Bonjour Planet Earth

Saturday, March 13, 2010

'Apartheid' system puts poor Barclays customers through to Indian call centre ... but the rich get a British operator!!!

Thousands of struggling bank customers will be connected to Indian call centres while more affluent account holders will get one in Britain.

A new banking phone system will identify those with low credit approvals and put them through to India.

Those who have considerable savings or a credit limit that allows them to borrow around £500 from the bank or buy its products will be connected to a British operator. More...

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12-year-old girl in India kills 4-year-old to "please" diety...

Offering human sacrifice to propitiate the gods may not be a novelty in Uttar Pradesh. But the one reported from Bulandshahr on Thursday night is something completely unimaginable. A 12-year-old girl murdered a four-year-old boy purportedly to please a deity. And if this is not enough, here's the shocker. Parents of the accused are already languishing in jail for killing a four-year-old local girl on January 25 as part of some ghastly ritual.

Moreover, in the first week of January, the family had also allegedly poisoned their three-year-old relative to `please' a deity. However, since the victim's father came to know about the nefarious designs of his younger brother and his family in time, the child was rushed to hospital and somehow survived the ordeal. And all this as the family believed that if they offered three human sacrifices, not only all their problems would disappear but they would surely bump into a hidden treasure in their farm. More...

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Friday, March 12, 2010

Want men to look you in the eye? Get forehead tittaes, says Marion Cottillard!!!

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Doomsday man ‘raped five daughters to save bloodline'

A “depraved” man said to believe that only he and his offspring would survive the end of the world is to go on trial charged with fathering six children with his own daughters.

Aswad Ayinde, 51, who describes himself as a film-maker and soft-drink entrepreneur, is accused of raping five of his daughters and making three of them pregnant.
Authorities describe Mr Ayinde, also known as Eric McGill, as a “blueblood” engaged in a perverse attempt to keep his bloodline pure. Full story...
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Zimbabwe's starving people strip dead elephant bare... (Pictures)

For us it is a saddening sight - a magnificent bull elephant struck down in his old age.

But for the starving of Zimbabwe, it was little short of a miracle.

The carcass provided a vital source of food, and hundreds of desperate villagers in the Gonarezhou National Park descended on the dead animal within minutes of its discovery.

Using machetes, axes and knives made from tin cans they set upon the six-ton carcass, which was found deep in scrubland. More + pictures...

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Drunk Aussie wanted to open exit on Singapore Airlines plane in midair!!!

WEARING a T-shirt emblazoned with the word “Hustler”, a passenger on board a Singapore Airlines (SIA) flight strode down the cabin aisle, intent on creating a mid-air scene.

Hiking up his shirt, he shook about wildly and disturbed his fellow passengers, even asking one of them for some wine. His antics, which went as far as threatening to open the emergency hatch, eventually forced air crew to restrain the 26-year-old.

At one point, a flight steward was forced to punch the passenger as others grabbed hold of him. More...

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Crisis? What crisis? There's no crisis for the world's billionaires...

2009 will be remembered by millions of ordinary people as the year they lost their job, their house, or the prospect of an education. For the rich, however, it was a bonanza.

The world’s billionaires saw their wealth grow by 50 percent last year, and their ranks swell to 1,011, from 793, according to the latest Forbes list of billionaires.

The combined net worth of these 1,011 individuals increased to $3.6 trillion, up $1.2 trillion from the year before. On average, each billionaire had his or her wealth increase by $500 million.

Four hundred and three billionaires reside in the United States. They constitute just 0.00014 percent of the country’s total population, but control 8 percent of the national wealth. Each of these individuals holds over 300 million times more wealth than the average US resident. More...

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Teachers in England to be trained to spot terrorists!!! WTF!

Teachers are being trained on how to spot pupils who might become terrorists when they leave school, it was revealed today.

Council chiefs believe the specialist training will allow secondary school staff to identify children who may grow up to become suicide bombers.

