90 Held For Witch Hunt Rampage

Ninety youths had been arrested in Giyani by Friday and one boy was dead after 39 houses were torched in what appeared to be a witch-hunt, Limpopo police said. "The 39 houses were burnt to ashes," said Superintendent Moatshe Ngoepe. "Those people lost everything — food, blankets, their children's school uniforms and school books — everything," he said. The "rampaging", which Ngoepe said shocked police, began at midnight on Wednesday and until the arrests the youths burnt houses in Mkomo, Homu block 14a and 14b and Ngove, all outside Giyani, north east of the provincial capital Polokwane. "They told them, 'you are a witch'," said Ngoepe. The victims included traditional healers, church pastors and traditional leaders. "We are not saying for certain it was witchcraft related — we still want to confirm it, but now we cannot exclude it," he said. At one house youths opened fire on the police who had arrived to stop them. The police returned fire and in the crossfire, 20-year-old Solly Mathebula was killed. Police spent the last few days rounding up implicated youths and by Friday afternoon had arrested 90 who would appear in the Giyani Magistrate's Court. Arrests would continue throughout Friday. The area's disaster management was activated and the displaced families were being housed in tents and living on food parcels. Two police task teams had been set up to deal with the incident. A police unit trained to quell unrest would monitor the area while a second team of detectives would investigate the sequence of events. A "priority committee" would also be formed. "We are so disturbed about this to the extent of saying that it must stop here. We thought this kind of thing was in the past," said Ngoepe. "I appeal to the community to deal with problems through the relevant channels rather than destruct other people's property." He said the police would "hit hard" and would oppose bail on Monday as a deterrent to others.

Ghosts At K.F.Y.R. TV.

IN THE FILM SIXTH SENSE, A CHILD IS PLAGUED BY SPIRITS OF THE DEAD...PEOPLE WHO HAVE LEFT UNFINISHED BUSINESS WHO ARE DESPERATELY TRYING TO GET A MESSAGE ACROSS...AND FOR SOME REASON, THIS LITTLE BOY CAN SEE THEM.

NICOLE DEROSIER UNDERSTANDS. SHE WORKS IN THE CONTROLROOM AT KFYR-TV. SHE SEES HERSELF AS ORDINARY, AND YET SHE HAS HAD SOME EXPERIENCES THAT ARE FAR FROM IT. SHE SEES GHOSTS...THE FIRST TIME WHEN SHE WAS just A CHILD.

Nicole -- I looked out in the hallway and there was a little boy standing there and I could see right through him.
SHE HAS BEEN VISITED BY GHOSTS AT HOME...AND AT WORK.

Nicole -- I just walked in to go to the refrigerator and somebody was standing by the window.

YOU MIGHT BE TEMPTED TO DISCOUNT HER STORY...BUT SHE'S NOT THE ONLY ONE TO SENSE A PRESENCE IN THE OLD BUILDING THAT HOUSES KFYR. ONE EMPLOYEE SAW AN APPARITION IN THIS RESTROOM...A WOMAN STANDING BEHIND HER WHEN SHE GAZED IN THE MIRROR. SHE SAW THE APPARITION MORE THAN ONCE...EVEN WHEN SOMEBODY ACCOMPANIED HER INTO THE RESTROOM.
AND DOWNSTAIRS...ON THE FIRST FLOOR AT MACOCHE STUDIOS...

Jeff DesLauriers...I was in the studio with a local band called Gypsy Foot doing some overdubs late night...everyone left and I said goodbye and I was walking back in I heard a door slam and it was extremely loud and it was close.

THE DOORS THROUGHOUT THIS PART OF THE BUILDING OPEN AND CLOSE ON THEIR OWN. THERE ARE ALSO FREQUENTLY COLD SPOTS IN THE HALLWAYS...A PHENOMENON THAT SOME EXPERTS EXPLAIN AS SIMPLE THERMODYNAMICS.

Martin and Rick -- For a ghost to be visible it must create energy. It must take energy from something else...so it takes energy from the atmosphere.

SO IS THERE A GHOST AT FOURTH AND BROADWAY?

Fr. Schumacher -- I certainly don't discount the experiences that people have....but I think a prudent nature would require an examination of truly what is being seen.

Scott McFall -- If you hypnotize people and do regression of experiences there can be lots of reasons for why they think that they've seen a ghost or that they're talking to the dead and they're not all paranormal experiences.

ON THE OTHER HAND, SCOTT MCFALL...A TRAINED HYPNOTIST...HAS SEEN ENOUGH UNEXPLAINABLE THINGS THAT HE DOESN'T DISCOUNT THE POSSIBILITY THAT SOME PEOPLE REALLY DO SEE GHOSTS. WHAT THEY ARE...WHY THEY'RE HERE...AND WHY SOME PEOPLE CAN SEE THEM AND OTHERS CAN'T...HE CAN'T EXPLAIN.

Knight Rider Lives

A new car has been described as the modern day Kitt from Knight Rider.Kitt from the TV show told driver Michael Knight how he was feeling, how to beat the villains and how to act. Swiss engineers have unveiled an interactive concept car known as the Senso. The Senso runs on natural gas and determines the driver's mood by measuring biometric data and then adjusts the environment accordingly. If the car detects an increase in heart rate or erratic driving it uses a selection of relaxing colours, music and even smells to help calm the driver down. These are integrated into the futuristically designed interior panelling, which bathes the cockpit in dazzle-free ambient light. And should the central computer establish any symptoms of sleepiness in the driver, electric motors integrated in the seat will shake him awake by vibrating. The new car's design is also radical with the driver sitting alone in the middle of the front row, flanked behind by two passenger seats. The Senso comes from Rinspeed Design and is due to be released at the Geneva motor show next month. Depending on industry interest the car may go into production as early as next year with a price tag of around £20,000.

