Toxic biscuits kill monkeys in India

2015-01-05 16:17
 

Kolkata - Fourteen monkeys have died after snatching and then eating biscuits laced with rat poison in eastern India, officials said on Monday.

The troop of 16 langurs grabbed the biscuits from a local hawker as he tried to sell them in the eastern state of West Bengal but fell violently ill soon afterwards on Sunday.

"Immediately after devouring the biscuits, 14 of them died on the spot and two were admitted to a veterinary hospital," state forest ranger Shyamal Mukherjee told AFP, adding that an autopsy was being conducted.
Police have opened a criminal investigation against the hawker who fled in the aftermath of the deaths.
Though revered in the majority Hindu nation, monkeys are a major menace, often trashing gardens, office and residential rooftops and even viciously attacking people for food.

Concerns about India's rising monkey population prompted parliamentary authorities to recently hire a group of actors to impersonate giant monkeys and scare away smaller simians who had been terrifying lawmakers.
AFP

Runaway North Korean soldier kills 4 in China

2015-01-05 18:13
 

Seoul - A North Korean man, believed to be a runaway soldier, killed four Chinese citizens during a robbery after he crossed the border into China in search of food, media reports said on Monday.

The young North Korean soldier crossed the border in late December and stole money and food at a house before killing four residents in China's north-eastern city of Helong, South Korea's Yonhap news agency and Dong-A Ilbo newspaper said.

Both cited sources in the border areas between China and the North.
The victims were either shot dead or beaten to death, Dong-A said, adding he was later shot and captured by Chinese authorities.

"Killing several Chinese nationals... is a major crime, so there are good possibilities that China, unlike other runaway North Korean soldiers captured before, will not hand him over to the North," said an unnamed Seoul official quoted by Yonhap.

All able-bodied young men in the North are subject to 10 years of military service. Many army bases are known to suffer food shortage and starving troops often cross the border to China in search of food.
Private markets cropping up across the North in recent years have helped ease starvation among ordinary citizens.

Seoul's unification ministry that handles North Korea affairs declined to comment on the incident.
"Chinese authorities have already reached an agreement with the North not to officially announce it," Yonhap quoted the Seoul official as saying.

Dong-A said the victims were two elderly ethnic Korean couples. Koreans make up for about 30% of the population in China's Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture that borders the North.

"It has become pretty common for the past decade that North Koren soldiers sneak across the border at night to seek food here," Dong-A quoted one resident of the area as saying.

An official with the Yanbian police told AFP he had no knowledge of the reported incident.
The border with China is a major route for escape for North Koreans fleeing poverty and repression at home. They also cross the border temporarily to find food and jobs.

Thousands flee by secretly crossing into China and later travelling to a third country before seeking resettlement in the South.
AFP

US man missing in Namibia found dead

2015-01-05 18:09
 

Windhoek - The body of a US citizen who went missing at Namibia's border with Angola on New Year's Eve was found after a four-day search on Monday, police said.

"The body of John Petersen, 24, was found in the Kunene River on Monday," the Namibian Police (NamPol) said in a statement.

He went swimming in the river with friends on New Year's Eve and disappeared in the water.
A Sapa correspondent reported that on New Year's Day professional divers and a helicopter scoured the remote area, near the Epupa waterfalls in north-western Namibia, home to the nomadic Himba tribe.

The body of Petersen, aUS Peace Corps volunteer in Namibia, was found 15km south from where he went missing. His body was taken to Oshakati for a post mortem.

Peace Corps director Carrie Hessler-Radelet said Petersen had been an "exceptional Peace Corps volunteer of great integrity" who poured his heart and soul into building relationships with his Namibian community so he could make a difference.

"We are devastated by his loss, and the thoughts and prayers of the entire Peace Corps community are with the Petersen family during this difficult time," Hessler-Radelet in a statement on Monday, which was distributed via the US Embassy in Windhoek.

He is survived by his parents and an older brother.
Peterson was from Westborough in Massachusetts and a former boy scout with camping and backpacking experience.

