No Kidding!
Prohibition-era Philadelphia had three times more establishments serving liquor than it does today.
Quotable
by Shakira, Colombian pop singer
"I don't like the competition part of soccer. It's a war in short pants. I prefer art."
Area Ties
As a teen, Keanu Reeves was a summer apprentice at the Hedgerow Theatre in Media.
Roving Inspiration
The Bible, the world's best-selling book, is also its most shoplifted.
Behind the Name
In 1914, when a customer claimed a skin cream called Dr. Bunting's Sunburn Remedy had "knocked out his eczema," the name was changed to what we know now as Noxzema.
Still on the Books
In Fountain Inn, S.C., horses are to wear pants at al times.
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Sunday, August 19, 2012
F. Y. I.
So Called
A group of tigers is called a streak.
Quotable
by Johann von Goethe, German writer and philosopher (1749-1832)
"We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe."
Small Wonders
Babies' eyes do not begin crying real tears until they are 2 to 4 months old.
Still on the Books
In Marion, Ore., ministers are forbidden from eating garlic or onions before delivering a sermon.
Flavor Flop
In 1942, the Jell-O Co. introduced a cola flavor, which only lasted a year.
Tasty Tribute
Melba toast and Peach Melba are both named after Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba.
A group of tigers is called a streak.
Quotable
by Johann von Goethe, German writer and philosopher (1749-1832)
"We do not have to visit a madhouse to find disordered minds; our planet is the mental institution of the universe."
Small Wonders
Babies' eyes do not begin crying real tears until they are 2 to 4 months old.
Still on the Books
In Marion, Ore., ministers are forbidden from eating garlic or onions before delivering a sermon.
Flavor Flop
In 1942, the Jell-O Co. introduced a cola flavor, which only lasted a year.
Tasty Tribute
Melba toast and Peach Melba are both named after Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba.
F. Y. I.
Best-Seller
Cheddar cheese is the best-selling cheese in the U.S.
Almost Cast
Christopher Walken was considered for the role of Han Solo, which ultimately went to Harrison Ford, in "Star Wars".
State Stats
The Lewis and Clark expedition encountered its first grizzly bears in North Dakota.
Huh?
by Jessica Simpson
"I think there's a difference between ditzy and dumb. Dumb is just not knowing. Ditzy is having the courage to ask."
Still on the Books
Citizens may not enter Wisconsin with a chicken on their head.
Count 'Em
It takes 850 peanuts to make an 18-ounce jar of peanut butter.
Cheddar cheese is the best-selling cheese in the U.S.
Almost Cast
Christopher Walken was considered for the role of Han Solo, which ultimately went to Harrison Ford, in "Star Wars".
State Stats
The Lewis and Clark expedition encountered its first grizzly bears in North Dakota.
Huh?
by Jessica Simpson
"I think there's a difference between ditzy and dumb. Dumb is just not knowing. Ditzy is having the courage to ask."
Still on the Books
Citizens may not enter Wisconsin with a chicken on their head.
Count 'Em
It takes 850 peanuts to make an 18-ounce jar of peanut butter.
Finn throws Olympic distance with old Nokia
A Finnish teenager won a mobile phone throwing contest on Saturday by hurling his old Nokia phone 101.46 meters.
The annual contest is one of many offbeat events such as wife-carrying that are held in the summer when normally reserved Finns like to celebrate the warmer weather with silliness and outdoor sport.
Ere Karjalainen, who beat around 50 contestants, including some who had travelled from England and India, said he had practiced only once and prepared mainly "by drinking".
Not that the skills are totally comparable, but he bettered the gold medal javelin throw at the London Olympics by nearly 17 meters.
Finland is home to Nokia and is one of the world's most mature mobile phone markets, with people paying for tram tickets and parking spaces with their phones.
The annual contest is one of many offbeat events such as wife-carrying that are held in the summer when normally reserved Finns like to celebrate the warmer weather with silliness and outdoor sport.
Ere Karjalainen, who beat around 50 contestants, including some who had travelled from England and India, said he had practiced only once and prepared mainly "by drinking".
Not that the skills are totally comparable, but he bettered the gold medal javelin throw at the London Olympics by nearly 17 meters.
Finland is home to Nokia and is one of the world's most mature mobile phone markets, with people paying for tram tickets and parking spaces with their phones.
Obama finally beats Bieber as Klout score admits real world
Until recently, Justin Bieber was more influential than Barack Obama -- at least in the world of Klout, the controversial Web startup that claims to measure people's online influence using an algorithm.
Not anymore.
Klout said it has overhauled its website and rejigged its algorithms, mostly by pulling in data from Wikipedia entries, to better reflect a person's status in the real world.
The move toward calculating offline influence is a tricky but expected step for a company that divides opinion, and gets tongues wagging, like practically no other in Silicon Valley.
Since 2008, the firm has tagged social media users with a single number, between 1 and 100, intended to measure their influence. The Klout Score, as it is known, is now based on 400 variables, including how many Twitter followers someone has, and how often or likely it is for their Twitter or Facebook posts to get re-circulated.
As well as changing the algorithm, chief executive Joe Fernandez said, Klout also now analyses LinkedIn profiles, so a user who describes themselves as a company "vice president" or other high-level title may find their Klout score boosted.
The overhaul, which began in January, was part of the company's effort to address critics who pointed to Bieber as a prime example of why quantifying online influence was, at best, irrelevant. The teenage pop singer, with his army of 26 million Twitter followers who retweet his every word, had a Klout score that dwarfed that of the U.S. president.
"We heard the common complaint, 'Klout's interesting, but what about people who are influential in the real world?'" Fernandez said one recent morning in his company's cavernous underground office in San Francisco.
But Fernandez has stuck to his belief that personal influence, that intangible currency of social networks, can be crunched into a number.
As a result of the new algorithm -- which takes into account the number of references in a person's Wikipedia page -- President Obama's Klout score has finally topped Beiber's, four years after Klout launched, Fernandez said.
"Barack Obama is hugely important," Fernandez said, deadpan. "He's referenced everywhere, and that gives him a higher score."
The social media analytics company now sucks in 12 billion bits of data every day from social networks including Facebook, Google Plus and Tumblr, up from 1 billion just months ago. As part of the revamp, most users will see a bump in their scores, according to Fernandez.
Klout, which sells insights about Web users to companies, has caught the attention of major advertisers including carmakers such as GM's Chevrolet which want to identify influential people tweeting about cars, and market to them directly.
Not anymore.
Klout said it has overhauled its website and rejigged its algorithms, mostly by pulling in data from Wikipedia entries, to better reflect a person's status in the real world.
The move toward calculating offline influence is a tricky but expected step for a company that divides opinion, and gets tongues wagging, like practically no other in Silicon Valley.
Since 2008, the firm has tagged social media users with a single number, between 1 and 100, intended to measure their influence. The Klout Score, as it is known, is now based on 400 variables, including how many Twitter followers someone has, and how often or likely it is for their Twitter or Facebook posts to get re-circulated.
As well as changing the algorithm, chief executive Joe Fernandez said, Klout also now analyses LinkedIn profiles, so a user who describes themselves as a company "vice president" or other high-level title may find their Klout score boosted.
The overhaul, which began in January, was part of the company's effort to address critics who pointed to Bieber as a prime example of why quantifying online influence was, at best, irrelevant. The teenage pop singer, with his army of 26 million Twitter followers who retweet his every word, had a Klout score that dwarfed that of the U.S. president.
"We heard the common complaint, 'Klout's interesting, but what about people who are influential in the real world?'" Fernandez said one recent morning in his company's cavernous underground office in San Francisco.
But Fernandez has stuck to his belief that personal influence, that intangible currency of social networks, can be crunched into a number.
As a result of the new algorithm -- which takes into account the number of references in a person's Wikipedia page -- President Obama's Klout score has finally topped Beiber's, four years after Klout launched, Fernandez said.
"Barack Obama is hugely important," Fernandez said, deadpan. "He's referenced everywhere, and that gives him a higher score."
The social media analytics company now sucks in 12 billion bits of data every day from social networks including Facebook, Google Plus and Tumblr, up from 1 billion just months ago. As part of the revamp, most users will see a bump in their scores, according to Fernandez.
Klout, which sells insights about Web users to companies, has caught the attention of major advertisers including carmakers such as GM's Chevrolet which want to identify influential people tweeting about cars, and market to them directly.
Smoke, donkey mascot for U.S. Marines in Iraq, dies in Nebraska
Smoke, the Iraqi donkey whose journey from a desert battleground to a peaceful retirement in the United States captured the attention of the world, has died in Nebraska.
Smoke became lethargic and died this week after frolicking with miniature horses at Miracle Hills Ranch and Stable north of Omaha. Smoke had served as an equine therapy animal to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Smoke's Facebook page has friends from around the world.
Smoke was taken in by U.S. Marines after he showed up malnourished and wounded at Camp Taqaddum in Anbar province in 2008. Regulations prohibited keeping the donkey, but Marine Colonel John Folsom of Omaha, then commander at the camp, found a Navy psychologist to designate Smoke as a therapy animal because he reduced stress among Marines.
The donkey learned to walk into offices and open desk drawers to find apples, carrots and other treats planted there by Marines. Deployed dads sent their children pictures and stories of Smoke.
U.S. Army troops who relieved Marines at the camp turned the donkey over to a local sheikh. Folsom, now retired, tracked down the donkey and cut through layers of red tape to bring him to Nebraska last year. He said Smoke may have died of colic.
"He was a great little donkey," Folsom said.
Smoke became lethargic and died this week after frolicking with miniature horses at Miracle Hills Ranch and Stable north of Omaha. Smoke had served as an equine therapy animal to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Smoke's Facebook page has friends from around the world.
Smoke was taken in by U.S. Marines after he showed up malnourished and wounded at Camp Taqaddum in Anbar province in 2008. Regulations prohibited keeping the donkey, but Marine Colonel John Folsom of Omaha, then commander at the camp, found a Navy psychologist to designate Smoke as a therapy animal because he reduced stress among Marines.
The donkey learned to walk into offices and open desk drawers to find apples, carrots and other treats planted there by Marines. Deployed dads sent their children pictures and stories of Smoke.
U.S. Army troops who relieved Marines at the camp turned the donkey over to a local sheikh. Folsom, now retired, tracked down the donkey and cut through layers of red tape to bring him to Nebraska last year. He said Smoke may have died of colic.
"He was a great little donkey," Folsom said.
Brooklyn bar owner accuses police of draining his liquor stock
The owner of a Brooklyn bar is suing New York City after police emptied the bar's entire stock of alcohol down the drain in a liquor license dispute, according to court papers.
David Kelleran, 51, claimed in his lawsuit that the police's Prohibition-style tactics violated state law and trampled on his rights. And, in any case, the police got the wrong address.
Kelleran, who owns the restaurant called 68, is seeking an unspecified amount of damages for the loss of alcohol worth "thousands of thousands" of dollars, his attorney Craig Trainor said on Thursday.
According to the lawsuit, Kelleran was notified in July 2011 by the New York State Liquor Authority that his $4,382 check to renew 68's liquor license bounced and he had ten days to make the payment.
Before the ten days were up, Kelleran said police came to his apartment over the restaurant in Brooklyn and arrested him for selling alcoholic drinks without a license. He spent the night in jail, the lawsuit said.
While he was in jail, police went into Coco66, a bar Kelleran owned next door to 68, and poured all his wine, beer and liquor down a drain, the lawsuit said.
Both the bar and restaurant have been closed since, even though the liquor license for Coco66 was valid, his suit said.
"Frankly, it is hard for any reasonable person to fathom that, in 2011, a high-level NYPD ranking officer would order his subordinate police officers to destroy lawful private property in this way," Trainor said in an email.
The city's law department said it was reviewing the lawsuit, which was filed last week in federal court in Brooklyn, but did not offer further comment. A spokesman for the New York Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.
David Kelleran, 51, claimed in his lawsuit that the police's Prohibition-style tactics violated state law and trampled on his rights. And, in any case, the police got the wrong address.
Kelleran, who owns the restaurant called 68, is seeking an unspecified amount of damages for the loss of alcohol worth "thousands of thousands" of dollars, his attorney Craig Trainor said on Thursday.
According to the lawsuit, Kelleran was notified in July 2011 by the New York State Liquor Authority that his $4,382 check to renew 68's liquor license bounced and he had ten days to make the payment.
Before the ten days were up, Kelleran said police came to his apartment over the restaurant in Brooklyn and arrested him for selling alcoholic drinks without a license. He spent the night in jail, the lawsuit said.
While he was in jail, police went into Coco66, a bar Kelleran owned next door to 68, and poured all his wine, beer and liquor down a drain, the lawsuit said.
Both the bar and restaurant have been closed since, even though the liquor license for Coco66 was valid, his suit said.
"Frankly, it is hard for any reasonable person to fathom that, in 2011, a high-level NYPD ranking officer would order his subordinate police officers to destroy lawful private property in this way," Trainor said in an email.
The city's law department said it was reviewing the lawsuit, which was filed last week in federal court in Brooklyn, but did not offer further comment. A spokesman for the New York Police Department did not respond to a request for comment.
Inmate mails own severed finger to French minister
An inmate in a French jail has mailed part of his own severed finger to the justice minister hoping the desperate gesture would help his plea to be moved to another prison, officials said on Thursday.
An envelope containing the chunk of finger was delivered on Thursday to the offices of Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, accompanied by a letter arguing for a transfer to a jail nearer to the inmate's family, a police official said.
A Justice Ministry spokesman confirmed a piece of finger had been delivered. "It's a sad affair, there are many inmates asking for transfers," said spokesman Olivier Pedro-Jose.
French jails are plagued by overcrowding, with the prison population hitting a record 67,000 this year compared to around 50,000 a decade ago, according to Justice Ministry figures.
Taubira, a Socialist, says she wants to tackle overcrowding but has been accused by center-right political opponents of adopting laxist stances on sentencing and other law-and-order issues.
An envelope containing the chunk of finger was delivered on Thursday to the offices of Justice Minister Christiane Taubira, accompanied by a letter arguing for a transfer to a jail nearer to the inmate's family, a police official said.
A Justice Ministry spokesman confirmed a piece of finger had been delivered. "It's a sad affair, there are many inmates asking for transfers," said spokesman Olivier Pedro-Jose.
French jails are plagued by overcrowding, with the prison population hitting a record 67,000 this year compared to around 50,000 a decade ago, according to Justice Ministry figures.
Taubira, a Socialist, says she wants to tackle overcrowding but has been accused by center-right political opponents of adopting laxist stances on sentencing and other law-and-order issues.
Driver swerves to avoid moose, hits bear instead
A Norwegian driver who swerved his car on a rural road to avoid running into a moose hit a bear instead, authorities said on Thursday.
The driver spotted the moose on a country road near Hanestad, 225 kilometers north of Oslo, around midnight on Wednesday, and tried to go around the animal, not realizing that a bear was also nearby.
"The driver had lost a bit of speed as he tried to avoid the moose before hitting the bear," said Svein Erik Bjorke of the local wildlife authority, who was out in the forest searching for the wounded animal.
"We are currently tracking the bear and we have found traces of blood indicating internal injuries," he said.
The driver escaped uninjured while his car suffered some damage.
Norway's rugged mountains are sparsely populated and full of wildlife. The country, nearly the size of Germany but home to just five million people, has around 100,000 moose and 150 brown bears, authorities said.
The driver spotted the moose on a country road near Hanestad, 225 kilometers north of Oslo, around midnight on Wednesday, and tried to go around the animal, not realizing that a bear was also nearby.
"The driver had lost a bit of speed as he tried to avoid the moose before hitting the bear," said Svein Erik Bjorke of the local wildlife authority, who was out in the forest searching for the wounded animal.
"We are currently tracking the bear and we have found traces of blood indicating internal injuries," he said.
The driver escaped uninjured while his car suffered some damage.
Norway's rugged mountains are sparsely populated and full of wildlife. The country, nearly the size of Germany but home to just five million people, has around 100,000 moose and 150 brown bears, authorities said.
Pigs and squatters threaten Peru's Nazca lines
Squatters have started raising pigs on the site of Peru's Nazca lines - the giant designs best seen from an airplane that were mysteriously etched into the desert more than 1,500 years ago.
The squatters have destroyed a Nazca-era cemetery and the 50 shacks they have built border Nazca figures, said Blanca Alva, a director at Peru's culture ministry.
