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.