A £3,500 conference is being laid on in Cornwall designed to help teachers from across the county pick out would-be violent extremists.

It was announced following a presentation from police to the council's Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education. More...

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Devotees at Indian temple smoke ... cannabis???

In a bizarre ritual, large number of devotees visit a temple in Bangalore's Chitradurga district and smoke cannabis during an annual festival as an expression of their devotion to the deity here.

The temple's main deity Nayakana Hatti Tipperudraswami is said to be the incarnation of Lord Shiva.

Visiting this temple during the annual festival shows how men and women consume cannabis during this festival, held in March, in the name of the strange belief. More...

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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Women-only commuter trains in India! Men not happy...

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US human rights report criticizes "anti-Muslim" Switzerland...

Switzerland has come under criticism in a key United States human rights report in a as an example of anti-Muslim discrimination in Europe.

The US State Department’s annual report on Human Rights released in Washington on Thursday cites in its introduction last November’s popular vote in Switzerland to ban the building of minarets. It describes growing European discrimination against Muslims as “ an increasing concern”.

Elsewhere the report mentions bans and restrictions on Muslim head scarves and burkas in France, Germany, and the Netherlands. It says that Muslims in the Netherlands are the victims of frequent minor acts of discrimination, including intimidation, brawls and abusive graffiti. More...

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Dead starlings fall from the sky in Somerset...

A nurse got the fright of her life when she arrived home to find hundreds of dead starlings littering the ground.

Julie Knight said she found more than 100 corpses in her front garden alone – which is just 3.6m (12ft) long.

‘They literally seemed to just fall out of the sky. About 70 were dead straight away,’ said the 53-year-old.

‘It was like something out of a horror film – like Hitchcock’s The Birds – it was absolutely terrifying.’ More...

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Nursing care does not include sexual services, says Dutch union!!!

A union representing Dutch nurses will launch a national campaign on Friday against demands for sexual services by patients who claim it should be part of their standard care.

The union, NU'91, is calling the campaign "I Draw The Line Here," with an advert that features a young woman covering her face with crossed hands.

The union said in a statement on Thursday that the campaign follows a complaint it had received in the last week from a 24-year-old woman who said a 42-year-old disabled man asked her to provide sexual services as part of his care at home. More...

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Sophie Marceau in a crazy, happy dance!!! Cool...

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Student suspended from school for saying "no" to drugs!!!

The parents of a Kentuckiana seventh grade student say their young daughter was suspended from school for doing exactly what she's been taught to do for years - to just say no to drugs.

The girl did not bring the prescription drug to her Jeffersonville, IN school, nor did she take it, but she admits that she touched it and in Greater Clark County Schools that is drug possession.

Rachael Greer said it happened on Feb. 23 during fifth period gym class at River Valley Middle School when a girl walked into the locker room with a bag of pills. More...

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She rents herself out as "wife for hire..."

Wife for hire? A Bay area businesswoman is calling herself just that, and the catchy name is helping her survive the economy.

Cooking, cleaning, shopping, laundry, computer work, errands, and paying your bills -- don't wanna do it? Then you'll wanna call Jamie Mayo.

"I am a wife for hire," Mayo said proudly.

Mayo used to work as a bookkeeper, but started picking up other jobs like cleaning houses so she could pay her own bills. More...

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Switzerland calls for halt to Israeli settlements...

The foreign ministry says it deplores the go-ahead given by the Israeli government to build 1,600 dwellings in the occupied Palestinian territory in East Jerusalem.

A statement said Switzerland had asked Israel not to proceed with the project and to halt all forms of “colonisation” in the territory.

It added that Switzerland considers the building of such settlements a violation of international humanitarian law, which forbids an occupying power from transferring any part of its civilian population to an occupied territory.

“The Israeli settlements are a clear violation of international law.” More...

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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The Tuttle Kids play El Cumbanchero! Cool...

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Holland proposes assisted suicide for those over 70 if they 'consider their lives complete...'

