December Demises
All newswires on the Big Grid related the followingin regards to the above photo (credits below):
"Icicles hang from a statue of Abraham Lincoln in front of the
"Icicles hang from a statue of Abraham Lincoln in front of the
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library in Springfield, Ill.,
Sunday, Dec. 9, 2007. The brunt of an icy winter storm system
hit central Illinois leaving up to a quarter of an inch of ice accumulation
and creating dangerous driving conditions."
(And killing six people - don't be afraid to mention that all-important fact now...! Abe would approve of it being mentioned...
Here's to the Six - GOD Did not forget them either.)
(AP Photo/Seth Perlman)
And there were, of course, many more demises
in this month of December...
Among them:
A mere few days before dying, Evel Knievel had settled out of court with Kanye West pretty much in the beginnings of a dispute over the use, by West, of many of Evel Knievel's trademarks of sorts, including the name "Evel Kanyevel"...
In making peace before he went on his greatest stunt tour of all, Evel Knievel showed off one important aspect that we all knew of already, I do believe; Evel wasn't evil.
That stated - this is still the man who went after a PR man with a baseball bat in 1977, after the latter man had written a book about E.K. that the stuntman found less than flattering...
(And killing six people - don't be afraid to mention that all-important fact now...! Abe would approve of it being mentioned...
Here's to the Six - GOD Did not forget them either.)
(AP Photo/Seth Perlman)
And there were, of course, many more demises
in this month of December...
Among them:
A mere few days before dying, Evel Knievel had settled out of court with Kanye West pretty much in the beginnings of a dispute over the use, by West, of many of Evel Knievel's trademarks of sorts, including the name "Evel Kanyevel"...
In making peace before he went on his greatest stunt tour of all, Evel Knievel showed off one important aspect that we all knew of already, I do believe; Evel wasn't evil.
That stated - this is still the man who went after a PR man with a baseball bat in 1977, after the latter man had written a book about E.K. that the stuntman found less than flattering...
While not being evil per say, Evel sure had a temper... to spare!
Along with The Six Million Dollar Man, Steve Austin,
the Bionic Woman and, maybe, Tarzan Ron Ely,
Evel Knievel was one of my 1970s TV HEROES...
The one who bridged the gap between
Bobby Orr and Aquaman!
It is always deeply saddening to lose a hero.
Which brings me to the next departee...
Dan.
Dan Fogelberg's anthem about the Leader of *his* Band was always a favorite song of mine - ever moreso in March of 2006 when it took on a very personal meaning for me.
I'm disappointed to see someone else lose a Leader - like him.
My condolences to his offspring, to his wife and entire Band...
Tomar, seen in this photo taken last January,
Dan.
Dan Fogelberg's anthem about the Leader of *his* Band was always a favorite song of mine - ever moreso in March of 2006 when it took on a very personal meaning for me.
I'm disappointed to see someone else lose a Leader - like him.
My condolences to his offspring, to his wife and entire Band...
Tomar, seen in this photo taken last January,
was suffering kidney failure.
(CBC)
There are so few tigers left
to lose but one of these noble beasts
is a tragedy in itself.
That it was Tomar
is even more disheartening.
What happened on this damn planet
that such creatures have no place on it anymore
and even the gentler specimens, kept in a zoo,
meet an early demise.
Hear ye, poachers and other killers -
your days are numbered too
for soon there will only be
Tony, Tigger and Hobbes left
as tigers on this earth.
Good luck with the career
(translation: rot in hell)
R.I.P. TOMAR
There were many more deaths to repertoriate
I may have missed more than a lot too
(as I have surely done over the entire year)
- oh well, I am not to *officially* keep score anyway
and I won't be doing this Lugubrious thing
forevermore either...!
Those that I did catch are *all*
in the comments section.
And may they all rest in peace.
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There are so few tigers left
to lose but one of these noble beasts
is a tragedy in itself.
That it was Tomar
is even more disheartening.
What happened on this damn planet
that such creatures have no place on it anymore
and even the gentler specimens, kept in a zoo,
meet an early demise.
Hear ye, poachers and other killers -
your days are numbered too
for soon there will only be
Tony, Tigger and Hobbes left
as tigers on this earth.
Good luck with the career
(translation: rot in hell)
R.I.P. TOMAR
There were many more deaths to repertoriate
I may have missed more than a lot too
(as I have surely done over the entire year)
- oh well, I am not to *officially* keep score anyway
and I won't be doing this Lugubrious thing
forevermore either...!
Those that I did catch are *all*
in the comments section.
And may they all rest in peace.
+++
Labels: Aqsa Parvez, Benazir Bhutto, Dan Fogelberg, Diane Middlebrook, Evel Knievel, Ike Turner, Oscar Peterson, Tomar
posted by Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ @ 1:59 AM
68 comments
68 Comments:
This month though, I'll start off with a very personal note.
My thoughts go to to those who are spending a FIRST CHRISTMAS WITHOUT A DEAR ONE...
The Knievels, the Fogelbergs, the Middlebrooks and every other family affected all throughout this year by the untimely demise of a family member are in that same boat - that I have been in last year and still feel on right now as I "pen" these words here, on the keyboard.
I know a family that is spending a first Christmas without *their* leader of the band - three daughters and a (supposedly) grieving wife and mother. They've lost their patriarch and head of their branch of the family; I can only suppose they feel as I did last year and actually still feel this year and expect, in fact, to feel always.
Yes, YOU know who you are.
And I think of you, on this first Christmas without the father of the family for you - when YOU did not think of ME during my first Christmas effectively fatherless.
Bless you - De Limas!
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Iconic daredevil Evel Knievel dies at 69
By MITCH STACY,
Associated Press Writer
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Evel Knievel's hard life killed him — it just took longer than he or anyone else might have expected.
The hard-living motorcycle daredevil, whose bone-breaking, rocket-powered jumps and stunts made him an international icon in the 1970s, died Friday. He was 69.
He had been in failing health for years, suffering from diabetes and pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable condition that scarred his lungs. He had undergone a liver transplant in 1999 after nearly dying of hepatitis C, likely contracted through a blood transfusion after one of his many spills. He also suffered two strokes in recent years.
Longtime friend and promoter Billy Rundle said Knievel had trouble breathing at his Clearwater condominium and died before an ambulance could get him to a hospital.
"It's been coming for years, but you just don't expect it. Superman just doesn't die, right?" said Rundle, organizer of the annual "Evel Knievel Days" festival in the daredevil's Butte, Mont., hometown.
Knievel's son Kelly, 47, said he had visited his father in Clearwater for Thanksgiving.
"I think he lived 20 years longer than most people would have" after so many injuries, Kelly Knievel said. "I think he willed himself into an extra five or six years."
Immortalized in the Washington's Smithsonian Institution as "America's Legendary Daredevil," Knievel was best known for a failed attempt to jump an Idaho canyon on a rocket-powered cycle and a spectacular crash at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. He suffered nearly 40 broken bones before he retired in 1980.
For the tall, thin daredevil, the limelight was always comfortable, the gab glib. There always were mountains to climb, feats to conquer.
"No king or prince has lived a better life," he told The Associated Presss in May 2006. "You're looking at a guy who's really done it all. And there are things I wish I had done better, not only for me but for the ones I loved."
He garbed himself in red, white and blue and had a knack for outrageous yarns: "Made $60 million, spent 61. ...Lost $250,000 at blackjack once. ... Had $3 million in the bank, though."
His death came just two days after it was announced that he and rapper Kanye West had settled a federal lawsuit over the use of Knievel's trademarked image in a popular West music video.
Although he dropped off the pop culture radar in the '80s, Knievel enjoyed a resurgence in popularity in recent years. He made a good living selling autographs and endorsing products. Thousands came to Butte every year as his legend was celebrated during "Evel Knievel Days."
"They started out watching me bust my ass, and I became part of their lives," Knievel said. "People wanted to associate with a winner, not a loser. They wanted to associate with someone who kept trying to be a winner."
He began his daredevil career in 1965 when he formed a troupe called Evel Knievel's Motorcycle Daredevils, a touring show in which he performed stunts such as riding through fire walls, jumping over live rattlesnakes and mountain lions and being towed at 200 mph behind dragster race cars.
In 1966 he began touring alone, barnstorming the West and doing everything from driving the trucks, erecting the ramps and promoting the shows. In the beginning he charged $500 for a jump over two cars parked between ramps.
He steadily increased the length of the jumps until, on New Year's Day 1968, he was nearly killed when he jumped 151 feet across the fountains in front of Caesar's Palace. He cleared the fountains but the crash landing put him in a coma for a month.
His son Robbie Knievel followed in his father's daredevil footsteps and successfully completed the same jump in April 1989.
In the years after the crash, the fee for the elder Knievel's performances increased to $1 million for his jump over 13 buses at Wembley Stadium in London — the crash landing broke his pelvis — to more than $6 million for the Sept. 8, 1974, attempt to clear the Snake River Canyon in Idaho in a rocket-powered "Skycycle." The money came from ticket sales, paid sponsors and ABC's "Wide World of Sports."
The parachute malfunctioned and deployed after takeoff. Strong winds blew the cycle into the canyon, landing him close to the swirling river below.
On Oct. 25, 1975, he jumped 14 Greyhound buses at Kings Island in Ohio.
Knievel decided to retire after a jump in the winter of 1976 in which he was again seriously injured. He suffered a concussion and broke both arms in an attempt to jump a tank full of live sharks in the Chicago Amphitheater. He continued to do smaller exhibitions around the country with his son, Robbie.
Many of his records have been broken by daredevil motorcyclist Bubba Blackwell.
Knievel also dabbled in movies and TV, starring as himself in "Viva Knievel" and with Lindsey Wagner in an episode of the 1980s TV series "Bionic Woman." George Hamilton and Sam Elliott each played Knievel in movies about his life.
Evel Knievel toys accounted for more than $300 million in sales for Ideal and other companies in the 1970s and '80s.
Born Robert Craig Knievel in the copper mining town of Butte on Oct. 17, 1938, Knievel was raised by his grandparents. He traced his career choice back to the time he saw Joey Chitwood's Auto Daredevil Show at age 8.
Outstanding in track and field, ski jumping and ice hockey at Butte High School, he went on to win the Northern Rocky Mountain Ski Association Class A Men's ski jumping championship in 1957 and played with the Charlotte Clippers of the Eastern Hockey League in 1959.
He also formed the Butte Bombers semiprofessional hockey team, acting as owner, manager, coach and player.
Knievel also worked in the Montana copper mines, served in the Army, ran his own hunting guide service, sold insurance and ran Honda motorcycle dealerships. At various times and in different interviews, Knievel claimed to have been a swindler, a card thief, a safe cracker, a holdup man.
Evel Knievel married his hometown girlfriend, Linda Joan Bork, in 1959. They separated in the early 1990s. They had four children, Kelly, Robbie, Tracey and Alicia.
Robbie Knievel followed in his father's footsteps as a daredevil, jumping a moving locomotive in a 200-foot, ramp-to-ramp motorcycle stunt on live television in 2000. He also jumped a 200-foot-wide chasm of the Grand Canyon.
Knievel lived with his longtime partner, Krystal Kennedy-Knievel, splitting his time between their Clearwater condo and Butte. They married in 1999 and divorced a few years later but remained together. Knievel had 10 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
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Court rules employee worked to death
Fri Nov 30, 12:18 PM
TOKYO (Reuters) - A Toyota Motor Corp employee died of overwork after logging more than 106 hours of overtime in a month, a judge ruled Friday, reversing a ministry's earlier decision not to pay compensation to his widow.
The Toyota Labor Standards Inspection office, a local branch of Japan's labor ministry, refused to pay the widow the usual compensation for a spouse's work-related death, saying the man had only logged 45 hours of overtime in the month before he died, Japanese media reported.
But the court ruled that the employee had worked far more than that, said Yomiuri Online, a Japanese news website. The Nagoya District Court in central Japan said the ruling overturned the labor ministry's decision.
"We want to think of how to respond to this ruling by discussing it with relevant agencies," an official at the Toyota Labor Standards Inspection Office told Reuters.
The employee, who was working at a Toyota factory in central Japan, died of irregular heartbeat in February 2002 after passing out in the factory around 4 a.m.
"(The employee) worked for extremely long hours and the relationship between his work and death is strong," Yomiuri Online quoted Judge Toshiro Tamiya as saying.
Overworking is a serious issue in Japan, where an average worker uses less than 50 percent of paid holidays, according to government data.
In fiscal year 2005-2006, the labor ministry received 315 requests for compensation from the bereaved families of workers who died of strokes and other illnesses seen as work-related.
Toyota said in a statement it would further improve the management of its employees' health.
(Reporting by Yoko Kubota; Additional reporting by Chang-Ran Kim)
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
*
No Photo Available.
hey Canada is that way already in the white collar as well as the patch. Know some CA's that have to work 16 hours a day14 days or more and get no overtime. Seems the guys at the top that have no family life feel the under dogs should have no family life as well
POSTED BY: janandwolf on SUN, DEC 02, 2007 03:21 AM -0500
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No Photo Available.
The sad thing about this story is that nothing will change. Japanese will still be required to work insane hours, out of either outright demand or implicit peer/group pressure. (It should be noted that long hours does not always translate to hard hours in Japan, but that's beside the point in this case.) The factory I work at JP has two "no-overtime" days a week.... that means, the other five (yes, five, not three) days are overtime days. But, people just accept it here. It's thier own fault.
POSTED BY: BillyJoeMcgee53 on SUN, DEC 02, 2007 03:12 AM -0500
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head_banger_yyc
dang, now the car he passed out making will have a defect
POSTED BY: head_banger_yyc on SUN, DEC 02, 2007 03:08 AM -0500
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No Photo Available.
The company I worked for closed, forcing everyone out of work. I found a new job but have to wait for a year before getting any holidays. I understand from other employees that two weeks off is all I will ever get with this company. In Europe they start with a month off each year and are forced to take it. What are we doing wrong??
POSTED BY: Lights out on SUN, DEC 02, 2007 03:07 AM -0500
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No Photo Available.
Not much different than alberta in the patch.. 24 on, 4 off.. and some companies force you to do drive time on the 4 days off.. 80-90 hour weeks are pretty common...close to 200 hours overtime a month.
POSTED BY: debauche on SUN, DEC 02, 2007 02:48 AM -0500
1 - 5 of 50 More...
Or less...
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Cannon explodes during salute, killing two
Thu Nov 29, 9:20 AM
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A 200-year-old cannon wheeled out by Indian villagers to greet a visiting minister exploded after being overstuffed with gunpowder, killing two men, a newspaper reported Thursday.
Residents of Badoli village in western India's Rajasthan state had planned the gun salute Tuesday evening to welcome Kirodi Lal Meena, a state minister, the Times of India reported.
The minister left immediately after the accident, which also injured six other people.
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
*
No Photo Available.
Stupid fukin packies!
POSTED BY: weekender on SAT, DEC 01, 2007 09:10 PM -0500
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andrew555van...
short article
POSTED BY: andrew555van... on FRI, NOV 30, 2007 06:14 PM -0500
*
No Photo Available.
It only makes sense that old technology is forgotten and underused. The people firing it had probably never used one before (nor will they again). This is one of our biggest problems. We forget the past and jump on the silicon future where our species is forced to adapt again and again to use crap we never needed in the first place. It's too bad they weren't firing at a bank.
POSTED BY: oobymach on FRI, NOV 30, 2007 04:53 PM -0500
1 - 3 of 3 More...
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Rapper Pimp C found dead in LA hotel
Tue Dec 4, 4:55 PM ET
LOS ANGELES - Pimp C, one-half of the veteran Houston rap group UGK, was found dead in an upscale hotel on Tuesday. He was 33.
"It is with great regret that I must confirm that Chad Butler aka Pimp C, one half of the legendary UGK, was in fact discovered dead this morning," his publicist, Nancy Byron, said in a statement. "Manager Rick Martin is asking that everyone please respect his family and those close to him at this time and refrain from rumors and innuendo."
Pimp C, born Chad Butler, was found dead in the Mondrian hotel, a longtime music-industry hangout.
Butler and his partner, Bernard "Bun B" Freeman, were pioneers of Southern rap, and hit the mainstream with their cameo on Jay-Z's smash "Big Pimpin'." Though they never enjoyed the pop-chart success of some other rappers, their 1996 CD "Ridin' Dirty" is considered a rap classic, and their laid-back sound, complete with gangsta tales of creeping through humid streets gripping wood-grain steering wheels, was influential in shaping the Southern rap movement.
The duo's career was derailed when Butler was jailed for three years in 2002 on gun charges. He released an album while in prison, and this year the group made a comeback with the critically acclaimed album "Underground Kingz," which included the hit "Int'l Player's Anthem (I Choose You)," featuring OutKast.
Barry Weiss, CEO of their record label, Jive, said in a statement: "We mourn the unexpected loss of Chad. He was truly a thoughtful and kind-hearted person. He will be remembered for his talent and profound influence as a pioneer in bringing southern rap to the forefront."
Butler, who grew up in Port Arthur, Texas, came from a musical lineage. His father was a professional trumpet player, and the rapper studied classical music in high school. He even received a Division I rating on a tenor solo at a University Interscholastic League choir competition.
"That's how I came up listening to everything," he told The Associated Press in a 2005 interview. "Music don't have no color or no face. It's a universal language. I think being exposed to all that kind of stuff influences the way I make records."
But it was rap music that would become his passion. Together with Bernard "Bun B" Freeman, Butler's friend since junior high, they started UGK, short for Underground Kingz.
R.I.P.
P.C.
(no double meaning there)
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Kabul hit by another bomber
KABUL, Afghanistan,
Dec. 5 (UPI) --
A suicide car bomber bloodied the streets of Kabul, Afghanistan, for a second day in a row Wednesday, this time killing at least 13 people and wounding a dozen.
The back-to-back attacks -- the first one Tuesday claimed at least two lives and injured 20 people -- coincide with a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
The BBC reported the latest bomber drove a small car close to a bus carrying Afghan soldiers during morning rush hour and detonated his deadly cargo. The Defense Ministry said the blast killed six soldiers and seven civilians, the British network said.
The earlier attack, involving an explosives-packed van, apparently targeted a NATO convoy close to the Kabul airport but the victims were all reported to be Afghans.
Gates, who is in Kabul assessing the rising violence in Afghanistan and meeting with President Hamid Karzai, blamed the increase, in part, on an offensive against Taliban militants by international troops, the BBC said.
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Four killed by Israelis in Gaza
GAZA, Dec. 2 (UPI) --
An Israeli rocket attack on southern Gaza killed five Hamas fighters early Saturday.
The Health Ministry in Gaza reported that another eight were wounded by a helicopter attack that followed the strike near the village of Abassan, The New York Times reported. Some of the wounded were members of the Popular Resistance Committees.
A firefight on the northern border later in the day left one person dead and three wounded.
Hamas, which controls Gaza, said that the men attacked near Abassan were on a night patrol to keep Israeli forces from crossing the border.
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Judge denies new sentence in lawyer murder
STOCKTON, Calif.,
Dec. 4 (UPI) --
A California judge has refused to reduce the prison sentence of a woman who helped a friend dispose of the body of her husband, who was poisoned.
Sarah Dutra had been sentenced to 11 years for her role in the 2001 death of Sacramento attorney Larry McNabney, a crime that San Joaquin County Superior Judge Clark Sueyres Monday called an act of "unparalleled callousness."
Dutra was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the case and was given the maximum sentence. An appeals court earlier this year sent the case back to the San Joaquin courts where Sueyres considered a motion to re-sentence her to a lesser six-year term.
The Sacramento Bee said Tuesday that had Sueyres agreed to reduce Dutra's sentence, she could have been eligible for immediate release. She will instead spend another four years in prison.
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Decomposed body parts found in river
NEW YORK,
Dec. 6 (UPI) --
New York police say decomposed body parts were pulled from the Harlem River near the spot where a man allegedly killed his mother and brother.
Lamar Platt, 23, allegedly has confessed to killing Marlene Platt and Nashawn Platt and dumping their bodies in the river off Roberto Clemente State Park, the New York Post said Wednesday.
Platt, who is being held without bail, allegedly told police he fatally shot his brother and mother Nov. 18 and then spent several days cutting the bodies into pieces. He then allegedly used a shopping cart to carry the body parts to the park over a three-day period, the newspaper said.
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Israeli airstrike kills three
JERUSALEM, Dec. 5 (UPI) --
An Israeli airstrike in Gaza killed three members of Hamas' military wing, Israeli military sources said.
The sources said the airstrike targeted a terrorist cell that was planning to fire mortal shells into Israel, Ynetnews reported Wednesday.
A mortar shell fired from Gaza landed in the Kissufim area near Israel's border with the territory Tuesday, inflicting minor injuries on an Israeli soldier. A second soldier suffered from shock as a result of the explosion.
Four Israeli soldiers suffered minor injuries Sunday when a mortar shell landed inside a military base near the Kibbutz community of Nahal Oz.
Also Sunday, two Palestinian gunmen were killed by an Israeli tank missile after they attempted to approach the border fence.
Meanwhile, troops from Israel's Golani Brigade shot and killed three Palestinian gunmen who were attempting to plant explosives near the fence Sunday.
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THE OMAHA MALL SHOOTING RAMPAGE
Gunman may have smuggled rifle in shirt
By OSKAR GARCIA,
Associated Press Writer
4 minutes ago
OMAHA, Neb. - The teenage gunman who went on a shooting rampage in a department store may have smuggled an assault rifle into the mall underneath clothing, police said Thursday. Police Chief Thomas Warren said the young man "appeared to be concealing something balled up in a hooded sweat shirt" he was carrying, according to a surveillance video.
The teen entered the store Wednesday using an elevator, and moments later, gunfire pierced through the notes of Christmas music at the Westroads Mall's Von Maur department store. People huddled in dressing rooms and barricaded themselves in offices as 19-year-old Robert A. Hawkins sprayed the floor with bullets.
Six store employees and two customers were killed. When the shooting was over, Hawkins shot himself.
The mall was closed Thursday as authorities continued to investigate what may have motivated the teen to go on the shooting spree. The shooting spree was Nebraska's deadliest since January 1958, when Charles Starkweather killed 10 people in Nebraska and another in Wyoming.
"We will not accept this evil action to occur in our community," Omaha Mayor Mike Fahey said at a news conference.
