Happiness

Huw Cordey of the BBC seems to like Vanuatu.

Sales Tip

Question from an entrepreneur: "Where do I find infomation about South African government tenders?"

Answer: A new National Tender Bulletin appears on the South African Government Information Web site every Friday.

Sin City

Fans of The Godfather and The Sopranos will enjoy three old articles about Reading, Pennsylvania. At one time Reading was one of the most corrupt cities in America.

My old newspaper colleague Edward A. Taggert wrote the pieces for the Historical Society of Berks County:

• Beer Baron Max Hassel
• Wide-Open City
• The Minker Era

I knew some of the characters in the articles.

Business Heritage

In the early 1930s George G. Blaisdell (1895-1978) developed the Zippo lighter. Decades later Blaisdell's daughter Sarah Dorn said:

My father hated the oil business. He wasn’t particularly good at it; in fact, he was a man for whom the boom was bust. He didn’t have the temperament for it. The one thing he did know in the early ‘30s was that he needed to do something, because those days were tough. There wasn’t a lot of money lying about then, but he went to everybody to get the money to launch Zippo Manufacturing Company. Nobody had any faith in it. It seemed like a foolish, harebrained idea. And it was. Imagine: manufacturing and marketing a lighter for $1.95 when that amount of money fed a family. What kept him going? I think whatever it was, it was tinged with desperation. He had to make this work. For him and his family, as they say now, there was no Plan B.

Since 1933 Zippo Manufacturing Company has sold nearly 450 million lighters.

Xingu River

The anger of Brazilian Indians boiled over into violence at a meeting about a proposal to build a dam near the mouth of the Xingu River. Julie McCarthy of NPR:

A mix of warriors and women moves menacingly across the room toward Rezende. Then suddenly they're on him.

Machetes and sticks flailing, they push Rezende to the floor and poke him with their weapons. The warriors rip his shirt to shreds and carve a deep gash in his right arm.

Read "Brazilian Tribes Say Dam Threatens Way of Life."

Hemingway Heroes

Art critic Michael Kimmelman of the New York Times wrote a superb article about bullfighting in Spain: "Bullfighting is Dead! Long Live the Bullfight!"

Chained

For more than a decade a man has remained chained to a tree at a village in Vietnam. Thanh Nien has the story.

Luggage

Sandstorm Kenya made luxury tents in Nairobi for the leading safari camps in East Africa. Today the company uses the same skills and materials to produce travel bags and accessories.

Lauren Sherman at Forbes recently praised Sandstorm Kenya's camel-and-cowhide safari set.

Ghurka made my luggage.

Men with Guns in Kenya

Two Kenyan herdsmen and 18 Sudanese rustlers died in a gun battle.

Body Heat

Via IOL: "An Indian woman accused of witchcraft was beaten, gagged and burnt to death in a remote eastern village, police said on Friday."

Vicious

This week a male monkey attacked and injured 37 people at a remote village in the Indian state of Orissa.

By the Water

A tiger killed a 9-year-old girl and a 50-year-old woman in the Indian state of Maharashtra.

"On Wednesday the victims and several other villagers ventured into a forest to collect firewood," a trader told me. "The tiger attacked the girl and the woman near a water hole."

Zapped

Lightning killed a temple elephant in the Indian state of Kerala.

Djibouti

"Djibouti is becoming the little country of big dreams," notes Jeffrey Gettleman of the New York Times. "Hundreds of millions of dollars of overseas investment is pouring in, promising to turn this sleepy, sweltering ministate, which right now does not even have a stoplight, into something of an African trade center."

Three Against One

Three men are in criticial condition at a hospital after a battle with a bear at a village in India's state of Jammu and Kasmir. Somewhere in the nearby forest the wild bear is in good health.

Gulf Raiders

Somali pirates hijacked two more ships in the Gulf of Aden.

Update: Additional details

Cemetery

University of Sheffield: "Archaeologists at the University of Sheffield have revealed new radiocarbon dates of human cremation burials at Stonehenge, which indicate that the monument was used as a cemetery from its inception just after 3000 B.C. until well after the large stones went up around 2500 B.C."

Forest Residents

"Members of one of the world’s last uncontacted tribes have been spotted and photographed from the air near the Brazil-Peru border," Survival International says.

Update: The BBC story is here.

Photos: Brazil tribe

What do the pictures tell us?

Rampaging Elephant

A wild elephant killed at least seven villagers in northern India.

Foreign Ministry

RIA Novosti: "Russia's Foreign Ministry urged Somali authorities on Thursday not to take action that could jeopardize the safety of Russian and Filipino crew members aboard a Dutch vessel recently seized by pirates."

Previous: Dangerous Waters

Arrests

"Kenya police have arrested 86 people in connection with killing of 11 elderly people suspected of being witches," the BBC reports.

Previous: Old Black Magic

Snake Bite

In Australia a snake bit a man's penis. Read the story at the Cairns Post.

Bear in Orissa

A wayward bear mauled a villager in India's state of Orissa. Neighbors of the victim beat the bear to death.

Lions

Lions devoured a worker at a farm. Other lions killed an intruder at a wildlife park. Both attacks occurred in South Africa.

HQ

Egyptian archaeologists discovered an ancient headquarters of the Pharaonic army.

