Haaretz
No lasting stroke damage, prime minister may go home Tuesday
By Jonathan Lis, Aluf Benn and Ran Reznick, Haaretz Correspondents, Haaretz Service and Agencies
Physicians at Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem in Jerusalem said Monday that they hoped to release Prime Minister Ariel Sharon on Tuesday, after he underwent a new series of tests, including a CAT scan and MRI, to determine the effects of the stroke he suffered Sunday evening.
The stroke, termed a mild cerebral vascular event, "Will not leave behind any damage or any traces," said Dr. Tamir Ben-Hur, chief of the hospital's neurology department.
"There's an excellent chance it won't repeat itself," Ben-Hur said. "After a rest, he can return to full functioning.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/659324.html
After stroke, PM tells Haaretz: I'm fine
By Haaretz Staff and Agencies
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was in stable condition last night after being rushed to the hospital in Jerusalem after apparently suffering a minor stroke and briefly losing consciousness.
However, doctors at the Hadassah University Hospital, Ein Karem said that he appears not to have suffered any damage from the incident. "Unequivocally there is no damage," said Sharon's long-time personal physician, Dr. Boleslav Goldman. "He has had anti-coagulant treatment. He will need to be in the hospital for a few days."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/659367.html
Knesset panel okays bill on restoring Holocaust victims' assets
By Amiram Barkat, Haaretz Correspondent
The Knesset Constitution, Law and Justice Committee on Monday approved the Holocaust victims' bill and submitted it to the plenum for second and third readings.
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has been urging Finance Minister Ehud Olmert to push the legislation through and Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin had promised to make every effort to ensure that it is passed.
MK Yosef Lapid, who sponsored the bill, said that, ?this is one of the most important law?s in Israel?s history. It?s a shame it wasn?t passed 50 years ago.?
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/659638.html
Poll: Netanyahu triumphs in Likud primary with 47%
By Mazal Mualem, Yuval Azoulay and Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondents and Haaretz Service
Facing a crowded hall of supporters in the Likud headquarters in Tel Aviv on Monday night, newly-elected Likud Chairman MK Benjamin Netanyahu announced the Likud's intention to regain power in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
Netanyahu swept to a comfortable victory in the Likud chairmanship race, as his main rival Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom conceded defeat in a phone conversation with him.
According to the Channel 1 poll, Netanyahu won 47 percent of the votes in the party primaries. Shalom came in second with 32 percent of the vote. Far-right candidate Moshe Feiglin won 15 percent of the vote, while Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz trailed in fourth place with 6 percent of the vote.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/659518.html
Syria considering ceding Shaba Farms to Lebanon
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
Syria is considering a proposal to give Lebanon sovereignty over the Shaba Farms, on the slopes of Mount Hermon, by signing a new border deal with Lebanon, according to information that has reached Israel from several sources in the last few days.
Political sources in Jerusalem said the proposal indicates that the Syrians are trying to ease the diplomatic pressure on them and put the ball in Israel's court.
If the Shaba Farms are considered Lebanese territory, Israel will be asked to withdraw from the region. Failure to do so will provide Hezbollah with justification to act in South Lebanon and call the Israeli occupation ongoing.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/659932.html
Analysis: The Likud has never been such a right-wing party
By Yossi Verter, Haaretz Correspondent
The Likud's old-new chairman Benjamin Netanyahu is facing two urgent tasks. First, he must assess in the next two to three days whether Labor Chairman Amir Peretz can be a partner in an alternative government - the "government that is s-c-a-r-e-d of Ariel Sharon."
Second, he will have to extract Likud ministers, led by Silvan Shalom, from the government and get them to abandon their ministerial Volvos, so that he, Benjamin Netanyahu, can become the only person with an official title, opposition head, with all of its perks: an armored car, a swarm of security guards and a monthly update from the prime minister.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/659865.html
MI chief: W. Bank, Gaza could become Fatahstan, Hamastan
By Gideon Alon
Military Intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Aharon Ze'evi (Farkash) warned the government during its meeting yesterday that there is an increasingly high chance that next year will see what he called the "Hamastan" brigade ruling the Gaza Strip, while the "Fatahstan" brigade will control the West Bank.
Ze'evi, who took his leave of the government yesterday at the end of his term as director of MI, said Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is in a difficult position and has limited maneuverability.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/659364.html
London calling Israeli firms
By Efrat Neuman
Israel changed its positioning in Europe significantly this year. The trend dates back to last December, when local companies started sniffing a golden opportunity on London's second market, the AIM.
Until then, Israeli companies had moved, in very small numbers, to the London Stock Exchange. However, after BATM's glorious splash on AIM in 2000, moments before the bubble burst, eyes have moved to London's second-largest exchange.
Vigilant Technologies announced yesterday it plans to raise $18 million on the AIM, becoming Israel's 20th company listed on the market.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/659925.html
The Seattle Post Intelligencer
Volunteers clear out New Orleans synagogue
By STACEY PLAISANCE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
NEW ORLEANS -- Standing on moldy and debris-covered floors, college students cleaning up a Jewish temple paused Monday for a prayer service - the first at Beth Israel Synagogue since Hurricane Katrina flooded it with more than 10 feet of water three months ago.
The dozen or so students were among roughly 50 from colleges across the country who have come to New Orleans to spend their winter break helping with recovery efforts at the century-old synagogue, as well as at area homes and schools left damaged by the storm.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Katrina_Flooded_Synagogue.html
Gregoire announces major Puget Sound clean up plan
By LISA STIFFLER AND ROBERT McCLURE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTERS
Hoping to make the restoration of Puget Sound into a national priority, Gov. Christine Gregoire today announced the most-ambitious plan to date to clean up toxic dumps around the Sound, prevent oil spills and take other actions to revive the ailing estuary.
Gregoire’s $42 million proposal would provide a boost to the approximately $90 million currently earmarked for Sound-related work which is spread among a dozen agencies and institutions.
The funds would come from the state’s $1.4 billion surplus. Environmentalists hope this will mark the first significant commitment to a long-term effort to save the Sound.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/252659_sound19ww.html
Software Notebook: Microsoft, Mozilla: A symbol of cooperation?
By TODD BISHOP
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Granted, it's not exactly the Dayton Peace Accords. But Microsoft's Internet Explorer group and the rival Firefox browser team surprised the technology world last week with a small token of cooperation.
To be precise, it was a tiny orange icon. Microsoft worked out an arrangement to use the same symbol that Firefox does to alert people when a Web page makes extra streams of information available for subscription.
Microsoft will use Firefox's icon for online feeds.
The industry has seen bigger deals, to put it mildly. In fact, describing it as a deal might be a stretch. It was an informal agreement, with no money changing hands, said Sean Lyndersay, lead program manager on Microsoft's Internet Explorer team.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/252520_software19.html
Researchers find Barbie is often mutilated
By JILL LAWLESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LONDON -- Barbie, beware. The iconic plastic doll is often mutilated at the hands of young girls, according to research published Monday by British academics.
"The girls we spoke to see Barbie torture as a legitimate play activity, and see the torture as a 'cool' activity," said Agnes Nairn, one of the University of Bath researchers. "The types of mutilation are varied and creative, and range from removing the hair to decapitation, burning, breaking and even microwaving."
Researchers from the university's marketing and psychology departments questioned 100 children about their attitudes to a range of products as part of a study on branding. They found Barbie provoked the strongest reaction, with youngsters reporting "rejection, hatred and violence," Nairn said.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Britain_Hating_Barbie.html
Schwarzenegger to hometown: Remove my name
By JENNIFER COLEMAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Monday told officials in his hometown in Austria to remove his name from a sports stadium and stop using his identity to promote the city.
The governor's request came after politicians in Graz began a petition drive to rename the stadium, reacting to Schwarzenegger's decision last week to deny clemency to condemned inmate Stanley Tookie Williams. Opposition to the death penalty is strong in Austria.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Schwarzenegger_Hometown.html
Aceh shows best, worst of tsunami spending
By TIM SULLIVAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
It has been a year since the tsunami laid waste to the isolated Indonesian province of Aceh, but tens of thousands of people still live in a vast archipelago of shanty towns made of scrap wood spit back by the sea. Along the coast, towns and villages remain nothing but swampland and ankle-high rubble. In plywood barracks hurriedly built across the region, survivors are jammed together in windowless rooms.
Many people are desperately frustrated.
"We know a lot of money is going to Aceh, but where is it? Where are the buildings? Where is the construction?" demanded Zoelfitri, a 32-year-old man who, like many Indonesians, uses only one name. He lives in a homemade shanty on the fringes of Banda Aceh, the provincial capital on the northwestern edge of Sumatra island, and cares for nearly a dozen relatives who lost parents, children and siblings in the tsunami.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1104AP_Tsunami_The_Money_TS1.html
Returns show Shiites lead in Iraq election
By MARIAM FAM
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Preliminary election returns Monday showed Iraqi voters divided along ethnic and religious lines with a commanding lead held by the religious Shiite coalition that dominates the current government.
Meanwhile, an Iraqi lawyer said at least 24 top former officials in Saddam Hussein's regime were freed from jail without charges. They included biological and chemical weapons experts known as "Dr. Germ" and "Mrs. Anthrax."
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107AP_Iraq.html
Iraq war veteran launches bid for House
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
LOMBARD, Ill. -- Iraq war veteran L. Tammy Duckworth, a helicopter pilot who lost her legs to a rocket-propelled grenade attack, formally announced her candidacy Sunday for the congressional seat of retiring Republican Rep. Henry Hyde.
The Army major is one of about a half dozen Iraq war veterans running for office as Democrats, lending their military backgrounds to the party's argument that it can be strong on defense and national security, even as its leaders criticize President Bush's handling of the war.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1132AP_Congress_Iraq_Veteran.html
Report: Russian official worried over bases
By MIKE ECKEL
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
MOSCOW -- Russia's foreign spy chief said military forces from other countries deployed at bases along Russia's periphery are a threat to the nation, a Russian news agency reported Monday.
In comments that appeared directed at U.S. forces deployed on bases in former Soviet countries, the Interfax news agency quoted Sergei Lebedev, head of the Foreign Intelligence Service, as saying that Russia no longer had a "main adversary" as during the Cold War.