Police believe Hawkins stole the assault rifle, an AK-47, from his stepfather's home, Warren said. Hawkins either was kicked out or left home some time ago, and moved in with Debora Maruca-Kovac and her husband, whose sons were friends with him, Maruca-Kovac said.
Attempts to reach Hawkins' biological parents on Thursday by The Associated Press were unsuccessful. A man who answered at a phone number listed for Hawkins' father, Ronald Hawkins, said it was a wrong number. Nobody answered the door at the home of Maribel Rodriguez of Bellevue on Thursday. Court records list her as Hawkins' mother.
Hawkins was described by many as having a troubled past. He recently split with his girlfriend and been fired from McDonald's. He also had a criminal record and had left or been kicked out of his parents' house.
He dropped out of Papillion-La Vista High School as a senior in March 2006, principal James Glover said Thursday. While he wasn't a loner, he had a very small group of friends and was not involved in extracurricular activities, Glover said.
"It was never a situation where he was out of the loop because people were picking on him," Glover said.
About an hour before the shooting, Hawkins called her and told her he had written a suicide note, Maruca-Kovac said. In the note, which was turned over to authorities, Hawkins wrote that he was "sorry for everything" and would not be a burden on his family anymore. More ominously, he wrote, "Now I'll be famous."
"I was fearful that he was going to try to commit suicide but I had no idea that he would involve so many other families," she told CBS' "The Early Show," Thursday.
Records in Sarpy and Washington counties showed Hawkins had a felony drug conviction and several misdemeanor cases filed against him, including an arrest 11 days before the shooting for having alcohol as a minor. He was due in court in two weeks.
When the shots began, the store descended into chaos.
Mickey Vickroy, who worked in the store's third-floor service department, said she heard shots and went with coworkers and customers into a back closet, emerging about a half-hour later when police shouted to come out with their hands up. As police led them to another part of the mall for safety, they saw the victims.
"We saw the bodies and we saw the blood," she said.
Witness Shawn Vidlak said the shots sounded like a nail gun. At first he thought it was noise from construction work at the mall.
"People started screaming about gunshots," Vidlak said. "I grabbed my wife and kids. We got out of there as fast as we could."
Omaha attorney Jeff Schaffart, 34, was shopping with his wife and, after fleeing, realized he had been hit by two bullets, one in the upper arm and another grazing his left pinkie finger.
While hiding in a restroom, Schaffart said, he used his necktie as a tourniquet for his arm wound and put napkins on his finger to stop the bleeding. He was later treated and released at a hospital.
The customers killed were Gary Scharf, 48 of Lincoln and John McDonald, 65, of Council Bluffs, Iowa. The employees killed were Angie Schuster, 36, of Omaha; Maggie Webb, 24; Janet Jorgensen, 66 of Omaha; Diane Trent, 53 of Omaha; Gary Joy, 56 of Omaha; and Beverly Flynn, 47, of Omaha, police said.
Nebraska Medical Center spokeswoman Andrea McMaster said the hospital had three victims from the mall shooting, including Fred Wilson, 61, who was in critical condition early Thursday with a bullet wound to his chest.
Micky Oldham, 65, was in stable condition at Creighton University Medical Center. Oldham, who was shot once in the abdomen and once in the back, underwent surgery Wednesday to repair injuries, Dr. Leon Sykes said.
The sprawling, three-level mall has more than 135 stores and restaurants. It gets 14.5 million visitors every year, according to its Web site.
It was the second mass shooting at a mall this year. In February, nine people were shot, five of them fatally, at Trolley Square mall in Salt Lake City. The gunman, 18-year-old Sulejman Talovic, was shot and killed by police.
___
Associated Press Writer Anna Jo Bratton contributed to this report.
(This version CORRECTS spelling of Vickroy.)
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Families Talk About Lives Lost
Victims Ages 24-66 Were Employees, Customers
POSTED: 2:01 pm CST December 5, 2007
UPDATED: 4:11 pm CST December 6, 2007
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OMAHA, Neb. -- A woman who had just celebrated her golden anniversary, a woman adored by her nieces and nephew and a man who loved river rafting are among the dead after a gunman opened fire at an Omaha mall on Wednesday, killing himself and eight others.
Names of the victims were revealed by Police Chief Thomas Warren on Thursday. They are: Gary Scharf, 48, a customer and resident of Lincoln; John McDonald, 65, a customer and resident of Council Bluffs, Iowa; Angie Schuster, 36, an employee; Maggie Webb, 24, an employee; Janet Jorgenson, 66, an employee; Diane Trent, 53, an employee; Gary Joy, 56, an employee; and Beverly Flynn, 47, an employee.
Jorgensen's sister-in-law said the victim had three children and eight grandchildren. She and her husband had just celebrated 50 years of marriage. She was a member of St. James Parish, and the family said she loved working at Von Maur in the crystal department. She also did a lot of charity work.
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Schuster's family said in a statement that she was born in Dubuque, Iowa, and graduated from the University of Northern Iowa in 1994 with a degree in education. She worked as the manager of the girls department of Von Maur on the third floor. She had worked at Von Maur for about 10 years.
"Angie was a very sweet and tender person and was loved by everyone that knew her," the statement said. "Angie was a devoted sister and aunt. She was very close to both of her sisters who live in Nebraska. She was a wonderful aunt to her two nieces and her nephew. She really loved children and talked about her nieces and nephew all the time. She was in love with her boyfriend and very happy about the life they were planning together. Angie always kept in touch with all the friends she made throughout her life and had many devoted friends around the country that she knew from college and her childhood."
P.J. McDonald is a chaplain for the Clive Fire and Police Departments. He told KETV sister station KCCI on Thursday morning that his brother was at the mall Christmas shopping with his wife when he was shot.
"People enjoying their Christmas shopping on a pleasant afternoon, and then to have nine lives lost -- one of them my brother. It's a terrible thing," McDonald said. "My brother was a gentle soul. If there was one thing that would be a characteristic of his, it was the fact that he did not like violence."
McDonald said he hopes that people watching this story from around the world will take a moment to look at their own lives.
"I again invite people observing this to take sometime and think about where we are with some of our violent acts that we no longer need to entertain, and just softening of the heart," the chaplain said.
Despite his training, McDonald said he isn't functioning well right now.
"I can be a chaplain for other people, but on my own behalf, I am useless. I am devastated by this horrible turn of events," he said. "When I heard it, I had no response. I sat there and cried. That's all I could do."
The grieving brother said he remembers a wonderful soul.
"Happy memories of summertime, when we would go river rafting, the Salmon River in Idaho was one of our favorite places, we would go fishing or sometimes we'd just meet and just sit and talk," he said.
Von Maur employee Janice Hopkins watched as the names of the victims were read on Thursday morning. Hopkins worked beside many of them, including Flynn -- a mother of three and fellow gift wrapper.
"This was her second season. She was also a real estate agent -- did this for Christmas because she thought it was fun and she liked the discount. Didn't do it for the money, she liked working," Hopkins said.
Dave Moody was Flynn's office manager. He said she was a wonderful real estate agent and well-respected.
Counselors were expected at the NP Dodge office at 1 p.m. Thursday and employees planned to take a collection for the family.
Creighton University said two of its employees in the Undergraduate Admissions Office are mourning the loss of family members. Gail Bachtell's aunt, Jorgensen, and Deb Kolar's cousin, Trent, are among those who died.
Creighton University Medical Center trauma director Dr. Leon Sykes said Joy was the first victim who arrived at their trauma center. He was dead on arrival. Flynn had a gunshot wound to chest and minimal life signs, the doctors said, but emergency medical technicians were doing CPR and she was taken to surgery. After 45 minutes, she was pronounced dead.
Wounded Man Called 'Joyful'
The wounded: are Fred Wilson, 61, and Michelle Oldham, 65, who were both critical but stable on Thursday morning.
At 11 a.m. Thursday, Wilson had been upgraded to serious. Doctors said he was hit in the arm and they hope to save the limb.
Speaking from the medical center on Thursday afternoon, Wilson's family said their hearts go to the families' of the dead. They said they've spent a lot of time with Wilson, and he reacts to them a little bit.
Family said Wilson loves his second career in customer service, after retiring from teaching in Iowa. They said his interests are wide a varied, and he is passionate about his hobbies. They said he's a joyful person and it's contagious.
Oldham had taken two gunshot wounds; one to the abdomen and one to the back, Sykes said. She was taken into surgery, and on Thursday morning was in intensive care.
Jeff Schafford, 34, and Brad Stafford, 55, were both treated and released.
A fifth person hospitalized after the shooting apparently had a medical condition unrelated, and was not identified, Warren said.
Copyright 2007 by KETV.com. All rights reserved.
(Gimme a break, KETV - I only got a fourth of your precious article on this tragedy; for the rest of the article, click here and hope, PRAY it is still there.)
+++
Ah - here is the news story that froze Abe over; his statue, that is.
Surely Cheryl mentions those who actually lost their lives in the course of this latest sign that "mother nature" is mad at us all...
Ice storm coats nation's middle; 6 dead
By CHERYL WITTENAUER,
Associated Press Writer
38 minutes ago
ST. LOUIS - An ice storm slickened roads and sidewalks, grounded hundreds of flights, and cut power to tens of thousands Sunday in a swath from the Southern Plains to the Great Lakes as even colder weather threatened.
The wintry weather was expected to continue through midweek, and ice storm warnings stretched from Texas to Pennsylvania.
"Tomorrow may be even more of a dilemma than today because we're going to get even a little bit more colder," said John Pike, a meteorologist in the Weather Service's office in Norman, Okla.
Six traffic deaths were blamed on icy roads in Oklahoma. Roads along much of the state were considered slick and hazardous by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, with two sections of Interstate 40 being closed temporarily.
More than 130,000 customers lost power in Missouri, Oklahoma, Illinois and Kansas, utilities reported.
Some communities in Missouri reported ice as thick as three-quarters of an inch, the National Weather Service said.
"The rural roads are pretty rough, the main highways are pretty clear, and the overpasses are slick," said John Christiansen, emergency management director in Missouri's St. Clair County.
Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard.
Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, one of the nation's busiest, canceled more than 400 flights. The airports in Kansas City, Mo., and St. Louis also canceled several flights.
Places of worship across the region called off services because of the slippery roads. Roads in all but the southeastern corner of Oklahoma were considered slick and hazardous, the state Department of Transportation said.
Chicago officials used the city's emergency phone system to deliver recorded warnings to about 2,700 elderly residents that sidewalks were icy and slippery.
___
Associated Press writers Jeff Latzke in Oklahoma City and Heather Hollingsworth in Kansas City, Mo., contributed to this report.
+++
OTHER NEWS OF INTEREST, AT THE SAME TIME:
As of 1:21 a.m. EST • Four die in two Colorado church-related attacks
• U.S. and China oppose mandatory caps on greenhouse gases
• Detained AP photographer gets first criminal hearing
• GOP hopefuls temper anti-immigrant talk at debate - '08 race
• Texas man mysteriously dies after allegedly beating wife
• Soft U.S. economy and recent recalls squeeze toy industry
• 'Golden Compass' underperforms at box office
Controversy
I must say that the Texas wife beater news story is quite... perplexing.
Some men truly are animals, we all agree with that.
The events, as described by a Plano, Texas TV reporter Brooke Richie, are quite bizarre. With the testimonial of a first-hand witness (a neighbour who helped the wife get away from her enraged husband, 25 year-old Kwame Lombardo) Richie describes a vicious attack from a man clearly, at that point in time, only half-human.
He was clawing and biting his wife, ripping her clothes off in the process. He was hitting her and wouldn't stop when threatened by the neighbour's gun.
Finally, he kept banging against the door where his wife had found refuge and finally made it inside - the adrenaline rush seemed to be too much for his system as he started falling down repeatedly once inside, still aiming to attack though, "like a rabid beast" the neighbour said.
When police came and finally took him away, he was in fact dying. Taken to the hospital, he was pronounced dead shortly.
An autopsy will be performed on the man.
+++
Ice storm causes blackouts, 15 deaths
By KEN MILLER,
Associated Press Writer
10 minutes ago
OKLAHOMA CITY - A wintry storm caked the center of the nation with a thick layer of ice Monday, blacking out more than 600,000 homes and businesses, and more icy weather was on the way. At least 15 deaths in Oklahoma and Missouri were blamed on the conditions, with 13 of them killed on slick highways.
A state of emergency was declared for all of Oklahoma, where the sound of branches snapping under the weight of the ice echoed through Oklahoma City.
"You can hear them falling everywhere," Lonnie Compton said Monday as he shoveled ice off his driveway.
The National Weather Service posted ice and winter storm warnings Tuesday for parts of Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois. Missouri declared an emergency on Sunday and put the National Guard on alert.
Oklahoma utilities said a half-million customers were blacked out as power lines snapped under the weight of ice and falling tree branches, the biggest power outage in state history, and utilities in Missouri said more than 100,000 homes and business had no power there.
"If you do the math, probably one out of three Oklahomans has no electricity at this point," said Gil Broyles, a spokesman for Oklahoma Gas & Electric, the state's largest utility.
Roughly 11,000 customers were blacked out in southern Illinois and more than 5,000 had no electric heat or lights in Kansas, where Gov. Kathleen Sebelius declared a statewide state of emergency.
At O'Hare International Airport, about 100 flights were canceled by Monday afternoon, with delays of about 45 minutes, said Chicago Department of Aviation spokeswoman Karen Pride. No flights were canceled at Midway Airport, but a handful of flights were delayed about an hour, she said.
Ice was as much as an inch thick on tree limbs and power lines in parts of the region.
Schools across Oklahoma were closed and some hospitals were relying on backup power generators. The Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Army Corps of Engineers sent 50 generators and three truckloads of bottled water from Texas to distribute to blacked-out areas of Oklahoma.
Tulsa International Airport had no power for about 10 hours and halted flight operations for the day, and most morning flights at Will Rogers World Airport in Oklahoma City were canceled because of icy runways. Greyhound bus passengers were stranded overnight at a shelter in a church in Tulsa, and were joined by some local residents who had no heat.
Portions of Interstate 35 and Interstate 44 were shut down early Monday afternoon in Oklahoma City after ice-laden power lines collapsed and fell into the roadways.
Oklahoma utility officials said it could be a week or more before power was fully restored.
"This is a big one. We've got a massive situation here and it's probably going to be a week to 10 days before we get power on to everybody," said Ed Bettinger, a spokesman for Public Service Company. "It looks like a war zone."
The Oklahoma City suburb of Jones, a town of 2,500 people, had low water pressure because there was no electricity to run well pumps, and firefighters said an early morning fire destroyed most of the community's high school.
The icy weather stretched into the Northeast, where many schools across upstate New York were closed or started late because of icy roads.
On ice-covered Interstate 40 west of Okemah, Okla., four people died in "one huge cluster of an accident" that involved 11 vehicles, said Highway Patrol Trooper Betsey Randolph.
Eight other people died on icy Oklahoma roads, and Missouri had two storm-related deaths — one on a slippery highway and another when a tree limb fell on a 92-year-old man's head. In addition, a homeless person died of hypothermia in Oklahoma City, the state medical examiner's office said.
___
Associated Press writers Jeff Latzke in Oklahoma City, Marcus Kabel in Springfield, Mo., John Milburn in Topeka, Kan., and Cheryl Wittenauer in St. Louis contributed to this report.
+++
Man falls over railing, pronounced dead at scene during game
ESPN.com news services
Updated: December 10, 2007,
10:17 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO -- A fan attending the Minnesota Vikings-San Francisco 49ers game at Monster Park died when he fell at least 20 feet from an upper concourse to the mezzanine level, team and local police said.
Torrey Kretschman, 31, of Roseville, Calif. went to a concession area near halftime. He fell over a wall that is 4 feet high and 6 inches wide with a 4-inch sloping ledge.
Kretschman likely misjudged the size of the wall and toppled over the edge, police said.
"This person tried to jump up on one of the walls to sit, and he misjudged and he fell," said San Francisco police spokesman Sgt. Neville Gittens said, according to the Chronicle.
According to 49ers vice president Lisa Lang, paramedics worked on the man for about 30 minutes. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
"The police did their investigation, they interviewed witnesses and security, and they are treating it as an accident," Lang said.
383 comments on "Man falls over railing, pronounced dead at scene during game"
*
NecroButcher911
NecroButcher911 (1 day ago)
I am sure at the next game there will be extra security and signs on all of those types of potentially dangerous places around the stadium.
*
avodarox
avodarox (1 day ago)
they should rebuild the park to make it more safe
and I say...
they really should watch these games at home, if they're not able to wander about all alone at the stadium...
More NFL Headlines
* Grossman: I'd like to be back if Bears want me
* Ditka dissolves needy ex-NFL players fund
* NFL updating disability plan for retired players
* Dislocated right ankle lands Cards' Pope on IR
* Ravens' confident Billick: 'I'm going to be back'
+++
Nota Bene:
the ice storm news are also from the first week of December. I realize now that they are undated - sorry about that! I do add them here to keep track of events, inform and reflect about these sad events with each and every one of you; any lack of information undermines that objective of mine...
Ike Turner dead at 76
Wed Dec 12, 8:27 PM
By Bob Tourtellotte
and Dean Goodman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rock 'n' roll pioneer Ike Turner, whose achievements as one of the founding fathers of the genre were overshadowed by ex-wife Tina Turner's claims that he regularly beat her for almost two decades, died on Wednesday at his home near San Diego. He was 76.
His cause of death was not immediately known, said his manager, Scott Hanover.
After years of obscurity, Turner was on a comeback trail of sorts. He won his first Grammy in 35 years this past February for an acclaimed blues album and had been collaborating on musical ideas with producer Danger Mouse, one-half of the pop-soul duo Gnarls Barkley.
The one-time disc jockey arguably invented rock 'n' roll with his 1951 song "Rocket 88," and he enjoyed huge fame in the 1960s and 1970s as the Svengali behind Ike and Tina Turner, a R&B revue that dazzled audiences with high-energy performances of such tunes as "Proud Mary" and "River Deep Mountain High."
But Ike Turner was also a violent man, according to his ex-wife and others including Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who said he saw him pistol-whip a fellow musician.
"Ike acted like a goddamned pimp," Richards told Vanity Fair in 1993.
Tina Turner's memoir, "I, Tina," and a 1993 biopic "What's Love Got to Do With It" turned Ike Turner into one of the most notorious villains in the music industry.
The singer said her ex-husband regularly abused and humiliated her for 16 years, and drove her to attempt suicide in 1968. He cracked her ribs, threw hot coffee in her face, burnt her with a cigarette and punched her in the nose so often she had to have surgery, she said.
Ike told a New York news conference in 1993, "I only punched her with my fist once. I have slapped her, and the times where I slapped her were when she was looking sad."
A spokeswoman for Tina Turner, who lives in semi-retirement in Europe, said, "Tina is aware that Ike passed away earlier today. She has not had any contact with him in over 30 years."
BORN INTO BLUES
Izear Luster Turner was born in 1931 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, an area steeped in the traditions of blues music, and as a boy learned to play piano and was a disc jockey for a local radio station.
He formed his first band in high school and by 1951 was the man behind the Kings of Rhythm and their song "Rocket 88." The Chess Records release was credited to the band's saxophone player Jackie Brenston "and his Delta Cats."
As a guitarist and pianist, Turner played with the likes of B.B. King, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon in the 1950s, and his band performed in the popular style of a revue featuring different vocalists.
One of those singers, a teen-ager named Annie Mae Bullock, joined the revue in 1956, and by 1958 she had changed her name to Tina, joined the band for good and married Turner. In 1972, they won a Grammy for their cover of "Proud Mary."
"Ike's strutting confidence, aggressive approach to rhythm, and snap-tight funkiness -- as well as his enthusiastic understanding of rock and roll showmanship -- all combined to make him a thrilling and influential guitarist," said Michael Molenda, editor in chief of Guitar Player magazine.
But after he and Tina divorced in 1976, Ike Turner was crippled by a cocaine addiction that drained his finances. He was arrested several times, mostly for drug-related offenses.
When the Turners were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1991, Ike Turner could not show up for the ceremony because he was serving time in prison.
As Ike's fortunes dimmed, Tina mounted a huge comeback in the mid-1980s and had hits with songs like "Better Be Good to Me" and "Private Dancer."
Ike Turner eventually tamed his drug addiction and in 1999 his autobiography, "Takin' Back My Name," was published. He won his Grammy this year for "Risin' with the Blues."
(Editing by Bob Tourtellotte and Todd Eastham)
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
* bewitchit
No Photo Available.
We all try our best in life and sometimes people hurt the ones that were their true partners and assets. I think Ike knows this know may god rest his soul
POSTED BY: bewitchit on THU, DEC 13, 2007 02:36 AM -0500
*
Tim
Well, Ike had a troubled life, and obviously if what he was accused of doing is true, his behaviour is unforgivable. Nonetheless, what a talent! And, what a waste, since he never really got credit for what he did. I personally think Nutbush City Limits is one of the 'rockingest' tunes ever created. Sure, Tiny deserves credit too, especially considering what she endured. Such a voice! In any case, let's give Ike his due. RIP, Ike.
POSTED BY: Tim on THU, DEC 13, 2007 02:17 AM -0500
* jonneville49
No Photo Available.
Rest inpeace Ike....we all have our demons whether we like to admit or not
POSTED BY: jonneville49 on THU, DEC 13, 2007 01:38 AM -0500
1 - 3 of 3 More...
R.I.P.
Ike
+++
Bomb kills Lebanese general tipped for army chief
Wed Dec 12, 9:12 PM
By Nadim Ladki
BEIRUT (Reuters) - A car bomb killed a Lebanese army general in a Christian suburb of Beirut on Wednesday, removing a leading contender to replace military chief General Michel Suleiman who is set to be elected president next week.
The attack heightened tension in Lebanon where rivals are embroiled in a struggle over the presidency that has fuelled the biggest political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Brigadier General Francois al-Hajj, head of army operations, and his bodyguard were killed in the early morning blast that hit their car in Baabda, a wealthy area that houses the presidential palace and several embassies.
Hajj was the ninth fatality in a string of assassinations of anti-Syrian politicians and journalists that began with the 2005 killing of ex-premier Rafik al-Hariri.
Politicians from the Western-backed ruling coalition and Hezbollah-led opposition denounced the attack, as did the United States, United Nations, France, Germany, Syria and Iran.
The United States, which cast suspicion on Syria for being behind some earlier assassinations, took a more cautious line this time. "I'm not going to be pointing fingers at anybody today," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters.