Gold Cup

Via IOL: "An ancient gold cup mysteriously acquired by a British scrap metal dealer is to be sold at auction with an estimate of nearly $1 million, after languishing for years in a shoe box under its current owner's bed."

Web site: Duke’s auction house

Great White Sharks

Smithsonian magazine has an article about great white sharks.

Seeds

Véronique LaCapra at Voice of America: "Monkeys and apes play a crucial role in dispersing the seeds of fruit trees in tropical forests. But across the tropics, habitat loss and hunting are decimating local primate populations, and may be putting many tree species at risk."

Russian Navy

"The Russian Navy has called on international navies to launch joint operations against pirates that have recently stepped up attacks on ships off Africa's coasts," RIA Novosti reports.

Queen of the Nile

Near the Egyptian city of Alexandria a team of archaeologists found an alabaster head of Cleopatra.

Dangerous Waters

Pirates hijacked a cargo ship in the Gulf of Aden.

Travel

At lunch several guy talked about their worst business trips. One time I flew from Bangkok to Singapore to Amsterdam to New York to Paris to Cairo in less than 60 hours. I had meetings at the airports. I had no time to check into hotels.

Big Squid

Commercial fishermen netted a giant squid off the coast of Australia.

Narita International Airport

BBC News:

An unwitting passenger arriving at Japan's Narita airport has received 142g of cannabis after a customs test went awry, officials say.

A customs officer hid a package of the banned substance in a side pocket of a randomly chosen suitcase in order to test airport security.

Sniffer dogs failed to detect the cannabis and the officer could not remember which bag he had put it in.

Baby Bottles

Archaeologists unearthed medieval baby bottles in northwest Russia.

"Medieval Slavs made feeding bottles by attaching leather bags to the wider part of cow horns," RIA Novosti says. "A baby drank the milk from a hole made on the tip of a horn."

Military

Thom Shanker at the New York Times:

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has written an unusual open letter to all those in uniform, warning them to stay out of politics as the nation approaches a presidential election in which the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will be a central, and certainly divisive, issue.

“The U.S. military must remain apolitical at all times and in all ways,” wrote the chairman, Adm. Mike Mullen, the nation’s highest-ranking officer. “It is and must always be a neutral instrument of the state, no matter which party holds sway.”

I often see comments from American military personnel when I read political blogs.

Baby Jump

BBC News: "Grown men have been leaping over rows of babies in the north Spanish village of Castrillo de Murcia in an annual rite meant to ward off the Devil."

Spy Equipment

NPR: CIA agents have used hollowed-out cavities in freeze-dried rats to hide money or information.

Espionage

BBC News: "An Iranian-born Israeli has been arrested and charged by the Israeli authorities with spying for Iran, police say."

Desires

I listened to three sales presentations last week. Not one of the salesmen knew how to sell products.

Successful salespeople play on basic human desires. These include the desire to make money, the desire to save money, the desire for status, the desire for comfort, the desire for good health, the desire to protect one’s family, and the desire to attract the opposite sex.

During the early years of my business career, purchasing agents talked about the "unobtainable trinity." They said, "Quality, low cost, fast delivery — you can get any two of the them, but you can never get all three of them at once." Today most buyers expect all three.

Tunis

Eric Lipton of the New York Times:

THE night air was cold and damp on the narrow, walled streets of Tunis’s medina, and the markets and stores all dark and locked up tight for the night. But all it took was a single rap of the iron knocker on the wooden door at 5, rue Dar El Jeld and in that instant a mystical world opened up.

Continue reading "Where Europe, Africa and the Mideast Meet in Tunisia."

Cats

An African lion injured a zookeeper at the Detroit Zoo in Michigan, and an Amur leopard injured a zookeeper at the Potawatomi Zoo in Indiana.

Back to the Future

Peter G. Gosselin on the U.S. economy: "This is not your economy. It's not even your parents' economy. To a surprising degree, this is your great-grandparents' economy."

Read it all at the Los Angeles Times.

Shark Jaws

A shark killed a Mexican surfer.

Trouble Shooters

At least six men died in clashes between Islamic fighters and Somali pirates.

Yesterday: Aid Ship

Grand Hyatt Cairo

Magdi Abdelhadi of BBC News: "A decision by the Saudi owner of the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Cairo to ban the sale of alcohol and destroy millions of dollars worth of beverages has sparked a debate in Egypt."

Web site: Grand Hyatt Cairo

Snakes

Watch out for cobras in North Carolina's Onslow County.

Puppy

A bird of prey snatched a 9-year-old Polish girl's puppy.

Settlement

Via People's Daily: "The biggest Bronze Age settlement ever found in the Netherlands has been uncovered during road construction in the south of the country, Dutch news agency ANP reported on Friday."

No Sleep

A Vietnamese man hasn't slept in 35 years. Thanh Nien has a report.

Foot

CBC News in Canada: "Another right foot wearing a sock and sneaker was discovered washed ashore near Vancouver, the RCMP confirmed Friday."

Previous: Feet

Shark for Dinner

A saltwater crocodile killed a shark in Australia.

They Were Soldiers

Hal Moore:

When the blood of any war soaks your clothes and covers your hands, and soldiers die in your arms, every breath forever more becomes an appeal for a greater peace, unity and reconciliation.

It was Vietnam. I was their commander and accountable for them. We charged the enemy with bayonets fixed to our rifles in face-to-face combat.

