Seals

Jennifer Carpenter of BBC News: "Seals can identify a single star in the night sky and navigate by it, scientists have discovered."

Bus

"A man on a Greyhound bus traveling across the Canadian prairies has killed and decapitated a fellow passenger," the BBC says.

Lost Trunks

Vince Stricherz at the University of Washington:

African elephants are being slaughtered for their ivory at a pace unseen since an international ban on the ivory trade took effect in 1989. But the public outcry that resulted in that ban is absent today, and a University of Washington conservation biologist contends it is because the public seems to be unaware of the giant mammals' plight.

Late, Great Village of California

From RIA Novosti: "Lawmakers in a Russian Volga province voted on Thursday to remove a deserted village named California from maps, local authorities said."

Tomato War

Spiegel Online: "It is perhaps the largest food fight in the world. Every year in the tiny town of Buñol, Spain, locals and tourists engage in pitched battle using close to 150,000 kilograms of tomatoes."

Business Heritage

Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco treat: "The story of the Golden Grain Company is a classic success saga of an Italian immigrant family."

Vulture Restaurant

Charles Haviland of the BBC reports from Nepal:

As the early morning mist lifts on the farmlands at the edge of the jungle, Yam Bahadur Nepali embarks on a job which many would find difficult but which, for him, is a regular chore.

He wheels his tricycle cart to collect the carcass of an old and sick cow which died during the night. It is to be fed to the vultures, under a unique initiative to conserve the scavenging birds. It is called the "vulture restaurant."

Read more.

Six Wives

BBC News: "A member of the Saudi religious police has been accused of having six wives at the same time — two more than allowed under religious laws, reports say."

Dogs and Cats

RIA Novosti: "Saudi Arabia's religious police have banned selling pet cats and dogs and walking them in public places in the country's capital Riyadh to preserve public morals, the Al-Hayat newspaper said Thursday."

Orangutan Drowns

Spiegel Online: "Staff at a Hamburg zoo say one of their orangutans died needlessly after a visitor broke park rules against feeding animals. The animal, they claim, drowned in pursuit of a bread roll that had been lobbed into her enclosure."

Two for Lunch

Lions devoured two women in Mozambique.

Jarhead

BBC News: "U.S. wildlife officials who tried to capture a bear that had a jar stuck on its head have shot the animal after it wandered into a busy Minnesota town."

Hostile Neighbors

Neighbors murdered an alleged witch in India's state of Assam. The old woman died outside her house. Police arrested five people in the case.

Twelve Pirates

Last week a dozen knife-wielding pirates stole supplies and other property from an anchored containership at the Port of Manila in the Philippines.

Business Etiquette in India

Ten tips on Indian business etiquette:

• Greet with a smile, handshake and small talk.
• Saying "Namaste" with a slight bow and palms together will be appreciated.
• With women, only shake hands if they offer it. Do not kiss them in greeting or good-bye.
• Dress conservatively and formally.
• Always address colleagues with title followed by surname (e.g., Mr. Patel). Using a first name is seen as being very familiar and disrespectful.
• Don’t open gifts until the giver has left the room. Don’t seem too eager to open gifts.
• Indians are not always punctual. So be patient and flexible.
• They may call on weekends to discuss business. Don’t be offended.
• Standing with hands on hips is considered rude.
• Do not talk down or patronizingly to Indian colleagues and business partners.

Source: Press release from the UK India Business Council

Genies

Five suspected swindlers claimed they had domesticated genies.

Bugs

A former pest-control officer ate termites.

Gossip on the Rocks

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

• Bees join hunt for serial killers — BBC News
• Villager grabs leopard with bare hands — Times of India
• Crematorium goes up in smoke — ABC Online, Australia
• Day-care operator drives over babies — Independent Online
• Ghana police protect hunchbacks — ABC Online, Australia

Greek Ship

People's Daily: "An ancient Greek trading ship that has lain on the seabed off the coast of Gela in southern Sicily for 2,500 years was brought to the surface for the first time on Monday."

German Stonehenge

"For two years, archaeologists have been studying a Bronze Age place of worship in eastern Germany," reports Spiegel Online. "The site has a number of parallels with Stonehenge in England."

Alcohol

Michelle Trudeau of America's NPR: "In the rain forest of Malaysia, scientists have found a small mammal, closely related to primates, whose major source of food is a type of beer."