First Dark Matter Galaxy Discovered

Astronomers believe that a significant amount of our Universe is made up of mysterious dark matter (5 times more, in fact); it's invisible to every instrument, but can be detected because its gravity affects visible matter. Dark matter is usually found surrounding galaxies in an enormous halo, but British astronomers think they've found a whole galaxy just made of dark matter. The team used a radio telescope to observe the motion of a cloud of hydrogen atoms, and realized that it was spinning much too quickly, so must be largely composed dark matter to hold together. Finding a dark matter galaxy is an important breakthrough because, according to cosmological models, dark matter is five times more abundant than the ordinary (baryonic) matter that makes up everything we can see and touch. The presence of dark matter in the Universe can be inferred by looking at the rotation of galaxies and measuring how fast their visible components are moving. The amount of matter in a galaxy dictates the gravitational force needed to hold it together. Astronomers have seen galaxies where the material is moving so fast that they should fly apart - as they don't, there must be a stronger gravitational force acting than can be accounted for using visible matter. This has led astronomers to believe that there is more matter unseen - the mass of this 'dark matter' can be calculated from the gravitational force that must be acting to hold the galaxy together. Dark galaxies are thought to form when the density of matter in a galaxy is too low to create the conditions for star formation. The observations of VIRGOHI21 may have other explanations, but they are consistent with the hydrogen being in a flat disc of rotating material - which is what is seen in ordinary spiral galaxies.

Sea Of Ice Found On Mars

Tantalising evidence that primitive life might exist on the Elysium region of Mars has been found by Europe's Mars Express Spacecraft. There is abundant evidence for Mars being warm and wet in the past but today it appears relatively dry, with water ice confined to the planet's polar caps.Now the Mars Express has found a frozen sea, surviving as blocks of pack ice just under the surface five degrees north of the Martian equator - the first discovery of a large body of water beyond the polar ice caps. There is also evidence of excessive levels of methane in the same spot. This is "suggestive" that methane-belching bacteria may lurk there, according to Prof Jan-Peter Muller of University College London. However, he said that only a mission to analyse this frozen sea could settle the matter once and for all, making the Elysium a prime candidate landing site to search for possible extant life on Mars. Yesterday, the European Space Agency released images from the high resolution stereo camera on Mars Express that show raft-like ground structures - dubbed "plates" - that look similar to ice formations near Earth's poles. Crater counts indicate that the age of the plates is about five million years. The site, near the equator, means that sunlight should have melted any ice there. But Prof Muller, John Murray of the Open University and colleagues will suggest, in a forthcoming issue of the journal Nature, that the area is protected by a layer of volcanic ash, perhaps a few inches thick, that may have been deposited by a giant eruption. "This is an area where there are a lot of river features but no one has ever seen a sea before, and certainly no one has ever seen pack ice before," said Prof Muller. Dr Murray said: "The fact that there have been warm and wet places beneath the surface of Mars since before life began on Earth, and that some are probably still there, means that there is a possibility that primitive micro-organisms survive on Mars today. We have to go there and check it out." The water that formed the sea in the southern Elysium appears to have originated beneath the surface of Mars, erupting from a series of fractures. The water collected in an area about the same size and depth as the North Sea, which led to huge masses of ice. This was later covered with volcanic ash, preventing it from turning into water vapour. Then, the ice broke up and drifted before the remaining water froze. Ice not protected by ash sublimated away. A team lead by Dr Vittorio Formisano believes readings for methane and formaldehyde in the area are indicative of life but, without a detailed study, possible sources also include not just sub-surface micro-organisms but hydrothermal activity, comet impacts, slow ‐methane release from sub-surface reservoirs and chemical reactions between water and basaltic rock. The findings have driven fevered speculation, however. Last week, Nasa issued an unusual denial of a report that its researchers saw strong evidence for life, based in part on atmospheric methane readings. These plate-like features on Mars look like pack ice in Antarctica, scientists say

Baby Stable After Second Head Removed

An Egyptian baby born with two heads was in stable condition on Sunday after doctors at a provincial hospital removed one of the heads in a 13-hour operation, the doctors said. Nasif Hifnawy, head of pediatrics at Benha Children’s Hospital, told Reuters that 10-month-old Manar Maged could move all four limbs and showed no signs of paralysis. “Manar is now breathing normally and has a normal heartbeat and blood pressure,” he added. The baby remains in intensive care at the hospital, 25 miles north of Cairo, and doctors expect her to stay there for at least seven days. Manar was born with a rare condition known as craniopagus parasiticus, which occurs when an embryo begins to split into identical twins but fails to complete the process. One of the conjoined twins fails to develop fully in the womb. As in the case of a girl who died after similar surgery in the Dominican Republic a year ago, the second twin had developed no body. The head that was removed from Manar had been capable of smiling and blinking but not independent life, doctors said. The 13-strong surgical team separated Manar’s brain from the conjoined organ in small stages on Saturday, cutting off the blood supply to the extra head while preventing increased blood flow to Manar’s heart, which would have risked cardiac arrest. Benha was chosen for its equipment and proximity to the girl’s family. Last February, seven-week-old Rebeca Martinez died in the Dominican Republic after surgery to remove a second head. A nurse holds an Egyptian baby named Manar Maged in a hospital in the city of Banha, 25 miles north of Cairo, on Friday. Egyptian doctors said they removed the second head from the 10-month-old girl on Saturday.

