Police shot and killed a 90-kilo chimpanzee that had once starred in television commercials after the ape nearly killed its owner's friend and attacked a police cruiser.
The victim, Charla Nash, 55, was in very critical condition from the biting and mauling attack, said Captain Richard Conklin, a police spokesman in Stamford, Connecticut, a New York City suburb yesterday. Her injuries were life threatening.
Owner Sandra Herold, 70, tried to stop her rampaging pet, Travis, by stabbing him with a butcher knife and hitting him with a shovel but the chimpanzee fended off the attack and then stormed a police car that had responded to the scene. The ape ripped off the side-view mirror of the police car, banged on the car and opened the driver's side door, leading the officer to shoot the chimp.
The chimp, just short of 15 years old, was taking medication for Lyme disease, which in humans can cause nerve damage and confusion in its later stages.
'Global warming good for Russia'
Global warming may be a worry to low-lying lands but Russia's top weatherman has said that warmer temperatures would help to cut heating bills in one of the world's coldest countries.
"The heating season will be reduced and this is a positive factor for us as it will allow us to economise on fuel," Alexander Bedritsky, head of Russia's state weather centre, was quoted as saying by RIA news agency.
Russia is one of the biggest producers of carbon dioxide as it burns vast amounts of oil and gas to heat houses during the bitter months where temperatures regularly fall below minus 50 degrees Celsius.
Heating bills in Russia could be cut by 5 to 10 per cent by 2050 if current trends continue, the weather centre said.
Boy married to dog in India
An infant boy was married off to his neighbours' dog in eastern India by villagers who said it will stop the groom from being killed by wild animals, officials and witnesses said yesterday.
Around 150 tribe people performed the ritual recently in a hamlet in the state of Orissa's Jajpur district after the boy, who is under two years old, grew a tooth on his upper gum.
The Munda tribe see such a growth in young children as a bad omen and believe it makes them prone to attacks by tigers and other animals. The tribal god will bless the child and ward off evil spirits after the marriage.
The groom, Sagula, was carried by his family in procession to the village temple, where a priest solemnised the marriage between Sagula and his bride Jyoti by chanting Sanskrit hymns. The villagers then celebrated with rich food and alcohol.
No dowry was exchanged and the boy will still be able to marry a human bride in the future without filing for divorce.
Free boat with house
As the global recession digs deeper, different people react in different ways to counter balance its effects.
Owners who are desperate to sell their three-bedroomed home in Kansas City, Missouri have come up with a bright idea: buy a house, get a... boat? The owners have lowered the price and offered to include not only a refrigerator, washer, dryer and backyard children's swing set, but also a 20-foot fishing boat. "Buy the HOUSE, Keep the BOAT!" reads the flier marketing the property for $129,950.
Meanwhile one in two of Singapore's graduating students from the island state's three top universities says they are "afraid of graduating this year". While about 12,000 of them are expected to be in the job market later this year some of their colleagues have already been fired before they were hired because their employers withdrew their job offers, citing the global financial crisis.
Divided we stand
A standoff over when to reopen Iraq's National Museum, plundered after the US-led invasion in 2003, offers a glimpse into the political turf wars that are replacing sectarian violence.
Iraq's Culture Ministry and the Ministry of State for Tourism and Antiquities have each claimed the authority to decide when the museum, closed since looters robbed it of 15,000 artefacts after the invasion, will be back in business.
Tourism and Antiquities officials say the museum in central Baghdad will open to much fanfare next Monday, allowing Iraqis to again take in priceless treasures dating to ancient Mesopotamia.
"We have overcome security problems," said Abdul-Zahra al-Telagani, spokesman for the Tourism and Antiquities Ministry. "The date is set, and the museum will be reopened, God willing."
But Jaber al-Jaberi, deputy minister of culture, said security was still a problem.
Colony trial hints at new climate fix
An experiment relocating butterfly colonies in Britain shows that animals and plants can be moved to new, cooler habitats to help them survive global warming, scientists said yesterday.
"Very many species around the world are moving because of climate change. But they are often moving slowly, lagging behind shifts in the climate," said Chris Thomas, professor of Conservation Biology at the University of York. So assisted colonisation - moving creatures or plants to a habitat that has become suitable because of global warming - could help to safeguard wildlife and avert extinctions, he said.
In an experiment, batches of marbled white and small skipper butterflies were caught in north England in 1999 and 2000 and taken up to 65 kilometres north of the northernmost edges of their ranges, to areas identified as suitable by computer climate models.