Scientists in the eastern German city of Jena said Wednesday they have finally given up after three years of failed attempts to entice a sloth into budging as part of an experiment in animal movement. The sloth, named Mats, was remanded to a zoo after consistently refusing to climb up and then back down a pole, as part of an experiment conducted by scientists at the University of Jena's Institute of Systematic Zoology and Evolutionary Biology. Neither pounds of cucumbers nor plates of homemade spaghetti were appetizing enough to make Mats move. ...
http://abcnews.go.com
censor News |
Editor - 08:53:00 01-24-07
|
 Iran Receives Russian Air Defense Missiles, Defense Minister Says |
Iranian officials said Wednesday that they have taken delivery of advanced Russian air defense missile systems weapons intended, according to one Russian news agency, to defend Tehran's major nuclear facilities. Announcement of the delivery of the Tor-M1 mobile missile launchers came as Iran launched three days of military maneuvers, its first since the U.N. Security Council approved sanctions against Iran on Dec. 23. "We have had constructive defense transactions with Russia and we purchased Tor M-1 missiles that were recently delivered to us," the official Web site of Iranian state television quoted Minister of Defense Mostafa Mohammad Najjar as saying. Najjar did not say how many missiles were delivered or when they arrived. Previously Moscow said it would supply 29 of the mobile surface-to-air missile systems to Iran under a $700 million contract signed in December 2005, Russian media has reported. ...
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2819350
full News |
Editor - 08:46:00 01-24-07
|
| Rare birds threatened by cold snap in Danube delta |
A return of winter in Romania could damage rare bird populations in the Danube Delta where nesting is beginning early this year due to unusually warm weather, experts warned on Wednesday. Meteorologists expect temperatures to drop below zero in coming days, threatening colonies of Dalmatians Pelicans, Pygmy Cormorants and Spoonbills in the vast marshlands of the delta, one of the most biodiverse regions in Europe. "Some species, which were supposed to come at the end of February, are already here," Dan Hulea, president of the Romanian Ornithological Organization, told Reuters. Some birds are returning early to the delta, which lies on a key migratory route for wild birds, and many never left when temperatures rose as high as 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) earlier in January. "If cold weather persists more than 10 days, it will have a serious effect on the population if those birds start nesting, said Hulea....
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2819422
full News |
Editor - 08:44:00 01-24-07
|
| Climate change seen fanning conflict and terrorism |
Global warming could exacerbate the world's rich-poor divide and help to radicalize populations and fan terrorism in the countries worst affected, security and climate experts said on Wednesday. "We have to reckon with the human propensity for violence," Sir Crispin Tickell, Britain's former ambassador to the United Nations, told a London conference on "Climate Change: the Global Security Impact." "Violence within and between communities and between nation states, we must accept, could possibly increase, because the precedents are all around." He cited Rwanda and Sudan's Darfur region as two examples where drought and overpopulation, relative to scarce resources, had helped to fuel deadly conflicts. Experts at the conference hosted by the Royal United Services Institute said it was likely that global warming would create huge flows of refugees as people tried to escape areas swamped by rising sea levels or rendered uninhabitable by desertification....
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2819420
full News |
Editor - 08:43:00 01-24-07
|
| Senate panel debates rejection of troop increase |
Brushing aside Bush's plea to give his new war strategy a chance, Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate moved ahead on Wednesday with a resolution opposing his plan to send more troops to Iraq. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee took up a bipartisan resolution drafted by its chairman, Sen. Joseph Biden (news, bio, voting record), and several of his colleagues that rejects Bush's decision to add 21,500 troops in Baghdad and Anbar province. Many members of the panel are known critics of Bush's plan, and the committee was expected to pass the nonbinding resolution in some form as soon as Wednesday, sending it to the Senate floor for a vote next week. "Our resolution of disapproval is not, I emphasize not, an attempt to embarrass the president, (or) to demonstrate isolation," Biden, a Delaware Democrat and presidential hopeful, said at the start of the hearing. "What it is, is an attempt to save the president from making a significant mistake, with regard to our policy in Iraq"...
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070124/pl_nm/iraq_usa_congress1_dc
full News |
Editor - 08:41:00 01-24-07
|
| Israeli president 'to leave post' |
Israeli President Moshe Katsav is to ask for leave of absence, a day after being told he is likely to face charges of rape and abuse of power. Mr Katsav, 61, denies the allegations and has vowed to clear his name. Correspondents say it seems Mr Katsav is stopping short of formally resigning from his largely ceremonial post. The president, who has not yet been legally indicted, is under increasing pressure from ministers and members of parliament to step down. The unprecedented case is among several scandals currently surrounding Israeli politicians. A spokeswoman for Mr Katsav said the president would hold a news conference at 1900 (1700 GMT). ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6294233.stm
full News |
Editor - 08:37:00 01-24-07
|
|
| post The Good, The Bad and The Ugly |
|
|