She said the squatters, the latest in a succession of encroachments over the years into the protected Nazca area, invaded the site during the Easter holidays in April and that Peruvian laws designed to protect the poor and landless have thwarted efforts to remove them.
In Peru, squatters who occupy land for more than a day have the right to a judicial process before eviction, which Alva said can take two to three years.
"The problem is that by then, the site will be destroyed," she said.
She said she counted 14 pig corals in a recent inspection that also revealed broken bits of Nazca ceramics.
The Nazca lines known as geoglyphs, declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1994, were produced over a period of a thousand years on a 200 square mile (500 square km) stretch of coastal desert.
They include enormous birds, monkeys and other geometric shapes. The culture ministry evicted a separate batch of squatters in January from near a sprawling design known as the Solar Clock, only to face down a new group months later.
The lines are striking reminders of Peru's rich pre-Columbian history, and are considered one of the world's greatest archeological enigmas, as no one knows for sure why they were drawn, so large, and for so long.
"They're very delicate and they've survived to this point for 1500 years," said Ann Peters, an archeologist affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, who hosted an international symposium on Nazca culture in Peru this week.
Peters said encroachments in the area threaten research by 60 or so archeologists specialized in Nazca.
Ancient Nazcans formed the figures by scraping away the desert's dark iron-oxide pebbles to reveal the white soil underneath, which hardened as unearthed limestone was exposed to morning dew.
The head of the squatter settlement, Jesus Arias, denies his community has hurt the area. "It isn't archeological to me. There was no cemetery there, and there are no lines from Nazca culture either."
Arias said the squatters are the grown children of people from the nearby town of San Pablo who want their own homes.
"Our population keeps growing," he said. "These are poor people who don't have the money to buy land or a house."
Arias said the culture ministry should do a better job marking the boundaries of protected areas.
Encroachments are a common way for the poor, and increasingly organized land traffickers, to acquire property in Peru. Evictions can be violent when security forces try to pry thousands of people from their homes.
"It could generate chaos," said Livina Alvis, a prosecutor in the province of Nazca.
The culture ministry's Alva said squatters are the biggest threat to Peru's more than 13,000 archeological and heritage sites, a rich trove of information for scholars around the world.
"We get 120-180 reports or alerts about encroachments every year," Alva said. "For my colleagues in the rest of Latin America, who get two or maybe five cases per year, that figure is unbelievable."
The squatters have destroyed a Nazca-era cemetery and the 50 shacks they have built border Nazca figures, said Blanca Alva, a director at Peru's culture ministry.
She said the squatters, the latest in a succession of encroachments over the years into the protected Nazca area, invaded the site during the Easter holidays in April and that Peruvian laws designed to protect the poor and landless have thwarted efforts to remove them.
In Peru, squatters who occupy land for more than a day have the right to a judicial process before eviction, which Alva said can take two to three years.
"The problem is that by then, the site will be destroyed," she said.
She said she counted 14 pig corals in a recent inspection that also revealed broken bits of Nazca ceramics.
The Nazca lines known as geoglyphs, declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1994, were produced over a period of a thousand years on a 200 square mile (500 square km) stretch of coastal desert.
They include enormous birds, monkeys and other geometric shapes. The culture ministry evicted a separate batch of squatters in January from near a sprawling design known as the Solar Clock, only to face down a new group months later.
The lines are striking reminders of Peru's rich pre-Columbian history, and are considered one of the world's greatest archeological enigmas, as no one knows for sure why they were drawn, so large, and for so long.
"They're very delicate and they've survived to this point for 1500 years," said Ann Peters, an archeologist affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania, who hosted an international symposium on Nazca culture in Peru this week.
Peters said encroachments in the area threaten research by 60 or so archeologists specialized in Nazca.
Ancient Nazcans formed the figures by scraping away the desert's dark iron-oxide pebbles to reveal the white soil underneath, which hardened as unearthed limestone was exposed to morning dew.
The head of the squatter settlement, Jesus Arias, denies his community has hurt the area. "It isn't archeological to me. There was no cemetery there, and there are no lines from Nazca culture either."
Arias said the squatters are the grown children of people from the nearby town of San Pablo who want their own homes.
"Our population keeps growing," he said. "These are poor people who don't have the money to buy land or a house."
Arias said the culture ministry should do a better job marking the boundaries of protected areas.
Encroachments are a common way for the poor, and increasingly organized land traffickers, to acquire property in Peru. Evictions can be violent when security forces try to pry thousands of people from their homes.
"It could generate chaos," said Livina Alvis, a prosecutor in the province of Nazca.
The culture ministry's Alva said squatters are the biggest threat to Peru's more than 13,000 archeological and heritage sites, a rich trove of information for scholars around the world.
"We get 120-180 reports or alerts about encroachments every year," Alva said. "For my colleagues in the rest of Latin America, who get two or maybe five cases per year, that figure is unbelievable."
South Africa goes big on birth control for elephants
A South African province home to thousands of elephants is planning a birth control campaign for the pachyderms to prevent a population explosion that could threaten plants and wildlife.
Unlike other parts of Africa where elephant stocks have dwindled to dangerously low levels due to poaching and a loss of habitat, South Africa has seen its populations steadily grow through conservation, with the country pressed for room to house the massive animals with hefty diets.
KwaZulu-Natal province, in the southeast, is looking to expand a project running for more than a decade where elephants populations have been controlled by injecting cows with a vaccine that triggers an immune system response to block sperm reception.
"Slowing the growth rate will allow time to be gained to achieve other biodiversity objectives, such as land expansion, without having to cull the elephants," said Catherine Hanekom, an ecologist for Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.
South Africa, which had just over 100 elephants nearly a century ago, now has more than 20,000, studies said.
The overpopulation problem is the most dire in neighboring Botswana, home to at least 133,000 elephants, where vast forests have been lost to satiate their appetites. With a human population of 2 million, it has the highest elephant-to-people ratio in Africa, at one for every 14 people.
Adult elephants consume about 100 to 300 kgs (220 to 660 pounds) of food a day and most elephants in South Africa are in fenced-in reserves where vegetation could be decimated if populations grow too large.
"Because we have taken away opportunities, they don't have the chance to remedy the overpopulation naturally as they would through migration," said Audrey Delsink Kettles, an elephant ecologist who has been leading studies for years on contraception at Makalali Private Game Reserve.
Testing of the vaccine, administered by dart and requiring an annual booster, has been conducted at 14 small reserves. Studies have shown it is reversible, nearly 100 percent effective and has no adverse impact on elephant health or behavior, Kettles said.
Contraception is seen as a humane alternative for controlling populations over the other main options of culling herds or moving them vast distances to areas with more food.
The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International have backed the vaccine.
"Failure to control the reproduction of the species ... leads to a population that exceeds the carrying capacity of the reserve and to habitat degradation," they said in statement.
Unlike other parts of Africa where elephant stocks have dwindled to dangerously low levels due to poaching and a loss of habitat, South Africa has seen its populations steadily grow through conservation, with the country pressed for room to house the massive animals with hefty diets.
KwaZulu-Natal province, in the southeast, is looking to expand a project running for more than a decade where elephants populations have been controlled by injecting cows with a vaccine that triggers an immune system response to block sperm reception.
"Slowing the growth rate will allow time to be gained to achieve other biodiversity objectives, such as land expansion, without having to cull the elephants," said Catherine Hanekom, an ecologist for Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.
South Africa, which had just over 100 elephants nearly a century ago, now has more than 20,000, studies said.
The overpopulation problem is the most dire in neighboring Botswana, home to at least 133,000 elephants, where vast forests have been lost to satiate their appetites. With a human population of 2 million, it has the highest elephant-to-people ratio in Africa, at one for every 14 people.
Adult elephants consume about 100 to 300 kgs (220 to 660 pounds) of food a day and most elephants in South Africa are in fenced-in reserves where vegetation could be decimated if populations grow too large.
"Because we have taken away opportunities, they don't have the chance to remedy the overpopulation naturally as they would through migration," said Audrey Delsink Kettles, an elephant ecologist who has been leading studies for years on contraception at Makalali Private Game Reserve.
Testing of the vaccine, administered by dart and requiring an annual booster, has been conducted at 14 small reserves. Studies have shown it is reversible, nearly 100 percent effective and has no adverse impact on elephant health or behavior, Kettles said.
Contraception is seen as a humane alternative for controlling populations over the other main options of culling herds or moving them vast distances to areas with more food.
The Humane Society of the United States and Humane Society International have backed the vaccine.
"Failure to control the reproduction of the species ... leads to a population that exceeds the carrying capacity of the reserve and to habitat degradation," they said in statement.
Giant Burmese python sets Florida record for size, fertility
A Burmese python found in Florida set records as the largest such snake ever captured in the state at 17-feet, 7-inches and the most prolific reproducer carrying a record load of 87 eggs, according to researchers.
The previous Florida record setters were a 16-foot, 8-inch python and 85 eggs.
"It was huge," said Paul Ramey, spokesman for the Florida Natural History Museum at the University of Florida in Gainesville. To perform the necropsy, researchers "had to put three tables together and it took at least four people to pick it up and get it on the tables," Ramey said on Tuesday.
Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia. The snake was captured in April in the Everglades National Park by researchers studying the impact of the pythons on native species. The eggs were discovered on Friday, university researchers said in a statement.
Ramey said Burmese pythons, which have no natural predators in Florida, became established in the state in 2000. Previous studies determined that Florida has the world's worst invasive reptile and amphibian problem, he said.
Part of the python invasion is attributed to pet owners dumping exotic pets when the creatures become too difficult to manage at home.
Ramey said Burmese pythons in the wild in Asia are known to reach 20 to 25 feet in length, so researchers fully expect that eventually someone will find a 20-foot Burmese python in Florida.
After researchers finish with the snake, the skeleton or skin of its nearly 165-pound (75-kg) carcass is expected to be placed on public display, Ramey said.
The previous Florida record setters were a 16-foot, 8-inch python and 85 eggs.
"It was huge," said Paul Ramey, spokesman for the Florida Natural History Museum at the University of Florida in Gainesville. To perform the necropsy, researchers "had to put three tables together and it took at least four people to pick it up and get it on the tables," Ramey said on Tuesday.
Burmese pythons are native to Southeast Asia. The snake was captured in April in the Everglades National Park by researchers studying the impact of the pythons on native species. The eggs were discovered on Friday, university researchers said in a statement.
Ramey said Burmese pythons, which have no natural predators in Florida, became established in the state in 2000. Previous studies determined that Florida has the world's worst invasive reptile and amphibian problem, he said.
Part of the python invasion is attributed to pet owners dumping exotic pets when the creatures become too difficult to manage at home.
Ramey said Burmese pythons in the wild in Asia are known to reach 20 to 25 feet in length, so researchers fully expect that eventually someone will find a 20-foot Burmese python in Florida.
After researchers finish with the snake, the skeleton or skin of its nearly 165-pound (75-kg) carcass is expected to be placed on public display, Ramey said.
"Operation Frozen Dumbo" gets elephant Tonga pregnant
Scientists have succeeded for the first time in impregnating an elephant with frozen sperm, ultrasound pictures presented by Vienna's Schoenbrunn Zoo showed on Tuesday.
The scan shows a 10.6-centimetre-long (4.2 inch), five-month-old elephant foetus with its trunk, legs, tail, eyes and ears clearly discernible.
The foetus, which was scanned in April, is likely now 20 cm long, the zoo said, and is due to be born to 26-year-old African elephant Tonga in or around August 2013 after a pregnancy of about 630 days.
Elephants have been impregnated with fresh or refrigerated sperm in the past in an effort to protect endangered species, but frozen sperm can be transported further, and allows the female elephant to be inseminated at her most fertile time.
The sperm was taken from a sedated wild elephant in South Africa using electroejaculation in the project known internally as "Operation Frozen Dumbo," a zoo spokeswoman said.
It took eight months to clear customs on its way to France due to lack of an established procedure for such wares.
The project was a joint effort of Schoenbrunn Zoo, Berlin's Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, France's Beauval Zoo and Pittsburgh Zoo in the United States.
Both African and Asian species of elephant are endangered, especially the Asian, mainly due to poaching for meat and ivory tusks and destruction of their habitats.
Around 2,000 elephants live in zoos, and a further 15,000 Asian elephants are estimated to be kept privately, employed in the timber industry or living in temples.
"Since the survival of elephants in their natural habitat is under threat, zoos around the world are striving to preserve them," said Schoenbrunn Zoo Director Dagmar Schratter.
"Artificial insemination with the semen of a wild bull elephant is a chance to enrich the gene pool to further species conservation," she said, adding that there were five female elephants living in zoos to every one male.
The scan shows a 10.6-centimetre-long (4.2 inch), five-month-old elephant foetus with its trunk, legs, tail, eyes and ears clearly discernible.
The foetus, which was scanned in April, is likely now 20 cm long, the zoo said, and is due to be born to 26-year-old African elephant Tonga in or around August 2013 after a pregnancy of about 630 days.
Elephants have been impregnated with fresh or refrigerated sperm in the past in an effort to protect endangered species, but frozen sperm can be transported further, and allows the female elephant to be inseminated at her most fertile time.
The sperm was taken from a sedated wild elephant in South Africa using electroejaculation in the project known internally as "Operation Frozen Dumbo," a zoo spokeswoman said.
It took eight months to clear customs on its way to France due to lack of an established procedure for such wares.
The project was a joint effort of Schoenbrunn Zoo, Berlin's Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research, France's Beauval Zoo and Pittsburgh Zoo in the United States.
Both African and Asian species of elephant are endangered, especially the Asian, mainly due to poaching for meat and ivory tusks and destruction of their habitats.
Around 2,000 elephants live in zoos, and a further 15,000 Asian elephants are estimated to be kept privately, employed in the timber industry or living in temples.
"Since the survival of elephants in their natural habitat is under threat, zoos around the world are striving to preserve them," said Schoenbrunn Zoo Director Dagmar Schratter.
"Artificial insemination with the semen of a wild bull elephant is a chance to enrich the gene pool to further species conservation," she said, adding that there were five female elephants living in zoos to every one male.
Man believed killed in attempt to escape East Germany is alive
For 31 years, Rene Seiptius had been counted among the thousands of people killed while trying to escape the confines of communist East Germany.
As it turns out, he was alive all along.
"I can't explain how it could have happened," Seiptius told Reuters on Monday.
Seiptius first attempted to cross the deadly strip of land that once separated East Germany from the West in 1981, when he was 17.
He and two friends managed to tiptoe past a row of minefields but they triggered fire from an automatic spring gun. One of Seiptius' crew died, and their cover was blown.
They were quickly arrested by border guards. But records kept by East Germany's notorious secret police, known as the Stasi, show Seiptius as having died during that botched escape attempt.
"I've been alive for the last 48 years," he said.
Eventually his name found its way to a list of all the people who had died along Germany's East-West border compiled by a museum in Berlin.
It was only the second case of an incorrect entry to have surfaced in the past half a century, said Alexandra Hildebrandt, the director of the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie museum, which keeps the tally of border victims. The other case came to light more than two decades ago.
Hildebrandt said that although her organization spends months researching individual entries, even examining autopsy reports in some cases, the list is still a "work in progress".
"It's not always that easy to get access to this information," she said. "Former employees of the secret police still control a lot of it."
Seiptius tried two more times, unsuccessfully, to escape East Germany until he was granted permission to leave. Today, he lives near the western German city of Mainz.
The case wasn't made public until recently, when Seiptius' ex-wife stumbled across an article on the website of the German broadcaster NDR, which listed Seiptius as deceased.
"It was pure coincidence," said Patricia Seiptius. "I was looking for something online and one of the search results was this article, I looked at it and there was his name.
"I couldn't believe it.
As it turns out, he was alive all along.
"I can't explain how it could have happened," Seiptius told Reuters on Monday.
Seiptius first attempted to cross the deadly strip of land that once separated East Germany from the West in 1981, when he was 17.
He and two friends managed to tiptoe past a row of minefields but they triggered fire from an automatic spring gun. One of Seiptius' crew died, and their cover was blown.
They were quickly arrested by border guards. But records kept by East Germany's notorious secret police, known as the Stasi, show Seiptius as having died during that botched escape attempt.
"I've been alive for the last 48 years," he said.
Eventually his name found its way to a list of all the people who had died along Germany's East-West border compiled by a museum in Berlin.