Four days before his death, Peterson posted an account of his earlier hiking trip to Namibia's highest mountain, the Brandberg, on his internet blog.
SAPA

Landslide in Bosnia kills 1, leaves dozens homeless

2015-01-05 16:04 
 
Kakanj — Authorities say a landslide has wiped out a group of poor homes in central Bosnia, killing one woman and injuring three other people.

Rescuers searched for hours before they pulled out two children and a woman alive early Monday morning from the rubble.

Seven homes were destroyed when the slope they stood on slid down 500 meters (550 yards) in the town of Kakanj.

The houses were built on top of a coal mine that was closed 50 years ago. None of the homes had a building permit as the area was considered risky. But illegal building is widespread as Bosnia has struggled with poverty since the end of the Balkans war in the 1990s.

- AP

395 terror victims live in Niger

2015-01-05 17:08 
 
Minna - Mohammed Shaba, the General Manager, Niger State Emergency Management Agency (NSEMA), has said that no fewer than 395 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are residing in the state.
He said in an interview on Sunday in Minna that most of the IDPs were from the north-eastern zone of the country.

"We have 107 IDPs from Kalaah Hong Madagli in Adamawa that are living in Gurara Local Government and 288 IDPs from Gwoza in Borno residing in Shiroro Local Government.

"Those living in Gurara claimed that they followed their relatives and they are camping in Dikko Central Primary School, Gurara.

"Some of those residing in Shiroro also claimed that they are fishermen with women and children from Doron Baga in Borno, a riverine area.

"We asked them why they chose Shiroro and they said because Shiroro is also a riverine area where they can easily make a living,’’ he said.

Shaba said that the agency, in collaboration with Gurara Local Government Authority, had contacted some health workers to attend to health issues among the IDPs.

He also called on the state government to build a permanent relief camp that would accommodate the IDPs with adequate security.

- NAN

2 dead as unknown aircraft bombs Greek tanker in Libyan port

2015-01-05 17:08 
 
Athens - Greek authorities say an unidentified warplane has bombed a Greek-owned tanker ship in the eastern Libyan port of Darna, killing two crew members and injuring two more.

Citing a briefing by the ship's managers, the Merchant Marine Ministry says the Liberian-flagged Araevo was attacked Sunday while it was anchored in the harbour.

Darna is a base for Islamic extremists, who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group. Widespread militia violence has plunged Libya into chaos less than four years after a Nato-backed uprising toppled and killed long-time dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

The Araevo's crew of 26 consisted of 21 Filipinos, three Greeks and two Romanians.

The ministry said on Monday the vessel had 12 600 metric tons of fuel on board. Damage is still being assessed.

- AP

New pharaonic tomb unearthed in Egypt

2015-01-05 18:23 
 
Cairo - Czech archaeologists have unearthed the tomb of a previously unknown queen believed to have been the wife of Pharaoh Neferefre who ruled 4 500 years ago, officials in Egypt said on Sunday.

The tomb was discovered in Abu Sir, an Old Kingdom necropolis southwest of Cairo where there are several pyramids dedicated to pharaohs of the Fifth Dynasty, including Neferefre.

The name of his wife had not been known before the find, Antiquities Minister Mamdouh al-Damaty said in a statement.

He identified her as Khentakawess, saying that for the "first time we have discovered the name of this queen who had been unknown before the discovery of her tomb".

That would make her Khentakawess III, as two previous queens with the same name have already been identified.

Her name and rank had been inscribed on the inner walls of the tomb, probably by the builders, Damaty said.

"This discovery will help us shed light on certain unknown aspects of the Fifth Dynasty, which along with the Fourth Dynasty, witnessed the construction of the first pyramids," he added.

Miroslav Barta, who heads the Czech Institute of Egyptology mission who made the discovery, said the tomb was found in Neferefre's funeral complex.

"This makes us believe that the queen was his wife," Barta said, according to the statement.
An official at the antiquities ministry said the tomb dated from the middle of the Fifth Dynasty (2994-2345 BC).

Archaeologists also found around 30 utensils, 24 made of limestone and four of copper, the statement added.

- AFP