Continue reading "How enemies became friends ...."

CWCID: Jules Crittenden

Threat of Piracy

Robin Brant of the BBC wrote about current efforts to protect ships against attacks by modern-day Blackbeards in the Strait of Malacca.

Aphrodisiac

Earlier this month an illegal aphrodisiac apparently killed a 35-year-old New Yorker.

Teddy Roosevelt of the Seas

John Nielsen and David Malakoff at NPR:

The Bush administration is considering launching one of the biggest conservation programs in U.S. history.

If implemented, President George W. Bush could, with the stroke of a pen, protect vast stretches of U.S. territorial waters from fishing, oil exploration, and other forms of commercial development.

Humpback Comeback

Voice of America: "The biggest study ever to count a whale species has found that the number of humpbacks in the North Pacific has been increasing significantly."

Mount Everest

A Swiss climber died from exhaustion after he had reached the top of Mount Everest.

Embraer

Brazilian aircraft manufacturer Embraer plans to build executive jets in Florida. Steve Mort at Voice of America:

Embraer's President and CEO Frederico Curado says he views the investment as a bet on America's future. "We do not see the current crisis in the United States as a long term one," he said. "We do believe in the recovery of the U.S. economy. I see many companies leaving the U.S. We just think the opposite — we think this is the right moment to invest in the U.S. and be ready when the crisis is over."

Web site: Embraer

Aid Ship

BBC News: "A ship carrying food aid to Somalia which was seized a week ago by pirates has been released."

Previous: Sugar Ship

Leopard Attack

A leopard injured a tourist in South Africa.

Islet

The International Court of Justice awarded Pedra Branca (Pulau Batu Puteh) to Singapore.

Divine Intervention

Via Xinhua News Agency: "When two New Zealand pilots ran out of fuel in a microlight airplane, they offered prayers and were able to make an emergency landing in a field — coming to rest right next to a Jesus sign."

Wolf Whistles

Independent Online: "Road workers in a small New Zealand town got their wish granted when a woman stripped saying she was fed up with their wolf whistles."

Underwear

Xinhua News Agency: "Five robbers have baffled Malaysian police by breaking into a house while clad only in underwear, officials say."

Jyotsna Singh of BBC News: "Nearly 200 staff at a Hindu temple in southern India have won the right to wear underwear to work."

Ties

Via IOL: "A top Iranian customs official has called for imports of ties to be banned because they are 'against Iranian culture,' the Fars news agency reported on Thursday."

From Russia Without Love

Russian Communists complained about the new Indiana Jones movie.

Lost Words

In America's Pacific Northwest roughly 40 indigenous languages may disappear within a decade.

Prisoner in Mexico

A donkey spent three days in a Mexican jail.

"Next time the owner should pin the bail on the donkey," a friend said in an email to me.

Mummy Beneath the Sea

RIA Novosti:

Spain and Egypt will start a project later this year to investigate the 19th-century sinking of a ship that some believe contained the mummy of a Fourth Dynasty pharaoh, news agency MENA said.

MENA cited Egyptian Ambassador to Spain Yasser Murad as saying the countries would first hold consultations and compare historical records, and attempt to establish the location of the shipwreck.

Khafre, who ruled Egypt more than 2,500 years ago, is known for building the second largest of the three great pyramids at Giza, and may have overseen the creation of the nearby Sphinx.

A ship carrying ancient artifacts from Egypt to Britain that sank off the Spanish coast in the first half of the 19th century is believed by some Egyptologists to have contained Khafre's mummy.

Vandals

Vandals damaged Stonehenge.

The Temple of Preah Vihear

Philippa Fogarty of BBC News:

Bullet holes scar one stone wall, while to the side of another stands a rusting artillery gun. Further down, both Cambodian and Thai guards maintain a low-key presence.

These are reminders that bitter battles have dominated Preah Vihear's recent history — and that one of them is still being fought today.

Grand Theft Auto

Wild boars surrounded a car thief.

Rubber Plantation

A wild elephant killed a 49-year-old woman at a rubber plantation in southwestern India.

Mystery

Did aliens from another planet steal tons of olives in Australia?

Old Black Magic

BBC News: "Eleven elderly people accused of being witches have been burned to death by a mob in the west of Kenya, police say."

Parrot

In Japan a lost parrot knew his name and address.

Earthquake

Via Australian Broadcasting Corp.: "A Chinese magazine has been shut down for printing pictures of scantily-clad women posing in rubble for a special report on the country's devastating earthquake."

Roads and Mountain Trails

The BBC has a report about wildlife smugglers in Nepal.

Dinosaur Tracks

A Yemeni journalist stumbled upon dinosaur footprints.

Gold Bugs

German Viasus of Colombia exports giant beetles. The insects retail for as much as USD 350 each in Tokyo pet stores.

"If I produced 1,000 beetles a day, I could sell them all," the 36-year-old entrepreneur says.

Chris Kraul of the Los Angeles Times has the story.

Jimmy Obama

"We can't drive our SUVs and eat as much as we want and keep our homes on 72 degrees at all times ... and then just expect that other countries are going to say OK," Barack Obama told voters in Oregon.

He sounds like Jimmy Carter, doesn't he? Turn down the thermostat. Wear sweaters.