Assisted suicide for anyone over 70 who has simply had enough of life is being considered in Holland.

Non-doctors would be trained to administer a lethal potion to elderly people who 'consider their lives complete'.

The radical move would be a world first and push the boundaries even further in the country that first legalised euthanasia.

The Dutch parliament is to debate the measure after campaigners for assisted suicide collected 112,500 signatures in a month. More...

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Romanian street sign warns drivers of 'drunk pedestrians'

Officials in Pecica, a village town about 13 miles from the Hungarian border in the country’s west, ordered the bright red signs, complete with the phrase “Attention - Drunks”.

The 10 road signs, which also show a person crawling on their knees while clutching a glass in one hand, were erected in popular nightspot areas close to the city's bars and restaurants.

Peter Antal, the Pecica Mayor, said the idea came after he visited an unnamed town in Germany, which had installed similar signs.

He said officials took action after a “despairing” number of accidents in the town, which has a population of about 13,000, caused by drunken revellers, with some even resulting in fatalities. More...

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"Israeli military bulldozer ran over and killed Rachel Corrie..."

A British witness told a court today about how he had watched an Israeli military bulldozer run over and kill the American activist Rachel Corrie while she was trying to stop Palestinians' homes being demolished in Gaza.

Richard Purssell, who was also a volunteer activist in Rafah at the time, seven years ago, described the "shocking and dramatic event" in an Israeli court in Haifa on the first day of a civil suit brought by Corrie's family against the Israeli state.

Twenty-three-year-old Corrie, from Olympia, Washington, in the US, went to Gaza for peace activism reasons at a time when there was intense conflict between the Israeli military and the Palestinians. More...

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Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Recycling is bullshit...

PART TWO PART THREE

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How the Church allowed a paedophile priest to evade justice...

All the children in Ayrfield, Dublin, knew fun-loving Father Bill Carney - not just the altar boys and those who met him through school, but members of the Scout troop he ran and the groups of local children he took swimming.

His door was always open, there was a ready supply of Coke in the fridge and in the 1980s he had the very latest thing to lure youngsters in - a video player.

Adults disapproved of his swearing and crazy driving, but the Catholic Church was still so trusted, no-one suspected the truth about him. More...

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New York chef makes cheese ... with wife's breast milk!!!

Take four cups of breast milk, add rennet, salt and yoghurt – yes, four cups of breast milk, according to a recipe created by New York chef and restaurateur Daniel Angerer, who posted his formula for maple caramelized pumpkin encrusted cheese on his blog, and offered "whoever wants to try it is welcome to try it as long as supply lasts".

Angerer runs the Manhattan restaurant Klee, and the breast milk is supplied by his wife and restaurant co-owner Lori Mason after the couple found they had an excess supply in their freezer intended for their baby daughter Arabella. Angerer explained on his blog: More...

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13 things you probably didn't know about the humble cucumber...

The humble cucumber is actually a little gem. And not just for its nutritional benefits...

1. Cucumbers contain most of the vitamins you need every day

Just one cucumber contains Vitamin B1, Vitamin B2, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B5, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid, Vitamin C, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.

2. Feeling tired in the afternoon? Put down the caffeinated soda and pick up a cucumber

Cucumbers are a good source of B vitamins and carbohydrates that can provide that quick pick-me-up that can last for hours. More...

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British kid blasts BBC for whitewashing "underwear" bomber documentary...

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Sarkozy and Carla Bruni both having affairs???

The Elysee Palace refused to comment today on rumours swirling in Paris that the marriage of President Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni is on the rocks, with both of them having affairs.

The French media, usually reticent about prying into the private lives of public figures, have been reporting that Bruni is having an affair with the musician Benjamin Biolay (above right) and that her husband has turned for comfort to his ecology minister, Chantal Jouanno (above left).

The rumour first appeared on Twitter and then on the website of the French Sunday paper, Le Journal du Dimanche, which claimed dramatically that the presidential marriage was "breathing its last breaths". More...