Mysterious Under-Ice Antarctic Lake To Unveil Prehistoric Ocean World

Russian scientists will soon reach the waters of the ancient lake
Russian scientists promise to make a sensational discovery in the evolution of the natural world. Having drilled a superdeep well in Antarctica, they will uncover a lake, which was formed not less than 500 million years ago. When the goal is accomplished, humans will be able to see ancient inhabitants of Antarctic waters. The drilling of the well on the Antarctic station Vostok was started in 1970. The well, which is still reputed to be the deepest well in the world, has brought a great deal of valuable information to scientists. Ice layers showed periods of climate change on planet Earth, for instance. It became possible to prove that global rises and falls of temperature have occurred several times in the history of the planet before. Scientists have not yet reached their most desirable goal - the lake underneath the ice, which has not been into contact with the Earth's atmosphere for over 500 thousand years. The drilling was stopped in 1998 at the depth of 3,623 meters, when only 130 meters were left to reach the water surface. The technology that was used for the drilling during those years could pollute the lake and cause irreparable damage to the ecosystem of the ancient waters. The work was ceased at the request of the international community. The current situation has changed for the better. Geographer and glaciologist Vladimir Kotlyakov, who was one of the founders of the project in the 1960s, currently the president of the Russian Geographic Society, said that specialists of the St.Petersburg-based Mining Academy developed the equipment, which would be capable of reaching the prehistoric lake without polluting it. The groundbreaking project is planned to be resumed: scientists are eagerly waiting for unbelievable discoveries to arrive. The lake is full of life despite three kilometers of ice that cover it. The scientist said that there was every reason for living creatures to exist there: the water was not stagnant; oxygen penetrates into the lake through the ice too. Supreme organisms cannot exist under such conditions. However, they did not exist 500 million years ago at all. There was no land life back then, whereas the ocean was filled with such primitive creatures as worms, mollusks and seaweed. Even if scientists discover only bacteria in the Antarctic lake, it will still be a breathtaking breakthrough in natural studies. Humans will have a chance to look at the distant past of the Earth and study ancient organisms. That is why academician Kotlyakov does not hesitate to say that the grand project will bring a lot of sensations. The academician did not specify the date when the works were scheduled to be resumed, though.

The Moving Rocks of Death Valley

Deep in the heart of the California desert lies one of the natural world's most puzzling mysteries: the moving rocks of Death Valley. These are not ordinary moving rocks that tumble down mountainsides in avalanches, are carried along riverbeds by flowing water, or are tossed aside by animals. These rocks, some as heavy as 700 pounds, are inexplicably transported across a virtually flat desert plain, leaving erratic trails in the hard mud behind them, some hundreds of yards long. They move by some mysterious force, and in the nine decades since we have known about them, no one has ever seen them move. Over the years, scientists have studied the rocks and proffered a variety of theories about their mysterious movements. Although there are credible theories involving wind, rain, and even ice, the exact mechanism responsible for the rocks' movement remains a mystery. For decades, people have traveled to this remote and inhospitable region to see the bizarre rock trails, which are located in Racetrack Playa, a dry lakebed in Racetrack Valley in the northwestern hinterlands of Death Valley National Park. Hobbyists, UFO hunters, tourists, university geology students, and serious researchers have all held hope of prying answers from the valley floor. For now, visitors to Racetrack Playa can come with the dream of potential discovery. Since no one has ever seen the rocks move, anyone has the chance to be the first. Someday, someone is certain to witness the event firsthand. Perhaps that someone will even be fortunate and insightful enough to capture it on videotape. But until then, the rocks move alone, in secret, without anyone's seeing. As Messina says, I like the idea that some things are unknowable, even if they are unknowable only a for a time.

Tsunami Uncovers Ancient City In India

Archaeologists have begun underwater excavations of what is believed to be an ancient city and parts of a temple uncovered by the tsunami off the coast of a centuries-old pilgrimage town. Three rocky structures with elaborate carvings of animals have emerged near the coastal town of Mahabalipuram, which was battered by the Dec. 26 tsunami. As the waves receded, the force of the water removed sand deposits that had covered the structures, which appear to belong to a port city built in the seventh century, said T. Satyamurthy, a senior archaeologist with the Archaeological Survey of India. Mahabalipuram is already well known for its ancient, intricately carved shore temples that have been declared a World Heritage site and are visited each year by thousands of Hindu pilgrims and tourists. According to descriptions by early British travel writers, the area was also home to seven pagodas, six of which were submerged by the sea. The government-run archaeological society and navy divers began underwater excavations of the area on Thursday. "The tsunami has exposed a bas relief which appears to be part of a temple wall or a portion of the ancient port city. Our excavations will throw more light on these," Satyamurthy told The Associated Press by telephone from Madras, the capital of Tamil Nadu state. The six-foot rocky structures that have emerged in Mahabalipuram, 30 miles south of Madras, include an elaborately carved head of an elephant and a horse in flight. Above the elephant's head is a small square-shaped niche with a carved statue of a deity. Another structure uncovered by the tsunami has a reclining lion sculpted on it. According to archaeologists, lions, elephants and peacocks were commonly used to decorate walls and temples during the Pallava period in the seventh and eighth centuries. "These structures could be part of the legendary seven pagodas. With the waters receding and the coastline changing, we expect some more edifices to be exposed," Satyamurthy said.