But "Russians cannot help but be concerned about new military bases and military contingents being deployed around our country," he was quoted as saying.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Russia_Intelligence_Chief.html
N. Ireland begins granting gay unions
By SHAWN POGATCHNIK
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
BELFAST, Northern Ireland -- Two lesbians become the first gay couple in the United Kingdom to win legal recognition under a civil partnership Monday, a ceremony that attracted scorn from evangelical Christian protesters but praise from gay rights activists.
Grainne Close, a social worker from Northern Ireland, and Shannon Sickels, a playwright from New York, were the first of several hundred gay couples exchanging vows nationwide this week - including Elton John and his longtime partner.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1103AP_Britain_Gay_Marriage.html
Federal survey shows unwanted births up
By MIKE STOBBE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
ATLANTA -- More American women are having babies they didn't want, a survey indicates, but federal researchers say they don't know if that means attitudes about abortion are changing.
U.S. women of childbearing age who were surveyed in 2002 revealed that 14 percent of their recent births were unwanted at the time of conception, federal researchers said Monday.
In a similar 1995 survey, only 9 percent were unwanted at the time of conception.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/1500AP_Unwanted_Pregnancies.html
South America shifting left, away from U.S.
By BILL CORMIER
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER
LA PAZ, Bolivia -- South America's leftward tilt has gained momentum with the likely victory of Bolivian presidential candidate Evo Morales, the coca-farming Indian who calls himself "Washington's nightmare."
Morales, whose election is all but assured given his wide margin in Sunday's voting, takes guidance from the anti-American populist Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and considers the Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara his hero.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Bolivia_Leaning_Left.html
The New Zealand Herald
Siberians even colder than usual
20.12.05 7.20am
More than 100,000 people in the Siberian city of Kyzyl were left without heat and hot water amid -37C temperatures after a breakdown at the central heating plant.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360749
Narwhal tusk for sensing, smooching
15.12.05
The narwhal's mysterious spiral tusk works as a giant sensor to help it test water qualities and to smooch other narwhals, according to a United States researcher.
The whale's 2.4m long tusk has long mystified naturalists and hunters, and the explanation may be equally intriguing, Harvard School of Dental Medicine researcher Dr Martin Nweeia said.
The tusk, it seems, has hydrodynamic-sensing capabilities, Dr Nweeia said before his presentation to the Conference on the Biology of Marine Mammals in San Diego.
The mammals are among the rarest of whales, usually 4 to 4.5m long, found mostly in the Arctic Ocean waters of Canada but as far east as Russia.
Dr Nweeia's team found that the narwhal tusk is like a membrane with an extremely sensitive surface. It has 10 million nerve connections to the outer surface that would be capable of detecting changes in water temperature, pressure, and salinity.
"There is no comparison in nature and certainly none more unique in tooth form, expression, and functional adaptation."
Anyone with sensitive teeth who has bitten into an icecream would wince.
"Why would a tusk break the rules of normal development by expressing millions of sensory pathways that connect its nervous system to the frigid arctic environment?" Dr Nweeia asked.
"Such a finding is startling and indeed surprised all of us who discovered it."
Dr Nweeia's team also noted that narwhal males will rub tusks and said it was likely this provided the big animals with a "unique sensation".
"Now that we know the sensory capabilities of the tusk, we can design new experiments to describe some of the unique and unexplained behaviours of this elusive and extraordinary whale."
- REUTERS
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&ObjectID=10359968
Union relief as Air NZ reconsiders job losses
19.12.05 1.00pm UPDATE
The union acting for hundreds of Air New Zealand engineers threatened with redundancy says it is delighted the airline is reconsidering its plans.
Air NZ had announced in October that more than 600 staff would lose their jobs due to of a decision to send heavy maintenance work to Asia.
After receiving a proposal from the union, it today confirmed 110 would be made redundant but said the remaining 507 would hear their fate in February.
The EPMU said it was delighted the airline would seriously consider its cost-cutting proposal, which could save more jobs.
Andrew Little, national secretary for the union, said it was "regrettable" Air NZ believed it needed to cut staff, but the most important aspect was that New Zealand would still have an aircraft heavy engineering operation which could be built upon in the future.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10360636
NZ gets top marks in World Bank business survey
19.12.05 1.00pm
New Zealand has received top marks in a World Bank survey on 'Doing Business in 2006'.
The country ranked number 1 in terms of ease of doing business, in the survey of 155 countries by the bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) division.
Australia was sixth on the list, which assessed the ease with which to establish and maintain a business, while Pacific nations Fiji, Tonga and Samoa, ranked 34th, 36th and 39th respectively.
Sean Duggan, IFC's regional programme coordinator for the Pacific, said Pacific Island nations "fared remarkably well", in this year's survey, but he warned that "the Pacific does have its fair share of problems, particularly with the administration of regulation".
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=3&ObjectID=10360637
Birdflu cost to NZ 'up to $30bn in first year'
20.12.05 1.00pm
A birdflu pandemic would cost New Zealand between $15 billion and $30 billion in the first year, Treasury said today.
The loss to the economy would be around 10 to 20 per cent of GDP in the year that a pandemic occurred, it said in a report.
The cost over four years would be up to $40 billion.
"The economy would take several years to recover from a shock of this scale and losses could amount to 15-30 per cent of annual GDP over the medium term," Treasury said.
The report, written on November 2, was published on its website today (link at foot of page).
Normally, the risk of flu pandemic is considered to be 1 to 2 per cent over any one year, or 20 to 30 per cent over 20 years, but Treasury quotes Australia's Chief Medical Officer as putting the odds of a pandemic over the next few years at 10 per cent.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10360807
Romania detects new suspected bird flu case
20.12.05 12.20pm
BUCHAREST - Romania has found suspected bird flu in hens in another village 100km east of Bucharest, where an outbreak was detected last week, officials said on Monday.
The H5 type of the virus was confirmed last week in two villages in Ialomita county, indicating the avian disease could be spreading towards the capital.
Since October, the Balkan country has found avian flu in 21 villages in and around the Danube delta where the deadly strain of the virus was first discovered 300km from Bucharest.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10360777
'Dr Germ' and 'Mrs Anthrax' released
20.12.05 1.00pm
By Alastair Macdonald
BAGHDAD - Saddam Hussein's weapons experts known as "Dr Germ" and "Mrs Anthrax" are being released by US forces, an Iraqi lawyer said on Monday, and the US military confirmed several "high-value detainees" were being freed.
Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Barry Johnson said eight leading detainees had been freed on Saturday.
He said they were among 27 prisoners, considered senior members of the administration overthrown by US forces in 2003, who now posed no threat to security, were neither charged with crimes nor material witnesses, and had no intelligence value.
Johnson declined to identify any of the detainees or comment on the fate of those still held prisoner.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10360771
US House passes torture ban and war funding
20.12.05 1.00pm
By Vicki Allen
WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives has passed final legislation to ban the torture of detainees and voted to advance the Pentagon US$50 billion ($73.42 billion) for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The House passed two separate defence bills, one for funding and one for defence policies, that contained identical measures initially opposed by President George W. Bush requiring humane treatment of detainees in US custody.
But, in a concession to the White House, the bills curb the ability of inmates at the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to challenge their detention in federal court.
Congress is pushing to complete its work for the year and the policy bill could go to the Senate for final passage late today before being sent to Bush.
The Senate will take up the funding measure this week, with a fight expected over an unrelated measure added to the bill to allow oil drilling in an Alaska wildlife refuge.
The bills also would let information gleaned by coercion to be used against Guantanamo inmates.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10360787
Greens want block on passing spy information to US
19.12.05 1.00pm
The Green Party has said New Zealand should stop sending information obtained by its spy base to the United States following revelations it could be misused.
US President George W Bush has admitted he allowed domestic eavesdropping without court approval following the September 11 2001 terrorist attacks.
The revelation in the New York Times caused outrage in the US, with both Democrats and Republicans calling for congressional investigations into the decision.
The Greens' security and intelligence spokesman Keith Locke said New Zealand should suspend the transfer of data intercepted by the Waihopai spy base to the US National Security Agency (NSA).
Waihopai is part of the NSA-run Echelon communications intelligence network.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=1&ObjectID=10360631
Former Aceh rebels complete weapons handover
20.12.05 1.00pm
BANDA ACEH - Former rebels in Indonesia's Aceh completed a weapons handover on Monday under a peace pact that ended one of Asia's longest running civil wars, foreign monitors said.
"Today we could confirm that the (Free) Aceh Movement has offered the last of their weapons, thereby completing their commitment under the Helsinki MOU (Memorandum of Understanding)," Pieter Feith, chief of the European Union-led Aceh Monitoring Mission, told a news conference.
The rebel movement, known as Gam, and the government have moved quickly to reduce tensions since signing an agreement in Helsinki in August to end the 30-year war in which 15,000 people, mostly civilians, were killed.
Gam and Indonesia's government signed the peace pact after months of negotiation spurred on by the Dec. 26 tsunami that smashed into Indian Ocean coastlines.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360776
Iran tells West to be tolerant of Holocaust views
19.12.05 1.00pm
TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's denial of the Holocaust is a matter for academic discussion and the West should be more tolerant of his views, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman said on Sunday.
Ahmadinejad last week called the Holocaust a myth and suggested Israel be moved to Germany or Alaska, remarks that sparked international uproar and threaten diplomatic talks with Europe over Iran's nuclear programme.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi defended the president's remarks, which also drew a rebuke from the UN Security Council.
"What the president said is an academic issue. The West's reaction shows their continued support for Zionists," Asefi told a weekly news conference.
"Westerners are used to leading a monologue but they should learn to listen to different views," he added.
Some 6 million Jews were killed by the Nazis and their allies between 1933 and 1945.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10360628
EU was aware of rendition, says Powell
19.12.05 1.00pm
By Jerome Taylor
LONDON - European governments, including Britain's, were under growing pressure last night to reveal the extent of their involvement in controversial US "extraordinary renditions".
Colin Powell, the former US Secretary of State, said that statements of ignorance by European leaders such Jack Straw about the transport, detention and torture of suspects were not believable.
"There's a little bit of the movie Casablanca in this, where, you know, the inspector says, 'I'm shocked, shocked that this kind of thing [gambling] takes place'," he said in the interview with Sir David Frost.
Speaking on the BBC's World TV channel yesterday, Mr Powell criticised the US's European allies for expressing ignorance of rendition, and dismissed suggestions that governments were surprised that their airports may have been involved in rendition.