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Singapore bloggers hit back at ex-Singaporean's hoax about Lee Kuan Yew heart attack...

An internet hoax posted by a former Singaporean claiming that the city-state's founding father and Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew had suffered a serious heart attack stirred outrage and protest in the online community. Gopalan Nair, a lawyer and former candidate of Singapore's opposition Workers' Party now living in the United States, said Saturday on his blog that Lee, 86, had been put in intensive care in a hospital.

"With the entire country run by this one man, the fear that business leaders and bankers had for a very long time may have finally come true; that such a happening can destroy the business confidence and cause total destruction in the small island city-state," Nair said.

Nair did not give any source for the information but quoted the "latest reports received from Singapore" while the city-state's mainstream media kept silent. More...

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Singapore least corrupt nation in Asia-Pacific region...

SINGAPORE remains the least corrupt of 16 major Asia-Pacific investment destinations in a just-released business survey. It topped the annual poll by the Political and Economic Risk Consultancy (PERC) with a score of 1.42, followed by Australia in second place with 2.28 and Hong Kong third with 2.67 - down one place from a year ago.

Indonesia remains the most corrupt country in Southeast Asia and graft is getting even worse at all levels, the poll of businessmen showed, dealing a blow to the Bambang Yudhoyono's drive to fight the scourge. The news comes as Dr Yudhoyono is under mounting pressure with his vice president and finance minister facing a criminal probe into their role in the controversial bailout of a troubled bank. More...

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Monday, March 08, 2010

Papua New Guinea, where violence is a way of life...

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Microsoft's Bing blocks and filters sex searches in Arab countries...

THE Open Net Initiative (ONI) on Friday said Microsoft's search engine Bing is more prudish than government censors when it comes to sex-related online queries.

A January test of a Bing version tailored for users in Arab countries showed that it filtered Arabic and English words for sexually explicit content along with queries related to gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender material.

Attempts to use filtered keywords prompted a message reading 'Your country or region requires a strict Bing SafeSearch setting, which filters out results that might return adult content,' according to ONI. The message seemed at odds with the fact that while political censorship is widespread in the Middle East, not all countries there mandate filtering of sex, nudity, homosexuality and other such 'social content,' ONI reported. More...

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Jobless man in Croatia gets a job as a rented "husband!!!"

A jobless man in Croatia has solved his problems by placing an ad under the heading "rent a husband".

Igor Radinovic, 43, from capital Zagreb said he had seen a similar ad while living in London and decided to use it after being sacked from his job as a carpenter.

"Some women do not have husbands and do not know how to fix things in the house," Radinovic explained to tabloid 24 Sata. More...

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Virgin Mary icon 'crying tears of oil' in France...

An image of the Virgin Mary has been crying tears of oil, its owner has claimed, in a story that has drawn hundreds of visitors to the man's home in France.

Esat Altindagoglu has been inundated with more than 50 visitors a day hoping to see the "miracle" at his house near Paris.

The one-foot high painting was given to his wife Sevin by a Lebanese priest on her birthday in 2006, the Turkish-born salesman said. More...

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NYPD officer admits that there are arrest quotas...

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Did Pope's brother know about sexual abuse at German Catholic choirboys' school?

Former choirboys of the Regensburger Domspatzen have told SPIEGEL about sexual and physical abuse at two boarding schools attached to the famous Catholic choir. One former choirboy says it's "inexplicable" that the Pope's brother Georg Ratzinger, a former head of the choir, didn't know about it.

The abuse scandal at the Regensburger Domspatzen choir is bigger than had been thought so far. Therapists in and around Munich treated several former choirboys who were traumatized by sexual and other physical abuse.

One man affected told SPIEGEL about cruel rituals in the Etterzhausen boarding school, a preparatory school for younger pupils from which the choir draws its recruits. More...

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Muslim women in US defy "men only" restriction at mosque...

A group of Muslim women have risked arrest as they sought to pray in the main area of the Islamic Centre of Washington -- an area ordinarily reserved exclusively for men.

