Two held over Canada school death

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6697755.stm
Monday, 28 May 2007, 10:36 GMT 11:36 UK

Jordan Manners, 15 was shot on May 26 after being shot at the CW Jefferys Collegiate Institute. Canadian police have finally arrested the two suspects of the shooting. One teenager turned himself in and both of the teenagers are reported to face murder charges. Jordan Manners died in a hospital on Wednesday. The two suspects were friends of the victim. Toronto's police chief, Bill Blair, said the incident in the neighborhood was "shocking". "Students have a right to a safe school environment. It is shocking that such a crime could take place in our schools," he said. This shooting was Toronto’s 26^th murder this year and the 13^th to involve a gun.

Russia: Missile can pierce shields

POSTED: 12:06 p.m. EDT, May 29, 2007

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/05/29/russia.missile.ap/index.html

Russia has developed new missiles that are capable of penetrating any defense system. The missile will raise tension with the West. "As of today Russia has new (missiles) that are capable of overcoming any existing or future missile defense systems," Sergei Ivanov said, “So in terms of defense and security Russian can look calmly to the country's future." President Vladimir Putin and Ivanoc have repeatedly said their country would continue to improve their weapon systems and respond to U.S. to deploy a missile defense system in Europe. According to the Russian Strategic Missile Forces, the new missile is capable of carrying multiple warheads, a test warhead was launched from northwestern Russian and it landed on target about 3,400 miles away on the Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula. Ivanov also said that Russia has successfully tested a tactical cruise missile.

South Korea aims for space in 2017

POSTED: 1:39 p.m. EDT, May 29, 2007

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/05/29/skorea.space.ap/index.html

Officials in South Korea announced on Monday that they will push for exploration of the planets in 2017. Seoul, South Korea seeks to join the exclusive space club. They will spend 3.8 trillion won which is 4 billion U.S. in the next 10 years, to have the technology in building satellites and rockets, said Jeong Jae-yang. The space exploration is "an investment for the future," said Jeong. South Korea also plans to join the international space exploration programs. They want to join the international space station and help master core technologies in building satellites and rockets. South Korea has launched nine satellites since 1992. Most of the satellites launched were used for observation of the space and ocean.

Police: Mom hangs kids, self -- baby survives

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/29/children.killed.ap/index.html

POSTED: 7:21 p.m. EDT, May 29, 2007

A young mother identified as Gilberta Estrada, 25 hanged three of her small daughters and herself in a closet. She used pieces of clothing and sashes. The fourth child an 8 month old infant was rescued by the police. "It's horrendous. That's all I can say," Parker County Sheriff Larry Fowler said. The infant, Evelyn Frayre is in good condition at the hospital. After Estrada failed to show up for work, her sister broke into the residence of Estrada in the Oak Hills mobile home park. The sister rescued the infant after realizing she was still alive. Larry Fowler said that this incident appears to be a murder suicide, because the trailer doors were locked from the inside, and relatives around the neighbourhood said the woman had been depressed. Gilberta Estrada and her girls were last seen alive Monday evening.

NZ cows produce own skimmed milk

Tuesday, 29 May 2007, 12:33 GMT 13:33 UK

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6700129.stm

Experts in New Zealand have discovered that some cows have the gene to produce skimmed milk. The first cow with the ability of producing skimmed milk was found in 2001, and experts have been able to breed calves that also produced skimmed milk. The original cow was called Marge and it produces milk that was low in saturated fats and high in healthy polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats. This skimmed milk could be also used make more spread able butter. Marge was discovered during a testing of milk compositions of New Zealand’s cows. And the “skimmed milk” gene also emerged in some of her calves. High levels of saturated fats can increased the risk of heart diseases. Ed Komorowski, told BBC News, "By having cows producing skimmed milk, if you are a dairy company that only really wants skimmed milk, then you might want to get it straight from the cow, without having to separate the [cream out of the milk] and sell on the surplus.” Typical whole milk contains 3.5% saturated fat, semi skimmed contains 1.7% and skimmed milk contains 0.1% fat content. This could mean that one day we would be able to breed a herd of cows that produce skimmed milk.

Residents not sure two bullets enough to stop giant lizard

POSTED: 1:59 p.m. EDT, May 28, 2007

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/05/28/fla.lizard.ap/index.html

A four foot long, 80 pound monitor lizard was found lurking around in an Orlando suburb for months. The lizard didn’t injure anyone, but it had to be killed because it could be a potential danger for small children and animals. An officer shot the reptile twice, but he wasn’t close enough to catch it. The reptile crawled back into the pond. "If they did shoot it, I'm sure it's going to be angry if it comes out now," said Ilene Gothelf, “I want to know that it is safe for the kids to come out." The lizard was probably a pet that escaped or was dumped by its owner.