"Most of our European friends cannot be shocked that this kind of thing takes place.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10360639
Colombian rebels show video of hostage
20.12.05 11.20am
By Hugh Bronstein
BOGOTA - Colombian rebels released a video on Monday showing a former government minister they kidnapped five years ago asking officials to negotiate a hostage exchange.
The video, in which a gaunt Fernando Araujo appeared with a small green parrot perched on his shoulder, was shot Dec. 11, two days before the government offered to withdraw troops from around a small mountain town to set the stage for talks aimed at freeing 63 hostages in return for jailed rebels.
"We ask that the government show all the will necessary and the best possible attitude in negotiations to reach an exchange agreement with the (rebels)," Araujo, kidnapped while jogging in the Caribbean resort city of Cartagena in 2000 after he had resigned as minister, said in the video.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&ObjectID=10360801
Bombs in Iraq, murder video on web
20.12.05 10.00am
BAGHDAD - Bombs ripped through three Iraqi cities on Monday and two senior officials survived assassination attempts, hours after President George W. Bush told Americans not to despair over the US mission in Iraq.
An Iraqi militant group posted an internet video claiming to show the killing of an American abducted this month.
The level of violence has risen again since the successful and largely peaceful election on Dec. 15, the first parliamentary poll since the US-led invasion.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360783
Latin America's new socialist revolution
20.12.05
By Daniel Howden
LA PAZ - Inside La Paz's bullet-pocked National Congress building, the gloomy halls are filled with portraits of the great and good of European descent, reflecting who has ruled Latin America's poorest and most racially polarised country since independence in 1825.
At the end of a corridor is a room full of images of Che Guevara. Among them hangs a poster with the slogan, "I'd rather be an illiterate Indian than a North American millionaire".
Thirty-eight years after his death in the foothills of the Bolivian Andes, trying to spark a revolution, the Marxist soldier of fortune's boast reverberates in the dilemma now facing the nation.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360679
Leaders push for WTO deal
20.12.05
By Fran O'Sullivan
HONG KONG - British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to call a G8 summit early in the New Year in response to a request from the World Trade Organisation for the world's political leaders to get behind an aggressive push to complete further talks by the end of next April.
WTO director-general Pascal Lamy said the present round of talks would only be a success if the "bosses" told their trade ministers "you've got to come back with a deal" when they reconvene in Geneva.
Lamy used a press conference - which finished just before midnight Hong Kong time - to go over the top of delegation heads from the 149 nations taking part in the ministerial talks.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360722
'Tsunami of cheap goods' overwhelm African jobs
20.12.05
By John Chiahemen
Johannesburg - South Africa's union federation Cosatu planned to use a rally marking its 20th birthday this month to promote a "buy local" campaign.
But as about 20,000 unionists marched and chanted "Proudly South African" slogans in a Durban stadium, word went round that the bright red T-shirts each wore were made in China.
Thousands of noisy members of the Sactwu textile union, which is spearheading a campaign against a flood of cheap Chinese textile imports, removed the shirts and hurled them into a pile in the middle of the stadium.
"People's reaction to those T-shirts is a clear indication that they've had enough of these cheap products from abroad," Sactwu president John Zikhali said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360687
Cancer vaccine has strong response in young girls
19.12.05 1.00pm
NEW YORK - Girls aged 10 to 14 who received GlaxoSmithKline Plc's vaccine to prevent infection with the virus that causes cervical cancer had immune responses twice as strong as women 15-25 years old given the vaccine, the company said at the weekend, describing results of a late-stage trial.
Glaxo said the first published data from a Phase III trial of its Cervarix vaccine suggest it may provide the strongest and most-prolonged protection if given to girls at very young ages, long before they encounter the sexually transmitted virus.
"The concentrations of antibodies to the virus were twice as high in the bloodstreams of the young girls," said Gary Dubin, a senior research official at Glaxo who was the lead author on the study.
Antibodies are immune-system proteins that seek out and destroy bacteria and viruses. Vaccines, by introducing the body to snippets of specific bacteria or viruses, train the body to crank out tailor-made antibodies that attack them.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10360652
Six face trial in Norway for 'The Scream' theft
20.12.05 1.00pm
OSLO - Six people will stand trial in Oslo in February accused of stealing "The Scream" and "Madonna" even though the two masterpieces by Norwegian artist Edvard Munch are still missing, prosecutors said on Monday.
"The Oslo public prosecutor's office has ... charged five people with taking part in the robbery of the Munch Museum on August 22, 2004", prosecutor Terje Nyboe said in a statement. A sixth person was charged with receiving stolen goods.
In the robbery, two masked gunmen walked into the Munch Museum in Oslo past dozens of terrified tourists, pulled the pictures from the wall and drove off in a car driven by a third man before switching to another getaway car.
The pictures, both painted in 1893, have not been seen since. The main portion of the four-week trial is due to be heard in Oslo in mid-February 2006, the statement said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360781
You've got mail ... and possibly an STD as well
19.12.05
By Andrew Gumbel
LOS ANGELES - You have an embarrassing problem. You have just been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted disease. Worse, you've been sleeping around, so other people are at risk and they need to be told.
Problem is, you barely know them. You certainly don't feel up to a sit-down heart-to-heart about your condition and what they might want to do to check themselves out.
What to do? California's health authorities have found a solution that keeps awkward communication to a minimum: an email service that tells your recent partners what the problem is and commits you to nothing, not even to give your name.
Called Inspot, the service consists of a choice of six e-cards with messages ranging from the jokey to the sombre. One is a close-up photograph of household screws with the message: "I got screwed while screwing. You might have, too."
Another depicts a suntanned, well-toned man holding a towel up to his buttocks. The caption: "You're too hot to be out of action. I got diagnosed with STD since we played. You might want to get checked, too."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10360536
Poor children more likely to die than their rich peers
16.12.05
Children from lower-income households are more likely to die than those from medium- or high-income families, a study has revealed.
Researchers looking into socio-economic factors in child mortality examined the cases of about 2250 children who died between 1981 and 1999.
The paper by the Wellington School of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Otago, was published in the NZ Medical Journal this week.
"Children living in deprived circumstances are more likely to die in all areas, except for cancer," said Dr Caroline Shaw.
The paper highlighted the need to address the factors that put children at risk, including traffic safety, quality of rental housing and fencing round homes.
"And, of course, no child [should be] living in poverty, so income levels for people living on benefits may need to be looked at," Dr Shaw said.
The higher death rate of children from low-income households was seen most strongly in accidents - burns, poisoning and drownings.
This was followed by a combination of "other" causes of death - such as disease and asthma - and traffic injuries. These two sectors made up about 80 per cent of child deaths.
Deaths from congenital causes were also tied to socio-economic levels.
Cancer was the only death-related cause not affected by socio-economic factors.
Dr Shaw said the number of deaths from suicide and murder was small and, apart from cancer, was the only category where medium-income households dominated.
But the numbers were so small it was not possible to find a substantial trend in that field, and international evidence showed that the lower the income, the more likely children would feature in murder or suicide rates, she said.
Associate Professor Tony Blakely said the study also raised fresh questions about how to pinpoint social policy.
Addressing poverty might help, he said, but there were deaths in the "other" category that might make it difficult to determine how best to focus policy initiatives.
- NZPA
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10360239
Sunscreens' all-day protection claims challenged
16.12.05
The Cancer Society has complained to the Commerce Commission about three brands of sunscreen which claim all-day protection from only one application.
The society, which is being backed by the Health Sponsorship Council, says Piz Buin, Daylong Sunscreen and Once Sunscreen are promoted as having all-day protection from one use.
The society's chief executive, Neil Chave, said there was no evidence to suggest that one application would provide eight hours of protection for people swimming and putting clothes on and off.
"All the evidence we have suggests that every two or three hours you have to reapply, particularly if you are swimming, because the effectiveness declines," he said.
Most products would wash off or sweat off, particularly on hot days, and fair-skinned people in particular needed ample cover.
An internet advertisement for Once Sunscreen says "people tested" had 95 per cent filter (SPF 20) after eight hours, including two hours in spa pools.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10360247
Sunscreen suppliers defend products
17.12.05
Two sunscreen suppliers have defended the labelling on their products that prompted the Cancer Foundation to complain to the Commerce Commission.
The commission, backed by the Health Sponsorship Council, disputed claims that Piz Buin Day Long, Once Sunscreen and Daylong Sunscreen offered all-day protection from one application.
Cancer Society chief executive Neil Chave said on Thursday that there was no evidence to suggest that one application would provide eight hours of protection for people swimming and taking clothes on and off.
He said sunscreen needed to be applied every two to three hours, particularly with fair-skinned people and when combined with swimming.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=204&objectid=10360371
Willie and Arlo bring music back to New Orleans
19.12.05 1.00pm
By Michele Gershberg
NEW ORLEANS - Singers Arlo Guthrie and Willie Nelson staged a musical homecoming for hurricane-wrecked New Orleans on Saturday night, bringing back a taste of the songs for which the city is famed.
In a concert dedicated to assisting musicians who lost their homes, instruments and livelihoods when Hurricane Katrina flooded the city on August 29, the two pledged to help its songmakers find their voices again.
"The best music comes from difficult times," Guthrie told Reuters. "There will be an injection of something different into New Orleans as a result of the disaster ... the culture here will swallow it up, and something new will sparkle."
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360643
Chad blames Sudan for border attack
19.12.05 11.20am
N'DJAMENA - Chad has blamed its neighbour Sudan for an attack on a town near the countries' border on Sunday which killed more than 100 people.
"The Chadian government holds the Sudanese government totally responsible for this morning's attack mounted from its territory," Chad's Communication Minister Hourmadji Moussa Doumgor said in a statement that said that more than 100 people were killed during the attack.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10360623
continued ...
Monday, December 19, 2005
Break time. This evening. It takes time to pull all the Global Warming pieces together. I don't do it too often here.
Before Katrina.
May 23, 2005.
Pascagoula River, Mississippi.
Zoos
Extinction alert for 800 species
By Richard Black
Environment Correspondent, BBC News website
Researchers have compiled a global map of sites where animals and plants face imminent extinction.
The list, drawn up by a coalition of conservation groups, covers almost 800 species which they say will disappear soon unless urgent measures are taken.
Most of the 800 are now found only in one location, mainly in the tropics.
Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers say protecting some of these sites would cost under $1,000 per year.