Malaysia Government To Decide Future Expedition To Lost City Of Kota Gelanggi In August

Future missions to unearth the secrets of the lost city of Kota Gelanggi will depend on the maiden expedition to locate the site next month and the findings submitted to the Cabinet in August. “What’s important is that come August, we’ll have the report and decide whether we should conduct further research,” said Culture, Arts and Heritage Minister Datuk Seri Dr Rais Yatim at the Malay College Kuala Kangsar's centennial celebration. Dr Rais said several scientific observations would be made in Johor. “What we are concerned about is the history of Peninsular Malaysia at that time. “But we have to be careful and not make any announcements that will confuse the public until the experts are clear on the real situation,” he said, adding that his Cabinet colleagues wanted to know more about the lost city. The expedition members would comprise independent researcher Raimy Che-Ross and experts from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Universiti Sains Malaysia, the Johor Heritage Foundation, the Johor Forestry Department and the Malaysian Centre For Remote Sensing. Department of Museums and Antiquities director-general Datuk Dr Adi Taha said the members would have their first meeting on Feb 24 and hoped to start the expedition by the middle of next month. “Although the site in Johor may be of a different name, we’ll use Kota Gelanggi as the working name for the project. The first phase is to make sure the site exists and we’ll carry on from there,” he said. Dr Rais also said his ministry would be organising a writing competition on local history to create interest in the country’s history among Malaysians. “We hope the contest will stir the community's love for local history, especially of their hometowns and villages,” he said. He hoped that with the competition, more Malaysians would write about local history instead of relying on foreigners. “That’s why I’m proud of people like Raimy who did research on the lost city. It shows that locals are just as capable as others of writing and researching.” It was an old Malay manuscript once owned by Sir Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore, in a London library that led Raimy Che-Ross to the existence of the lost city in Johor. According to Raimy, the presence of a lost city in the jungles at the southern end of the Malay peninsula had been indicated in Malayan forklore for over four centuries. His findings on the lost city has been published in the latest issue of Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society 2004. In his paper, he said the place was raided by the Indian-Chola conqueror Raja Rajendra Cholavarman I, of the South Indian Chola Dynasty in 1025A.D. The ruins could be as old as Borobodur, and could pre-date Angkor Wat, Raimy said, adding that aerial photographs taken over the site and tales from the orang asli had indicated the existence of structures.

Happy Birthday Pluto

Discovered nearly 75 years ago by Clyde Tombaugh, Pluto remains a planet we know very little about. It was on February 18, 1930, that Tombaugh made the discovery of the planet at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona. "One need only visit Lowell Observatory and view copies of the discovery images through the same eyepiece used by Clyde Tombaugh to appreciate what a remarkable discovery this was," said Bob Millis, Director. "The images are extremely faint and testify to the skill, concentration, and dedication that Clyde Tombaugh brought to his work." The Observatory's search for a ninth planet began with founder Percival Lowell in 1905. While Dr. Lowell did not live to see the discovery of Pluto, the Observatory made the official announcement of the discovery on Percival Lowell's birth date, March 13, 1930. After many suggestions, Pluto was selected as the name for the new planet. As an added plus, the astronomical community adopted a symbol for the planet that also was a combination of Percival Lowell's initials. Eleven-year-old Venetia Burney from Oxford, England suggested the name. Pluto is smallest planet in the solar system and has just one moon, Charon, which is half the size of Pluto. The planet is the only planet to never have been visited by a space probe.

LIFE ON MARS! (?)

A pair of NASA scientists told a group of space officials at a private meeting here Sunday that they have found strong evidence that life may exist today on Mars, hidden away in caves and sustained by pockets of water. The scientists, Carol Stoker and Larry Lemke of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, told the group that they have submitted their findings to the journal Nature for publication in May, and their paper currently is being peer reviewed. What Stoker and Lemke have found, according to several attendees of the private meeting, is not direct proof of life on Mars, but methane signatures and other signs of possible biological activity remarkably similar to those recently discovered in caves here on Earth.
Stoker and other researchers have long theorized that the Martian subsurface could harbor biological organisms that have developed unusual strategies for existing in extreme environments. That suspicion led Stoker and a team of U.S. and Spanish researchers in 2003 to southwestern Spain to search for subsurface life near the Rio Tinto river—so-called because of its reddish tint—the product of iron being dissolved in its highly acidic water. Making such a discovery at Rio Tinto, Stoker said in 2003, would mean uncovering a new, previously uncharacterized metabolic strategy for living in the subsurface. “For that reason, the search for life in the Rio Tinto is a good analog for searching for life on Mars,” she said. The two scientists, according to sources at the Sunday meeting, based their case in part on Mars’ fluctuating methane signatures that could be a sign of an active underground biosphere and nearby surface concentrations of the sulfate jarosite, a mineral salt found on Earth in hot springs and other acidic bodies of water like Rio Tinto that have been found to harbor life despite their inhospitable environments. One of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers, Opportunity, bolstered the case for water on Mars when it discovered jarosite and other mineral salts on a rocky outcropping in Merdiani Planum, the intrepid rover’s landing site chosen because scientists believe the area was once covered by salty sea. Stoker and Lemke’s research could lead the search for Martian biology underground, where standing water would help account for the curious methane signatures the two have been analyzing. “They are desperate to find out what could be producing the methane,” one attendee told Space News. “Their answer is drill, drill, drill.” NASA has no firm plans for sending a drill-equipped lander to Mars, but the agency is planning to launch a powerful new rover in 2009 that could help shed additional light on Stoker and Lemke’s intriguing findings. Dubbed the Mars Science Laboratory, the nuclear-powered rover will range farther than any of its predecessors and will be carrying an advanced mass spectrometer to sniff out methane with greater sensitivity than any instrument flown to date. In 1996 a team of NASA and Stanford University researchers created a stir when they published findings that meteorites recovered from the Allen Hills region of Antarctica contained evidence of possible past life on Mars. Those findings remain controversial, with many researchers unconvinced that those meteorites held even possible evidence that very primitive microbial life had once existed on Mars.