I had dinner with Carter and some Hollywood types in L.A. before Carter's first campaign for President. I told one of Carter's helpers — Jody Powell, I think; it was some guy with a girl's name — that Carter "could become President if he were a litte taller." (Actually Jimmy wasn't short; he just seemed that way to me.)

Well, Carter won. But I was right. He wasn't tall enough for the job. Even worse, he shrank over time.

Suffer

The World Bank won't help Myanmar (Burma).

Deadly Elephants

In India elephants killed 4,092 people during the 16-year-period from 1991 to 2007. The figure takes into account attacks by both wild and trained elephants.

Quarry

Israeli archaeologists found another ancient quarry.

Leaving America

Asia is attracting more and more senior banking figures.

Tax Havens

Beat Balzli and Frank Hornig at Spiegel Online:

An aggressive bill to combat tax evasion, the "Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act," was introduced in the U.S. Congress last year. The legislation provides for tough measures against 34 tax havens, including Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland.

The bill has stood little chance of becoming law until now. But that could quickly change after the presidential election in November. Once of the bill's three sponsors is Senator Barack Obama, who is currently favored to win the White House.

Chinese Diplomat

Via Australian Broadcasting Corp.: "The actions of a Chinese diplomat who saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust by issuing visas for them to flee Austria are being honored in an exhibition at the U.S. Congress."

Toto the Kangaroo

Spiegel Online: "Toto the runaway kangaroo has been caught after a 15-day odyssey in Germany."

Walruses

Natalie Angier picked up some interesting facts about walruses.

Raging Bull

A bull stormed through a house in Germany.

Iraq's Antiquities

Christian Science Monitor: "In wake of widespread illegal looting, Iraq and Western countries are attempting to better guard ancient cities from smugglers and prevent them from selling the artifacts."

Andhra Pradesh

Ten villagers punished a 50-year-old man and his 45-year-old wife for practicing witchcraft in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

"The miscreants chopped off the left leg and hand of the husband and the right leg and hand of the wife," a trader said.

Taliban Commander

From Spiegel Online: "German special forces had an important Taliban commander in their sights in Afghanistan. But he escaped — because the Germans were not authorized to use lethal force. "

Pygmy Hogs

Conservationists have started to release pygmy hogs into the wild.

Three Giant Pandas

Peter Cave at Australian Broadcasting Corp.: "Officials in China say three giant pandas raised at the Wolong Nature Reserve near the epicentre of last Monday's earthquake are missing."

Farewell, My Daughter

In Afghanistan a man reportedly sold his 11-year-old daughter to save the rest of his family from starvation.

Five Girls

A wild bear mauled five girls at a high school in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Chinese Weapons

VOA News: "Media reports say 77 tons of Chinese-supplied weapons have arrived in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, despite international efforts to keep the government there from receiving the arms."

That doesn't surprise me. I can think of 50 ways to deliver guns and ammo to Zimbabwe.

Babalu

Felix Contreras at NPR:

Millions of Americanos tuned into I Love Lucy, and most of them probably didn't realize that Ricky Ricardo's signature song was a tribute to an Afro-Cuban god.

"Babalu," written by Cuban composer Margarita Lecuona, is about Babalu-Aye, one of the seven main gods of the Afro-Cuban religion Santeria.

Background: Babalú-Ayé

Eight Babies

"A Chinese policewoman is contributing to the country's massive earthquake relief effort in a very personal way — by breastfeeding eight babies," IOL reports.

Amazon Jungle

Alexei Barrionuevo of the New York Times: "When the world frets over the Amazon, Brazil sees pirates poised to poach its riches."

Target Practice

BBC News:

An American sniper has been sent home from Iraq for using a copy of the Koran for target practice at a shooting range near Baghdad, the U.S. military says.

The Muslim holy book was found riddled with bullet holes last week by Iraqi police, who also discovered offensive graffiti inside its cover.

Sugar Ship

Pirates hijacked a Jordanian-flagged cargo ship near Somalia.

Burlesque

"Although burlesque was kicked out of New York in 1942, the gleefully bad-mannered entertainment has returned to the city," reports Mark Caldwell of the New York Times.

Hot Party

"Our friend is on fire!" a child screamed at a New York birthday party.

Thoroughbreds

The New York Times has an article about discarded racehorses in the United States.

Stuck in the Mud

A Cambodian woman forced her daughter-in-law to live in a pigpen.

Frank Buckles

Emily Brown interviewed America’s last living World War I veteran.

Scandinavia

"Palaeontologists have discovered fossil remains in Scandinavia of parrots that have been pushing up daisies for more than 55 million years," the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology announced.

Cat and Mouse

A cat and a mouse caused a 72-hour blackout across parts of Tirana.

Suicide Attempt

In Minnesota a young man tried to commit suicide by diving into a wood chipper.

Estonian Bear

RIA Novosti:

A brown bear was caught by an Estonian environmental inspector in the Narva River swimming toward the Russian border, the Eesti Paevaleht daily reported on Friday.

The bear had swum almost 100 meters until it was noticed by the official, who was on a barge. Frightened by the barge horn, the bear swam back to Estonia.

However, when the barge moved away, the bear reentered Russian territory, swimming to Ivangorod, some 160 kilometers west of Russia's St. Petersburg, before later swimming back to Estonia.

German Exports

Spiegel Online: "According to a recent study, only the United States and Russia export more military goods than Germany — and the supposedly pacifist nation leads the EU in such sales."