"This is a whole suite of species threatened with extinction," said Stuart Butchart, global species programme co-ordinator with BirdLife International, one of the groups behind the report.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4522044.stm
Dutch zoos begin vaccinating fowl against bird flu AP Photo AMS106-112
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) _ Rotterdam Zoo began vaccinating its penguins, ostriches, owls and other birds against bird flu Tuesday, among the first European parks to inoculate against the virulent strain that swept through flocks in Asia and threatened humans.
In Europe, wild birds have tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu strain in Romania, Russia, Croatia and Turkey, but the virus strain has not been detected in humans.
That strain, however, has killed at least 69 people in Asia since 2003.
Zookeepers said they feared that wild birds flying south to Africa for the winter might return next year carrying the virus, and wanted to begin building resistance among their flocks now.
Koen Brouwer, the director of the Netherlands Union of Zoos, said that other Dutch zoos would vaccinate birds in the coming days. He said the zoos began lobbying for vaccinations in August. A major hurdle was lifted Nov. 11, when the European Union dropped objections, but the zoos" applications were only now being approved.
"It was a rather bureaucratic process, but I have to say that I was ultimately satisfied with the result, especially the cooperation from the Dutch government," he said. "We"re not in a crisis now, so we understand the urgency is not so great."
The Netherlands lies in the path of bird migration from both Asia and Africa. It is especially sensitive to the threat of plague after suffering a major outbreak of a different bird flu strain in 2003 in which 30 million birds were slaughtered, 89 people were infected and one died.
The Dutch government annoyed politicians in Brussels this summer by ordering that all commercial, pet, and zoo birds be kept in shelters or indoors.
The European Union Commission initially opposed such measures as unnecessary, but later issued similar guidelines for birds near "high risk" areas _ migration routes and large bodies of water.
Other Europe-wide measures in place include extra disinfection procedures for imported birds and a ban on bird markets.
http://www.diariosigloxxi.com/noticia.php?ts=20051213174725
Male elephant knocks out keeper at Tokyo zoo
TOKYO -- A male elephant knocked out a keeper with one of his tusks at a zoo in central Tokyo in what may have been a hormone-driven frenzy, the zoo master said Tuesday.
Attie, a 2.2-ton (2.4-U.S. ton) Asian bull at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo, struck his keeper Yutaka Kawaharabayashi in the forehead on Tuesday morning, zoo master Teruyuki Komiya told reporters.
Nine-year-old Attie had recently entered "musth," which means a bull is physiologically ready to mate and is looking for a female, according to Komiya.
Another zoo worker dragged the bleeding Kawaharabayashi from the elephant pen, Komiya said. Kawaharabayashi sustained serious head injuries and has been hospitalized.
Ueno, the only zoo in central Tokyo, is also home to four female elephants. Attie is the only bull.
http://news.inq7.net/world/index.php?index=1&story_id=59905
Zoo Cat Captured After Two Weeks In Hiding
POSTED: 1:50 pm EST December 13, 2005
PARAMUS, N.J. -- Workers inside the Bergen County Zoo administration building in Paramus have found an ocelot that escaped near the end of last month.
The cat wandered into a trap that was set after it got out of a plastic container inside the building while workers cleaned and repaired its exhibit.
The ocelot was not considered dangerous and apparently spent nearly two weeks hiding in the building.
http://www.nbc10.com/news/5526694/detail.html
Commission welcomes proposals for new zoo
Clinch Park site will close in '07
By VANESSA McCRAY
Record-Eagle staff writer
TRAVERSE CITY - The city will give groups who want to create a new zoo until mid-February to submit their plans.
City commissioners Monday provided some direction for how they would like the closure of the city's bayfront Clinch Park Zoo handled. Commissioners agreed in November to a Labor Day 2007 deadline to shutter the current zoo.
The city could provide funding to help a nonprofit open a new facility. Only one group, Citizens for a Wildlife Education Center, announced a desire to work with the city to do so.
Commissioners, however, will give other groups a chance to make a bid. The city will send out a "request for proposals" and ask interested groups to submit plans by mid-February. The city commission will select the successful group at its March 6, 2006 meeting.
Commissioners said they are willing to provide a 50 percent match to fund a feasibility study for the new group. The study could cost "in the high five to low six figures," city manager Richard Lewis estimated.
The wildlife group hoped the city would acknowledge it as the zoo's successor immediately. It also encouraged the city to refrain from relocating zoo animals without first giving it time to make plans for a new center.
But city officials - at the urging of others - will continue to look for suitable homes for the animals.
Lewis said the zoo has found a possible place to send the bears and lynx.
"If we pass up this opportunity I think it would be very sad," said Debi Sanborn, a member of the Grand Traverse Zoological Society board.
The zoological society opposed the city's decision to close the zoo.
"We should be finding homes rather than holding onto them," said commissioner Ralph Soffredine.
April is the earliest any animals would be relocated, Lewis said.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/dec/13zoo.htm
Oregon Zoo Wants To Know - Flying Reindeer - Science Fiction Or Scientific Fact?
Portland, Oregon - Flying reindeer expert and Oregon Zoo Director Tony Vecchio is asking children around the world to e-mail their reindeer sightings to him by visiting http://www.oregonzoo.org/#reindeer. Vecchio has studied flying reindeer for nearly ten years and will talk about his theories during a book signing for Flight of the Reindeer on Dec. 23 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the zoo's Cascade Outfitters Gift Shop.
http://www.medfordnews.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=322696&cp=10997
NEW TIGER ARRIVES AT SAN FRANCISCO ZOO
12/18/05 11:00 PST
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)
The San Francisco Zoo on Friday welcomed a new tenant, a tiger named Tatiana, who will eventually accompany their resident male Siberian tiger, Tony.
Tatiana arrived on a flight from Denver and was placed into a quarantine pen where she will spend the next 30 days, according to zoo curator Bob Jenkins.
Tony, who lived most of his 13 years in the company of his female sibling Emily, lives in the zoo's Lion House. Emily died of cancer of the spleen in late 2004, according to the zoo.
Jenkins said Tatiana will provide Tony with the companionship he is used to while she awaits entry into a national breeding program for tigers.
The San Francisco Zoo participates in the Tiger Species Survival Plan, a cooperative effort of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association to ensure the tiger population in North America remains genetically viable and healthy, Jenkins explained.
"Tatiana is a young tiger, about two years old, and basically she's here on a holding pattern before she enters the breeding program,'' Jenkins said. "Tony is a vasectomized male, so this is an ideal partnership.''
Tatiana will enter the breeding program when its coordinators determine that they need her genetic input into the tiger population. In the meantime, she will bunk with Tony.
The tigers must be introduced to each other gradually, Jenkins said. First, Tatiana goes through her 30 days of quarantine to make sure she's healthy and eating properly. Then, she will be moved to the Lion House where she and Tony will be able to see each other. Eventually, they will be moved into adjacent pens in order to get used to each other's smells and mannerisms. Then they will begin spending bits of time in the same pen. At some point, the two will live together.
"Once you start that process, you're on what we call 'tiger time.' They let you know when they're ready. You're on their schedule at that point,'' Jenkins said.
Jenkins also said that a population of penguins that had experienced some health problems earlier this year are doing "just fine.'' He said the zoo was making preparations for the penguins to breed next year.
http://www.cbs5.com/localwire/localfsnews/bcn/2005/12/18/n/HeadlineNews/NEW-TIGER/resources_bcn_html
To ape gorillas, see Zoo Atlanta primatologist
By TOM SABULIS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/19/05
Even King Kong had to research his part.
That's why actor Andy Serkis turned to Zoo Atlanta's Tara Stoinski to learn the ways of real gorillas in Rwanda.
Although Kong is a computer-generated creature on the big screen, Serkis acted as Kong with other performers during the filming, and his movements were electronically captured to help create the beastly character. (He did the same thing for Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.)
A primatologist who also works with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, which is based at Zoo Atlanta, Stoinski talked about what the movie gets right, simian speaking, and how Serkis' visit to the Fossey Fund's Karisoke Research Center in Africa last year influenced the big star's performance.
Why did you like the movie?
"The two things I was most struck by was Kong's protective nature. He's very protective of Ann Darrow [played by Naomi Watts] and spends a lot of time and energy protecting her from various elements in the movie.
Gorillas are like that?
"That's extremely typical of gorillas. Gorillas will defend members of their family to the death. When you hear about gorilla infants that are on sale in the market in Africa, they [poachers] have had to literally kill the mother and often times other members of the group in order to get an infant.
What else did you like?
My other personal favorite part was that Kong laughed in the movie. Gorillas do laugh.
How can you tell they laugh?
They have a vocalization they do. In the movie, Kong does it in response to Ann Darrow. When we generally see them laugh [in real life] is when they are playing. We have a bunch of males right now [at Zoo Atlanta] and sometimes they're laughing so hard when they're playing they actually have to stop and catch their breath. To have Kong laugh in the movie, it was wonderful. That's a really fun side of gorillas that a lot of people don't know about.
Could you tell that Andy Serkis studied gorillas by what you saw onscreen?
He was very interested in how they handled things, their movement patterns. That was really reflected in the movie. I thought a lot of the ways that Kong picked up things and handled things looked exactly how a gorilla would do it.
Can this movie really educate people about the plight of gorillas?
It has a lot of good elements. When the first "King Kong" was made in 1933, we knew absolutely nothing about gorilla behavior. We now know how close their social groups are. How they protect family members. That they have individual personalities. A lot of that is reflected in this "Kong."
The movie won't give them a misleading idea about gorillas?
It's a fantasy-adventure piece, and people recognize that. People know that there aren't 25-foot gorillas roaming around. Still, there are true-to-life aspects of gorillas [in the movie], and anything we can do to raise awareness of gorillas and gorilla conservation is extremely important. We are at a crisis with this species. The words that are used to describe it are "catastrophic decline."
But can they really climb tall buildings?
If there were proper hand-holds, I'm sure they could. They're extremely strong.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/living/1205/19lvzoo.html
Deal to save zoo should be finalized today
By LAURA LAYDEN, lllayden@naplesnews.com
December 19, 2005
The lions will have reason to roar.
A deal to save the Naples Zoo that has been in the works for nearly two years is expected to be completed today.
The nonprofit Trust for Public Land will purchase 166.5 acres of land in the heart of Naples and sell nearly 130 acres to Collier County, including the roughly 40 acres upon which the zoo sits.