Chinese woman cured of WWII ache

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6697717.stm

Jin Guangying, a 77 year old woman was shot in the head in September 1943, while delivering lunch to her father. She was 13 year old girl when she was shot in Xinyi County, Jiangsu during the gunfight between the Chinese and Japanese. She was one of the survivors. She recovered after three months but went on to experience repeated headaches. Recently her family borrowed money to have a thorough examination, and an x-ray showed a 3 cm long bullet in her head. "When she suffered from the headaches, she would sometimes babble words we could hardly understand, foaming at the mouth, and sometimes she pounded her head with her first," said, Mrs Jin's daughter. The family is planning to seek compensation and an apology from the Japanese Government. "It's a miracle. The operation was not that difficult, but it's unbelievable that Mrs Jin was able to survive for such a long time with a bullet in her head," said Zhou Hong.

It’s a miracle how this woman lived 64 years of her life with a bullet in her head. And what’s surprising is why did it take so long for them to actually get an examination on her head? I am just glad she got the bullet removed because it must have been hard to have repeated headaches for 64 years.

Whales back to within 50 miles of ocean

POSTED: 1101 GMT (1901 HKT), May 28, 2007

The two whales are now moving towards the ocean again, they are now 50 miles within the ocean. But the rescuers are concerned about the whales getting closer to the San Francisco Bay, because they will encounter large ships there. The mother humpback whale and her calf made it down the Sacramento River and Honker Bay on Sunday. They are also at risk of taking a wrong turn and the risk of getting stuck in shallow mudflats. Rescuers will position their boats to prevent the whales from taking a wrong turn. Their long exposure to fresh water has made their wounds worsen. Veterinarians used sponges attached to a pole to take skin cells from their wounds, the bumps on their skin resembles blisters. "We really need to try to get them back into a more appropriate environment so they can start healing," said Trevor Spradlin. The bumps could be an infection from bacteria, virus or fungus. Researchers have injected the whales with antibiotics, and this will slow down the damage.

This is good news because after trying a lot of different methods, the rescuers finally got the whales to move to the right direction. Now they are 50 miles within the ocean and hopefully in the next few days they will make it to the ocean. The biggest concern has to be the wounds they have. We have to get them back in the ocean as soon as possible, so that their wounds can heal. I am sure that the antibiotics injected into their skin will keep their wound heal.

Rescuers to turn fire hoses on whales

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/US/05/25/delta.whales.ap/index.html?eref=edition_us

POSTED: 7:03 a.m. EDT, May 25, 2007

Scientists have tried different methods such as sounds of other whales and clanging pipes to get the whales back to the ocean. But none of them seems to work. So now scientist plans to spray water near the whales from above and underwater, so that they can herd the whales back to the ocean."No one has done this before," said Frances Gulland, "At this point, we don't know if it will be a deterrent or an attractant." The physical condition of the whales had not changed much, but their wounds seemed to have worshen. Rescuers are now planning to inject the whales with antibiotics, so that it can help the wound heal fast. They are still developing the drug and they will likely use a syringe attached to a pole to insert it. The U.S. Coast Guard would keep a 500 yard buffer zone to keep the boats away from the whales.

Man with 700 snakes arrested at airport

POSTED: 11:21 a.m. EDT, May 24, 2007

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/24/egypt.snakes.ap/index.html

The Officers at Cairo's Airport asked a passenger, to open his carry-on bag. The passenger identified as Yahia Rahim Tulba, told the officers that the bag contained lived snakes. Yahia Rahim Tulba tried to smuggle in 700 snakes on the plane to Saudi Arabia, so that he could sell it. Among the various snakes in the bag, there were two poisonous cobras. Police confiscated the snakes and turned Yahia Rahim Tulba over to the prosecutors office. According to the officers, the snakes are wanted by Saudis who displayed them in glass jars, have them as pets and sell them to researchers.

Orca sounds used to frighten whales back to sea

http://cnnstudentnews.cnn.com/2007/US/05/24/delta.whales.ap/index.html

POSTED: 8:02 a.m. EDT, May 24, 2007

The two Humpback Whales apparently took a wrong turn during their migration back to the feeding grounds of Northern Pacific. They traveled 90 miles into the inlands of Sacramento. They turned around until they reached the Sacramento River Bridge, and began swimming in circles. Scientists hope that the sound of Orcas will threaten the whales back into the ocean. They also acknowledge that the whales were spotted slapping their tails on the water, which shows that they are in distress. Their deep cuts appeared worsening, and the cuts were probably from propellers. A 3-4 foot cut on the whales appeared to have pierce through the blubber layer. The freshwater environment have made the normal, smooth skin of the whale rough and pitted. But what concerns the scientist the most is the whales slapping their tails on the water. Because this is abnormal and scientists now need to drive the whales back into the ocean without causing the whales to have more stress.

