tibetan gazelles have perished in China's Sichuan Province.

"Over the past 50 days, most grasslands have been covered by thick snow and ice," Xinhua News Agency noted.

Divorce in Syria

RIA Novosti: "A newly married husband in northwest Syria divorced his wife at their wedding reception after his new bride insulted him with a 'donkey' song, the Al Watan newspaper said on Friday."

Killer Whale

Scientists saw a white orca in the North Pacific.

Monarch Butterflies

Monarch butterfly

Photo: Elizabeth A. Sellers/NBII

Illegal loggers in central Mexico continue to destroy the winter haven of monarch butterflies.

Coral Reef Fish

Scientists: Coral reef fish, like most discerning home buyers, spend time researching potential neighborhoods.

Caught

Lawmen captured a suspected poacher in India's state of Assam.

Snake Victim

Australia's Daily Telegraph: A man sustained a snakebite, suffered a heart attack, lapsed into a coma — all within minutes — and lived to tell the tale.

Three Hurt

This afternoon a leopard injured three people in the Indian state of Assam. The Telegraph in Kolkata has an article about the attack.

Belt Buckle

Archaeologists unearthed a medieval belt buckle in Scotland.

Merchant of Death

Thai cops arrested one of the world's most notorious arms dealers.

Iron Cross

Spiegel Online: "A leader of German military reservists has called for the reintroduction of the Iron Cross, a centuries-old soldier's honor marred by the Nazis."

America's Presidential Election

"To me, the strongest argument against John McCain is the age of the old bull," one of my customers said. "But the Democrats can't use that argument if they run an old cow against him."

Wolverine in California

Oregon State University:

A rare wolverine has been documented in the Tahoe National Forest by a researcher from Oregon State University working with colleagues at the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station — the first confirmed sighting of the animal in nearly three-quarters of a century.

Squashed

Yesterday a wild elephant trampled a 26-year-old man to death in southern Malawi.

"The man died when he tried to chase the elephant out of a garden," a traveler said in an email to me.

Boy Dies

A crocodile killed a 12-year-old boy in Botswana. Villagers found most of the victim's body near a riverbank.

Vigilante Justice

At the Christian Science Monitor, correspondent Stephanie Hanes has a piece about vigilante justice in Mozambique.

Ancient Tomb

Via IOL: "Greek archaelogists have unearthed a 3,000-year-old tomb from the Mycenaean civilization on an island never before thought to have connections to the people, officials said on Wednesday."

The Case of the Red Pandas

Red Panda

Photo: Jessie Cohen, NZP

Spiegel Online in Germany:

The murder of two red pandas at Nuremberg Zoo appears to be solved. Investigators believe three deer that shared the enclosure probably slit the red pandas' stomachs with their sharp teeth and pointed hooves. The motive? Revenge, apparently.

Previous: Red Pandas

Gut Feelings

University of Leeds:

Most of us experience "gut feelings" we can’t explain, such as instantly loving — or hating — a new property when we’re house hunting or the snap judgments we make on meeting new people. Now researchers at Leeds say these feelings — or intuitions — are real and we should take our hunches seriously.

Masks

Thieves stole six rare festival masks from a Hindu temple in India's state of Himachal Pradesh.

"The 600-year-old wooden masks are studded with precious stones," a trader said.

Mugger

In Bangladesh a mob of angry citizens beat a mugger to death.

Elephant Drowns

A 20-year-old female elephant drowned at a reservoir in India's state of Tamil Nadu.

Antarctic Fish

British Antarctic Survey: "Scientists have discovered an Antarctic fish species that adopts a winter survival strategy similar to hibernation."

Scimitar-Horned Oryx

Scimitar-horned oryx

Photo: Jessie Cohen, NZP

From the Smithsonian:

A male scimitar-horned oryx from the Smithsonian's National Zoo's Conservation and Research Center in Front Royal, Va., is playing an important role in ensuring the species does not vanish from the planet.

The oryx, along with eight others from American and European zoos, was sent to Tunisia in December 2007 for an eventual reintroduction into the wild, where they have been extinct since the late 1970s. Oryx are a type of desert antelope that are mostly white with reddish-brown necks and marks on the face and a long, dark, tufted tail. They stand up to 4 feet and 6 inches tall at the shoulder, and both male and female oryx have curved horns that grow to be several feet long.

Although the animals have been returned to Tunisia, scientists cannot just simply release them into the wild. For now, the oryx are being kept in a 20,000-acre fenced area in the Dghoumes National Park. Within this protected zone, the five males and four females will reproduce and become acclimated to their arid surroundings. Once a sustainable population has been established, possibly a decade or so from now, the fences will come down.

Fact Sheet: Scimitar-horned oryx

Imported Pottery

During the 12th and 13th centuries, Chinese pottery reached Acre.

Background: Acre

Crocodile Snap

A crocodile almost made a meal of a fisherman. The Daily Telegraph in Australia has a report about the incident.

Moses

According to an Israeli researcher, Moses probably was on a drug trip when he received the Ten Commandments.