Lebanese security sources said 35 kg (77 lb) of explosives packed into an olive-green BMW car were detonated by remote control as Hajj's four-wheel-drive vehicle drove by.
Hajj, 54, had been seen as one of two main contenders for the job of army chief, traditionally a Maronite Christian. The post would fall vacant if parliament elects Suleiman president in a long-delayed vote now slated for Monday.
"The army and the Lebanese people will not succumb to terrorism," Suleiman said in a statement. "(Hajj's) martyrdom strengthens us and reinforces our belief in victory and confidence in Lebanon's future."
Political and religious leaders said the killing showed the need to reduce tensions by electing Suleiman swiftly. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said the military was targeted for its role in preserving Lebanon's security and stability.
SYRIA DENOUNCES
No group claimed responsibility for Hajj's killing.
Some Lebanese politicians accuse Syria of carrying out the string of nine killings. Damascus has denied any involvement.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem denounced the "criminal attack" on Hajj. "We condemn any action that threatens Lebanon," he said.
The White House said it would not assign blame until Lebanon's probe of the latest assassination is complete. But a spokesman said President George W. Bush would "continue to stand with the Lebanese people as they counter those who attempt to undermine their security and freedom."
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon condemned Hajj's killing and calls on the Lebanese for "calm and restraint at this critical juncture in their history."
Hajj helped lead an army onslaught on al Qaeda-inspired militants at the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon this year in which 168 soldiers and about 230 Fatah al-Islam fighters were killed.
"Once he was nominated for the leadership (of the army), they killed him," his father Elias told reporters in the slain officer's village of Rmeish in southern Lebanon. Hajj came from a family of tobacco farmers and was the eldest of 12 children.
The blast wrecked Hajj's car, burnt others and damaged buildings. Charred metal littered the blackened streets.
"We are facing a security catastrophe," said Christian opposition leader Michel Aoun, calling on the interior minister to resign. Visibly shaken, the former army chief told reporters Hajj had been his preference for the top military post.
The army has stayed largely neutral in Lebanon's political turmoil and is regarded as a unifying force.
On Monday, the parliamentary speaker postponed the presidential election to December 17, the eighth delay so far.
Pro- and anti-Syrian factions agreed last week Suleiman should take the presidency, reserved for a Maronite. It has been vacant since the term of Emile Lahoud ended on November 23.
Arab and Western states fear a prolonged vacuum in the presidency could further destabilize Lebanon, where rival camps have accused each other of rearming and training fighters.
(Additional reporting by Laila Bassam and Mohammad Azakir in Beirut, Claudia Parsons at the United Nations and Matt Spetalnick in Washington; Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Alistair Lyon and Robert Woodward)
WHAT OTHERS HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS NEWS STORY
* ffg
No Photo Available.
Another tragic nail in the coffin of Lebanon. Extremism and factional fighting there is tearing the country asunder, and Syria is orchestrating it all. Why the thuggish government of Syria isn't condemned and brought to world court for the criminal entity that it is baffles me. I wonder why the Left never talks about that.
POSTED BY: ffg on THU, DEC 13, 2007 05:59 AM -0500
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Moncton's Tomar the tiger dies
Last Updated: Saturday,
December 8, 2007 4:56 PM AT
CBC News
Tomar the 19-year-old Siberian tiger, beloved mascot of Moncton's Magnetic Hill Zoo, was euthanized Friday night after suffering kidney problems for the past year.
Zoo officials said it was clear the animal was suffering.
When his ill health was first announced last January, the zoo held a special open house to allow the public the chance to see Tomar and say goodbye.
But the tiger made it through another season and the zoo's general manager, Bruce Dougan, said he only showed signs of serious deterioration on Friday.
"He was just like a healthy cat. He was like a bit of a kitten, very playful and demonstrative about his feelings for the keepers," Dougan said. "Even up until Thursday his keeper said that he was being a big goof and playing in the snow. "
Zoo officials will meet on Monday to decide how to commemorate Tomar.
Meanwhile, Dougan said the zoo will likely purchase another tiger down the road, but staff won't think about those plans for some time.
+++
Vigilantes kill 40 women in Iraq's south
By SINAN SALAHEDDIN,
Associated Press Writer
Sun Dec 9, 6:14 PM ET
BAGHDAD - Religious vigilantes have killed at least 40 women this year in the southern Iraqi city of Basra because of how they dressed, their mutilated bodies found with notes warning against "violating Islamic teachings," the police chief said Sunday.
Maj. Gen. Jalil Khalaf blamed sectarian groups that he said were trying to impose a strict interpretation of Islam. They dispatch patrols of motorbikes or unlicensed cars with tinted windows to accost women not wearing traditional dress and head scarves, he added.
"The women of Basra are being horrifically murdered and then dumped in the garbage with notes saying they were killed for un-Islamic behavior," Khalaf told The Associated Press. He said men with Western clothes or haircuts are also attacked in Basra, an oil-rich city some 30 miles from the Iranian border and 340 miles southeast of Baghdad.
"Those who are behind these atrocities are organized gangs who work under cover of religion, pretending to spread the instructions of Islam, but they are far from this religion," Khalaf said.
Throughout Iraq, many women wear a headscarf and others wear a full face veil although secular women are often unveiled. Since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein and the rise of a Shiite-dominated government, armed men in some parts of the country have sometimes forced women to cover their heads or face punishment. In some areas of the heavily Shiite south, even Christian women have been forced to wear headscarves.
Before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, was known for its mixed population and night life. Now, in some areas, red graffiti threatens any woman who wears makeup and appears with her hair uncovered: "Your makeup and your decision to forgo the headscarf will bring you death."
Khalaf said bodies have been found in garbage dumps with bullet holes, decapitated or otherwise mutilated with a sheet of paper nearby saying, "she was killed for adultery," or "she was killed for violating Islamic teachings." In September, the headless bodies of a woman and her 6-year-old son were among those found, he said. A total of 40 deaths were reported this year.
"We believe the number of murdered women is much higher, as cases go unreported by their families who fear reprisal from extremists," he said.
Harith al-Ithari, who works in the Basra offices of the Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, said the conservative religious movement opposed the killings and blamed "gangs with foreign support to destabilize the city."
"There is a concrete religious principle that says that wearing makeup and forgoing the hijab (headscarf) in public is a sin," al-Ithari said. "But killing them is a sin bigger than this one."
+++
Another odd news bit now - that fits under the lugubrious umbrella...
Cremator dumps half-burned bodies to save fuel
Fri Dec 7, 2007 12:45pm EST
powered by Sphere Sphere
HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's worst fuel crunch in years has led a crematorium to dump half-burnt corpses to try saving on diesel costs, a Hong Kong newspaper said on Friday.
Villagers in Hengyang county, in the southern province of Hunan, discovered the practice when an "unbearable stench" started coming from the site, and tried to block a road on Wednesday to stop funeral vehicles from delivering more bodies.
The village sent people to investigate the smell and the South China Morning Post said they saw "crematorium workers putting half-burnt human remains and organs in plastic bags and throwing them into a nearby ditch."
"As the price of diesel rose, we saw more and more bags thrown out from the crematorium," the paper quoted Xiao Gaoyi, a village representative and one of the witnesses, as saying.
China was hit by its worst fuel supply crisis in four years from October to November, as a widening gap between low, state-regulated domestic prices and market-driven international prices forced Chinese refiners to cut output.
Fuel in many parts of the country was rationed and there were long queues at petrol stations.
An increase of nearly 10 percent in the prices of domestic diesel and gasoline from November 1, the first in almost a year and a half, failed to lift refining margins back into the black.
© Reuters 2007 All rights reserved
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Pilot dead in small plane crash west of Calgary
Last Updated: Saturday, December 15, 2007 8:52 PM MT
CBC News
A pilot died when a small plane crashed in a hilly part of southwestern Alberta on Saturday afternoon, police said.
The pilot was the lone occupant of the single-engine plane, which crashed at 1 p.m. MT in the east end of the Stoney Indian Reserve in Morley, west of Calgary, the RCMP said. There are no homes in the area, police said.
Cpl. Patty Neely, a spokeswoman for the RCMP, said an eyewitness saw the plane "exhibiting signs of stress" just before it crashed.
"I believe he saw smoke and saw the plane going down," she said.
The plane had taken off from Calgary shortly before the crash, but police have not said where it was headed.
The name of the pilot has not been released.
No one else was injured in the crash and a cause has not been determined.
With files from the Canadian Press
Coyote purge begins after attacks on Canmore kids
Last Updated: Friday, December 14, 2007 6:09 PM MT
CBC News
Wildlife officers are hunting down coyotes in the Canmore area after three children were attacked in one week.
A 10-year-old boy was bitten by a coyote at a crowded community skating party on Wednesday night in Canmore, which is about 100 kilometres west of Calgary. People managed to chase it away but the animal returned later and grabbed a two-year-old boy by his jacket.
The attacks on three children in Canmore are extremely unusual, said wildlife officers.The attacks on three children in Canmore are extremely unusual, said wildlife officers.
(CBC)
Adults tossed snowballs at the coyote which finally ran away, said Darcy Whiteside, spokesman for Alberta Sustainable Resource Development.
The boys were taken to hospital but were not seriously injured.
Wildlife officers said a booming rabbit population might be drawing more of the predators into town than normal. They said a coyote attack in a crowd is highly unusual.
"They'll stay away from noises. They'll stay away from large crowds. They're typically scavengers or prey on small animals such as small rabbits and … gophers and other rodents like that," said Whiteside.
Continue Article
A 13-year-old girl was attacked by a coyote as she played at a snow fort in her front yard on Sunday night.
"She was yelling for help," said Loretta Shortt, the girl's mother. "The coyote just nailed her on the side."
The animal grabbed her by her coat but she was not badly hurt, said Shortt.
The three cases are the only reports of coyotes attacking people in Alberta this year.
Officers have been dispatched to kill all coyotes in the area, said Whiteside.
"It's basically the only thing that we can do because there's no real way to say whether this coyote is the cause of it or not," he said.
Suicide bomber kills 9 soldiers in Pakistan
Last Updated: Monday, December 17, 2007 5:19 AM ET
The Associated Press
A suicide bomber blew himself up among a group of Pakistani soldiers returning from a soccer game in northwestern Pakistan on Monday, killing nine of them, the army said.
The attacker struck near an army communications centre in Kohat, about 48 kilometres from the city of Peshawar.
Army spokesman Maj.-Gen. Waheed Arshad said nine troops were killed and four were wounded.
Pakistan has suffered a string of suicide attacks in recent days, most of them targeting security forces.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but officials blame militants linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda who have expanded their influence in areas near the Afghan border.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
Easy rock singer Dan Fogelberg dies at 56
Last Updated: Sunday, December 16, 2007 11:01 PM ET
The Associated Press
Dan Fogelberg, the singer and songwriter whose hits Leader of the Band and Same Old Lang Syne helped define the soft-rock era, died Sunday at his home in Maine after battling prostate cancer. He was 56.
His death was announced in a statement by Anna Loynes of the Solters & Digney public relations agency, and it was also posted on the singer's website.
Fogelberg, the singer and songwriter whose hits Leader of the Band and Same Old Lang Syne helped define the soft-rock era, died Sunday. He was 56. Fogelberg, the singer and songwriter whose hits Leader of the Band and Same Old Lang Syne helped define the soft-rock era, died Sunday. He was 56.
(Henry Diltz/Associated Press)
"Dan left us this morning at 6:00 a.m. He fought a brave battle with cancer and died peacefully at home in Maine with his wife Jean at his side," it read. "His strength, dignity and grace in the face of the daunting challenges of this disease were an inspiration to all who knew him."
Fogelberg discovered he had advanced prostate cancer in 2004. In a statement then, he thanked fans for their support.
"It is truly overwhelming and humbling to realize how many lives my music has touched so deeply all these years," he said.
Fogelberg's heyday was in the 1970s and early 80s, when he scored several platinum and multiplatinum records, fueled by such hits as The Power of Gold and Leader of the Band, a touching tribute he wrote to his father, a bandleader. Fogelberg put out his first album in 1972.
Continue Article
Fogelberg's songs tended to have a weighty tone, reflecting on emotional issues in a serious way. But in an interview with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in 1997, he said it did not represent his personality.
"That came from my singles in the early '80s," he reflects.
"I think it probably really started on the radio. I'm not a dour person in the least. I'm actually kind of a happy person. Music doesn't really reflect the whole person.
"One of my dearest friends is Jimmy Buffett. From his music, people have this perception that he's up all the time, and, of course, he's not. Jimmy has a serious side, too."
Later in his career, he wrote material that focused on the state of the environment, an issue close to his heart. His last album was 2003's Full Circle, his first album of original material in a decade.
A year later he would receive his cancer diagnosis, forcing him to forgo a planned fall tour. After his diagnosis, he urged others to get tested.
Survivors include his wife, Jean.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
Acclaimed biographer, feminist Diane Middlebrook dies
Last Updated: Sunday, December 16, 2007 9:47 AM ET
The Associated Press
Diane Middlebrook, a leading feminist scholar who wrote acclaimed biographies of poets Anne Sexton and Sylvia Plath, died Saturday. She was 68.
Middlebrook helped launch feminist studies at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., where she taught literature for 35 years. She died of cancer in San Francisco, according to Stanford officials.
She is best known for her 1991 bestseller Anne Sexton: A Biography, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and Her Husband: Ted Hughes & Sylvia Plath, a Marriage, a 2003 bestseller about the tumultuous marriage of the poets.
Middlebrook also wrote Suits Me: The Double Life of Billy Tipton, a 1998 biography about a female jazz musician who lived as a man. A biography about the Roman poet Ovid is expected to be published next year to coincide with the 2,000th anniversary of his birth.
"I think her legacy as a biographer is her incredible humanity," said author Kate Moses, one of many writers and artists encouraged by Middlebrook. "She never sacrificed humanity in maintaining an acute critical recognition of her subject."
Born in Idaho in 1939, Middlebrook grew up in Spokane, Wash., graduated from the University of Washington, Seattle, in 1961 and earned her doctorate at Yale University in 1968. She was among the first women to teach in Stanford's English department.
During her career, she received fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Bunting Institute at Radcliffe College, Stanford Humanities Center, the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation and the Rockefeller Study Center of Bellagio in Italy.
Survivors include her daughter, two sisters, a stepson, a stepgrandson and her husband, Carl Djerassi, professor emeritus of chemistry at Stanford.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
The Canadian Press
Mourners upset at decision to cancel public funeral for slain Ont. girl
Family decides to have private burial
Last Updated: Saturday, December 15, 2007 9:22 PM ET
CBC News
A teenage girl whose father has been charged in her death was buried quietly on Saturday morning in Mississauga, Ont., shocking dozens of mourners who showed up for her funeral hours later, only to find out it had been cancelled.
A young woman wipes tears from her eyes as she remembers Aqsa Parvez outside the Mississauga mosque where the teen's public funeral was supposed to be held. A young woman wipes tears from her eyes as she remembers Aqsa Parvez outside the Mississauga mosque where the teen's public funeral was supposed to be held.
(J.P. Moczulski/Canadian Press)
"Everyone was so prepared to come here and see her face for one last time, and all of a sudden they're saying it's not going to be here," Riana Ahmad, a friend, said outside the Islamic Centre mosque in Mississauga, where the funeral had been scheduled to take place.
"They shouldn't do that," another mourner, Babithiraa Thevathasan, added. "She's gone, you can't do that. You should let everyone see her no matter what."
Aqsa Parvez, 16, was rushed to hospital Monday in critical condition after a man made a 911 call in which he claimed to have killed his daughter, said police. Parvez died later that night due to strangulation.
Soon after the Parvez's death, her friends alleged to reporters that the teen was embroiled in a long-standing dispute with her family over her apparent reluctance to wear a traditional Muslim head scarf.
Her father, 57-year-old Muhammad Parvez, has been charged with second-degree murder. Her brother, Waqas Parvez, 27, was charged with obstructing Peel Region police as they investigated his sister's death.
Fazal Kalyani, who knows the family, said the family decided to have their own quiet burial on Saturday morning.
"Strictly for privacy reasons, they didn't want a media zoo inside," she said. "They just wanted everything private."
Mourners gather at grave
About 10 young mourners found Parvez's snow-covered grave later Saturday and gathered around it to say their goodbyes.
Other grieved at a candlelight vigil held for Parvez at Mississauga City Hall.
Maryam Dadabhoy, a member of one of the organizations that planned the vigil, said it was a chance for people to remember Parvez.
"We're not here to talk about religion or culture. It has nothing to do with it," said Dadabhoy, who is with the Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations. "We're just here based on the fact that she lost her life."
Media blamed
Parvez's death has made headlines around the world and sparked a debate about the status of women in Islamic communities.
Islamic leaders have argued that Islam condemns violence and have urged people not to interpret Parvez's death as a reflection on their faith.
Other people have attacked the media for its intensive coverage of Parvez's death. At the Mississauga mosque where the teen's funeral was supposed to take place, one of her schoolmates lashed out at reporters and photographers who had gathered there.
"What else do you want?" a tearful Theresa Lee asked the journalists. "Her family moved this funeral because of you. Just get out of the mosque."
With files from the Canadian Press
Train derails in Pakistan, killing 50
MIRPURKHAS, Pakistan - An express train crowded with holiday travelers derailed in southern Pakistan early Wednesday, killing at least 50 people and injuring many more, officials said.
The passenger express was going from Karachi to Lahore when about 12 of its 16 carriages came off the rails near Mehrabpur, about 250 miles north of Karachi, the officials said.
Rescue workers recovered 50 bodies from the wreckage and were calling in cutting equipment to gain access to more of the carriages, said Sikander Ali, a senior police official at the scene.
Other officials said dozens more passengers were injured and that relief trains were being sent to provide help.
The train, which derailed at about 2 a.m., was loaded with passengers traveling home for the Islamic holiday of Eid ul-Adha.
The cause of the crash was not immediately clear.
Deadly accidents are a regular occurrence on Pakistan's sprawling, colonial-era railway network.
A speeding train struck a crowded bus at a railway crossing near Lahore in October, killing 12 people and injuring about 50 others. About 133 people died in July 2005 when three trains collided in southern Pakistan.
Suicide bomber kills 13 in Iraq cafe Tue Dec 18, 12:19 PM ET
BAQUBA, Iraq (AFP) - A suicide bomber blew himself up inside a cafe near the restive Iraqi city of Baquba on Tuesday, killing 13 people and wounding 24, police and medical officials said.
The bomber detonated his explosive-laden vest in the town of Al-Abbara, just north of Baquba in the province of Diyala, police Lieutenant Colonel Najim al-Sumadaie told AFP.
Doctor Firaz al-Azzawi of Baquba hospital confirmed the toll.
It isn't 50 after all...
Nor is it 56...
It's really 58...
Train derails in Pakistan, killing 58
By ASHRAF KHAN,
Associated Press Writer
Wed Dec 19, 6:18 PM ET
MEHRABPUR, Pakistan - Plunged into darkness and chaos, Shahid Khan used the light from his cell phone Wednesday to escape the wreckage of an express train that had been taking holiday travelers home.
It was 2 a.m., and what was left of the train, crowded with 900 people heading from Karachi to near Lahore in southern Pakistan, lay scattered about a waterlogged field, with cries from the trapped and injured ringing out.
At least 58 people died and 150 more were injured when about 12 of the 16 cars came off the rails near Mehrabpur, about 250 miles north of Karachi.
"The train was going at full speed. Then there was a sudden jerk and we felt the train sinking into the earth. There was chaos everywhere," said the 25-year-old Khan, sitting next to bundles of luggage he had salvaged from a car lying on its side. He had been traveling with six relatives.
Another passenger, Mohammed Yusuf, sat on a pink blanket next to a pile of shoes and clothes, wailing in grief at the death of his younger brother.
Yusuf, 26, said his brother survived the impact and was crying out in pain, but was unable to free his trapped leg from the wreckage.
"It's unbearable. Don't say that he is dead," he pleaded, as other relatives tried to console him.
He said his wife, two children and another brother were injured and taken to a hospital, their conditions unknown.
It was unclear what caused the accident, which left hundreds of terrified passengers trying to claw their way out of the wreckage in total darkness.
Mohammed Khalid, a railway official who was traveling in one of the rear cars that stayed on the rails, said he suspected a problem with the track.
"My guess is that there was some piece of rail missing and the engine jumped the missing track and the following wagon got stuck," he said.
After the crash, a section of one rail had been torn loose. The engine came to a halt about a mile farther up the line.
Brig. Nazhar Jamil, the army officer in charge of the relief operation, said an initial inspection of the track found no sign of sabotage. He said excessive speed coupled with poor maintenance might have been to blame. The train had been full, but not overcrowded.
Rescuers brought 58 bodies to three nearby hospitals, said Mumtaz Ali, an official from the Edhi Foundation, Pakistan's largest privately run emergency service.
Col. Abbas Malik, an army doctor, said about 150 people were injured. Many of the passengers were heading home for the holiday of Eid al-Adha, when Muslims commemorate the prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son for God.
Army engineers used two cranes and cutting equipment to free the last survivors, including a girl about 3 years old who had a bloodied left foot.
Dozens of soldiers and police helped tend the injured and carry them away to ambulances, as hundreds of people from the surrounding villages looked on.
Deadly accidents are a regular occurrence on Pakistan's colonial-era railway network.
A speeding train struck a crowded bus at a railway crossing near Lahore in October, killing 12 people and injuring about 50. About 130 people died in July 2005 when three trains collided in southern Pakistan.
___
Associated Press writers Matthew Pennington in Mehrabpur and Zarar Khan in Islamabad contributed to this report.
+++
An earlier report about the Mississauga murder case...
Father killed daughter for not wearing hijab, her friends say
Tue Dec 11, 12:56 PM
OTTAWA (AFP) - Friends and classmates of a 16-year-old girl who police say was murdered by her devout Muslim father in a Toronto suburb told local media Tuesday she was killed for not wearing a hijab.
Police said in a statement they received an emergency call at 7:55 am local time Monday from "a man who indicated that he had just killed his daughter."
The victim, Aqsa Parvez, was "rushed to hospital with life-threatening injuries, but tragically passed away late last night."
Her father, Muhammad Parvez, 57, was arrested at the scene and will be formally charged with murder when he appears in court Wednesday, said police.
The girl's friends, meanwhile, told local media she was having trouble at home because she did not conform to the family's religious beliefs and refused to wear a traditional Islamic head scarf, or hijab.