Bones Found In Ethiopia May Be Older Than Had Been Thought

Researchers now believe some human bones that were uncovered nearly 40 years ago in Ethiopia are nearly 200-thousand years old -- perhaps dating back to near the time modern humans first emerged. Until now, the oldest known fossils of Homo sapiens were Ethiopian skulls from about 160-thousand years ago. An author of a study of the bones says it's believed Homo sapiens arose about 200-thousand years ago. The fossils were found near a river in Ethiopia. At one location, there was part of a skull plus skeletal bones. Another site produced a second set, with more of a skull but no skeletal bones. In the journal Nature, the researchers say they've revised the estimate of how old the bones are, after visiting the discovery site and testing rock samples with more modern techniques.

Drunk On Listerine

A woman who pleaded guilty to driving while drunk on three glasses of Listerine was sentenced Tuesday to two years of probation. Officials suspected Carol Ries, 50, was intoxicated after she rear-ended another vehicle at a red light in January. Police found a bottle of the mouthwash in her car. She passed one breath test, but failed another that used different equipment. Her blood alcohol level was .30 percent, more than three times the legal limit. According to Listerine manufacturer Pfizer Inc.'s Web site, original formula Listerine contains 26.9 percent alcohol, more than four times that of many malt liquors, while other varieties contain 21.6 percent alcohol.

Cannibal Ate Girl's Breast

A CANNIBAL killer shocked a court by telling how he cut off his lover’s left breast — then cooked it in a pot and ate it in front of her.
The 27-year-old waiter said he also fed some to his DOG before the girl died. The man — identified only as Frank K for legal reasons — claimed lover Peggy, 21, had begged him to eat her. He said: “She wanted to see me to eat her breast. I cut it off and she smiled. I had a cooking pot ready and I had to make sure the dog ate some.” Prosecutors say he stabbed his lover to death then chopped her up with an axe. The murder trial in Dresden, Germany, continues.

Chupacabra Corpse Found ?...

Some New Mexicans say it’s the weirdest thing they’ve ever seen: a creature – and that’s the best word to describe it – found on Albuquerque’s West Mesa. To some, it’s simply intriguing. To others, it’s downright scary. The creature belongs to Robert Wheeler. “It was found out on the West Mesa,” says Wheeler. ”A friend of mine was out there shooting and kicked it out of the dirt.” “It looks like a gargoyle” said Wheeler’s friend Steve Garcia. “It has these sponge-like lips.” Garcia and Wheeler say Hispanics seem most affected by the creature – and what it might be. “[To people of] Spanish heritage, it’s the chupacabra,” says Wheeler. “The goat sucker is what they call it.” A Google search will reveal many images of what people imagine the mythical chubacabra ranging from a demented Grinch-like beast to something more closely resembling the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Wheeler delivered the creature to a New Mexico Game and Fish office where A News crew shot video of it – and recorded responses from people entering the office on regular business only to see the dried corpse. They weren’t sure what to make of it. “Any guess as to what it could be,” A News crew asked one of the drop-ins. “Something prehistoric, I assume,” answered the viewer. After doing some research, It was concluded that the creature probably lived in the ocean at one time and probably isn’t either a chupacabra or an alien.

Star Ejected From Milky Way

A black hole has flung the star on a 1.5-million-mph one-way voyage
A star is zooming out of the Milky Way, the first ever seen escaping the galaxy, astronomers have reported. The star is heading for the emptiness of intergalactic space after being ejected from the heart of the Milky Way after a close encounter with a black hole, said Warren Brown, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, last week. The outcast is going so fast — more than 1.5 million mph — that astronomers think it was lobbed out of the galaxy by the tremendous force of a black hole thought to sit at the Milky Way's center. That speed is about twice the velocity needed to escape the galaxy's grip, Brown said by telephone. "We have never before seen a star moving fast enough to completely escape the confines of our galaxy," Brown said. "We're tempted to call it the outcast star because it was forcefully tossed from its home." The star used to be part of a binary pair, waltzing with its companion star close to the rim of the black hole. In this case, "close" is a relative term; the actual distance was probably about 50 times the 93 million-mile distance between Earth and the sun. As the two stars twirled around each other, they were pulled faster and faster toward the edge of the black hole, one of those monster drains in space whose gravity is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape once it is consumed. The companion star was captured by the black hole. The outcast continued on its whirling path around the black hole's edge. Objects go faster the closer they get to black holes and this star was likely moving at extraordinary speed, perhaps as high as 20 million mph, scientists say. That very speed, coupled with the speed of its twirling, sent the outcast zooming toward the edge of the Milky Way and beyond. At this point, the star is about 180,000 light-years from Earth, in an outer region of the Milky Way galaxy known as the halo. A light-year is about 6 trillion miles, the distance light travels in a year.

