Warning: Back Away From the White Whale!
footprintsdownunder - The famous albino humpback whale has been spotted off Snapper Island, 20km north of Port Douglas, the Government has now come out with a warning to boaties and whale watching vessels to stay well away from the big beast.
An exclusion zone of 500 meters has been extended as the current protection was set to expire today Sunday 25th July 2010.
Ms Palaszczuk the acting climate change minister, said this now means the Migaloo and other white whales are now fully protected until the end of the migration season.
"The extension means Migaloo and other white whales are now fully protected until the end of the migration season," Ms Palaszczuk said.
"That means boats or jet skis have to keep at least 500 metres away to give Migaloo plenty of room to move."
Other exclusion zones also exist for other craft, no boat or jet ski within 500 meters of the whales, aircraft cannot get closer then 2000 feet to the migrating whales.
If you decide to ignore the warnings, there is a maximum fine of $16,500 for breaking the protection zone.
"The future of whale watching in Queensland, both as a valuable tourism industry and as recreation, depends on the respect we show these animals when we encounter them," Ms Palaszczuk said.
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Canadian Fighter Pilot Barely Escapes Death
A Canadian Forces pilot has survived after ejecting himself from a fighter jet moments before it crashed during practice for an airshow. The pilot has been admitted to a hospital in Alberta, Canada, with undetermined injuries.
Witnesses say Capt Brian Bews was performing low-flying manoeuvres in the CF-18 fighter jet when he ejected and parachuted to the ground. He was practising a run for an airshow at Lethbridge County Airport.
The federal government has begun an investigation at the crash site. "He is alive and we believe right now that his injuries are non-life-threatening," Canadian Forces Captain Nicole Meszaros said.
Photographer Ian Martens said that Capt Bews had looked as if he were unconscious when parachuting from the jet. "I noticed it start to bank a little bit off to one side, which I kind of thought was unusual and I saw a couple of pops and all of a sudden this plane just banked and slowly dropped into the ground into this huge orange ball of fire," Mr Martens said.
Capt Bews joined the Canadian Forces over a decade ago and has been piloting the CF-18 jet since 2004. The Canadian government announced plans last week to spend $9bn (£5.6bn) on a new fleet of F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter jets, which will replace the ageing CF-18s.
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Black Bear Breaks Into Car, Goes For Joyride, Then Completely Trashes It
the denverchannel - A horn honking for 45 minutes brought Douglas County sheriff's deputies to a Larkspur home where they discovered a bear trapped inside a vehicle.
"At 3:28 this morning a neighbor called in a suspicious vehicle because a horn had been honking for 45 minutes. Deputies responded and discovered a bear in the car," said Deputy Michelle Rademacher.
"I was in bed and my mom and dad came rushing in saying, 'Did you lock your car today?' I said 'No.' My dad's like, 'It's gone.' At that point I was freaking out, and he said, 'It's a bear. There is a bear trapped in the car,'" said the car's owner, 17-year-old Ben Story.
Ben's father, Ralph, said the bear hit the shifter and the car rolled backward about 125 feet, off the driveway, down an embankment and into some trees on Eagle Road near Tenderfoot Drive.
"So this bear opened the door on his own. Somehow the door closed behind him. He panicked and started thrashing around, hit the shifter and put the car, took it out of park," Ralph said. "It rolled back, down over the hill, and down into here, and stopped. The four way flashers were on. It's like he knew what was going on, and kept hitting the horn."
Ben told 7NEWS he had left a sandwich in the car and that may have attracted the big bear.
"It was a pretty good size, actually it was pretty big. If you look at the inside of the car, there's nothing left at all. You could see it moving around, it like took up the entire inside of the car," said Ben.
"When the cop came up to the car, he thought it was a bunch of kids goofing around. He put a flashlight on it. And he saw this bear turn around, in the driver's seat, and he turned around and looked at him. And when the cop saw that he said he never ran so fast in his life," Ralph said.
Ralph said sheriff's deputies eventually got the bear out of the car by tying a long rope to the door handle to open it. Eventually the bear wandered off back into the woods around 5 a.m.