Leopard Skins

Police seized eight leopard skins from poachers in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.

Empire State Building

NPR: "On July 28, 1945, residents of New York City were horrified when an airplane crashed into the Empire State Building, leaving 14 dead."

China Rising

In a five-part series, NPR investigates China's pivotal new role on the African continent.

Rhino

Archaeologists found the 9,000-year-old bones of a rhino in Russia's Urals.

Lucky Girl

RIA Novosti: "An 18-month-old girl who crawled onto a railroad track in East Siberia's Krasnoyarsk Territory survived between the rails as a freight train passed over her, transport police said on Monday."

Cuba

"The shrine for the Virgin of El Cobre in Cuba is an essential part of the country’s religious, social and political landscape," Marc Lacey of the New York Times says.

Business Heritage

Mulberry Street, New York City, circa 1900

(Click on picture to enlarge)

Photochrom by Detroit Photographic Co.

Man of Mystery

For some reason I thought about The Count of Monte Cristo when I read Tim Arango's latest article in the New York Times.

Wicked Witchcraft

"Tanzanian police say another albino man has been murdered — the 26th victim in the country in under a year," the BBC reports.

Last Thursday: Fear

Body Armor

Greg Frost at MIT: "Scientists seeking to protect the soldier of the future can learn a lot from a relic of the past, according to an MIT study of a primitive fish that could point to more effective ways of designing human body armor."

Two Deadly Cats

A leopard killed a man and injured nearly a dozen other villagers in the Indian state of Bihar. Several days ago, a tiger took the life of a farmer at a national park in the state.

Business Heritage

In 1908 Orville Wright crashed his airplane, killing his passenger.

Russian Tabloids

Anne Barnard of the New York Times: "The Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, once serving Soviet official propaganda, has reinvented itself as a tabloid, with huge success."

Face from the Past

Israelite, Jerusalem, 1890s

Photochrom by Detroit Photographic Co.

Folding Plane

From the San Francisco Chronicle: "A compact, two-seat plane with folding wings that can be pulled behind a car on a trailer will premiere at an air show in Wisconsin next week."

Web site: ICON Aircraft

Motorcycles

Ann-Elise Henzl looks at the history of Harley-Davidson: "It took World War II to really put the company on the map. An exhibit at the Harley-Davidson Museum features Army-green Harleys, with large holsters designed to carry Tommy guns."

Booze

Via IOL: "A Cairo luxury hotel confirmed on Saturday that it was back selling alcohol after Egyptian government action against a Saudi investor who had banned its sale."

Previous: Grand Hyatt Cairo

Business Heritage

Last January the New York Times published an article about fortune cookies.

"A researcher has traced the origins of fortune cookies to shops near Kyoto, Japan," the newspaper said.

War Pictures

Michael Kamber and Tim Arango of the New York Times report from Iraq: "By a recent count, only half a dozen Western photographers were covering a war in which 150,000 American troops are engaged."

Related: Picturing Casualties

Business Heritage

The Second World War brought Swire's empire to its knees. But the organization didn't stay down for long.

Chinese Dancers

Jimmy Wang in Beijing: "A growing number of Chinese women are experimenting with the country’s newest, and most controversial, fitness activity: pole dancing."

The New York Times has the article.

Mande Barung

Alastair Lawson of the BBC: "Scientists in the UK who have examined hairs claimed to belong to a yeti in India say that an initial series of tests have proved inconclusive."

Yesterday: Strands

Previous: Searching for India's Elusive Yeti

Smithsonian Magazine

The August issue of Smithsonian magazine is online.

Fear

Vicky Ntetema of BBC News:

I am living in hiding after I received threats because of my undercover work exposing the threat from witch doctors to albinos living in Tanzania.

I do not regret it, even if I am very scared.

Continue reading "In hiding for exposing Tanzania witch doctors."

Previous:
Witchcraft killings
Crackdown

Floating Corpse

A crocodile killed a 45-year-old woman at a river in India's state of West Bengal. Villagers found the victim's mutilated body in the water.

Survey

Mercer:

Moscow is the world’s most expensive city for expatriates for the third consecutive year, according to the latest Cost of Living Survey from Mercer. Tokyo is in second position climbing two places since last year, whereas London drops one place to rank third. Oslo climbs six places to 4th place and is followed by Seoul in 5th. Asunción in Paraguay is the least expensive city in the ranking for the sixth year running.