Foreign Invaders

Matt Walker of BBC News:

One of the world's most prized culinary delicacies, the famous Perigord black truffle, could soon be off the menu.

Scientists fear it will be wiped out by an invading Chinese truffle they have discovered growing in European soils.

Divided

From American Friends of Tel Aviv University: "The human race was divided into two separate groups within Africa for as much as half of its existence, says a Tel Aviv University mathematician."

Primate Ancestors

Duke University:

Smaller primates expend no more energy climbing than they do walking, Duke University researchers have found. This surprising discovery may explain the evolutionary edge that encouraged the tiny ancestors of modern humans, apes and monkeys to climb into the trees about 65 million years ago and stay there.

Wildlife

BBC News: "Between a quarter and a third of the world's wildlife has been lost since 1970, according to data compiled by the Zoological Society of London."

Ivory Smugglers

A Chinese man and woman allegedly tried to smuggle 240 pounds of elephant ivory out of Kenya. Police arrested them at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.

China is probably the largest single Asian market for illegal African elephant tusks.

The Sound of Music

In Austria the former home of the von Trapp family will become a hotel.

Magellan

North Carolina State University:

A new paper by North Carolina State University archaeologist Dr. Scott Fitzpatrick shows that Ferdinand Magellan's historic circumnavigation of the globe was likely influenced in large part by unusual weather conditions — including what we now know as El Niño — which eased his passage across the Pacific Ocean, but ultimately led him over a thousand miles from his intended destination.

Magellan died in the Philippines.

Romania

"A mother bear and her young cub stopped traffic and caused panic on Thursday in central Romania after they roamed through gardens in search of food and finally climbed the stairs of a four-story building and broke onto the roof," IOL says.

Wood Chuck

BBC News: "The halting of logging in the world's rain forests is the single greatest solution to climate change, Prince Charles has said."

I never say anything negative about the Prince of Whales. His wife is one of my distant cousins.

Argentine Bordellos

"An Argentine mayor complained on Wednesday that truckers are stopping outside his town and paying for sex at illegal brothels with sacks of soya beans," IOL reports.

Ukraine

RIA Novosti:

The town of Komsomolsk in central Ukraine is to erect a monument to a "drunken pig," the national UNIAN news agency reported on Thursday.

The monument, which portrays a pig lying on its belly with its snout in a trough, will be installed near a local cafe.

"This monument symbolizes those people who make pigs of themselves by drinking far too much," said Oleg Ryabo, the local sculptor responsible.

Last year, the sculptor created a statue symbolizing corruption that portrayed an obese traffic policeman with "give me!" written on his cap. However, local administration officials refused to give permission for the monument to be erected after a complaint from traffic police.

Komsomolsk, which has a population of 50,000, already has a number of bizarre monuments and statues, including one of a plumber. Local street-corner vendors are particularly fond of a monument to an old woman selling sunflower seeds which was erected in honor of small businesses. It is commonly believed that anyone who visits the monument before dawn will make a healthy profit that day.

Man-Eater

A tiger killed a 30-year-old man in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. Villagers found part of the victim's body in a forest.

Cheetahs of the Deep

Matt Walker of the BBC:

Superfast pilot whales have been observed sprinting after prey, likely to include giant squid.

The rapid pursuit has brought comparisons with the fleet-footed land predator, the cheetah.

Threatened

Polar bear

U.S. Interior Department:

Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne today announced that he is accepting the recommendation of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dale Hall to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The listing is based on the best available science, which shows that loss of sea ice threatens and will likely continue to threaten polar bear habitat.

Update from the New York Times: "The decision may be less of an impediment to oil and gas exploration in Alaska than environmental groups had hoped."

(Photo credit: Susanne Miller/USFWS)

Trouble in Italy

Vigilantes attacked two Roma (Gypsy) camps.

Spit

A man died when he fell from a hotel balcony during a spitting match in Switzerland.

Globalization

Alexander Jung and Wieland Wagner at Spiegel Online: "What can Western companies do when China's factory workers start demanding better wages and conditions? Easy — just transfer production to a cheaper country. China's loss is Vietnam's gain."

Mongolian Gazelle

RIA Novosti:

Thousands of Mongolian gazelles, or zerens, who have been forced north by years of drought, have died after being caught up in barbed wire lining the Russian border, a popular tabloid reported on Wednesday.

Komsomolskaya Pravda said over 20,000 zerens, a species of antelope, have managed to cross the fence on the Mongolian side but have become entangled in the three-meter-high fence on the Russian side, and have died of injuries and thirst.

Cat Wedding

RIA Novosti:

An Egyptian woman filed for divorce after her husband refused to pay for the wedding of her favorite cat in a five-star hotel, national media said on Wednesday.

The young woman, named only as Khadiga, had begged her husband, some 50 years her senior, to pay for her cat's wedding. Her husband refused and Khadiga filed for divorce.

However, in court, her husband said he would agree to a divorce, but his last present to his wife would be a wedding for her cat, albeit one in a less expensive hotel owned by his friend.

The woman promptly forgave her husband and called off divorce proceedings. The cat is now preparing to be wed.

Supply Vessel

BBC News: "Gunmen in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta have hijacked a ship belonging to a U.S. company and kidnapped its crew."