"She wanted to go different ways than her family wanted to go, and she wanted to make her own path, but he (her father) wouldn't let her," one of her classmates told public broadcaster CBC.
"She loved clothes," another of her friends, Dominiquia Holmes-Thompson, told the daily Toronto Star. "She just wanted to show her beauty ... She just wanted to dress like us, just like a normal person."
According to her friends, Aqsa had worn the hijab at school last year, but rebelled in recent months.
They said she would leave home wearing a hijab and loose-fitting clothes, but would take off her head scarf and change into tighter garments at school, then change back before going home at the end of the day.
The victim's 26 year-old brother was also charged with obstructing police in the investigation.
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I believe I just did...
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R.I.P.
Aqsa
At first they thought there'd been only 9 demises...
There was a recount within minutes.
There will likely be more...
Snowstorm blamed for 11 deaths, outages
By CARRIE ANTLFINGER,
Associated Press Writer
30 minutes ago
(on the eve of the eve of Christmas Day...)
MILWAUKEE - Highways were hazardous for holiday travelers Sunday and thousands of homes and businesses had no electricity in the Midwest as a storm blustered through the region with heavy snow and howling wind.
At least 11 deaths had been blamed on the storm.
Winter storm warnings were posted for parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan on Sunday as the core of the storm headed north across the Great Lakes. Parts of Wisconsin already had a foot of snow, and up to a foot was forecast Sunday in northeastern Minnesota, the National Weather Service said.
Radar showed snow falling across much of Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota on Sunday and moving into parts of Michigan and Indiana.
"Everything is just an ice rink out there," said Sgt. Steve Selby with the sheriff's department in Rock County, Wis.
The weather system also spread locally heavy rain on Sunday from the Southeast to the lower Great Lakes.
The storm rolled through Colorado and Wyoming on Friday, then spread snow and ice on Saturday from the Texas Panhandle to Minnesota. Multi-car pileups closed parts of several major highways Saturday in the Plains states.
The area of Madison, Wis., got three to four hours of freezing rain early Sunday, said weather service meteorologist intern Bill Borghoff at Sullivan. The combination of icy pavement and gusty wind made driving treacherous, he said.
"It's quite a mess out there," Borghoff said.
Wind gusting to more than 50 mph uprooted trees in parts of Michigan. "I can see the snow moving basically sideways," meteorologist Wayne Hoepner said in Grand Rapids.
Winds were recorded blowing as fast as 88 mph over Lake Michigan with gusts of 50 to 68 mph across the Chicago region, according to the National Weather Service.
Because of the wind, airlines canceled more than 300 flights Sunday at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, the city Aviation Department said. Municipal officials said the wind had knocked out nearly 170 traffic signals, and there were more than 500 reports of fallen trees and limbs.
More than 11,000 homes and businesses were without power at some point Saturday in Wisconsin because of the freezing rain, ice, gusty wind and heavy snow, utilities said. Michigan utilities reported some 60,000 customers were still without power Sunday night, and in Illinois about 15,000 customers were blacked out.
At least three people in Minnesota, three in Wyoming, three in Wisconsin and one person each in Texas and Kansas were killed in traffic accidents that authorities said stemmed from the storm.
The fatality in Texas came in a chain-reaction pileup involving more than 50 vehicles, including several tractor-trailer rigs, on Interstate 40, police said. At least 16 people were taken to hospitals, Sgt. Michael Poston said.
"We're not really sure how many cars, probably in excess of 40 cars and in excess of 20 semitrailers," Amarillo police Sgt. Greg Fisher said Sunday.
Many were holiday travelers, including families with small children not dressed for the weather, Sgt. Shawn McLeland said. Other drivers opened their own Christmas presents to provide warmer clothing for the children.
Authorities believe the pileup, which shut down the highway for most of the day, was caused by near zero visibility in blowing snow and slippery pavement. Multi-vehicle wrecks on Saturday also temporarily blocked sections of I-70 in Kansas and I-29 in Missouri.
___
Associated Press writer Caryn Rousseau in Chicago contributed to this report.
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+++
Ok - I wasn't going to say it, but I just can't resist typing it...!
So, here goes!
Whoever is the total utter fool who would be caught "DREAMING of a WHITE CHRISTMAS"... OUT LOUD?!?
Ok - don't answer that...!
You must admit though that sudden and totally avoidable deaths due to the mere event of SNOW FALLING gives a totally odd twist to that classic song none has ever forgotten and ALL have always embraced as a de facto "perennial holiday classic"...
In retrospect, even though WHITE is one of my favorite colors (it's not the absence of color but all the colors combined, I say!) that song is almost as annoying to me as John Lennon's own 'perennial holiday classic'...!
But that is another story (one that I have told on another blog too - YEARS ago!)
+++
Flaming body found outside Fla. church
ROYAL PALM BEACH, Fla.,
Dec. 24 (UPI) --
The burning body of an unidentified woman was found near a church in Royal Palm Beach, Fla., early Sunday morning.
A sheriff's deputy used the fire extinguisher from his patrol car to extinguish the body after he found it under a palmetto tree near Our Lady Queen of Apostles Catholic Church the Palm Beach (Fla.) Post reported.
It was unclear whether the woman, who showed no apparent signs of trauma other than burns, died where she was found or was brought there, the newspaper said.
The body has been sent to the medical examiner to determine the cause of death, and death is being investigated as a homicide.
© UPI, Headline News
Powered by Bravenet.com
R.I.P.
Church Lady
+++
French family killed in Mauritania
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania,
Dec. 25 (UPI) --
Investigators said an armed robbery apparently led to the deaths of four French nationals vacationing in Mauritania.
The father of two of the victims was hospitalized in serious condition Tuesday, suffering from gunshot wounds, Euronews.net reported. The shooting occurred while the family had stopped alongside a main road that leads from Nouakchott to Aleg for a picnic.
Witnesses reported seeing men armed with semi-automatic assault rifles riding in saloon cars near the scene. Three suspects have been arrested.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to repatriate the bodies and carry out an investigation into the attack, KUNA, the Kuwaiti news agency, reported.
"All means are mobilized to repatriate this family, the bodies and the wounded," he said.
"An inquiry has been launched to find out exactly what happened. It's too early to know the reason behind this atrocious act," Euronews quoted the president as saying.
© UPI, Headline News
Powered by Bravenet.com
R.E.P.
(Reposez En Paix)
+++
Christmas Eve fire kills 1, displaces 200
MILWAUKEE, Dec. 25 (UPI) --
Fire raced through a Milwaukee apartment complex Christmas Eve, leaving a 76-year-old woman dead and 200 other people displaced.
The fire, which burned for an hour, at the three-story Porticos of Fox Point apartment complex was believed to have started in the victim's kitchen, fire Chief David Berousek told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
Berousek said the building's smoke detectors were working.
The Red Cross transported displaced residents to a nearby strip mall where they could meet up with relatives.
The apartment complex was billed as one of the state's most elegant when it was built in 1974. It since has fallen into disrepair, the newspaper said.
© UPI, Headline News
Powered by Bravenet.com
R.I.P.
Lady Whose 76th Christmas
(I presume - could have been her 75th)
Turned Out To Be Her Last...
+++
S.Korean ship sinks,14 sailors missing
SEOUL, Dec. 25 (UPI) --
A 13,000-ton South Korean freighter, reportedly carrying nitric acid, sank off the country's south coast Tuesday, leaving 14 sailors missing.
Yonhap news agency quoted maritime police as saying the freighter named Eastern Bright had transmitted as SOS before disappearing in rough waters off the port city of Yeosu, about 280 miles south of Seoul.
Xinhua news agency reported the Taiwan-bound freighter was carrying about 2,000 tons of nitric acid.
The South Korean navy and coast guard dispatched nine vessels and one helicopter to the spot where the Eastern Bright was believed to have gone down.
Reports said 15 sailors were aboard the freighter -- 12 South Koreans and three Myanmarese, but that only one Myanmarese sailor had been rescued.
© UPI, Headline News
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R.I.P.
Sailormen
+++
Cards from heaven have dead man talking
Tue Dec 25, 11:17 AM ET
ASHLAND, Ore. - Even in death, Chet Fitch is a card. Fitch, known for his sense of humor, died in October at age 88 but gave his friends and family a start recently: Christmas cards, 34 of them, began arriving — written in his hand with a return address of "Heaven."
The greeting read: "I asked Big Guy if I could sneak back and send some cards. At first he said no; but at my insistence he finally said, 'Oh well, what the heaven, go ahead but don't (tarry) there.' Wish I could tell you about things here but words cannot explain.
"Better get back as Big Guy said he stretched a point to let me in the first time, so I had better not press my luck. I'll probably be seeing you (some sooner than you think). Wishing you a very Merry Christmas. Chet Fitch"
A friend for nearly 25 years, Debbie Hansen Bernard said, "All I could think was, 'You little stinker.'"
"It was amazing," she said. "Just so Chet, always wanting to get the last laugh."
The mailing was a joke Fitch worked on for two decades with his barber, Patty Dean, 57. She told the Ashland Daily Tidings this week that he kept updating the mailing list and giving her extra money when postal rates went up. This fall, she said, Fitch looked up to her from the chair.
"You must be getting tired of waiting to mail those cards," he told her. "I think you'll probably be able to mail them this year."
He died a week later.
R.I.P.
Chet Fitch
Your sense of humor
is my sense of humor!
I'll get in touch
when it's my turn to ascend!
;)
+++
Five die, 23 injured in separate Christmas road accidents in Que. and Ont.
Tue Dec 25, 6:30 PM
By Andy Blatchford,
The Canadian Press
Five people were killed and 23 others injured in separate Christmas-time road accidents that rocked Quebec and Ontario.
An eight-year-old girl died on Christmas Eve in Cannington, Ont., northeast of Toronto, after a pickup driven by a female relative slid off the road, flipped onto its roof and plunged into a pond.
A passing motorist was able to free the 28-year-old driver, who suffered only minor injuries, but other witnesses could not free the girl from the partially submerged truck.
Two firefighters, who later tried to free the girl, suffered hypothermia. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
"I've been here a lot of years and I've seen a lot of horrific things on Christmas," said Staff Sgt. John Wright, a 31-year veteran of the Durham Regional Police.
"(From) impaired drivers that cause death to something like this. It's unfortunate."
Quebec provincial police say a 20-year-old man was killed in a head-on collision around 4 a.m. Christmas morning in Victoriaville, Que., northeast of Montreal.
Surete du Quebec spokeswoman Joyce Kemp said speeding and alcohol were probably a factor in the crash.
The impact was "very violent," she said.
"I don't know if you saw the images (on television), but wow," Kemp said of the accident. "The car split in half."
Two occupants of the other vehicle were injured.
Kemp said the province's roads become more dangerous during holiday periods throughout the year.
"Generally, when there are long weekends there are several fatal collisions," she said.
"There's a lot of people who go to visit family and friends, so there's more cars on the road."
Meanwhile, in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., east of Montreal, an 18-year-old man was killed just before midnight on Christmas Eve.
City police spokesman Martin Anctil said the driver likely lost control of his car due to slippery conditions. His car smashed head-on into another vehicle, also driven by an 18-year-old man.
Anctil said the man was treated for injuries.
On Monday afternoon, eight people were injured in an accident in Saint-Tite-des-Caps, Que., northeast of Quebec City.
"Two people are in critical condition at this moment," Kemp said. "We fear for the life of one."
Earlier on Monday, a 34-year-old mother was killed in a smash-up in Brownsburg-Chatham, Que., north of Montreal.
Provincial police said five people were seriously injured in the accident, including the woman's three children, aged 10 to 15 years old.
Also on Christmas Eve, a three-car crash left a 60-year-old man and a 45-year-old woman from the Owen Sound, Ont.-area with life-threatening injuries.
The pair were travelling north of London, Ont., when the driver lost control of a Jeep. It crossed into oncoming traffic and was hit by a pickup truck, then was hit again by an SUV.
The two occupants of the SUV were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Two people in the pickup truck were treated for minor injuries.
Meanwhile, in Laval, Que., police say a 51-year-old man died at the wheel of his vehicle Monday evening. They suspect he suffered a heart attack.
He died while driving on the famed Boulevard Curé-Labelle, I do believe. Yeah, I know the damn place... The historical figure that very long boulevard is named after was a great orator credited with having inspired the early settlers in STAYING, to begin with, and secondly and most importantly in DEVELOPING the lacklustre colony that became the province of Quebec... Québec, rather... Whatever!
Now, however, so many sleazeballs drive by that great boulevard - you wouldn't believe!
Thus, I really have to say here
R.I.P.
all 5 of you who perished
You are in a better place
- FOR SURE.
+++
Canadian jazz great Oscar Peterson dies
Mon Dec 24, 2:40 PM
OTTAWA (CBC) - The jazz odyssey is over for Oscar Peterson: the Canadian known globally as one of the most spectacularly talented musicians ever to play jazz piano has died at age 82.
Peterson died Sunday night at his home in Mississauga, Ont., from kidney failure, CBC News has confirmed.
"The world has lost the world's greatest jazz player," Hazel McCallion, mayor of Mississauga and Peterson's friend, told CBC News Monday afternoon.
Renowned for his speed and virtuosity as a pianist, Peterson - who was born in Montreal and later made Toronto his home - made hundreds of recordings in his career, even after a stroke in 1993 disabled his left hand.
Over the years, his recording and performing partners included such stars as Charlie Parker, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Nat King Cole and Stan Getz.
Some of Peterson's most legendary works came after he teamed up to form the Oscar Peterson Trio in 1953. The trio created such classic recordings as 1955's At Zardis, 1956's At the Stratford Shakespearean Festival, and 1957's At Concertgebouw.
He formed another classic piano-guitar-bass trio in the 1970s with guitarist Joe Pass and Danish-born bassist Niels Pedersen.
Lived for music's 'moments of great beauty'
Peterson reveled in the kind of improvisation he could perform with talented musicians, recalling in a 2005 interview how well he worked with his late friend Pedersen.
"The minute we get to the sections where he's featured, I take no prisoners! I like to take liberties, and he's got to be right there to hear where I'm going. We still open doors in the improvisation for one another to develop."
He also loved the competitive nature of this kind of jazz and the unexpected pleasures that could emerge in live performances.
"There is always the chance for moments of great beauty to emerge," he said. Among the dozens of awards and acknowledgements over the decades, Peterson racked up seven Grammy awards, including the Grammy for Lifetime Achievement in 1997; received an International Jazz Hall of Fame Award in the same year; and was named a Companion of the Order of Canada, its highest level.
His autobiography, A Jazz Odyssey: The Life of Oscar Peterson, was written in collaboration with jazz journalist Richard Palmer.
"He really put Montreal on the map of jazz," Tracy Biddle, whose late father Charles was a pioneering club owner in the city's jazz community and a close friend of Peterson's, said in an interview in Montreal.
"I believe that on a grander scale, the impact he had on the black community and on the whole musical community was huge. "He broke out of Canada. He's one of the first people. We talk of C?line Dion and Shania Twain and Alanis Morissette and Bryan Adams. Oscar Peterson did what they did years ago as a black person. So what he's done is incredible."
Early success
Born in Montreal in Aug. 15, 1925, Peterson was the son of a Canadian National railroad porter.
Though he started playing piano at age five, taught by his sister Daisy, Peterson credited his introduction to jazz to his older brother Fred, who died of tuberculosis at age 16.
Oscar continued his studies under Paul de Marky, a Hungarian-born teacher who had studied with the famous Hungarian pianist and composer Franz Liszt.
Peterson said he learned how to use a piano to full potential from de Marky and from listening to jazz greats.
"I never tried to sound like a trumpet or a clarinet," he once said an interview with the Wall Street Journal.
"I was taught to respect it for what it was: a piano. And it spoke with a certain voice. And that was what I was determined to bring forward."
At age 15, Peterson won first prize in a CBC radio talent show and was invited to play weekly on the Montreal station CKAC.
He soon had other offers to play on radio. By 1942, Peterson was performing with one of Canada's leading big bands, the Johnny Holmes Orchestra.
He came up against the colour bar early in his career, with some hotels threatening to prevent him from playing and radio hosts introducing him as "a coloured boy with amazing fingers."
About this time his father, Daniel Peterson, brought home a recording by Art Tatum, then considered the best jazz pianist of his day. Peterson later recalled how Tatum gave him a new pinnacle to aim for.
"Of course I was just about flattened...I swear, I didn't play piano for two months afterward, I was so intimidated," Peterson said.
Later, Tatum came to regard Peterson as heir to his crown as the king of jazz pianists.
Carnegie Hall
In 1949, Peterson got another big break. The story goes that jazz promoter Norman Granz was in a taxi on the way to the airport in Montreal when he heard a live Peterson broadcast on the radio, and insisted the driver turn around and drive him to the club where the broadcast originated.
Granz signed Peterson up for a gig at Carnegie Hall in New York with some of the biggest names in jazz.
According to a report in Down Beat magazine, at Carnegie Hall Peterson "stopped the concert dead cold in its tracks."
Granz became one of Peterson's closest friends and his manager. Peterson began to build international renown, touring in the 1950s with Jazz at the Philharmonic to Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and the Philippines.
Birth of a legendary trio
In 1953, Peterson formed the Oscar Peterson Trio, joining up with bassist Ray Brown, and then guitarist Herb Ellis. They became one of the hardest-working trios in jazz, touring the U.S. under Ganz's management.
"When the group gets hot you take a lot of chances and pull a lot of things off when you play it live that you might not do before a microphone, " Brown recalled in a 1975 interview with CBC Radio.
"When you have a group that operates five days a week in nightclubs...you had to be on your toes. [Oscar said] we want to be able to play any song and make it work."
Peterson moved to Toronto in 1958 and kept a base in Canada throughout the rest of his career.
A year later, he and several other musicians founded the Advanced School of Contemporary Music, a school to teach jazz, but it lasted only a few years.
Peterson continued to perform throughout the world, even behind the Iron Curtain in Ljubljana, then part of Yugoslavia.
As a composer, his best-known work is likely 1964's Canadiana Suite, each track of which was inspired by a different region. Peterson called it "my musical portrait of the Canada I love."
He made the first of many solo recordings in the late 1960s and often played solo in the 1970s and 1980s. He also began voice recording in 1965 on With Respect to Nat.
He composed film and television scores, winning a Genie film award for best film score in 1978, for The Silent Partner.
Peterson built a recording studio in his Mississauga, Ont., home so that he could experiment with electronic keyboard and sound equipment.
The struggle to overcome a stroke
In 1993, while performing at the Blue Note club in New York, Peterson noticed a numbness in his left hand, and doctors diagnosed a stroke.
Peterson was depressed by the loss of ability and stopped playing for two years. "The first day I sat at the piano with my therapist, I had tears in my eyes," he told the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
But he said fellow musicians encouraged him to continue playing, initially with the right hand only and eventually with a slightly disabled left hand. Playing with a group was "the best therapy of all," he said.
He continued to travel and perform, still packing in the audiences. His 80th birthday in 2006 was celebrated with a concert featuring Diana Krall and a new postage stamp honouring him.
Peterson has received numerous citations for best jazz pianist from Contemporary Keyboard and Down Beat; was named an officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France; and was named honorary chancellor at York University in Toronto.
His life was showcased in two films, Oscar Peterson: Music in the Key of Oscar in 1995 and Oscar Peterson: The Life of a Legend in 1996.
Over the years, Peterson has been a supporter of other Canadian artists and music students, saying he admires the work of colleague Oliver Jones and appearing in 2006 at a school in Mississauga named after him to hear a school concert.
"It's very moving to work with them and to play with them," he told CBC Television at that appearance. "I want to say again I'm a softy for youngsters. I'm so glad to be here with them. "
Peterson was married four times and had six children from his first and third marriages - Lyn, Sharon, Gay, Oscar Jr., Norman and Joel - and one daughter, Celine, with his fourth wife, Kelly.
According to friends of the family, there will be a private funeral for Peterson, with a public memorial service to be held in the new year.
With files from the Canadian Press
R.I.P.
Oscar Peterson
When I learned that, of all the possible places a great one like you could have chosen to pick up residence in, you had chosen MISSISSAUGA, I knew that it would be where you would be found dead.
I know the place too - used to spend all my summers there!
It was, back then, a respectable suburban area of Toronto... Still is, I am sure. Beware though of what such places conceal...
Oscar Peterson must have had his entire neighborhood envious and/or outright resenting him just BEING THERE... People are like that, in Mississauga and in other similar suburbs along the 49th Parallel...
But I digress.
I would never go back there - not even to spend part of my summer, much less to LIVE there...
Not sure what brought Oscar Peterson to establish himself there, after a stroke and retirement.
(I mean, MASSACHUSETTS I would have understood and it would have also made sense - but MISSISSAUGA...?!? ONTARIO? CANADA? Had he chosen a warmer climate, he would still be alive. Had he done so years ago, he might have never had that stroke either...)
'I love you, daddy,' says daughter of man killed while delivering Christmas cards
Fri Dec 21, 4:23 PM
By Colin Perkel,
The Canadian Press
KITCHENER, Ont. - Grieving relatives and friends filled a funeral home on Friday to pay tribute to a well-loved grandfather slain in a random, unprovoked attack just steps from his home as he delivered Christmas cards to neighbours in a senseless killing that stunned this southwestern Ontario city.
About 300 mourners heard Hunter Brown, 74, eulogized as a doting husband and father who was always ready to listen, who always wore a big smile.
"I already miss you, dad," said daughter Sandra Brown, who choked back tears as she addressed her words to the casket adorned with roses and a photograph.
"This is the hardest day of my life. I love you, daddy. I'll just see you later."
Brown, who was born and raised in Toronto, was a retired Bell Canada executive who lived with his family for decades on a quiet, tree-lined cul de sac in Kitchener where neighbours were more than neighbours.
Every year, he would deliver Christmas cards to them until this year, when a man attacked him Dec. 15 with an "edged weapon" on the driveway of the house next door and left him bloodied and dying, the undelivered cards lying next to him.
"Dad, I only wish I could have been there to protect you," said his son, Michael Brown.
Beyond photographs displayed on a screen showing Brown as a beaming newlywed, a first-time father, or dressed as Santa Claus, there was little evidence of the approaching festive season Friday.
Flanked by her son and daughter, her head bowed in grief, Brown's widow Bev sobbed quietly as Pastor James Koellner spoke of how her husband was "an individual who brought laughter and joy" into everyone's lives.