The county will pay $41.5 million for the land, slightly more than voters approved for the purchase in November 2004.
Greg Chelius, Florida director for the Trust for Public Land, flew into town Sunday night from Tallahassee to sign off on the deal, which should be wrapped up by this afternoon.
"It's an extremely important day for the Trust for Public Land and the community of Naples and Collier County," Chelius said. "We think the preservation of this land, saving the zoo and creating a central park really provides long-term sustainability to an urban area, which is the core to our mission."
http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/news/article/0,2071,NPDN_14940_4326263,00.html
Zoo's outreach extends to Kenya
By Gail Pennington
POST-DISPATCH TELEVISION CRITIC
12/19/2005
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: KMOV (Channel 4)
Mike Favazza dug deep to find precisely the right word to describe his recent trip to Kenya to document the St. Louis Zoo's conservation efforts there. He finally came up with one: "transformative."
Favazza, a photographer for KMOV (Channel 4), and Anne Steffens, the station's education reporter, joined Zoo president Jeffrey Bonner, education director Louise Bradshaw and others as they looked at new ways to help Kenyan schools teach conservation. The two-week trip took them to spots including remote Kalama, where a single school serves all the children in a two-hour radius, and the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, the hub of efforts to save the endangered Grevy's zebra.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/columnists.nsf/gailpennington/story/4AC22B4398A2BFB2862570DA0037D7ED?OpenDocument
Vets at Zoo Atlanta inseminate snake
Dec 18, 2005, 1:55 GMT
ATLANTA, GA, United States (UPI) -- Veterinarians at Zoo Atlanta have performed what is believed to be the first artificial insemination of a snake.
The zoo was hoping that two eastern indigo snakes would reproduce by doing what comes naturally. But Blu, who was born at the zoo in 1988, just did not have what it takes to make partner, a snake on loan from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, a mom.
Blu also suffers from a low sperm count.
The unnamed female was anaesthetized during the insemination, stretched out to her full 6 feet 2 inches on a gurney. Veterinarians say they will not know for about two months if the procedure took and she is indeed expecting.
Eastern indigo snakes are a non-venomous species and the longest snake in North America. In earlier days, the snakes were popular with carnival snake charmers.
Their numbers have been reduced because of habitat loss and the snake`s own slow movements.
http://science.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1069787.php/Vets_at_Zoo_Atlanta_inseminate_snake
Surge in panda science begets giant surprise
Artificial insemination offers hope of bolstering endangered species
12:00 AM CST on Sunday, December 18, 2005
By D'VERA COHN The Washington Post
WASHINGTON – The National Zoo's giant panda cub, Tai Shan, didn't just happen. He was brought to you by scientists who spent years studying the intimate details of black-and-white-bear biology before they mastered artificial insemination.
A recent surge in giant panda science is helping zoos get more animals pregnant, diagnose their pregnancies and put to rest the long-held belief that pandas are poor breeders. The research is producing insights into how pandas communicate, how mothers raise their young and how the animals look for food.
The ultimate goal is to increase the giant panda's chances in the wilds of China, where only 1,600 remain, threatened mainly by the loss of bamboo forests to logging and development. Scientists are studying the panda's basic survival needs and are trying to build up the number of captive animals so that some could be set loose in potential panda territory.
Money for the studies has come largely from the four U.S. zoos that have giant pandas – including the National Zoo, where Tai Shan went on public display recently.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-pandadog_18nat.ART.State.Bulldog.3dbbf33.html
Poachers kill bear in zoo for gallbladder
Aizawl, Dec. 18: A young Himalayan black bear in Aizawl zoo was found murdered by officials on Friday night with its gallbladder missing.
The zoo’s veterinary doctor, Vanlalhruaia Pachuau, said the bear suffered grievous injury on its head, possibly from a blunt object.
The bear was last seen by its feeders on Wednesday. On Thursday, as there was no sign of the bear, the zoo authorities launched a search but managed to find the carcass only on Friday night inside its enclosure.
The doctor said the bear’s entrails and other organs had been taken out though only the gallbladder was missing. “We believe the bear was killed for its gallbladder,” Pachuau said.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051219/asp/northeast/story_5616844.asp
Evansville zoo considering tropics exhibit
Associated Press
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Planners were considering an $11.5 million proposal to add a South American rain forest exhibit to the Mesker Park Zoo.
Torre Design Consortium of New Orleans designed the 10,000-square-foot "Amazonia" exhibit, which would have a climate that allows tropical plants and animals to thrive. It submitted its design this week to the Area Plan Commission.
Erik Beck, Mesker's general curator, said construction bids were likely to be opened in February on the improvements, among those funded by a $15.3 million bond issue for a zoo overhaul. Construction was expected to take from 18 months to two years, making for completion in late 2007 or early 2008.
"People can come in on a February day into surroundings that are 80 degrees, nice and humid, with a really huge waterfall," Beck said. "It'll be a fantastic experience."
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051217/NEWS01/512170436/1006/NEWS01
Elephant pitching in to help zoo expand
OSCAR ABEYTA
Tucson Citizen
A one-of-a-kind painting by Tucson's largest artist is being auctioned to help buy her and her friend a new home.
Shaba, the Reid Park Zoo's African elephant, is doing her part to help raise the $8.5 million needed for the zoo's African exhibit expansion. The expansion would include a larger enclosure for Shaba and Connie, the zoo's Asian elephant, and would allow curators to breed Shaba.
Even though the auction doesn't close until Tuesday afternoon, zoo administrator Susan Basford said it's already a success.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/local/121705a4_brf_elephantart
Palm Beach Zoo Reopens With Two New Cubs
Public Encouraged To Suggest Names For Babies
POSTED: 11:13 pm EST December 16, 2005
UPDATED: 11:28 pm EST December 16, 2005
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The Palm Beach Zoo has welcomed some new residents.
On Thursday, two Jaguar cubs made their public debut when the zoo reopened after being closed for eight weeks.
Hurricane Wilma destroyed three exhibits and damaged nearly 30 others.
The zoo also lost one animal.
With help from workers and volunteers, however, the zoo is finally open again for business.
The zoo is also inviting the public to a special reopening celebration on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The zoo is also holding a naming contest for the cubs.
To offer a suggestion, zoo officials are encouraging everyone to go to the Palm Beach Zoo's Web page.
http://www.wpbfnews.com/news/5558427/detail.html
Kids get free trip to zoo
By Lee Bonorden/Austin Daily Herald
Mike and Marge McCoy have rescued a program that gives Austin Public Schools' third graders a free trip to the Minnesota Zoo.
Candace Raskin, Austin superintendent of schools, held a press conference Thursday afternoon at Banfield Elementary School to announce the McCoy's generous donation.
The McCoys, of Austin, donated $8,700 to the Austin school district to fund the free trip to the Minnesota Zoo by all third graders in the public school system. The trip will be made near the end of the 2005-06 school year.
“It's an opportunity the third graders should have,” Mike McCoy said.
Whether it remains an annual affair for future third grade classes remains to be seen.
“I would certainly hope so,” McCoy said Thursday. “As long as we are here in the community, we are committed, and we have told Dr. Raskin we are committed to doing it.”
The children's transportation, zoo entrance and class fees and lunch will be paid by the couple's grant.
Raskin called the Minnesota Zoo experience an “exceptional program for our grade three students.”
Carol Gilbertson, a Banfield Elementary third grade teacher, added her praise to the field trip to the Minnesota Zoo.
At one point, during a question-and-answer session with Gilbertson's third graders, “Minnesota Zoo director” McCoy couldn't help himself.
He told the children the Minnesota Zoo hosts a “sleep-over” style field trip for children, too.
The excited reaction from the children was enthusiastically positive, prompting McCoy to remark, “Maybe, I shouldn't have mentioned that.”
Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at
http://www.austindailyherald.com/articles/2005/12/16/news/news2.txt
Manda Deer Park in Jammu to be upgaded to zoo
Jammu December 17, 2005 11:40:07 AM IST
The Jammu and Kashmir government has given its approval for the upgradation of the prestigious Manda Deer Park, located in a patch of the Ramnagar forests close to the winter capital here, to a full-fledged zoo.
The Central Zoo Authority of India (CZAI) had also given its permission, Regional Wildlife Warden (Jammu) Nasir Ahmad Kitchloo told UNI here today.
He said a CZAI team visited Manda recently and did a comprehensive survey of the project.
The main attractions for Manda visitors are the animals wandering in a semi-wild habitat. The park at present has seven leopards, three leopard cats, a civet, black bear, spotted deer, barking deer, nilgai, sambars, gazelles and porcupines.
The proposed zoo, which will come up in 64 hectares of land surrounded by thick forests, will additionally have walk-in aviaries, Mr Kitchloo said.
More wild animals would be brought from outside the state after the zoo is constructed, he added.
The government also plans to introduce eco-tourism concept in the zoo on the pattern of that existing in Karnataka, besides upgrading the Nature Intrepretation Centre.
Mr Kitchloo said the department had also been releasing from time to time spotted deer, nilgais and other antelopes in the Ramnagar wildlife sanctuary as a result of which their numbers had increased substantially in the forests.
As the department faced problems in the construction of enclosures for leopards and for their maintenance in Manda, some of these animals had been shifted to the Chatvir Zoo in chandigarh, he added.
The state has three national parks -- Kishtwar High Altitude National Park (Jammu region), Dachigam National Park (Kashmir) and Hemis High Altitude National Park -- and 17 wildlife sancturies, besides 36 conservation reserves.
Shankaracharya and Achabal in Kashmir and Gya-miru in Ladakh are proposed to be developed as new wildlife sancturies.
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=193715&cat=India
Czech zoos join European Save the Rhino Campaign
PRAGUE, Dec 15 (CTK) - Czech zoos have recently joined the European Save the Rhino Campaign launched by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria at the beginning of September in support of the conservation and survival of rhinos in the wild.
Fewer than 18,000 rhinos live in the wild and only about 60 Javan Rhinos, the rarest rhino species, have survived. At the beginning of the 19th century, there were about two million rhinos on the planet while at present four in five rhino species face the threat of extinction.
The zoo in Ostrava, north Moravia, has placed information about the campaign that will run till the end of August 2006 on its website, the Prague zoo organised a press conference on the topic on Wednesday, and zoos in Brno, south Moravia, Liberec, north Bohemia and Jihlava, south Moravia, have also joined the campaign.