Wipe That Smile Off Your Face

Spiegel Online: "A German psychologist has warned 'professional smilers' such as flight attendants and shop assistants that too much forced smiling can cause stress, depression and even heart problems."

Caesar

At the bottom of the Rhone River, divers discovered an ancient bust of Julius Caesar.

Kenyan Hackers

Australian Broadcasting Corp.: "Angry Kenyan villagers have hacked to death a man accused of the ritual murder of a child whose torso was recovered in a pit in eastern Kenya, police said."

Picnic

In the Indian state of Gujarat, a 16-year-old boy jumped into a river to retrieve a ball during a picnic. A crocodile killed the teenager.

Sicily

Mount Etna rumbled back to life.

Political News Coverage

Gabor Steingart at Germany's Spiegel Online says: "Barack Obama may be closer than ever to defeating Hillary Clinton in the race for the Democratic nomination, but the real loser of the election campaign is the American people. They have been betrayed by cynical journalists who have constantly opted for style over substance."

Steingart also declares: "Clinton claimed to recall hearing sniper fire as her plane landed in Bosnia. In fact, as archive TV footage later showed, Clinton was actually greeted by a young girl who recited a poem on the tarmac. That may have been embarrassing for Hillary Clinton, but it is insignificant for voters."

Sorry, you are wrong about the importance of Hillary's tall tale, Mr. Steingart. Hillary's claim about sniper fire is significant.

Why?

You can find the answer in a Spiegel Online piece by Gerhard Spörl, Marc Hujer, and Cordula Meyer: "Hollywood producer David Geffen was also a welcome guest at the Clinton court in the past. When he turned his back on the Clintons, he said that he did it because he was tired of their lies."

Do you trust the campaign promises of liars, Mr. Steingart?

Arc of Fire

The BBC has a report from the front line of Brazil's battle to save the Amazon rain forest.

Big

Egyptian cops used a crane to remove a fat man from his apartment.

Russian Zookeeper

RIA Novosti:

A drunken Russian zookeeper, who was mauled by a lion after climbing into its pen May 1 at a zoo in the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiisk, died in hospital Tuesday, investigators said.

The man, who had been suspended from work for being drunk, entered the animal's enclosure while the lion slept and was attacked by the big cat as he tried to tap it on the nose.

Palace

The Times of London picked up the story about the Queen of Sheba's palace.

Last Thursday: Queen of Sheba

Elephants in the Fields

In Namibia a 58-year-old man died during a confrontation between villagers and elephants.

Murder at the Dead Sea

RIA Novosti: "A Jordanian man drowned his 22-year-old sister in the Dead Sea two weeks after her wedding after hearing reports that she had cheated on her new husband, the Al Watan daily reported."

Giant

Chilli is larger than the average steer.

Smaller Fish

ARC Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies: "Fish diet to avoid fights."

Barbecue Blaze

Gasoline is for cars, not sausages. Two men learned that lesson the hard way.

On a Levee

For more than 25 years, 60-year-old Jugal Ram has lived on a levee in the Indian state of Bihar. The BBC has a story about his life.

Visitors

Two American helicopters caused quite a stir in the Thai border town of Mae Sot.

Stonehenge

Here is another theory about Stonehenge.

Desert Tortoises

The U.S. Army airlifted hundreds of tortoises from Fort Irwin. Now the reptiles face other threats.

Khomartash Dome

Iranian experts plan to start the restoration of the Khomartash Dome in the near future.

Business Heritage

Jungle Movies: A still from the Italian motion picture Between Savage and Tiger, 1914

Seven Serpents

In Kenya a thief stole seven venomous snakes.

Pelican

"A woman required 20 stitches to her face after a pelican crashed into her in the sea off Florida, apparently diving for fish," the BBC says.

White House

According to a U.S. Defense Department report, a U.S. Navy officer's extramarital affair with a State Department staffer included sex in the White House. Chris Amos of the Navy Times dishes the details.

Propaganda

The Associated Press says, "Myanmar's military regime distributed international aid Saturday but plastered the boxes with the names of top generals in an apparent effort to turn the relief effort for last week's devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise."

Cyclone Nargis

Do-gooders around the world scrambled to help hungry and homeless cyclone survivors in Myanmar (Burma). Meanwhile, the nation's rulers exported tons of rice.

Heroine

A woman rescued the male victim of a shark attack off the coast of Australia.

Update here.

Vang Pao

Tim Weiner of the New York Times: "The U.S. government relied on Vang Pao and his Hmong soldiers to battle Communism in the jungles of Laos. Why is the Justice Department now calling him a terrorist?"

Kamikaze Pilots

Tak Kyung Hyun and at least 17 other Korean pilots flew kamikaze missions for the Japanese during World War II.

Wife Problem

From BBC News: "Nigeria's Anglican leader has told the country's many Christian polygamists to give up their extra wives."

Plight of the Batwa

Uganda's forest people lost land to wildlife protection schemes. Read the full story at the BBC.

Showdown in Bolivia

Simon Romero of the New York Times wrote about American rancher Ronald Larsen's struggles in Bolivia: "Mr. Larsen’s standoffs with the central government, replete with rifles, cowboys and Guaraní Indians, might sound like something out of the Old West."

Spears

Two people died during a fight between two clans over cattle rustling incidents near the Kenya-Tanzania border.

"The men were speared to death," a trader said.