"He was a very happy and jovial individual," Koellner said. "He always seemed to have a smile on his face."
The Browns lived in their two-storey home for more than 30 years, just streets away from where the man now accused of his first-degree murder lived.
Trevor Lapierre, 22, of Kitchener, described as a one-time honour student who appeared increasingly erratic in recent months, was charged earlier this week after police pulled over a taxi in which he was riding with his father to a psychiatric hospital.
The arrest followed a second random assault on a man out shovelling snow just blocks from the Browns that set the community on further edge.
The 35-year-old man in that assault used his shovel to beat off an attacker he said made references to God.
Lapierre appeared distraught and dishevelled when he appeared in court Wednesday. He was remanded in custody until Jan. 9.
Neighbour Mary Engelmann referred to Brown, her late neighbour, as a "true hero" who was always willing to help others, while friends of the family noted how he always made them feel like they belonged in his home.
Koellner only made passing references to Brown's horrific, brutal end.
"We've been hit sharply," Koellner said. "We've been hit harshly. And it hurts."
R.I.P.
Hunter Brown
My condolences to the Browns, the Petersons and, again, ALL the families who have spent their first Christmas without their father...
+++
One person dead, another missing in avalanche in B.C. interior
Tue Dec 25, 9:56 PM
By The Canadian Press
108 MILE HOUSE, B.C. - One man is dead and another is missing after an avalanche hit a region of British Columbia's interior.
Four snowmobilers were out on Spanish Lake, near 108 Mile House, on Monday and were on a trail known as "The Chute" when a minor avalanche hit.
The group began digging out of the snow when another, stronger avalanche hit. Two of the people in the group managed to get out and look for the others. They managed to free one of the men and then travel to an area where they could call for help.
Capt. David Burneau with the Rescue Co-ordination Centre said a Cormorant helicopter carrying an avalanche expert and a Buffalo fixed-wing aircraft were dispatched. Burneau said the snowmobiler who was rescued died from his injuries. The other man is still missing.
The area where the avalanche hit has been closed because of the danger of further avalanches.
The four snowmobilers were from the 100 Mile House area and in their mid-20s. No names have been released.
RCMP took over the search on Tuesday with two search and rescue dogs. An avalanche specialist was sent in to assess the area.
The fatal avalanche was said to be approximately 45 metres wide and four metres deep.
On Christmas Eve, two men were killed while riding snowmobiles in the southestern B.C. community of Yahk.
RCMP Const. David Black, in Creston, said one of the vehicles rear-ended the other. Neither of the men was wearing a helmet.
Wesley Danylak, a 50-year-old resident of Yahk, died at the scene and Joseph Brouillard, 37, of Cranbrook, died later in hospital.
Black said alcohol and speed may have been factors in the accident.
R.I.P.
Canuck Three
(yes - three deaths
read the whole article
not just the misleading title)
+++
Bloodiest year in Afghanistan acknowledged through sombre Xmas tradition
Tue Dec 25, 5:09 PM
By Tobi Cohen,
The Canadian Press
KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - It's a military tradition to leave a single empty table and chair to remember those who have died in the line of duty, but at the head of the festively decorated military mess hall, it seemed eerily conspicuous amid the raucous party building up around it.
The Canadian Christmas feast came as what has been dubbed the bloodiest year for troops in Afghanistan draws to a close.
Military padre Maj. Pierre Bergeron explained the Christmas tradition before more than 1,000 soldiers and civilians at Kandahar Airfield tucked into their holiday feast. The table and chair are there, he said, as a tribute to fallen comrades.
"It is here to commemorate their efforts and to remind us that certain members of our profession fell in combat," Bergeron said before a silent crowd. "They are unable to be with us tonight but we want to underline their ultimate sacrifice."
The table bears a simple white tablecloth as a symbol of their willingness to "answer the call to arms of their nation," while a rose represents the families and friends who "keep the faith" by remembering their sacrifice, he said.
A red ribbon tied around a vase signifies their determination, while a lemon represents the bitterness of their fight.
"The salt is an element symbolizing the tears of the family left to mourn," he added.
"The glass is upside down because it cannot celebrate with us. The chair is empty because they are absent."
The war in Afghanistan has claimed 29 lives this year alone and most of the 73 fatalities since the mission began in 2002 are the result of improvised explosive devices.
Visiting from Ottawa to celebrate Christmas with the troops, Defence Minister Peter MacKay later told reporters that many of those IEDs are now believed to be coming into the country from Iran.
"We're very concerned that these weapons are going to the insurgents and keeping this issue alive," he said after dishing out plates of turkey, ham and Quebecois tourtiere to the hungry masses - many of whom were visiting the relatively cushy Kandahar Air Field from far more primitive forward operating bases.
"We've asked the Iranians to address this issue because it's so difficult to cut the supply lines when you have people in another country giving these weapons to use against Canadian and coalition forces."
Joined by a slate of special guests that included Defence Chief of Staff Gen. Rick Hillier, U.S. ambassador to Canada David Wilkins and Tim Hortons co-founder Ron Joyce, MacKay's message to the troops was one of pride and encouragement.
He also took a moment to single out those from the 22nd Regiment - the Van Doos from Quebec, the province where the war in Afghanistan has been the least well received.
"The 22nd Regiment has distinguished itself again as it has on many other occasions and we in Canada are so very grateful for the important work you have accomplished," he said.
"There are many many people across many miles in our massive country back home whose thoughts and prayers are with you here today on Christmas Day."
Hillier, a frequent visitor to Afghanistan, commended his troops for the "extraordinary" job they're doing for the people of Afghanistan and Canada.
"All the Canadians are very proud of you. They are proud of your work, your devotion, your professionalism and certainly your courage," he said.
"I also am very proud of you and I just want to tell you I'm proud to be your chief of defence staff."
Upon their return from a whirlwind tour of several forward operating bases and Camp Nathan Smith where they got to sit down and chat with some of the soldiers, both Hillier and MacKay said morale is good despite reports that insurgents are gaining ground as troops find themselves fighting the same battles over again.
"(The soldiers) believe in the mission. They know it's going to take a while. They understand the characteristics of a counter-insurgency and right now, I would tell you their morale is strong," Hillier said.
MacKay said Canada has taken a leadership role in helping train and equip the Afghan army and police so they could one day look after security for themselves and that much progress has been made on the development and reconstruction side.
"This is an enormous effort to rebuild a country. To take on a vile and vicious opponent like the Taliban," he said.
"The progress is absolutely remarkable when one takes stock of where we were just five years ago."
MacKay cited the fact that more girls are now going to school, that basic health care is now accessible to about 80 per cent of the population, that the rates of infant mortality are dropping and that infrastructure projects are popping up all over the place as examples.
"There is obviously still need for more security to pave the way to do more of these projects and programs," he added.
While the Canadian commitment to Afghanistan is slated to end in February 2009, the Conservatives are hoping to extend the mission until at least 2011.
Ottawa is awaiting a report in January from former Deputy Prime Minister John Manley, and Parliament is expected to vote this winter on whether to extend the mission.
"We do not want to leave work undone. We want to make sure Afghanistan is a fully functional, secure and self-sustaining country," MacKay said.
"That's the mission and we want to complete that mission."
+++
Dead tiger cubs found in fridge at Chinese zoo: report
Mon Dec 24, 11:23 PM
BEIJING (AFP) - Two tiger cubs have been found dead in a fridge at the same zoo in central China where a rare Siberian tiger was illegally slaughtered, state press reported Tuesday.
Zoo keepers at the Three Gorges Forest Wild Animal World claimed the cubs had died at birth, and they were placed in the fridge of the venue's ticket office for preservation, Xinhua news agency said, citing local officials.
The cubs, from a Bengal tiger, were allegedly stillborn in late November but were not discovered by authorities until they began investigating the death of a six-year-old female Siberian tiger there a few days ago, Xinhua said.
The Siberian tiger had been skinned, and its head and legs had been cut off, Xinhua said in a report on the weekend.
"This was cruel and professional slaughter," Xinhua quoted an official as saying about the death of the adult tiger.
In Tuesday's report, an employee at the zoo, in Hubei province, said the venue was attracting only 20 visitors a day and losing money, raising speculation the tigers may have been intended to have been sold off.
Tigers attract huge sums of money in China and elsewhere in Asia, with their body parts used for traditional medicinal and aphrodisiac purposes.
Siberian tigers, among the world's most endangered animals, mostly live in northeast China and the Russian Far East.
Of the 400 estimated left remaining in the wild, only 10 to 17 live in China, according to Xinhua.
R.I.P.
Tiger cubs
See - I was right to go on a "mini-diatribe" against poachers, when I was discussing the passing of Tomar...
At least Tigers got even...
Just a bit...
Tiger escapes cage at San Francisco Zoo, killing 1 and injuring 2
Wed Dec 26, 1:01 AM
By The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - A tiger that mauled a zookeeper last year escaped from its pen at the San Francisco Zoo on Tuesday, killing one man and injuring two others before police shot it dead, authorities said.
The three men were in their 20s; they were together and were not zoo employees, San Francisco Police spokesman Steve Mannina said. They were attacked just after the 5 p.m. closing time outside the zoo's Terrace Cafe on the east end of the 405-hectare grounds.
It was unclear how the tiger escaped or how long it was on the loose. The Siberian tiger, named Tatiana, attacked a zookeeper last December during a public feeding, according to the zoo's director of animal care and conservation.
The zoo, which is open 365 days a year, was evacuated immediately after the attack was reported.
Police arrived to find the tiger on top of a victim. The tiger then started moving toward a group of approaching police officers, and they opened fire with handguns, Mannina said.
The two injured men were in critical but stable condition at San Francisco General Hospital, San Francisco Fire Department spokesman Lt. Ken Smith said.
"This is a tragic event for San Francisco," Smith said. "We pride ourselves in our zoo, and we pride ourselves in tourists coming and looking at our city."
Authorities did not believe there were any other people attacked, but because it was dark they could not be certain. Investigators remained on the scene and Smith said a thorough sweep of the grounds would be conducted in the morning.
Officials at first worried that four tigers had escaped, but only one got out of its pen, Mannina said.
Tatiana is one of two Siberian tigers in the zoo's collections, according to its website. Last December, the 159-kilogram animal reached through the cage's iron bars and badly lacerated the zookeeper's arm. The zoo's Lion House was temporarily closed during an investigation.
California's Division of Occupation Safety and Health blamed the zoo for the assault and imposed a $18,000 penalty, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
+++
Fire above Chinese restaurant in Dutch village kills four sisters
Tue Dec 25, 9:41 AM
By The Associated Press
AMSTERDAM, Netherlands - Officials in the Netherlands say a fire in an apartment above a Chinese restaurant in a southern Dutch village killed four young sisters.
The sisters, children of the restaurant owner, were asleep when the fire broke out last night in Arnemuiden.
The patrons were safely evacuated.
Media reports say the fire started upstairs where the children were sleeping, but the cause was not yet known.
The girls were aged 1, 3, 7 and 8.
R.I.P.
little girls
Heaven has four new cherubim.
My sincerest condolences to the mother - she must be devastated.
+++
What a shocker on December 27th 2007 - and yet, we all knew it was coming, didn't we?
Once the Pakistani Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto's return to her beloved Pakistan was immediately marred by violence and death as it was in effect the catalyst for a recrudescence of bomb attacks - on the very day of her arrival, in fact, there were deadly ones and innocent bystanders had died on the spot.
It was only a question of time before there was such an attack perpetrated against Bhutto herself.
The real shocking thing about it is that it was so successful on the very first try; not only did the assassin have time to fire two shots at her, wounding Bhutto fatally in the neck and chest, but he also had all the time in the world to blow himself up afterwards. Between the two strategically targeted bullet wounds and the concussion of the blast that followed, not only Benazir Bhutto but twenty other people around her were goners.
It was such a sad homecoming from the very start; an ominous one also, of course. She was so happy upon her return - and I may have been too harsh in my labeling of her insouciance back then. But now, her destiny is fulfilled - she was indeed to die for her country, as she had said that she was willing to do.
R.I.P.
Benazir Bhutto
(1953-2007)
Making a Martyr of Bhutto
By ARYN BAKER
2 hours, 1 minute ago
Just days before parliamentary polls in Pakistan, leading Prime Ministerial contender and anti terrorism crusader Benazir Bhutto was shot dead during an election rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near Islamabad. "She has been martyred," said party official Rehman Malik. The Associated Press, citing Malik, reported that Bhutto was shot in the neck and the chest before the gunman blew himself up. At least 20 bystanders were killed in the blast. Bhutto was rushed to a hospital But, at 6:16 p.m. Pakistan time, she was declared dead.
""How can somebody who can shoot her get so close to her with all the so-called security?" said a distraught Husain Haqqani, a former top aide to Bhutto, shortly after news of her death flashed around the world. Haqqani, who served as a spokesman and top aide to Bhutto for more than a decade, blamed Pakistani security, either through neglect or complicity, in her assassination. "This is the security establishment, which has always wanted her out," he said through tears.
For the past several months Pakistan has been plagued by a wave of violence that has seen hundreds of civilians killed in similar bombing attacks; and hundreds more military personnel, prompting President Pervez Musharraf to declare a state of emergency. On December 16th, Musharraf lifted the state of emergency, stating that the threat had been contained. The bombings, however, continued. Just hours before her assassination, Bhutto, 54, met with visiting Afghan President Hamid Karzai to discuss the threat of terrorism against both countries.
The U.S. has long supported a return to power by Bhutto, who was perceived to be a moderate willing to work with Washington on the war on terror. She was also seen as a democratic leader who would serve as a counter to the plummeting popularity of Musharraf, who took power in a 1999 military coup. It was thought that a power-sharing deal between the two, in which Musharraf stayed on as president while Bhutto lead as prime minister, would promote stability in this nuclear armed nation of 165 million. But from the day of her arrival in Pakistan after eight years in exile, Bhutto's return has been marred by violence.
On October 18th, a pair of bombs detonated in the midst a welcome home rally in Karachi for the former two-time prime minister, killing some 145 in a deliberate attempt on her life. The organization responsible for the carnage has not yet been identified, but Bhutto said she suspected al Qaeda and some unspecified members of Musharraf's government who did not want to see her return to power. Despite the clear threat to her life, Bhutto continued to campaign publicly with the kind of mass rallies that are the cornerstone of politicking in Pakistan. "I am not afraid," she told TIME last month, "I am ready to die for my country."
Haqqani, now a professor at Boston University, isn't sure what the latest bloodshed means for his country. "Will the Pakistani military realize that this is going to tear the fabric of the nation apart, and so really get serious about securing the country and about getting serious in dealing with the extremist jihadis?" he wondered. But he made clear he feels the best chance for such a policy has just evaporated. "She did show courage, and she was the only person who spoke out against terrorism," he said. "She was let down by those in Washington who think that sucking up to bad governments around the world is their best policy option."
Within hours of the assasination, protests and riots broke out in Pakistan's main cities. In Rawalpindi, vegetable vendor Naeem, 25, said Bhutto's murder would hurt Pakistan's poorest, who were among Bhutto's most loyal supporters. "People were hoping her government would help the lower classes and now she is gone," he said. Syeda Asmat Begum, 73, who lives in Pakistan's capital Islamabad, told TIME that "everywhere sadness prevails. We are in fear that even our leaders are not safe from the bombardment of suicide bombers and bullets."
That was a view felt around the country. In Lahore, where shops and restaurants closed and the streets emptied of people except for the center of town where Bhutto supporters gathered to vent their anger, Majid Iqbal, 26, an engineering student was trying to hitch a ride home because bus services had stopped. "People are very worried," says Iqbal, who called his family in his home village outside the city as soon as he heard the news. "If a leader of a great party is not secure then how can the Pakistani people be secure? At this time Pakistan's future is fragile."
Speaking on television outside the hospital where Bhutto died, the opposition leader Nawaz Sharif said, "I myself feel threatened... Are things in control now? Had things been in control, would this have happened?" Bhutto's rival said, "We both were struggling for the same cause, and we had signed the charter of democracy." On camera, he addressed Bhutto's supporters, "I assure ytou that I will fight your war from now." He said, "It is tragic not only for [her party] but also for my party."
Pakistan can ill afford to sacrifice the few moderate leaders it has left. Bhutto's death will plunge the upcoming elections into uncertainty and the country further into instability. At the news of her assassination, many of her loyalists rioted in the streets of Pakistan. There will be many tense days ahead for the Musharraf government as it deals with this political crisis. And that's good news for terrorism.
With reporting by Khuda Yar Khan/Islamabad, Simon Robinson/Lahore and Mark Thompson/Washington
View this article on Time.com
+++
* Dec 27, 2007 6:21 pm US/Eastern
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Hit And Run Driver Kills 13-Year-Old Boy
TAUNTON, NEW BEDFORD
MASSACHUSETTS
Hit And Run Driver Kills 13-Year-Old Boy
TAUNTON (WBZ) ― Police said the driver wanted for running down and killing a 13-year-old boy on his bike in Taunton early Thursday morning turned himself in.
Craig Bigos, 31, of New Bedford, was arrested around 2 p.m.
Investigators said Bigos was driving a 1995 Ford Explorer on Poole St. just after midnight, when he veered off the road, hit the boy, and drove off.
The boy, who has not been publicly identified, died about an hour later at Morton Hospital.
The boy's friend, who was walking along side the bike at the time of the crash, witnessed the entire thing and provided police with a vehicle description.
"It's a tragedy. A tragedy for the family, a tragedy for his friend," said State Police Lt. Steve O'Reilly.
"The friend certainly assisted us in the investigation to give us something to go on and also with physical evidence that we were able to piece together that was left on the scene," said Sgt. Paul Roderick with the Taunton Police Department.
Officers spent the morning searching for the Explorer, which they said had significant damage to the right front end.
Police found the vehicle, which was towed away from a home on Williams Street about a quarter of a mile away from the scene of the accident.
Bigos turned himself in to police around 1 p.m. He is charged with motor vehicle homicide, leaving the scene of an accident-death resulting, operating a motor vehicle to endanger and driving without a license.
"We can tell you he was very remorseful, but we can't get into any specifics," said Lt. O'Reilly.
Bigos will be arraigned Friday in Taunton District Court.
The boy's friend, while helpful to police, is traumatized by the experience, officials said.
"He's distraught. He watched his friend get killed by a motor vehicle," Sgt. Roderick said.
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(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
(Gimme A Break - CBS... You Eerie Eye You...)
R.I.P.
13-Year-Old Boy
+++
* Dec 27, 2007 5:35 pm US/Eastern
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2 Die From Local Milk Contamination
o
No milk in my cereal...
please.
2 Die From Local Milk Contamination
Listeria Fact Sheet
BOSTON (WBZ) ― The Department of Public Health issued a warning to consumers Thursday not to drink any milk products from Whittier Farms in Shrewsbury because of listeria bacteria contamination. Two people have died.
DPH says there have been a total of four cases of listeriosis infection - all in Worcester County. Three were elderly and the fourth was a pregnant woman. The department did not release their names or specify who had died.
The first case was discovered back in June, the second was in October and the last two were in November.
DNA testing at the state lab showed that the bacteria causing these infections came from a common source.
DPH said Whittier Farms has agreed to voluntarily suspend operations and distribution at this time until they find the source of the contamination.
All customers are being contacted. The bulk of their distribution is home delivery to customers in the greater Worcester/Shrewsbury area.
Brand names produced at Whittier Dairy include Whittier, Schultz, Balance Rock, Spring Brook, and Maple.
Listeriosis is a serious foodborne disease that can be life-threatening to certain individuals. While most cases of listeriosis occur in adults with weakened immune systems, the elderly, pregnant women and newborns, infections can occasionally occur in healthy individuals.
Symptoms include fever, muscle aches and sometimes gastrointestinal symptoms such as nausea or diarrhea. The illness may be mild and symptoms are sometimes described as flu-like.
"Although evidence suggests that contamination is likely to be at a low level and the risk of infection low, even in those at high risk, it is recommended that consumers do not consume these products and discard any of these products they have," DPH Director of Communicable Disease Control Dr. Al DeMaria said in a prepared statement.
About 2,500 cases of listeriosis occur each year in the U.S. There were 22 cases in Massachusetts in 2006.
For more information about Listeria, call (617) 983-6800 or visit www.mass.gov/dph
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Email Us and be part of our news gathering team.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
(I'd Take Orwell's Big Brother and OMAC's Brother Eye Over The CBS Eerie Eye ANYTIME...)
R.I.P.
Milk Maids
+++
78 feared dead in Indonesian landslides
By ZAKKI HAKIM,
Associated Press Writer
Wed Dec 26, 12:28 PM ET
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Rescuers dug through mountains of mud Wednesday in search of survivors from landslides in western Indonesia, some using their bare hands because blocked roads delayed the arrival of heavy-lifting equipment.
At least 78 people were feared dead — most of them killed in a single landslide in the Karanganyar district that buried a late-night dinner party, a rescue official said. The victims had just cleaned up a mud-covered home.
"They were having dinner together when they were hit by another landslide," search and rescue chief Eko Prayitno said. "At least 61 people were buried."
In nearby Wonogiri district, 17 people were feared dead when landslides hit their homes following a half-day of nonstop rain.
Hundreds of soldiers, police and volunteers struggled to get heavy-lifting equipment to villages on the main island of Java, but roads blocked by the mud and flooding were hampering the rescue efforts, Prayitno said.
Lacking the equipment, some rescuers tried searching for survivors by digging into the mud with their bare hands.
Thousands of houses were inundated Wednesday, from Java to Sumatra to Sulawesi island, further east, witnesses and media reports said. Some of the fleeing residents tried salvaging their possessions from the rising waters by using tires to float their televisions and refrigerators to higher ground.
A tsunami warning drill on Java was unaffected by Wednesday's landslides.
Seasonal rains and high tides in recent days have caused widespread flooding across much of Indonesia, the world's fourth most-populous nation. Millions of people live in mountainous regions and near fertile flood plains that are close to rivers.
The latest disasters occurred on the third anniversary of a massive earthquake off Sumatra in December 2004 that triggered a tsunami. That killed more than 230,000 people and left a half-million homeless in a dozen countries.
R.I.P.
78+ landsliders...
+++
Another article worth reading - one that recaps Benazir Bhutto's shortened life. At 54, the mother of three was far too young to die, indeed. Her code of ethics and strong values, honoring to the last her father's heritage and convictions, made her an exemplary woman for anyone, regardless of what creed or religion one belongs to.