It was only the second case of an incorrect entry to have surfaced in the past half a century, said Alexandra Hildebrandt, the director of the Haus am Checkpoint Charlie museum, which keeps the tally of border victims. The other case came to light more than two decades ago.
Hildebrandt said that although her organization spends months researching individual entries, even examining autopsy reports in some cases, the list is still a "work in progress".
"It's not always that easy to get access to this information," she said. "Former employees of the secret police still control a lot of it."
Seiptius tried two more times, unsuccessfully, to escape East Germany until he was granted permission to leave. Today, he lives near the western German city of Mainz.
The case wasn't made public until recently, when Seiptius' ex-wife stumbled across an article on the website of the German broadcaster NDR, which listed Seiptius as deceased.
"It was pure coincidence," said Patricia Seiptius. "I was looking for something online and one of the search results was this article, I looked at it and there was his name.
"I couldn't believe it.
Cycling: Kulhavy sprints to mountain bike gold
Czech Jaroslav Kulhavy made a decisive move in the closing stages to claim the Olympic men's mountain bike title on Sunday after defending champion Julien Absalon of France suffered a game-changing early puncture.
World champion Kulhavy produced an impressive ride on the seven 4.7-kilometre laps on a course overlooking the Thames estuary in Hadleigh Farm, east of London.
Kulhavy overtook Swiss world number one Nino Schurter, who took silver one second behind, at the top of the final uphill drag and kept his advantage in the descent before sprinting to the line.
Italian Marco Aurelio Fontana took bronze, 25 seconds off the pace.
"It was really hard. We went full gas all day," Kulhavy told the BBC.
"I gave everything, all my energy. This was so important for me this year. I've now won everything, the World Cup, the world championship and now the Olympic title."
Absalon and Schurter were in the lead from the start, sprinting to the first short climb of the day, but the Frenchman's hopes vanished as he suffered a puncture in the opening lap.
Absalon was almost a minute down after just one lap and knew the gap was too big.
"After being an Olympic champion, there was no point in fighting for a 10th place finish," Absalon told reporters.
Schurter, Fontana and Kulhavy were joined by Spain's Jose Antonio Hermida Ramos and South African Burry Stander at the end of the third lap but the two could not sustain the pace.
Stander, however, made the connection again with one lap to go before cracking once more, leaving the leading trio battling it out for the medals.
Kulhavy, who based his whole season on the Olympics, followed Schurter when the Swiss attacked in the last lap, but the acceleration was fatal to Fontana's hopes.
The Czech rider and Schurter attacked each other several times halfway through the final lap but it was Kulhavy who had the last word.
Schurter had claimed bronze in Beijing four years ago when Absalon had led a French one-two ahead of Jean-Christophe Peraud.
World champion Kulhavy produced an impressive ride on the seven 4.7-kilometre laps on a course overlooking the Thames estuary in Hadleigh Farm, east of London.
Kulhavy overtook Swiss world number one Nino Schurter, who took silver one second behind, at the top of the final uphill drag and kept his advantage in the descent before sprinting to the line.
Italian Marco Aurelio Fontana took bronze, 25 seconds off the pace.
"It was really hard. We went full gas all day," Kulhavy told the BBC.
"I gave everything, all my energy. This was so important for me this year. I've now won everything, the World Cup, the world championship and now the Olympic title."
Absalon and Schurter were in the lead from the start, sprinting to the first short climb of the day, but the Frenchman's hopes vanished as he suffered a puncture in the opening lap.
Absalon was almost a minute down after just one lap and knew the gap was too big.
"After being an Olympic champion, there was no point in fighting for a 10th place finish," Absalon told reporters.
Schurter, Fontana and Kulhavy were joined by Spain's Jose Antonio Hermida Ramos and South African Burry Stander at the end of the third lap but the two could not sustain the pace.
Stander, however, made the connection again with one lap to go before cracking once more, leaving the leading trio battling it out for the medals.
Kulhavy, who based his whole season on the Olympics, followed Schurter when the Swiss attacked in the last lap, but the acceleration was fatal to Fontana's hopes.
The Czech rider and Schurter attacked each other several times halfway through the final lap but it was Kulhavy who had the last word.
Schurter had claimed bronze in Beijing four years ago when Absalon had led a French one-two ahead of Jean-Christophe Peraud.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Belarus fines two for toy bear photos after airdrop
Authorities in Belarus arrested and fined two journalists for posing for photographs holding teddy bears after hundreds were dropped by air on the country in a pro-democracy stunt, the Belarussian Association of Journalists said on Thursday.
Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian president, also suggested on Thursday that the Swedish embassy in Minsk had been involved in planning the July 4 escapade, in an outburst likely to widen a diplomatic rift with Sweden over the incident.
"Those who came and prepared the violation of the state border worked together with the (Swedish) embassy. We have proof of this," Lukashenko was quoted as saying by the Belarus state news agency Belta.
The journalists' arrest and Lukashenko's accusation underlined the depth of his anger and embarrassment over the stunt and his determination to punish those he views as being responsible for it.
The two journalists, Irina Kozlik, who works for Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, and Yulia Doroshkevich, a press photographer, were each fined 3 million Belarussian roubles (about $400) at separate court hearings in Minsk and released.
An official for the ex-Soviet republic's journalist association said that Kozlik, 27, and Doroshkevich, 31, were detained on Wednesday evening in the capital Minsk.
The two women were accused of "carrying out an unsanctioned protest," Andrei Bastunets, deputy head of the association, told Reuters.
The July 4 stunt, in which a light aircraft chartered by a Swedish PR firm Studio Total dropped 800 toy bears carrying pro-democracy messages over Belarussian territory, prompted Lukashenko to sack his air defense and border guards chiefs and expel Sweden's ambassador.
The teddy bear "blitz" was the latest pro-democracy stunt aimed at mocking Lukashenko's iron grip on a country he has ruled since 1994, three years after the Soviet Union's break-up.
Once described as Europe's last dictator by the U.S. administration of George W. Bush, Lukashenko has been ostracized by the European Union and United States over a harsh crackdown on opponents who challenged his re-election in December 2010.
Last summer, opposition groups staged waves of "silent" protests in Minsk in which people engaged in synchronized public clapping and coordinated their mobile phones to ring out in unison to show their disapproval of Lukashenko's style of rule.
DIPLOMATIC RIFT
With both Belarus and Sweden now pulling all their diplomats out of each other's country, the diplomatic rift has worsened Belarus's already poor relations with the West.
In comments issued by Belta news agency on Thursday, Lukashenko said Belarus still awaited an answer from Sweden and neighboring Lithuania about their role in the airdrop. The plane entered Belarussian air space from Lithuania.
"If these answers do not come according to international norms, we will find an adequate response ourselves ...," he said.
"Lithuania shouldn't sit like mice under the broom either. They have got to say why they allocated their territory for violating a state border," he added.
In a statement on Thursday, the U.S. State Department said the expulsion of the Swedish diplomats only served "to deepen Belarus' self-isolation ... We again call on Belarus to immediately release and rehabilitate all political prisoners, and to put an end to the repression of civil society and the democratic opposition."
It took more than three weeks for Belarus to formally confirm the teddy bear airdrop. It was all the more embarrassing for Lukashenko and his defense chiefs since the incident occurred a day after Independence Day, which also commemorates Minsk's World War Two defense against Nazi Germany.
Lukashenko sacked two generals, including the head of the air defenses, and told the incoming border guards chief to use weapons if necessary to shoot down any future foreign intruders into Belarussian air space.
Belarus's KGB state security agency has since charged two Belarussians, Anton Suryapin and Sergei Basharimov, with complicity in the "illegal intrusion" by the Swedish plane.
Suryapin, who is aged about 20, had earlier been identified as a blogger who was arrested after the first photographs of the toy bears were published on the Internet. In the past week, some Belarussian journalists have shown solidarity with Suryapin by posing for photos on the Internet holding miniature toy bears.
Alexander Lukashenko, the authoritarian president, also suggested on Thursday that the Swedish embassy in Minsk had been involved in planning the July 4 escapade, in an outburst likely to widen a diplomatic rift with Sweden over the incident.
"Those who came and prepared the violation of the state border worked together with the (Swedish) embassy. We have proof of this," Lukashenko was quoted as saying by the Belarus state news agency Belta.
The journalists' arrest and Lukashenko's accusation underlined the depth of his anger and embarrassment over the stunt and his determination to punish those he views as being responsible for it.
The two journalists, Irina Kozlik, who works for Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, and Yulia Doroshkevich, a press photographer, were each fined 3 million Belarussian roubles (about $400) at separate court hearings in Minsk and released.
An official for the ex-Soviet republic's journalist association said that Kozlik, 27, and Doroshkevich, 31, were detained on Wednesday evening in the capital Minsk.
The two women were accused of "carrying out an unsanctioned protest," Andrei Bastunets, deputy head of the association, told Reuters.
The July 4 stunt, in which a light aircraft chartered by a Swedish PR firm Studio Total dropped 800 toy bears carrying pro-democracy messages over Belarussian territory, prompted Lukashenko to sack his air defense and border guards chiefs and expel Sweden's ambassador.
The teddy bear "blitz" was the latest pro-democracy stunt aimed at mocking Lukashenko's iron grip on a country he has ruled since 1994, three years after the Soviet Union's break-up.
Once described as Europe's last dictator by the U.S. administration of George W. Bush, Lukashenko has been ostracized by the European Union and United States over a harsh crackdown on opponents who challenged his re-election in December 2010.
Last summer, opposition groups staged waves of "silent" protests in Minsk in which people engaged in synchronized public clapping and coordinated their mobile phones to ring out in unison to show their disapproval of Lukashenko's style of rule.
DIPLOMATIC RIFT
With both Belarus and Sweden now pulling all their diplomats out of each other's country, the diplomatic rift has worsened Belarus's already poor relations with the West.
In comments issued by Belta news agency on Thursday, Lukashenko said Belarus still awaited an answer from Sweden and neighboring Lithuania about their role in the airdrop. The plane entered Belarussian air space from Lithuania.
"If these answers do not come according to international norms, we will find an adequate response ourselves ...," he said.
"Lithuania shouldn't sit like mice under the broom either. They have got to say why they allocated their territory for violating a state border," he added.
In a statement on Thursday, the U.S. State Department said the expulsion of the Swedish diplomats only served "to deepen Belarus' self-isolation ... We again call on Belarus to immediately release and rehabilitate all political prisoners, and to put an end to the repression of civil society and the democratic opposition."
It took more than three weeks for Belarus to formally confirm the teddy bear airdrop. It was all the more embarrassing for Lukashenko and his defense chiefs since the incident occurred a day after Independence Day, which also commemorates Minsk's World War Two defense against Nazi Germany.
Lukashenko sacked two generals, including the head of the air defenses, and told the incoming border guards chief to use weapons if necessary to shoot down any future foreign intruders into Belarussian air space.
Belarus's KGB state security agency has since charged two Belarussians, Anton Suryapin and Sergei Basharimov, with complicity in the "illegal intrusion" by the Swedish plane.
Suryapin, who is aged about 20, had earlier been identified as a blogger who was arrested after the first photographs of the toy bears were published on the Internet. In the past week, some Belarussian journalists have shown solidarity with Suryapin by posing for photos on the Internet holding miniature toy bears.
Teddy-bear stunt leads to EU slap of Belarus
Belarus's relations with the West took a turn for the worse on Friday as EU governments agreed to reprimand Minsk for expelling the Swedish ambassador in a row over a pro-democracy stunt involving an air drop of teddy bears on Belarus's territory.
At an emergency meeting in Brussels, senior envoys of European Union states said the dispute, in which Belarus also withdrew its embassy staff from Sweden, would damage the bloc's already strained relations with the government of President Alexander Lukashenko.
The row erupted when a Swedish public relations firm dropped hundreds of parachuted toys bearing pro-democracy messages into the hardline former Soviet republic last month.
"Everyone around the table were absolutely clear that this was not just a situation merely between Sweden and Belarus. It's a situation that ... affects the EU's relations with Belarus," Olof Skoog, a Swedish diplomat who chairs talks on foreign policy issues among EU states, said.
"There is going to be a very clear message to all Belarusian ambassadors around Europe in the next few days expressing full solidarity with the Swedes on this," he said.
The EU message comes at a time when its governments are preparing for a regular review of European sanctions against Lukashenko in October.
Sanctions were expanded earlier this year amid growing concerns in the EU over civil rights abuses in Belarus. EU governments also briefly withdrew their ambassadors from the country in February as relations with Minsk continued to slide.
Current measures include a visa ban and an asset freeze imposed on Lukashenko and his inner circle including several businessmen linked to him. More than 30 companies from Belarus are banned from doing business in the EU; an arms embargo is also on place.
Details of EU sanctions are on: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/129232.pdf
Relations between Minsk and the West took a sharp downturn in 2010 after a disputed election that handed power again to Lukashenko.
This week authorities in Belarus arrested and fined two journalists for posing for photographs holding the air-dropped teddy bears.
At an emergency meeting in Brussels, senior envoys of European Union states said the dispute, in which Belarus also withdrew its embassy staff from Sweden, would damage the bloc's already strained relations with the government of President Alexander Lukashenko.
The row erupted when a Swedish public relations firm dropped hundreds of parachuted toys bearing pro-democracy messages into the hardline former Soviet republic last month.
"Everyone around the table were absolutely clear that this was not just a situation merely between Sweden and Belarus. It's a situation that ... affects the EU's relations with Belarus," Olof Skoog, a Swedish diplomat who chairs talks on foreign policy issues among EU states, said.
"There is going to be a very clear message to all Belarusian ambassadors around Europe in the next few days expressing full solidarity with the Swedes on this," he said.
The EU message comes at a time when its governments are preparing for a regular review of European sanctions against Lukashenko in October.
Sanctions were expanded earlier this year amid growing concerns in the EU over civil rights abuses in Belarus. EU governments also briefly withdrew their ambassadors from the country in February as relations with Minsk continued to slide.
Current measures include a visa ban and an asset freeze imposed on Lukashenko and his inner circle including several businessmen linked to him. More than 30 companies from Belarus are banned from doing business in the EU; an arms embargo is also on place.
Details of EU sanctions are on: http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_Data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/129232.pdf
Relations between Minsk and the West took a sharp downturn in 2010 after a disputed election that handed power again to Lukashenko.
This week authorities in Belarus arrested and fined two journalists for posing for photographs holding the air-dropped teddy bears.
Steal a little, but don't loot- Indian minister sparks outcry
A minister in India's most populous and politically crucial state, Uttar Pradesh, has said bureaucrats can steal a little as long as they work hard - sparking national outcry in a country whose ruling class has long been mired in corruption scandals.
"If you work hard, and put your heart and soul into it ... then you are allowed to steal some," Shivpal Singh Yadav told a gathering of local officials in comments caught on camera. "But don't be a bandit."
The comments on Thursday were caught by a local TV camera and then played on newscasts across the country. Yadav, a minister for public works who belongs to the state's ruling Samajwadi Party, quickly sought to control the damage, calling a news conference to explain that the comments had been taken out of context and that he had been discussing how to combat corruption.
"In that event the media was not allowed in, I don't know how they sneaked in. And if they had sneaked in, the whole discussion should have come out in the press, not just part of it," he said on Friday.
Uttar Pradesh, which is bigger than Brazil by population, was earlier governed by 'Dalit Queen' Mayawati. She has been criticized for spending millions of rupees on building statues of herself and buying diamond jewelry despite widespread malnutrition and poverty in her state.
Yadav's nephew is Akhilesh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh's chief minister, who came to power earlier this year proclaiming an end to corruption in the state.
Foreign-educated Akhilesh Yadav, who is state's youngest chief minister, had projected himself as an agent of change, even though members of his party have been involved in criminal investigations.
Last year, millions of middle-class urban Indians protested against corruption swirling around the government. But even though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government has been mired in massive graft scandals the anti-corruption protests have now lost momentum.
"If you work hard, and put your heart and soul into it ... then you are allowed to steal some," Shivpal Singh Yadav told a gathering of local officials in comments caught on camera. "But don't be a bandit."
The comments on Thursday were caught by a local TV camera and then played on newscasts across the country. Yadav, a minister for public works who belongs to the state's ruling Samajwadi Party, quickly sought to control the damage, calling a news conference to explain that the comments had been taken out of context and that he had been discussing how to combat corruption.