Ears

BBC News: "The Senegalese army has launched an offensive against rebels in the southern Casamance region, after 16 villagers had their left ears cut off."

Child's Skull

"Houston police say three teens admitted digging up a child's corpse, removing the skull and using it to smoke marijuana," USA Today reports.

African Blackwood

Nina Perry of the BBC:

The wood from Tanzania's "mpingo" tree is used to make flutes, clarinets, oboes and even bagpipes, making it one of the most valuable plants in the world.

But illegal logging has threatened its very existence and numbers are in severe decline.

Year of the Rat and Snake

When a woman woke up, she saw a rat and a snake in her bedroom.

Grass in the Desert

Parts of the Sahara are turning green.

Queen of Sheba

Relief, Auch Cathedral, France: Ark of the Covenant

"German archaeologists believe they have found the Queen of Sheba's Ethiopian palace in Axum (Aksum)," a friend said in a dispatch. "They also believe they have found an altar for the Ark of the Covenant."

Germans are looking for the ark? Somebody tell Indiana Jones.

Background: Aksum

Uncontacted Tribes

Survival International: "Peru’s government has dropped plans to open up uncontacted Indians’ reserves to oil exploration."

Previous: Oil

Locust Plagues

Princeton University: "Since ancient times, locust plagues have been viewed as one of the most spectacular events in nature. In seemingly spontaneous fashion, as many as 10 billion critters can suddenly swarm the air and carpet the ground, blazing destructive paths that bring starvation and economic ruin. What makes them do it? In a word, cannibalism."

Coyotes

The Los Angeles Times has a report about recent coyote attacks on children in Southern California.

Coastal Migration

Vanderbilt University:

New evidence from the Monte Verde archaeological site in southern Chile confirms its status as the earliest known human settlement in the Americas and provides additional support for the theory that one migration route followed the Pacific Coast more than 14,000 years ago.

Worker Hurt

A wild elephant attacked a worker at a plantation in the Indian state of Kerala. The man suffered head injuries.

Wildlife in China

"When compared to countries such as the UK, which have already lost most of their megafauna as a result of human activity centuries ago, China has done pretty well in conserving its wildlife," Phil Chapman of the BBC says.

Flatulence Tax

Estonian farmers received tax notices for methane emissions from their cattle.

Update here.

Cranes

Howard Youth at Zoogoer magazine: "Like pandas of the bird world, cranes capture our attention with their exceptional beauty and complex behaviors — and their vulnerability to habitat loss and other threats. With helping hands, some species are recovering, just as others slide downward."

Full story

Dome

Workers reportedly discovered the dome of a ninth-century temple in India's state of West Bengal. Nineteen years ago, workers uncovered a priceless Buddhist statue at the same site.

Guadalcanal

On Guadalcanal a crocodile killed a fisherman at a river. The victim's wife saw her screaming husband in the jaws of the reptile. Cops shot the crocodile and retrieved the man's body.

Human Prey

A man-eating leopard killed an old woman at a village in India's state of Uttar Pradesh.

"The leopard killed four other villagers this year," a trader said.

Update (9 May 08): Local residents trapped and killed the cat.

Crow Nation

Officials should dispatch ninja hit squads to cull troublesome crows in Japan.

"With wing spans up to a yard and intimidating black beaks and sharp claws, Japan’s crows are bigger, more aggressive and downright scarier than those usually seen in North America," says Martin Fackler of the New York Times.

Death

A Paraguayan Indian died of tuberculosis after his first contact with the outside world. Survival International tells the tale.

Investigation

"Papua New Guinea police are continuing to question villagers in the highlands after two women accused of sorcery were tortured and murdered last week," Radio Australia reports.

Lava

VOA News:

A volcano in southern Chile has started spewing lava again, prompting officials to order a total evacuation of residents still living in the area.

More than 4,000 people have already been evacuated from the nearby town of Chaitén since the volcano began erupting on Friday.

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet oversaw the evacuation on Monday of Futaleufu, a small town on the border with Argentina and about 160 kilometers southeast of the volcano. Some areas in the town had as much as 30 centimeters of ash.

Passage of Arms

Voice of America:

U.S. prosecutors have indicted an alleged Russian arms dealer, arrested earlier this year in Thailand, on four counts of terrorism.

The U.S. Justice Department Tuesday announced that Viktor Bout is charged with attempted sales of weapons to Colombia's leftist rebel group FARC. The group is on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations.

Bout says the United States made up the charges against him.

The 41-year-old former Soviet Air Force officer has been held in a high-security prison outside Bangkok since his arrest on March 6. Thai authorities are deciding whether to extradite him to the United States.

Bout is accused of trafficking weapons to several conflict zones, mainly in Africa. He has been investigated in several countries, but has never been prosecuted.

One of his alleged clients was former Liberian President Charles Taylor, who is now on trial for war crimes. Bout also was suspected of selling arms to the Taliban in Afghanistan and to al-Qaida.

Russia's Foreign Ministry last month summoned Thailand's ambassador to discuss what it called violations of the rights of a Russian arrested the previous month in Bangkok on arms trafficking charges.

Previous: No Bail

Viking Sword

BBC News: "Fragments of a Viking sword have been discovered by two metal detector enthusiasts on the Isle of Man."

Trading Place

Diggers unearthed an important Viking trading center in Ireland.