The Milky Way

Crazed Vampire Arrested

Police have arrested a man who is believed to have sparked an urban vampire myth throughout Birmingham. The man was wanted for biting three members of a family in an "isolated incident" at Christmas before fleeing the scene. The incident sparked fear of a crazed vampire on the loose and led to a spate of reports of further random attacks in Alum Rock and Small Heath. The Evening Mail was also flooded with calls and e-mails from scores of frightened families, despite no victims coming forward or new incidents being logged with West Midlands Police. But police today confirmed officers had arrested the man believed to be responsible for the original incident in December, after following up a "new line of inquiry". A police spokeswoman said: "I can confirm that we have arrested a man in relation to this isolated incident of disorder. "He has been released on police bail to return at a later date." She was unable to release any more details at this stage. There have still been no new confirmed incidents since the original incident on December. It is hoped that the arrest will put an end to the hearsay-fuelled vampire rumours, which spread to the city centre and into schools, universities and offices.

Crazy Radio

Saturday afternoon in Buenos Aires: tucked away behind the towering, prison-like Jose Borda psychiatric hospital, a large group of people is gathering. Under the shade of a tree, a haphazard radio studio is being put together. This is Radio La Colifata, which in Buenos Aires slang means Crazy Radio - the first radio show in the world to broadcast live from a mental hospital. Julio Cesar is one of the show's presenters. He admitted himself to the hospital 10 years ago, when he sank into deep depression after losing his eight-month-old daughter. "I didn't want to live, work, eat, or leave the house," he says. "My family didn't understand me. My family was censoring me and being in the house was making me ill. "So I preferred to be here, where I had total freedom to express myself." Alfredo Olivera, a psychologist who created Radio La Colifata, explains how it all began: "I simply used a small Dictaphone. "I invited some patients to sit around a table and speak about whatever they wanted. The only thing they had to do was, if they wanted to talk, they had to have the Dictaphone in their hand and when they were finished pass it to another. "This, as a concept, already had a therapeutic element - the right to speak and giving the right to another." Mr Cesar believes that for his own recovery, it was more powerful than drugs. "The doctors are very technical," he says. "They give you a pill and tell you to sleep, and then you are cancelled out. "The radio releases you and the wall around the hospital no longer exists. The antenna knocks it down." More than a therapy, the show has proven popular with an estimated 12 million listeners. Taxi driver Hector Eduardo Costa listens as he works through the night. He says: "They aren't so crazy as people often think. They say things that are spot on. Sometimes they write poems, sing songs, and it is very interesting." Away from the media limelight, the hospital says the show has had great therapeutic results. Thirty percent of patients who participate are released, and not one of these patients who continues outpatient therapy at Radio La Colifata has been readmitted. That compares with two-thirds of patients being readmitted if they do not continue outpatient therapy with the radio, its creator Mr Olivera says. Lopez is presenting as part of his outpatient treatment. He believes Radio La Colifata plays an important educational role in society: "It de-mystifies mental illness. "In my district, I thought they would say: 'Hey, look at the crazy guy,' but it's the opposite. They embrace me in the streets and congratulate me. It shows people are beginning to understand." Outpatient Julio Diaz is one of the main presenters and coordinators

Sea Serpent From The Deep

A rare - and dead - Oarfish washed up at City Beach in Perth yesterday, proving more than a handful for Troy Coward, Andy Mole and Axel Strauss. The serpent-like animal was found six metres offshore, bringing to at least six the number of Oarfish that have washed up on the West Australian coast in recent months. Prefering to live in the depths of the ocean they have only been known to come to the surface when sick or dying and have rarely been seen alive. Living in the world's warmer oceans, it feeds on plankton and is harmless to humans. The longest bony fish in the sea, it grows up to nine metres long with a bright red crest that runs the entire length of its body. It is probably the creature that sparked "sea serpent" legends following sightings by ancient mariners. Last year a woman in Cleveland on the north-east coast of England caught a 63.5kg, 3.5m-long Oarfish while fishing for cod, using a squid bait. Scientists were disappointed when the woman, who weighed 13kg less than the fish, sliced it up and put it in her freezer. The fish is not good to eat. The specimen found yesterday was too decomposed to keep and has been disposed of.Troy Coward, Andy Mole and Axel Strauss with the Serpent

