Ukrainian city to get pigeons drunk and deport them!!!

A city in northeastern Ukraine is considering a plan to take on the local pigeons by getting them drunk on wine and deporting them, a local news website reported.

The radical measure was proposed to prevent a monument to poet Taras Shevchenko in Sumy from being covered in bird droppings ahead of City Day, Obkom.com.ua said on Monday.

“Let’s give them wine-soaked bread and then deport them somewhere where they’ll wake up the next day,” Alexei Movchan, who heads the city branch of the ruling Party of Regions, was cited as saying about the pigeons.

He dismissed allegations of animal cruelty by saying that deportation of inebriated birds is practiced in the Holy Dormition Pochayiv Lavra, an Orthodox Christian monastery in the country’s west, the report said.

It remained immediately unclear whether the city adopted the plan. Sumy celebrates City Day on September 2. Source...

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Brazilian prisoners use pigeons to smuggle in drugs!!!

A sharp increase in drugs and cellphones found inside a Brazilian prison mystified officials -- until guards spotted some distressed pigeons struggling to stay airborne.

Inmates at the prison in Marilia, Sao Paulo state had been training carrier pigeons to smuggle in goods using cell phone sized pouches on their backs, a low-tech but ingenious way of skipping the high-tech security that visitors faced.

"We have sophisticated equipment to search people when they go in, but they avoided this by finding another way to bring in cellphones and drugs," prison director Luciano Gamateli told Globo TV.

Officials said the pigeons, bred and trained inside the prison, lived on the jail's roof, where prisoners would take their deliveries before smuggling the birds out again through friends and family.

The scheme was uncovered when guards on the prison walls saw some pigeons struggling to fly.

Brazil's overcrowded prisons have notoriously lax security, with cell-phone and drug use common among inmates. Two years ago, a powerful Sao Paulo prison gang used cell-phones to orchestrate a wave of attacks against police and public property.

Yahoo.news

See also: Singaporean gets 14 years in prison for sniffing armpits...

And this: Burmese prisoners executed during cyclone....

Chinese buyer pays $200,000 ... for a pigeon!!!

The rich around the world tend to gravitate to the same status symbols: mansions, yachts, art, private jets and wine. Despite the increasingly global nature of the rich, their spending seems to be becoming increasingly homogeneous.

Now comes news that the Chinese may be breaking the mold with a new form of trophy purchase: pigeons.

A rich Chinese buyer paid $200,000 for a racing pigeon at a Belgium auction yesterday, setting a new world record. The bird’s name was Blue Prince, and he was one of the highly pedigreed Belgian racing pigeons that have long been considered the gold standard in the pigeon racing world.

One 218 bird-colony fetched $1.8 million at the same auction. More...

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Pigeons ou volontaires?

Facebook propose à ses utilisateurs de participer à la traduction du service, la Coop lance “Passabene”, et l’UEFA recrute des bénévoles. Mais qu’ils sont gentils tous ces pigeons qui bossent pour rien ! Que des grosses boîtes qui brassent des millions, et qui se paient en plus le luxe de faire bosser leur clients/utilisateurs/fans gratuitement. Et le pire, c’est que ça cartonne !

China's army to recruit and train ... 10,000 pigeons???

They're more flying rats than desert rats but it has emerged China's army is training 10,000 messenger pigeons to serve in the event of a breakdown in mass communication systems.

China Central Television (CCTV) announced that the mass feathered recruitment drive was being undertaken by the People's Liberation Army.

Training for the flock is believed to be under way in a central Chinese city. The bird army could be called to arms in the event of a mass breakdown in communication systems, helping to deliver vital messages. More...

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Prisoners in Britain become eco-friendly...

Thousands of prisoners across the country are turning their jails into some of the most species-rich sites in the country and a newly found interest in conservation is aiding their rehabilitation. The country's 140 prisons include nine internationally recognised sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs) as well as two European special areas for conservation and an internationally important wetland. 

Some of the important habitats are on land that is outside the prison walls, but in many cases threatened species such as barn owls, kingfishers, adders and slow-worms also reside at Her Majesty's pleasure within prison grounds.