Her eight years of self-exile should have been prolonged - but, truth is, she was anxious to return to her country, where she knew she would find many enemies...
She returned on October 18 - and was assassinated on December 27 of the same year.
She was, in fact, lucky to have so long to live - she could have easily been killed in Karachi, on the very day of her arrival...
(Yes, what I am saying is that security measures are seriously lacking over there... And with friends like Dubya, you're as good as dead too. But that is another story.)
Bhutto attack cuts short an epic life
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON
and JERRY SCHWARTZ,
Associated Press Writers
56 minutes ago
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Benazir Bhutto was many things — zealous guardian of her dead father's legacy, aristocratic populist, accused rogue, even one of People magazine's 50 most beautiful people. And in the end, she was a victim of roiling passions in the nation she sought to lead for a third time.
To the West, she was the appealing and glamorous face of Pakistan — a trailblazing feminist, the first woman to lead a Muslim nation in modern times — though her aura was dimmed by accusations of corruption.
But to many Pakistanis, she was a leader who spoke for them, their needs and their hopes.
Even her worst critics would say that "she was a masterful politician," said Zaffar Abbas, an editor for the respected Dawn newspaper. She knew "what the people of this country wanted.
"If you asked an ordinary person what they achieved when Benazir Bhutto was in power, they would say at least she gave us a voice and she talked about us and our problems. That was her real achievement."
Her life was a sprawling epic. Her father, Pakistan's president and then prime minister, was hanged; one brother died mysteriously, the other in a shootout. She spent five years imprisoned by her father's tormentors, mostly in solitary confinement, before rising twice to the office of prime minister.
She fled before her conviction on corruption charges, living abroad for eight years. She could have lived there comfortably, far from the cauldron of Pakistani politics, but chose not to do so. And when she returned in October to marshal opposition to President Pervez Musharraf, a suicide attacker targeted her homecoming parade in Karachi. More than 140 people died.
The 54-year-old Bhutto escaped injury. "We will not be deterred," she said then. And on the hustings, she celebrated her survival.
"Bhutto is alive! Bhutto is alive! Bhutto is alive!" she shouted at a rally in December.
Like the Nehru-Gandhi family that has long been a force in the politics of neighboring India, the Bhuttos have held a central role in Pakistan for nearly a half century.
Benazir's father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was the son of a wealthy landowning family in southern Pakistan and founder of the Pakistan People's Party. With a populist, pro-democracy message, he rose to power in 1971.
But six years later, he was deposed by the military. In 1979 he was executed by the government of Gen. Mohammad Zia-ul Haq after his much-disputed conviction on charges of arranging the murder of the father of a political opponent.
A day before he was hanged, his daughter visited him in prison.
"I told him on my oath in his death cell, I would carry on his work," Bhutto would recall.
But at the time and for years after, Benazir Bhutto could not fight for her father's cause — she was in jail or under house arrest.
The elder Bhutto had sent his daughter to study politics and government at Harvard and then at Oxford, where she was elected to lead the prestigious debating society, the Oxford Union. Beautiful, charismatic and articulate, she was a dangerous opponent for the military government.
Her youngest brother, Shahnawaz, organized opposition from France, but he died under mysterious circumstances in his apartment on the Riviera in 1980; the family insisted he was poisoned, but no charges were brought. Released in 1984 to seek medical treatment for a serious ear infection in London, Benazir established a People's Party office there, and waited for an opportunity to strike back.
Two years later, she returned to lead mass rallies calling for Zia to step down and allow a civilian government and elections. He refused. But in 1988, the strongman died in an explosion on his plane.
Benazir rallied her father's party, only to find that she was being opposed by her brother, Murtaza — and that her mother was backing him. "In our family it was always a joke that my mother had a soft spot for my brother," she told The New York Times in 1994.
Still, Benazir Bhutto won on a platform of "food, clothing and shelter for all." And just months after giving birth to her first child, she took the office that was taken from her father.
Twenty months later, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan dissolved parliament and removed her from office, citing abuse of power. The new army-backed government filed charges of corruption against her, while Islamic clerics tried to get a court to bar her from running in elections. She was a bad Muslim, they said.
"Anyone who supports the Pakistan People's Party will not enter heaven," a Muslim cleric in Lahore, Abdul Qadir, told a Friday prayer congregation ahead of the October 1990 elections.
She lost the election to Nawaz Sharif (who, years later, also would be exiled and return to challenge the Musharraf government). His time in office was also short-lived because of more accusations of corruption. Under pressure, he resigned in 1993; Bhutto, by then a mother of three children, won another second term as prime minister in October 1993.
In 1996, her government fell in the face of accusations of nepotism and economic mismanagement.
Around the world, Bhutto was a feminist heroine. And in her campaigns, she advocated new services for women and opposed sexual discrimination, though few measures were adopted under her government.
In her personal life, Bhutto surprised many by agreeing to an arranged marriage in 1987 with Karachi businessman Asif Ali Zardari. She said that as the leader of a Muslim party, she was not free to marry for love, which would have "destroyed my political career," she told The New York Times in 1994.
But her marriage to Zardari would play a major role in her downfall.
Over the years, the couple would be accused of charging millions of dollars in "commissions" from foreign companies. Zardari was called "Mr. 10 Percent" during Bhutto's first term because of these alleged kickbacks; in her second term, the take and the monicker were upgraded to "Mr. 40 Percent."
Zardari spent eight years in Pakistani prisons before his release in 2004, though he was never convicted on any charge, and both he and Bhutto said the accusations were trumped up and political.
"I never influenced the awarding of a contract, and until my dying day I'll stand by it. They have tried to ruin me because they want to ruin the concept of a pluralistic, liberal Pakistan. To be accused of robbing, that really pains me," she said in 1999.
Switzerland froze more than $13 million in the couple's accounts, and convicted Bhutto of money laundering (the conviction was thrown out when she contested it).
Zardari also, briefly, was accused of engineering the 1996 death of Murtaza Bhutto, who died in a gunbattle with police in Karachi. His death contributed to the fall of Benazir's government a month later.
Bhutto tried for a third term and lost; she left Pakistan in 1999, just before a court convicted her of corruption and banned her from politics.
The verdict was later quashed, but she stayed away. She spent much of the time in London and in Dubai with her children and her ailing mother — the same mother who once opposed her political career.
Then Musharraf signed an amnesty, halting any corruption charges against her and others. And she decided to return to Pakistan and the political arena once more. She was briefly placed under house arrest when Musharraf declared a state of emergency this fall.
As she had done before, she campaigned on social welfare issues, occasionally mentioning the anti-terrorist message that had made her so appealing to American officials. Last week, after she addressed a rally in her husband's hometown of Nawab Shah, she was in a relaxed and upbeat mood.
"It feels great to be back home," she said. "A visit to every city is like a new experience for me. I'm just overwhelmed with emotion. I feel like I have been given a new life to be once more amongst my people."
She was a survivor, and proud of it. Thirteen years before, when a reporter from the Times suggested that her life was the stuff of Greek drama, she laughed.
"Well, I hope not so tragic," she said. "Don't all Greek dramas end in tragedy?"
___
Pennington reported from Islamabad, and Schwartz from New York.
Wash. massacre suspects could face death
SEATTLE, Dec. 28 (UPI) --
Two suspects in the killings of six rural Washington residents were formally charged Friday and could face the death penalty if convicted.
King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg told a news conference that he would consider seeking execution for Michele Anderson and Joseph McEnroe and would file the request within 30 days.
Anderson and McEnroe were arrested Thursday for the Christmas Eve massacre of three generations of Anderson's family, including her parents and a niece and nephew ages 6 and 3, at a home in rural Carnation outside Seattle.
The Seattle Times said Friday that sheriff's investigators allege the couple carried out the shootings and planned to escape into Canada. The exact motive was not clear, although the newspaper said money and previous family tensions were proposed by other family members.
© UPI, Headline News
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R.I.P.
Andersons
Whether here
or in the Grandest Court of True (Divine) Justice
YOU SHALL BE AVENGED.
+++
Updated information on Benazir Bhutto.
Turns out no bullets hit her at all - it was a fall and, probably, the concussion from the blast when that crazed and cowardly suicide-bomber blew himself to smithereens, that really "did her in"...
The previous reports were very erroneous.
And filed by commendable journalists.
And they say bloggers suck.
But I digress...
Hold another moment of silence for the beauteous Benazir now, before reading this latest -and hopefully accurate this time- report on what happened...
(I will take it all with a grain of salt though - after all, we never did know how exactly JFK was offed; why would be any different for Benazir Bhutto?)
Report: Bhutto died of skull fracture
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan,
Dec. 28 (UPI) --
Pakistan said Benazir Bhutto was not hit by a bullet or shrapnel but died of a skull fracture after hitting her car's moon roof, CNN reported Friday.
The Pakistan opposition political leader died Thursday at a political rally in the garrison city of Rawalpindi as she campaigned for parliamentary elections set for Jan. 8.
Interior Ministry spokesman Brig. Javed Iqbal Cheema told a news conference in Islamabad nothing entered Bhutto's head.
Cheema showed images of Bhutto in a car in which she was seen standing up through an open moon roof. He said when gunshots rang out followed by an explosion, the 54-year-old leader "fell down or perhaps ducked" and apparently hit her head on a lever, CNN reported. He said the lever was stained with blood.
Earlier reports carried by the official Pakistan news agency quoted the ministry saying that Bhutto was killed by shrapnel from the suicide bomb that went off as she stood up through the moon roof. At least 28 people died in the attack.
There had also been reports Bhutto was killed by bullets fired by the suicide bomber.
Cheema said Friday the government had an intelligence intercept showing al-Qaida was behind the attack, with a militant congratulating his followers for the assassination.
CNN reported the claim had not appeared on radical Islamist Web sites where such messages are routinely posted.
© UPI, Headline News
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+++
Advocate for atomic-blast survivors dies
CULVER CITY, Calif.,
Dec. 28 (UPI) --
Dr. Mitsuo Inouye, a Culver City, Calif., physician who assisted U.S. survivors of the World War II atomic bomb blasts in Japan, has just died at the age of 82.
The California native led efforts in the 1970s to bring Japanese radiation experts to the United States to examine Americans of Japanese ancestry who survived the atomic blasts in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Los Angeles Times said.
He also urged aid for the estimated 1,000 survivors, who suffered from higher rates of cancer than the general population, when he testified before a congressional subcommittee in 1978, the Times said.
Inouye died Dec. 15 in Culver City, of complications related to renal failure, his son, Jim, told the Times.
© UPI, Headline News
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R.I.P.
Dr. Mitsuo Inouye
(Inouï that his name means something... in French! Something any egghead might have as a pet word too... But I am digressing again...)
At least, in dying now, before things REALLY heat up between the USA and the "Axis of Evil" (and also between Pakistan and India - and Israël and everybody else!) Dr. M.I. here will NOT be seeing his worst nightmare become an horrific fiery reality...
Because, surely now, 'The Bomb' will be detonated again - one day soon, perhaps...
Despots will have a blast, one final huge blast - but the good scientist with a conscience will be long gone by then; either taken away by disease and/or old age, as was the case here. Or whisked away into the afterlife via an "accident"...
+++
Hmm...
Wasn't this story first reported from Taunton, Ma.? Scroll back up and check, will you, for I am too tired to do so myself!
I guess they changed that to avoid any practical joker's easy "Tainted In Taunton" easy ones, eh?
I used to know a good man in Taunton, Mass - Arturo Capelo! The guy nearly married into my family and, had he done so, I would have had one heck of a good guy as my Godfather AND an "uncle Arthur" too!
I always wanted an uncle Arthur!
I'd feel like Percival then!
But that is another story...
Arturo Capelo passed away many years ago though - so he couldn't have been affected by this milk contamination that is, ah, being milked for all its worth by pettifoggers anxious to proceed with the case...
Three words: class action suit.
But maybe that won't be neither feasible nor even necessary.
Time will tell.
That is another story anyway...
Two people have died here - and that is extremely regrettable because you should be able to DRINK MILK in AMERICA without fearing for your life...
Unless those nasty rumors about prostate woes later on in life are true...
Ask Rudy about that.
Rudy... Giuliani.
Another story, once again...
Let's veer back towards the one at hand here... Now...
Two die in Mass. from tainted milk
Fri Dec 28, 6:04 PM ET
BOSTON - The pasteurization process at a central Massachusetts dairy connected to a deadly outbreak of a bacterial illness appears to be working properly, a state health official said Friday.
Dr. Alfred DeMaria, the state director of communicable disease control, said that could mean the listeria bacteria that sickened four people in Massachusetts entered Whittier Farms' milk supply after it was pasteurized. Two of those victims, a 78-year-old man and a 75-year-old man, died in June and October. Another elderly man and a pregnant woman survived, although the woman miscarried.
"My understanding is they did everything right," DeMaria said. "That could happen. You could do everything right and something bad could happen."
The Shrewsbury dairy has suspended operations and is cooperating with state officials trying to pinpoint the source of contamination, DeMaria said. The farm delivered milk mostly to homes in the Worcester area.
"We are a family owned and operated business with a reputation for providing farm fresh milk to our customers," Whittier Farms said in a statement. "We strive to produce the best product and therefore we are extremely concerned about the situation and will be working to obtain the results of the investigation."
A message left for further comment was not immediately returned Friday.
DeMaria said the Massachusetts outbreak is believed to be just the third ever in pasteurized milk in the United States. Listeria is more commonly associated with luncheon meats, soft cheeses and hot dogs. It also can be found in raw, or unpasteurized, milk, he said.
An elderly man sickened asked health officials about the milk in his refrigerator, and an unopened container from Whittier Farms later tested positive for listeria. Testing showed the bacteria that sickened all four people likely came from the same source.
The bacteria can cause listeriosis, a rare but potentially fatal disease that can kill babies and people with weakened immune systems and cause miscarriages in pregnant women. Symptoms include fever, headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea.
It is really three victims there.
I needed to re-post - to rectify that aspect.
Two seventy-plus men
plus a foetus (fetus, if you will, but I prefer the spelling "foetus")
that makes three in my book...
My blog - my book.
R.I.P.
THE THREE OF YOU...
+++
It'll pick up in 2008...?
Historic low in NYC, Chicago homicides
By COLLEEN LONG,
Associated Press Writer
Fri Dec 28, 5:09 PM ET
NEW YORK - Chicago and New York are about to close out 2007 with the lowest number of homicides in more than 40 years, while cities such as Baltimore, Atlanta and Miami have seen killings go up because of what police say is a surge in guns and gang violence.
New York City reported 488 slayings as of Friday, versus 596 for all of 2006. The city is on track to have the lowest number of killings since reliable record-keeping started in 1963.
Homicides in New York reached an all-time high of 2,245 in 1990, making the city the nation's murder capital. Since then, the numbers have plummeted, and experts attribute the decline in part to computerized tracking of crime trends and the practice of strategically flooding high-crime areas with police officers instead of spreading them evenly through the precincts.
Chicago is on track to have the lowest homicide toll since 1965, when police reported 395 killings. The city had logged 435 slayings through Dec. 26. In the early part of the decade, police often reported more than 600 a year.
Chicago officials credit the improvement to their tough stance on gangs, guns and drugs.
"Those three ingredients, so to speak, are what we're focused on," said police spokeswoman Monique Bond. "That's really what leads to random violence."
Those factors were blamed for increases in murders in other cities.
Atlanta had 126 homicides as of Dec. 26, compared with 111 for the same period a year ago. Police attributed some of the increase to a New Orleans-based gang
that moved into town after Hurricane Katrina. Members of the International Robbing Crew are accused of killing at least seven people in Atlanta.
In Miami, authorities say the proliferation of assault weapons led to an increase in killings, from 56 in 2005 to 79 in 2006 and 86 so far in 2007.
"You just pull a trigger and 20 or 30 rounds come in a second and in those 20 rounds you're sure to hit your intended target and some innocent bystanders, totally unlike a firearm that is just one bullet every time you pull the trigger," Miami Police spokesman Willie Moreno said.
Earlier this year, Baltimore was headed for its bloodiest year in nearly a decade. But the bloodletting eased up after a new police commissioner took office.
The bloodshed in Baltimore is blamed on entrenched poverty, widespread drug addiction, failing schools and easy access to guns.
Through Dec. 26, there were 280 homicides in Baltimore — four more than in all of 2006. Things looked even grimmer in mid-July, the day Police Commissioner Leonard D. Hamm resigned. At that point, Baltimore had 178 homicides, putting it on pace for a total of 325. The city has not topped 300 since 1999.
The new police commissioner, Frederick H. Bealefeld III, and Mayor Sheila Dixon have gone after repeat violent offenders more aggressively, flooded high-crime zones with officers, and revived a unit that traces illegal guns. Also, repeat gun offenders are being sent more frequently to the federal court system, where they face stiffer sentences.
"They have become more focused, appropriately, on getting illegal guns off the streets and violent gun offenders off the street," said Daniel Webster, co-director of the Center for Gun Policy and Research at Johns Hopkins University.
It has been a particularly bloody year for children in Baltimore: Twenty-seven of this year's homicide victims were under 18.
In Philadelphia, killings dipped this year after reaching a nine-year high of 406 in 2006. Through midnight Tuesday, the city had 390 slayings, or 11 fewer than at the same point a year ago.
Like Baltimore, Philadelphia is dealing with a rash of illegal handguns that officials believe are being used to resolve minor disputes.
In other big cities, Phoenix reported 207 killings at the end of November, just shy of last year's total of 214 for the same period; Boston had 66 slayings as of Dec. 28, compared with 71 by the same point in 2006; Dallas was on track to finish considerably higher, with 200 homicides as of Dec. 26, versus 175 last year.
_____
Associated Press Writers Sophia Tareen in Chicago; Jay Lindsay in Boston; Errin Haines in Atlanta; Ben Nuckols in Baltimore; Matt Slagle in Dallas; Pat Walters in Philadelphia; Kelli Kennedy in Miami; and Terry Tang in Phoenix contributed to this report.
R.I.P.
everyone that met with an untimely and violent end in the year of two-thousand and seven (2007)...
And all the years before that, for that matter...
Rest in Peace, yes - if you can, that is...
And my sincerest condolences to everyone who lost a dear one under these most vile and revolting of circumstances.
+++
Oscar Peterson, June Callwood, William Hutt among Canadians who died in 2007
Fri Dec 28, 2:20 PM
By Eric Shackleton,
The Canadian Press
TORONTO - Some (of the) notable Canadians who died in 2007:
January
E.J. Hughes, 93 - Artist, who painted the landscapes of coastal B.C. for more than 70 years.
Charmion King Pinsent, 81 - Actress, driving force in such seminal Canadian theatre companies as the Straw Hat Players, and directed on Broadway in 1960 by Tyrone Guthrie in Robertson Davies' "Love and Libel." Wife of actor Gordon Pinsent.
Anthony Meagher, 66 - Archbishop of the Roman Catholic diocese of Kingston, Ont., of cancer.
Michel Proulx, 67 - Quebec Court of Appeal judge, who was involved in several high-profile commissions including those examining the RCMP and doping in sports, of cancer.
Denny Doherty, 66 - Singer, Canadian member of the Mamas and Papas folk group, of an aneurysm in his abdomen.
James Hillier, 91 - Inventor, who helped develop and market the first commercially successful electron microscope in the United States.
Eileen Rossiter, 77 - Realtor and Conservative party member, one of the first women appointed to the Senate from Prince Edward Island.
Lloyd Francis, 86 - Former Speaker of the House of Commons and longtime Liberal member of Parliament.
Percy Saltzman, 91 - Weatherman, who was the first meteorologist employed by the CBC and first person to appear on Canadian English-language television in 1952.
February
Syd Shulemson, 91 - War veteran, Canada's most highly decorated Jewish soldier of the Second World War, who helped pioneer techniques for low-level rocket attacks on enemy shipping in the North Atlantic.
Ian George Secord Keltie, 86 - War veteran, one of the few remaining Canadians to have flown a Spitfire in the Second World War.
Peter Mallon, 77 - Former Roman Catholic archbishop of Regina, of cancer.
Vince Steen, 65 - Former cabinet minister in the Northwest Territories.
Richard Curnock, 84 - Actor, who appeared in 61 productions over 22 years at the Stratford Festival, and was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore award for his role in "Quartermaine's Terms" at Theatre Plus.
Ryan Larkin, 63 - Acclaimed National Film Board animator whose struggle with drugs and alcohol was the subject of an Oscar-winning animated short "Ryan" in 2005.
Dermot O'Reilly, 64 - Musician, producer, songwriter, pioneer, mentor and one-third of the legendary Celtic folk band Ryan's Fancy, of a heart attack.
Celia Franca, 85 - Legendary founder of the National Ballet of Canada.
Lloyd Clement, 107 - War veteran, who signed up at age 16 and fought in the trenches of the First World War.
Mel Swart, 87 - Long-time NDP member of the Ontario Legislature.
March
George Athans, 86 - Former Olympic diver, nine-time Canadian champion, double medallist (gold and silver) at the 1950 British Empire Games, who at age 15 represented Canada at the Berlin Olympics in 1936.
Doris Anderson, 85 - Former editor of Chatelaine magazine, author and campaigner for women's rights, who was named an officer of the Order of Canada in 1974, of pulmonary fibrosis.
Robert Dickson, 62 - Franco-Ontarian poet, author, and Laurentian University professor, winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for his compilation of poems "Humains paysages en temps de paix relative."
Rita Joe, 75 - Known as the poet laureate of the Mi'kmaq nation, named to the Order of Canada in 1990.
April
John Roberts, 73 - Cabinet minister, who served as environment minister in Pierre Trudeau's Liberal government.
Stephen Mistaken Chief, 84 - War veteran, who fought for equal benefits for aboriginal soldiers from the Second World War.
Harry Rasky, 78 - Oscar-nominated filmmaker, whose documentaries shone a light on the work of artists such as Marc Chagall, Leonard Cohen and Christopher Plummer.
Stan Daniels, 72 - Award winning film producer, who won Emmys as co-creator and executive producer for "Taxi," and as a writer on the "Mary Tyler Moore Show," of heart failure.
June Callwood, 82 - Prominent activist for people with AIDS, founder of the hospice Casey House in Toronto, journalist, broadcaster, writer, named an officer of the Order of Canada in 1985, of cancer.