UFO Over Hawaii Puzzles Astronomers

Mysterious streak captured by camera positioned on active volcano An unidentified streak moving through the night sky above Hawaii has sky watchers puzzled. The streak, which can be viewed in motion on a NASA website page, was captured on film by a camera positioned on a volcano in Haleakala, Hawaii. It moves from southeast to northwest. According to the NASA site, the streak was spotted on the night of Dec. 17. Another camera trained on the night sky in Hawaii, in Mauna Kea, also captured the image. While the streak may have been disregarded as a satellite, NASA says no record of a satellite in that position exists on a website that documents bright satellite events. NASA includes an online discussion board for people to speculate about what the streak might have been. One poster wrote: "What is truly bizarre is that this object is visible for a good 55 minutes at Haleakala and close to 30 minutes at Mauna Kea. Usually, satellites take a few dozen seconds or, at the most, a couple of minutes to cross the entire sky. "If this object is a satellite, it is either very slow moving or at a very high altitude. I checked all the possibilities at Heavens-Above and no satellite passes seem to fit this observation. It is also impossible to be a meteorite." What in heavens-above was that? Not everything seen on the night sky is understood. The Night Sky Live (NSL) project keeps its global array of continuously updating web cameras (CONCAMs) always watching the night sky. The fisheye CONCAM perched on top of an active volcano in Haleakala, Hawaii, saw something moving across the night sky that remains mysterious.

Keeping Tabs on the Dead

The University of California is considering marking donated bodies with a bar code, like the ones that are found on products in the supermarket. Another proposal would involve tagging bodies with tiny radio I-D transmitters. The university is dealing with the effects of a scandal over the improper disposal and black-market sale of cadavers. University of California vice president Michael Drake says the university wants to reassure the public that it respects the donations. Donated tissue is often used in transplants and medical testing. There is also an active black market, despite federal laws against the sale of body parts. Three different University of California campuses have been involved in cases in which body parts were sold or dumped in the trash.

Near-Miss Asteroid Will be Visible To The Naked-Eye

This week, NASA scientists analyzing the most likely path of Asteroid 2004 MN4 projected it will be visible to the naked eye when it flies past Earth on April 13, 2029. According to a Space.com article, "There has been no event like this in modern history." Start making travel plans now, the 1000-ft wide rock will only be visible from Europe, Africa and western Asia.
On average, one would expect a similarly close Earth approach by an asteroid of this size only every 1,300 years or so. 2004 MN4 circles the Sun, but unlike most asteroids that reside in a belt between Mars and Jupiter, the 323-day orbit of 2004 MN4 lies mostly within the orbit of Earth. The 2029 flyby will bend the rock's path and change the circumstances of later close passes to Earth. "However, our current risk analysis for 2004 MN4 indicates that no subsequent Earth encounters in the 21st Century are of concern," according to a statement issued by JPL. Additional observations in coming months and years could help eliminate the small chances of impacts in years after 2029. Were an asteroid the size of 2004 MN4 to hit Earth, it would cause local devastation and regional damage. It would not be expected to cause any sort of global disruption, experts say.
The most likely path of asteroid 2004 MN4 on April 13, 2029 will bring it so close to Earth that gravity will significantly alter its course.

Rare Mermaid Baby to Have Risky Surgery

A Peruvian baby dubbed the "Little Mermaid" because she was born with a rare condition in which her legs are fused, will have surgery this month to try to separate them, doctors said. Nine-month-old Milagros Cerron -- her name means miracles in Spanish -- is one of only a handful of the estimated 1-in-60,000 to 100,000 people born with sirenomelia, or mermaid syndrome, to have lived more than a few hours, experts say. For Luis Rubio, the doctor leading the Peruvian team that will cut her legs apart in Lima on Feb. 24, the past year has been a crash course in tackling a condition he had read about in textbooks but never expected to have to treat. Doctors believe there may only be one other surviving "mermaid" -- 16-year-old American Tiffany Yorks, whose legs were separated when she was a few months old. Experts say sirenomelia is about as rare as conjoined twins but is nearly always fatal because most sufferers lack kidneys or have other complications. "It is very, very rare," said Prof. Pierpaolo Mastroiacovo, director of the Rome-based International Center of Birth Defects. "The presence of renal agenesis (absence or imperfect development) makes survival very rare and improbable." From the waist up, Milagros smiles and babbles like any healthy infant. Below the waist, her stomach merges seamlessly into her legs, which are joined all the way to her heels. With her tiny feet splayed in a 'V', the impression of a mermaid's forked tail is complete. The bones of both legs are visible and move separately, "as if she wanted to get free of this sack," Rubio said. He took on Milagros' case when she was two days old and is treating her in a City Hall-funded mobile "solidarity hospital" run out of old buses in a poor northern district of Lima. Milagros' father, Ricardo Cerron, 24, appealed for aid when she was born on April 27, 2004, in the Andean town of Huancayo, around 200 miles east of Lima. "I thought it was something horrifying" he said, recalling his reaction on seeing his daughter. "I was in total despair." Her legs have separate cartilage, bones and blood supplies, and she has one good kidney. Her heart and lungs are fine. Milagros, who weighs 17 lbs (7.5 kg) and is 24 inches (60 cm) long, has a rudimentary anus, urethra and genitalia all located together. Doctors will insert three silicone bags filled with saline solution between her legs on Feb. 9 and gradually add liquid to stretch the skin to cover exposed wounds once they are cut apart, centimeter by centimeter. "I have faith it will all go well," said Milagros' mother, Sara Arauco, 19. But Mutaz Habal, the doctor who began treating Tiffany Yorks when she was one hour old and helped pioneer the separation technique, said it was hugely risky. "My only desire is to have another survivor," he told Reuters. He said he did not know of any besides Tiffany. Tiffany, who lives in New Port Richey, Florida, walked for six years after her separation surgery but is currently wheelchair-bound after an accident. "I have the highest hopes that (Milagros) is going to go on for a long time," she said. "We want to dream that she could one day run or ride a bike," Rubio said. "But if we could just give her the ability to be independent, that's enough." The Peruvian Nine-month-old baby, Milagros Cerron dubbed the 'Little Mermaid' because she was born with a rare condition in which her legs are fused