"In that event the media was not allowed in, I don't know how they sneaked in. And if they had sneaked in, the whole discussion should have come out in the press, not just part of it," he said on Friday.
Uttar Pradesh, which is bigger than Brazil by population, was earlier governed by 'Dalit Queen' Mayawati. She has been criticized for spending millions of rupees on building statues of herself and buying diamond jewelry despite widespread malnutrition and poverty in her state.
Yadav's nephew is Akhilesh Yadav, Uttar Pradesh's chief minister, who came to power earlier this year proclaiming an end to corruption in the state.
Foreign-educated Akhilesh Yadav, who is state's youngest chief minister, had projected himself as an agent of change, even though members of his party have been involved in criminal investigations.
Last year, millions of middle-class urban Indians protested against corruption swirling around the government. But even though Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's government has been mired in massive graft scandals the anti-corruption protests have now lost momentum.
For Italy mafia fugitive, trip to the beach proves costly
Alleged mafia boss Roberto Matalone evaded the police for two years, but a trip to the beach in southern Italy on Thursday proved to be his undoing.
Accused of being part of the inner circle of the Pesce clan, one of the most powerful branches of the Calabria mob, he is married to the sister of boss Francesco Pesce, who was arrested last year hiding in an underground bunker.
But Matalone, 35, turned out to be less shy than his brother-in-law. Surveillance footage released to the media on Friday showed him heading to the beach in shorts and a baseball cap, with a towel over his shoulder.
Police arrested him as he raised his umbrella soon after arriving at the beach in Joppolo, in the toe of Italy, with his family.
The arrest is the latest in a crackdown by Italian police on the 'Ndrangheta mafia, which according to Italian authorities controls 80 percent of drug trafficking into Europe in a business worth 27 billion euros a year.
According to the website of Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, his beach reading material was prophetic - a book called "Mafia Hunters" about how Italian police track mafiosi.
Accused of being part of the inner circle of the Pesce clan, one of the most powerful branches of the Calabria mob, he is married to the sister of boss Francesco Pesce, who was arrested last year hiding in an underground bunker.
But Matalone, 35, turned out to be less shy than his brother-in-law. Surveillance footage released to the media on Friday showed him heading to the beach in shorts and a baseball cap, with a towel over his shoulder.
Police arrested him as he raised his umbrella soon after arriving at the beach in Joppolo, in the toe of Italy, with his family.
The arrest is the latest in a crackdown by Italian police on the 'Ndrangheta mafia, which according to Italian authorities controls 80 percent of drug trafficking into Europe in a business worth 27 billion euros a year.
According to the website of Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, his beach reading material was prophetic - a book called "Mafia Hunters" about how Italian police track mafiosi.
Underground sect found after nearly a decade in Russia's Kazan
Seventy members of an Islamist sect who have been living in an underground bunker without heat or sunlight for nearly a decade have been discovered living on the outskirts of the city of Kazan in Russia, local media reported.
The sect members included 20 children, the youngest of whom had just turned 18 months. Many of them were born underground and had never seen daylight until the prosecutors discovered their dwelling on August 1 and sent them for health checks.
A 17-year-old girl turned out to be pregnant.
Religion was suppressed in the Soviet Union which collapsed in 1991, prompting various cults and sects to flourish in the vacuum that opened up.
The group - known as the "Fayzarahmanist" sect - was named after its 83-year-old organizer Fayzrahman Satarov, who declared himself a prophet and his house an independent Islamic state, according to a report by state TV channel Vesti.
Satarov was described as a former deputy to a Sunni Islamic cleric in the 1970s. His followers were encouraged to read his manuscripts and most were banned from leaving their eight-storey underground bunker which had been dug in the basement of a building, Vesti said.
Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the sect and have said it will be disbanded if it continues its illegal activities, such as stopping its members from seeking medical assistance or education.
No arrests have been made although police are likely to look into suspicions that some of the children were being abused. A court will decide whether the children will be allowed to stay with their parents.
Kazan is located 800 km (497 miles) east of Moscow in Tatarstan, a majority Muslim internal Russian republic.
The sect members included 20 children, the youngest of whom had just turned 18 months. Many of them were born underground and had never seen daylight until the prosecutors discovered their dwelling on August 1 and sent them for health checks.
A 17-year-old girl turned out to be pregnant.
Religion was suppressed in the Soviet Union which collapsed in 1991, prompting various cults and sects to flourish in the vacuum that opened up.
The group - known as the "Fayzarahmanist" sect - was named after its 83-year-old organizer Fayzrahman Satarov, who declared himself a prophet and his house an independent Islamic state, according to a report by state TV channel Vesti.
Satarov was described as a former deputy to a Sunni Islamic cleric in the 1970s. His followers were encouraged to read his manuscripts and most were banned from leaving their eight-storey underground bunker which had been dug in the basement of a building, Vesti said.
Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the sect and have said it will be disbanded if it continues its illegal activities, such as stopping its members from seeking medical assistance or education.
No arrests have been made although police are likely to look into suspicions that some of the children were being abused. A court will decide whether the children will be allowed to stay with their parents.
Kazan is located 800 km (497 miles) east of Moscow in Tatarstan, a majority Muslim internal Russian republic.
UK's BSkyB to launch 24-hour James Bond TV channel
British pay television broadcaster BSkyB will launch a new 24-hour channel dedicated to showing James Bond films on repeat in October to mark the 50th anniversary of the Bond franchise, the company said on Tuesday.
The channel, to be called Sky Movies 007, will show 22 original Bond films in high definition from October 5 for a month, beginning with the 1962 Bond film, 'Dr. No', it said. It added that it will also screen independent titles 'Never Say Never Again' and 'Casino Royale.'
The launch comes after Sky bought the rights to the British film franchise from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in April, ending rival ITV's 38-year stronghold on the films's rights.
"We're delighted that our customers will have the best Bond movie-watching experience ever with Sky Movies - uninterrupted, in HD (high definition), on demand and on the go," Director of Sky Movies, Ian Lewis, said in a statement.
The channel, to be called Sky Movies 007, will show 22 original Bond films in high definition from October 5 for a month, beginning with the 1962 Bond film, 'Dr. No', it said. It added that it will also screen independent titles 'Never Say Never Again' and 'Casino Royale.'
The launch comes after Sky bought the rights to the British film franchise from Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios in April, ending rival ITV's 38-year stronghold on the films's rights.
"We're delighted that our customers will have the best Bond movie-watching experience ever with Sky Movies - uninterrupted, in HD (high definition), on demand and on the go," Director of Sky Movies, Ian Lewis, said in a statement.
Cow goes to new heights to flee bull's advances
A cow which was not in the mood ambled to the top storey of a Siberian apartment building to escape a bull which was, and had to be led back down by firefighters, authorities said.
The cow was discovered bellowing on the top of a stairwell in the five-storey building in the village of Lesogorsk last month, with the probable cause of the cow's distress an amorous bull at the bottom.
"The bull was very loving and had paid excessive attention to the cow during the summer grazing," the Irkutsk regional branch of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said in a statement.
"Trying to escape from him, the cow ran into the building and climbed up to the fifth storey," it said.
It took firefighters about three minutes to get the cow downstairs by roping its horns and pulling, according to the statement, which suggested members of the crowd that gathered should have done the job themselves.
"When we arrived there were dozens of people outside the building. There were members of the local administration, police and many bystanders," it quoted fire station shift chief Yevgeny Smirnov as saying.
"In principle, they could have done without us."
The cow was discovered bellowing on the top of a stairwell in the five-storey building in the village of Lesogorsk last month, with the probable cause of the cow's distress an amorous bull at the bottom.
"The bull was very loving and had paid excessive attention to the cow during the summer grazing," the Irkutsk regional branch of Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said in a statement.
"Trying to escape from him, the cow ran into the building and climbed up to the fifth storey," it said.
It took firefighters about three minutes to get the cow downstairs by roping its horns and pulling, according to the statement, which suggested members of the crowd that gathered should have done the job themselves.
"When we arrived there were dozens of people outside the building. There were members of the local administration, police and many bystanders," it quoted fire station shift chief Yevgeny Smirnov as saying.
"In principle, they could have done without us."
Johannesburg snow fulfils couple's white wedding dream
A South African couple married this week after a bout of unusually cold weather allowed them to fulfill a light-hearted promise to tie the knot the next time Johannesburg was covered in snow.
Portuguese emigre Rui Moca and Monique Joubert had planned to wed next year, but when South Africa's biggest city was shrouded in a rare blanket of snow on Tuesday, Joubert's sister called Jacaranda FM to tell them about the couple's dream of a "real" white wedding.
The radio station leapt into action, organizing a minister, lawyer, photographer, flowers, cake and limousine, and the couple were married on air in the studio in the early evening - with Moca's family listening in from Europe over the Internet.
"The entire wedding with all the bells and whistles was organized in just three hours," Jacaranda DJ Martin Bester said.
The snowfall was the first in Johannesburg in five years and the heaviest since 1981. Newspapers ran front-page photographs of snow-clad palm trees and a lion sitting disconsolately in its enclosure at Johannesburg zoo with snow gathering in its mane.
The cold snap also disrupted travel in Africa's biggest economy, with drifting snow and sub-zero temperatures shutting the motorway between the main port of Durban and the economic hub of Johannesburg for at least 24 hours.
Portuguese emigre Rui Moca and Monique Joubert had planned to wed next year, but when South Africa's biggest city was shrouded in a rare blanket of snow on Tuesday, Joubert's sister called Jacaranda FM to tell them about the couple's dream of a "real" white wedding.
The radio station leapt into action, organizing a minister, lawyer, photographer, flowers, cake and limousine, and the couple were married on air in the studio in the early evening - with Moca's family listening in from Europe over the Internet.
"The entire wedding with all the bells and whistles was organized in just three hours," Jacaranda DJ Martin Bester said.
The snowfall was the first in Johannesburg in five years and the heaviest since 1981. Newspapers ran front-page photographs of snow-clad palm trees and a lion sitting disconsolately in its enclosure at Johannesburg zoo with snow gathering in its mane.
The cold snap also disrupted travel in Africa's biggest economy, with drifting snow and sub-zero temperatures shutting the motorway between the main port of Durban and the economic hub of Johannesburg for at least 24 hours.
Kangaroo condoms get a hop on London organizers
London Olympic organizers are investigating how a bucket of Australian-tagged condoms found its way into the athletes' village without official consent.
Australian BMX cyclist Caroline Buchanan tweeted a photograph from the athletes' village of a container of condoms with a placard reading "Kangaroos condoms, for the gland downunder" with the picture of a boxing kangaroo.
She joked that the container seemed to back up rumors that the athletes' village becomes a hot bed of activity as thousands of competitors complete their events and celebrate after years of working to get to the Olympics.
"Haha, the rumors are true. Olympic village," tweeted Buchanan, whose BMX contest starts on Wednesday.
Barcelona started the trend of supplying free condoms to athletes when the Spanish city held the Olympics in 1992, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) endorsing the move to help AIDS awareness and prevention. The handouts came with health information.
The London Olympic organizers, LOCOG, have provided 150,000 free condoms in dispensers for the 10,800 athletes at the Games. They are supplied by Durex, part of British consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser, which paid for the supply rights.
A LOCOG spokeswoman said they were trying to find out who distributed the so-called Kangaroo condoms, with the container shown to hold condoms from Durex rivals Ansell Ltd, an Australian company and Pasante, a private British company.
She said athletes and officials were allowed to bring products into the village for their personal use.
"We will look into this and ask that they are not handed out to other athletes because Durex are our supplier," said the spokeswoman.
Organizers tightly control which brands can be promoted at the Games, striking sponsorship deals with a limited number of companies and trying to stop non-sponsors from getting free publicity on the back of the Olympics.
A spokeswoman for Ansell said her company knew nothing about the issue and it could well be a prank.
"We have had no official participation or association with the Olympics at all," she said.
Lawrence Boon, managing director of Pasante, said his company had no involvement with the distribution of condoms in the athletes' village and he suspected it was a prank by the Australian team.
"We have no association with the Olympics but we did launch a gold condom this year for champions," said Boon.
"With such high teenage pregnancy and STD rates, we try to make people carry condoms by making them fun and interesting."
A Durex spokeswoman said Durex was "proud to be supplying free condoms for the Olympics Games" but declined to elaborate further.
The number of condoms supplied at London tops the 100,000 made available to athletes in Beijing four years ago.
In Sydney in 2000, organizers took delight in having to order 20,000 more condoms after the initial allocation of 70,000 ran out.
Australian BMX cyclist Caroline Buchanan tweeted a photograph from the athletes' village of a container of condoms with a placard reading "Kangaroos condoms, for the gland downunder" with the picture of a boxing kangaroo.
She joked that the container seemed to back up rumors that the athletes' village becomes a hot bed of activity as thousands of competitors complete their events and celebrate after years of working to get to the Olympics.
"Haha, the rumors are true. Olympic village," tweeted Buchanan, whose BMX contest starts on Wednesday.
Barcelona started the trend of supplying free condoms to athletes when the Spanish city held the Olympics in 1992, with the International Olympic Committee (IOC) endorsing the move to help AIDS awareness and prevention. The handouts came with health information.
The London Olympic organizers, LOCOG, have provided 150,000 free condoms in dispensers for the 10,800 athletes at the Games. They are supplied by Durex, part of British consumer goods group Reckitt Benckiser, which paid for the supply rights.
A LOCOG spokeswoman said they were trying to find out who distributed the so-called Kangaroo condoms, with the container shown to hold condoms from Durex rivals Ansell Ltd, an Australian company and Pasante, a private British company.
She said athletes and officials were allowed to bring products into the village for their personal use.
"We will look into this and ask that they are not handed out to other athletes because Durex are our supplier," said the spokeswoman.
Organizers tightly control which brands can be promoted at the Games, striking sponsorship deals with a limited number of companies and trying to stop non-sponsors from getting free publicity on the back of the Olympics.
A spokeswoman for Ansell said her company knew nothing about the issue and it could well be a prank.
"We have had no official participation or association with the Olympics at all," she said.
Lawrence Boon, managing director of Pasante, said his company had no involvement with the distribution of condoms in the athletes' village and he suspected it was a prank by the Australian team.
"We have no association with the Olympics but we did launch a gold condom this year for champions," said Boon.
"With such high teenage pregnancy and STD rates, we try to make people carry condoms by making them fun and interesting."
A Durex spokeswoman said Durex was "proud to be supplying free condoms for the Olympics Games" but declined to elaborate further.
The number of condoms supplied at London tops the 100,000 made available to athletes in Beijing four years ago.
In Sydney in 2000, organizers took delight in having to order 20,000 more condoms after the initial allocation of 70,000 ran out.
Vermont man arrested after crushing police cruisers with tractor
A Vermont man was arrested after allegedly running over seven police cruisers with a tractor, police said on Friday.
Roger Pion, 34, of Newport, Vermont now faces seven counts of unlawful mischief and three other charges after being arrested by state police for crushing cruisers belonging to the Orleans County Sheriff's Department in the town of Derby on Thursday.
"I felt like I was in a monster jam rally or something," said Rene Morris, an eyewitness told local television station WCAX. "I just couldn't believe it, just backing up going over it, turns around makes his way to the other vehicles smashes those up."
State police estimated the damages at $250,000. The motive for the crushing is still under investigation, police said in a statement.
Roger Pion, 34, of Newport, Vermont now faces seven counts of unlawful mischief and three other charges after being arrested by state police for crushing cruisers belonging to the Orleans County Sheriff's Department in the town of Derby on Thursday.
"I felt like I was in a monster jam rally or something," said Rene Morris, an eyewitness told local television station WCAX. "I just couldn't believe it, just backing up going over it, turns around makes his way to the other vehicles smashes those up."
State police estimated the damages at $250,000. The motive for the crushing is still under investigation, police said in a statement.
Belarus charges two over teddy bear air drop
Two Belarussians have been charged with involvement in a pro-democracy stunt in which a Swedish light aircraft dropped hundreds of teddy bears over Belarus last month, the KGB state security service said on Tuesday.
The stunt, mounted by a Swedish public relations company, led to Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko sacking his air defense chief and the head of the border guards, and caused a diplomatic rift in which Belarus expelled Sweden's ambassador.
In a statement on its website www.kgb.by, the Belarussian KGB said two men, Anton Suryapin and Sergei Basharimov, had been detained on suspicion of complicity in the July 4 "illegal intrusion" by a Swedish light aircraft and formally charged.