Jack Wiebe, 70 - Farmer, former senator and lieutenant-governor of Saskatchewan.
Archie Campbell, 65 - Judge, who headed SARS and sex-killer Paul Bernardo inquiries.
Lloyd Crouse, 88 - Former Nova Scotia lieutenant-governor and member of Parliament for more than 30 years.
Bertha Wilson, 83 - Judge, who became first woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada.
May
Dwight Wilson, 106 - War veteran, who signed up at age 15 as a bugler in the 9th Mississauga Horse and fought in the First World War.
Scott Thorkelson, 49 - Former Conservative MP from Edmonton, of a heart attack.
Bobby Ash, 82 - Known as "Uncle Bobby," he starred in "The Uncle Bobby Show," which was popular with children in the 1960s and 1970s, of a heart attack.
June
Jean Gauvin, 61 - Former New Brunswick cabinet minister in the Conservative government of Richard Hatfield.
John Ostashek, 71 - Former Yukon government leader.
Richard Bell, 61 - Rock musician, who played with The Band and Janis Joplin, of multiple myeloma.
Peter Liba, 67 - Former 22nd lieutenant-governor of Manitoba.
William Hutt, 87 - Star of the Stratford Festival, widely considered one of the world's finest Shakespearean actors, winner of the Governor General's Lifetime Achievement Award in Performing Arts in 1992, of leukemia.
July
Ed Mirvish, 92 - theatre impresario and flamboyant businessman simply known as "Honest Ed," owner of the Royal Alexander Theatre and the Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto, and member of the Order of Canada.
Bluma Appel, 67 - Founder of the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research, and patron of the arts, officer of the Order of Canada, of lung cancer.
Margaret Avison, 89 - Poet, winner of the prestigious Griffin Poetry Prize for "Concrete and Wild Carrot," and officer of the Order of Canada.
August
Elaine Campbell, 82 - lyricist, who co-wrote the lyrics for the popular musical "Anne of Green Gables."
Sam Pollock, 81 - Built a hockey dynasty as vice-president and general manager of the NHL Montreal Canadiens in 1960s and 1970s, member of the Order of Canada, of cancer.
Richard Bradshaw, 63 - General director of the Canadian Opera Company, who conducted more than 60 operas, of a heart attack.
Elmer MacFadyen, 64 - Former Prince Edward Island cabinet minister, of a heart attack.
Carol Isfeld, 68 - Created the "Izzy Doll," a peacekeeping tool used around the world.
Roch La Salle, 79 - Former federal Conservative cabinet minister in the government of Brian Mulroney.
Keith Knight, 51 - Actor, perhaps best-known for his role as counsellor-in-training Larry Finklestein in the film "Meatballs," of brain cancer.
Jack McKeag, 79 - Former lieutenant-governor of Manitoba.
Edouard Gagnon, 89 - Roman Catholic cardinal of Montreal, raised to the post by Pope John Paul II in 1985, who tried to resolve the case of rebel Archbishop Marcel Lefebrve.
Doug Riley, 62 - celebrated arranger and keyboardist, known as "Doctor Music," of a heart attack.
September
David Lancashire, 76 - Canadian reporter, who was the first North American journalist to report from mainland China after the 1949 revolution, of a heart attack.
Brett Somers, 83 - Canadian-born actress and comedian, who amused game show fans with her quips on the "Match Game," of stomach and colon cancer.
Al Hosick, 66 - Former president of the Canadian Professional Golf Association and the Ontario Golf Association, of cancer.
Ken Danby, 67 - Realist painter, best known in Canada for his iconic hockey painting "At The Crease," of an apparent heart attack while on a canoeing trip.
Patrick Bourque, 29 - Former bass player for the Canadian country music band Emerson Drive, of suicide.
Lois Maxwell, 80 - Canadian-born actress, who starred as Miss Moneypenny in 14 James Bond movies, of cancer.
October
Bill Boss, 90 - Last of The Canadian Press's Second World War correspondents, of pneumonia.
Robert Goulet, 73 - Baritone singer who launched his career in Canada then took Broadway by storm as Sir Lancelot in "Camelot," while waiting for a lung transplant.
Nick Weslock, 89 - Legendary amateur golfer and member of Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, who won seven Ontario opens and four Canadian Amateurs.
November
Suzanne Aucoin, 37 - Outspoken advocate for improved health care for cancer patients, of colorectal cancer.
Joseph Antonio Charles Lamer, 74 - 16th chief justice of Canada, of heart problems.
Mel Tolkin, 94 - Former head writer for Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour," of heart failure.
Jane Rule, 76 - Acclaimed novelist and lesbian role model, of liver cancer.
Harry Dowsett, 86 - Second World War veteran and one of 55 Canadians to receive the Legion of Honour Medal from the French government.
December
Jake Gaudaur, 87 - Former commissioner of the Canadian Football League, who put the league on a more solid financial footing through radio and television deals, of prostate cancer.
Norval Morrisseau, 75 - Aboriginal painter once called "the Picasso of the north," and a member of the Order of Canada, of Parkinson's disease.
Jacques Hebert, 84 - Former senator, founder of Canada World Youth and the Katimavik youth volunteer program, Officer of the Order of Canada, Knight of the Ordre de la Pleiade, nominated for 2002 Nobel Peace Prize, after a long illness.
Don Chevrier, 69 - First TV voice of the Toronto Blue Jays, of complications from a blood disorder.
Gerald Le Dain, 83 - Former Supreme Court of Canada justice and Companion of the Order of Canada, who led a well-regarded but little-heeded commission on the non-medical use of drugs.
William Sauder, 81 - Businessman, who helped develop B.C.'s forest industry and ran International Forest Products, a former chancellor of the University of British Columbia, of complications from a heart attack.
Ted Bowerman, 77 - Former Saskatchewan cabinet minister in the NDP government of premier Allan Blakeney, in a two-vehicle crash.
Oscar Peterson, 82 - Icon of jazz piano, noted technician and composer, celebrated for a swinging approach, who left behind a legacy of more than 100 recordings filled with virtuosity, of kidney failure.
R.I.P.
REDUX
(better than "R.I.P. Everybody" - you must admit...)
+++
Motherwell's O'Donnell dies after collapse
Sat Dec 29, 3:15 PM
GLASGOW (AFP) - Motherwell captain Phil O'Donnell died on Saturday after collapsing during a match against Dundee United.
O'Donnell, 35, fell to the ground as he was about to be substituted towards the end of Motherwell's 5-3 Scottish Premier League win over Dundee United.
He then received some five minutes of treatment on the field before being carried off on a stretcher and was subsequently taken by ambulance to hospital.
"Unfortunately I can confirm very, very sad news that Phil O'Donnell has lost his life," said Motherwell chairman Bill Dickie.
O'Donnell was set to be replaced by substitute Marc Fitzpatrick in a match but fell to the pitch as the change was taking place.
Motherwell manager Mark McGhee said: "I don't want to say anything more than how devastated everyone at the club is for his wife and his young children. That's what we are all feeling tonight, nothing else matters.
"Obviously from the club's point of view we'll gather round to give his family as much support as they need."
Dickie added the cause of O'Donnell's death has remained unknown. "We don't know what it was but there will be a post-mortem. This is a tragic happening and that's all I can say."
The midfielder's nephew, David Clarkson, who scored twice in the match, was substituted after being alarmed at the sight of his uncle's collapse.
Gordon Smith, chief executive of the Scottish Football Association, said: "This is absolutely devastating news. Phil was not just a wonderful footballer, he was a great human being. My thoughts are with his family at this tragic time."
And Peter Lawwell, the chief executive of Celtic, one of O'Donnell's former clubs, added: "When the news came through, everyone at the club was obviously shocked. Obviously our thoughts are with his family to whom we offer extreme condolences for a tragic loss of a young life. Everyone at Celtic Park will mourn him."
Tributes also came from beyond the world of football.
Former Scotland First Minister, Jack O'Connell, who represents the consistuency of Motherwell and Wishaw in the Scottish Parliament, said: "Phil O'Donnell was a great professional who was admired by fellow players and fans alike. As captain he helped transform Motherwell this season.
"Phil will be sadly missed by his family and by football fans but he will be mourned by the whole community."
O'Donnell, who won one Scotland cap, began his career with Motherwell and rejoined the club in 2004 following spells with Scottish champions Celtic, who he joined in 1994, and English League side Sheffield Wednesday.
R.I.P.
Captain O'Donnell
Athletes who collapse in the midst of practising their sport (Boston Celtics' Reggie Lewis was another) are as close as we get to legendary warriors leaving us in a blaze of glory - in our modern-day world.
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698-Pound Man Dies After Stomach Surgery
Monday, December 24, 2007
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A man who weighed 698 pounds died Friday of heart failure after undergoing an operation to remove 80 percent of his stomach in a desperate effort to reduce his weight.
Carlos Marroquin, 47, was so heavy at the time of Thursday's operation that hospital workers used a forklift to place him on the operating table, surgeon Isaias Sandigo, who participated in the procedure, told The Associated Press.
"He had two heart attacks in 20 minutes, there was nothing we could have done for him," Sandigo said. He said Marroquin's heart and kidneys had begun failing even before the procedure.
Marroquin's family checked him in to the San Juan de Dios Hospital's obesity clinic for treatment after they were told that nothing more could be done for him at a local hospital in his home town of Santa Lucia Cotzumalguapa, southwest of Guatemala City.
R.I.P.
Carlos
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One of the Canadian celebrity deaths missing from the list (two "comments" ago) was MARCEL SAINT-GERMAIN.
If you can read French, a rather eloquent eulogy is to be found here - and it is penned by a current French-Canadian humor maven too...
If you need a translation - Babel Fish is on the sidebar of the Lugubrious Blog!
And if you prefer just the bare facts - read on!
My luminous translation follows...
Le jeudi 27 décembre 2007
Marcel Saint-Germain des Cyniques s'éteint
Presse Canadienne
Montréal
Un des membres du groupe humoriste Les Cyniques, Marcel Saint-Germain, qui a fait rire le Québec dans les années 1960 et 1970, est décédé jeudi à l'âge de 68 ans à son domicile de Brossard, en Montérégie.
L'homme avait été victime d'un AVC, il y a trois ans.
Avocat de formation, M. Saint-Germain était celui qui prêtait généralement sa voix aux parodies de chansons et d'opérettes du groupe d'humoristes politisés.
À l'époque, personne n'échappait à l'humour souvent piquant de M. Saint-Germain et de ses compères Marc Laurendeau, Serge Grenier et André Dubois.
En entrevue à la Presse Canadienne, M. Laurendeau, qui est aujourd'hui journaliste, a affirmé que la mort de Marcel Saint-Germain était une grande perte. «Il va rester dans la mémoire collective comme quelqu'un de vraiment drôle.»
M. Laurendeau a aussi mentionné que M. Saint-Germain n'était pas uniquement comique. «C'était quelqu'un qui avait une profondeur et c'est pourquoi sa compagnie était recherchée. Je suis fier d'avoir compté parmi ses amis.»
Marcel Saint-Germain avait entrepris une carrière dans le domaine des communications après avoir quitté la scène.
Il a aussi travaillé pour Juste pour rire.
Thursday, December 27th
Marcel Saint-Germain of the Cyniques passes on
One of the members of the humoristic group "Les Cyniques", Marcel Saint-Germain, who made all of Québec laugh throughout the 1960s and 1970s, has passed away on Thursday at the age of 68 at his home in Brossard, Montérégie.
Three years ago, Mr. Saint-Germain had suffered a stroke.
An attorney by training, Mr. Saint-Germain was the one who would sing parodies of well-known songs as well as many highly-politicized mini-operas especially crafted for the occasion.
In those days, no one was spared in these highly sardonic spoofs concocted by Mr. Saint-Germain and his acolytes Marc Laurendeau, Serge Grenier and André Dubois.
During an interview with the Canadian Press, M. Laurendeau, who is now a journalist and political analyst, attested to the fact that the death of Marcel Saint-Germain was a huge loss. «He will remain in our collective memory as someone who was extremely funny.»
Mr. Laurendeau also mentioned that Mr. Saint-Germain was not just a funnyman. «He was someone who had such depth and this is why his company was always sought. I am proud to have been among his friends.»
Marcel Saint-Germain had pursued a career in communications after retiring from show-business.
He had also worked for the Just For Laughs festival production company.
R.I.P.
Marcel
(For to say "R.I.P. St-Germain" is somewhat of an oxymoron now, considering all the legendary rumors of immortality associated with that name...!
The soul is immortal though - that is true.
Thus, his good friend Marc was a bit off in using the past tense there; Marcel was not someone gifted with "deep thought" - HE IS.)
+++
Humour
Les Cyniques en deuil
Plus d'info -
L'écrivain et cinéaste Jacques Godbout parle de son ami avec Christine Fournier.
Un être irrésistiblement drôle, résume l'ex-Cynique et journaliste Marc Laurendeau.
Marcel Saint-Germain dans le rôle de Marius Lamouche
C'est à son domicile de Brossard, en banlieue de Montréal, qu'est mort, après une longue maladie, Marcel Saint-Germain.
Celui que l'on surnommait le « p'tit gros » des Cyniques, ce célèbre groupe d'humoristes, était âgé de 68 ans.
Avocat de formation, il était la voix de ce collectif qui a connu ses heures de gloire au cours des années 1960 et 1970. Il est reconnu pour ses inoubliables parodies de chansons et d'opérettes.
Même si aucune ethnie n'a échappé à l'humour souvent corrosif des Cyniques, Marcel Saint-Germain reconnaissait, avec le recul du temps, que le groupe avait touché à des tabous qu'il ne serait plus possible d'aborder de nos jours.
Tous les tabous sont à proscrire en humour. — Marcel Saint-Germain
C'est avec le film IXE-13, de Jacques Godbout, que le talent de Marcel Saint-Germain a connu son apogée, avec le rôle de Marius Lamouche.
Après sa carrière sur scène, Marcel Saint-Germain est devenu chef des communications chez Bell Canada et BCE jusqu'en 1996.
Ces dernières années, il a également oeuvré comme chasseur de têtes pour le Festival Juste pour rire. De plus, il avait entrepris des études universitaires de deuxième cycle en histoire de l'art.
Un Cynique se souvient
Le journaliste et ex-membre des Cyniques Marc Laurendeau parle d'une personne au talent immense, tant par son intelligence que par son sens du comique. Il ajoute qu'il apportait au groupe quelque chose d'essentiel.
"On se rappellera de Marcel Saint-Germain comme celui qui jouait les personnages de ténor, de chanteur de club et qui maniait le comique avec une facilité déconcertante. On le voyait sur scène et il n'avait qu'à respirer, qu'à bouger pour que l'on rie."
a-t-il ajouté.
Okay - I'm not translating this one now! Sensibly the same information as before, only with extra details.
See it all, including the picture of Marcel Saint-Germain as "Marius Lamouche" - here.
And for a critique of the Cyniques, dating back to 1971, go here.
+++
Seems like Benazir Bhutto's assassination is indeed as complicated (and as much the object of a cover-up) as JFK's was...
Just missing the magic bullet...
Yes, just short of that...
Dispute about Bhutto's death continues
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan,
Dec. 29 (UPI) --
The Pakistan People's Party is free to have Benazir Bhutto's body exhumed if it wants to settle doubts about how she died, a government spokesman said Saturday.
The government suggests the former prime minister was killed when her head hit the sunroof of her car, fracturing her skull. Leaders of Bhutto's party accuse the government of trying to downplay the assassination and insist she was hit by bullets.
Sherry Rehman, the party's information secretary, said she saw the bullet wounds, CNN reported. She called the government's version "the most bizarre dangerous nonsense."
"We don't mind if the People's Party leadership wants her body to be exhumed and post-mortemed," Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema said. "They are most welcome, but we gave you what the facts are."
Videotape of the assassination Thursday show a man firing three times at Bhutto's vehicle, followed shortly thereafter by the explosion as a suicide bomber set off his belt.
© UPI, Headline News
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+++
Woman, 89, turned away by 30 hospitals
OSAKA, Japan,
Dec. 29 (UPI) --
A Japanese ambulance crew had to travel two hours to a hospital willing to accept an 89-year-old woman after being turned away by 30 other institutions.
The patient, who went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance, died at the hospital, Yomiuri Shimbun reported.
The hospitals that refused to take her were in Tondabayashi, where she lived, and in Osaka and Sakai. Officials in Osaka Prefecture have launched an investigation.
The woman's family called the ambulance early Tuesday after she complained of feeling ill. Paramedics administered oxygen to the woman at her home before placing her in the ambulance.
The ambulance crew says the woman was conscious when they arrived.
© UPI, Headline News
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R.I.P.
89-year-old Lady
Note to self: when in Japan, think of performing hara-kiri BEFORE calling an ambulance, if I ever feel ill or something...
Red Tide Blamed After Manatees, Dolphins Found Dead In Brevard
Tests To Confirm If Red Tide Caused Deaths
EXCERPTS OF THE ARTICLE FOLLOW...
POSTED: 2:55 pm EST
December 28, 2007
UPDATED: 12:57 am EST
December 29, 2007
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MERRITT ISLAND, Fla. --
Six manatees and two dolphins have been found dead by state marine patrol officers in Brevard County since Wednesday, likely casualties of red tide.
Tissue tests will be conducted to confirm red tide as the cause of death.
(...)
One manatee was found on Friday in Sykes Creek near Merritt Island High, and a dolphin was found on Friday in the Indian River in the Merritt Island area, Local 6 News partner Florida Today reported.
Through the end of November, red tide killed at least 46 manatees this year in Florida, including two in Brevard County and two in Volusia County.
(...)
Water samples have tested at high concentrations for red tide in the Mosquito Lagoon in recent weeks.
"The red tide gets here first. The manatees will eat the sea grass and (the red tide) will get into their system," Salberg said. "So the manatee is the first to get hit."
At least nine dolphins are also suspected to have died from the red tide off Brevard area beaches this month.
While red tide can kill manatees, dolphins and other mammals, health officials said it does not pose an urgent public health threat to humans. It can cause varying degrees of eye, nose and throat irritation, including a sore throat and cough similar to the common cold.
Symptoms usually vanish shortly after leaving the beach but can last for days in people with chronic or severe respiratory conditions such as emphysema or asthma.
Copyright 2007 by Internet Broadcasting Systems and Local6.com. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
R.I.P.
Dolphins... Manatees...
Your habitat is being decimated, your numbers as well, your food is being contaminated - none of it is your fault but you're the ones paying the price for man's folly.
For the full article, go here (since the Internet Broadcasting Systems geeks are such stuffy ones...)
+++
Ex-Yankee Leyritz Charged With DUI, Killing Another Driver
Dec 28, 5:24 PM (ET)
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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -Former major leaguer Jim Leyritz was arrested Friday on charges of driving under the influence and killing a driver after his car crashed into hers.
Leyritz was charged with DUI manslaughter and DUI property damage, said Detective Kathy Collins, Fort Lauderdale police spokeswoman. He posted the $11,000 bond and was released from Broward County jail.
Police believe alcohol was involved in the crash, though investigators are awaiting results of blood alcohol tests, Collins said.
Leyritz played for six major league teams, starred in the 1996 World Series and was last in the majors in 2000. Leyritz, who lives in Davie, turned 44 Thursday. It could not be determined if he had a lawyer.
Fort Lauderdale authorities got a call at 3:20 a.m. that a crash occurred in the city's entertainment district, Collins said. She said Leyritz was driving a 2006 Ford Expedition when he collided at an intersection with 30-year-old Fredia Ann Veitch of Plantation, who was driving a 2000 Mitsubishi Motero.
Veitch was ejected from the car, police said. She died at Broward General Medical Center, Collins said.
Witnesses told police Leyritz had a red light. Officers on the scene observed Leyritz to have red, watery eyes, a flushed face and an odor of alcohol, police said.
Leyritz was told Veitch had died and he was asked to submit to a blood test, police said.
"After he refused, Leyritz was informed that blood would be taken above his refusal," the police statement said.
In 1996, Leyritz hit a home run for the New York Yankees in Game 4 of the World Series against Atlanta. The homer made it 6-6, and the Yankees went on to win in 10 innings. New York took the Series in six games for its first title in 18 years.
Leyritz was mostly a catcher during his 11 seasons, averaging .264 with 90 homers. He also played for the Angels, Rangers, Red Sox, Padres and Dodgers.
R.I.P.
Yankee Victim
About time a former New York player makes the smae mistake that a former Boston Bruins player did (Craig MacTavish, in the 1980s) - alas, he's played for a lot of ball clubs, including the Red Sox!
But as MacTavish is an Oiler, Leyritz here is a Yankee more than anything else...
+++
More about the European Football (that's what it is - not "soccer") player who died - and other players who died just like he did...
Like so many gladiators of the modern age - less extreme sports, for sure, but maybe God Did not make us to overtax ourselves running back and forth over such a large grassy surface, for not much reason at all either...
Captain of Scottish Soccer Team Dies After Collapsing During Game
Dec 29, 4:55 PM (ET)
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MOTHERWELL, Scotland (AP) -The captain of a Scottish Premier League soccer team died Saturday, collapsing during a game just as he was about to leave the field for a substitute.
Phil O'Donnell, a 35-year-old midfielder for Motherwell, fell to the ground at Fir Park and was carried off on a stretcher and taken by ambulance to a hospital.
Motherwell said its medical staff and that of Dundee United believed O'Donnell had a seizure, but did not elaborate. Club chairman Bill Dickie said there will be an autopsy.
"This is an unspeakable tragedy for Phil's family," Motherwell owner John Boyle said in a statement. "Everyone at Motherwell is shocked to the core and we are sure that everyone involved in Scottish football will feel the same.
"Phil was not only an inspirational player for Motherwell and club captain, but was an inspirational person. All of us at Motherwell are thinking of his wife, Eileen, and their four children."
O'Donnell collapsed before he could be replaced by substitute Marc Fitzpatrick. He was treated on the field for about five minutes and Fitzpatrick entered in the 78th minute.
O'Donnell's nephew David Clarkson, who had scored twice for Motherwell, was substituted a few moments later because he was upset by what happened.
Saturday's game was played to completion, the teams apparently unaware of O'Donnell's condition. Motherwell won 5-3.
"I don't want to say anything more than how devastated everyone at the club is for his wife and his young children," Motherwell manager Mark McGhee said. "That's what we are all feeling tonight. Nothing else matters."