European Rhino Day will be marked on May 1, 2006.
The main goal of the European Save the Rhino campaign is to support at least 13 selected rhino conservation projects in Africa and Asia. The campaign that aims to create awareness of the threats that rhinos face in the wild, is accompanied by money raising events, the goal of which is to collect 350,000 euros in support of the selected projects.
The money will go, for instance, to Kenya to purchase equipment to monitor rhino populations and finance an educational programme, and to Zimbabwe, for the purchase of a crane to re- settled rhinos. In Indonesia, the collected donations will be used to reinforce security patrols monitoring Javan and Sumatran rhinos. Two security patrols are to be established in Malasya.
http://www.praguemonitor.com/ctk/?id=20051215F00915;story=Czech-zoos-join-European-Save-the-Rhino-Campaign
Zoo elephants need 3 times more space?
Dec 15, 2005 — LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The three elephants at Los Angeles Zoo — Gita, Ruby and Billy — need three times more space than their current quarters but it comes with a price tag of $50 million, according to a report on the future of pachyderms at the zoo.
The independent report was commissioned by Los Angeles' new mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, after years of debate about the keeping of elephants in captivity at the city-owned zoo.
Some U.S. zoos have closed their elephant exhibits in the past few years in the light of concern over odd behavior and arthritis among the animals, who have strong social instincts and roam some 20 miles a day in the wild.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1409114
Turkmenistan's eccentric president is to spend millions of pounds on a lavish desert zoo - to house penguins.
President Saparmurat Niyazov has issued decrees in the past banning recorded music and men with long hair.
Now, he is spending £10 million on the construction of the zoo in the Karakorum desert - where temperatures reach up to 40 degrees Celsius.
But Niyazov has decreed the zoo must have penguins because he believes the birds need to be saved from starvation caused by global warming.
Plans for the zoo, which opens next year, come just a year after the president ordered a giant ice palace be built despite the fact the country is largely covered by desert. - Ananova.com
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=iol113467128866P623
A hot spot: Jaguar cubs debut at zoo
Damage from Wilma closed attraction for weeks
By MICHELE DARGAN , Daily News Staff Writer
Friday, December 16, 2005
"I want to see the cats, OK?" said 2 1/2-year-old Sam Lindemann, looking through the slats in the screen fence.
His grandmother, Frayda Lindemann of Palm Beach, pointed to the back area of a large enclosure where Nabalam, a female jaguar, stood with her two cubs.
"Right through there," she said. "They're hiding behind the trees. See the mommy?"
It was the first exposure to public eyes for the two female cubs born on Sept. 21 at the Palm Beach Zoo. The first jaguar cubs ever born at the zoo were the main attractions during the zoo's reopening Thursday. It had been closed for repairs since Hurricane Wilma hit on Oct. 24.
http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/content/news/zoo1216.html
continued ...
Extinction alert for 800 species
By Richard Black
Environment Correspondent, BBC News website
Researchers have compiled a global map of sites where animals and plants face imminent extinction.
The list, drawn up by a coalition of conservation groups, covers almost 800 species which they say will disappear soon unless urgent measures are taken.
Most of the 800 are now found only in one location, mainly in the tropics.
Writing in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers say protecting some of these sites would cost under $1,000 per year.
"This is a whole suite of species threatened with extinction," said Stuart Butchart, global species programme co-ordinator with BirdLife International, one of the groups behind the report.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4522044.stm
Dutch zoos begin vaccinating fowl against bird flu AP Photo AMS106-112
ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) _ Rotterdam Zoo began vaccinating its penguins, ostriches, owls and other birds against bird flu Tuesday, among the first European parks to inoculate against the virulent strain that swept through flocks in Asia and threatened humans.
In Europe, wild birds have tested positive for the H5N1 bird flu strain in Romania, Russia, Croatia and Turkey, but the virus strain has not been detected in humans.
That strain, however, has killed at least 69 people in Asia since 2003.
Zookeepers said they feared that wild birds flying south to Africa for the winter might return next year carrying the virus, and wanted to begin building resistance among their flocks now.
Koen Brouwer, the director of the Netherlands Union of Zoos, said that other Dutch zoos would vaccinate birds in the coming days. He said the zoos began lobbying for vaccinations in August. A major hurdle was lifted Nov. 11, when the European Union dropped objections, but the zoos" applications were only now being approved.
"It was a rather bureaucratic process, but I have to say that I was ultimately satisfied with the result, especially the cooperation from the Dutch government," he said. "We"re not in a crisis now, so we understand the urgency is not so great."
The Netherlands lies in the path of bird migration from both Asia and Africa. It is especially sensitive to the threat of plague after suffering a major outbreak of a different bird flu strain in 2003 in which 30 million birds were slaughtered, 89 people were infected and one died.
The Dutch government annoyed politicians in Brussels this summer by ordering that all commercial, pet, and zoo birds be kept in shelters or indoors.
The European Union Commission initially opposed such measures as unnecessary, but later issued similar guidelines for birds near "high risk" areas _ migration routes and large bodies of water.
Other Europe-wide measures in place include extra disinfection procedures for imported birds and a ban on bird markets.
http://www.diariosigloxxi.com/noticia.php?ts=20051213174725
Male elephant knocks out keeper at Tokyo zoo
TOKYO -- A male elephant knocked out a keeper with one of his tusks at a zoo in central Tokyo in what may have been a hormone-driven frenzy, the zoo master said Tuesday.
Attie, a 2.2-ton (2.4-U.S. ton) Asian bull at Tokyo's Ueno Zoo, struck his keeper Yutaka Kawaharabayashi in the forehead on Tuesday morning, zoo master Teruyuki Komiya told reporters.
Nine-year-old Attie had recently entered "musth," which means a bull is physiologically ready to mate and is looking for a female, according to Komiya.
Another zoo worker dragged the bleeding Kawaharabayashi from the elephant pen, Komiya said. Kawaharabayashi sustained serious head injuries and has been hospitalized.
Ueno, the only zoo in central Tokyo, is also home to four female elephants. Attie is the only bull.
http://news.inq7.net/world/index.php?index=1&story_id=59905
Zoo Cat Captured After Two Weeks In Hiding
POSTED: 1:50 pm EST December 13, 2005
PARAMUS, N.J. -- Workers inside the Bergen County Zoo administration building in Paramus have found an ocelot that escaped near the end of last month.
The cat wandered into a trap that was set after it got out of a plastic container inside the building while workers cleaned and repaired its exhibit.
The ocelot was not considered dangerous and apparently spent nearly two weeks hiding in the building.
http://www.nbc10.com/news/5526694/detail.html
Commission welcomes proposals for new zoo
Clinch Park site will close in '07
By VANESSA McCRAY
Record-Eagle staff writer
TRAVERSE CITY - The city will give groups who want to create a new zoo until mid-February to submit their plans.
City commissioners Monday provided some direction for how they would like the closure of the city's bayfront Clinch Park Zoo handled. Commissioners agreed in November to a Labor Day 2007 deadline to shutter the current zoo.
The city could provide funding to help a nonprofit open a new facility. Only one group, Citizens for a Wildlife Education Center, announced a desire to work with the city to do so.
Commissioners, however, will give other groups a chance to make a bid. The city will send out a "request for proposals" and ask interested groups to submit plans by mid-February. The city commission will select the successful group at its March 6, 2006 meeting.
Commissioners said they are willing to provide a 50 percent match to fund a feasibility study for the new group. The study could cost "in the high five to low six figures," city manager Richard Lewis estimated.
The wildlife group hoped the city would acknowledge it as the zoo's successor immediately. It also encouraged the city to refrain from relocating zoo animals without first giving it time to make plans for a new center.
But city officials - at the urging of others - will continue to look for suitable homes for the animals.
Lewis said the zoo has found a possible place to send the bears and lynx.
"If we pass up this opportunity I think it would be very sad," said Debi Sanborn, a member of the Grand Traverse Zoological Society board.
The zoological society opposed the city's decision to close the zoo.
"We should be finding homes rather than holding onto them," said commissioner Ralph Soffredine.
April is the earliest any animals would be relocated, Lewis said.
http://www.record-eagle.com/2005/dec/13zoo.htm
Oregon Zoo Wants To Know - Flying Reindeer - Science Fiction Or Scientific Fact?
Portland, Oregon - Flying reindeer expert and Oregon Zoo Director Tony Vecchio is asking children around the world to e-mail their reindeer sightings to him by visiting http://www.oregonzoo.org/#reindeer. Vecchio has studied flying reindeer for nearly ten years and will talk about his theories during a book signing for Flight of the Reindeer on Dec. 23 from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the zoo's Cascade Outfitters Gift Shop.
http://www.medfordnews.com/articles/index.cfm?artOID=322696&cp=10997
NEW TIGER ARRIVES AT SAN FRANCISCO ZOO
12/18/05 11:00 PST
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN)
The San Francisco Zoo on Friday welcomed a new tenant, a tiger named Tatiana, who will eventually accompany their resident male Siberian tiger, Tony.
Tatiana arrived on a flight from Denver and was placed into a quarantine pen where she will spend the next 30 days, according to zoo curator Bob Jenkins.
Tony, who lived most of his 13 years in the company of his female sibling Emily, lives in the zoo's Lion House. Emily died of cancer of the spleen in late 2004, according to the zoo.
Jenkins said Tatiana will provide Tony with the companionship he is used to while she awaits entry into a national breeding program for tigers.
The San Francisco Zoo participates in the Tiger Species Survival Plan, a cooperative effort of the American Zoo and Aquarium Association to ensure the tiger population in North America remains genetically viable and healthy, Jenkins explained.
"Tatiana is a young tiger, about two years old, and basically she's here on a holding pattern before she enters the breeding program,'' Jenkins said. "Tony is a vasectomized male, so this is an ideal partnership.''
Tatiana will enter the breeding program when its coordinators determine that they need her genetic input into the tiger population. In the meantime, she will bunk with Tony.
The tigers must be introduced to each other gradually, Jenkins said. First, Tatiana goes through her 30 days of quarantine to make sure she's healthy and eating properly. Then, she will be moved to the Lion House where she and Tony will be able to see each other. Eventually, they will be moved into adjacent pens in order to get used to each other's smells and mannerisms. Then they will begin spending bits of time in the same pen. At some point, the two will live together.