Where's the Rest of Me?

Via IOL: "A taxi driver who went to hospital to have kidney stones removed discovered weeks later that his kidney had been stolen by the doctor."

Ukraine's Malanka Festival

Spiegel Online:

They begin creeping out of their houses in Ukraine at nightfall on January 13. The date is New Year's Eve according to the Julian calendar, and it is a time when all manner of ghosts, goblins, bears, horses, witches — and even Nazis — take to the streets of Ukraine for the festival of Malanka.

Names

Some New Zealand parents give their children unique names.

Poppy Fields

Thomas Schweich wrote about the war within the war in Afghanistan.

Business Heritage

John Steele Gordon:

The most revolutionary invention in history is so ingrained in our daily lives that we scarcely consider it an invention at all.

Read more at The American.

CWCID: Maggie's Farm

Teeth

In Brazil an 11-year-old boy bit a pit bull.

Bears

A bear seriously injured a female hiker near Bakersfield, California. Meanwhile, at least 30 hungry bears terrorized a team of geologists in Russia's Far East.

Last Friday: Geologists

New Era

Spiegel Online has a report about business opportunities in Iraq.

Casino

From RIA Novosti: "Iraq's investment committee is studying projects proposed by U.S. and Russian firms to turn Saddam Hussein's palace near the site of ancient Babylon into a tourist site with a casino, an Iraqi paper said."

Opium Factory

The BBC has an article about the legal opium factory in Ghazipur.

Previous: British Rule in India

Crocodile Attack

This morning a crocodile killed a 33-year-old fisherman in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Divers searched in vain the victim's body.

Business Heritage

Nicholas D. Kristof, New York Times, June 6, 1999:

From the sea, the tiny East African island of Pate, just off the Kenyan coast, looks much as it must have in the 15th century: an impenetrable shore of endless mangrove trees. As my little boat bounced along the waves in the gray dawn, I could see no antennae or buildings or even gaps where trees had been cut down, no sign of human habitation, nothing but a dense and mysterious jungle.

The boatman drew as close as he could to a narrow black-sand beach, and I splashed ashore. My local Swahili interpreter led the way through the forest, along a winding trail scattered with mangoes, coconuts and occasional seashells deposited by high tides. The tropical sun was firmly overhead when we finally came upon a village of stone houses with thatched roofs, its dirt paths sheltered by palm trees. The village's inhabitants, much lighter-skinned than people on the Kenyan mainland, emerged barefoot to stare at me with the same curiosity with which I was studying them. These were people I had come halfway around the world to see, in the hope of solving an ancient historical puzzle.

Read the full story here.

Einstein's Eyeballs

Einstein's eyeballs are in a New York bank vault. Napoleon's private parts are in a New Jersey home. Cynthia R. Fagen of the New York Post has the story.

Spy vs. Spy

Mark Mazzetti at the New York Times: "The C.I.A. and its partner in Islamabad, the I.S.I., are trapped in a very complicated marriage."

Mustangs

"An emotional debate is raging in the West over whether to thin a captive herd of wild horses that numbers 30,000," Felicity Barringer of the New York Times reports from Nevada.

Hostile Hopper

In Australia a kangaroo attacked a 65-year-old woman.

Wrestling

"Wrestling is one of humankind's oldest traditions, and the people of the Nuba mountains of Sudan are experts at it," Gwen Thompkins of NPR observes.

Writing

When American author James A. Michener met with me in 1968, he offered this advice about writing:

A writer should have a keen desire to communicate his ideas and views of the world to other people.

You know, I have so many young people who come to me and want to write. They feel they're qualified because they received an A in English. They don't realize that knowledge of literature is secondary to a sense of commitment and an understanding of people.

Previous: James A. Michener

Death and Destruction

At a village in the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, a wild elephant killed an elderly woman and destroyed at least a dozen houses. More than 1,200 frightened people fled the area.

Don't Go to Sheep

"A man arrested for allegedly having sex with sheep has been banned from visiting farmland," the BBC says.

Rare Bird

On the island of Mindanao a young farmer killed a Philippine eagle.

Reporters

BBC News: "Three Chinese reporters attending a police briefing on the success of an anti-gun campaign were accidentally shot, media reports say."

Russian Dancers

RIA Novosti:

A Russian aircraft engine manufacturer has been banned from using dancers to attract guests to its stand at the Farnborough International Air Show in southern England, a spokesman for the company said.