Dr Phil Thomas, sustainable development manager for the prisons estate, said the organisation is stepping up its work on biodiversity. 'It's really paying dividends, because many SSSIs on our estate are really in good condition,' he said. This is partly to meet the Prison Service's obligations under the 2006 Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act, which requires it to consider the impact of its operations on plant and animal life. But Thomas says the work also benefits the community and makes prisoners less likely to reoffend. More...

See also:

• How Sofia escapes captivity! An inspiration to us all...
• Why are so many war veterans in prison?
• Indian jailbird Dara Singh goes on hunger strike to have cable TV in his cell!!!
• Brazilian prisoners use pigeons to smuggle in drugs!!!
• The Great Mas Selamat Escape!

South American leaders call for drug legalization...

During a conference in Tegucigalpa bringing together UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) officials and drug ministers from 32 Latin American and Caribbean nations, the conference host, Honduran President Manuel Zelaya called for legalizing drug use. In so doing, he joins a growing list of Latin American leaders singing the same tune.

Legalizing drug use, or more accurately, decriminalization, would de-fang international drug trafficking organizations and free Honduras of the financial burden of attempting to impose drug prohibition, Zelaya said. "The trade of arms, drugs and people... are scourges on the international economy, and we are unable to provide effective responses" because of the global drug prohibition regime, Zelaya said Monday at the opening of the 18th meeting of regional leaders against drug trafficking.

Drug users should be considered patients, not criminals, Zelaya said. Drug users could be treated by health care professionals instead of arrested or harassed by police. And the state could stop throwing money down a rat hole, too, he added. "Rather than continue to kill and capture traffickers, we could invest in resources for education and training," the Honduran leader said. More...

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5. In Yemen, they dope themselves with qat...
   
   

Germany: inmate escapes prison by mailing himself out!!!

A manhunt is under way in western Germany for a convicted drug dealer who escaped by mailing himself out of jail. 

The 42-year-old Turkish citizen - who was serving a seven-year sentence - had been making stationery with other prisoners destined for the shops. 

At the end of his shift, the inmate climbed into a cardboard box and was taken out of prison by express courier. His whereabouts are still unknown. 

The chief warden of the jail told the BBC this was an embarrassing incident. More...

See also:

1. A North Korean prison escapee tells a horrific story...
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3. Brazilian prisoners use pigeons to smuggle in drugs!!!
4. Inmate loses weight ... to escape from jail!!!
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Hawks to be deployed in Singapore to scare away nuisance birds!!!

Businesses along Singapore's famous Orchard Road shopping street plan to deploy trained hawks to scare off thousands of birds whose droppings rain down on pedestrians' heads, a report says.

The Straits Times said retailers were in talks with Jurong Bird Park, whose attractions include trained birds of prey, to try a natural solution after artificial methods such as high-pitched recordings failed to drive the birds away.

Wildlife groups estimate that around 2,000 to 5,000 starlings and mynahs roost along Orchard Road in the evening, releasing droppings on pavements and parked cars and creating a din that even overpowers traffic noise. Full story...

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5. Crows in Malaysia stealing bras and panties to make nests!!! 
6. African giant rats to become bomb detectors... 

Prisoner exchanged confession for sex and other weird stuff in Queensland's crime world...

IT'S almost too fanciful to be true: a prisoner is picked up from jail and taken for a drive by police officers through the suburbs on Brisbane's southside.

He's handed a list of unsolved break-and-enters, perhaps as many as 300. He reads the details: how entry was gained, what was taken, the time the crime was committed.

And he's told that he needs to admit to at least 20 to make his reward worthwhile. More...

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Pakistani 'spy pigeon' arrested in India!!!

A pigeon has been arrested by police in India on suspicion of being a spy from Pakistan.

The bird was seized on Thursday after being spotted carrying a "stamped message" on its body.

The message was written partly in Urdu, the official language of Pakistan. It also contained a Pakistani phone number, according to reports.