I think scientists should try to get the whales back into the ocean because the whales have spent more than a week in fresh water and they are not physically able to live in fresh water. Their cuts have appeared worsening and they appear to have a lot of stress. So hopefully the two whales will be able to return back to the ocean in the next couple of days and make it to their migration to the feeding grounds.

Wayward whales take another wrong turn

http://robots.cnn.com/2007/US/05/22/delta.whales.ap/index.html

POSTED: 8:21 p.m. EDT, May 21, 2007

The Humpbacks nicknamed Delta and Dawn had traveled around 20 miles south of the port of Sacramento, and swimming toward the state capital. They turned around again this afternoon after scientist positioned dozen of boats in front of them. "They're at this point lost. We don't think they have any clue," said Rod McInnis of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Their current route will lead them to muddy deltas that could trap these whales. To get back to the Ocean, the two of them must make it to the San Francisco Bay, and swim under the Golden Gate Bridge to make it back to the Ocean. The whales were swimming toward the Pacific at 3:30 pm Sunday. They swam as far as the Rio Vista Bridge before turning around. Scientists believed that the vibrations from the traffic startled the two whales. The goal is to "make as much noise to be as obnoxious to the whales as possible" to get them to move back toward the ocean, said Ed Sweeney, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.

Zoo hatches endangered Asian turtle

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/science/05/01/turtle.birth.ap/index.html

POSTED: 3:12 a.m. EDT, May 2, 2007

An Arakan forest turtle in Zoo Atlanta was hatched. This is the fourth of the Arakan forest turtle to be born there. Zoo Atlanta is the only facility in the world to successfully breed these turtles. They were believed to be extinct for close to a century, but were later rediscovered in an Asian foodmarket in the mid 1990s. The Arakan forest turtle is endangered due to the fact that many people use it for cooking and medical uses. The turtle, native of Arakan hills has a horrible survival rate, and the turtle only mates once a year. The turtle eggs take 100 days to hatch. Zoo Atlanta has a pair of mating turtles since 2001, they manage to buy the two turtles from a Chinese Food Market. There are only 12 of the turtles living in captivity in the U.S; Zoo Atlanta, the St. Louis Zoo, the Miami Metro Zoo and River Banks Zoo and Garden in Columbia, South Carolina.

I think we should try to have more facilities in the world to help breed Arakan forest turtle. Because there is only one facility in the world that can successfully breed them. Arakan forest turtles are extremely rare and its sad to see that people are not recognizing this, and are continuing to kill them for food and medical use.

'Shocking' Legoland coaster death

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/04/30/lego.death.ap/index.html

POSTED: 8:37 a.m. EDT, April 30, 2007

A 21 year old employee of Legoland amusement park was killed in a roller coaster accident. The employee, who was not identified, died immediately on Sunday after being hit by a roller coaster car. Apparently she jumped over the security fence to pick up a wallet for one of the passengers. Than the rollercoaster car came and the accident happened. Legoland manager Henrik Hoehrman, was shocked by this accident and said that nothing like this has ever happened before. The accident took place at the Legoland amusement park 240 kilometers west of Copenhagen. The Danish Legoland opened in 1968.

This is extremely shocking because the employee was just trying to help the passenger find the wallet. And it’s unfair for the employee, because she was only trying to help and unluckily a roller coaster came and hit her.

Police referred Cho for counseling in 2005

POSTED: 10:34 a.m. EDT, April 18, 2007

Cho Seung-Hui , who was responsible for Monday's shooting was just referred for counseling for being suicidal, and having inappropriate contact with girls. This 23 year old Korean killed 32 people on Monday before taking his own life on the Virginia Tech Campus. The police first contacted Cho in November 2005 when a student complained about him calling her and contacting her in person. Cho was than sent to the university's Office of Judicial Affairs, no threat was made against Cho. The next month, another student complained about instant messages sent by Cho. The police asked him to see a counselor, he agreed, and he was sent to an independent mental health facility in Blacksburg.
Nikki Giovanni said she immediately suspected Cho, when she found out about the shooting. Cho's poetry was so intimidating, that Giovanni had to removed him from her class in fall of 2005. And two of her students quit her poetry class because Cho was taking photographs of them in class. Ian McFarlane, a classmate of Cho said two plays written by Cho was so twisted. The two plays Cho wrote was Richard McBeef, Mr. Brownstone, and I personally have the read these two plays and i can say that they are extremely sick and disturbing. And both plays talk about violence and people wanting to kill someone. Cho bought a Glock 9mm from a gun shop owner. The big question was why was the campus not closed down, and the students warned before Cho came back to the Norris Hall 2 hours later and did the
deadliest mass shooting.