O'Donnell started his career at Motherwell before stints with Celtic and Sheffield Wednesday. He also played once for Scotland, entering as substitute in a World Cup qualifier against Switzerland in 1993. He scored for Motherwell in its 4-3 victory over Dundee United in the 1991 Scottish Cup final.
Former Scotland manager Craig Brown gave O'Donnell his only international appearance.
"I think everyone in the game will acknowledge what a wonderful player he was and an outstanding gentleman," Brown told Sky Sports News. "And I would expect to have a minute's applause at every ground in Scotland at the next fixture."
O'Donnell's death recalled that of Cameroon midfielder Marc-Vivien Foe, who collapsed and died at the 2003 Confederations Cup in France. That prompted soccer's ruling body to demand a general physical and thorough cardiovascular tests on all players leading to last year's World Cup in Germany.
This past summer, Sevilla midfielder Antonio Puerta died after he collapsed on the field during a Spanish league game. He had a weak right ventricle, and his death was one of at least three in soccer in August.
Striker Chaswe Nsofwa died of heart failure while training in Israel. A player for the English team Walsall, 16-year-old Anton Reid, died after collapsing while training.
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Mich. girl killed by barrier at ski slope
CANTON, Mich.,
Dec. 30 (UPI) --
A 13-year-old Michigan girl died at a ski resort in the state when she struck a wood and concrete barrier at the bottom of an intermediate slope.
Clare Dougherty's death last Sunday is unlikely to be investigated because the state law regulating ski areas covers only lifts and tows, vehicles on the slopes and some signs, The Detroit News reported.
The girl's parents, Lucy and Mark Dougherty of Canton, were skiing with their four children and some adult friends at Schuss Mountain in the Shanty Creek Resorts Complex. Clare was unable to stop in time at the bottom of the "Red Hot."
The friends said they saw other skiers falling at the bottom of the slope after losing control trying to avoid the barrier. They described the slope as unsafe.
Randy Leong, speaking for the Doughertys, said they are not interested in litigation.
"We're not looking for consequences, we're just looking at them taking responsibility," Leong said. "How much would a bale of hay cost to place in front of a slab of cement? A few bundles of hay would have made the difference, some padding around the posts."
© UPI, Headline News
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R.I.P.
Skier Girl
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First Tomar, then the tiger cubs in China and now the last Alaskan zoo tiger...
December will be amonth for remember for tiger lovers - for all the WRONG reasons.
Last Amur tiger in Alaska Zoo dies
ANCHORAGE, Calif.,
Dec. 30 (UPI) --
The last Amur tiger in the Alaska Zoo has been euthanized.
Al, 18 when he died Friday, had been at the zoo since 1995. He was brought there with his mother, Martha, who died in 2001, and his twin, Steve, who died in August.
Eileen Floyd, the development director, said Al had stopped eating after months of failing health, the Anchorage Daily News reported.
"It was just time," she said.
Al also appeared to miss his brother, Floyd said, occasionally making a special call and waiting for Steve to reply.
Amur tigers, living along the border between Russia and China, weigh up to 800 pounds, making them the biggest of the big cats. They are highly endangered, with only a few hundred believed to be living in the wild.
Al, his mother and brother came from the Philadelphia Zoo. The Alaska Zoo hopes to get two or three new tigers by the spring, the newspaper said.
© UPI, Headline News
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R.I.P.
Al
Couldn't they have named you any better at that damn zoo...?
Couldn't they have just left you, your momma and your twin brother ALONE too...
Alaska is no place for a tiger.
A zoo neither - no matter where it might be located for that matter...
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Dorchester fire victims were 9 and 11 years old
December 29, 2007 07:34 PM
Rebecca Zizi, 9, and Rooben Zizi, 11, (were) the two children who died in the Dorchester fire early today.
By Matt Viser, Globe Staff
and Michael Naughton
and Daniel Peleschuk,
Boston Globe Correspondents
Two children were killed in a two-alarm fire in Dorchester early this morning that firefighters said may have been caused by a space heater used to warm a bedroom.
The fire broke out shortly after midnight in the three-decker on Bellevue Street. Rebecca Zizi, 9, and her brother, Rooben, 11, died in the blaze, Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald said this morning at the fire site.
The Zizi family had been celebrated Rebecca's 9th birthday Friday, eating cake and giving her gifts.
"Our prayers and our thoughts go out to this family," Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino said in a telephone interview. " We're there to assist them in any we can in this tragic time in their lives."
Eight adults and eight children escaped the fire. Two firefighters were treated for minor burns and released this morning from the hospital.
The investigation of the blaze is continuing, MacDonald said. But there was a space heater in the first-floor room where the fire started, leading investigators to consider it a potential cause.
"You wonder why people didn't get out, but they're children and the fire -- it was intense," said MacDonald.
The family, which moved from Haiti about a year ago, is staying at a Boston hotel tonight.
Junior Zizi, 14, and some siblings had been sleeping in the room where the fire broke out. "Everyone was coughing," he said.
Firefighters recovered a photo from the apartment where the fire began that showed the family dressed up and smiling.
Rebecca and Rooben were among six siblings who lived with their parents on the first floor, according to Junior Zizi.
"The message we want to get out is that space heaters in bedrooms are very dangerous. We see this way too often," Fire Chief Kevin MacCurtain said last night.
About 60 firefighters with 10 to 15 engines responded to the fire.
MacDonald said the remaining family members and the people who lived on the building's second and third floors would be offered shelter by the American Red Cross. Damage to the building was estimated at $300,000, he said.
A half hour after the fire began, the flames had been extinguished but the fire was still billowing smoke as firefighters worked inside the building.
The narrow, hilly street was crowded with fire engines. Neighbors stood on their porches and in the streets to watch.
After another hour, the smoke had stopped. The left rear corner of the building could be seen, burnt down to the frame on the first and second floor.
Gary and Mona Zizi yelled and screamed on the porch of a building across the street and had to be restrained by EMTs.
They were taken away on stretchers with a third woman, identified as the children's godmother.
Eight-year-old Lieyon Canton, who awoke to the screams of his 15-year-old brother, Wultdon, to get out of the house, ran down from their third-floor apartment in just shorts and a T-shirt. His mother, over the pleas of her three children, ran back into the house to get him a coat and socks.
“I’m just happy we’re alive,” said Wultdon, who went back to the building this afternoon to collect their belongings.
Matt Canton, 21, who lived on the third floor of the burned building, said this morning he was relieved to have escaped.
He said he was acquainted with the family that had suffered the loss, but didn't know them well. "They smiled and said hello," he said. "They had beautiful kids."
An elderly woman who lived across the street said she knew the family as "friendly, churchgoing people."
"That's the one thing that I really liked about them. They took their kids to church every Sunday," she said.
This morning, a next-door neighbor dressed in a bathrobe watched firefighters working on the site. "It just seems hard to believe and questionable about how something like that could happen," said John Odams.
R.I.P.
Rebecca
R.I.P.
Rooben
You had all your lives ahead of you - you didn't make it to 2008.
You made it to Heaven though.
+++
Taliban kill 8 in Afghan convoy attack
By JASON STRAZIUSO,
Associated Press Writer
1 hour, 17 minutes ago
KABUL, Afghanistan - Taliban militants fired rocket-propelled grenades from their vehicles at a convoy of private security guards on Afghanistan's main highway, killing six guards and two police officers, a police chief said Sunday.
The attack in a dangerous section of Wardak province occurred Saturday afternoon as the security contractors were guarding equipment being driven from Ghazni city to the capital Kabul, said Wardak police chief Gen. Zafaruddin, who goes by one name.
Taliban militants opened fire on the convoy near Maydon Shahr, about 20 miles southwest of Kabul, and six guards and two policemen were killed, he said.
This year has been Afghanistan's most violent since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion drove the Taliban from power. More than 6,300 people, mostly militants, have been killed in insurgency-related violence, according to an Associated Press count.
Meanwhile, the U.N.'s top representative here, Tom Koenigs, said he was "particularly concerned" that an Afghan consultant who worked for the U.N. remains jailed after he accompanied officials from the U.N. and European Union, allegedly to a meeting with Taliban commanders in Helmand province.
The government asked the two officials to leave the country last week, and detained the Afghan consultant for attending the alleged meeting.
"We've made it clear to the Afghan government that we want to see him released as soon as possible, because even the government has publicly stated that no U.N. staff member was involved in any secret talks," said Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for the U.N. mission.
Koenigs said "underlying assumptions" from some elements within the Afghan government were misunderstandings. That was an apparent reference to allegations that the two officials met with and may have handed money over to Taliban leaders.
He said the U.N. was not involved in any intelligence operations or paying money to any insurgents.
Koenigs, the head of the U.N. Assistance Mission to Afghanistan for the last two years, left his post on Sunday. Bo Asplund, a Swedish national, is now the officer in charge until a permanent head is named.
Paddy Ashdown, a former leader of Britain's opposition Liberal Democrats who served previously as Bosnia-Herzegovina's international administrator, is a leading candidate to replace Koenigs.
After two years as special representative, Koenigs said he leaves the country with both hope and concern.
"Afghanistan is moving from being a country decimated by decades of conflict to a progressive Islamic democracy, striving to improve the lives of its people," he said. "However, I share the same concern as the Afghan people for the security situation, particularly in the south of the country."
Koenigs said UNAMA will continue to back the rights of victims of Afghanistan's nearly three decades of conflict, saying reparations are needed for past abuses. He said acknowledging past abuses is not a barrier to reconciliation, but rather is a "prerequisite for future peace and stability in Afghanistan."
R.I.P.
EIGHT...
And eight is definitely enough too.
Are these people going to be killing each other until the very last second of the YEAR?
Give it a rest, will ya?!?
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People are theorizing now that Tatiana the Tiger (tigress really) was perhaps provoked into attacking the three stooges in front of her in San Fran's zoo...
(Yes - not being tied up to a big corporate thingie like, say, Time Magazine, I don't need to hold my tongue, pen or keyboard! Those three were idiotic and very obtuse indeed to have wound up in the position they wound up in - on Christmas Eve! It is not surprising one bit either, for me, that the prime idiot was a SOUSA... I know some SOUSAS, and idiocy seems to run in their veins... I figure this was a cousin of them? Too many things in common not to be... But I digress... In many people's eyes, the kid was a "hero", for the simple fact of having died trying to distract the tiger away from his friend, trying to "save his friend" - nothing more noble than that, yes, true. But there's also nothing more idiotic than taunting a tiger on the loose either. And what were they doing ther ein the first place? Nothing else or nothing better to do than taunt captive animals, HUH?)
Time Magazine reporter Alexandra Silver comes to the conclusion that a tiger acts as a tiger does...
How very scientific.
Here is the conclusion of her article, to be found here.
Tatiana, a zoo tiger, was not acting under "natural" conditions, Bradshaw points out, and the animal's physical and social limitations ought to be taken into account when examining her violent behavior. This is not to say the tiger might not have attacked had she been in the wild, but Bradshaw says her history of captivity can't be ignored. Like the elephants in Africa, she might have been striking back.
The science of animal sentience is far from a firm one; there's no way of knowing exactly what any animal is feeling. But it's conceivable that something in Tatiana's life, beyond her instinct, could have impelled her to attack. She may have been simply behaving like a tiger — but, perhaps, behaving like a tiger is not so psychologically distinct from behaving like a human.
Hmm... Me, I dare hope that tigers are wiser, generally-speaking!
Not so, if one is to believe the timetable of events presented in the article:
The Siberian tiger that killed Carlos Sousa Jr., 17, and mauled two other men, brothers Paul Dhaliwal, 19, and Kulbir Dhaliwal, 23, at the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day, has sparked a police investigation and much speculation as to who is to blame. Authorities are still investigating how the animal escaped — recent reports indicate she could have jumped or scaled the enclosure's wall, which is nearly 4 ft. lower than the recommended standard — and whether or not the victims taunted her before the attacks.
However uncertain the preceding circumstances, the facts of the assault are clearer: Just before the zoo's closing time, the 4-year-old tiger named Tatiana escaped her pen and attacked the older of the Dhaliwal brothers, then turned on and killed Sousa, who was apparently trying to save his friend by distracting the animal. She then made her way 300 yards to the zoo café, following a trail of blood left by the first injured man who had fled with his brother. It was there she attacked her third victim, the younger Dhaliwal, and was shot dead by police officers — 20 minutes after they had received the call that the tiger was loose.
Tatiana seems to have no motive - other than "being a tiger" (or perhaps, being fed up with captivity and making a run for it.)
Meanwhile, USAToday is more practical and deals with the AFTERMATH of it all:
The deadly tiger escape at the San Francisco Zoo could prove to be a costly blow to an institution that has come under fire repeatedly in just the past few years over the deaths of two elephants and the mauling of a zookeeper.
The zoo could face heavy fines from regulators. It could be stripped of its exhibitor license. Its accreditation could be at risk. It could be hit with a huge lawsuit by the victims or their families. It could even face criminal charges, depending on what the investigation finds.
"All this legal action is likely to impact the financial viability of the zoo," said Rory Little, a professor at the University of California's Hastings College of the Law. "Whether the zoo can stay open is a big question."
Seems like Tatiana had help to make her Great (and gorey) Escape, indeed - because the wall that she climbed so effortlessly was, at 12½ feet, "about 4 feet below the recommended minimum for U.S. zoos" - so a fine should be automatic here.
And they shot Tatiana dead - for having killed and mauled MORONS.
Too bad Tatiana didn't keep her fangs and claws only to zoo workers, eh?
Read on...
R.I.P.
Tatiana
Tigress Extraordinaire.
NOW you are free...
And, sure...
R.I.P.
Carlos Sousa Jr.
May you be not so mischievous on the Other Side as you were during your short life - don't be found where you shouldn't be.
Follow the rules - this time.
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Death at the Bronx Zoo
Monday, Apr. 18, 2005
She never played with dolls, preferring stuffed animals instead. Her family nicknamed her Mrs. Dolittle because of her love for creatures of all kinds. She trained as a zookeeper in California, and after earning a degree in animal behavior from Fordham University, Robin Silverman, 24, fulfilled her life's dream in February by becoming an animal keeper at the Bronx Zoo. She was known for her enthusiasm and expertise, which made what happened last week all the more inexplicable.
At about 10 a.m., shortly before the zoo's Wild Asia exhibit was due to open, Silverman unlocked two doors and, along with Barbara Burke, 21, a volunteer aide, proceeded to walk into the two-acre enclosure. Twenty feet inside, two powerful Siberian tigresses sprang from thick foliage and pounced on her. Burke escaped by clambering up the 16-ft. chain fence. Silverman was the first fatality in the zoo's 86-year history.
Officials were perplexed as to why she entered the enclosure. They said she had been instructed to lock one door, not go inside. "There is no reason for anyone caring for tigers to ever go onto the exhibit area," said Zoo General Curator James Doherty. "As best as I can see, she had a lapse in concentration." While Burke might be able to provide some insight into Silverman's actions, she was said to be too shaken to talk about it.
Silverman's family suspects a lapse on the part of the zoo. Said the woman's brother Barry Silverman, 38: "There is no way my sister would have walked into the area if the tigers had been there. She would not have been that careless." Robin's death marked the second time that tragedy had struck the family: in 1969 a son died in a freak accident. Said Sol Silverman, 62: "It's a lot of loss. Seeing my son and daughter lying next to each other in the cemetery was very difficult."
Ulysses Seal, an expert on Siberian tigers, said the odds of being attacked while in an enclosed area with tigers are 100%. "Tigers regard a human as a meat meal," he said. "I've worked with tigers for seven years, and under no circumstances would I put myself under those conditions." People have called for the destruction of the animals that attacked Robin Silverman. Zoo Director William Conway disagrees. Says he: "We're not going to vilify normal, healthy tigers for doing what tigers do."
R.I.P.
Robin Silverman
AND MAY THEY NOT "DESTROY" THE TIGERS FOR HAVING, INDEED, BEEN GOOD AT BEING WHAT THEY WERE BORN TO BE...
The poor beasts are already IN CAPTIVITY. They should be killed because an idiot put herself on their path?!?
I am sorry, but Silverman was about as smart as the Sousa teen there - and the only reason why Tatiana was "destroyed" in the other case, was because an attempt to escape was made and the PUBLIC were victimized.
The tigers (actually tigresses - again) shouldn't be killed for what is clearly a case of lack of judgment there.
Maybe it was inattention - that proved to be fatal there - for Robin Silverman was deemed to be well-trained, but the worst-case scenario unfolded anyway. And tigers, already dwindling in numbers, will not be made to pay the price ANY FURTHER THAN THEY ALREADY DO, for it...
Robin Silverman herself would not want any harm to come to the animals.
Where she is now, there are lots of animals. Mrs Dolittle will be happy, in Heaven.
Hey - Tomar, Tatiana, Alaska Al and two tiger cubs just got there too...
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Sumatran orangutan believed to have choked to death after brain hemorrhage
2 hours, 46 minutes ago
By The Associated Press
MIAMI - A 55-year-old Sumatran orangutan at the Miami Zoo, believed to be the world's oldest in captivity, has choked to death.
Zoo spokesman Ron Magill said the orangutan named Nonja suffered a brain hemorrhage that made her pass out and vomit. He said she then choked on her vomit and was found dead Saturday.
Nonja was born on the Indonesian island of Sumatra and had lived in Miami since 1983.
Despite her age, Magill said Nonja was in good health.
A typical life span for Sumatran orangutans is 40 to 50 years.
Further testing will determine what caused the brain hemorrhage, but Magill said it could take two weeks before those results are available.
R.I.P.
Nonja
Nobody's eternal - we all know that.
Only place where death is not present, is cartoon TV!
I am sure Ron Magill would agree with that...
We'll always have Gorilla Magilla.
Not so with Nonja.
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New Brunswick boy dies while tobogganing
2 hours, 58 minutes ago
An eight-year-old boy died Sunday while tobogganing in New Brunswick, but few details about the incident are being released.
The child died of head injuries at Erb's Hill in Hampton, RCMP said.
No further details are being released at the request of the boy's family, police said.
A similar incident earlier this year that involved a 12-year-old Manitoba boy prompted renewed calls for children to wear helmets while sledding, snowboarding, skiing or enjoying other outdoor winter activities.
A November 1996 report by the Public Health Agency of Canada on sledding injuries found that children were most often injured when they fell off their toboggans, sleds or crazy carpets, or collided with an obstacle or person.
The report said 40.1 per cent of injuries involved falling off the sled, 32.6 per cent involved colliding with a rock, tree or snowbank, and 15.3 per cent involved colliding with another person.
with files from the Canadian Press
R.I.P.
New Brunswick Boy
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To the very last minute, even as the year winded down, the Grim Reaper is ever active and taking them down...
Police: Drunken driver kills 5 in Ohio
By JOHN SEEWER,
Associated Press Writer
Mon Dec 31, 11:53 PM ET
TOLEDO, Ohio - A drunken driver went about four miles down a highway in the wrong direction before his pickup truck slammed into a minivan, killing a woman and four children and injuring three others, police said Monday.
Michael Gagnon, 24, drove north in the southbound lane of Interstate 280 late Sunday, colliding with the minivan and leaving scattered toys, stuffed animals and bits of gift wrap along the edge of the road, Toledo police said.
An 8-week-old girl was among those killed.
Gagnon had a blood-alcohol level of .254 after the crash, more than three times Ohio's legal limit of .08, police said. He was charged Monday with aggravated vehicular homicide.
Gagnon's brother, Samuel Gagnon, told The (Baltimore) Sun they had been drinking at a hotel Sunday night and that his brother left in the truck without telling anyone before their sister arrived to drive them home.
Samuel Gagnon declined comment to The Associated Press.
Michael Gagnon stopped at a fast-food restaurant just before the crash. Workers called to alert police, but Gagnon left before an officer arrived, said Lt. Hank Everitt of the Oregon Police Department. Soon after, a 911 call came in about a driver going the wrong way on the interstate, he said. Other drivers also alerted police before the crash, he said.
Danny Griffin Jr., the minivan's driver, was rounding a curve when the minivan hit the truck, said Ron Spann, a deputy chief with Toledo police.
"I can't imagine the shock when he saw that truck," Spann said.
Both drivers tried to avoid each other, but the crash ripped a side door off the minivan, throwing out some of the victims, police said.
Bethany Griffin, 36, Jordan Griffin, 10, Vadi Griffin, 8 weeks, Lacie Burkman, 7, and Haley Burkman, 10, were killed, according to police. All are from Parkville, Md.
Three others who were in the minivan were taken to St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center. Griffin, 36, was in serious condition, while Sidney Griffin, 8, was critical, a hospital spokeswoman said. Beu Burkman, 8, was released late Monday.
All eight had been visiting family in Michigan and were returning to Maryland.
Gagnon was taken to a hospital with an injured jaw and remained there Monday afternoon, Spann said. He will be taken to jail when he is released from the hospital, Spann said. Police said he lives in Adrian, Mich., but there was no telephone listing for him or his family there.
R.I.P.
The Five Who Didn't Make It Alive To 2008...
And my condolences to their loved ones - it is the worst start to the new year that can ever be.
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Technically, this should go to the next month's -and next year's- death toll... But since it has been the result of FOUR DAYS OF RIOTING...
Multiple murders over that span...
A true tragedy going on RIGHT NOW over there, in Kenya...
Culminating in senseless killings in a most atrocious way...
IN A CHURCH, to boot...
I suppose it merits a mention on THIS death toll right here...
And to think that all this is officially "election violence" - as in mindless acts of mayhem perpetrated, many resulting in death of a fellow human being, and all of it stemming from an ELECTION taking place...
To think that, in North America, the right to vote is so BANAL, that many forego it completely and don't even cast their votes when there is an election!
Much less throw any kind of violent tantrum over it...
Only in America though...
Red Cross volunteer says 50 people burned to death in Kenya church
Tue Jan 1, 10:34 AM
By The Associated Press
NAIROBI, Kenya - Officials in Kenya say at least 50 people died after a mob torched a church in Eldoret sheltering hundreds of people fleeing election violence.
A Red Cross official says many of the victims in Tuesday's church burning were children.
It's the latest violence since the country's disputed residential election set off a bloody convulsion that is threatening what had been East Africa's most stable and prosperous democracy.
Newly re-elected President Mwai Kibaki says political parties should meet immediately and publicly call for calm after four days of rioting that has killed at least 228 people.
R.I.P.
THE 228+ who died...
(Four days of rioting - we just KNOW that figure is just an approximative number...)
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