"Once you start that process, you're on what we call 'tiger time.' They let you know when they're ready. You're on their schedule at that point,'' Jenkins said.
Jenkins also said that a population of penguins that had experienced some health problems earlier this year are doing "just fine.'' He said the zoo was making preparations for the penguins to breed next year.
http://www.cbs5.com/localwire/localfsnews/bcn/2005/12/18/n/HeadlineNews/NEW-TIGER/resources_bcn_html
To ape gorillas, see Zoo Atlanta primatologist
By TOM SABULIS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/19/05
Even King Kong had to research his part.
That's why actor Andy Serkis turned to Zoo Atlanta's Tara Stoinski to learn the ways of real gorillas in Rwanda.
Although Kong is a computer-generated creature on the big screen, Serkis acted as Kong with other performers during the filming, and his movements were electronically captured to help create the beastly character. (He did the same thing for Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.)
A primatologist who also works with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International, which is based at Zoo Atlanta, Stoinski talked about what the movie gets right, simian speaking, and how Serkis' visit to the Fossey Fund's Karisoke Research Center in Africa last year influenced the big star's performance.
Why did you like the movie?
"The two things I was most struck by was Kong's protective nature. He's very protective of Ann Darrow [played by Naomi Watts] and spends a lot of time and energy protecting her from various elements in the movie.
Gorillas are like that?
"That's extremely typical of gorillas. Gorillas will defend members of their family to the death. When you hear about gorilla infants that are on sale in the market in Africa, they [poachers] have had to literally kill the mother and often times other members of the group in order to get an infant.
What else did you like?
My other personal favorite part was that Kong laughed in the movie. Gorillas do laugh.
How can you tell they laugh?
They have a vocalization they do. In the movie, Kong does it in response to Ann Darrow. When we generally see them laugh [in real life] is when they are playing. We have a bunch of males right now [at Zoo Atlanta] and sometimes they're laughing so hard when they're playing they actually have to stop and catch their breath. To have Kong laugh in the movie, it was wonderful. That's a really fun side of gorillas that a lot of people don't know about.
Could you tell that Andy Serkis studied gorillas by what you saw onscreen?
He was very interested in how they handled things, their movement patterns. That was really reflected in the movie. I thought a lot of the ways that Kong picked up things and handled things looked exactly how a gorilla would do it.
Can this movie really educate people about the plight of gorillas?
It has a lot of good elements. When the first "King Kong" was made in 1933, we knew absolutely nothing about gorilla behavior. We now know how close their social groups are. How they protect family members. That they have individual personalities. A lot of that is reflected in this "Kong."
The movie won't give them a misleading idea about gorillas?
It's a fantasy-adventure piece, and people recognize that. People know that there aren't 25-foot gorillas roaming around. Still, there are true-to-life aspects of gorillas [in the movie], and anything we can do to raise awareness of gorillas and gorilla conservation is extremely important. We are at a crisis with this species. The words that are used to describe it are "catastrophic decline."
But can they really climb tall buildings?
If there were proper hand-holds, I'm sure they could. They're extremely strong.
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/living/1205/19lvzoo.html
Deal to save zoo should be finalized today
By LAURA LAYDEN, lllayden@naplesnews.com
December 19, 2005
The lions will have reason to roar.
A deal to save the Naples Zoo that has been in the works for nearly two years is expected to be completed today.
The nonprofit Trust for Public Land will purchase 166.5 acres of land in the heart of Naples and sell nearly 130 acres to Collier County, including the roughly 40 acres upon which the zoo sits.
The county will pay $41.5 million for the land, slightly more than voters approved for the purchase in November 2004.
Greg Chelius, Florida director for the Trust for Public Land, flew into town Sunday night from Tallahassee to sign off on the deal, which should be wrapped up by this afternoon.
"It's an extremely important day for the Trust for Public Land and the community of Naples and Collier County," Chelius said. "We think the preservation of this land, saving the zoo and creating a central park really provides long-term sustainability to an urban area, which is the core to our mission."
http://www.naplesnews.com/npdn/news/article/0,2071,NPDN_14940_4326263,00.html
Zoo's outreach extends to Kenya
By Gail Pennington
POST-DISPATCH TELEVISION CRITIC
12/19/2005
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: KMOV (Channel 4)
Mike Favazza dug deep to find precisely the right word to describe his recent trip to Kenya to document the St. Louis Zoo's conservation efforts there. He finally came up with one: "transformative."
Favazza, a photographer for KMOV (Channel 4), and Anne Steffens, the station's education reporter, joined Zoo president Jeffrey Bonner, education director Louise Bradshaw and others as they looked at new ways to help Kenyan schools teach conservation. The two-week trip took them to spots including remote Kalama, where a single school serves all the children in a two-hour radius, and the Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, the hub of efforts to save the endangered Grevy's zebra.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/entertainment/columnists.nsf/gailpennington/story/4AC22B4398A2BFB2862570DA0037D7ED?OpenDocument
Vets at Zoo Atlanta inseminate snake
Dec 18, 2005, 1:55 GMT
ATLANTA, GA, United States (UPI) -- Veterinarians at Zoo Atlanta have performed what is believed to be the first artificial insemination of a snake.
The zoo was hoping that two eastern indigo snakes would reproduce by doing what comes naturally. But Blu, who was born at the zoo in 1988, just did not have what it takes to make partner, a snake on loan from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, a mom.
Blu also suffers from a low sperm count.
The unnamed female was anaesthetized during the insemination, stretched out to her full 6 feet 2 inches on a gurney. Veterinarians say they will not know for about two months if the procedure took and she is indeed expecting.
Eastern indigo snakes are a non-venomous species and the longest snake in North America. In earlier days, the snakes were popular with carnival snake charmers.
Their numbers have been reduced because of habitat loss and the snake`s own slow movements.
http://science.monstersandcritics.com/news/article_1069787.php/Vets_at_Zoo_Atlanta_inseminate_snake
Surge in panda science begets giant surprise
Artificial insemination offers hope of bolstering endangered species
12:00 AM CST on Sunday, December 18, 2005
By D'VERA COHN The Washington Post
WASHINGTON – The National Zoo's giant panda cub, Tai Shan, didn't just happen. He was brought to you by scientists who spent years studying the intimate details of black-and-white-bear biology before they mastered artificial insemination.
A recent surge in giant panda science is helping zoos get more animals pregnant, diagnose their pregnancies and put to rest the long-held belief that pandas are poor breeders. The research is producing insights into how pandas communicate, how mothers raise their young and how the animals look for food.
The ultimate goal is to increase the giant panda's chances in the wilds of China, where only 1,600 remain, threatened mainly by the loss of bamboo forests to logging and development. Scientists are studying the panda's basic survival needs and are trying to build up the number of captive animals so that some could be set loose in potential panda territory.
Money for the studies has come largely from the four U.S. zoos that have giant pandas – including the National Zoo, where Tai Shan went on public display recently.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/DN-pandadog_18nat.ART.State.Bulldog.3dbbf33.html
Poachers kill bear in zoo for gallbladder
Aizawl, Dec. 18: A young Himalayan black bear in Aizawl zoo was found murdered by officials on Friday night with its gallbladder missing.
The zoo’s veterinary doctor, Vanlalhruaia Pachuau, said the bear suffered grievous injury on its head, possibly from a blunt object.
The bear was last seen by its feeders on Wednesday. On Thursday, as there was no sign of the bear, the zoo authorities launched a search but managed to find the carcass only on Friday night inside its enclosure.
The doctor said the bear’s entrails and other organs had been taken out though only the gallbladder was missing. “We believe the bear was killed for its gallbladder,” Pachuau said.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1051219/asp/northeast/story_5616844.asp
Evansville zoo considering tropics exhibit
Associated Press
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -- Planners were considering an $11.5 million proposal to add a South American rain forest exhibit to the Mesker Park Zoo.
Torre Design Consortium of New Orleans designed the 10,000-square-foot "Amazonia" exhibit, which would have a climate that allows tropical plants and animals to thrive. It submitted its design this week to the Area Plan Commission.
Erik Beck, Mesker's general curator, said construction bids were likely to be opened in February on the improvements, among those funded by a $15.3 million bond issue for a zoo overhaul. Construction was expected to take from 18 months to two years, making for completion in late 2007 or early 2008.
"People can come in on a February day into surroundings that are 80 degrees, nice and humid, with a really huge waterfall," Beck said. "It'll be a fantastic experience."
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051217/NEWS01/512170436/1006/NEWS01
Elephant pitching in to help zoo expand
OSCAR ABEYTA
Tucson Citizen
A one-of-a-kind painting by Tucson's largest artist is being auctioned to help buy her and her friend a new home.
Shaba, the Reid Park Zoo's African elephant, is doing her part to help raise the $8.5 million needed for the zoo's African exhibit expansion. The expansion would include a larger enclosure for Shaba and Connie, the zoo's Asian elephant, and would allow curators to breed Shaba.
Even though the auction doesn't close until Tuesday afternoon, zoo administrator Susan Basford said it's already a success.
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/news/local/121705a4_brf_elephantart
Palm Beach Zoo Reopens With Two New Cubs
Public Encouraged To Suggest Names For Babies
POSTED: 11:13 pm EST December 16, 2005
UPDATED: 11:28 pm EST December 16, 2005
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- The Palm Beach Zoo has welcomed some new residents.
On Thursday, two Jaguar cubs made their public debut when the zoo reopened after being closed for eight weeks.
Hurricane Wilma destroyed three exhibits and damaged nearly 30 others.
The zoo also lost one animal.
With help from workers and volunteers, however, the zoo is finally open again for business.
The zoo is also inviting the public to a special reopening celebration on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The zoo is also holding a naming contest for the cubs.
To offer a suggestion, zoo officials are encouraging everyone to go to the Palm Beach Zoo's Web page.
http://www.wpbfnews.com/news/5558427/detail.html
Kids get free trip to zoo
By Lee Bonorden/Austin Daily Herald
Mike and Marge McCoy have rescued a program that gives Austin Public Schools' third graders a free trip to the Minnesota Zoo.
Candace Raskin, Austin superintendent of schools, held a press conference Thursday afternoon at Banfield Elementary School to announce the McCoy's generous donation.
The McCoys, of Austin, donated $8,700 to the Austin school district to fund the free trip to the Minnesota Zoo by all third graders in the public school system. The trip will be made near the end of the 2005-06 school year.