Two Russian dancers strutted their stuff between presentations at the Klimov company stand, attracting dozens of onlookers and experts from other stands and — as the organizers of the air show claimed — disturbing the work of other exhibitors and making the area hard to pass through.

"It is a pity that the organizers banned our girls from performing. They introduced an element of novelty to the exhibition, and looked good performing against a backdrop of military and civil machinery," the spokesman said.

Geologists

A bear killed two geologists in Russia's Far East.

Business Heritage

Sir James Brooke (1803-1868)

Simon Elegant, New York Times, July 13, 1986:

In 1841 James Brooke, an English adventurer and sometime trader, fulfilled every Victorian schoolboy's dream:

With little more than his 140-ton sloop and a bit of help from a British warship, he made himself Rajah of Sarawak, a kingdom of deep jungle and broad rivers on the island of Borneo.

Related: Sarawak

Dams

Survival International: "A secret document accidentally posted on the Internet reveals plans to build a series of massive hydroelectric dams in the Malaysian state of Sarawak, submerging the homes of at least a thousand tribal people."

Speech

"Grunting fish have helped scientists to date the origins of speech to about 400 million years ago," reports Rebecca Morelle of BBC News.

Lithuania

Tim Whewell of the BBC:

A judicial inquiry into the wartime activities of Jewish anti-Nazi resistance fighters in Lithuania has led to accusations that the small Baltic state is trying to distort the history of World War II.

The row follows investigations by the country's prosecutor into whether the former partisans — Holocaust survivors now in their 80s — themselves committed war crimes.

Skull Thieves

Via IOL: "A police sting in Gabon has brought down a ring of grave robbers suspected of selling human skulls to makers of traditional medicines and amulets."

Tribal Fight

Damian Grammaticas of BBC News:

High in the monsoon mists in eastern India there is place called Golgola where witch doctors still make sacrifices to the gods and where the tribes believe the hills are sacred, but where they fear their way of life is under threat.

Bo Derek

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Republican Bo Derek to the California Horse Racing Board. The 51-year-old actress lives in the Santa Ynez Valley.

Bali

Seth Mydans of the New York Times: "In the most spectacular royal funeral in Bali in at least three decades, three royal figures and 68 commoners were mass cremated."

Norwegian Ship

Early this morning a gang of pirates captured a Norwegian freighter in Nigerian waters. The raiders left the ship after a short time.

Black-Footed Ferrets

New York Times: "A colony of black-footed ferrets that biologists say is critical to the long-term health of the species was recovering. Then came a plague."

Most Wanted

Jason Beaubien at NPR:

The most wanted man in Mexico, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, allegedly moves billions of dollars' worth of drugs into United States each year. His Sinaloa drug cartel is one of the key players in a narcotics war that has killed more than 2,000 people this year across Mexico.

Human Rights and Wrongs

The UN fell for a lie. Matthias Schulz of Der Spiegel unveils the truth.

White Lions

"There are only about 200 white lions in the world, and seven of them were just born at the end of June in a German safari park," Spiegel Online reports.

Koala

A koala survived a head-on collision with a car.

Beast of Bladenboro

From staff writer Amy Hotz of the Star-News in Wilmington, North Carolina, October 2006: "In 1954, a savage killer kept a small North Carolina town in a grip of terror. He left big tracks, a bloody trail and a hair-raising legend."

Look Out Below!

A skydiver's fake leg fell off during a jump.

Business Heritage

Adventures of Tarzan, movie serial, 1921

(Click on picture to enlarge)

German Graveyard

Matthias Schulz of Der Spiegel put together a report about Germany's strangest cemetery.

Indian Elephant

According to the Telegraph in Kolkata, a tusker crushed a villager in the Indian state of West Bengal.

Marble

Pir Zubair Shah and Jane Perlez report from Pakistan:

The takeover of the Ziarat marble quarry, a coveted national asset, is one of the boldest examples of how the Taliban have made Pakistan’s tribal areas far more than a base for training camps or a launching pad for sending fighters into Afghanistan.

Read more at the New York Times.

Hippopotamus

A hippo killed a man in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal.

Business Heritage

The story of the 825,000-acre King Ranch in South Texas starts with an 11-year-old boy in New York City.