"Wooden barriers have to be taken down and women have to be allowed to join, to pray behind the men in the main praying area. That's our request," said Fatima Thompson, an American Muslim who converted to the faith 18 years ago.

"We are against gender segregation, against the fact that women are put aside or in a totally different room at the mosque," added Thompson, who led the group of female protestors, all self-identified progressive Muslims. More...

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Viagra bought on-line may contain bird shit...

Health experts have warned online shoppers to beware of internet-order medicines some of which have been found to contain everything from arsenic to bird droppings.

Fake medicines, such as those claiming to be Viagra, intercepted by Medsafe at New Zealand''s border included major ingredient guano i.e. bat and bird droppings while others contained whole insects, dust mites, hair and charcoal, according to GNS Science principal scientist Dallas Mildenhall.

Screening by Environmental Science and Research (ESR) also found heavy metals, including arsenic and mercury, Stuff.co.nz reported. More...

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Sunday, March 07, 2010

Randy Crawford and Street Life...

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The stressed and overworked elephants of India...

The southern state of Kerala is home to the largest captive elephant population in India. But many question the way the animals are treated. The BBC's Soutik Biswas reports.

"Where in the world is the elephant worst treated? The honest and straight answer is Kerala," says one of the state's best-known writers, Paul Zacharia.

Mr Zacharia is alluding to the plight of the state's 700 captive elephants, the largest "domesticated" elephant population in India.

These elephants are owned by some 250 people and a number of temples. They are mainly rented out during the more than 10,000 festivals every year for parades and processions. More...

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The shocking truth about tasers...

The smartly dressed sales executive travelling on the number 96 bus across Leeds didn't notice his body descending into a state of severe hypoglycaemia.

He didn't have time to ask his fellow passengers for help, or press the bell. Instead he slumped back in his seat in a diabetic coma, his head lolling from side to side.

This was why he wore a special tag and chain around his neck: it advertised his diabetes. His mother and father, both retired GPs, had encouraged their son to wear it ever since he had started having to take insulin 20 years earlier. More...

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Siblings in Sweden charged with incest and face jail...

A pair of siblings in Kalmar in south east Sweden have been charged with incest and risk facing up to a year each in prison if found guilty.

The pair, both in their twenties, live very close to each other but in separate apartments, according to local newspaper Östra Småland.

The prosecutor has a witness to back up the case, according to charges presented at Kalmar District Court. Three police officers called to the scene have also agreed to testify. More...

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Wilbur Sargunaraj wants a love marriage!!! Hilarious...

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Famine relief fund for Ethiopia was diverted to buy arms, claims BBC. That's bullshit, says Bob Geldof...

Bob Geldof has challenged the BBC to substantiate its report that millions raised for famine relief in Ethiopia were diverted to pay for weapons.

The anti-poverty campaigner said there was "not a shred of evidence" Band Aid or Live Aid money was siphoned off.

The report included claims that substantial sums of aid that went into rebel-held areas of Tigray province in 1985 were used to buy arms.

The BBC World Service has said it is standing by its report. More...

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Swiss say "no" to lawyers for animals...

Projections show Swiss voters have rejected a plan to appoint special lawyers for animals that have been abused by humans, Swiss national television reported Sunday.

Projections by political polling organization gfs.bern indicate 71% of voters cast their ballot against the proposal by animal rights activists to extend nationwide a system already in place in Zurich since 1992, SF1 reported.

"The Swiss people have clearly said our animal protection laws are so good we don't need animal lawyers," said Jakob Buechler, a lawmaker for the centrist Christian People's Party.

Switzerland tightened its animal protection laws two years ago and now has among the strictest rules anywhere when it comes to caring for pets and farm animals. Pigs, budgies, goldfish and other social animals cannot be kept alone; horses and cows must have regular exercise outside their stalls; and dog owners have to take a training course to learn how to properly look after their pets. More...