The bird was discovered by a 14-year-old boy in the village of Manwal, around 4km from the Pakistani border.

He took it to the nearest police station where the bird was X-rayed. Full story...

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Gaza: une vie en ruines...

La puissance de l’explosion qui a détruit la maison de Shifa Salman dans le nord de Gaza, district de Jabal al-Rayas, a plié étage sur étage comme une simple pâtisserie. Elle a poussé les piliers à travers le béton, reconfigurant la maison en dôme hérissé. L’aileron d’une des bombes israéliennes responsables se trouve toujours au sommet des ruines, inoffensif comme un vieux jouet d’enfant. Ces jours-ci, pigeons et moineaux nichent dans l’espace en forme de grotte creusé par la détonation à l’intérieur des ruines, où sont stockés des matelas et des sacs de farine, ces derniers estampillés aux initiales du Programme Alimentaire Mondial. Des jeunes coqs lustrés, agressifs, patrouillent sur le terrain et se précipitent vers les intrus. Suite...

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How Egyptians are fighting harassment in the streets...

Like many Egyptian women, Nihal Saad Zaghloul is no stranger to street harassment. But it was one incident in particular that made the 26-year-old IT worker decide to do something about it. Along with some friends, she was attacked by a group of men in Cairo's Tahrir Square in June: "They started groping me and grabbing (my) hijab. I lost my friends, I was terrified – some (other) men hid me behind a small kiosk."

Traumatised and furious, Nihal blogged about the incident at length, but writing wasn't enough. The following week, she formed an anti-harassment group, inviting about 60 men and women, via Facebook, to gather on Mohamed Mahmoud street, near Tahrir Square, to protest peacefully against harassment. They were set upon by "about 50 men", who groped the women and beat up the men. But Nihal was undeterred, setting up a website to post her blogs detailing instances of harassment. "By July," she says, "the movement had begun."

Zaghaleel, which means "carrier pigeons" in Arabic, now comprises a growing number of women and men who form street patrols, effectively preventing assaults on women in public by talking to the assailants and drawing attention to their behaviour. Wearing hi-vis jackets, the male patrollers walk the platforms of the metro in a bid to protect female passengers travelling on the women-only carriages. They form a human chain around the women and have never resorted to violence. They don't need to, says Nihal, because "the more of us there are the more scared the harassers are to fight". Full story...

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Man stopped for drink-driving ... on wheelchair!!!

A disabled man in Norway has been stopped for drunk driving after he has was stopped by police returning from a party on Saturday in his electric wheelchair.

Thor Geir Benjaminsen (20), who suffers from Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy and relies on a Mini Crosser wheelchair for even short journeys, was forced to take a blood test after he was flagged down by a police car on his way home.

"I noticed a huge police car with blue lights driving right up behind me shouting "Stop!"," he told VG newspaper. "They draged me out of the wheelchair, after which I sliped a little on the ice, and fell to the ground, and then they asked me who I had stolen the wheelchair from."

Benjaminsen admitted that he had been drunk when he was stopped, but stressed that as his wheelchair has a maximum speed of 10km/hr he did not think he had done anything dangerous.

"I was no danger of anyone apart than myself," he said. "It is worse to drive a lawnmower while intoxicated."

 Police drove him home, leaving him the keys to the wheelchair and telling him where they had left it. When he asked them to pick it up for him, however, they refused, telling him that he was still under investigation for stealing it. Source...

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6. Just a bit too drunk!!!

India becomes the 'world's biggest arms buyer'

India has overtaken China to become the world's largest importer of weapons, according to a Swedish think-tank that monitors global arms sales.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute report said India was pushing ahead with plans to modernise its military in an effort to counter China's influence and gain international clout.

India's defence budget for the coming year is 1.5 trillion rupees ($32.5bn), a 40 per cent increase from two years ago. It imports more than 70 per cent of its weapons.

The report said the vast majority of those imports – 82 per cent – come from Russia, which has long been India's supplier of choice. More...

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The world's most notorious prisons...