Suryapin, who is aged about 20, had earlier been identified as a blogger who was arrested after photographs of the toy bears were published on the Internet.
Basharimov is said to be an entrepreneur who rented out an apartment to Studio Total, the Swedish PR company behind the escapade.
The KGB statement asked Swedish citizens who took part in the stunt to travel to Belarus to aid "an objective investigation."
The incident was a humiliation for Lukashenko, a hardliner who has been in power in the former Soviet republic since 1994 and is on poor terms with the West because of his harsh policies towards the political opposition. It took Belarus more than three weeks to confirm the incident.
The subsequent expulsion of Sweden's ambassador has worsened Belarus's already strained relations with the European Union and further isolated it on the world stage.
After sacking two generals and reprimanding senior state security officials, Lukashenko told the incoming border guards chief not to hesitate to use weapons to stop any future air intrusions from abroad.
The Swedish plane dropped about 800 toy bears near the town of Ivenets and near the capital Minsk, each carrying a message urging Belarus to show greater respect for human rights.
The stunt, mounted by a Swedish public relations company, led to Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko sacking his air defense chief and the head of the border guards, and caused a diplomatic rift in which Belarus expelled Sweden's ambassador.
In a statement on its website www.kgb.by, the Belarussian KGB said two men, Anton Suryapin and Sergei Basharimov, had been detained on suspicion of complicity in the July 4 "illegal intrusion" by a Swedish light aircraft and formally charged.
Suryapin, who is aged about 20, had earlier been identified as a blogger who was arrested after photographs of the toy bears were published on the Internet.
Basharimov is said to be an entrepreneur who rented out an apartment to Studio Total, the Swedish PR company behind the escapade.
The KGB statement asked Swedish citizens who took part in the stunt to travel to Belarus to aid "an objective investigation."
The incident was a humiliation for Lukashenko, a hardliner who has been in power in the former Soviet republic since 1994 and is on poor terms with the West because of his harsh policies towards the political opposition. It took Belarus more than three weeks to confirm the incident.
The subsequent expulsion of Sweden's ambassador has worsened Belarus's already strained relations with the European Union and further isolated it on the world stage.
After sacking two generals and reprimanding senior state security officials, Lukashenko told the incoming border guards chief not to hesitate to use weapons to stop any future air intrusions from abroad.
The Swedish plane dropped about 800 toy bears near the town of Ivenets and near the capital Minsk, each carrying a message urging Belarus to show greater respect for human rights.
Some Turks call foul over Obama-Erdogan bat photo
A photograph of U.S. President Barack Obama holding a baseball bat while talking on the phone to Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan was intended to show their close relationship, a White House spokeswoman said, after the photo caused a stir in Turkey.
The two leaders spoke on Monday to discuss the crisis in Syria, after which the photograph of Obama seated at his desk, talking on the phone while holding a bat autographed by black-American baseball great Hank Aaron, was released by the White House.
"The photo reveals from whom our Prime Minister receives orders to rule the country," Metin Lutfi Baydar, a lawmaker with Turkey's main opposition party the Republican People's Party (CHP), said in a statement.
CHP vice president Umut Oran asked through parliament if Erdogan had seen the picture and if he would take action against "an implicit insult to Turkey and its citizens".
Some newspapers took a more lighthearted view, with columnist Ahmet Hakan of Hurriyet writing: "We need to do something - retaliation seems to be the most reasonable method."
"Our prime minister needs to hold something in his hand as he's calling Obama," he added, suggesting as possible candidates a slipper, a belt or a rolling pin.
White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a written statement on Friday that her department had seen the commentary and speculation about the photo in the Turkish media.
"We released the photo with only one purpose in mind, to highlight the President's continuing close relationship with Prime Minister Erdogan and draw attention to the important conversation they had about the worsening situation in Syria," she said.
"The President values his friendship and close partnership with Prime Minister Erdogan on a range of important issues on which the United States cooperates with Turkey," she added.
The two leaders spoke on Monday to discuss the crisis in Syria, after which the photograph of Obama seated at his desk, talking on the phone while holding a bat autographed by black-American baseball great Hank Aaron, was released by the White House.
"The photo reveals from whom our Prime Minister receives orders to rule the country," Metin Lutfi Baydar, a lawmaker with Turkey's main opposition party the Republican People's Party (CHP), said in a statement.
CHP vice president Umut Oran asked through parliament if Erdogan had seen the picture and if he would take action against "an implicit insult to Turkey and its citizens".
Some newspapers took a more lighthearted view, with columnist Ahmet Hakan of Hurriyet writing: "We need to do something - retaliation seems to be the most reasonable method."
"Our prime minister needs to hold something in his hand as he's calling Obama," he added, suggesting as possible candidates a slipper, a belt or a rolling pin.
White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said in a written statement on Friday that her department had seen the commentary and speculation about the photo in the Turkish media.
"We released the photo with only one purpose in mind, to highlight the President's continuing close relationship with Prime Minister Erdogan and draw attention to the important conversation they had about the worsening situation in Syria," she said.
"The President values his friendship and close partnership with Prime Minister Erdogan on a range of important issues on which the United States cooperates with Turkey," she added.
Pakistani policemen suspended for parading people naked
Four Pakistani policemen have been suspended after allegedly parading a man and two women naked in a town in the deeply conservative Muslim country, police officials said on Sunday.
It was unclear clear why the three were naked while being escorted to the police station in the southern town of Gambat on July 28.
The man, businessman Mumtaz Mallah, 52, told Reuters police were punishing him for refusing to pay him a bribe.
Irfan Baloch, a senior local police officer, said all three were part of a prostitution ring and authorities were responding to community pressure by arresting them.
The trio were already naked when police raided Mallah's home, he said.
"The main arresting police officer's mistake was that he should have covered them up," said Baloch.
Town residents took video footage of the arrests which shows Mallah trying to put clothes on.
Mallah has been released on bail. The two women are still in police custody, Baloch said.
It was unclear clear why the three were naked while being escorted to the police station in the southern town of Gambat on July 28.
The man, businessman Mumtaz Mallah, 52, told Reuters police were punishing him for refusing to pay him a bribe.
Irfan Baloch, a senior local police officer, said all three were part of a prostitution ring and authorities were responding to community pressure by arresting them.
The trio were already naked when police raided Mallah's home, he said.
"The main arresting police officer's mistake was that he should have covered them up," said Baloch.
Town residents took video footage of the arrests which shows Mallah trying to put clothes on.
Mallah has been released on bail. The two women are still in police custody, Baloch said.
Splash! Cracks show in Chinese diving machine
The sound of thwacks resonated around the Olympic diving pool on Monday, with the powerful Chinese showing that even they are not infallible.
An evening of dramatic flops and mighty splashes during the men's three-meter springboard heats was capped by the unexpected sight of world champion and runaway gold medal favorite Qin Kai stepping off the board wrong, over rotating and entering the water on the diagonal.
Qin, who won the synchro gold medal five days ago, scored just 39.90 for the dive, less than half he would normally expect, but did enough on his other dives to ensure he qualified in 11th position.
"At least I got into the semi-final," he said to reporters, seemingly unconcerned. "I will improve later."
Qin was not the only one to struggle.
Russia's Evgeny Kuznetsov, silver medalist in the synchro, seemed to have sunk his hopes after he made a whale-like splash on his third dive, but also managed to just get through in 16th place, with 18 of the 30 divers qualifying for the semi-finals.
Venezuela's Edickson Contreras, however, did not have the same luck and he was left in tears after he took off wrong on the fourth dive and then made a mess of a nervy final dive, retaking the run-up and flopping into the pool.
Germany's Stephan Feck also had bad luck and had to withdraw after he failed his second dive, appearing to hurt his leg and hit the water flat on his back.
Then, to gasps from the home crowd, Britain's Jack Laugher had a 'knee buckle' on his final dive and his legs gave way, leaving him crashing to the pool with a puzzled look on his face.
The divers and coaches said it was just one of those nights, with no specific cause behind the high number of fluffed dives.
"This is the Olympic Games, everyone wanted to do their absolute best today," said British coach Adrian Hinchcliffe.
"When people go out to give everything they've got, you will see mistakes in a sport like diving. It's like golf, a slight edge and you're out in the trees."
China are aiming to sweep all eight diving titles on offer in London, and have taken the first five with consummate ease, leaving the other nations to battle it out for silvers and bronzes.
In Beijing they won seven golds out of eight, after Australia's Matthew Mitcham beat China's Zhou Luxin into silver in the men's 10 meter platform.
Qin's bad dive on Monday was a reminder that their party could yet be spoiled in London.
"We've seen the Chinese make mistakes. There's no-one safe out there in this sport," said Hinchcliffe.
Russia's Ilya Zakharov, the other silver medalist from the synchro contest, qualified in the top spot for Tuesday's semi-final.
An evening of dramatic flops and mighty splashes during the men's three-meter springboard heats was capped by the unexpected sight of world champion and runaway gold medal favorite Qin Kai stepping off the board wrong, over rotating and entering the water on the diagonal.
Qin, who won the synchro gold medal five days ago, scored just 39.90 for the dive, less than half he would normally expect, but did enough on his other dives to ensure he qualified in 11th position.
"At least I got into the semi-final," he said to reporters, seemingly unconcerned. "I will improve later."
Qin was not the only one to struggle.
Russia's Evgeny Kuznetsov, silver medalist in the synchro, seemed to have sunk his hopes after he made a whale-like splash on his third dive, but also managed to just get through in 16th place, with 18 of the 30 divers qualifying for the semi-finals.
Venezuela's Edickson Contreras, however, did not have the same luck and he was left in tears after he took off wrong on the fourth dive and then made a mess of a nervy final dive, retaking the run-up and flopping into the pool.
Germany's Stephan Feck also had bad luck and had to withdraw after he failed his second dive, appearing to hurt his leg and hit the water flat on his back.
Then, to gasps from the home crowd, Britain's Jack Laugher had a 'knee buckle' on his final dive and his legs gave way, leaving him crashing to the pool with a puzzled look on his face.
The divers and coaches said it was just one of those nights, with no specific cause behind the high number of fluffed dives.
"This is the Olympic Games, everyone wanted to do their absolute best today," said British coach Adrian Hinchcliffe.
"When people go out to give everything they've got, you will see mistakes in a sport like diving. It's like golf, a slight edge and you're out in the trees."
China are aiming to sweep all eight diving titles on offer in London, and have taken the first five with consummate ease, leaving the other nations to battle it out for silvers and bronzes.
In Beijing they won seven golds out of eight, after Australia's Matthew Mitcham beat China's Zhou Luxin into silver in the men's 10 meter platform.
Qin's bad dive on Monday was a reminder that their party could yet be spoiled in London.
"We've seen the Chinese make mistakes. There's no-one safe out there in this sport," said Hinchcliffe.
Russia's Ilya Zakharov, the other silver medalist from the synchro contest, qualified in the top spot for Tuesday's semi-final.
Getting "randy" on the trampoline
If you've overheard the trampolinists at the London Games talking about a randy, rudolph and a barani you might be forgiven for wondering who is this amorous, red-nosed reindeer hungry for a spicy Indian meal?
Although randy is a colloquial English term for the amorously inclined, in trampoline-speak it describes one of the various moves in the set of 10 skills performed consecutively in a routine by the muscular men and women who have been fighting it out in amazing aerial battles at the Games this week.
A "randolph" or randy is a front somersault with 2-1/2 twists, while a rudy is a front somersault with 1-1/2 twists and a barani is a forward somersault with a half-twist rather than a biryani from your local Indian restaurant.
"Most skills are named after what they are," former British trampoline champion Paull Smyth told Reuters, but he said some have been named for their inventors and came out of the sport's early roots in the United States.
A "miller" for example is a triple twisting double back somersault named after 1960s and 1970s world champion Wayne Miller from the USA and a breathtaking part of Canadian Olympic gold medalist Rosannagh MacLennan's qualifying routine on Saturday.
Devised in the 1930s at the University of Iowa, the first modern trampoline was initially used as a training tool for tumblers, astronauts and athletes.
However, it grew in popularity to such an extent that in 1964 the first ever Trampoline World Championships were held at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Since making its Olympic debut at the Sydney Games in 2000, the sport has consistently featured amazing displays of acrobatic excellence, with athletes jumping to heights of up to 10 meters.
Although randy is a colloquial English term for the amorously inclined, in trampoline-speak it describes one of the various moves in the set of 10 skills performed consecutively in a routine by the muscular men and women who have been fighting it out in amazing aerial battles at the Games this week.
A "randolph" or randy is a front somersault with 2-1/2 twists, while a rudy is a front somersault with 1-1/2 twists and a barani is a forward somersault with a half-twist rather than a biryani from your local Indian restaurant.
"Most skills are named after what they are," former British trampoline champion Paull Smyth told Reuters, but he said some have been named for their inventors and came out of the sport's early roots in the United States.
A "miller" for example is a triple twisting double back somersault named after 1960s and 1970s world champion Wayne Miller from the USA and a breathtaking part of Canadian Olympic gold medalist Rosannagh MacLennan's qualifying routine on Saturday.
Devised in the 1930s at the University of Iowa, the first modern trampoline was initially used as a training tool for tumblers, astronauts and athletes.
However, it grew in popularity to such an extent that in 1964 the first ever Trampoline World Championships were held at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Since making its Olympic debut at the Sydney Games in 2000, the sport has consistently featured amazing displays of acrobatic excellence, with athletes jumping to heights of up to 10 meters.
We're only making songs for Nigel on London transport
A British man is making sweet music out of conversations he overhears on London transport at the Olympics and posting a song on the Internet every day of the Games for the world to hear.
Charity director Nigel Parkes said his bizarre musical project came out of a conversation with some young people he met on the train, who did not know who his hero Bob Dylan was.
The following morning he wrote some lyrics about the conversation and ran into one of the young people again who liked the lyrics so much she had a friend turn them into music, record it and then handed it to the 56-year-old Parkes with an invitation to meet creative ad agency Mother.
Mother asked Parkes, from Kettering, middle England to travel the tube, bus, underground and overground railways of London during the Olympics, write a set of song lyrics and deliver them to a recording studio by midday every day to be made into rap, reggae, dub-step and other types of music to be posted daily on www.listenwithnigel.com.
"At one point I said to them: 'where are the cameras? Are you having a laugh? Is this a joke," Parkes told Reuters by telephone from Goldhawk Road Underground station on London's Hammersmith & City line.
He said the music is being produced by London-based Racket Music and Sound Design and every day there are different musicians to work with when he turns in his submission from the previous day's journey.
"My mission between now and tomorrow is to have a Cockney knees up song," he said and to demonstrate began belting out a tune that sounded a lot like the chimney sweeps singing "Step in Time" in the children's film "Mary Poppins".
Charity director Nigel Parkes said his bizarre musical project came out of a conversation with some young people he met on the train, who did not know who his hero Bob Dylan was.
The following morning he wrote some lyrics about the conversation and ran into one of the young people again who liked the lyrics so much she had a friend turn them into music, record it and then handed it to the 56-year-old Parkes with an invitation to meet creative ad agency Mother.
Mother asked Parkes, from Kettering, middle England to travel the tube, bus, underground and overground railways of London during the Olympics, write a set of song lyrics and deliver them to a recording studio by midday every day to be made into rap, reggae, dub-step and other types of music to be posted daily on www.listenwithnigel.com.
"At one point I said to them: 'where are the cameras? Are you having a laugh? Is this a joke," Parkes told Reuters by telephone from Goldhawk Road Underground station on London's Hammersmith & City line.
He said the music is being produced by London-based Racket Music and Sound Design and every day there are different musicians to work with when he turns in his submission from the previous day's journey.
"My mission between now and tomorrow is to have a Cockney knees up song," he said and to demonstrate began belting out a tune that sounded a lot like the chimney sweeps singing "Step in Time" in the children's film "Mary Poppins".
Air intruders must be shot down, Belarus leader says
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, smarting after a pro-democracy stunt in which teddy bears were dropped into Belarus, told his new border guards chief on Thursday to use weapons to stop any more unlawful air intrusions by foreigners.
About 800 toy bears were dropped near the town of Ivenets from a light aircraft, chartered by a Swedish public relations firm, which crossed into Belarussian air space from Lithuania on July 4, the day after Belarus marked independence day.
Each bear carried a message urging the hardline former Soviet republic to show greater respect for human rights.