Two Bears

RIA Novosti: "Two bears killed a visitor at a zoo in southern Ukraine after the man tried to make a photo together with the animals, the Ukrainian TV channel 5 reported on Sunday."

Safe Driving

"Brazil has an estimated 50,000 bulletproof vehicles on its roads," the BBC says.

Hands

Here is the latest news about the investigation into the 1987 theft of both hands from the corpse of Argentine strongman Juan Perón.

Sexual Curse

Archaeologists uncovered a curse tablet on the island of Cyprus. Part of the inscription reads: "May your penis hurt when you make love."

Background: Curse tablet

Murder in Shanghai

Voice of America: "Police in China say they have arrested a young man who is suspected of killing a Canadian model in Shanghai earlier this week."

Dog Meat

China banned dog meat at 112 official Olympic restaurants.

Man in Sudan

Omdurman, 1936
Photo: Matson Photo Service

Vicious Bear

A wild bear injured seven people in India's state of Orissa.

Villagers

In Bangladesh a herd of elephants killed four members of a family.

Ritual Killer

"An Indonesian man who murdered 42 women and girls in black magic rituals has been executed by firing squad," the BBC reports.

Mongolia

Edward Wong of the New York Times says, "Horse racing is becoming increasingly popular across the same Central Asian steppes where Genghis Khan and his warrior hordes once galloped."

Update here.

Poachers and Smugglers

From Héctor Tobar of the Los Angeles Times: "Smugglers, poachers thrive in Guatemala's Petén."

Bulls in the Sea

Spiegel Online pulls back the curtain on an unusual festival in Spain.

Jungle Girl

Radio Free Asia:

Cambodia’s “jungle girl,” who lived alone in the forest for 18 years after vanishing at age nine, has learned to dress herself, bathe, and laugh in the year-and-a-half since she returned to her family, but she remains unable to speak, her father and a local police officer say.

Thieves

A court in Bhutan sentenced seven people to life in prison for stealing items from religious buildings.

Angry Mob

On Monday a leopard injured four people at a village in the Indian state of Gujarat. A mob of 600 people stoned and speared the cat to death.

Furnishings

Spiegel Online has photos of erotic furniture.

Two Die in Congo Attack

WWF:

Two people were killed and three injured, including a WWF staff member, when a WWF vehicle was attacked in Virunga National Park in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo on Monday.

The vehicle was traveling with 11 people in the Nord-Kivu sector of the vast territory, famed for sheltering more than half the world’s 700 remaining wild mountain gorillas, when it was ambushed by armed men.

Two women — the wife of a park warden and an 18-year-old home-help — were shot dead.

Hunt for Dr. Death

BBC News: "Nazi hunters say they have strong evidence that the most wanted member of Hitler's regime — known as Dr. Death — is hiding in southern Chile."

Previous: Nazi Doctor

Tajikistan

David L. Stern of the New York Times reports from Tajikistan:

Belief in spells, soothsaying and the paranormal is widespread throughout the former Soviet sphere, where suppression of religion under Communism led to a search for other forms of spirituality. This is especially true in this impoverished nation of about seven million on the fringes of the old empire, wedged against the Afghan border.

Elephant News

A wild elephant killed a man and his wife in India.

Business Heritage

Dawn on the Oklahoma Track, Saratoga, New York, 1963

Photographer: Toni Frissell, American, 1907-1988

I often close deals at horse races and polo matches.

Blood Feuds

Spiegel Online has a piece about blood feuds in Albania.

Silk

BBC News: "Indian silk producers say their industry has been badly hit by a shortage of raw silk from China following the May earthquake."

Free Men

Somali pirates released the crew of the MV Lehmann Timber.

Previous: Gulf Raiders

Bird on a Wire

In Germany a pigeon delayed more than 200 trains.

Wheels

Sports promoters plan to revive chariot racing in Rome.

Hell Is Always Today

Los Angeles Times:

She has to call the young men her "comrades." She cooks food for the comrades and serves them. She sweeps the comrades' floor and cleans up after them.

And whenever any of the comrades want sex, she is raped.

Continue reading "Zimbabwe youth militias accused of holding women as sex slaves."

Fraud

"A Moscow court on Monday sentenced to 11 years in prison the self-proclaimed healer, Grigory Grabovoi, who had claimed to be able to resurrect children killed in the 2004 Beslan school siege," RIA Novosti reports.