With President Obama expected to announce the closing of the detention center at Guantánamo Bay within days, here's a look at five of the most brutal and controversial prisons that are still in operation around the world.

(...)

In 1999 there were 124 suicide attempts in La Santé, almost five times as many as in California's entire prison system during the same period. These facts only became available in 2000 when the head surgeon of the prison, Véronique Vasseur, published a bestselling book chronicling abuses in the prison. The book caused an uproar and a celebrity campaign to improve prisons throughout France, but little in the way of progress. France's prison conditions were condemned by the U.N. Human Rights Committee and the country's own minister of justice in 2008. Full story...

See also:

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2. Germany: inmate escapes prison by mailing himself out!!!
3. Prisoners in Britain become eco-friendly...
4. Inmate loses weight ... to escape from jail!!!
5. Brazilian prisoners use pigeons to smuggle in drugs!!!

Swiss dude caught smuggling spiders and cockroaches!!!

A Swiss man has been caught trying to take 164 trapdoor spiders into Germany.

Officials found the spiders, some as large as a hand, in plastic bags and sealed inside boxes in the man's car as he attempted to cross the Basel border.

He was also transporting 45 buckets filled with cockroaches to be used as food for the spiders. More...

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3. Woman tries to smuggle bananas ... in her underwear!!!
4. Brazilian prisoners use pigeons to smuggle in drugs!!!

Carrier pigeon faster than South Africa's internet!!!

A South African information technology company on Wednesday proved it was faster for them to transmit data with a carrier pigeon than to send it using Telkom , the country's leading internet service provider.

Internet speed and connectivity in Africa's largest economy are poor because of a bandwidth shortage. It is also expensive.

Local news agency SAPA reported the 11-month-old pigeon, Winston, took one hour and eight minutes to fly the 80 km (50 miles) from Unlimited IT's offices near Pietermaritzburg to the coastal city of Durban with a data card was strapped to his leg. More...

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Kadhafi's son, Hannibal, arrested for violence in Geneva hotel...

A son of Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi has been arrested by Swiss police after being accused of assaulting staff at a Geneva hotel, Swiss media reported Thursday.

Hannibal Kadhafi, 32, was arrested at the five star Hotel President Wilson on Tuesday after two maids accused him of hitting them, Radio Suisse Romande reported.

Judicial authorities could not be reached on Thursday morning to confirm the reports and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment.

Swiss daily Le Matin said that Hannibal, the fourth son of the Libyan leader, had been accused of inflicting bodily wounds and threatening behaviour, along with his wife who was not been detained.

Two of Hannibal's bodyguards have also been held after they clashed with police making the arrest, the paper said.

Le Temps newspaper said that the Swiss government is trying to prevent the matter from becoming a diplomatic incident, not least because Libya is the largest provider of oil to Switzerland.

Hannibal Kadhafi is no stranger to brushes with the law: he was detained in Paris in 2005 for alleged violence against his companion after incidents in two luxury hotels in the city.

He also gained notoriety for driving down the Champs Elysees at 140 kilometres per hour (87 mph) before being stopped by police.

Source

See also: Indian jailbird Dara Singh goes on hunger strike to have cable TV in his cell!!!

And this: Brazilian prisoners use pigeons to smuggle in drugs!!!

Gadhimai, the festival of mass animal sacrifice begins in Nepal...

The ceremony began with prayers in a temple by tens of thousands of Hindus before dawn Tuesday. Then it shifted to a nearby corral, where in the cold morning mist, scores of butchers wielding curved swords began slaughtering buffalo calves by hacking off their heads.

Over two days, 200,000 buffaloes, goats, chickens and pigeons will be killed as part of a blood-soaked festival held every five years to honor Gadhimai, a Hindu goddess of power.

While cows are sacred and protected by law in Nepal, animal sacrifice has a long history in this overwhelmingly Hindu country and parts of neighboring India. The Bariyapur festival has become so big, in part, because such ceremonies have been banned in many areas in the neighboring Indian state of Bihar.

And while it is criticized by animal-rights protesters, the festival is defended as a centuries-old tradition. More...

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