The bear appeared "freaked out" about being trapped in the four-door Toyota sedan and totally shredded the inside, Ben said.
"It definitely is not what you expect to wake up every morning, to hear there's a bear in your car, and your car's at the bottom of the driveway, torn up, nothing's left on the inside," Ben said.
After eating the sandwich, the bruin left a calling card in the young man's car.
"He went to the bathroom in there and it's pretty rank," the 17-year old said.
Ralph said when he received the first phone call before dawn he feared the worst. He said he was only hearing his wife's responses to the deputies on the phone, and she kept repeating "Oh my god."
Ralph said the car was parked beside the house but he didn't hear the constantly honking horn because he sleeps with earplugs and the bedrooms are on the other side of the house.
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200-150 Women Killed Annually In India...Accused of Witchcraft
hindustantimes - Nearly 200 to 150 women are killed every year in India after being tagged as 'witches', a Dehra Dun based NGO has said citing National Crime Bureau statistics. Jharkhand tops the list with 50-60 witchcraft-related murders every year followed by Andhra Pradesh where the number is around 30, Haryana 25-30 and Orissa 24-28, Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra (RLEK) Chairman Avdhash Kaushal claimed.
Jharkhand is not the only state where women are facing barbaric attacks in the name of witchcraft, such incidents are common in Orissa, Chattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh and Haryana, Kaushal said.
In past 15 years, more than 2,500 women were killed after being accused of practicing witchcraft, according to a study conducted by RLEK.
Five women were stripped and paraded naked last year in Patharghatia village in Deodhar district of Jharkhand.
In yet another incident, a 40-year old woman was lynched allegedly by her women neighbours at Sikariatand village in Simdega district of the same state, Kushal claimed.
"It is very sad that women are still being killed rampantly after being declared witches. Majority of these incidents are not reported in the media," Kaushal, a recipient of Padam Shri, said.
He said in order to overcome the menace a national legislation was needed.
"We will soon file a writ petition in the court of law to seek a remedy in the form of a new legislation from Parliament on the issue," he said.
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Psychic Detective In Search Plea For Mother Missing 50 Years
dailyrecord - The tortured family of a mum who has been missing for 50 years want police to dig up an old cellar - after being guided there by a psychic.
The family of Bridget Robertson - known as Breda - were led to a tenement in Easter Road, Edinburgh, by self-styled psychic detective Jacqui O'Reilly.
Breda's son Adrian, 54, said: "What Jacqui has told me is absolutely electrifying.
"She's correct in all the things she's said, right down to the description of one of the men my stepmother brought into our house.
"Jacqui has confirmed so much, I now have to accept mum was murdered."
O'Reilly, from Preston, Lancashire, said: "I'm convinced Adrian's mother never left the house in Easter Road in October 1960.
"She was murdered so that evil people could get at her children - of that I'm certain.
"Breda was just 24-years-old and, despite having had a terrible life, she would never have left her children.
"There's a cellar or crawl space which the police should investigate under the building.
"I feel her body is under a large area of concrete disguised to look like a floor.' She added: "I do not believe the man involved is alive today."
Breda's son Adrian fears that his mum was killed to clear the way for him to be sold into sex slavery by his stepmother, Helen Ford.
Breda vanished in October 1960 and his dad later married Helen Ford. Stepmother Ford sold Adrian to gangs of paedophiles and allowed them to abuse him.
He eventually plucked up the courage to testify against her in 2003.
Helen was sentenced to two years in jail for procuring him and his youngest sister for sex and threatening the girl with a red hot poker to her face.
Helen died last January in Burntisland, Fife, at the age 65, of without ever revealing the identity of the paedophiles or what happened to Breda.
Adrian's wife Heather visited the tenement last week and said: "Jacqui's never been to the flat at Easter Road but she was able to describe in detail the layout of the place, the series of steps and doors down to the basement and cellar area and a telegraph pole nearby with specific lettering."
Lothian and Borders police said their review of the case was ongoing.
Fortean / Oddball News - 7/25/2010