Lukashenko told incoming border guards head Alexander Boyechko, whom he appointed after sacking his predecessor on Tuesday over the bears incident: "Unlawful violations of state borders must not be allowed.
"They must be stopped by all force and means, including weapons, regardless of anything. The border guards must prove their loyalty to the fatherland," he said.
As well as sacking Boyechko's predecessor, Lukashenko also dismissed the air defense chief and reprimanded senior state security officials.
In power since 1994 and once described as Europe's last dictator by the U.S. administration of George W. Bush, Lukashenko has been ostracized by the West because of a crackdown on his political opponents.
Authorities in Minsk denied that the teddy bear drop had taken place until Lukashenko confirmed the incident last week.
In 1995 there was an outcry in the United States when a Belarus helicopter shot down a hot air balloon near Bereza, 60 miles east of the Polish border, killing its two-man crew who were U.S. nationals.
Belarussian media say that state security is holding a local blogger named as Anton Suryapin after photographs were published of the toy bears.
Suryapin's father, Andrei, told Reuters: "When we learned that our son had been detained for photographs of teddy bears we were in shock. This is an absurd situation. It's obvious they were looking for a fall guy. Until this happened to our son, I didn't even know that such things happened in the country."
Lukashenko, whose comments were reported by his media service, defended his actions. "There should be no surprise here. On the contrary, you were lightly punished. If it had been Soviet times you would have been put behind bars," he said.
About 800 toy bears were dropped near the town of Ivenets from a light aircraft, chartered by a Swedish public relations firm, which crossed into Belarussian air space from Lithuania on July 4, the day after Belarus marked independence day.
Each bear carried a message urging the hardline former Soviet republic to show greater respect for human rights.
Lukashenko told incoming border guards head Alexander Boyechko, whom he appointed after sacking his predecessor on Tuesday over the bears incident: "Unlawful violations of state borders must not be allowed.
"They must be stopped by all force and means, including weapons, regardless of anything. The border guards must prove their loyalty to the fatherland," he said.
As well as sacking Boyechko's predecessor, Lukashenko also dismissed the air defense chief and reprimanded senior state security officials.
In power since 1994 and once described as Europe's last dictator by the U.S. administration of George W. Bush, Lukashenko has been ostracized by the West because of a crackdown on his political opponents.
Authorities in Minsk denied that the teddy bear drop had taken place until Lukashenko confirmed the incident last week.
In 1995 there was an outcry in the United States when a Belarus helicopter shot down a hot air balloon near Bereza, 60 miles east of the Polish border, killing its two-man crew who were U.S. nationals.
Belarussian media say that state security is holding a local blogger named as Anton Suryapin after photographs were published of the toy bears.
Suryapin's father, Andrei, told Reuters: "When we learned that our son had been detained for photographs of teddy bears we were in shock. This is an absurd situation. It's obvious they were looking for a fall guy. Until this happened to our son, I didn't even know that such things happened in the country."
Lukashenko, whose comments were reported by his media service, defended his actions. "There should be no surprise here. On the contrary, you were lightly punished. If it had been Soviet times you would have been put behind bars," he said.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
POP QUIZ (Game for a challenge)
With the 2012 Olympics in full swing, it's time to look at notable moments in the history of the Games.
1. This American was the first Olympic champion of the modern era, securing the gold in the triple jump in 1896.
a) Jim Thorpe
b) Thomas Burke
c) James Connolly
d) Walter Tewksbury
2. Who was the first female champion?
a) Charlotte Cooper
b) Halina Konopacka
c) Helene Prevost
d) Fanny Rosenfield
3. This American gymnast won three golds, two silvers, and one bronze all on one day in 1904 --- competing with a prosthetic wooden leg.
a) Archie Hahn
b) Harry Hilman
c) James Lightbody
d) George Eyser
4. In 1912, the king of Sweden greeted this champion with the words, "You, sir, are the greatest athiete in the world."
a) Jesse Owens
b) Jim Thorpe
c) Fred Kelly
d) Charles Reidpath
5. This Swede is the oldest medalist ----- 72 when he competed ----- winning silver in the men's running target, double shot team in Belgium in 1920.
a) Oscar Swahn
b) Olaf Swahn
c) Alfred Swahn
d) Ingmar Swahn
6. This year is London's third Olympics. What other years were the Games held there?
a) 1912 and 1944
b) 1900 and 1956
c) 1908 and 1948
d) 1936 and 1980
7. At what Olympics was the tug-of-war last staged?
a) Antwerp, 1920
b) Los Angeles, 1932
c) Melbourne, 1956
d) Atlanta, 1996
8. Eric Liddell's achievements at the 1924 Paris Games inspired this Oscar-winning film.
a) The Best Years of Our Lives
b) An American in Paris
c) A Man for All Seasons
d) Chariots of Fire
9. Women competed in track and field for the first time in 1928, and the first champion was this 16-year-old American.
a) Myrtle Cook
b) Betty Robinson
c) Leni Schmidt
d) Bobbie Rosenfeld
10. In 1960, this Ethiopian became the first African marathoner to win a gold medal ---- running barefoot because his running shoes didn't fit.
a) Haile Gebrsellassie
b) Abebe Bikila
c) Wami Biratu
d) Meseret Defar
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. c ; 2. a ; 3. d ; 4. b ; 5. a ; 6. c ; 7. a ; 8. d ; 9. b ; 10. b
POP QUIZ (Olympic cities)
Withthe 2012 Olympics beginning in Lodon this week, see if you can match other Summer Games locations with their most recent year.
1. Athens a) 1972
2. Atlanta b) 1976
3. Barcelona c) 1980
4. Beijing d) 1984
5. Los Angeles e) 1988
6. Montreal f) 1992
7. Moscow g) 1996
8. Munich h) 2000
9. Seoul i) 2004
10. Sydney j) 2008
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. i ; 2. g ; 3. f ; 4. j ; 5. d ; 6. b ; 7. c ; 8. a ; 9. e ; 10. h
Friday, August 3, 2012
POP QUIZ (Rolling Stones)
It's one anniversary after another in the United Kingdom.
First Queen Elizabeth II marks 60 years on the throne, and now it's time to mark the 50th anniversary of the birth of the Rolling Stones.
See what you know about the world's greatest rock and roll band.
1. The group's name was inspired by the title of song by this artist.
a) Chuck Berry c) Buddy Holly
b) Muddy Waters d) Lead Belly
2. Which of the following was not one of the band's founding members?
a) Mick Jagger c) Ron Wood
b) Keith Richards d) Brian Jones
3. Name the band's first single, the A-side cut for Decca in May 1963.
a) "Come On." c) "I Want to Be Loved"
b) "Satisfaction" d) "The Last Time"
4. Which album, released in April 1966, was the first to consist of all Jagger-Richards originals?
a) Beggar's Banquet c) December's Children
b) Sticky Fingers d) Aftermath
5. This was the Stones' response to the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album.
a) Exile on Main Street
b) Their Satanic Majesties Request
c) Let It Bleed
d) Goat's Head Soup
6. Who was found dead in his swimming pool a month after quitting the band in 1969?
a) Keith Richards c) Brian Jones
b) Mick Taylor d) Bill Wyman
7. Name the documentary that chronicles the Stones' 1969 Altamont concert, where an audience member was stabbed to death.
a) Gimme Shelter c) Shine a Light
b) The Last Waltz d) Don't Look Back
8. This artist designed the cover for the Sticky Fingers album, the first released on Rolling Stone Records.
a) Pablo Picasso c) Jamie Wyeth
b) Peter Max d) Andy Warhol
9. Name Jagger's first solo album.
a) Talk is Cheap c) Main Offender
b) She's the Boss d) Primitive Cool
10. This Stone played the father of Capt. Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
a) Mick Jagger c) Ron Wood
b) Charlie Watts d) Keith Richards
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Answers : 1. b ; 2. c ; 3. a ; 4. d ; 5. b ; 6. c ; 7. a ; 8. d ; 9. b ; 10. d
F. Y. I.
Still on the Books
In Rhode Island, any marriage where either of the parties is an idiot or a lunatic is null and void.
Small Wonder
Hummingbirds eat about every 10 minutes, slurping down twice their body weight in nectar every day.
Point of Origin
Knocking on wood for good luck originated from primitive tree worship when rapping on trees was believed to summon their protective spirits.
Like a Sponge
Porcupines can float on water.
Actually Said
by Bill Cowher, former Pittsburgh Steelers coach
"We're not attempting to circumcise the rules."
State Stats
New Mexico has more sheep and cattle than people.
In Rhode Island, any marriage where either of the parties is an idiot or a lunatic is null and void.
Small Wonder
Hummingbirds eat about every 10 minutes, slurping down twice their body weight in nectar every day.
Point of Origin
Knocking on wood for good luck originated from primitive tree worship when rapping on trees was believed to summon their protective spirits.
Like a Sponge
Porcupines can float on water.
Actually Said
by Bill Cowher, former Pittsburgh Steelers coach
"We're not attempting to circumcise the rules."
State Stats
New Mexico has more sheep and cattle than people.
F. Y. I.
Quotable
by Jerry Seinfeld
"A 2-year-old is kind of like having a blender, but you don't have a top for it."
In Other Worlds
In Germany, the "shhh" sound means hurry up.
Sweet Absence
The 3 Musketeers bar was named after its original composition of vanilla, chocolate and strawberries rose, Mars Inc. dropped them as an ingredient.
Still on the Books
In Maine, you may not step out of a plane in flight.
So Called
A group of lizards is called a leap.
Back Then
Soldiers in ancient times would apply burnt dill seeds to their wounds to promote healing.
by Jerry Seinfeld
"A 2-year-old is kind of like having a blender, but you don't have a top for it."
In Other Worlds
In Germany, the "shhh" sound means hurry up.
Sweet Absence
The 3 Musketeers bar was named after its original composition of vanilla, chocolate and strawberries rose, Mars Inc. dropped them as an ingredient.
Still on the Books
In Maine, you may not step out of a plane in flight.
So Called
A group of lizards is called a leap.
Back Then
Soldiers in ancient times would apply burnt dill seeds to their wounds to promote healing.
F. Y. I.
Winging It
Bald eagles can swim using a stroke similar to the butterfly stroke.
Still on the Books
In Chicago, it is illegal to eat in a place that is on fire.
Film Files
In the movie "Babe," the piglet was played by more than 30 different piglets since they outgrew the part so quickly durring filming.
Actually Said
by Ronald Reagan, 40th U.S. president
"I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting."
Word Wonders
Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.
Bald eagles can swim using a stroke similar to the butterfly stroke.
Still on the Books
In Chicago, it is illegal to eat in a place that is on fire.
Film Files
In the movie "Babe," the piglet was played by more than 30 different piglets since they outgrew the part so quickly durring filming.
Actually Said
by Ronald Reagan, 40th U.S. president
"I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of national emergency, even if I'm in a cabinet meeting."
Word Wonders
Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of your mouth.
The Shamrock Spot
Dear Lord,
So far today, I am doing all right.
I have not gossiped, lost my temper,
Been greedy, grumpy, nasty,
Selfish or self-indulgent.
I have not whined,
Complained,
Cursed,
Or eaten any chocolate.
I have charged nothing on my
credit card.
But,
I will be getting out of bed in a
minute, and I think that I will really
need your help then.
So far today, I am doing all right.
I have not gossiped, lost my temper,
Been greedy, grumpy, nasty,
Selfish or self-indulgent.
I have not whined,
Complained,
Cursed,
Or eaten any chocolate.
I have charged nothing on my
credit card.
But,
I will be getting out of bed in a
minute, and I think that I will really
need your help then.
Did You Know that......
During the American revolution, more inhabitants of the American colonies fought for the British than for the Continental Army.
The Declaration of Independence was not signed on July 4th. It was signed in Philadelphia on July 8th, and was first read before Washington's army the following day.
Only 16 percent of the able-bodied males in the American colonies participated in the Revolutionary War.
Benjamin Franklin was America's first political cartoonist.
In 1790 only 5 percent of the American population lived in cities.
The Declaration of Independence was not signed on July 4th. It was signed in Philadelphia on July 8th, and was first read before Washington's army the following day.
Only 16 percent of the able-bodied males in the American colonies participated in the Revolutionary War.
Benjamin Franklin was America's first political cartoonist.
In 1790 only 5 percent of the American population lived in cities.
Call me Brawny: Iran defends tankers alias game
New names for Iran's oil tankers are part of its national tanker company NITC's defense against tighter United States sanctions which target it, the company says.
NITC ships are taking to the seas with colorful new identities, swapping Farsi names for those that cover a range of human virtues.
Freedom, Truth, Honesty, Justice and Leadership should resonate nobly in international waters; Brawny, Valor and Mars carry with them a hint of steel.
"The change of flags of the fleet was a transparent and pre-emptive action to avoid breaching the new sanction law which was intended to be implemented in the concerned flag state," the National Iranian Tanker Company said in a statement.
The ruse, in a cat-and-mouse game with Washington and Brussels over sanctions against its nuclear program, is unlikely to work.
"Anyone who is in the business is going to know the real identity of a specific vessel and renaming is not going to fool anyone," a former oil tanker captain said. A tanker can still be tracked by its unique identification number.
Another ship industry source said: "It seems more of a subconscious move to gently steer people away from the Iranian identity of the ship. It's at best making it less obvious that it's Iranian."
NITC has also reflagged most of its tankers, swapping Malta and Cyprus flags for those of Tanzania and the tiny South Pacific island of Tuvalu.
"We therefore hereby strongly refute any allegation of being a governmental entity or a property of the government of Iran and reiterate that the vessels within the fleet have always been operated legally and in accordance to the applicable national international laws and regulations," NITC said.
The U.S. Congress passed new measures this week aimed at further restricting Iran's oil revenues. The bill includes requiring President Barack Obama to determine whether NITC has links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which would lead to sanctions.
NITC has already been in the firing line and on July 12, the U.S. Treasury identified 58 of its vessels and 27 of its affiliates as extensions of the state, which would undermine Iran's attempts to use renamed, disguised vessels to evade sanctions, the department said.
A senior NITC official, who declined to be named, said the group would challenge the sanctions, but did not elaborate.
"NITC has always been transparent in its activities and has honored international laws and treaties to their fullest," it said.
Founded in 1955, NITC went private in 2000. Its main shareholders are three Iranian pension funds.
"Accordingly its beneficiaries are over 5 million retired people," NITC said. "There is no single budget allocated to NITC by the government and it is not a property of the government of Iran."
Nevertheless, there have been growing questions over who is running NITC. In late January, Hamid Behbahani, formerly Iran's road and transportation minister, took the helm.
Behbahani is a close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and there has been speculation in the shipping industry that his arrival was linked to moves by the Iranian president to entrench his authority in strategic sectors, notably transportation and energy.
Ahmadinejad's rivals impeached Behbahani for mismanagement in February 2011.
"Having Behbahani there does not signal the type of independence that NITC is seeking," the shipping industry source said.
Behbahani told Reuters in February 2012 that it was NITC's board of directors who decided on the appointment of the chairman and CEO, and believed he had the "required qualifications as well as the capability".
TRACKING, TANZANIA AND TUVALU
As sanctions on Iran have gathered pace, including an EU embargo on the Islamic Republic's oil, NITC is increasingly playing a major role in transporting Iranian crude with the tanker group having to adapt.
Earlier this year, tracking transponders on many NITC vessels were switched off, making it harder to monitor ship movements.
There is nothing to stop the renaming or re-flagging of a vessel and specific regulations are at the discretion of individual flag states.
Tanzania said earlier this month it was looking into the reflagging of some NITC tankers to the Tanzanian flag, while prominent U.S. lawmaker Howard Berman urged Tuvalu to stop reflagging Iranian tankers and warned its government of the risks of falling foul of U.S. sanctions.
Officials from Tuvalu, whose estimated population is under 15,000, could not be immediately reached for comment.
"It's not easy being NITC at the moment and they are trying to do whatever they can to stay in business," another ship industry source said. "It's a cat-and-mouse game and they cannot continue the way they could even a couple of months ago, let alone two years ago."
NITC ships are taking to the seas with colorful new identities, swapping Farsi names for those that cover a range of human virtues.
Freedom, Truth, Honesty, Justice and Leadership should resonate nobly in international waters; Brawny, Valor and Mars carry with them a hint of steel.
"The change of flags of the fleet was a transparent and pre-emptive action to avoid breaching the new sanction law which was intended to be implemented in the concerned flag state," the National Iranian Tanker Company said in a statement.