Births

The BBC has a rare piece of good news about tigers.

Wedding in India

RIA Novosti:

A remote village in northwest India hosted on Tuesday a solemn marriage ceremony between a cow and a bull, the Indo-Asian news service said.

Hundreds of residents of a village in Rajasthan attended the unusual wedding, which included the "chanting of hymns and rituals, as well as music and sweets," the agency said. The owners of the animals played the role of parents to the four-legged bride and groom.

A priest at a local temple said similar weddings used to be quite common. Marriages between holy animals are believed to bring good luck and wealth.

Imprisoned for Witchcraft

Via RIA Novosti: "A court in the Saudi Red Sea port of Jeddah has sentenced the headmaster of a local school to six months in prison and 500 lashes for practicing witchcraft, the Al-Madina daily said on Tuesday."

Wildlife Park

The Zoological Society of San Diego has joined forces with the Al Ain Zoo to build a 2,000-acre wildlife park in Abu Dhabi.

Chinese Medicine

A Voice of America report by Naomi Martig gives readers an overview of traditional Chinese medicine.

Cod

Scientists are using cod bones to learn more about Europe's economic history.

Pulp Fiction

NPR: The Hard Case Crime publishing group is at the forefront of a pulp revival.

Web site: Hard Case Crime

Architectural Treasure

The BBC has an article about the leaning minaret of Jam.

Bulb

In California a lightbulb has burned continuously since 1901.

Buffalo Shooters

"Oh, give me a home where the buffalo roam..."

Boom!

Recessions

Memo to small-business owners:

I survived several economic downturns. You can weather a recession if you do two things:

• Sell to governments. They almost always have money.
• Become a market-driven rather than a product-driven supplier. In other words, don't overlook opportunities to sell bicycles because you want to sell motorcycles.

The future belongs to neither the smart nor the strong. The future belongs to individuals who can adapt easily to change.

Selling to State Governments

Sales tip for entrepreneurs: State governments in the United States buy a variety of items from big and little companies. Becoming a supplier to state governments is generally a straightforward process. Here are links to state procurement Web sites in all 50 states and the District of Columbia:

Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
Nevada
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New Mexico
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Carolina
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Washington
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming

Bush Doctor

Meredith May of the San Francisco Chronicle:

Dr. Frank Artress looked down at his fingers. His nail beds were turning blue. He was running out of oxygen near the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro.

A cardiac anesthesiologist, Artress knew the signs of high altitude pulmonary edema. He knew there was a 75 percent chance that he would perish on Africa's highest peak.

Continue reading "Doctor finds higher calling when death knocks."

Indiana Jones

An article in Archaeology reveals the truth behind Indiana Jones's latest quest.

Aldo

Al Baker of the New York Times: "Aldo, a police horse on routine patrol in one of Manhattan’s busiest sections, may have lost his cool on Friday afternoon — but he didn’t lose his sense of direction."

Northern Elephant Seals

Somebody killed three northern elephant seals near Hearst Castle in California. David Pierson of the Los Angeles Times has the details.

Fact Sheet: Northern elephant seal

Electric Cable

A dangling cable electrocuted a female elephant and her calf in India's state of Orissa.

Fugitive Financier

Robert L. Vesco reportedly passed away last year. Is he really dead? Maybe, maybe not.

Vigilantes

Vigilantes clubbed four robbers to death in Kenya. The killers burned the bodies.

Law and Disorder

In Wisconsin a female college student called 911 before her murder. No one came to help her.

Rwandan Genocide

According to the director of a rights group, many perpetrators of the 1994 Rwandan genocide live in the United States.

Lies

Dan Lamothe at the Navy Times:

As a widely admired boxing scribe at Sports Illustrated, the late Pat Putnam was known as someone who could spin a tale with the best, sharing the stories of all-time greats such as Muhammad Ali.

But Putnam didn’t just spin a tale about boxing. His own widely celebrated background as a Marine veteran and former Korean War prisoner of the Chinese — with four Purple Hearts and a Navy Cross — wasn’t true, Marine officials said Thursday.

The rest is here.

Paint

"A German inventor has created a radar-evading camouflage paint in the deserts of the United Arab Emirates," reports Bernhard Zand at Spiegel Online.

Killing for Profit

Voice of America has a news report about poachers, elephants, and the ivory trade.

Dwarf Cloud Rat

Chicago's Field Museum: "A team of Filipino and American scientists have rediscovered a highly distinctive mammal — a greater dwarf cloud rat — that was last seen 112 years ago."

Export Assistance

Brendan Alexander emails: "You should tip off all your American small business exporting friends to the great export assistance program offered by the SBA. It’s called the Export Working Capital Program."

He adds: "Feel free to refer anybody to me who has questions about hitting up Uncle Sam for export assistance. I’d be happy to help point them in the right direction."

You can contact Brendan at his company, Rakotis.

That Darn Dog

Via Australian Broadcasting Corp.: "A 64-year-old Frenchwoman has been handed a 12-year jail sentence for slicing her partner's penis off while he was unconscious — and then blaming her pet dog."

Boomer

Canadian cops captured Boomer the runaway lion.

Yesterday: Lion on the Lam

Down Will Come Baby

During a ritual in India, villagers drop babies from a 50-foot tower.

Palawan

A crocodile reportedly killed a 7-year-old boy on the island of Palawan in the Philippines.