Wrong-way driver killed in crash with Greyhound bus

A car was driving on the opposite lane on the highway and collided head on with a Greyhound bus early Saturday. Killing the driver of the car and injuring 20 other people. Heather Marie Thomas, 23 was driving southbound in a northbound lane on interstate 85 at 3:05 am. "After the crash, panic erupted in the bus because the door was jammed shut and the car was smoking, raising a threat of fire," said passenger Clint Cannon. "They thought the bus was going to explode." The bus driver did a great job to prevent the accident from being worse, because he prevented the bus to flip over. Clint Cannon said, everytime the bus turn left, the car would turn left, when the bus turned right, the car would turn right. 20 people were taken to hospitals for treatment of minor injuries

Two police officers killed in Charlotte

Sean Clark 34 and Jeffrey Shelton 35 were responding to a disturbance call at the apartment complex, when they were both shot at the parking lot. They both died after in the hospital. "It's a real tragedy for us, the officers, for the families, for the communities, that we've lost two in one incident," said Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Chief Darrel Stephens. Clark has been with the police department for 1 year and Shelton had worked there since 2001. They used helicopters and police dogs in a search for suspects. No suspects were found though. Both officers were married, Clark and his wife were expecting a baby.

I think this is a tragic lost to the police department and a even more tragic lost to Sean Clark's family because he and his wife were both expecting a baby, and now the baby will be born without ever seeing his father.

Tsunami warnings for Pacific after quake

A tsunami warning has been issued for New Zealand, the Philippines, American Samoa, Guam, and Fiji. The U.S. Geological Survey said the first quake, took place at 8:40 with a magnitude of 7.6 and was centered 25 miles south-southeast of New Georgia Islands, and 1330 miles (2145 km) north-northeast of Brisbane, Australia. The second earthquake minutes after had a magnitude of 6.7. There are no report of injuries or damage.

Pungent pulp: Panda poop perfect for paper

March 27, 2007

Researchers at a giant panda reserve in Southern China is trying to find paper mills to process panda excrement into paper. Liao Jun, a researcher find the idea after a visit to Thailand last year where they found paper made out of elephant dung. They hope to have the product available by next year. The purpose of this is not to make a profit, but to recycle the waste. In the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Base the 40 pandas produce about two tons of droppings a day. When asked about customers that might consider the paper unsanitary. Liao Jun reply with "People won't find it gross at all, they won't even be able to tell its from panda poop".

Video appears to show brothers, 2 and 5, smoking pot

Video http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/law/2007/03/04/vo.tx.kids.smoking.pot.affl

Police in Fort Worth, Texas, said a video tape was founded in search of stolen goods in the apartment of 17 year old Demetris McCoy, uncle of two children and 18 year old Vanswan Poltry. The tape shows the two teenagers persuading a 2 year old boy and a 5 year old to smoke marijuana. "I have never seen anything like this quite so disturbing," said Bruce Ure, director of public safety for the Watauga Police Department. "Our children count on us to protect them; these individuals did everything but protect these children." These 2 teenagers were obviously trying to get the 2 children high, in the video you can see that the 2 children are stumbling and falling around. The boy’s mother was sleeping in the backroom during the incident. Ure said that he thinks this may not be the first time the children have smoked marijuana. Because in the video the children are holding the marijuana cigarette and inhaling, like they have done it before.

When I saw the video, I was shocked because those two teenagers are purposely trying to get the children high. You can hear them laughing in the background of the video. It’s even more amazing that the children are only 5 and 2 years old, and they are doing drugs already. I think the police should investigate this incident and put a stop to it.

Tire-sized calamari rings? Half-ton squid reeled in

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/02/22/colossal.squid.ap/index.html

In Wellington, New Zealand a fishing crew caught a colossal squid that weighed an estimate of 990 pounds and was about 39 feet long. This prove to be the biggest specimen ever landed. If we made calamari rings were made out of this squid, they would be the size of tractor tires. Colossal squid are estimated to grow up to 46 feet long. The squid found would be 330 pounds heavier than the next biggest specimen found. The frozen squid will be transported to New Zealand national museum, Te Papa to be preserved for further research.

Ask Why?