The ruse, in a cat-and-mouse game with Washington and Brussels over sanctions against its nuclear program, is unlikely to work.
"Anyone who is in the business is going to know the real identity of a specific vessel and renaming is not going to fool anyone," a former oil tanker captain said. A tanker can still be tracked by its unique identification number.
Another ship industry source said: "It seems more of a subconscious move to gently steer people away from the Iranian identity of the ship. It's at best making it less obvious that it's Iranian."
NITC has also reflagged most of its tankers, swapping Malta and Cyprus flags for those of Tanzania and the tiny South Pacific island of Tuvalu.
"We therefore hereby strongly refute any allegation of being a governmental entity or a property of the government of Iran and reiterate that the vessels within the fleet have always been operated legally and in accordance to the applicable national international laws and regulations," NITC said.
The U.S. Congress passed new measures this week aimed at further restricting Iran's oil revenues. The bill includes requiring President Barack Obama to determine whether NITC has links to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which would lead to sanctions.
NITC has already been in the firing line and on July 12, the U.S. Treasury identified 58 of its vessels and 27 of its affiliates as extensions of the state, which would undermine Iran's attempts to use renamed, disguised vessels to evade sanctions, the department said.
A senior NITC official, who declined to be named, said the group would challenge the sanctions, but did not elaborate.
"NITC has always been transparent in its activities and has honored international laws and treaties to their fullest," it said.
Founded in 1955, NITC went private in 2000. Its main shareholders are three Iranian pension funds.
"Accordingly its beneficiaries are over 5 million retired people," NITC said. "There is no single budget allocated to NITC by the government and it is not a property of the government of Iran."
Nevertheless, there have been growing questions over who is running NITC. In late January, Hamid Behbahani, formerly Iran's road and transportation minister, took the helm.
Behbahani is a close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and there has been speculation in the shipping industry that his arrival was linked to moves by the Iranian president to entrench his authority in strategic sectors, notably transportation and energy.
Ahmadinejad's rivals impeached Behbahani for mismanagement in February 2011.
"Having Behbahani there does not signal the type of independence that NITC is seeking," the shipping industry source said.
Behbahani told Reuters in February 2012 that it was NITC's board of directors who decided on the appointment of the chairman and CEO, and believed he had the "required qualifications as well as the capability".
TRACKING, TANZANIA AND TUVALU
As sanctions on Iran have gathered pace, including an EU embargo on the Islamic Republic's oil, NITC is increasingly playing a major role in transporting Iranian crude with the tanker group having to adapt.
Earlier this year, tracking transponders on many NITC vessels were switched off, making it harder to monitor ship movements.
There is nothing to stop the renaming or re-flagging of a vessel and specific regulations are at the discretion of individual flag states.
Tanzania said earlier this month it was looking into the reflagging of some NITC tankers to the Tanzanian flag, while prominent U.S. lawmaker Howard Berman urged Tuvalu to stop reflagging Iranian tankers and warned its government of the risks of falling foul of U.S. sanctions.
Officials from Tuvalu, whose estimated population is under 15,000, could not be immediately reached for comment.
"It's not easy being NITC at the moment and they are trying to do whatever they can to stay in business," another ship industry source said. "It's a cat-and-mouse game and they cannot continue the way they could even a couple of months ago, let alone two years ago."
Weightlifting: Briton oversleeps, still has dream debut
After years of meticulous preparation, tailoring every aspect of your life to focus on one day of competition, imagine waking up on the morning of your Olympic debut to find you'd slept through your alarm clock.
That nightmare became a reality for 21-year-old British athlete Jack Oliver ahead of his weightlifting event.
"I was meant to be up at six o'clock, go downstairs and have a nice pre-weigh-in shower and a bit of a stretch," Oliver said.
"At five past seven I hear a banging on the door, looked at my phone and thought 'I'm in trouble! I'm going to have a very angry coach!'"
Despite the rude awakening, Oliver "got dressed in 30 seconds", managed to catch a later bus to the London ExCel arena and arrived in good time for the pre-competition weigh-in.
Shrugging off the bad start to his day he went on to produce his best ever performance in front of a delighted British crowd.
A nervous looking Oliver failed to complete his first lift in the competition but recovered well to set a new personal best total of 310 kg that included a personal record 170 kg in the clean and jerk - the second of two styles of Olympic lift.
"The extra hour of sleep must have done me good," he said.
That nightmare became a reality for 21-year-old British athlete Jack Oliver ahead of his weightlifting event.
"I was meant to be up at six o'clock, go downstairs and have a nice pre-weigh-in shower and a bit of a stretch," Oliver said.
"At five past seven I hear a banging on the door, looked at my phone and thought 'I'm in trouble! I'm going to have a very angry coach!'"
Despite the rude awakening, Oliver "got dressed in 30 seconds", managed to catch a later bus to the London ExCel arena and arrived in good time for the pre-competition weigh-in.
Shrugging off the bad start to his day he went on to produce his best ever performance in front of a delighted British crowd.
A nervous looking Oliver failed to complete his first lift in the competition but recovered well to set a new personal best total of 310 kg that included a personal record 170 kg in the clean and jerk - the second of two styles of Olympic lift.
"The extra hour of sleep must have done me good," he said.
Australian finance minister's economic hero? Springsteen, not Keynes
Anyone looking for early signs of distress in an economy should forget John Maynard Keynes or Milton Friedman and listen instead to Bruce Springsteen.
That's the message from Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan, who on Wednesday cited the American rocker, known as The Boss, as one of his economic heroes.
Swan, named by banking magazine Euromoney as its finance minister of the year in 2011, said Springsteen foretold the story of economic and social change in the United States, particularly around his home state of New Jersey.
"You can hear Springsteen singing about the shifting foundations of the U.S. economy which the economists took much longer to detect, and which of course everyone is talking about now," Swan said in a lecture to ruling Labor Party members.
Swan said he was a university student in 1975 when he first became a fan of the New Jersey rock star following the release of the song Born to Run.
In an Internet video clip to promote his lecture, Swan's watches his daughter Errin, who is a member of an Australian rock band, sing Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark.
"I guess Springsteen's Born to Run when it first came out in 1975 was one of those albums that really influenced me for a long time," Swan said, adding he still listens to the song when he needs inspiration.
Swan quoted several Springsteen songs, including The River, based on the collapse of the New Jersey construction industry, and My Hometown, where he sang about a textile mill closing along with stores in a small town.
Australia was one of the few economies to avoid recession during the global financial crisis and is now in its 21st year of continued growth, fuelled by a mining boom driven largely by demand from China.
That's the message from Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan, who on Wednesday cited the American rocker, known as The Boss, as one of his economic heroes.
Swan, named by banking magazine Euromoney as its finance minister of the year in 2011, said Springsteen foretold the story of economic and social change in the United States, particularly around his home state of New Jersey.
"You can hear Springsteen singing about the shifting foundations of the U.S. economy which the economists took much longer to detect, and which of course everyone is talking about now," Swan said in a lecture to ruling Labor Party members.
Swan said he was a university student in 1975 when he first became a fan of the New Jersey rock star following the release of the song Born to Run.
In an Internet video clip to promote his lecture, Swan's watches his daughter Errin, who is a member of an Australian rock band, sing Springsteen's Dancing in the Dark.
"I guess Springsteen's Born to Run when it first came out in 1975 was one of those albums that really influenced me for a long time," Swan said, adding he still listens to the song when he needs inspiration.
Swan quoted several Springsteen songs, including The River, based on the collapse of the New Jersey construction industry, and My Hometown, where he sang about a textile mill closing along with stores in a small town.
Australia was one of the few economies to avoid recession during the global financial crisis and is now in its 21st year of continued growth, fuelled by a mining boom driven largely by demand from China.
Ancient dopers got their kicks from raw testicles
Forget anabolic steroids in easy-to-swallow tablets, or EPO in clean syringes. Ancient Olympic dopers got their pre-Games hormone boost from chewing on raw animal testicles.
The problem of some Olympic competitors taking potions, medicines and supplements to boost performance is as old as the Games themselves.
Even athletes of the 19th century thought nothing of fortifying themselves with coca leaves, cocaine and alcohol. Thomas Hicks won the 1904 Olympic marathon with the help of raw egg, strychnine and shots of brandy given to him at regular intervals by his attentive coach.
"Doping has always been part of the Olympics, but drugs have not always been seen as a problem, they have become a problem," Martin Polley, an Olympic historian at Britain's Southampton University, told Reuters.
TONICS, TINCTURES AND TESTICLES
Experts say what drove people to extremes then is probably similar to what drives athletes to dope now.
After all, the desire to win by any means must have been strong to induce athletes to eat raw testicles - although as Polley points out it was "probably also seen as a sign of masculinity".
The difference now is that drugs are safer, subtler and more sophisticated. And perception of cheating has changed.
Athletes competing in the earliest days of the modern Olympics, which began in Athens 1896, felt perfectly free to take medicines, stimulants and "tonics," says Vanessa Heggie, a sports medicine historian at Cambridge University.
Injections of strychnine, tinctures of cocaine and sips of alcohol were all used in normal medical practice to treat aches, pains and fatigue, she explained in an interview. The idea was that athletes should be able to take medicines to relieve ailments, just like anyone else.
"Athletes were basically taking all the medications and substances that normal people were taking - including strychnine, amphetamines and cocaine," Heggie said. "That's because at that time athletes were seen by society very much as people who were basically normal, but a little bit better."
As the perception of athletes began to change, so did attitudes on what medicines, supplements and stimulants they should be allowed to consume.
"What we consider to be a drug changes over time," said Heggie. "Sometimes it's a medication, sometimes it's thought of as food, and then sometimes it's things that are thought of as more illicit, like recreational drugs.
"And some substances are in all of those categories," she added. "Alcohol, for example, was taken by the Victorians as a medication, it's also a type of food, it's clearly used by us as a recreational drug."
FROM DOPING TO ANTI-DOPING
Polley says the change in attitude to drugs in sport was initially prompted by concerns about what drugs were doing to athletes' health.
He points to the death of Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen at the Rome Games in 1960 - thought to have been caused by amphetamines - as a turning point for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on doping.
"That's often seen as the moment at which the IOC realized there was a problem," he said.
From then on, the fight against doping has been building - along with the science of testing - but is often seen as a race against cheats who are always one step ahead.
As soon as the fight against stimulants and steroids began to produce results, potential cheats rapidly shifted towards blood doping in the 1970s and 1980s.
The IOC banned blood doping as a method in 1986, but was not able to put in place a reliable test for the blood drug erythropoietin (EPO) until the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.
Now the World Anti-Doping Agency's "prohibited" list runs to hundreds of substances. And the liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry testing equipment at the London 2012 anti-doping lab can screen up to 400 samples a day for more than 240 banned substances in less than 24 hours.
Yet Olympic historians are sure dopers will always be ahead.
As Heggie puts it: "It's a race I don't think we can ever really win."
The problem of some Olympic competitors taking potions, medicines and supplements to boost performance is as old as the Games themselves.
Even athletes of the 19th century thought nothing of fortifying themselves with coca leaves, cocaine and alcohol. Thomas Hicks won the 1904 Olympic marathon with the help of raw egg, strychnine and shots of brandy given to him at regular intervals by his attentive coach.
"Doping has always been part of the Olympics, but drugs have not always been seen as a problem, they have become a problem," Martin Polley, an Olympic historian at Britain's Southampton University, told Reuters.
TONICS, TINCTURES AND TESTICLES
Experts say what drove people to extremes then is probably similar to what drives athletes to dope now.
After all, the desire to win by any means must have been strong to induce athletes to eat raw testicles - although as Polley points out it was "probably also seen as a sign of masculinity".
The difference now is that drugs are safer, subtler and more sophisticated. And perception of cheating has changed.
Athletes competing in the earliest days of the modern Olympics, which began in Athens 1896, felt perfectly free to take medicines, stimulants and "tonics," says Vanessa Heggie, a sports medicine historian at Cambridge University.
Injections of strychnine, tinctures of cocaine and sips of alcohol were all used in normal medical practice to treat aches, pains and fatigue, she explained in an interview. The idea was that athletes should be able to take medicines to relieve ailments, just like anyone else.
"Athletes were basically taking all the medications and substances that normal people were taking - including strychnine, amphetamines and cocaine," Heggie said. "That's because at that time athletes were seen by society very much as people who were basically normal, but a little bit better."
As the perception of athletes began to change, so did attitudes on what medicines, supplements and stimulants they should be allowed to consume.
"What we consider to be a drug changes over time," said Heggie. "Sometimes it's a medication, sometimes it's thought of as food, and then sometimes it's things that are thought of as more illicit, like recreational drugs.
"And some substances are in all of those categories," she added. "Alcohol, for example, was taken by the Victorians as a medication, it's also a type of food, it's clearly used by us as a recreational drug."
FROM DOPING TO ANTI-DOPING
Polley says the change in attitude to drugs in sport was initially prompted by concerns about what drugs were doing to athletes' health.
He points to the death of Danish cyclist Knud Enemark Jensen at the Rome Games in 1960 - thought to have been caused by amphetamines - as a turning point for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on doping.
"That's often seen as the moment at which the IOC realized there was a problem," he said.
From then on, the fight against doping has been building - along with the science of testing - but is often seen as a race against cheats who are always one step ahead.
As soon as the fight against stimulants and steroids began to produce results, potential cheats rapidly shifted towards blood doping in the 1970s and 1980s.
The IOC banned blood doping as a method in 1986, but was not able to put in place a reliable test for the blood drug erythropoietin (EPO) until the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.
Now the World Anti-Doping Agency's "prohibited" list runs to hundreds of substances. And the liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry testing equipment at the London 2012 anti-doping lab can screen up to 400 samples a day for more than 240 banned substances in less than 24 hours.
Yet Olympic historians are sure dopers will always be ahead.
As Heggie puts it: "It's a race I don't think we can ever really win."
Berlin museum dung heaps are reminder of Nazi past
Visitors to Berlin's main modern art museum this summer should take care not to step on piles of horse manure, placed as a reminder of art that was stolen, destroyed or went missing under Nazi rule.
With his installation at the New National Gallery of four piles of artificial dung, painted blue, Austrian artist Martin Gostner has said he is paying tribute to Franz Marc's painting "The Tower of Blue Horses".
The Nazis seized Marc's seminal expressionist work in 1937, branding it "un-German" and "degenerate". To this day it is not known whether the work was destroyed or hidden away, but it has never been found.
Each of the piles of blue manure corresponds to one of the horses in the lost painting, and is intended to make it seem as though the horses were alive and trotting around the museum.
"What would happen if the painting still lived, if there were a sign of it, and the horses were to come by here?" said Dieter Scholz, the gallery's curator.
Gostner's installation also recalls a hoard of other modernist masterpieces that the Nazis destroyed or confiscated in an attempt to purge Germany of art they considered Jewish or Bolshevik influenced. The dung heaps are a tacit reminder that these works may still be retrieved.
The New National Gallery's permanent collection includes work from many artists, including Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, who were labeled "degenerate" by the Nazis.
Some visitors milling around Gostner's installation, entitled "The Oriel of the Blue Horses," were bewildered.
"It's exotic and foreign to me," said Jota, a 57-year-old clerk who declined to give her surname.
Confiscated Nazi art periodically has reappeared in the decades since World War Two. In 2010, 11 "degenerate" sculptures were recovered during construction of an underground rail line in Berlin.
"Perhaps other works are still hidden away out there," said Scholz. "Many could still come to light."
With his installation at the New National Gallery of four piles of artificial dung, painted blue, Austrian artist Martin Gostner has said he is paying tribute to Franz Marc's painting "The Tower of Blue Horses".
The Nazis seized Marc's seminal expressionist work in 1937, branding it "un-German" and "degenerate". To this day it is not known whether the work was destroyed or hidden away, but it has never been found.
Each of the piles of blue manure corresponds to one of the horses in the lost painting, and is intended to make it seem as though the horses were alive and trotting around the museum.
"What would happen if the painting still lived, if there were a sign of it, and the horses were to come by here?" said Dieter Scholz, the gallery's curator.
Gostner's installation also recalls a hoard of other modernist masterpieces that the Nazis destroyed or confiscated in an attempt to purge Germany of art they considered Jewish or Bolshevik influenced. The dung heaps are a tacit reminder that these works may still be retrieved.