Travelin' Man

Berlin, October 1961

Photo credit: Toni Frissell, American, 1907-1988

The Germans expect Barack Obama to arrive in Berlin on July 24.

Cage the Dog

A court in Equatorial Guinea sentenced mercenary Simon Mann to 34 years and four months in prison.

Update: The New York Times report is here.

Previous: British Mercenary

Carla

"When newly divorced French President Nicolas Sarkozy married pop singer and former model Carla Bruni earlier this year, the French were shocked, and Sarkozy lost a lot of public support," notes Anita Elash of NPR. "But things have changed in the last few months."

Adolf

Spiegel Online: "Hitler will return, vows Berlin Madame Tussauds."

Previous: Hitler Beheaded

Tin Lizzy

Renee Montagne and Dustin Dwyer at NPR:

This year is the 100th anniversary of perhaps the most famous car ever made. The first Ford Model T — also known as the Tin Lizzie — rolled out of Detroit in 1908. It put America on wheels and helped forge a manufacturing revolution.

Business Heritage

American showman Mike Todd, 1952

Photographer: Toni Frissell, American, 1907-1988

Mike Todd's movie Around the World in 80 Days won five Oscars.

Rings and Things

Doris Payne talked about her five-decade career as an international jewel thief.

Discovery

Archaeologists found an ancient tomb in Peru.

Off the Main Stem

New York Times:

Ethan Bronner in Jerusalem: "The writing on an ancient stone may contribute to a re-evaluation of popular and scholarly views of Jesus."

Adam B. Ellick in Chaparral, NM: "Fueled by cultural inertia and light penalties, cockfighting in New Mexico continues unabated in hidden venues."

Andrew C. Revkin: "Maybe Chicken Little wasn’t paranoid after all."

Business Heritage

Fashion model, Victoria Station, London, 1951
Photographer: Toni Frissell, American, 1907-1988

Military Theater

David Haldane of the Los Angeles Times:

It is fitting that the Liberty Theatre's friskiest ghost is a man dressed as a sailor.

The first time Jeff Hathcock says he saw him, the apparition was sitting quietly in a back row.

The rest is here.

Airships

John Tagliabue of the New York Times: "Why fly when you can float?"

Hitler Beheaded

"A man has been arrested after tearing the head off a wax figure of Adolf Hitler at a newly opened branch of Madame Tussauds in Berlin," BBC News says.

Previous: Hitler

Virunga National Park

Jon Hamilton at NPR: "One of the world's great wildlife sanctuaries is literally going up in smoke. The hardwood forests of Virunga National Park in Central Africa are being cut down to support a lucrative — and illegal — trade in charcoal."

Pompeii

"The ancient city of Pompeii has fallen into such disrepair that the Italian government has declared a 'state of emergency' in a bid to save the ruins," the BBC reports.

Cannibalism Suspect

People's Daily: "A 70-year-old man suspected to be a cannibal was lynched by a group of angry residents in central Uganda this week, state media reported here on Friday."

Business Heritage

From the archives of the FBI comes the story of Velvalee Dickinson.

FDR

This morning I visited the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, DC.

I was born in Washington near the end of the Second World War. Shortly after my birth, my mother's father, who was state treasurer of Pennsylvania, hopped in the back of his limo to see me for the first time. He arrived at the hospital after visiting hours. The nurses refused to let him into the nursery.

My grandfather phoned Roosevelt. A few minutes later, a White House official told the hospital to open the doors.

Annual Competition

Spiegel Online:

Every year, the small Finnish town of Sonkajärvi hosts the Wife Carrying World Championships. All men have to do is sprint around an obstacle course while carrying their wives. And the women? They have to hold on tight — which isn't as easy as it sounds.

Surgical Error

A Romanian surgeon accidentally severed a man's penis.

Barricade Busters

Spiegel Online has an article about forgotten victims of the Cold War.

Fisherman Survives

Amitabha Bhattasali of BBC News: "An Indian fisherman whose father was killed by a tiger 20 years ago has dramatically survived a similar attack in the state of West Bengal."

Lenin Lollipops

From RIA Novosti: "Archie McPhee, a quirky toy shop that is a major tourist attraction in Seattle, has started selling lollipops representing the Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin."

Web site: Archie McPhee

Hitler

Earlier today journalists saw Adolf Hitler in Berlin.

Gingrich

Newt Gingrich wanted to be a zookeeper.