February 20, 2007

Many people immigrant to Canada looking for the “Canadian Dream”, I believe that they are looking for freedom, looking for a good job and a better future for their children. But that’s the case for 45 year old Maheswary Puvaneswaran. She is from Sri Lanka and she and her family immigrated to Canada, after 13 years of living in Canada she is still living in poverty. Her husband worked at a Toronto glass factory until he got injured and underwent two operations on his hand. He tried going back to work but failed. Two months ago her husband went back to Sri Lanka to visit his sick mother. Now Maheswary Puvaneswaran has to go back to work and take care of the family. She and her family lives in a one bedroom apartment with no sofas, no beds. She has to work from 11.pm to dawn at a condominium where she mops the floor, empty garbage and scrub toilets. She is only earning 1,150 dollars in a entire month, and sometimes less. Her rent for her apartment is 849 dollars. This leaves her with very little extra money to survive on. She stays optimistic and she said if her income was 1,200 she says, “she can manage”.

Rio samba school leader shot dead

February 14, 2007
http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/02/14/rio.violence.ap/index.html

In Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, a leader of the Samba parade groups was shot early wednesday. He was killed just days before Brazil’s famed Carnival celebrations in the "Sambadromo" Stadium this Sunday. Guaracy Paes Falcao, 42 years old and a woman was killed in their car by an unidentified gunman. Guaracy was the vice president of a top tier samba school. The Brazil media reports that as many as 20 shots were fired.

US helicopter crash near Baghdad

February 7, 2007

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6338787.stm

A U.S. military helicopter has gone down near Baghdad. This is the fifth incident in Iraq this year. Witnesses says they saw the CH-46 Sea Knight aircraft go down amid gunfire from the ground, about 30km north west of Baghdad. "The helicopter was flying and passed over us, then we heard the firing of a missile, The helicopter then turned into a ball of fire. It flew in a circle twice, then it went down." quote from a farmer named Mohammad al-Janabi.
More recent helicopter losses in Iraq are: on 7 Feb: CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter goes down.

2 Feb: Apache helicopter goes down near US air base at Taji, two lives lost

28 Jan: Apache downed while supporting Iraqi troops near Najaf, two lives lost

23 Jan: OH-6A helicopter used by private US security firm Blackwater crashes in Baghdad after coming under "heavy gunfire"; four civilians killed

20 Jan: Black Hawk goes down near Baghdad, with loss of 12 lives
Now U.S. has loss more than 50 military helicopters in Iraq since May 2003.

Google Fallout

January 30, 2007


Google has been helping the Chinese Government censor the web, which disallows people in China to go to certain sites. The Chinese Government censors information about human rights and democracy on the web. The US government is not happy with the censorship and they want it to stop now.

I personally disagree with the Chinese Government to censor the web, because it prevents people in China to go to certain sites. China wants to keep their Authoritarian government, so they censor all the sites about human rights and democracy on the web. And it's disappointing to see that Google has helped China censor the web.

Rare Shark Captured On Film

On the Afternoon of January 21, a fisherman spotted this eel-like shark in the shallow waters near the park, in south of Tokyo, The fisherman called the Awashima Marine Park officials and caught the shark. They transported the shark to the park's dolphin pen. The shark was 5 foot long, and it was identified as a female frilled shark. Frilled sharks are rarely seen because frilled sharks live 600 to 1000 meters deep in the ocean, which is deeper humans can go. Frilled Sharks are very similar to the characteristics of prehistoric sharks 350 million years ago. The frilled shark has six gills, one more than most other sharks. The shark died a few hours after being caught. The officials believe that the shark may have come to the surface because it was sick, or it was weakened in the shallow waters.
video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qz_nZixWX6Q

This is an amazing discovery because it is extremely rare to see a frilled shark and even more rare to see a live one.

Taleban 'to build Afghan schools'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6291885.stm
Tuesday, 23 January 2007, 17:52 GMT
Abdul Hai Mutmain said that the Taleban movement will be setting up schools for children in Southern Afghanistan. They will start commissioning schools in March and April of 2007. In much of Southern Afghanistan there are no schools for children and most of the schools are closed because of threats from armed militants. Qari Yousuf, a Taleban spokesman said the school's syllabus will include subjects like history, geography, physics, chemistry and Islamic subjects. He said they will start with schools for boys only and later on they will build schools for girls.

I personally think this is very good news for the children in Southern Afghanistan. Because the Taleban did not allow girls to go to school. So now in the future, they are planning to build schools for girls. This will provide boys and girls in Southern Afghanistan with education. I think Afghanistan would be better of if it was in a democracy.

Hi

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