The New National Gallery's permanent collection includes work from many artists, including Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, who were labeled "degenerate" by the Nazis.
Some visitors milling around Gostner's installation, entitled "The Oriel of the Blue Horses," were bewildered.
"It's exotic and foreign to me," said Jota, a 57-year-old clerk who declined to give her surname.
Confiscated Nazi art periodically has reappeared in the decades since World War Two. In 2010, 11 "degenerate" sculptures were recovered during construction of an underground rail line in Berlin.
"Perhaps other works are still hidden away out there," said Scholz. "Many could still come to light."
We're only making songs for Nigel on London transport
A British man is making sweet music out of conversations he overhears on London transport at the Olympics and posting a song on the Internet every day of the Games for the world to hear.
Charity director Nigel Parkes said his bizarre musical project came out of a conversation with some young people he met on the train, who did not know who his hero Bob Dylan was.
The following morning he wrote some lyrics about the conversation and ran into one of the young people again who liked the lyrics so much she had a friend turn them into music, record it and then handed it to the 56-year-old Parkes with an invitation to meet creative ad agency Mother.
Mother asked Parkes, from Kettering, middle England to travel the tube, bus, underground and overground railways of London during the Olympics, write a set of song lyrics and deliver them to a recording studio by midday every day to be made into rap, reggae, dub-step and other types of music to be posted daily on www.listenwithnigel.com.
"At one point I said to them: 'where are the cameras? Are you having a laugh? Is this a joke," Parkes told Reuters by telephone from Goldhawk Road Underground station on London's Hammersmith & City line.
He said the music is being produced by London-based Racket Music and Sound Design and every day there are different musicians to work with when he turns in his submission from the previous day's journey.
"My mission between now and tomorrow is to have a Cockney knees up song," he said and to demonstrate began belting out a tune that sounded a lot like the chimney sweeps singing "Step in Time" in the children's film "Mary Poppins".
Charity director Nigel Parkes said his bizarre musical project came out of a conversation with some young people he met on the train, who did not know who his hero Bob Dylan was.
The following morning he wrote some lyrics about the conversation and ran into one of the young people again who liked the lyrics so much she had a friend turn them into music, record it and then handed it to the 56-year-old Parkes with an invitation to meet creative ad agency Mother.
Mother asked Parkes, from Kettering, middle England to travel the tube, bus, underground and overground railways of London during the Olympics, write a set of song lyrics and deliver them to a recording studio by midday every day to be made into rap, reggae, dub-step and other types of music to be posted daily on www.listenwithnigel.com.
"At one point I said to them: 'where are the cameras? Are you having a laugh? Is this a joke," Parkes told Reuters by telephone from Goldhawk Road Underground station on London's Hammersmith & City line.
He said the music is being produced by London-based Racket Music and Sound Design and every day there are different musicians to work with when he turns in his submission from the previous day's journey.
"My mission between now and tomorrow is to have a Cockney knees up song," he said and to demonstrate began belting out a tune that sounded a lot like the chimney sweeps singing "Step in Time" in the children's film "Mary Poppins".
Air intruders must be shot down, Belarus leader says
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko, smarting after a pro-democracy stunt in which teddy bears were dropped into Belarus, told his new border guards chief on Thursday to use weapons to stop any more unlawful air intrusions by foreigners.
About 800 toy bears were dropped near the town of Ivenets from a light aircraft, chartered by a Swedish public relations firm, which crossed into Belarussian air space from Lithuania on July 4, the day after Belarus marked independence day.
Each bear carried a message urging the hardline former Soviet republic to show greater respect for human rights.
Lukashenko told incoming border guards head Alexander Boyechko, whom he appointed after sacking his predecessor on Tuesday over the bears incident: "Unlawful violations of state borders must not be allowed.
"They must be stopped by all force and means, including weapons, regardless of anything. The border guards must prove their loyalty to the fatherland," he said.
As well as sacking Boyechko's predecessor, Lukashenko also dismissed the air defense chief and reprimanded senior state security officials.
In power since 1994 and once described as Europe's last dictator by the U.S. administration of George W. Bush, Lukashenko has been ostracized by the West because of a crackdown on his political opponents.
Authorities in Minsk denied that the teddy bear drop had taken place until Lukashenko confirmed the incident last week.
In 1995 there was an outcry in the United States when a Belarus helicopter shot down a hot air balloon near Bereza, 60 miles east of the Polish border, killing its two-man crew who were U.S. nationals.
Belarussian media say that state security is holding a local blogger named as Anton Suryapin after photographs were published of the toy bears.
Suryapin's father, Andrei, told Reuters: "When we learned that our son had been detained for photographs of teddy bears we were in shock. This is an absurd situation. It's obvious they were looking for a fall guy. Until this happened to our son, I didn't even know that such things happened in the country."
Lukashenko, whose comments were reported by his media service, defended his actions. "There should be no surprise here. On the contrary, you were lightly punished. If it had been Soviet times you would have been put behind bars," he said.
About 800 toy bears were dropped near the town of Ivenets from a light aircraft, chartered by a Swedish public relations firm, which crossed into Belarussian air space from Lithuania on July 4, the day after Belarus marked independence day.
Each bear carried a message urging the hardline former Soviet republic to show greater respect for human rights.
Lukashenko told incoming border guards head Alexander Boyechko, whom he appointed after sacking his predecessor on Tuesday over the bears incident: "Unlawful violations of state borders must not be allowed.
"They must be stopped by all force and means, including weapons, regardless of anything. The border guards must prove their loyalty to the fatherland," he said.
As well as sacking Boyechko's predecessor, Lukashenko also dismissed the air defense chief and reprimanded senior state security officials.
In power since 1994 and once described as Europe's last dictator by the U.S. administration of George W. Bush, Lukashenko has been ostracized by the West because of a crackdown on his political opponents.
Authorities in Minsk denied that the teddy bear drop had taken place until Lukashenko confirmed the incident last week.
In 1995 there was an outcry in the United States when a Belarus helicopter shot down a hot air balloon near Bereza, 60 miles east of the Polish border, killing its two-man crew who were U.S. nationals.
Belarussian media say that state security is holding a local blogger named as Anton Suryapin after photographs were published of the toy bears.
Suryapin's father, Andrei, told Reuters: "When we learned that our son had been detained for photographs of teddy bears we were in shock. This is an absurd situation. It's obvious they were looking for a fall guy. Until this happened to our son, I didn't even know that such things happened in the country."
Lukashenko, whose comments were reported by his media service, defended his actions. "There should be no surprise here. On the contrary, you were lightly punished. If it had been Soviet times you would have been put behind bars," he said.
Lithuania denies entry to Soviet-styled Porsche
A Belarusian man driving a Porsche sports car emblazoned with the red and yellow flag of the Soviet Union was denied entry into Lithuania on Tuesday on the grounds that the public display of such symbols in the Baltic country is illegal.
Under the rule of the former Soviet Union for almost half a century, Vilnius banned the public display of Soviet symbols in 2008, sparking protests from former colonial master Russia.
The bonnet of the offending Porsche 966 - driven by a 26-year-old man - had a giant Soviet flag painted on it complete with a yellow hammer and sickle symbol and star, Rokas Pukinskas, a spokesman for Lithuania's state border guard service, told Reuters.
"The border guards suggested the driver leave his car behind and enter Lithuania by foot or by bus, which he refused to do", Pukinskas added.
Belarus, ruled by former Soviet collective farm boss Alexander Lukashenko since 1994, revels in its past as one of the Soviet Union's 15 republics and encourages nostalgia for the defunct state.
Lithuania and Hungary are the only two European Union countries to outlaw public displays of Soviet symbols. However, the fine of 500-1000 litas (150-280 euros) for violators in Lithuania is rarely issued.
Under the rule of the former Soviet Union for almost half a century, Vilnius banned the public display of Soviet symbols in 2008, sparking protests from former colonial master Russia.
The bonnet of the offending Porsche 966 - driven by a 26-year-old man - had a giant Soviet flag painted on it complete with a yellow hammer and sickle symbol and star, Rokas Pukinskas, a spokesman for Lithuania's state border guard service, told Reuters.
"The border guards suggested the driver leave his car behind and enter Lithuania by foot or by bus, which he refused to do", Pukinskas added.
Belarus, ruled by former Soviet collective farm boss Alexander Lukashenko since 1994, revels in its past as one of the Soviet Union's 15 republics and encourages nostalgia for the defunct state.
Lithuania and Hungary are the only two European Union countries to outlaw public displays of Soviet symbols. However, the fine of 500-1000 litas (150-280 euros) for violators in Lithuania is rarely issued.
German trainee fined 227,000 euros for illegal Facebook party
A German court has handed a 20-year-old apprentice a 227,000-euro ($280,000) bill to cover police costs after he organized an illegal party through the Facebook social network in the southern German town of Constance.
The man identified only as Matthias L. told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that he attended a number of other parties announced on Facebook and got the idea to have an even bigger event at a public beach on the shores of Lake Constance.
The newspaper said thousands had signed up to attend, clicking the 'join' button, but town leaders banned it in advance. Nearly 300 police were dispatched to prevent revelers from gaining access to the beach area. Only about 150 people showed up and eight who refused to leave were detained.
"I had been to some other illegal Facebook parties and thought to myself 'I can do better than this'," Matthias L. told Bild am Sonntag.
The newspaper said he earns about 560 euros a month but will now have to reimburse the city and police 227,052 euros.
"When I look at the bill I feel ill," Matthias L. said.
Guenter Loos, an official at the Baden-Wuerttemberg state interior ministry, said the state will insist on reimbursement.
"We're definitely going to collect these fees in accordance with state rules," he said.
The man identified only as Matthias L. told German newspaper Bild am Sonntag that he attended a number of other parties announced on Facebook and got the idea to have an even bigger event at a public beach on the shores of Lake Constance.
The newspaper said thousands had signed up to attend, clicking the 'join' button, but town leaders banned it in advance. Nearly 300 police were dispatched to prevent revelers from gaining access to the beach area. Only about 150 people showed up and eight who refused to leave were detained.
"I had been to some other illegal Facebook parties and thought to myself 'I can do better than this'," Matthias L. told Bild am Sonntag.
The newspaper said he earns about 560 euros a month but will now have to reimburse the city and police 227,052 euros.
"When I look at the bill I feel ill," Matthias L. said.
Guenter Loos, an official at the Baden-Wuerttemberg state interior ministry, said the state will insist on reimbursement.
"We're definitely going to collect these fees in accordance with state rules," he said.
Belarus sacks top brass over teddy bear scandal
Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Tuesday sacked his air defense chief and the head of the border guards for failing to stop a Swedish plane drop hundreds of teddy bears over the hardline state in a pro-democracy stunt.
The plane, chartered by a Swedish public relations firm, crossed into Belarussian air space from Lithuania on July 4 and dropped about 800 of the toy bears near the town of Ivenets.
Each bear carried a message calling for Belarus to show greater respect for individual human rights.
In a statement on Tuesday, the presidential press service said that Dmitry Pakhmelkin, the country's air defense chief, and Igor Rachkovsky, the head of the border guards, had been dismissed "for not properly carrying out their duties in safeguarding Belarussian national security."
Other senior state security officials had been reprimanded too, the statement said.
In power since 1994 and once described as Europe's last dictator by the U.S. administration of George W. Bush, Lukashenko has been ostracized by the West because of a crackdown on his political opponents.
Authorities in Minsk initially denied that the air drop of teddy bears had taken place until Lukashenko finally confirmed the incident last week.
He made it clear that heads would roll over the stunt last Thursday when he said: "This plane was discovered in time, but why did the (air defense) authorities not intercept the flight? ... Come on lads. We are all grown up. The guilty ones have to answer for this."
The plane, chartered by a Swedish public relations firm, crossed into Belarussian air space from Lithuania on July 4 and dropped about 800 of the toy bears near the town of Ivenets.
Each bear carried a message calling for Belarus to show greater respect for individual human rights.
In a statement on Tuesday, the presidential press service said that Dmitry Pakhmelkin, the country's air defense chief, and Igor Rachkovsky, the head of the border guards, had been dismissed "for not properly carrying out their duties in safeguarding Belarussian national security."
Other senior state security officials had been reprimanded too, the statement said.
In power since 1994 and once described as Europe's last dictator by the U.S. administration of George W. Bush, Lukashenko has been ostracized by the West because of a crackdown on his political opponents.
Authorities in Minsk initially denied that the air drop of teddy bears had taken place until Lukashenko finally confirmed the incident last week.
He made it clear that heads would roll over the stunt last Thursday when he said: "This plane was discovered in time, but why did the (air defense) authorities not intercept the flight? ... Come on lads. We are all grown up. The guilty ones have to answer for this."
Japanese men drop inhibition, turn to parasols to beat the heat
It's summer in Japan, which means shaved ice, cold noodles and parasols against the blinding sun - for men.
While women have used sun umbrellas, or "higasa," for centuries, power conservation and increasingly hot summers have sent sales of men's sun umbrellas sharply higher, with department stores across Japan scrambling for stocks.
"There's been a spike in demand for men's sun umbrellas of about three times since last summer," said Mayumi Mio, a spokeswoman at Takashimaya, a major Tokyo department store.
"Most of them buy it for business when they have to step outside of the office to go to a meeting. They feel that it's rude to show up to work or a meeting all sweaty and worn out from the heat."
White, natural skin has long been thought beautiful for Asian women, and Japanese men have also become increasingly skin-conscious in recent years. But the real jump in sales came last summer, after power cuts in the wake of the March 11 disaster prompted new ways to beat the heat.
According to the Environment Ministry, the combination of casual business attire such as short sleeves and no tie, and a sun umbrella, can cut up to 20% of heat stress, providing almost the same impact as walking under the shade cast by trees.
Kazuhiro Miyatake, the fourth generation to own and run the Shinsaibashi-Miyatake umbrella specialty store in the western city of Osaka, feels it's high time that men be able to carry parasols as well, if they want.
"It's your own portable shade you can carry around anywhere," he said.
While women's parasols run to lighter colors - pink, beige, white and red as well as black - those for men are more somber shades of blue, grey, and green. They also tend to be larger.
Prices can run from as little as 2,000 yen ($25.56) up to 17,000 yen ($220), depending on the design and the materials.
"I believe if there was a 'sun umbrella God', I'm positive it wouldn't discriminate between men and women," said Miyatake, who sells a thousand a year. "If men want to use sun umbrellas, they should be able to without shame."
Japan is currently in the grip of a heat wave that sent temperatures in areas around Tokyo to well over 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit) by 1:00 p.m. on Friday. ($1 = 78.2400 Japanese yen)
While women have used sun umbrellas, or "higasa," for centuries, power conservation and increasingly hot summers have sent sales of men's sun umbrellas sharply higher, with department stores across Japan scrambling for stocks.
"There's been a spike in demand for men's sun umbrellas of about three times since last summer," said Mayumi Mio, a spokeswoman at Takashimaya, a major Tokyo department store.
"Most of them buy it for business when they have to step outside of the office to go to a meeting. They feel that it's rude to show up to work or a meeting all sweaty and worn out from the heat."
White, natural skin has long been thought beautiful for Asian women, and Japanese men have also become increasingly skin-conscious in recent years. But the real jump in sales came last summer, after power cuts in the wake of the March 11 disaster prompted new ways to beat the heat.
According to the Environment Ministry, the combination of casual business attire such as short sleeves and no tie, and a sun umbrella, can cut up to 20% of heat stress, providing almost the same impact as walking under the shade cast by trees.
Kazuhiro Miyatake, the fourth generation to own and run the Shinsaibashi-Miyatake umbrella specialty store in the western city of Osaka, feels it's high time that men be able to carry parasols as well, if they want.
"It's your own portable shade you can carry around anywhere," he said.
While women's parasols run to lighter colors - pink, beige, white and red as well as black - those for men are more somber shades of blue, grey, and green. They also tend to be larger.
Prices can run from as little as 2,000 yen ($25.56) up to 17,000 yen ($220), depending on the design and the materials.
"I believe if there was a 'sun umbrella God', I'm positive it wouldn't discriminate between men and women," said Miyatake, who sells a thousand a year. "If men want to use sun umbrellas, they should be able to without shame."
Japan is currently in the grip of a heat wave that sent temperatures in areas around Tokyo to well over 37 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit) by 1:00 p.m. on Friday. ($1 = 78.2400 Japanese yen)
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