“It's an opportunity the third graders should have,” Mike McCoy said.
Whether it remains an annual affair for future third grade classes remains to be seen.
“I would certainly hope so,” McCoy said Thursday. “As long as we are here in the community, we are committed, and we have told Dr. Raskin we are committed to doing it.”
The children's transportation, zoo entrance and class fees and lunch will be paid by the couple's grant.
Raskin called the Minnesota Zoo experience an “exceptional program for our grade three students.”
Carol Gilbertson, a Banfield Elementary third grade teacher, added her praise to the field trip to the Minnesota Zoo.
At one point, during a question-and-answer session with Gilbertson's third graders, “Minnesota Zoo director” McCoy couldn't help himself.
He told the children the Minnesota Zoo hosts a “sleep-over” style field trip for children, too.
The excited reaction from the children was enthusiastically positive, prompting McCoy to remark, “Maybe, I shouldn't have mentioned that.”
Lee Bonorden can be contacted at 434-2232 or by e-mail at
http://www.austindailyherald.com/articles/2005/12/16/news/news2.txt
Manda Deer Park in Jammu to be upgaded to zoo
Jammu December 17, 2005 11:40:07 AM IST
The Jammu and Kashmir government has given its approval for the upgradation of the prestigious Manda Deer Park, located in a patch of the Ramnagar forests close to the winter capital here, to a full-fledged zoo.
The Central Zoo Authority of India (CZAI) had also given its permission, Regional Wildlife Warden (Jammu) Nasir Ahmad Kitchloo told UNI here today.
He said a CZAI team visited Manda recently and did a comprehensive survey of the project.
The main attractions for Manda visitors are the animals wandering in a semi-wild habitat. The park at present has seven leopards, three leopard cats, a civet, black bear, spotted deer, barking deer, nilgai, sambars, gazelles and porcupines.
The proposed zoo, which will come up in 64 hectares of land surrounded by thick forests, will additionally have walk-in aviaries, Mr Kitchloo said.
More wild animals would be brought from outside the state after the zoo is constructed, he added.
The government also plans to introduce eco-tourism concept in the zoo on the pattern of that existing in Karnataka, besides upgrading the Nature Intrepretation Centre.
Mr Kitchloo said the department had also been releasing from time to time spotted deer, nilgais and other antelopes in the Ramnagar wildlife sanctuary as a result of which their numbers had increased substantially in the forests.
As the department faced problems in the construction of enclosures for leopards and for their maintenance in Manda, some of these animals had been shifted to the Chatvir Zoo in chandigarh, he added.
The state has three national parks -- Kishtwar High Altitude National Park (Jammu region), Dachigam National Park (Kashmir) and Hemis High Altitude National Park -- and 17 wildlife sancturies, besides 36 conservation reserves.
Shankaracharya and Achabal in Kashmir and Gya-miru in Ladakh are proposed to be developed as new wildlife sancturies.
http://news.webindia123.com/news/showdetails.asp?id=193715&cat=India
Czech zoos join European Save the Rhino Campaign
PRAGUE, Dec 15 (CTK) - Czech zoos have recently joined the European Save the Rhino Campaign launched by the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria at the beginning of September in support of the conservation and survival of rhinos in the wild.
Fewer than 18,000 rhinos live in the wild and only about 60 Javan Rhinos, the rarest rhino species, have survived. At the beginning of the 19th century, there were about two million rhinos on the planet while at present four in five rhino species face the threat of extinction.
The zoo in Ostrava, north Moravia, has placed information about the campaign that will run till the end of August 2006 on its website, the Prague zoo organised a press conference on the topic on Wednesday, and zoos in Brno, south Moravia, Liberec, north Bohemia and Jihlava, south Moravia, have also joined the campaign.
European Rhino Day will be marked on May 1, 2006.
The main goal of the European Save the Rhino campaign is to support at least 13 selected rhino conservation projects in Africa and Asia. The campaign that aims to create awareness of the threats that rhinos face in the wild, is accompanied by money raising events, the goal of which is to collect 350,000 euros in support of the selected projects.
The money will go, for instance, to Kenya to purchase equipment to monitor rhino populations and finance an educational programme, and to Zimbabwe, for the purchase of a crane to re- settled rhinos. In Indonesia, the collected donations will be used to reinforce security patrols monitoring Javan and Sumatran rhinos. Two security patrols are to be established in Malasya.
http://www.praguemonitor.com/ctk/?id=20051215F00915;story=Czech-zoos-join-European-Save-the-Rhino-Campaign
Zoo elephants need 3 times more space?
Dec 15, 2005 — LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The three elephants at Los Angeles Zoo — Gita, Ruby and Billy — need three times more space than their current quarters but it comes with a price tag of $50 million, according to a report on the future of pachyderms at the zoo.
The independent report was commissioned by Los Angeles' new mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, after years of debate about the keeping of elephants in captivity at the city-owned zoo.
Some U.S. zoos have closed their elephant exhibits in the past few years in the light of concern over odd behavior and arthritis among the animals, who have strong social instincts and roam some 20 miles a day in the wild.
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory?id=1409114
Turkmenistan's eccentric president is to spend millions of pounds on a lavish desert zoo - to house penguins.
President Saparmurat Niyazov has issued decrees in the past banning recorded music and men with long hair.
Now, he is spending £10 million on the construction of the zoo in the Karakorum desert - where temperatures reach up to 40 degrees Celsius.
But Niyazov has decreed the zoo must have penguins because he believes the birds need to be saved from starvation caused by global warming.
Plans for the zoo, which opens next year, come just a year after the president ordered a giant ice palace be built despite the fact the country is largely covered by desert. - Ananova.com
http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=1&click_id=29&art_id=iol113467128866P623
A hot spot: Jaguar cubs debut at zoo
Damage from Wilma closed attraction for weeks
By MICHELE DARGAN , Daily News Staff Writer
Friday, December 16, 2005
"I want to see the cats, OK?" said 2 1/2-year-old Sam Lindemann, looking through the slats in the screen fence.
His grandmother, Frayda Lindemann of Palm Beach, pointed to the back area of a large enclosure where Nabalam, a female jaguar, stood with her two cubs.
"Right through there," she said. "They're hiding behind the trees. See the mommy?"
It was the first exposure to public eyes for the two female cubs born on Sept. 21 at the Palm Beach Zoo. The first jaguar cubs ever born at the zoo were the main attractions during the zoo's reopening Thursday. It had been closed for repairs since Hurricane Wilma hit on Oct. 24.
http://www.palmbeachdailynews.com/news/content/news/zoo1216.html
continued ...
December 19, 2005.
Western Hemisphere.
Noted: There is a seemingly connected relationship between the southern and northern hemisphere through a very dynamic 'heat conduit' between South America and Africa. There is as well the movement of heat to Antarctica over South America. For as 'connected as these systems appear, the reality is these probably are separate dynamics.
December 19. 2005. 0730 z.
Enhanced Infrared northern and western hemisphere.
The heat is not at the equator. It is however at the Arctic Circle where it is carried north off the equator compliments of the carbon dioxide blanket off the east coast of the USA . The exception is the concentrated heat storm off Africa. This is the area that spawned "Epsilon."
December 16, 2005.
Quaker Gap, North Carolina.
These are single blades of grass wrapped in ice. This is not a normal snow storm This was rain that suddenly was hit with subzero temperature. The water became frozen around the blades of grass because it was so intensely frigid in an abrupt way. This was a glacial wind that moved into a rain storm off the equator. This is the result of Human Induced Global Warming.
December 19, 2005. 0730 z.
GOES East Water Vapor Satellite.
This is the east coast of North America where a very different scenario erupts due to the dense CO2 cloud at it's thickest creating issues with heat that causes heat transfer from the equator to the Arctic Circle whereby the denser, colder air is forced down to lower latitudes allowing cooling while the ice ocean melts.
December 21st the solar radiation starts to migrate north and the melting of all that is frozen now will occur while the areas that spawn storms just a short time ago will continue to build heat. That is evidenced by the heat transfer system off Africa which never really settled down since the storm "Epsilon."
For those that would like to say this is an ice age, they are sadly and tragically mistaken. We are losing the Arctic Ocean to Global Warming.
December 19, 2005.
Pacific Global Satellite.
Equatorial flat line.
There is some interaction in the northern hemisphere mid ocean between the north polar vortex and I believe islands in that area.
The heat is gone from the equator. It's not even winter yet. The solar radiation starts it's migration north on December 21st.
Those are the islands of the USA's Hawaii. No matter where the USA finds it's pollution you can always count on issues with Global Warming and Climate Change.
December 18, 2005.
Ketchikan, Alaska.
Where's the ice and snow? Oh, wait. The lower forty-eight. Yeah, that is where the ice and snow is.
34 °F / 1 °C
Scattered Clouds
Windchill:
26 °F / -3 °C
Humidity:
100%
Dew Point:
34 °F / 1 °C
Wind:
9 mph / 15 km/h from the NNW
Pressure:
29.90 in / 1012 hPa
Visibility:
10.0 miles / 16.1 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds:
Scattered Clouds 300 ft / 91 m
(Above Ground Level)
continued ...
Morning Papers - concluded
The weather in Antarctica (Crystal Ice Chime) is at freezing. That is warm in Antarctica.
Scott Base
Clear
0.0°
Updated Monday 19 Dec 3:59PM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
36 °F / 2 °C
Overcast
Windchill:
33 °F / 0 °C
Humidity:
87%
Dew Point:
32 °F / 0 °C
Wind:
4 mph / 6 km/h from the East
Pressure:
30.03 in / 1017 hPa
Visibility:
0.2 miles / 0.4 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds:
Overcast 100 ft / 30 m
(Above Ground Level)
end
Scott Base
Clear
0.0°
Updated Monday 19 Dec 3:59PM
The weather at Glacier Bay National Park (Crystal Wind Chime) is:
36 °F / 2 °C
Overcast
Windchill:
33 °F / 0 °C
Humidity:
87%
Dew Point:
32 °F / 0 °C
Wind:
4 mph / 6 km/h from the East
Pressure:
30.03 in / 1017 hPa
Visibility:
0.2 miles / 0.4 kilometers
UV:
0 out of 16
Clouds:
Overcast 100 ft / 30 m
(Above Ground Level)
end
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