Confusion

Tony Perry of the Los Angeles Times:

In the end, the criminal case against Marine sniper Sgt. Johnny Winnick may boil down to the simplest but yet most confounding question facing troops in Iraq: When can a Marine or soldier use deadly force against a suspected insurgent?

It's a question not even supposed experts can agree on.

Business Heritage

FBI:

The lunch rush was just beginning as a nondescript man driving a cart pressed an old horse forward on a mid-September day in 1920. He stopped the animal and its heavy load in front of the U.S. Assay Office, across from the J. P. Morgan building in the heart of Wall Street.

Continue reading "Terror on Wall Street."

Related:
U.S. Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer, the Fighting Quaker (one of my dead relatives)

Holy War

Via Australian Broadcasting Corp.: "Chad says its security forces have killed 66 followers of an Islamic spiritual leader who was threatening to launch a holy war against Christians and atheists from Africa to Europe."

Himalayan Refuge

WWF:

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is alarmed by the dramatic decline of at least 30 percent in the Bengal tiger population of Suklaphanta Wildlife Reserve in Nepal, once a refuge that boasted among the highest densities of the endangered species in the Eastern Himalayas. The recent survey of April 2008 showed a population of between 6-14 tigers, down from 20-50 tigers in 2005.

The Government of Nepal made a low-key announcement on July 1 based on the results of a long-term camera trap study conducted in large part by WWF. Officials identified poaching as perhaps the major cause of tigers disappearing from this protected area. Ironically, armed poachers have been photographed by the very equipment set up to capture tiger images.

American Samoa

"Legends persist that spirit ghosts, or aitu, haunt the To'aga at high noon and at night," the National Park Service says.

Missing Son

People's Daily in China: "Found after going missing for six weeks in the Amazon rain forest, a Brazilian student died in his father's arms, rescue officials said Tuesday."

Archangel Falls

At New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, a glazed terra cotta relief by Renaissance sculptor Andrea della Robbia crashed to the floor.

Chile's Llaima Volcano

Voice of America: "The Llaima volcano in southern Chile has erupted for the first time in months, forcing the evacuation of about a dozen people from nearby areas."

A Tale of Lost Love

National Park Service:

To the Indians of central New Mexico, one of the most enduring legends is that of Pavla Blanca, the ghost of the Great White Sands. Hidden behind the swirling eddies of the spectral white dunes, her tragic story provides one of the most fascinating tales of the Southwest.

In early 1540, a valiant, young, Spanish conquistador, Hernando de Luna, left his lovely betrothed, Mañuela, in Mexico City, to accompany the famed explorer, Francisco Coronado. Searching the uncharted lands in present day Arizona, New Mexico, Kansas and Texas, Coronado followed every Indian clue, every tale, looking for the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola and Gran Quivira, where the houses were said to be studded with gold and the streets were afire with jewels.

Ambushed by the fierce, proud, warrior Apaches on the edge of the Great White Sands, the Spanish battled for their life. Exhausted and beaten, the survivors fled southward to Mexico City. It is said that Hernando de Luna was mortally wounded, and perished somewhere in the ever-shifting white sands. Setting out to seek her betrothed, somewhere north of what is now El Paso, Texas, the lovely Mañuela was never seen again. It is said that the ghost of this beautiful Spanish maiden haunts the dunes of the Great White Sands. She comes nightly in her flowing, white wedding gown to seek her lover, lost and buried beneath the eternal dunes. Some say that the ghostly figure usually appears as the evening breezes sweep and dip over the stark white dunes, just after sunset.

The moderns have it that Pavla Blanca is caused by a prevailing wind sweeping over the hushed and lonely desert in the evening, whipping wraith-like eddies of dust. But the Indians say it is the ghost of Mañuela, still, eternally, seeking her lover.

Tell Edfu

"A University of Chicago expedition at Tell Edfu in southern Egypt has unearthed a large administration building and silos that provide fresh clues about the emergence of urban life," a news release says.

Traveling Circus

CNN: "Fifteen camels, several llamas and a potbellied pig broke out of a circus near Amsterdam on Monday. The ringleader? A giraffe who bolted, too."

Catfish

A catfish tried to eat a soccer ball.

Down Under

Sydney's brothels are getting ready for the Pope's visit.

Wine

Fortunately, police officers never give breathalyzer tests to motor vehicles. Prince Charles converted his vintage Aston Martin to run on wine.