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Arab director of Oscar film sparks Israeli outrage...

The Arab co-director of an Israeli film nominated for an Academy Award has scandalised the Jewish state by saying that he does not see himself as representing the country at Sunday evening's awards ceremony.

The film "Ajami", directed by Israeli Arab Scandar Copti and his Jewish colleague Yaron Shani is a contender in the best foreign film category.

It portrays Jews and Arabs in the mixed Ajami district of south Tel Aviv, divided not only by religion but also by clan and ethnicity yet thrown together in the neighbourhood's criminal underworld. More...

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Daughter's tribute to mother dying of cancer...

A YouTube clip of 16-year-old Sarah Phillips' emotional tribute to her dying mother is set to become an internet sensation after getting thousands of hits online.

After saying an emotional farewell to her dying mother, Sarah Phillips, 16, decided to produce a personal tribute to Debbie Phillips's four-year battle against cancer.

Alone in her bedroom, Sarah read the words of the song "Autumn", by Scottish singer Paulo Nutini, from the internet. More...

'Hobbit' find in Indonesia survives critics, proving to be early dwarf human species...

Hunched over a picnic table in a limestone cave, the Indonesian researcher gingerly fingers the bones of a giant rat for clues to the origins of a tiny human.

This world turned upside down may once have existed here, on the remote island of Flores, where an international team is trying to shed light on the fossilized 18,000-year-old skeleton of a dwarf cavewoman whose discovery in 2003 was an international sensation.

Her scientific name is Homo floresiensis, her nickname is "the hobbit," and the hunt is on to prove that she and the dozen other hobbits since discovered are not a quirk of nature but members of a distinct hominid species. More...

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Un couple s'occupait d'un enfant virtuel, mais a laissé mourir de faim son propre bébé...

Un couple sud-coréen trop occupé par un jeu sur Internet consistant à s'occuper d'un enfant virtuel, a laissé mourir de faim son propre bébé de trois mois. L'homme âgé de 41 ans et sa compagne de 25 ans ont été arrêtés hier, cinq mois après avoir déclaré le décès de leur bébé. Depuis le décès, le couple était en fuite.

Le bébé né prématurément avait été découvert mort le 24 septembre et une autopsie avait révélé qu'il était mort de malnutrition. Le couple sans emploi nourrissait le bébé seulement une fois par jour. L'homme et la femme qui s'étaient rencontrés sur Internet occupaient leurs journées à élever un enfant virtuel appelé Anima, dans le cadre d'un jeu de rôle en ligne baptisé "Prius Online". Suite...

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Deux musulmanes ne peuvent prendre l'avion après leur refus du scanner...

Deux musulmanes n'ont pas pu prendre le vol qui devait les conduire du Royaume-Uni au Pakistan après avoir refusé de se soumettre à un scanner corporel, arguant de motifs religieux et médicaux, ont indiqué jeudi des responsables d'un aéroport.

Il s'agirait des premiers cas au Royaume-Uni de personnes n'ayant pu embarquer depuis que les scanners corporels ont été rendus obligatoires le 1er février pour les passagers sélectionnés dans les aéroports en étant équipés. Suite...

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La Commission Européenne, fan des OGM...

Au moins c’est clair : depuis des années, José Manuel Barroso fait tout ce qu’il peut pour les imposer à des peuples européens plus que réticents. Faisant fi de l’opinion très réservé des dirigeants des pays de l’Union, qui se sont déjà opposés à lui, il essaie à nouveau aujourd’hui.

Ce n’est pas la première fois que Bruxelles cherche à imposer sa volonté aux Etats européens, même si les nombreux échecs de 2009 l’ont incité à choisir une démarche plus suggestive. En effet, il y a un an, une majorité qualifiée d’Etats avaient imposé sa volonté au président de la Commission Européenne en s’opposant à sa volonté d’imposer la commercialisation du maïs Monsanto aux pays qui l’avait interdit en utilisant la clause de sauvegarde. Suite...

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