Robot Sex

Scientists have made them walk and talk. There are even robots that can run. But a South Korean professor is poised to take their development several steps further, and give cybersex new meaning.
Kim Jong-Hwan, the director of the ITRC-Intelligent Robot Research Centre, has developed a series of artificial chromosomes that, he says, will allow robots to feel lusty, and could eventually lead to them reproducing. He says the software, which will be installed in a robot within the next three months, will give the machines the ability to feel, reason and desire. Kim, a leading authority on technology and ethics of robotics, said: "Christians may not like it, but we must consider this the origin of an artificial species. Until now, most researchers in this field have focused only on the functionality of the machines, but we think in terms of the essence of the creatures." That "essence" is a computer code, which determines a robot's propensity to "feel" happy, sad, angry, sleepy, hungry or afraid. Kim says this software is modelled on human DNA, though equivalent to a single strand of genetic code rather than the complex double helix of a real chromosome. Kim said: "Robots will have their own personalities and emotion and - as films like I Robot warn - that could be very dangerous for humanity. If we can provide a robot with good - soft - chromosomes, they may not be such a threat."

Boy Cured Of Werewolf's Curse

An boy with a rare disease known as the “werewolf’s curse” has seemingly been cured. The three-year-old was born with a rare blood disease causing intense blisters and hair growth all over the body. Doctors at a Utah hospital killed Nick’s old red blood cells giving him new ones from a donor in early December. Boils on his body have disappeared and his skin is clean. And Nick is gaining weight. Doctors and his parents say they are delighted. “Very pleased. He tolerated this transplant great. Today, he's doing as good as can be expected,” said Dr. Julie Asch, pediatric hematologist-oncologist. “There were many times where I thought we were done and I was just waiting and that little guy just pulled right through and just proved me completely wrong. Nicholas is back,” said Nick's mother.
Nick Ashby is all smiles these days after undergoing a bone marrow transplant that has apparently cured him from the rare werewolf’s curse

6 Men Jailed For Exhuming A Vampire

SIX Romanians have been jailed for digging up the corpse of a cancer victim, ripping his heart out and eating it because they thought he was a vampire. The men, who have each been sentenced to six months in jail, waited for seven weeks after the 76-year-old former schoolteacher died before exhuming the corpse and mutilating it. After cutting the deceased’s heart out they burned it, mixed it with ash and water to make a "meaty drink". They told the court in the southern Romanian town of Craiova they all felt "much better" afterwards. The six men all came from the remote village of Marotinul de Sus and told the court it was "well known" that such a remedy was the only protection against the undead. All were sentenced for violating a grave. All claimed that they acted in self-defence from "a well-known vampire". Romania encompasses Transylvania.

UFO Crash In Nepal China Border

In Darbhanga district of Bihar that borders Nepal, tourists returning from Nepal are talking about a possible UFO crash in Nepal. The rumor is also rampant in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal and other Nepali cities. The crash site is in deep Himalayan border of Nepal and China. According to sources, the crash site may be close to Mount Everest and is totally inaccessible from either side. The rumor world is speculating that the Chinese military is actively looking at the crash site. It is also rumored that the Extra-terrestrials are not allowing any one to go close to the site. Unusual activities and some tremors were felt all over the Himalayan regions from India-Nepal side. This was not the effect of the possible UFO crash. UFO activities have gone up very heavily in recent days in that area. And no one knows why that is happening. It is possible that the crash was nothing but a Chinese spacecraft. China has some secret military projects in that area. The time of the year is so bad that no one can really go to the site and investigate. Everything is just frozen out there. Nepal military is busy fighting the Maoists who are creating a lot of insurgency problems in that part of the world. According to UFO scientists, it is possible that the underground UFO bases in the regions was damaged by the tremor last week and some strange aftershock is being felt since the large 9.0 Richter earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia causing the huge Tsunami.

British Television To Broadcast Exorcism

A new programme plans to show an exorcism for the first time on British television, the Daily Mirror reports. But religious leaders have slammed the idea and said Channel 4's show, Exorcism, could be "very dangerous". The programme is being pitched as a serious scientific experiment as industry regulator Ofcom prohibits "actual demonstrations of exorcisms and occult practices" on TV. A Channel 4 insider told the newspaper: "The aim is to stage an exorcism for television to test the science involved. "It would involve the church and leading scientists and we'd monitor precisely what happens." Sky is also planning its own show, When Exorcisms Go Wrong, using home video footage. But Church of England bishop, Dominic Walker, warned against such programmes. "People who need this sort of help are nearly always psychologically vulnerable people," he said. "Such an experiment could be very dangerous." A BBC spoof on ghosts screened 13 years ago was blamed for the suicide of a Nottingham teenager. "This sounds very dangerous and will cause considerable unease," said John Beyer of the watchdog Mediawatch. "People in broadcasting never learn anything - they don't consider how it will affect the audience. This is not only ill-advised, it could be harmful." However, a spokesman for Sky defended the idea, saying: "It is intended to be a thought-provoking exploration of a controversial subject." A live seance on Channel 4 last year caused 700 complaints.